{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_68589/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_68589","id":"gutenberg_68589","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68589","summary":null,"tags":["Animals -- Juvenile fiction","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Children's stories","Fairy tales","Short stories"],"text":"SANDMAN\u2019S\n  RAINY DAY STORIES\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\n_Books by_\n\nABBIE PHILLIPS WALKER\n\n\n  SANDMAN\u2019S STORIES OF DRUSILLA DOLL\n  SANDMAN\u2019S RAINY DAY STORIES\n  SANDMAN\u2019S CHRISTMAS STORIES\n  SANDMAN\u2019S TWILIGHT STORIES\n  TOLD BY THE SANDMAN\n  SANDMAN\u2019S TALES\n  THE SANDMAN\u2019S HOUR\n\n\n_Harper & Brothers Publishers_\n\nESTABLISHED 1817\n\n\n\n\n  Sandman\u2019s\n  Rainy Day\n  Stories\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  _By_ Abbie Phillips Walker\n  _Illustrated by_ Rhoda C. Chase\n\n  Harper & Brothers, Publishers\n\n\n\n\n  SANDMAN\u2019S RAINY DAY STORIES\n\n  Copyright, 1920, by Harper & Brothers\n  Printed in the United States of America\n  Published September, 1920\n  G--U\n\n\n\n\n  _This book is lovingly dedicated\n  to the memory of\n  my father\n  THOMAS PHILLIPS_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                PAGE\n\n  PRINCESS CANTILLA                                3\n\n  THE TREE OF SWORDS                              18\n\n  THE SILVER HORSESHOES                           28\n\n  THE BLUE CASTLE                                 37\n\n  NARDO AND THE PRINCESS                          50\n\n  OLD THREE HEADS                                 59\n\n  THE ENCHANTED BOAT                              73\n\n  NICKO AND THE OGRE                              83\n\n  THE GINGERBREAD ROCK                            91\n\n  PRINCE ROUL\u2019S BRIDE                            100\n\n  SUNEV                                          109\n\n  CILLA AND THE DWARF                            117\n\n  GRETA AND THE BLACK CAT                        123\n\n  THE KNIGHT OF THE BRIGHT STAR                  132\n\n  THE DOLPHIN\u2019S BRIDE                            138\n\n  PRINCESS DIDO AND THE PRINCE OF THE ROSES      144\n\n  CATVILLE GOSSIP                                151\n\n  HOW THE ELEPHANT GOT HIS TRUNK                 154\n\n  WHY RABBITS HAVE SHORT TAILS                   160\n\n  THE HUNTER\u2019S FRIEND, JOHNNIE BEAR              166\n\n  PLAID TROUSERS                                 170\n\n  THE THREE RUNAWAYS                             177\n\n\n\n\n  SANDMAN\u2019S\n  RAINY DAY STORIES\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPRINCESS CANTILLA\n\n\nPrincess Cantilla lived in a castle like most princesses, but she was\nnot a rich princess, for her father had lost all his lands and money by\nquarreling with other kings about the length and breadth of his kingdom\nand theirs.\n\nSo poor little Cantilla had to work just like any common peasant girl\nand cook the meals for herself and her father.\n\nThe old castle where Cantilla and her father lived had fallen into\ndecay, and only a few rooms at one end were now used, so that the bats\nand owls had taken possession of the towers and once gorgeous halls on\nthe opposite side of the castle, where beautiful ladies and courtly\ngentlemen were once seen in gay and festive pleasures. A kitchen and a\nbedroom apiece were all the rooms that Cantilla and her father, the old\nKing, used, and the furniture was so old it hardly held together.\n\nOne day Cantilla was cooking soup for dinner, and as the steam rolled\nup from the kettle Cantilla thought she saw a face with a long beard\nlooking at her. She drew her hand across her eyes to make her sight\nmore clear, and the next time she looked she did see a face, and a\nform, too.\n\nA little man with a misshapen back and a long white beard, the ends of\nwhich he carried over one arm, stepped from the cover of the boiling\npot and hopped to the floor.\n\n\u201cPrincess,\u201d he said, bowing low before Cantilla, \u201cI am an enchanted\ndwarf. I can give you back your once beautiful home and make your\nfather a rich king again.\n\n\u201cI can cause all the rooms of the old castle to become new and filled\nwith beautiful hangings and furniture, as they were before your father\nbecame so poor.\u201d\n\nCantilla began to smile at the thought of all the luxury and comfort\nthe dwarf pictured, and she lost sight of his ugly-looking body and\nface for a minute, but she was brought to her senses by what the dwarf\nnext said.\n\n\u201cAll this will I give you, Princess Cantilla, if you will become my\nwife,\u201d he said, taking a step closer to Cantilla.\n\n\u201cOh no, no! I cannot do that,\u201d said Cantilla, holding up both hands as\nif to ward off even the thought of such a thing.\n\n\u201cWait,\u201d said the dwarf. \u201cDo not be so hasty, my Princess. I will come\nagain for your reply to-night at the fountain in the garden where the\nhoneysuckle grows.\u201d\n\nBefore Cantilla could reply to this he swung his beard over his head\nand disappeared in a cloud of what looked like steam or smoke.\n\nCantilla looked about her and pinched herself to make sure she had not\ndreamed all she had just seen, and by and by she believed it was a\ndream--that she must have fallen asleep in her chair by the fire.\n\nThat night while she was sleeping she was awakened by feeling some one\ntouch her on the face.\n\nCantilla had been awakened so many times by the little mice that\noverran the old castle that she only brushed her face with her hand\nwithout opening her eyes and went to sleep again.\n\n\u201cCantilla, open your eyes! Open your eyes!\u201d she heard some one whisper\nclose to her ear, and again she felt the touch of something on her face.\n\nCantilla opened her eyes and sat up in bed. The room was quite bright,\nand a beautiful lamp with a pink silk shade gave everything in the room\na rose tint.\n\nCantilla was sure she was dreaming, for it was not her old shabby room\nat all she was looking at.\n\nShe looked down at the covering of her bed--that was pink silk, too;\nshe felt of it and found it was filled with the softest down; she also\nnoticed that she wore a beautiful night-robe of pink silk and lace.\n\nOn the floor beside the bed on a soft, pink rug stood two little satin\nslippers, trimmed with swan\u2019s-down.\n\n\u201cI am dreaming,\u201d said Cantilla, \u201cbut I will enjoy it while it lasts,\u201d\nand she looked about her.\n\nThe furniture was white and gold, and soft pink rugs covered the floor.\nHer bed had little gold Cupids on each post, and they held in their\nhands the ends of pink silk that formed a beautiful canopy; little\nfrills of lace fell from the bottom of the silk, making it look very\nsoft and pretty in the lamplight.\n\nOn the table beside her bed, which held her lamp, Cantilla saw a\nbig gold-and-glass bottle. She reached for it and took out the gold\nstopper, then she tipped the bottle and bathed her face and hands with\nthe delicious perfume it held.\n\nCantilla put her little feet out of bed and slipped them into the\nslippers and walked over to the gold-and-white dressing-table at the\nother side of the room.\n\nEverything was so beautiful she just looked at first, then she picked\nup a gold brush and smoothed her hair. She took up each of the gold\ntoilet articles and saw that on each was the letter \u201cC.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey must belong to me,\u201d said Cantilla. \u201cBut, of course, it is all a\ndream,\u201d as she opened a drawer of a big gold-and-white chest.\n\nWhat she saw made Cantilla gasp with wonder, for the drawer was filled\nwith beautiful clothes, and as she opened the others she found they all\nwere filled with silk and lace-trimmed clothes.\n\nCantilla forgot all about her dream and ran, just as though she were\nawake, to a closet door that was open. She swung it back and looked;\nthere hung before her astonished gaze pink silk dresses and blue silk\ndresses and white and dainty green and yellow silk dresses.\n\nNow, I did not tell you that Cantilla had black hair which hung in long\ncurls about her pretty face and over her pretty white shoulders, and\nher eyes were as deep-blue as the deepest blue of a violet, and when\nshe put on one of the pink silk dresses and stepped in front of a long\nmirror she forgot all else for a moment. Then suddenly she heard her\nname called softly. \u201cCantilla, Cantilla,\u201d the voice said.\n\nCantilla looked up, and on the top of the mirror stood a little fairy\ndressed in pink gauze.\n\n\u201cOh! you have a pretty pink dress, too,\u201d said Cantilla, forgetting to\nbe surprised at seeing a fairy in her room.\n\n\u201cYes, but it is the only dress I own,\u201d said the little creature, with a\nsmile, \u201cwhile you have a closet full; but then mine never wear out, and\nyours will.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou mean I will wake up in a minute, I suppose,\u201d said Cantilla. \u201cYes,\nI know it is a dream, but I am having a good time. I wish I could have\na dream like this every night. I wouldn\u2019t mind being poor through the\nday.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh! but you are not dreaming at all, Princess Cantilla,\u201d said the\nfairy, \u201cand if you will follow me I will show you more of your\nbeautiful home. Come along.\u201d\n\nCantilla did not answer, but walked after the fairy, who skimmed along\nbefore Cantilla like a little pink bird.\n\nThe fairy touched a door with her wand and it flew open. Cantilla\nlooked about her in wonder, for the hall, which had been hung with\ntatters of faded tapestry, now looked like the hall of a king.\n\nThe tapestry hung whole and rich-looking upon the walls, which were of\ndeep-blue and gold. The old armor that had been broken and covered with\ndust and mold was erect as though its former wearer was inside it.\n\nThe fairy touched the door of the room where the old King was sleeping,\nand again Cantilla looked in wonder, for her father slept beneath a\ncanopy of red and gold upon a bed of gold, and all the furnishings of\nhis room were such as a king would have.\n\nCantilla looked at her father. He was smiling in his sleep, and the\ncare-worn look had gone from his face.\n\nThe fairy beckoned to her and Cantilla, with one backward glance at her\nsleeping father, followed.\n\nNext the old dining-hall was opened for Cantilla to see. The once faded\nand torn draperies were whole, and bats and owls were gone from the\ncorners of the room where they had often made their nests.\n\nThe beautiful table of onyx and silver was covered with dishes of\nsilver, and dainty lace napkins lay beside each place as though ready\nfor the coming guests. But the fairy led her away, and next Cantilla\nsaw the beautiful halls where the old King held his grand balls and\nkings and queens and princes and princesses had danced.\n\nThe lights burned in the gold-and-glass fixtures fastened to the walls\nand made the place look like fairyland.\n\nThe blue damask curtains with their edge of priceless lace hung from\nthe windows, whole and shimmering with richness, and chairs of gold\nstood upright and bright against the walls, and the floor shone with\npolish.\n\nAnd so through the whole castle the fairy led the wondering little\nPrincess to look at her old ruined home, now beautiful and whole.\n\nThen the fairy took Cantilla to the gardens. The once dry fountains\nwere playing in the moonlight, the nightingales could be heard among\nthe roses, and the air was filled with rich perfume.\n\nWhen they reached the lower end of the garden Cantilla suddenly stopped\nand stood very still. She was beside a fountain, and honeysuckle grew\nover an arbor close beside it.\n\nCantilla remembered the words of the dwarf she had seen in her dream,\nand his words, \u201cI will come for your reply to-night at the fountain\nwhere the honeysuckle grows.\u201d\n\nThe fairy stood on a bush beside her. \u201cYou remember now, do you not?\u201d\nshe asked. \u201cYou see it was not a dream this morning, and you are not\ndreaming now, my Princess, but I cannot help you. I have finished my\nwork and must return to my Queen. Farewell!\u201d\n\nCantilla watched the fairy disappear without uttering a single word.\nShe saw in her mind\u2019s eye only the ugly features of the dwarf and heard\nhis words.\n\nIn another minute she saw what looked like a cloud near the\nhoneysuckle arbor, and in another minute the dwarf of the morning stood\nbefore her with the ends of his long white beard thrown over one arm.\n\n\u201cI have come, Princess Cantilla, for my answer,\u201d said the dwarf. \u201cMarry\nme and all you have seen shall be yours.\u201d\n\nCantilla threw out her hands as she had in the morning and started to\nreply, but the dwarf checked her. \u201cBefore you give your answer,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201cthink of your old father and how contented and happy he looked\nsurrounded by the comforts of his former days of prosperity.\u201d\n\nCantilla let her hands fall by her side, her head bent low, and she\nstood lost in thought. She saw again her old father in his bed of gold,\nand the face that looked so happy, then she raised her head without\nlooking at the ugly creature before her and said: \u201cI consent; I will\nbecome your wife; I cannot love you, but I will wed you if that will\ncontent you.\u201d\n\n\u201cFollow me, then,\u201d said the dwarf, throwing his long beard over his\nhead and letting it fall over Cantilla as he spoke.\n\nCantilla saw only a fleecy cloud closing all about her, and the next\nthing she knew she was on a little island in the middle of a deep blue\nocean, with the dwarf standing beside her.\n\nThe dwarf, with his beard still over one arm, held his hands to his\nmouth and gave a long, loud call, which seemed to descend to the depths\nof the ocean.\n\nUp from the water came an arm and hand holding a twisted shell, and\nthen Cantilla saw a head appear and blow a long, loud blast from the\nshell.\n\nA splashing was heard, and out of the water came an old man in a\nchariot of mother-of-pearl.\n\nThe chariot was drawn by two horses with feet and manes of gold, and in\none hand the old man carried a long wand with three prongs at one end.\n\nThe old man struck the water with the queer-looking wand, and from all\nover the surface of the water come the sea nymphs and all sorts of\nmonsters and creatures that live at the bottom of the ocean.\n\nBut when the mermaids appeared the old man sent them back quickly and\ndrove his chariot toward Cantilla and the dwarf.\n\nCantilla by this time was beyond being frightened or surprised, and she\nstood beside the dwarf waiting for the next thing to happen.\n\n\u201cMy Lord Neptune,\u201d said the dwarf, bowing low as the old man drove\nclose to the island on which Cantilla and the dwarf stood, \u201cI have come\nwith my Princess for you to perform the ceremony. She has consented to\nbecome my wife.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d cried the old man, in an angry voice, \u201cdo you mean you have\nfound a Princess who will consent to have such a husband as you\nare--ugly and misshapen wretch?\u201d\n\n\u201cAnswer him, my Princess,\u201d said the dwarf. \u201cTell my Lord Neptune you\nconsent to marry me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do consent to marry the dwarf,\u201d Cantilla managed to say, and again\nthe old man struck the water, this time in anger, and the water spouted\nabout them like huge fountains throwing up rivers.\n\nCantilla felt the dwarf take her hand, and he said, \u201cFear not, my\nPrincess; it will soon be over.\u201d\n\nIn a few minutes the water was calm again, and the old man in the\nchariot stood a little way off, surrounded by the nymphs and other\ncreatures, holding the three-pronged wand high over his head.\n\n\u201cI release you; you are wed; be gone from my sight,\u201d said the old man,\nand as the trumpet-bearer sounded his loud call, the old man and his\nchariot passed into the deep water, followed by all his nymphs and the\nothers.\n\nCantilla looked toward the dwarf, wondering if ever any one had such a\nstrange wedding, but to her surprise he was gone and by her side stood\na handsome man, who said: \u201cMy Princess, behold in me your husband. I am\nfree from the spell of the old man of the sea, who wanted me to become\na sea monster and live under the ocean.\n\n\u201cI was changed into the shape of the ugly dwarf because I would not\nmarry a mermaid who happened to fall in love with me one day while I\nwas bathing, and she called upon a sea witch to change me into a sea\nmonster, but I escaped before I took on the sea shape, but not before I\nwas changed into the ugly dwarf you saw this morning.\n\n\u201cA kind fairy interceded with her Queen to save me, and she went to the\nold man, who is Neptune, the God of the Waters. He told the Queen if I\ncould find a princess who would consent to marry me he would release\nme from the spell the sea witch had cast over me.\n\n\u201cYou know how that was accomplished, my Princess, and if you think you\ncan accept me in place of the dwarf for your husband we will return\nto the castle, where your father is still sleeping, I expect, for the\nFairy Queen said she would watch until sunrise for our return.\u201d\n\nCantilla, no longer looking sad, but smiling and happy, put her hand in\nher husband\u2019s and told him she was the happiest girl in the world.\n\n\u201cAnd I am the happiest man in the world,\u201d said her husband, \u201cfor I not\nonly am freed from the spell of the sea witch, but I have won the one\nwoman in the world I could ever love for my wife.\u201d\n\nThree times he clapped his hands together, and the little fairy in the\npink gauze dress appeared.\n\n\u201cThe Queen sends her love to you and this message, \u2018Bless you, my\nchildren,\u2019 and now I will take you home to the castle.\u201d\n\nShe touched the Princess and her husband on the cheek with her wand,\nand Cantilla found herself back in the castle garden by the fountain\nand honeysuckle arbor, with her handsome husband standing by her side.\n\n\u201cCome, my dear, we must go in to breakfast,\u201d said her husband; \u201cyour\nfather will be waiting for us.\u201d\n\n\u201cHow will we explain about our wedding and the changed appearance of\nthe castle?\u201d asked Cantilla.\n\n\u201cOh! the Fairy Queen has arranged all that,\u201d said Cantilla\u2019s husband.\n\u201cYour father will not remember he ever lost his fortune; he will ask no\nquestions.\u201d\n\nCantilla and her husband went hand in hand into the castle to their\nbreakfast, and from that day Cantilla never knew another sorrow or\nunhappy moment.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE TREE OF SWORDS\n\n\nOnce there lived a king who had a daughter that had been changed by a\nwicked witch into a brindle cow.\n\nThe witch had wanted the King to invite her to the feast when the\nPrincess was born, and because he invited her only into the servants\u2019\nhall and not to the feast of the royal family the old witch had thrown\na spell over the baby, and when she grew to womanhood she suddenly one\nday changed into the brindle cow. Great was the surprise of the King\nand Queen when they went to the room of the Princess one morning and\nfound in her dainty lace bed a cow in place of their pretty daughter.\n\nThey sent for the old witch at once, for they knew that some magic\nspell must have caused this terrible change, but the old witch sent\nback word that the only thing that would change the Princess back to\nher own shape was a pear from the tree which grew by the mountain of\nice.\n\nNow this mountain of ice all the people knew was controlled by a\nthree-headed troll, and the tree which grew near by was the chimney to\nhis home under the mountain.\n\nThere was nothing to do but to offer money to the one who would get the\npear which would restore the little Princess to her own form.\n\nThere was another thing that made it very dangerous to try to get the\npear, and this was that no sooner did one attempt to touch the tree\nthan all its branches changed to sharp swords.\n\nTo reach the tree the mountain must be climbed, and this being of ice,\nthe ones who tried were in danger of slipping and being killed as they\nfell, sliding down the mountain and striking on the tree, which would\nbe filled with swords as soon as they struck it.\n\nAfter a while all those who tried gave it up as too dangerous, and the\nKing then sent out word that to the one who would bring the pear,\nbe he rich or poor, of high or low degree, he would give to him the\nPrincess for a wife, as well as a barrel of gold.\n\nBut no one would risk his life for that offer, for they thought perhaps\nthe Princess would not regain her shape even after eating the pear, and\nwho would wish to marry a cow, even if she were royal?\n\nBut one day a poor youth came to the palace and told the King and Queen\nthat he would try to get a pear if they would give him the brindle cow\nbefore he ventured up the mountain of ice. \u201cFor if I fail,\u201d he said, \u201cI\nwish to leave my poor mother something, and a cow is always useful.\u201d\n\nThe King offered money, but the youth would have nothing but the\nbrindle cow, so they led away the cow to the peasant\u2019s barn, while the\nKing and Queen watched her go with sad hearts.\n\nOn her back was a velvet blanket trimmed with gold, and the Queen tried\nto make the peasant take a soft bed for her to sleep on, but this he\nwould not do. \u201cNo, she is a cow, and must sleep in the barn like other\ncows,\u201d he said.\n\nThe King and Queen had all this time been feeding the cow on dainty\nfruit and all sorts of good things, and the youth had heard that the\npear she was to eat to save her would be bitter and bad to taste, and\nhe wanted to get her used to eating anything that was given her.\n\nThe peasant youth began his climb up the mountain of ice, but each day\nfor a month he only went one step ahead, for while he sometimes went\nfar up, each time he would slip back.\n\nAnd all this time the poor little cow was growing thinner and thinner,\nfor she would not eat the food that was put before her.\n\nOne day when the peasant youth was about discouraged and thought he\nwould have to give up trying for the pear, he felt the ice under him\nsuddenly grow soft and his feet seemed to stick and not slip any more.\n\nTo his surprise, when he looked at his feet he saw a little fairy\nstanding on each foot and touching them with her wand.\n\nUp he went swiftly now, and soon was at a place on the mountain where\nhe could touch the magic tree, and there the little fairies told him\nthey were powerless to help him further.\n\n\u201cWe can only tell you that if you can get from the three-headed troll\nthe belt he wears you can get the pear, but we fairies cannot throw a\nspell over trolls,\u201d they told him.\n\nWhen the fairies disappeared the peasant felt more discouraged than\nbefore, for there he was in danger of slipping, and before him was the\ndreadful tree.\n\nBut while he stood thinking the tree opened and out came the troll,\nleaving the tree wide open behind him.\n\nHe did not look up or down, to right or left, but walked down the\nmountain, and the youth, sitting flat upon the ice, slid into the open\ntree.\n\nDown, down he went! And then suddenly he found himself in a big room,\nin one corner of which was a huge bed, in another a big stove, in\nanother a big chair and table, and in the fourth corner stood a large\nsword so tall that the peasant could easily hide behind it.\n\nAnd lucky it was for him that it was big, for at that moment in came\nthe three-headed troll and rolled all six of his eyes about the room.\n\n\u201cHe, hi, ho, hun! I smell the flesh of a mortal son,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\ncannot escape me, so come out from wherever you are hiding!\u201d The\nfrightened youth was trembling so that the sword tipped over, and there\nhe stood before the three-headed troll, who jumped to catch him.\n\nBut though he had three heads, he had only two feet, and, tripping over\nthe sword, he fell sprawling on the floor.\n\nNow his three heads were so heavy that, once he was down, it was hard\nwork to get up, and while he struggled his belt became unfastened and\nlay under him on the floor.\n\nThe peasant saw this and, knowing he was in danger anyway, thought he\nwould risk a little more.\n\nSo he ran over to the troll and with both hands tugged at the belt, and\nas the troll rolled over out from under him it came.\n\nQuickly as he could he put the belt about his waist, and, to his\nsurprise, he felt so strong that the size of the sword on the floor\nseemed no longer to frighten him.\n\nHe picked it up and found that it was as light as a tin one, and then\nthe troll, rolling over again, saw his belt around the peasant\u2019s waist\nand his sword in his hand, and he cried out, \u201cMy power is gone!\u201d as he\ntried to crawl away.\n\n\u201cTell me how to get a pear from the tree and I will spare your life,\u201d\nsaid the peasant.\n\nThe troll managed to get upon his feet, but he was no longer the\npowerful creature he had been a few moments before.\n\n\u201cFollow me,\u201d he said, as he led the peasant out of the door of the\ntree, which was still open.\n\nThe tree was filled with swords, all shiny and sharp-looking, as the\nsun fell upon them, for as soon as the peasant had slid in the door the\nswords had appeared and had warned the troll before he entered that\nsome mortal was near by.\n\n\u201cIf you will promise to do as I ask you after you have the pear, I will\ntell you the secret of getting it,\u201d said the troll. \u201cIt will not harm\nany one to grant my last wish.\u201d\n\nSo the youth promised and the troll said: \u201cYou must strike the swords\non the tree with the sword you hold until the sparks fly. Then the\npears which you see hanging from the swords will fall to the ground,\nbut the tree will burn up.\n\n\u201cAnd then there will be nothing for me. My magic power will be gone\nforever. So I ask that you will then strike me with the sword on my\nmiddle head, and that will change me into a shape which will never harm\nany one again.\u201d\n\nThis the youth said he would do and began to strike the swords on the\ntree, making the sparks fly and the pears drop, and then all at once\nthe tree began to burn.\n\nKeeping the sword still in his grasp, the youth looked for the largest\nof the green pears and picked it up, putting it in his pocket.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t forget your promise,\u201d said the troll as the youth started to go\naway. \u201cYou need not be afraid,\u201d he said as the youth drew back. \u201cThe\nblow will not hurt me.\u201d\n\nSo the youth lifted the sword and brought it down on the troll\u2019s middle\nhead with such force that the sword fell from his hands and struck the\nmountain of ice with such a bang that the ice began to crack.\n\nAt first the youth did not see what had happened, the noise had\nstartled him so, but the next minute he saw that in place of the troll\nstood a beautiful tree filled with pears, and the mountain was no\nlonger ice, but covered with soft, green moss.\n\nHe did not stop, but down the mountain he ran and to his home, where\nthe brindle cow stood in the barn, so hungry she opened her mouth at\nonce and ate the pear, thinking it would be sweet and juicy, but it\nwas far from that. It was so bitter and bad that had she not been so\nhungry she could not have eaten it, but it was swallowed before she\nknew it, and there in the stall of the peasant\u2019s barn stood the pretty\nPrincess looking about her in astonishment.\n\n\u201cHow did I come in this horrid place, and what a dirty-looking man you\nare!\u201d she said. \u201cTake me home at once! My father is the King, and he\nwill punish you if you do not obey me!\u201d\n\nIt did not take the peasant long to take her home, and when the Queen\nand the King saw their daughter in her own form again they fell on\ntheir knees before the peasant youth and thanked him.\n\nBut the Princess did not understand what it all meant, and said: \u201cWhy\ndo you kneel to him? He should kneel to you! Are you not King and Queen\nof this land, and this man a poor peasant?\u201d\n\nBefore the King could explain to the Princess the youth said: \u201cI have\nbrought you your daughter, but you must keep her. I could never marry a\nmaid who thought herself above me. Give me gold and let me go back to\nmy home!\u201d\n\nHe was wise enough to see that a poor peasant and a princess could not\nbe happy together and a peasant girl was a more fitting bride for him.\n\nThe Princess was very sorry for all she had said when she found out the\npeasant had saved her, and when he was married she sent to his wife\na chest of linen and silver which made her the envy of all the other\npeasants for miles around.\n\nThe troll was never heard of again, and only the peasant youth knows\nthat the pear-tree on the side of the mountain which bears such juicy\nfruit was once the three-headed troll who lived under the tree of\nswords.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE SILVER HORSESHOES\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a king who wanted a son-in-law who would\nbe a good soldier as well as a good husband, so he put his daughter,\nthe Princess, who, of course, was very beautiful, in a tower on top of\na high mountain. Then he sent out word all over his kingdom and to all\nthe other kingdoms that to the youth who could get to the top of the\ntower he would give the Princess for a wife.\n\nBut when the youths came from far and near they found the mountain was\nslippery as glass, and their horses slipped back faster than they could\nclimb.\n\nIn a kingdom far from where the King lived was a poor prince whose\nfather had lost all his lands and money in wars, so that when he died\nhe left the Prince nothing but the castle and a black horse.\n\nOne day the Prince was feeding his horse and thinking of the Princess\non top of the high mountain in the tower, and he spoke his thought out\nloud.\n\n\u201cIf only I had some clothes fit to be seen,\u201d he said, \u201cI would try to\nreach the Princess in the tower, and this poverty would be at an end.\nAnd you, my beauty, would have oats in plenty then,\u201d patting the horse\non the neck.\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you try, master?\u201d said the horse.\n\nThe Prince was surprised to hear the horse speak, but still he had\nheard of such things happening, and he answered, saying: \u201cI have no\nclothes; besides, many others have tried, and no horse is able to climb\nthe mountain.\u201d\n\n\u201cMaster, go to the witch that lives in a cave in the middle of the\nwoods at midnight and get my shoes,\u201d said the horse. And then he fell\nto eating his scanty dinner and said no more.\n\nThe Prince thought there was nothing to lose by doing as the horse told\nhim, so that night he went to the woods to find the witch. The woods\nhe found easily, but to find the cave was a different matter. First he\nmet a fox, and he asked the way to the cave of the witch.\n\n\u201cOh, master,\u201d said the fox, \u201ctake my advice and go home; no good will\ncome to you if you find it.\u201d\n\nBut the Prince would not give up the quest, so he asked a wolf that he\nmet next where the cave was located in the woods.\n\nThe wolf ran away, saying: \u201cYou better go home. That cave will bring\nonly harm to any one who finds it.\u201d\n\nThe Prince was not to be frightened and on he went, and an owl was the\nnext one he saw. \u201cWhere is the cave the old witch lives in?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cHoot! hoot!\u201d said the owl, flapping his wings. \u201cBe off, man, while\nthere is time. Don\u2019t go near that cave if you value your life,\u201d and off\nflew the owl, leaving the Prince no wiser than before.\n\nAfter going deep into the woods--in fact, he was at the very center and\ndid not know it--the Prince stood still and listened.\n\nA sound reached his ear which seemed like the clatter of horses\u2019\nhoofs, and the Prince went in the direction from which the sound came.\n\nAll at once he found himself in front of the cave for which he had\nsearched so long, and, looking in, he saw the old witch prancing about\nin the craziest manner.\n\nShe would climb the side of her cave with as much ease as she could\nwalk across the floor, and then, giving a spring, she would walk on the\ntop of the cave, her head hanging down toward the floor.\n\nWhile the Prince was looking and wondering at this strange performance\nhe noticed something shining on her feet, and when he looked closer, to\nhis surprise he saw that the witch had on her feet silver horseshoes.\nThen he knew what his black horse had said was worth listening to--he\nwas to get the shoes the old witch was wearing.\n\nBut then he thought: \u201cShe has on only two; I must have four. I wonder\nwhere are the other two.\u201d\n\nJust then a black cat came dancing into the cave, and on her hind feet\nthe Prince saw the other two shoes he wanted. Such dancing and climbing\nthe Prince had never seen as was done by the old witch and her black\ncat. The silver shoes seemed to take them anywhere and they could do\nanything while they wore them.\n\nAfter a while the witch and the black cat grew weary and took off the\nshoes, and the Prince saw them lift up a stone in the middle of the\ncave and drop the four silver horseshoes into a hole and then drop the\nstone again.\n\nAfter the witch and the black cat were fast asleep in one corner of the\ncave the Prince crept in softly and lifted the stone. At the bottom of\na deep hole he saw the horseshoes, and he was wondering how he could\nget them when he felt a push from behind and down he went into the\nhole, landing at the bottom where the shoes were.\n\nThe old witch had awakened and had pushed him in, and the Prince could\nhear her and the cat jumping about and laughing with glee that they had\ntrapped him.\n\nWhen the Prince found himself in the hole under the cave where the old\nwitch lived he thought his end had come. It was as dark as a dungeon.\nThe only thing he could see was the glitter of the silver horseshoes.\n\nWhile he stood looking at them and thinking how the old witch and her\ncat jumped about, and wondering what she would do with him, he suddenly\nwas struck with an idea.\n\nHe would put on the shoes, one on each foot, and take the other two in\nhis hands.\n\nNo sooner did he think it than he did it, and, giving a spring, up he\nwent, the stone flying off the top of the hole as he touched it with\nhis hands holding the silver horseshoes.\n\nInto the cave he jumped, and the old witch and her black cat sprang at\nhim, but he had only to run, and, without touching the ground, away he\nflew through the forest, the old witch and her cat after him.\n\nSometimes they would almost catch him, for the witch had jumped on her\nbroomstick and the cat sat on behind her, and they flew over trees and\nbushes as well as the Prince.\n\nThe Prince knew he was lost if they caught him, and finally decided to\nturn around and run toward them, thinking he might be able to knock the\nwitch off her broomstick and so stop their flight.\n\nNo sooner did he turn than the shining silver shoes cast a ray of light\non the old witch and her cat and like magic they tumbled off the\nbroomstick, and away went the stick higher and higher in the air until\nit disappeared; and on the ground where the cat and the old witch fell\nthe Prince saw two stones, one big and the other smaller and almost\nblack, so he knew he was rid of his enemies and could get out of the\nforest safely with the silver horseshoes.\n\nThe black horse danced with delight when he saw the shoes, and stood\nstill until they were fastened on his feet; then he pranced about and\nshook his head in a very knowing manner, though he did not speak again,\nand the Prince mounted him and rode away, forgetting all about his\nshabby coat.\n\nThe black horse trotted along like any other horse until they came to\nthe mountain on top of which the Princess lived in the tower; then the\nPrince felt himself gliding up the mountain, past all the other youths\nwho were vainly trying to climb to the top.\n\nUp and up they went until the Prince found himself by the tower. When\nhe looked at the height he knew his troubles were not at an end. He\nlooked around for some way to scale the wall, but it was as smooth as\nglass. While he stood looking at the top he saw something white slowly\ncoming down the wall from a little window.\n\nDown it came until the Prince could see that it was a piece of white\nthread, and on the end of it was a little golden curl.\n\nThe Prince untied it and kissed it, then, looking up at the window, he\nkissed his hand, for he knew that somewhere in the tower the Princess\nhad been looking for the Prince who was to come for her, and had seen\nhim.\n\nHe was more anxious than ever to reach the Princess, but how could he\nclimb those slippery walls?\n\nHow? And then he thought of the silver shoes that the witch had walked\non the top of the cave with, and he took them off his horse and tied\none on each foot and took one in each hand.\n\nPlacing his hands on the wall of the tower, he walked up as easily\nas if he were walking on the ground, and in a few minutes was at the\nlittle window above.\n\nThe Princess smiled when she saw him, and then he saw that the window\nwhich looked so small to him from the ground was really a door.\n\nHe stepped in and knelt at the feet of the blushing Princess, who\nsaid, \u201cI shall be glad to leave here, but how can I get to the ground?\u201d\n\n\u201cIn my arms,\u201d answered the bold Prince, and, picking her up, he stepped\nout on the smooth wall again, easily reaching the ground with the\nPrincess.\n\nHe placed her in front of him on his horse and rode down the mountain,\nat the bottom of which a crowd was waiting for him, and the King also,\nfor it had been noised abroad that a youth had been seen to climb the\nmountain and the people wanted to see him.\n\n\u201cWell done, my son,\u201d said the King, riding up to greet them. \u201cYou will\nmake a good soldier, for you have shown that you can overcome obstacles\nto gain that which you desire. Come home; the wedding feast is\nprepared.\u201d So the Prince gained a princess for a wife, a father-in-law\nwho admired his courage, and was happy ever after.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE BLUE CASTLE\n\n\nOnce upon a time in a far-off country there lived a witch on top of a\nhigh mountain, and every year she came down into the country about and\nappeared at the palace of the King and asked for a bag of gold.\n\nOne night when the King and his Queen were making merry and having a\nbig feast in honor of the birth of their little daughter, the Princess\nLily, the old witch came to the palace and asked for her bag of gold.\n\n\u201cTell her to begone,\u201d said the King to his servant. \u201cI have used all\nthe gold in the vaults for the feast; she will have to come next year.\u201d\n\nNow the old witch was very angry when she heard this message, and she\nhid in the grounds of the palace until all were asleep that night, and\nthen she entered the palace and carried off the baby Princess.\n\nThe Queen and the King were beside themselves with grief when they\ndiscovered their loss, and they offered big rewards for the return of\ntheir daughter, but she could not be found.\n\n\u201cFind the old witch who came here the night of the feast,\u201d said one of\nthe King\u2019s wise men, \u201cand you will find the Princess.\u201d\n\nThey hunted far and near, but the witch could not be found, for when\nany one attempted to climb the mountain where the old witch lived the\ninsects would become as thick as mist and clouds and they could not see\nwhere to go.\n\nOne after another gave up the attempt, and so after a while the King\nand Queen mourned their daughter as dead and the old witch never came\nto the palace again.\n\nThe Queen and King never had any more children, and every day they\ngrieved because there would be no one to reign after they were gone.\n\nOne day one of the King\u2019s wise men said to him: \u201cIn a cave in the\nforest lives an ogre who has a wonderful horse; it is kept in a stable\nmade of marble, and its stall is of gold, and it is fed on corn grown\nin a field of pearls.\n\n\u201cIf we could get this horse we might be able to climb the mountain\nwhere the old witch lives, and perhaps the Princess is still alive.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how can we get this horse?\u201d asked the King.\n\n\u201cAh! that is the hard part,\u201d answered the wise man. \u201cThe enchanted\ncreature can only be caught and mounted by one who can feed him with\nthe magic corn, and it is said that any one who tries to gather the\ncorn from the field of pearls finds himself sinking, and has to run for\nhis life, so that only the ogre, who knows the magic words that keep\nthe pearls from drawing him down, can gather the corn.\u201d\n\nWhen the King heard this he sent for all the princes in the land to\ncome to his palace, and when they came he told them he would give\nto the one who could catch and mount the ogre\u2019s enchanted horse his\nkingdom if he could find the lost Princess Lily, and she should become\nhis wife.\n\nBut all the princes were rich enough, and did not care to take such a\nrisk, especially as they had never seen the Princess Lily.\n\nThen the King sent out word to all the poor young men in his kingdom\nto come to him, and he made them the same offer, but one by one they\nturned away, and at last there was only a poor peasant youth left.\n\n\u201cI will try, Your Majesty,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I will not marry the Princess\nunless I can love her, and if she does not wish to marry me I will\nnot hold you to that part of the bargain, either, but I will take the\nkingdom if I bring back your child.\u201d\n\nSo that night the peasant boy went to a fairy that lived in the woods\nand asked her to help him.\n\n\u201cYou can only enter the field of magic corn by wearing the magic shoes\nbelonging to the ogre, and he sleeps with them under his bed. They are\ntied to the big toe of his right foot by a silken thread, and no one\ncan cut it or break it without awakening the ogre.\n\n\u201cI will give you a feather, and if you are fortunate enough to enter\nhis chamber without being caught, for he is guarded well by a dog with\ntwo heads, use this feather to tickle his left foot and you can cut the\nsilken thread without the ogre knowing it. This is all I can do to help\nyou. The two-headed dog is not in my power to control.\u201d\n\nSo the peasant took the magic feather and that night he went to the\nogre\u2019s castle in the woods and waited until he heard his snore, and\nthen he took from his pocket two big bones.\n\nHe opened the door to the castle, for the ogre was afraid of no one and\ndid not lock his door at night.\n\nThe two-headed dog growled and sprang toward the peasant, but he\nquickly thrust the bones in the mouth of each and that quieted them.\n\nThe two heads began to eat, and while they were eating the peasant\ncrept softly into the room of the sleeping ogre and tickled his left\nfoot, which was sticking out from under the bedclothes.\n\nThe old ogre began to laugh, and he laughed so hard and loudly that\nno other sound could be heard; and the peasant had time to break the\nslender thread which was tied to the magic shoes with one hand while he\nkept tickling the ogre\u2019s left foot with the feather held in the other\nhand.\n\nWhen he had the shoes under his arm he crept softly away from the bed,\nleaving the ogre still laughing.\n\nThe two-headed dog was still eating the bones, and the peasant went out\nand sat on the steps of the castle to put on the magic shoes.\n\nHe had just drawn the shoes on when the two-headed dog finished the\nbones and set up a bark that the peasant thought at first was thunder.\n\nHe ran to the field of pearls where grew the magic corn, and was just\npulling the ears when the ogre came dashing out of his castle, followed\nby the two-headed dog, with both mouths wide open and looking as though\nhe would devour him.\n\nOut of the field ran the peasant, but not before the ogre had entered,\nand down went the ogre out of sight, the pearls closing over his\nhead, for, of course, he forgot all about his shoes when he heard the\ntwo-headed dog bark, and anyway he thought they were tied to the big\ntoe of his right foot.\n\nBut though he was rid of the ogre he was not of the two-headed dog,\nwhich ran after him, showing his two sets of big teeth and barking all\nthe while. But the peasant was far ahead of the dog, so he reached the\nstable and fed the magic corn to the enchanted horse, who neighed in\nthe most friendly manner and let the peasant mount him.\n\nHe wore a bridle of gold and silver trimmed with rubies, and he was\npure white, with a saddle of purple velvet, with gold and silver\ntrimmings.\n\nHe was a horse fit for a king to ride, and the poor peasant looked\nstrangely out of place on his back.\n\nJust as the peasant rode into the yard of the castle the two-headed dog\ndashed at the hind feet of the enchanted horse to bite him, but the\nhorse kicked at him and over he rolled.\n\nThe peasant looked back to see what had happened to the dog, but he\nwas nowhere to be seen; in the place where he had lain was a big\nblack-looking rock with a ragged-looking top like a set of huge teeth.\n\nThe peasant was rid of both his pursuers now, and he rode off toward\nthe mountain where the King had told him the witch lived.\n\nUp the mountain dashed the enchanted white horse, as though he had\nwings instead of feet, and in a few minutes he had carried the peasant\nto the top.\n\nThe peasant looked about him, expecting to see a cave, but to his\nsurprise he saw only a grove of trees with something glistening\nthrough their leaves which looked like a house.\n\nWhen he rode nearer to the grove he saw a deep-blue castle of glass\nwithout doors or windows, and inside he could see a girl spinning.\n\nShe looked up as the shadow of the horse and rider fell on the glass\ncastle, and her eyes grew big with surprise, but before the peasant\ncould jump from his horse an old woman came up through the floor of the\nhouse and tapped the girl on the head with her cane, and she turned\ninto a mouse.\n\nThe peasant was too astonished to move for a minute, but the laugh of\nthe old woman brought him to his senses and he knew she must be the\nwitch.\n\n\u201cHa, ha! you caught the horse, but you cannot bring back the Princess\nuntil I will it!\u201d she screamed, and then disappeared through the floor.\n\nThe peasant walked around the blue castle, but no door or window could\nhe find, or an opening of any kind.\n\nHe was leading the horse by his gold bridle when suddenly it lifted one\nof its front feet and struck the blue castle.\n\nCrash! went the blue glass, and the peasant saw an opening large enough\nfor him to enter.\n\nHe was about to do so, leaving the enchanted horse outside, when he\nheard another crash--the enchanted horse was following him in; it had\nbroken a place large enough for both of them to enter.\n\nThe mouse was crouching in one corner of the room and the peasant\npicked it up carefully and put it in his pocket.\n\nThe horse went to the spot where the old witch had disappeared, and\ntapped on the glass floor three times with one of his front feet,\nand up from the floor came the old witch. But this time she was not\nlaughing; she looked frightened, and trembled so she had to lean on her\ncane to keep from falling.\n\nThe enchanted horse took her by the dress and shook her three times,\nand out from her pocket fell a black bean with a white spot on it.\n\nAs it dropped the old witch screamed and fell on the floor, and the\nhorse picked up the bean and swallowed it.\n\nThe peasant all this time was standing watching all the strange\nhappenings, not daring to move for fear of breaking the spell, and\nwondering what would happen next.\n\nAs the horse swallowed the bean he seemed to shrink away from sight\nand a blue mist filled the room. When it cleared the peasant beheld a\nhandsome young man where the horse had stood, and where the witch had\nbeen was a deep hole.\n\n\u201cDid she fall into it?\u201d asked the peasant, not knowing what else to say.\n\n\u201cNo; in that hole we will find the magic charm that will restore the\nPrincess to her own form,\u201d said the young man. \u201cThe witch disappeared\nin the blue mist.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet us hurry and find the magic charm,\u201d he said, dropping into the\nhole, and the peasant followed him.\n\nThere was a ladder down which they climbed, and down they went until it\nseemed they would never reach the bottom.\n\nBut at last their feet touched something firm and soft and they stood\nin a beautiful room on a carpet of blue velvet.\n\nThe room was hung with velvet the color of sapphire, and the chairs\nwere of burnished gold with velvet seats.\n\nA gold fountain played in the middle of the room and the water fell\ninto a basin of sapphire.\n\n\u201cThis is the magic fountain,\u201d said the youth. \u201cYou must throw the\nlittle mouse into it if you wish to bring back the Princess.\u201d\n\nThe peasant took from his pocket the trembling little mouse. \u201cIt is\nfrightened,\u201d he said. \u201cI hate to throw it into that deep water.\u201d\n\nWithout replying the youth grabbed the mouse from the peasant and threw\nit with great force into the fountain and it disappeared from sight.\n\n\u201cOh, you have killed it!\u201d said the peasant, looking into the deep-blue\nwater with frightened eyes.\n\nThen he saw a head rise slowly from the bottom of the blue basin; then\nit came above the water; and then a beautiful girl stepped from the\nfountain, her golden hair all wet and glistening.\n\nA soft warm breeze came through the windows and soon her hair and\nclothes were dry, and the peasant thought he had never seen any one so\nbeautiful as the Princess.\n\n\u201cI am the Prince who was changed into the horse for the ogre,\u201d said\nthe youth, addressing the Princess. \u201cI was stolen at the same time you\nwere and the ogre who was the husband of the witch took me and the\nwitch took you, but this youth has rescued us, for it was here that\nthe magic bean was kept that restored me to my own form, and if it had\nnot been for a fairy who came to me one night and told me the secret I\nnever should have regained my own form.\u201d\n\nAll the time the Prince was speaking the peasant saw the Princess\nlooking at him with loving glance, and he knew the Princess was not for\nhim, and besides that he knew he never would be happy in a palace.\n\nThey began to look about and found they were in a beautiful palace that\nthe old witch had lived in, but, now that she was gone for good, the\npeasant said he would take it as his reward and let the Prince and the\nPrincess return to her father.\n\nIn the stables they found beautiful white horses, and on one of them\nthe Prince and Princess rode away after making the peasant promise to\ncome to their wedding and to dance with the bride. \u201cFor we will never\nforget you,\u201d said the Princess, \u201cand we must always be friends.\u201d\n\nThe father and mother of the Princess listened to the story the Prince\ntold, and then the Queen said: \u201cI can tell whether this is my lost\nchild or not. Let me see your left shoulder; she bears her name on\nthat shoulder if she be our child.\u201d\n\nThe Princess bared her shoulder and there the Queen saw a tiny lily\nwhich proved she was her child.\n\nThe King gave a great feast in honor of his daughter\u2019s return, and the\nPrince and Princess were married; and the peasant danced at the wedding\nas he promised.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNARDO AND THE PRINCESS\n\n\nOnce there lived a king who had two sons, and, though they were twins,\nthey were as different as if they had been strangers.\n\nNardo was kind and good, while his brother Stephen was greedy and\nselfish, never doing any one kindness.\n\nOne day there came to the King\u2019s gates an old beggar man who asked for\na night\u2019s lodging and food.\n\nThe brothers were standing near and Stephen told the servants to close\nthe gates, that a palace was no place for beggars.\n\n\u201cStop,\u201d said Nardo to the servant; \u201ca palace is just the place for\nbeggars. Brother, we have a plenty and to spare; let the poor man\nenter.\u201d\n\nThe beggar thanked Nardo and said: \u201cYou shall never regret your\nkindness. Wear this ring, and whenever you wish for something money\ncannot buy you shall have your wish.\u201d\n\nNardo put the ring in his pocket and forgot all about it until he fell\nin love with a beautiful princess, and, like all lovers, he was afraid\nshe did not love him.\n\nThen he remembered the old beggar man and the ring, and put it on and\nwished for the love of the beautiful Princess.\n\nIt happened that Stephen also loved the Princess, but he knew she did\nnot love him, and, seeing the ring the old beggar had given Nardo on\nhis hand one day, he remembered what the beggar had said when he gave\nhis brother the ring.\n\n\u201cI must have the ring,\u201d said Stephen. \u201cThen I will have the love of the\nPrincess; besides that, her father, the King, is old, and when he dies\nI shall be king in his place.\u201d\n\nBut it was no easy matter to possess the ring, for Nardo was as big and\nstrong as Stephen. There was no way to get the ring from off his finger\nunless he took it by force or could get some witch to weave a spell\nover him.\n\nAnd all this time the beautiful Princess was in love with Nardo. Had he\nonly known it, he needed no magic ring to win her love for him.\n\nOne night after trying in vain to get the ring Stephen went to an old\nwitch who lived in a cave by the sea and asked her to get the ring for\nhim, promising to make her rich if she would get it.\n\nThe witch was greedy for gold, so one night while Nardo slept she\ncrept into the palace, aided by the wicked Stephen, and cast a spell\nover Nardo, which made him forget the ring and also his love for the\nbeautiful Princess.\n\nStephen, with the ring on his finger, felt that all was easy now, and\nhe promptly forgot all about the old witch and the gold he promised her.\n\nThe beautiful Princess looked with sad eyes upon the now cold and\nindifferent Nardo, and, while she did not love Stephen, she felt each\nday that she was being drawn to him, though she knew well enough she\ndid not love any one but Nardo.\n\nThe old witch, however, helped the Princess out of part of her\ntroubles, for when she found that Stephen did not intend to give her\nthe gold, she waited for him one day in the palace grounds, hidden\nbehind a clump of bushes, and when he came out for a walk she pointed\nher lean fingers at him and placed him under a spell which made him\nfollow her to her cave by the sea.\n\nHere she chained him to a rock and put a dragon to watch that he did\nnot escape; but while the Princess escaped marrying Stephen, he still\npossessed the ring which kept Nardo from remembering he had ever loved\nthe Princess.\n\nOne night when the Princess was sitting in her window looking at the\nmoon and sighing over her lost lover and his love she saw a nightingale\ncaught by its wing in a tree.\n\nThe tree was so close that the Princess had only to reach out and\nrescue the poor bird and set it free.\n\nThe nightingale, in gratitude for its life, began to sing so sweetly\nthat the Princess exclaimed, \u201cOh, sing each night by my window,\nbeautiful bird, that I may for a little while at least forget my\nsorrow.\u201d\n\nThe hour of midnight was just then striking, and as the last stroke of\ntwelve died away the nightingale changed into a fairy.\n\n\u201cI am powerless to use my magic until the hour of midnight strikes,\u201d\nsaid the little fairy. \u201cI have chosen to become a nightingale until\nthen, and the Queen will not give me the power of a fairy until I\nchange my form to one.\n\n\u201cIf it had not been for your kindness I might never have become a\nfairy again, for the nightingale\u2019s wing would have been broken, and no\nimperfect creature can reclaim its form, once it has changed from a\nfairy.\n\n\u201cIf I can help you, tell me and I will go to the Queen and ask to\nremain a fairy, and then no matter how hard the task you set I am sure\nI can make you happy.\u201d\n\nOf course, the Princess did not know about the magic ring, and she\ncould only tell the fairy how once she had felt sure that Nardo loved\nher and then suddenly he had changed and would not notice her at all.\n\nThe fairy listened to the Princess and told her not to worry; that she\nwas sure there was something wrong; that Nardo still loved her, and at\nmidnight the next night she would return, and away she flittered in the\nmoonlight, leaving the Princess happier than she had been for many a\nday.\n\nIt took the fairy but a short time to unravel the mystery, and the next\nnight when the Princess went to her window she found the little fairy\nwaiting for her, perched on the sill.\n\n\u201cDo not grieve, my Princess,\u201d said the fairy. \u201cNardo still loves you;\nit is all the work of his wicked brother Stephen, who loved you, too.\u201d\n\nThen she told the Princess the story of the ring and how Stephen had\ngot the old witch to get it for him, and that if he had given her the\ngold he would have married the Princess in spite of all she could have\ndone.\n\n\u201cBut if Nardo still loves me, why does he keep away? Why does he not\ntell me of his love?\u201d asked the Princess.\n\n\u201cHe will, my dear Princess, when he remembers,\u201d said the fairy, \u201cand\nthere is where the difficult part comes in.\n\n\u201cWe must get the ring or the stone. It is only the stone that holds the\ncharm, but that is still on Stephen\u2019s finger, and to get near to him\nthe dragon must be overpowered.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! I will send all my father\u2019s soldiers,\u201d said the Princess; \u201cthey\ncan kill the dragon, I am sure.\u201d\n\n\u201cNot a dragon that belongs to a witch,\u201d said the fairy, \u201cand if my plan\nworks, and I think it will, we shall not need soldiers. I will be back\nbefore the sun rises. Wait for me.\u201d\n\nAway went the fairy to her Queen and again asked to be changed into a\nnightingale. \u201cIt is to help some one in trouble, dear Queen,\u201d she said,\n\u201cand never again will I ask to change my form.\u201d\n\nThe Queen granted her wish and away flew the nightingale toward the\nsea, where lived the witch and the dragon.\n\nWhen she was near the cave she began her sweetest song, and as she flew\nnearer she sang more sweetly and softly until she alighted on a tree\nright over the rock where lay the dragon and the sleeping Stephen.\n\nThe eyes of the dragon were wide open, watching on all sides for any\none who might dare attempt to rescue Stephen.\n\nWhen he heard the sweet tones of the nightingale the dragon raised its\nhead and looked around, but, seeing only a bird perched over his head,\nhe had no fear. Softly, sweetly, the nightingale trilled and sang its\nsoothing song until at last the dragon began to nod its head, and after\na while it dropped to the ground, fast asleep.\n\nThe poor nightingale was so worn out with singing so long that it\nhardly had strength to fly down to where Stephen was sleeping.\n\nVery carefully it did so with only a soft waving of its wings, and then\nits bill plucked from the ring on Stephen\u2019s hand the red stone, and off\nit flew with the stone held tightly in its bill.\n\nOnly once did it stop, and that was to sip a drop of dew from a\nrose-bush where it alighted to rest, and then on it went to the palace\nwhere Nardo was sleeping and flew through the window of his bedroom.\n\nNardo\u2019s hand was open on the pillow beside his face, and into his hand\nthe nightingale placed the red stone and flew away to the Princess.\n\n\u201cYour lover will be here with the sun,\u201d she said, \u201cand as it is not far\nfrom that time I must fly to my Queen.\n\n\u201cFarewell, my kind Princess. May you be happy with your Prince, and if\nyou are as good and kind as a Queen as you were when a Princess I shall\nnever regret my night\u2019s work.\u201d\n\nThe Princess thanked her again and again, but the fairy was away before\nshe had finished, and just then the sun peeped through the trees and\nat the same time the sound of horses\u2019 hoofs was heard coming along the\nroad.\n\nThe Princess\u2019s cheeks grew red, for she knew it was her lover, and when\nshe reached the palace door there he was just riding up.\n\nWhen the spell was broken for Nardo it released poor Stephen from the\npower of the witch; the sea rolled in and the wind shrieked among the\ntrees and the next thing Stephen knew he was running through the forest\ntoward his home.\n\nOf course, he was too much ashamed to tell of all that had happened to\nhim and said he had been hunting in the forest and lost his way; and\nNardo and the Princess kept his secret and did not let him know they\nwere aware of his treachery, and as he grew to be a better man as the\nyears went by, they were glad they did.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOLD THREE HEADS\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a little girl named Lucy. She was always\nopening doors and looking into rooms that did not belong to her, and it\nmade her appear very rude.\n\nOne day Lucy was sent to the woods to gather berries, but instead of\nfilling her basket as she should have done she walked about, looking\nbehind rocks and trees, thinking that she might find an opening in some\nof them.\n\n\u201cBetter look out for Old Three Heads,\u201d said a squirrel, as he ran past\nher.\n\n\u201cI wonder what he means,\u201d she said. \u201cI must keep on looking, for\nsomewhere around here Old Three Heads must live, or the squirrel would\nnot have said \u2018look out,\u2019 and I want to see what he is like.\u201d\n\n\u201cBetter look out for Old Three Heads,\u201d called a bird from the limb of a\ntree.\n\n\u201cBetter look out for Old Three Heads,\u201d called a rabbit as he ran into\nhis hole.\n\n\u201cI wish some one would tell me where Old Three Heads lives,\u201d said Lucy,\n\u201cinstead of just saying look out for him.\u201d\n\nJust then she came to a path which led through thick bushes.\n\n\u201cI will see where this leads,\u201d she said. \u201cPerhaps it leads to Old Three\nHeads\u2019 house.\u201d\n\nLucy walked along the path and soon she saw a castle standing among\nthe trees. Most little girls would have hesitated about going into a\nstrange house, but Lucy\u2019s curiosity was so great she thought only of\nseeing the inside of the castle. She walked up the steps and opened the\ndoor. The hall was long and dark, but she was not afraid. So she closed\nthe door and walked along.\n\nThere were many doors on each side of the hall, and Lucy opened one\nand looked in. In one corner of the room was a horse with three heads.\n\u201cWhat a queer place to keep a horse!\u201d thought Lucy.\n\n\u201cBetter look out for Old Three Heads,\u201d said the horse, shaking all\nthree heads and looking sad.\n\n\u201cHow did you get three heads?\u201d asked Lucy.\n\n\u201cI looked in the window one day when Old Three Heads was eating his\ndinner, and he saw me. You better look out,\u201d he warned her again.\n\nLucy thought of the other doors and decided to keep on, for she was\nvery anxious to see what was behind all of them.\n\nShe opened another door and a three-headed cat ran toward her. \u201cYou\nhave only one head!\u201d said the cat, in a tone of surprise. \u201cYou better\nlook out for Old Three Heads.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not afraid,\u201d said Lucy, as she left the room and opened another\ndoor. In this room was a three-headed dog. He looked at her and said,\n\u201cBetter look out for Old Three Heads; you will find him if you keep on\nopening doors.\u201d\n\n\u201cI want to see him,\u201d answered Lucy. \u201cWhere is he?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou better run while you can,\u201d said the dog, \u201cbut you will find him if\nyou keep on, and then you will wish you had taken my advice.\u201d\n\nBut Lucy only laughed and went to another door. In that room she saw a\nthree-headed cow.\n\n\u201cWhat a queer place!\u201d she said. \u201cI never saw animals living in a house\nbefore. Why are the animals kept in the house?\u201d she asked the cow.\n\n\u201cWe belong to Old Three Heads,\u201d replied the cow, \u201cand every creature\nthat comes in this castle has three heads. You better look out for Old\nThree Heads,\u201d she warned her.\n\n\u201cWhy did you come in, if you knew you had to wear three heads?\u201d asked\nLucy.\n\n\u201cWe wanted to see what was in here, just as you did,\u201d replied the cow.\n\u201cThe cat found the door open and she walked in to look about; the dog\nsaw her enter and he followed. Old Three Heads saw them. You better\nlook out,\u201d she warned Lucy again.\n\nBut Lucy was more curious than ever, and she kept on with her questions.\n\n\u201cHow did you and the horse get three heads?\u201d she asked. \u201cYou did not\nwalk in the door, did you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNot at first,\u201d answered the cow. \u201cThe horse put his head in the window\none day when it was open and Old Three Heads saw him.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd you,\u201d asked Lucy again, for the cow stopped and hung her three\nheads, \u201cwhat did you do?\u201d\n\n\u201cI saw some green corn on the window-sill,\u201d the cow confessed, very\nslowly, \u201cand I put my head in the window to get it and Old Three Heads\nsaw me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat happens when he sees you?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cWait and see,\u201d replied the cow. \u201cBut I have warned you; you\u2019d better\nlook out for Old Three Heads and run while you can.\u201d\n\nAs that was all the information she could get from the cow, Lucy told\nher she would find out for herself how they all got their three heads,\nand she went to the next door and opened it.\n\nThe room was dark, and at first Lucy could not see anything, but some\none said, \u201cWho-who,\u201d and as the sound came from a corner of the room\nLucy went in and looked about.\n\nAs her eyes became accustomed to the darkness she saw perched on the\nback of a chair an owl with three heads.\n\n\u201cWell, of all things!\u201d exclaimed Lucy. \u201cHow did so wise a bird as you\nhappen to be caught by Old Three Heads?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cWho-who are you?\u201d stuttered the owl. \u201cYou-you better look out for Old\nThree Heads,\u201d he warned Lucy.\n\n\u201cTell me how it happened that you have three heads,\u201d asked Lucy,\nignoring the warning as she had before.\n\n\u201cWho-who are you?\u201d stuttered the owl again.\n\n\u201cI am a girl,\u201d said Lucy. \u201cCan\u2019t you see?\u201d\n\n\u201cBet-bet-better look out,\u201d warned the owl again.\n\n\u201cOh dear!\u201d said Lucy. \u201cYou are worse than the others. I am going to\nfind Old Three Heads and find out, if I can, how all of you got three\nheads.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho-who,\u201d said the owl as she went out of the room.\n\nLucy opened another door, and there on the throne in this room sat a\ngiant with three heads. She had found Old Three Heads at last.\n\nFor the first time since she entered the castle Lucy was frightened\nwhen she saw the curious-looking creature; but there was no chance to\nescape; it was too late.\n\nThe giant looked at her a second, and then he called out to his\nattendants, who all had three heads but were much smaller men: \u201cBring\nthe intruder before me.\u201d\n\n\u201cBring two heads,\u201d he said, when Lucy stood before him.\n\nWhen the heads were brought one had black hair and one red.\n\n\u201cI do not want those heads,\u201d said Lucy; \u201cthey do not match my hair.\nCan\u2019t I have two golden-haired heads?\u201d\n\n\u201cThose are all I have,\u201d said the giant, \u201cand you will have to wear\nthem. On with them,\u201d he said, and the attendants fastened the heads on\nLucy\u2019s shoulders, one on each side of her own head.\n\n\u201cI wish I could see myself,\u201d said Lucy, still curious.\n\n\u201cTake her to her room,\u201d said the giant, and Lucy was taken to one of\nthe rooms that opened out of the long hall.\n\nWhen she was alone she looked around the room and saw a mirror hanging\non the wall. She ran and looked into it. The new heads looked very\ncross.\n\n\u201cWhat is the matter with you?\u201d asked Lucy.\n\n\u201cI do not like red hair or light hair,\u201d said the dark-haired head.\n\n\u201cAnd I do not like dark hair or light hair,\u201d said the head with red\nhair.\n\n\u201cI cannot help that,\u201d said Lucy. \u201cI did not want either of you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will not stay here,\u201d said the dark-haired head.\n\n\u201cNeither will I,\u201d said the head with the red hair.\n\nAnd they began to pull away. Lucy bent first to one side and then to\nthe other, with the pulling of the quarrelsome heads.\n\n\u201cDo keep quiet,\u201d she said at last. \u201cI am sorry I said anything about\nthe color of your hair. If you will be good I\u2019ll try to get you\nsomething nice to eat.\u201d\n\nThis plan quieted the heads, and Lucy went to the door. It was not\nlocked, and she opened it and went out.\n\nFirst she went to the room where the horse was.\n\n\u201cHorse, can you tell me where I can get something to eat?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said the horse. \u201cGo to the fireplace and call up the chimney.\u201d\n\n\u201cI want my dinner,\u201d Lucy called.\n\nDown came a table with food upon it and a chair standing beside it.\nLucy seated herself and began to eat.\n\nThen the trouble began; every time she raised the fork to her mouth the\ndark head or the head with red hair would stretch out their necks and\ntake the food from the fork before Lucy could get a chance.\n\nThe new heads quarreled because each thought the other was getting more\nthan its share.\n\nLucy put her fork and knife on the table in despair. \u201cYou are a pair of\ngreedy heads,\u201d she said. \u201cI have not had a bite.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is all your fault,\u201d said one; \u201cyou should not have got us.\u201d\n\nLucy went into the room where the cat was and asked her if she would\ntell her where she could get something to drink.\n\n\u201cRap three times on the wall,\u201d said the cat.\n\nLucy tried this and a cup appeared filled with water. Lucy tried to put\nit up to her lips, but the head with the red hair reached it and drank\nall the water.\n\nLucy rapped again, and another cup appeared, and this time the head\nwith dark hair reached it and drank every drop of water before Lucy\ncould stop it.\n\nShe tried several times, but each time the greedy heads drank it\nbefore she could get her lips to the cup.\n\nShe went into the room where the dog was kept.\n\n\u201cWhere can I find a comfortable chair and a book?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cTap on the floor three times,\u201d the dog said.\n\nLucy did as he said, and a chair appeared, and beside it a table filled\nwith books. Lucy opened one of the books and looked at the pictures.\n\n\u201cI cannot see them,\u201d said the head with the red hair. Lucy moved the\nbook to one side.\n\n\u201cI should think you would remember that you have three heads,\u201d said the\nhead with the dark hair. \u201cHow do you expect me to see if you keep the\nbook over that side?\u201d\n\nLucy moved the book to the other side, and then the head with the red\nhair began to fuss again.\n\n\u201cOh dear!\u201d said Lucy. \u201cYou are the most selfish heads I ever saw. I\nwill go to the cow and see if she can help me,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cWhere can I find a bed?\u201d she asked the cow. \u201cThese heads have just\ntired me out.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will get you one,\u201d said the cow. \u201cMoo, moo!\u201d she called up and from\nthe floor came a bed.\n\nLucy lay down upon it. \u201cI do not want to go to sleep,\u201d said the head\nwith dark hair. \u201cI do,\u201d said Lucy. \u201cI am tired and I am going to sleep;\nyou can stay awake if you wish to.\u201d\n\n\u201cI do not feel tired,\u201d said the head with red hair; \u201cI feel like\nsinging,\u201d and it began to sing so loudly that Lucy had to get up.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll go to the owl and see if he can help me,\u201d she said, as she went\nout of the room.\n\nShe went into the room where the owl was and opened the window. The owl\nhid its three heads.\n\n\u201cYou are such a wise bird,\u201d she said to the owl, \u201cI wish you would tell\nme what to do with these new heads; they quarrel all the time.\u201d\n\n\u201cWho-who!\u201d said the owl.\n\n\u201cI cannot understand how any one could ever think you were wise,\u201d said\nLucy; \u201call you can say is who-who. I wish I could be rid of these\ntroublesome heads.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy don\u2019t you, then?\u201d said the head with red hair. \u201cWe come off if you\npull hard.\u201d\n\n\u201cI never thought of that,\u201d said Lucy, pulling at the head with red\nhair.\n\nOff it came and flew through the window.\n\nThen she tried the other and it came off and followed the other through\nthe window.\n\n\u201cWould you like to be rid of your extra heads?\u201d Lucy asked the owl.\n\n\u201cWho-who,\u201d answered the owl.\n\n\u201cYou silly bird!\u201d said Lucy, pulling at his extra heads. Off they came\nand followed Lucy\u2019s heads.\n\n\u201cLet\u2019s go to the cow,\u201d said Lucy, \u201cand take off her heads.\u201d\n\nThe owl tried to follow her, but bumped against the wall and fell to\nthe floor.\n\n\u201cOh, I forgot that you could not see in the daytime,\u201d said Lucy. \u201cI\u2019ll\nput you on my shoulder,\u201d she said, picking him up from the floor.\n\n\u201cWould you like to get rid of your extra heads?\u201d Lucy asked the cow.\n\n\u201cOf course I would,\u201d she said. \u201cHow did you get rid of yours?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will show you,\u201d said Lucy, pulling at the cow\u2019s extra heads. Off\nthey came and out the window they flew.\n\n\u201cWell, I never should have thought of that,\u201d said the cow.\n\n\u201cLet us go to the cat and the dog and the horse,\u201d said Lucy, \u201cand help\nthem to get rid of their troubles.\u201d\n\nEach of them said they had never thought to try pulling the extra heads\noff, and they were very grateful to Lucy for helping them.\n\nThe heads all flew out of the window and that was the last that was\never seen of them.\n\n\u201cI think we should get out of this place as soon as we can,\u201d said Lucy.\n\u201cOld Three Heads might get us again.\u201d\n\nThey hurried out of the house and soon were in the woods a long way\nfrom the castle.\n\n\u201cDid Old Three Heads get you?\u201d asked the animals they met in the woods.\n\nLucy told them he did. \u201cBut he will not bother you,\u201d she said, \u201cif\nyou keep away from his house, and I warn you that three heads are a\nnuisance, and you may not be so fortunate as we have been in escaping\nfrom them.\u201d\n\n\u201cDid you have to feed them all?\u201d asked a squirrel.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d answered Lucy, \u201cor at least I tried to, but they quarreled so\nthat I had to go without.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will never go near Old Three Heads,\u201d said the squirrel. \u201cI have all\nI can do to take care of one head.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have had my lesson,\u201d said Lucy. \u201cI shall never look into rooms again\nwhen the door is closed, for one head is all I care to have.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE ENCHANTED BOAT\n\n\nOnce there was a King who had a very beautiful daughter, and when the\nQueen died the King married a woman who had a son named Tito because he\nthought this new Queen would be kind and good to the Princess.\n\nBut in this the King was greatly mistaken, for the Queen thought only\nof her son and wished to make him King.\n\nShe told the King that if he would make the Princess marry Tito that he\nneed have no fear about the future of his kingdom, for he could be sure\nher son would make a good king.\n\n\u201cAnd a woman should not be Queen and rule alone such a big kingdom as\nyou possess,\u201d said the scheming Queen.\n\nThe King, who thought more of his daughter\u2019s happiness than anything in\nthe world, called the Princess and told her of his plan. \u201cMarry your\nstepmother\u2019s son and all will be well with you and I can die happy,\u201d he\ntold the Princess.\n\nBut the Princess did not want to marry Tito, for she did not love him,\nand when she found that her father would not listen to her pleadings,\nbut told her that very night she should wed Tito, the little Princess\nran out of the palace and threw herself face down on the grass and wept.\n\nWhen it came time for the wedding she was nowhere to be found, and\nthough the palace and the gardens were searched, it was all in vain.\nThe Princess had disappeared.\n\nWhat had happened was that while the Princess was crying and bemoaning\nher sad lot she heard a sound, and when she looked up there was a lake\nshe had never seen at the foot of the garden, and on it a beautiful\nboat with a sail of silk the color of gold.\n\nThere was no one in the boat, and the Princess, forgetting her sorrow\nin her wonderment at this strange sight, ran down to the water\u2019s edge,\nwhere another surprise awaited her. For the boat came sailing straight\nto the place where she stood.\n\nThe Princess stepped in, and away went the boat out over the blue\nwater, and in a few minutes she was in a country she had never seen\nbefore.\n\nThe little Princess was not frightened, for she felt sure nothing worse\ncould befall her than if she stayed at the palace and had to marry\nTito, and, while she was sorry to leave her father, she could not be\nhappy with a man she did not love.\n\nThe lake led to a river, along the banks of which were high hills and\nbeautiful woods, and the Princess was so lost in admiring the beauty of\nthe scene she did not notice they were approaching a castle until her\nboat sailed under a white marble bridge, which soon brought her at the\nsteps which led into the garden of the castle.\n\nHere the strange boat stopped and the Princess knew she was expected to\nget out.\n\nShe walked up the steps into a garden filled with pink and white roses,\nwith a fountain of pearl and gold in the center which threw a perfumed\nspray all about, which filled the air with fragrance.\n\nThere were no paths in the garden, but the grass was like green velvet\nand yellow birds flittered among the small green trees and sang sweet\nsongs.\n\nThrough the roses and trees the Princess saw the entrance to the\ncastle, and on the broad steps of marble and gold came a queer-looking\ncreature followed by more servants than the Princess had ever seen in\nher father\u2019s palace.\n\nThe Princess did not feel at all afraid, although the strange-looking\ncreature had the body of a beautiful leopard, while his head was that\nof the handsomest youth the Princess had ever beheld.\n\nHis hair was dark and as he came nearer to her the Princess saw that\nhis eyes were deep blue, the kindest eyes she had ever seen.\n\nHe held out one huge paw toward her and then withdrew it and said, \u201cI\nfear you will not care to take the paw of such a beast as I am, but I\ncan assure you I will not harm you, Princess.\u201d\n\n\u201cI am not afraid,\u201d said the Princess, putting out her hand, \u201cbut tell\nme how you know that I am a princess?\u201d\n\nAfter the leopard-man had taken her hand he led her up the steps,\nand as they walked along he told her that no one but a princess could\nhave entered the boat. \u201cIt had sailed for many a year in quest of the\nprincess who would be willing to sail away in it,\u201d he told her, \u201cand as\nonly a princess can help me, no one but a princess could get into the\nenchanted boat.\u201d\n\nWhen the Princess and the leopard-man entered the castle he told her\nhis strange story. He was a prince who had been changed by a witch into\nthe shape she saw, and the only thing that could save him was a gold\nroot which grew far up on a blue mountain-peak.\n\n\u201cBut that root must be brought to me by a princess and no one else,\u201d\nsaid the leopard-man, \u201cso you see how impossible it is that I shall\never regain my own shape.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you will tell me where this blue mountain-peak can be found,\u201d said\nthe Princess, \u201cI will undertake the task, for I do not wish to return\nto my father\u2019s palace, and I would like to help you.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe enchanted boat will take you if you really wish to try,\u201d said\nthe leopard-man, \u201cbut I fear it is a task you are far from fitted to\nundertake, for no one can go with you; that would break the spell.\u201d\n\nThe Princess, however, told him she would try, and at once set out on\nthe strange errand, the boat sailing along the river and then out into\nthe open sea.\n\nBy and by the Princess saw on the side of a high mountain, the top of\nwhich was blue, something growing which shone like gold, and she knew\nit must be the golden root for which she was seeking.\n\nThe enchanted boat sailed close to the foot of the mountain and\nstopped, and the Princess knew she was to get out, but how was she to\nreach the golden root which grew far up on the mountain?\n\nThe Princess stepped out of the boat on the rocks and sat down to\nthink what she could do, for to climb up the steep, smooth side of the\nmountain was out of the question; if only she could fly she thought she\nmight reach it.\n\nJust then she heard a swishing sound, and, looking up, she saw a big\neagle coming toward her with a broken leg.\n\nThe bird fell at her feet, and, as so many strange things had already\nhappened, the Princess did not feel afraid of the big creature, for\nshe felt sure that in some way he would help her.\n\n\u201cOh, you poor hurt bird!\u201d she said, tearing off a piece of her dress\nto bind up its leg; then from a stream falling from the mountain she\nbrought in the hollow of her hand water for him to drink.\n\nAt night the Princess took off her cloak and covered the eagle, while\nshe huddled close to the mountain and behind a rock to keep the cold\nfrom herself.\n\nIn the morning she was surprised to find the eagle had flown away, but\non the rocks was her cloak, and two feathers from the wings of the bird\nlay beside it.\n\nThe Princess put on her cloak and took up one of the feathers, and to\nher surprise the hand that held the feather flew up over her head.\n\nShe picked up the other feather with the other hand and up she was\ncarried, her cloak spreading out like a pair of wings.\n\nWith the feathers she guided herself until she alighted on the top of\nthe blue-peaked mountain.\n\nShe laid the feathers down and began to dig for the root which the\nPrince had said was the only thing that could save him.\n\nWhen she had enough of the golden root she again took the feathers, one\nin each hand, and flew down to the water, where the enchanted boat,\nwhich had sailed away when she left it, now stood waiting.\n\nThe feathers from the eagle she put carefully on the rocks, but the\nbird was nowhere to be seen, and, knowing that it must have been a part\nof the magic plan to help her, the Princess sailed away, feeling sure\nthe eagle was safe and his broken leg quite well.\n\nWhen she reached the castle of the leopard-man he was on the steps to\nmeet her and without waiting to enter the castle he took the golden\nroot from her and tasted it.\n\nThe leopard body disappeared and there he stood before her, a tall,\nhandsome youth whom any maiden, even a princess, would fall in love\nwith.\n\nThe Princess told him her story and the Prince told her they would go\nat once to her father and he would ask for her hand, for he had already\nasked for her heart and found that it was his.\n\nThe enchanted boat took them back to the garden of the King, where\nthey found that the Queen, when she knew that her son had lost the\nchance of becoming King when the Princess disappeared, had put the King\nin a dungeon under the palace and she and her son had become the rulers\nof the kingdom.\n\nThe Prince quickly undid all this mischief by setting the King free,\nand when he found out how treacherous his Queen really was he sent her,\nwith her son, away from the palace and told them never to return or\nthey would both be put in prison.\n\nHe was a kind-hearted King and gave them gold to care for them the rest\nof their days, and it did not take them long to leave the palace, you\nmay be sure, for already the wedding feast was being made ready for the\nmarriage of the Princess and her Prince.\n\nThe enchanted boat now was not needed, and that with the lake\ndisappeared, but when the Princess set out with her husband to go to\nthe castle she found that it was within her father\u2019s kingdom that the\nPrince had lived.\n\nAt the end of the castle garden where the Prince and the Princess live\nis a long stone seat, and at one end grows a bush of golden flowers,\nthe like of which no one ever saw before, and at the other is the\nfigure of a big eagle made of gold and bronze, but only the Princess\nand her husband know what these things mean.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNICKO AND THE OGRE\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived on the banks of a deep, wide river an ogre\nwho ate all the fish in the river, never letting the people who lived\nin the town come near the river to fish.\n\nAnd this was not all the ogre did. He would make such a noise when he\nslept that all the children were frightened so they could not sleep at\nnight, and the people decided at last that something must be done.\n\nOne day a youth named Nicko said he would go to an old witch who lived\nin the forest and ask her what could be done.\n\nSo to this witch the youth went. \u201cThere is only one way to get rid\nof the ogre,\u201d she told Nicko, \u201cand that secret is known only to a\nmermaid, who comes up from the river every night and sings to the ogre.\u201d\n\nOf course the ogre would see Nicko if he went to the mermaid when she\nwas singing, so he decided to have a suit made of green and silver that\nwould make him look like a huge fish and dive into the river, hoping in\nthat way to find the home of the mermaid and learn the secret she knew.\n\nOne night after the mermaid had finished her song to the ogre, Nicko\nslipped from behind a rock where he was hidden, dressed in his\ngreen-and-silver suit, and swam to the place he had seen the mermaid go\nunder the water.\n\nDown, down he went, and just before he reached the bottom of the river\nthe mermaid turned around and saw him.\n\nShe had never seen such a beautiful big fish before and the silver\nglistened and shone so in the moonlight that the mermaid was filled\nwith envy.\n\n\u201cOh, beautiful fish, tell me where you got your shining coat! I must\nhave a dress like it at once,\u201d she said, swimming along beside Nicko.\n\n\u201cI will tell you, beautiful mermaid, willingly, and I will bring you a\ndress of wonderful brightness,\u201d said Nicko, \u201cif you will tell me how\nthe people who live in the river town can get rid of the ogre you sing\nto every night.\u201d\n\nThe mermaid no longer smiled when she heard this; her face looked sad\nand unhappy.\n\n\u201cThat can never be done; for the way to be rid of the ogre is beyond\nmy power, although I know the secret,\u201d answered the mermaid; \u201cbut you\ncannot help me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, if I cannot help you, at least tell me how it could be brought\nabout that the river folk could be rid of their trouble.\u201d\n\n\u201cA mortal must come to this river and live here,\u201d said the mermaid.\n\u201cAnd he must marry me. Now you see how impossible it is for any one to\nlearn the rest of the secret, for who would marry a mermaid and live at\nthe bottom of the river?\u201d\n\nNicko had fallen in love with the pretty mermaid at first sight, and\nwhen he heard this he said: \u201cShow me your home, pretty maid. Perhaps I\ncan help you, even if I am only a fish.\u201d\n\nTo the very bottom of the river the mermaid took Nicko, and when they\nstood on the white sand before her home of crystal Nicko said:\n\n\u201cMermaid, I love you! Behold your mortal lover. Will you be my wife?\u201d\n\nAs he spoke he threw off the green-and-silver costume he wore, and\nthere stood the mortal who had come to woo her.\n\nThe pretty little mermaid blushed and hung her head. \u201cI did not know; I\ncould never have guessed you were a mortal,\u201d she stammered.\n\n\u201cOf course you couldn\u2019t,\u201d said Nicko, almost forgetting why he was\nthere, he was so very much in love with the pretty creature. \u201cNow where\nshall I find your father?\u201d he asked.\n\nThe little mermaid clapped her tiny hands, and from under the rock came\nmany little silver-colored fish, swimming all around her.\n\n\u201cRun quickly and tell the dolphin to find Father Neptune,\u201d said the\nmermaid.\n\nSoon the water began to roll and tumble about, and Nicko saw swimming\ntoward them two sea-horses drawing a chariot in which stood a man\ncarrying in one hand a curious and big three-pronged fork.\n\n\u201cHe is Father Neptune,\u201d said the mermaid. \u201cAsk him for me if you wish.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, young mortal, what do you wish here at the bottom of my river?\u201d\nasked Father Neptune.\n\nAt first Nicko did not know what to say, for Father Neptune was very\nbig and stern-looking; but when he saw the little mermaid swim up to\nhim and lean her head against his shoulder he took courage and spoke.\n\n\u201cI wish to marry your daughter,\u201d he said, \u201cand live at the bottom of\nthe river.\u201d\n\nFather Neptune began to smile. \u201cThe spell is broken for you, my dear,\u201d\nhe said to the little mermaid, \u201cand I am glad. I would have helped you\nbefore this if I could, but it was not in my power.\n\n\u201cShe is yours, mortal youth,\u201d said Neptune. \u201cI pronounce you man and\nwife. And now we will see what can be done to get rid of that awful\nogre on the bank of the river. He has bothered me so much, I shall be\nglad to have him gone.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow we are married,\u201d said the mermaid to Nicko, \u201cI can tell you I\nam not a mermaid at all, but a king\u2019s daughter who was changed into\na mermaid to sing for the ogre because my father did not invite the\ndreadful ogre to a feast at his palace one night.\n\n\u201cThe ogre cast a spell over me which could be broken only when a mortal\nshould come to the bottom of the river and ask me to marry him, which\nthe ogre thought never could happen.\n\n\u201cNow it is my turn to have the ogre changed into another form, and if\nFather Neptune will consent I will ask the old forest witch to change\nhim into a big rock in the middle of the river.\u201d\n\n\u201cVery well, my dear,\u201d said Father Neptune, \u201ca big rock will be an\naddition to my river, and when I run in here to rest my sea-horses will\nhave a place to play and my dolphins a place to sit.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood-by, Father Neptune,\u201d said the mermaid. \u201cI shall no longer wear\nthis form after to-night, for when I touch the land I shall be a mortal\nagain.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will take you to the shore,\u201d said Father Neptune; \u201cjump in, both of\nyou.\u201d It took only a minute for the sea-horses to dash to the top of\nthe river, and another for them to bring the chariot to the bank of the\nriver near the forest.\n\nNicko jumped out and lifted the little mermaid to the ground, which she\nno sooner touched than before him stood a beautiful young girl on two\ndainty feet.\n\nWhen he looked around Father Neptune was gone and the Princess (for we\nmust call her so now) said: \u201cWe must hurry to the witch and tell her\nbefore sunrise, or the ogre will have another day in which to bother\nthe river-town people.\u201d\n\nWhen the old witch saw the Princess she began to laugh. \u201cHa-ha!\u201d she\nsaid. \u201cNow the ogre will be in my power. Leave him to me, my dear. I\nwill change him into any shape you wish.\u201d\n\nThe Princess told her she wished him changed into a huge rock to be\nplaced in the middle of the river.\n\n\u201cCome along, my pretties; you shall see it done,\u201d said the old witch,\nclapping her hands as she spoke.\n\nUp from behind the cave jumped a big broomstick, and on it hopped the\nwitch and the Princess and Nicko, and off they flew to the place where\nthe ogre sat fishing by the river.\n\nWhen they were near enough for the old witch to touch him with her\ncrooked cane she leaned over and tapped him on the head and said:\n\n  \u201cIn the middle of the river,\n  To dwell there forever,\n    A rock you shall be\n    So all folks may see.\u201d\n\nA peal of thunder that shook the woods around was heard, and then a\nloud splash.\n\nWhen the mist of the splashing water cleared Nicko and the Princess saw\na huge black rock in the middle of the river, and the next thing they\nknew they were flying through the air with the old witch again.\n\n\u201cHere is your home, Princess,\u201d said the witch at last. \u201cThey will be\nwaiting for you and your husband, for I sent word you had been rescued,\nand a feast is being made in honor of your marriage.\u201d\n\nBefore Nicko or his bride could thank the witch she was far above their\nheads and flying away.\n\nThe King and the Queen were overjoyed to have their daughter again and\ngave Nicko such a welcome that he quite forgot his home by the river\nand never returned.\n\nBut this did not matter, as he was an orphan, but no one thought of him\nas being the cause of the ogre\u2019s disappearance. The people in the river\ntown knew the ogre had gone, and they cared not who brought it about.\n\nNicko and the Princess lived happily ever after, and one day became the\nKing and Queen in the country where they lived.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE GINGERBREAD ROCK\n\n\nOnce there lived near a forest a little boy named Hans and his sister,\nwhose name was Lisbeth.\n\nTheir parents had died when they were tiny and their uncle had taken\nthem because he thought they could do all the work and so save the\nmoney he would have to pay for a servant.\n\nBut this uncle was a miser and gave Hans and Lisbeth very little to\neat, so very little that often they went to bed very hungry.\n\nOne night when they were more hungry than usual, for they had worked\nhard all day, Hans whispered from his cot in one corner of the room:\n\u201cLisbeth, let us get up and go into the woods. It is bright moonlight\nand we may be able to find some berries. I am so hungry I cannot go to\nsleep.\u201d\n\nSo out of the house they went, making sure their uncle was sound\nasleep, and soon they were running along the path through the woods.\n\nSuddenly Hans stopped and drew Lisbeth back of a tree. \u201cLook!\u201d he said,\nin a whisper, \u201cthere is smoke coming from the side of that great rock.\u201d\n\nLisbeth looked and, sure enough, a tiny curling smoke was coming from a\nlittle opening in the rock.\n\nVery cautiously the children crept up to the rock and Hans stood on\ntiptoe and sniffed at the smoke.\n\n\u201cIt is a pipe,\u201d he whispered into Lisbeth\u2019s ear. \u201cSome one is inside\nthe rock, smoking.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo one could live inside a rock,\u201d said Lisbeth, creeping closer and\nstanding on a stone that she, too, might sniff at the curling smoke.\n\nLisbeth became curious when she discovered it was the smoke from a\npipe. \u201cYou could boost me, Hans,\u201d she said, \u201cand I could peep in and\nsee if some one is inside.\u201d\n\nHans told her he did not think it was nice to peek, but Lisbeth told\nhim it was very different from peeking into a house, and so Hans\nboosted her, for he was just as curious as his sister.\n\nLisbeth grasped the edge of the opening in the big rock with both her\nlittle hands, when, to the surprise of both children, it crumbled and\nLisbeth lost her balance.\n\nOver went both of them on the soft moss, and when they sat up Lisbeth\nheld something in both her little hands.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s cake!\u201d she said, with wide open eyes. \u201cNo; it is gingerbread!\u201d\nshe corrected, as she tasted it.\n\nAnd, sure enough, it was gingerbread; the rock, instead of being stone,\nwas all gingerbread.\n\nHans and Lisbeth forgot the smoke and their curiosity in the joy of\ntheir discovery, and soon both of them were eating as fast as they\ncould big pieces of the Gingerbread Rock.\n\nHans and Lisbeth were not greedy children. So when they had satisfied\ntheir hunger they ran off home without taking even a piece of the\ngingerbread with them to eat the next day.\n\nThey were soon in bed and asleep, and if each had not told to the other\nthe same story the next morning they would have been sure they had\ndreamed it all.\n\nThe next night they were hungry, as usual, and when the moon was well\nup in the sky out they crept again and ran into the woods.\n\nBut this time there was no curling smoke to guide them, and they tried\nseveral rocks before they found the gingerbread. For, strange to say,\nthe place they had broken away did not show at all and there were so\nmany rocks the children could not find it.\n\nBut at last Hans cried out with joy, \u201cHere it is, Lisbeth!\u201d and held up\na big piece of gingerbread he had broken off.\n\nLisbeth, in her hurry to get a piece, broke off much more than she\nintended, and, to the surprise of both children, a big opening was\nmade, large enough for them to step through.\n\n\u201cPerhaps we may find out where the smoke came from,\u201d said Lisbeth,\nsuddenly remembering the smoke they had seen the night before.\n\nEating as they went, both of them stepped inside the rock and walked\ninto a big room where, by the table, sat an old man asleep.\n\nHis glasses had tumbled off his nose and the pipe he had been smoking\nwas on the floor beside him, where it had tumbled. His lamp had gone\nout and his paper had slipped from his hand.\n\nLisbeth and Hans looked at him and then at the gingerbread they held.\n\u201cIt is his house,\u201d said Hans.\n\n\u201cAnd we are eating it up! What shall we do?\u201d asked Lisbeth, looking\nvery much frightened.\n\n\u201cBetter wake him up and tell him,\u201d said Hans, \u201cand perhaps he will let\nus bake some more and mend the place we have broken.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll pick up his paper and pipe and brush up the ashes,\u201d said tidy\nlittle Lisbeth, \u201cand you light his lamp, and perhaps he will forgive us\nwhen we tell him we did not know it was his house we were eating.\u201d\n\nBut instead of being cross when he awoke, the old man smiled at them\nand asked, \u201cDid you eat all you wanted of the gingerbread?\u201d\n\nHans told him they were very sorry and that they did not know any one\nlived inside when they ate the gingerbread.\n\n\u201cWe will bake you some more and patch the place we made,\u201d said Lisbeth.\n\n\u201cRight through that door you will find the kitchen,\u201d said the old man.\n\u201cRun along, if you like, and bake it.\u201d\n\nAnd such a kitchen as Hans and Lisbeth found, for Hans went along, you\nmay be sure, to fix the fire for his sister!\n\nThe shelves and cupboards were filled with flour and butter and eggs\nand milk and cream and meat and pies, cookies, puddings, but no\ngingerbread.\n\n\u201cWe will get breakfast first for the man,\u201d said Lisbeth, \u201cfor I am sure\nhe must be hungry and it is growing light. Look out the window.\u201d\n\nTo Hans\u2019s surprise there was a window. Then he saw a door, and when he\nlooked out he found they were in a pretty white house with green blinds\nand not a rock, as he had supposed.\n\nHans and Lisbeth became so interested in cooking they quite forgot\ntheir own home or the unkind uncle who almost starved them, and when\nthe breakfast was ready they put it on the table beside the old man.\n\n\u201cI thought you would like your breakfast,\u201d explained Lisbeth, \u201cand now\nwe will make the gingerbread and repair your house.\u201d\n\n\u201cAfter breakfast you may, if you like,\u201d said the old man, \u201cbut first\nboth of you must eat with me.\u201d\n\nMy, how Hans and Lisbeth did eat, for while Lisbeth had cooked only\nham and eggs enough for the old man\u2019s breakfast, there seemed to be\nquite enough for them all.\n\nAnd while they are eating we will see what the miser uncle was doing,\nfor he had called the children at break of day and they were not to be\nfound.\n\nIt happened that the ground was damp and the uncle saw the prints of\ntheir feet from the door to the road and along the road to the path in\nthe woods, and then the soft leaves and moss did not show where they\nwent.\n\nThinking they had run away and gone into the woods, their uncle hurried\nalong, calling their names at the top of his voice.\n\nAs he came near the Gingerbread Rock the children heard him and began\nto tremble. \u201cIt is uncle,\u201d said Hans. \u201cHe will be very angry because we\nhave not done our work.\u201d\n\n\u201cSit still,\u201d said the old man as the children started to leave the\ntable, and, taking his pipe, the old man sat down under a little\nopening like a tiny window and began to smoke.\n\nSoon the children could hear their uncle climbing up outside, and they\nknew he had seen the smoke just as they had the night before, and was\ntrying to look in.\n\nThen they heard him tumble just as Lisbeth had when the Gingerbread\nRock broke off in her hands, and they knew he had discovered it was\ngood to eat, for all was still for a few minutes.\n\nNothing was heard again for a long time, and then the sound of some one\nbreaking off big pieces was heard, and when Hans and Lisbeth climbed\nup, as the old man told them to do, and looked out of the opening they\nsaw their uncle with a shovel and a wheelbarrow.\n\nHe was breaking off big pieces of gingerbread and filling the barrow as\nfast as he could.\n\nBut when he had filled it he could not move it, for it was no longer\ngingerbread, but stone he had to carry.\n\nThe old man motioned to the children to keep quiet, and he opened a\ndoor they had not noticed and went out.\n\nJust what he said the children never knew. But they soon found out that\ninstead of being poor, as they had thought, their miser uncle had taken\nall the silver and gold their parents had left and hidden it in his\ncellar under the stones.\n\nThe miser uncle disappeared and was never seen again, and the old man,\nwho was really a wizard, told them where to go and what to do with\ntheir wealth. So they were happy ever after.\n\nOf course, they never forgot the Gingerbread Rock or the kind old man.\nBut because he was a wizard they knew they would never see him again,\nfor fairies and witches and wizards are all enchanted and disappear in\na very strange manner.\n\n\u201cOur good fortune came to us because we tried to be kind to the old\nman, I am sure,\u201d said Hans one day, when they were talking about the\nGingerbread Rock.\n\n\u201cYes, and because we wanted to repair the damage we had done he knew\nwe did not mean to do any harm,\u201d said Lisbeth; \u201cbut I shall never eat\ngingerbread again without thinking of him.\u201d\n\n\u201cNor I,\u201d said Hans.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPRINCE ROUL\u2019S BRIDE\n\n\nOnce upon a time in a far-off land there lived by an ocean an ogre and\nhis wife.\n\nTheir home was a cave in a big white rock which was so white it shone\nlike a light even in the darkest night, and many a ship had thought it\na harbor in a storm and been wrecked by the shore where the ogre lived.\n\nAnd this was the way he lived, because the ships carried rich cargoes\nand the ogre lost no time in helping himself to all that he could find,\nwhile the sailors were glad to escape in lifeboats when they saw the\ndreadful-looking ogre, who was so big and strong he could lift a ship.\n\nIn the same country, miles and miles away from the ogre\u2019s cave, lived\na rich king, who had a son named Roul, and one day while the Prince\nwas out hunting he passed in the woods a cabin where lived a poor girl\nnamed Leta.\n\nBut while Leta was very poor she was also very pretty, and as the\nPrince rode past he saw her at the window and raised his plumed hat and\nsmiled.\n\nThe next day Prince Roul again rode to the woods and this time he did\nnot pass Leta\u2019s cabin. He stopped his horse in front of her door and\nasked for a drink of water.\n\nHe had thought Leta pretty through the window, but when he beheld her\nthis time he completely lost his heart, and day after day he went to\nthe cottage and talked to pretty Leta.\n\nAfter a while the King told his son it was time he was looking for a\nwife, as he wanted to see him married before he died and know that his\nwife was worthy to be a queen.\n\nSo the King gave a feast which lasted for weeks, and princesses from\nfar and near were asked that Prince Roul might choose for himself a\nwife, for, as I said before, the King was very rich and all the kings\nin the other countries were anxious, of course, to have Prince Roul for\na son-in-law.\n\nBut Prince Roul did not choose a wife from among the beautiful\nprincesses, for he was already in love with pretty Leta, and while\nhe knew full well his father would never give his consent to their\nmarriage, he was determined he would wed no one else.\n\nOn the last day of the feast the King told him he would have to choose.\n\u201cYou have before you the beautiful women of the land,\u201d said the King.\n\u201cMake your choice at once, and the wedding shall take place this night.\u201d\n\n\u201cFather, you have not brought to me the most beautiful woman in the\nworld,\u201d replied Prince Roul. \u201cIf you had I should have asked her to be\nmy wife before this.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d asked the King. \u201cAll the princesses in the land are\nhere.\u201d\n\n\u201cAh yes, that is true,\u201d replied the Prince, \u201cbut the most beautiful\nwoman in the world is not a princess, as you think of them, but she is\na Princess for all that. Father, she is the Princess of my heart and I\ncannot marry any other woman.\u201d\n\nThen the King made the Prince tell him who she was that he loved so\ndearly, and when he learned Leta was a poor girl who lived in the woods\nclose by, he was very angry and told the Prince he should never wed\nher.\n\nAll the beautiful princesses were sent home, and the angry King called\nhis servants to him and commanded that they should go to the woods and\nfind this girl who had upset his plans for his son.\n\n\u201cFind her and chase her out of the woods; drive her into another land\nwhere the Prince will never find her,\u201d he told them.\n\nBut the King had forgotten one very important thing, and that was his\nson, for he should have made him a prisoner before he gave such an\norder. This he did not do, and Prince Roul, who overheard what his\nfather had said, lost no time in jumping on his horse and making his\nway to the woods ahead of the servants of the King.\n\n\u201cJump up behind me,\u201d he said to Leta when she came out of the cabin,\nand away they rode, the feet of Prince Roul\u2019s horse scarcely touching\nthe ground as they fled.\n\nThe King\u2019s servants were not long in discovering that the Prince had\noutwitted them, but they gave chase and away they went through the\nwoods, while poor frightened little Leta clung to the Prince, wondering\nwhat it was all about.\n\nOn and on they rode, but to Leta clinging to her lover, it seemed they\nflew over the ground and through the woods. She could see the bright\ntrimmings of the servants\u2019 coats glistening in the sun, and she knew\nthey were gaining on them.\n\nBy this time Prince Roul had told her that his father, the King, had\ntried to make him marry a princess, but that he would marry no one but\nthe girl he loved and that was herself.\n\nWhen Leta heard this she was more frightened than ever, for she knew\nnow that she was the cause of all this trouble and that the servants\nmust be chasing them to take Roul from her.\n\nLeta put her hand to her breast. Yes; it was there--the little paper\nwith the powder a fairy had given her a long time ago, because Leta\nhad left a beautiful rose on its stem she was about to pick when she\ndiscovered a little fairy sleeping inside the rose.\n\n\u201cIf you ever are in trouble, open this paper and throw the powder\naround you,\u201d the fairy had told her. \u201cIt will protect you from all\nharm.\u201d\n\nLeta had never before needed protection, and she was not thinking so\nmuch of herself now as of her lover, wondering what the King would do\nif he did not obey him.\n\nJust then the horse on which they were riding came to a full stop with\nsuch force that Leta was thrown to the ground and the next thing she\nknew over the side of a cliff leaped the horse with the Prince on his\nback.\n\nThe ocean was below, but before the horse and his rider had reached it\nLeta drew from her dress the magic powder and threw it over the cliff.\n\n\u201cMake the ocean dry,\u201d she screamed as she threw the powder, and, to her\nsurprise, as she threw it over she went, too, and the next instant she\nstood beside Prince Roul on dry land before a beautiful white castle\nand the ocean was miles away.\n\nThe cliff over which they had gone was the white rock where the ogre\nand the ogress lived, but when Leta threw the powder she had also\nsummoned the little fairy who had given it to her and she had changed\nthe big white cave into a castle.\n\nWhen the King\u2019s servants came dashing up to the cliff they saw nothing\nof the Prince or his horse, and the bottom of the cliff was so far\nbelow that they felt sure they had been destroyed, and they rode home\nto the King with the sad news.\n\nThe King\u2019s grief was deep and bitter, for he really loved his son very\nmuch, and now when it was too late he cried out that he wished he had\nlet the Prince marry the girl he loved; if only he had him alive that\nwould be all he would ask.\n\nThe little fairy did not make herself visible to either Leta or\nthe Prince, but if they could have seen with fairy eyes they would\nhave seen the fairy flying ahead of them into the castle, touching\neverything with her magic wand as she went.\n\nWhen Leta entered the door, which was open, for they had called and no\none answered, she stood spellbound by what she saw.\n\nThe long white marble hall had a floor of silver and marble and the\ndoors were silver also.\n\nThe Prince, who was used to beautiful things, was quite surprised at\nall the splendor, too.\n\nOpening a big silver door, they entered a room hung with silver\nand deep-blue curtains, and on a silver table Leta saw a big white\nenvelop. When she looked at it she read her own name.\n\nWondering who could have left it, she opened it and read: \u201cPrincess\nLeta, this is your castle; it is the gift of the fairies who love\nroses.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour father will not object now to having me for the wife of his son,\u201d\nshe said, with a blush, as she gave the note to the Prince, and then\nthey ran like two happy children through the beautiful castle that had\ncome to them so strangely.\n\nIn the deep dungeons under the castle they found all the wealth that\nthe ogre had taken from the ships, and after they had become used to\ntheir new home they gave it all to the poor, and so the ogre\u2019s stolen\nwealth did not help him, and while it could not be given back to those\nwho had lost it, it did much good.\n\nAnd what became of the old ogre and his wife, you are wondering. I will\ntell you. When the fairy changed the cave into a castle she changed the\nogre and ogress into two big silver statues in the big hall, one at\neach end, like huge mummies, holding a big light in their hands, which\nlighted the long hall of the castle.\n\nThen one day Prince Roul and Princess Leta rode away to the palace of\nthe old King, and when he saw his son he wept for joy and hugged him to\nhis heart, and Leta\u2019s pretty face won the old King\u2019s heart at once, so\nthey all lived happily ever after.\n\nBut while the old King wanted them to make the palace their home,\nPrince Roul and Leta could not give up their white castle by the sea,\nso part of the year they lived in the white castle, and when Prince\nRoul grew old and his grandchildren begged for a story, the King told\nthem of Prince Roul\u2019s bride and the wonderful leap they took over the\ncliff which forms the back of the castle.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSUNEV\n\n\nThere was once a poor peasant and his wife who had a very beautiful\ndaughter named Sunev. So beautiful was she that her hair rivaled the\nsun in its golden brightness. Her eyes were like the blue sky and her\nlips were so red that the roses beheld her with envy. Her skin was so\nwhite and fair that the winter snow was not whiter. Her teeth were like\nthe pearls. And when an old witch named Zitna, who lived in the forest\nnear by, saw Sunev one day she became enraged because she was more\nbeautiful than her own daughter.\n\nWitch Zitna had thought till then that her own daughter was the most\nbeautiful creature in the world, for the witch child was as dark as\nSunev was fair, and Witch Zitna wished the Prince of Esor, who was\nlooking for a wife, to wed her.\n\nShe knew that the Prince had sent out his servants far and near to look\nfor the most beautiful lady in the country for his wife, and if Sunev\nwere brought before the Prince of Esor her daughter would never be\nchosen.\n\nThere was only one thing to do, and that was to entice the lovely Sunev\ninto the forest and there change her into the shape of an animal and\nleave her to her fate.\n\nThe wicked Witch Zitna watched her chance, and one day, when Sunev\nwas sent into the forest to gather wood, Witch Zitna slipped out from\nbehind a tree and touched her with her magic stick, changing her into a\ntiger.\n\nPoor little Sunev was so frightened when she beheld her paws she fell\non the ground and began to moan and cry and all the birds and animals\nof the forest came running to see what had happened.\n\nThe witch, in her haste, forgot to deprive Sunev of her power to talk,\nso when the birds and animals wanted to know what was the matter she\ntold them she did not know, but something dreadful had happened and she\nwas no longer a girl, but a tiger, and was afraid to go home.\n\nThe birds and animals can understand any language, and, being now part\nanimal herself, Sunev had no trouble in understanding them.\n\n\u201cDo not cry,\u201d they told her. \u201cIt must be the work of Witch Zitna, but\nwe will protect you, and when the hunters come we will warn you so you\nmay hide until they go. Eat the berries and nuts and we will find you\na nice place to sleep, so dry your eyes and some way may be found to\nrestore you to your own shape.\u201d\n\nSunev did as the birds and animals told her, for there was no other\nway, and soon she became fond of her forest home and all her new\nfriends.\n\nWitch Zitna now proceeded to have her beautiful daughter seen by the\nmessengers of the Prince of Esor, and they carried her off to his\npalace, sure they had found at last a wife that would suit their royal\nmaster.\n\nOf course the parents of little Sunev looked everywhere for her, but\nshe could not be found, and when they saw the tiger coming toward\nthem they fled, for they did not know that the beautiful and graceful\ntiger-skin held their own child.\n\nThe Prince of Esor, when he saw the witch child, thought that she was\nbeautiful, but he had wished for a wife that was as fair, so he decided\nto wait, and sent out his servants again to look for a lady with golden\nhair.\n\nWitch Zitna was enraged when she heard this, for she knew that until\nher daughter was safely married to the Prince she was not safe.\n\nThe reason for this was that every night Venus, the goddess of beauty,\ncame to the forest to look for the graceful tiger the fairies had told\nher about, for, while Sunev looked like a tiger, she had more grace and\nbeauty than a real tiger, though they are graceful, too.\n\nVenus did not wish even a tiger to rival her in being graceful, so she\nwanted to see this wonderful animal that she might learn from it more\ncharm.\n\nOne night Sunev was walking through the forest in the moonlight when\nVenus, in the form of a tree, beheld her.\n\nKnowing at once that the graceful tiger was a mortal changed, she\ncalled her attendants, who were not far away, and, changing herself\nback to her own beautiful form, she spoke to Sunev.\n\n\u201cWhat is your name, beautiful creature, and why are you in this form?\u201d\nshe asked.\n\nIt was the first time any one but the birds and animals had spoken to\nher since Witch Zitna had changed her, and poor little Sunev began to\ncry for joy.\n\nVenus soothed her and soon Sunev told her all she knew of her sad\nplight. But when she told the goddess her name a flash of anger came to\nthe eyes of Venus.\n\n\u201cOld Witch Zitna has done this,\u201d said the goddess. \u201cShe shall pay for\nit, for, my dear, your name is mine spelled backward and you are my\ngodchild. Zitna knew she had much to fear in the beauty you possess.\nCome with me!\u201d\n\nIt did not take long to reach the cave of Zitna, for Venus had the\npower of witches and fairies when she wished to use it.\n\n\u201cCome forth!\u201d called Venus, when they reached the cave of Zitna. \u201cUndo\nyour cruel work,\u201d she commanded, when the trembling witch appeared in\nthe doorway of her cave.\n\nIn another minute Sunev stood in her own lovely shape before Venus,\nwho, instead of being jealous of the wonderful beauty she beheld, drew\nSunev to her and kissed her on her brow.\n\n\u201cYou will always be the most beautiful woman in the land,\u201d she said.\n\u201cBe you old or young, none shall compare with you.\n\n\u201cAs for your daughter, Witch Zitna, you will never see her again, for\na mother who would treat the daughter of another as you have done this\nbeautiful girl is not the sort to have a daughter. I will claim your\ndaughter as well as Sunev for my godchild.\u201d\n\nSunev did not know how they reached the door of her parents\u2019 home, but\nshe stood there a short time after, and with trembling hands opened the\ndoor.\n\nOh, how happy her father and mother were to have her again! The joy of\nseeing her safe made them forget the time, and it was the trumpeting of\nthe Prince of Esor\u2019s messengers that told them the day was far gone.\n\nThe messengers knocked at the door, and when Sunev opened it they knew\nthey had found the wife of their Prince.\n\nSunev\u2019s father and mother were overcome with sorrow when the messengers\ntold their errand. They thought they had found their child, only to\nlose her again, but the messengers told them they might go along to\nthe palace. So they all set out.\n\nWhen the Prince of Esor saw the beauty of Sunev he knew she was the one\nwoman in the world for him, and without delay he ordered the wedding\nfeast to be prepared.\n\nA wonderful gown of white and gold was brought from the royal\nclothes-room, and a crown of pearls and diamonds was placed upon her\nbeautiful golden hair, and upon her dainty feet golden slippers and\nsilk stockings.\n\nHer father and mother were not forgotten by the Prince, either. They\nwere dressed in clothes they had never even dreamed of and given a\npalace near where Sunev and Prince Esor were to live.\n\nBut what had become of the beautiful witch child all this time, for, of\ncourse, she was not to blame for the bad deed of Witch Zitna and should\nnot be made to suffer?\n\nShe was safe and happy, you may be sure, for she was surrounded by\nevery comfort and luxury in another part of the palace, and she did not\nwish to become the wife of the Prince.\n\nInstead, she loved one of the friends of the Prince, a noble lord who\nhad fallen in love with her, but did not dare speak his love because\nhe knew the Prince might choose her for his bride.\n\nBut when this noble lord heard a wife had been found for his Prince and\nit was not the beautiful girl he loved, he told the witch child of his\nlove and they were married the very night that the Prince and Sunev\nwere married.\n\nAnd it turned out that the witch child was not a witch child at\nall, but had been stolen when a baby from a stork who was carrying\nher through the forest to the home of a nobleman, for the goddess\nVenus, true to her promise, took both of the beautiful girls for her\ngodchildren and had the fairies see that they were both made happy.\n\nThe witch child was given a pretty name, but her husband best loved to\ncall her the Queen of Night, because of her wonderful dark beauty.\n\nSunev was the Princess of Esor, of course, but the Prince called her\nPrincess Rose, and if you will spell Esor backward you will learn why.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCILLA AND THE DWARF\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a king who had a very beautiful daughter,\nand her suitors came from far and near.\n\nAmong them was a dwarf with a huge head and a very long nose. Of\ncourse, no one expected the Princess to marry the ugly creature, but\nthe dwarf did, and when the Princess refused he flew into a rage and\nsaid he would have her in spite of all she said.\n\nAt last the Princess gave her hand to a prince, but the night the\nwedding was to take place the Princess was nowhere to be found. They\nhunted high and low all over the palace, but no trace could they find\nof her; even her wedding-dress disappeared, too. The Prince was in\ndespair and wrung his hands and cried out he would give to any one who\nwould find the Princess half of his fortune.\n\nThe King also said he would give half of his kingdom to the one who\nwould bring back the lost Princess.\n\nNow, there was among the servants a little kitchen-maid named Cilla,\nwho loved the Princess because she always spoke kindly to her, and when\nshe knew her mistress was lost she resolved to find her at any cost.\n\nSo one night when all the people in the palace were sound asleep Cilla\nstole out and went to a witch who lived in the woods and asked her to\nhelp her to find the Princess.\n\n\u201cI can only help you a little,\u201d said the witch, \u201cas she is in the power\nof one who is more powerful than I am, but this much I can do: Here\nis a bean that will do magic work if used in the right way; whether\nit will help you to find your Princess I cannot tell. The dwarf has\ncarried her off, and where he is I do not know.\u201d\n\nCilla said she would take the bean. She thanked the witch and started\noff through the woods to look for the dwarf, for she was sure he must\nlive in a cave.\n\nFor days she wandered until she was in the deep forest, and at last\nshe came to a high rock over which she could not climb.\n\nCilla sat down and leaned against the rock to rest, when, to her\nsurprise, she heard the sound of weeping. She looked all around, but\ncould see no opening except a big crack in one side, and this was too\nsmall for her to get through.\n\nShe was just about to call out and ask who was inside weeping when she\nheard some one coming through the bushes.\n\nCilla ran behind the rock and watched, and in a minute the dwarf came\nbounding out of the bush and briers.\n\nHe carried in his hand an iron bar, and with this he opened the crack\nin the rock, which was a door, and entered the rock, leaving the door\nopen behind him.\n\nCilla was a very brave girl or she would have stayed where she was, but\nno sooner had the dwarf disappeared than she ran in after him.\n\nHe was standing beside a poor, half-starved-looking little white\nrabbit, and Cilla heard him say, \u201cDo you consent or will you starve?\u201d\n\nThe little white rabbit only blinked and turned away, and then Cilla\nsaw something that made her start, for hanging on a ragged bit of rock\nwas the wedding-dress the Princess was to have worn the night she\ndisappeared.\n\nCilla did not wait to see more. She dashed toward the dwarf and grabbed\nhim by his long nose, and, giving it a hard twist, she cried out:\n\u201cWhere is my mistress, you wretch? Where is she, I say?\u201d\n\nA very strange thing happened when Cilla gave the long nose a twist;\nthe dwarf howled like the sound of thunder, and instead of the dwarf\nthere stood before Cilla a huge toad that hopped away so fast she could\nnot see where it disappeared.\n\n\u201cYou poor half-starved little rabbit,\u201d said Cilla. \u201cI wish I had\nsomething to give you to eat, but I must hunt for my mistress first,\nfor I know she must be here.\u201d\n\nThen Cilla thought of the bean. \u201cI\u2019ll give you this,\u201d she said to the\nrabbit. \u201cI am sure I shall have no use for it.\u201d\n\nWhen the rabbit swallowed the bean Cilla\u2019s eyes popped wide open, for\nthere stood her mistress, safe and sound.\n\n\u201cOh, Cilla, you have saved me! How ever did you think of twisting his\nnose?\u201d asked the Princess.\n\n\u201cBecause it looked as if it were made to be twisted,\u201d said Cilla, \u201cbut\nhow did you know the bean would change you back to your own form?\u201d\n\n\u201cI didn\u2019t, but I was hungry; that dreadful dwarf was trying to make me\nsay I would marry him by starving me. Some powerful witch had given him\nthe form of a dwarf, and if he could get a princess to marry him she\nwould change him into a man,\u201d said the Princess.\n\n\u201cWas he a toad at first?\u201d asked Cilla.\n\n\u201cYes, it seems he was a toad in the cave of a powerful witch, and for\nsomething he did for her she made him a dwarf; then he wanted to become\na man, and the witch told him if he would marry a princess and take her\ninto the palace to live she would grant his wish.\n\n\u201cHe told me this before he had me changed into a rabbit, for he first\ncarried me off to the cave of this witch, who lives somewhere in this\nforest, and I think we better hurry away before the toad gets to her\nand tells her I have escaped.\u201d\n\nIt took a long time to get out of the forest, but Cilla and the\nPrincess found the way and the Prince and the King told Cilla she\nshould have the promised reward.\n\n\u201cNow, what would I do with all that gold and half of a kingdom?\u201d asked\nCilla. \u201cAll I ask is to have a nice little cottage and a cow near by\nthe palace where I can see my mistress every day.\u201d\n\nOf course Cilla\u2019s wish was granted, and there she lived and was happy,\nfor she married the King\u2019s gardener and became the mother of many boys\nand girls who never tired of hearing how their mother rescued the\nPrincess from the bad dwarf.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nGRETA AND THE BLACK CAT\n\n\nOne day a woodsman named Peter was chopping down a tree when he saw\nswinging from one of the branches a bundle. Dropping his ax, he climbed\nup, and to his surprise, when he opened the bundle, he found in it a\nbaby girl asleep. Peter hurried home with the baby to his wife. \u201cLook,\nMartha,\u201d he said. \u201cI have found a baby girl to be a sister to our son\nRobert. We will name her Greta and they shall grow up as brother and\nsister.\u201d\n\nBut Martha did not want the baby. \u201cWe have three mouths to feed now,\u201d\nshe grumbled. \u201cWhy should we care for a child we know nothing of?\u201d\n\nBut Peter would not hear of putting the child out-of-doors and so Greta\nlived with Peter and Martha and grew up with Robert.\n\nPoor little Greta had anything but a happy life, for Martha treated her\nkindly only when Peter was in sight, and that was seldom.\n\nRobert, seeing that his mother did not treat Greta well, began to order\nher to wait upon him as soon as he was old enough and treated her as a\nservant.\n\nGreta had to weed the garden and bring in the water and the wood. She\nhad to wash the dishes and make the beds and do all the work excepting\nwhen Peter was at home.\n\nOne day when Peter was going to the woods he told Robert to chop a pile\nof wood in the yard and have it finished by the time he came home.\n\nWhen Peter was out of sight Robert told Greta to chop the wood. \u201cThat\nis what you are here for--to do the work,\u201d said Robert. \u201cYou would have\nbeen eaten up by the bears if we had not taken you in. Now go to work\nand chop that wood.\u201d\n\nGreta began to cry and said she could not handle the ax; she was too\nsmall. But Martha boxed her ears and told her she should not have any\ndinner if she did not do as Robert told her.\n\nGreta went to the woodpile and picked up the ax, but it was no use. She\ncould not chop the wood. And fearing a beating if she did not do it,\nGreta ran away. On and on she ran until she came to a turn in the road\nwhich led into a forest. Here she decided to stop for the night, and\nshe was just lying down by a rock when she heard a pitiful \u201cme-ow.\u201d\n\nLooking in the bushes close by, Greta saw a big black cat holding up\none paw as though it was hurt. \u201cPoor pussy!\u201d said Greta, taking the cat\nin her arms. \u201cYou look as unhappy as I feel. Let me bind up your paw.\u201d\n\nGreta tore off a piece of her dress and bound up the cat\u2019s paw, and\nthen, to her surprise, the black cat spoke to her.\n\n\u201cCome with me and I will show you where to sleep. You will have to\ncarry me, for my paw is very painful,\u201d said the cat.\n\nGreta picked up the cat, too surprised to be frightened, and went\nthrough the woods as the cat directed her.\n\nWhen they reached a big rock with an opening in it the cat said: \u201cHere\nis my home. Take me in and you will find a place to sleep and food as\nwell.\u201d\n\nCreeping in on her hands and knees with the cat under her arm, Greta\nfound herself in a big room with a table in the center and on it plenty\nof food.\n\nIn one corner of the room was a bed and on this Greta saw a\nqueer-looking old woman with a hooked nose.\n\nShe was asleep and did not notice them until the cat said, \u201cEat your\nsupper.\u201d\n\nUp jumped the queer-looking old woman when she heard this, for she was\nthe witch.\n\n\u201cYou, and a mortal with you,\u201d she screamed, as she reached for her\ncrooked stick.\n\nGreta ran to the door, for she thought the old witch was about to\nstrike her; but the black cat, who was sitting on the floor near by\nwhere Greta had put it, said: \u201cDon\u2019t you dare touch this girl; she has\nsaved my life, and from this hour you are in my power, for a mortal has\nheld me in her arms.\n\n\u201cIf you would live call the good fairy that has been looking for me all\nthese years. I shall find her, anyway, but it will save time if you use\nyour magic power, and you will regret it if you do not obey me.\u201d\n\nWhen the old witch heard this she began to tremble and hobbled to the\ndoor of the cave and tapped it three times with her crooked stick.\n\nThe rock opened so she could walk out, and Greta followed to see what\nshe did, for she was no longer afraid; she knew the black cat would\nprotect her.\n\nThe old witch gave a peculiar cry when she was outside, and Greta saw\nthe next instant a tiny creature dressed in pink gauze, holding a wand\nof gold in one little hand, standing on a bush beside the old witch.\n\n\u201cHere I am, Witch Terrible,\u201d said the fairy. \u201cWhat can I do for you?\nYou must be in great danger or you would not have called for one of us.\u201d\n\nThe cat when it heard the fairy speak ran out of the cave, limping,\nand lay down in front of the fairy. \u201cHelp me, my good fairy,\u201d said the\nblack cat. \u201cI am the Prince for whom you have looked so long. The old\nwitch changed me into a black cat and took away my power to speak until\nI was held in the arms of a mortal.\n\n\u201cI know her secret, and, though she dared not kill me, she wanted me\nto die, so she turned me into the forest to starve, and if it had not\nbeen for this girl, good fairy, the old witch would have had her wish\ngranted.\n\n\u201cWhen she changed me into a black cat she said I should never speak\nuntil a mortal held me, and that I could not regain my own shape until\na fairy changed me, but something has happened since then, and to save\nherself she obeyed me and called you, for I know her secret, and that\nis why I did not have to hunt for you, my good fairy.\u201d\n\nThe fairy touched the black cat with her wand and Greta saw in place\nof the big black cat a handsome man dressed in black velvet, with gold\ntrimmings. \u201cNow tell me the secret you know about the witch,\u201d said the\nfairy.\n\nThe old witch threw up her arms and cried for mercy. \u201cRemember, I\ncalled the fairy,\u201d she said; \u201cyou would have hunted a long time if I\nhad not. Be merciful!\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall not forget,\u201d said the Prince. \u201cThis woman is only half a\nwitch,\u201d he said. \u201cShe is part mortal, and every night at twelve o\u2019clock\nshe has to become a mortal for an hour because she tried to change\na water nymph into a frog. The river god, the water nymph\u2019s father,\ncalled on a very powerful ogre, who was his friend, and the ogre was\nabout to change her into a rock, but she begged so hard he made her\nhalf mortal and left her to her fate.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhich means she can never leave this forest,\u201d said the fairy, \u201cand as\nshe does many of her magic deeds at night when she rides abroad on her\nbroomstick she is not a very powerful witch.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, that is it,\u201d said the Prince, \u201cand she does not want it known\namong the fairies or the goblins or any of the magic-power folks. That\nis the mercy for which she begs.\n\n\u201cI hope you will keep her secret, good fairy, for she saved me so much\ntime and trouble in calling you.\u201d\n\n\u201cI will keep her secret from all but the fairies, but one of the fairy\nfamily will come here every night to make sure no mortal has been\nharmed by her, for some one might stray in here just as this girl did\nand be changed into some other form.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have one more favor to ask of you, good fairy,\u201d said the Prince. \u201cI\nwish to make this girl my wife if she will marry me, and I would like\nto have the proper clothes for a princess, so that I may take her to my\npalace at once.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat do you say, my dear?\u201d asked the fairy. \u201cWill you marry the\nPrince?\u201d\n\nGreta felt she must be dreaming, but she was sure she would love the\nhandsome Prince if she were awake, so she told the fairy she would,\nand the next instant her ragged clothes dropped from her and she stood\nbefore the Prince in a beautiful green velvet riding-habit, with a long\nfeather in her hat, looking every inch a princess.\n\nThat night a great feast was held at the palace of the Prince in honor\nof his return and to celebrate their wedding, and the very next day\nGreta and the Prince rode to the home where she had once lived to give\nPeter a bag of gold.\n\n\u201cHe was the only person who ever treated me kindly until I met you,\u201d\nGreta told the Prince, \u201cand I shall never forget him.\u201d\n\nGreta was not recognized by Martha or her son Robert, for they little\nthought the beautiful Princess was the poor girl that had once been\ntheir slave. But Peter, who had loved her, looked after the coach as it\nrolled away. \u201cIt looked a little like her,\u201d he said, \u201cbut, of course,\nit could not be.\u201d Many gifts did Greta and the Prince send to Peter,\nand in his old age he was given a comfortable house and plenty to eat,\nand, though Martha and Robert shared his good fortune, they never knew\nwho sent it.\n\nThe Prince told Peter who the Princess really was one day, because the\npoor old man had never ceased to sorrow because Greta could not be\nfound, but not a word did he tell of this to Robert or Martha, but kept\nhis secret all to himself as long as he lived.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE KNIGHT OF THE BRIGHT STAR\n\n\nOnce upon a time there lived a prince named Lorenzo. Although he was a\nprince, he was quite poor and lived with his mother and one servant in\na mountain far from the land of his birth.\n\nHis father, the King, had been killed in a battle with another king,\nwho took away the wealth and the castles of the defeated King, leaving\nPrince Lorenzo and his mother nothing of their former grandeur.\n\nPrince Lorenzo grew up with a longing for vengeance in his heart, and\noften at night his mother would find him gazing in the direction of his\nold home as he stood alone under the stars.\n\n\u201cSon,\u201d said the Queen-mother one night, \u201cwhy do you gaze so intently\ninto the distance? Why are you so sad?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is bitterness in my heart for my father\u2019s enemy who has robbed\nme of all the happiness and pleasure in the great world outside,\u201d\nreplied the Prince.\n\n\u201cLet me go, mother, and seek my fortune, and I may be able to avenge\nthe wrongs done to you and me.\u201d\n\n\u201cVengeance does not belong to us, my son,\u201d said the Queen-mother. \u201cYou\nmust not take upon yourself that which is not your right.\n\n\u201cGo out in the world and taste its pleasures, but keep your Star of\nHope as bright as those shining in the heavens over your head if you\nwish for happiness.\u201d\n\nThe next morning Prince Lorenzo started on his journey. He was dressed\nin a shining suit of mail and sat upon a white horse with trappings of\nsilver. In the center of his helmet was a little silver star which his\nmother gave him with these words:\n\n\u201cMy son, may your armor protect you from all evil and may this star be\nyour guide. It is enchanted, for it was given to me by a fairy when I\nwas Queen and your father King.\n\n\u201cIf ever it grows dim look into your own heart to find the cause, and,\nfinding it, cast it from you if you wish for happiness.\u201d\n\nPrince Lorenzo promised to look to the brightness of the little star\nand rode away to seek his happiness.\n\nAfter several days he came to a big city, the City of Pleasure it was\ncalled, and those who lived there told him his armor was much too heavy\nfor one so young to wear.\n\n\u201cCast it aside,\u201d they told the Prince, \u201cand we will show you the joys\nof living.\u201d\n\nSo the Prince listened and followed the people in the City of Pleasure\nto a beautiful palace where merriment reigned, and laid aside his armor\nfor a lighter garb. One day Prince Lorenzo looked from the Palace\nof Merriment and saw all around the castle men, women, and children\nworking, and on their faces the look of misery.\n\n\u201cWho are these creatures?\u201d he asked his gay companions.\n\n\u201cThose are the toilers who make the money for us to spend,\u201d was the\nreply. \u201cLook at us and forget these creatures and be merry.\u201d\n\nBut the Prince could no more be merry; he remembered his Star of Hope\nhis mother had given him and hurried to find it.\n\nInstead of the shining star he had left he found it dim and dull, and\nthen he remembered his mother\u2019s words, \u201cLook into your own heart to\nfind the cause.\u201d His love of wealth and pleasure had driven out all\nthoughts of others, and he had cared not how he gained these things, so\nlong as he had them.\n\n\u201cMy selfishness has dimmed my Star of Hope,\u201d said the Prince; \u201cI must\nleave the City of Pleasure and the Palace of Merriment, for this is not\nhappiness.\u201d\n\nHe buckled on the cast-off armor and rode away. As he rode past the\ntoilers he threw among them all the gold he had gained while in the\nCity of Pleasure.\n\nFar away from the city he rode, and found himself in the midst of\nsickness and suffering.\n\nDismounting, the Prince ministered to the sufferers\u2019 needs and forgot\nall else until he fell asleep from exhaustion.\n\nWhen he awoke his horse stood beside him, and in the moonlight the\nlittle star shone brightly from its place in his helmet on the ground\nat his side. Prince Lorenzo jumped to his feet and placed the helmet on\nhis head. He had tasted the joy of good deeds. He no longer looked for\npleasure in selfishness, and the bitterness of vengeance had gone from\nhis heart.\n\nBack to his mother he rode with the little star shining. \u201cYou have won,\nmy son!\u201d she cried as she met him. \u201cAll my love for you could not teach\nyou how to gain real happiness; selfish pleasure and love of vengeance\ndull our Star of Hope, but only those who have learned the lesson for\nthemselves can know this.\u201d\n\nPrince Lorenzo was surprised one morning to see coming up the mountain,\nwhere he and his mother lived, an army of brightly dressed soldiers.\nWhen they came nearer he saw they were the soldiers that once had\nserved his father, the King.\n\n\u201cThe King who wronged you is dead,\u201d they told Prince Lorenzo, \u201cand\nbefore he died he made us promise to find you and the Queen and bring\nyou back to your kingdom, which he wrongfully took from you.\u201d\n\nOf course Prince Lorenzo and his mother rejoiced to know that once more\nthey would live in their former home, and lost no time in starting out\non the journey.\n\n\u201cYour Star of Hope has brought you through tribulations into peace and\nhappiness,\u201d said his mother, \u201cand all wrongs are righted, but if it had\nbecome dulled by selfishness and vengeance, my son, we still might be\nin the darkness of despair.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE DOLPHIN\u2019S BRIDE\n\n\nOne day there came through the woods that bordered on a big ocean a\npoor little beggar girl named Nitta.\n\nNitta was crying; she was hungry and she did not know where to go, for\nher aunt, who had a daughter of her own, did not want to support Nitta\nand had turned her out-of-doors that very day.\n\n\u201cI am too poor to support you,\u201d said the hard-hearted aunt. \u201cYou must\ntake care of yourself.\u201d\n\nNitta\u2019s father and mother were dead and there seemed to be no place for\nher but the woods, so she wandered along until she came to the ocean,\nand there she sat down to cry out her grief.\n\nWhile she was crying a big dolphin poked his head out of the water.\n\u201cWhat are you crying for, little girl?\u201d he asked.\n\nNitta was so surprised to hear the dolphin speak that she stopped\ncrying at once. \u201cI am crying because I have no home,\u201d she replied.\n\n\u201cI will give you a home if you will come with me,\u201d said the dolphin. \u201cI\nneed some one to take care of my house.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I cannot live in the water; I should drown,\u201d said Nitta.\n\n\u201cI would not ask you to come if you would drown,\u201d answered the dolphin.\n\u201cBut you must decide for yourself whether you could keep house for a\nfish. There are no children to play with at the bottom of the ocean.\u201d\n\n\u201cI shall starve if I stay on land, and I may find a good home,\u201d thought\nNitta as the dolphin waited for his answer.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll go with you,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cThen jump on my back,\u201d said the dolphin, \u201cand close your eyes; there\nis nothing to fear. I promise you that.\u201d\n\nNitta jumped on his back and closed her eyes. Over the waves they went,\nand then suddenly Nitta felt the dolphin plunge under the water, and\ndown, down they went, and then next thing she knew the dolphin stopped\nand said, \u201cHere we are.\u201d\n\nNitta opened her eyes, and instead of being in the water, as she\nthought, she was in a beautiful garden in front of a beautiful house.\nUp the steps the dolphin flopped, for, of course, he could not walk,\nhaving no feet, and Nitta followed him.\n\nHe led her into a big hall hung with beautiful pictures and soft\ncarpets upon the floor upon which Nitta was almost afraid to step.\n\nNitta almost forgot her queer companion, she was so overcome with all\nthe grandeur she beheld.\n\nOn both sides of the long hall were many rooms, one of gold, one of\nsilver, one of marble, and the dolphin told Nitta she was to choose\nwhich room she would care to have for her own.\n\n\u201cBut you said I was to keep your house,\u201d said Nitta; \u201ca servant cannot\nlive in one of these beautiful rooms.\u201d\n\n\u201cI did not say I wanted you to be a servant,\u201d said the dolphin. \u201cI want\nsome one to live here and care for the house, but not to do the work.\u201d\n\nNitta chose a beautiful room hung in blue silk, with chairs of blue\ndamask and beautiful rosewood frames.\n\nThe ceiling was a darker blue, and all over it were dotted diamonds\nthat twinkled like stars.\n\nThe floor was covered with a blue velvet carpet, soft and thick, and\nover it were scattered big pink roses which looked as if they would\ncrush when stepped upon, they seemed so natural.\n\nThere was a piano of rosewood at one end of the room, and upon this\nNitta was surprised to see the dolphin jump and with its fins begin\nto play. Music such as Nitta never heard came from the keys, and so\nenchanted was she that when the dolphin stopped playing Nitta ran to\nhim and put her hand upon his head.\n\n\u201cYou poor fish,\u201d she said, \u201cit is too bad you are not a man. I wish I\nwere a fairy and could change you into a prince. This place is far too\nbeautiful for a fish to live in, and besides, you play such wonderful\nmusic. How is it possible?\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is only one way you can help me, and since you wished to be a\nfairy and change me into a prince,\u201d said the dolphin, \u201cI will see if\nyou will keep your word.\n\n\u201cLook behind the door and bring the sword you will find there, and I\nwill tell you the only way I can be freed from the spell of a witch who\nhates me.\u201d\n\nFrom behind the door Nitta brought the sword. She found it had a\nbeautiful handle of gold and set with diamonds and pearls, but the\nblade looked sharp and pointed and Nitta trembled as she held it.\n\n\u201cNow if you really are sorry for me,\u201d said the dolphin, \u201cand wish to\nmake me a prince, strike off my head.\u201d\n\nNitta dropped the sword at the very thought of anything so terrible. \u201cI\ncannot do that,\u201d she said. \u201cYou have been too kind to me.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is the only way you can repay me,\u201d said the dolphin, with a sigh.\n\u201cI see you did not mean what you said about wishing to be a fairy.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh yes, I do, indeed I do!\u201d said Nitta. \u201cI do not want to kill you,\nbut I will put you out of misery if that is what you want.\u201d\n\nShe picked up the sword and swung it over her head; then she looked at\nthe dolphin, closed her eyes, and brought down the sword.\n\nAs it fell Nitta felt herself slipping away, it seemed to her into the\nbottom of the ocean.\n\nWhen she opened her eyes she saw a very handsome man bending over her.\n\u201cYou are a brave girl,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have saved me from a terrible\nfate.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere is the good dolphin?\u201d asked Nitta. \u201cOh, I will never forgive\nmyself for killing him!\u201d\n\n\u201cHe is gone forever. I was the poor dolphin,\u201d said the handsome man\nat her side. \u201cYou broke the spell that held me, for the old witch who\nchanged me into the dolphin said I must remain one until a pretty woman\nshould strike off my head.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut why should a witch change you into a fish?\u201d asked Nitta.\n\n\u201cBecause I would not marry her daughter and make her a princess,\u201d\nreplied the handsome man. \u201cYou see, I am a prince and I was waiting for\nthe girl I could love to appear before I would take my princess.\n\n\u201cAnd now I have found her. Will you become my princess?\u201d\n\nNitta was already in love with the handsome man who had fallen in love\nwith her, and so they were married that very day in the wonderful\ncastle of beautiful rooms and lived happily ever after.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPRINCESS DIDO AND THE PRINCE OF THE ROSES\n\n\nLittle Princess Dido ran away from her attendants every time she could,\nand one day when she was walking in the forest with her servants she\nhid behind a tree while they were talking, and before they had missed\nher she ran down another path and was out of their sight.\n\nWhen Princess Dido found herself alone she began to look about to see\nif she could find any flowers, for she was very fond of flowers and was\nnever allowed to pick them herself; her servants did that for her.\n\n\u201cI can pick them myself now,\u201d she said, laughing to herself to think\nshe had escaped from the servants, and she began picking all the wild\nflowers she could find, walking along all the time and going farther\ninto the forest.\n\nWhen it was sunset the Princess Dido found herself in the thick of the\ntrees and bushes, and she began to wonder why her attendants did not\nfind her and take her home; but the sun set and the stars came out and\nstill no one came, and Princess Dido felt tired and lay down among the\nleaves and mosses and went to sleep.\n\nWhen she awoke the moon was shining, and although she was in the forest\nalone she was not afraid, for she did not think any one would harm a\nprincess, so she rolled over on her soft bed, thinking she would go to\nsleep again, when something cold touched her cheek.\n\nPrincess Dido opened her eyes very wide then and sat up, and on a bush\nbeside her she saw a very small gold key hanging by a thread which\nswung back and forth and half touched her face.\n\n\u201cI wonder what this cunning little key can fit,\u201d said the Princess. \u201cI\ndo wish I knew! I am sure I should find something nice. I believe I\nwill look about. I am not a bit sleepy, and the moon is as bright as\nday.\u201d\n\nPrincess Dido hunted everywhere among the bushes and rocks, and nothing\ncould she find, when, just as she had decided to go to sleep again, she\nsaw something shining on a tree, and there was a tiny keyhole that the\nkey just fitted.\n\nShe put the key in the lock and the tree opened like a door, and\nPrincess Dido stepped inside and closed the door after her.\n\nShe walked along a road which seemed to be just behind the tree,\nbut when she looked about she was not in the forest at all, but in\na beautiful country filled with flowers and tall trees, and in the\ndistance she saw a beautiful castle.\n\nWhen Princess Dido came to the castle she saw fountains and more\nbeautiful flowers growing around, and there were birds of all kinds\nsinging in the trees.\n\n\u201cI suppose I must go to the door of the castle and let them know who I\nam,\u201d thought the Princess. \u201cA princess ought to do that, I know, but I\nwould much rather stay in this beautiful garden and hear the birds sing\nand look at the flowers.\u201d\n\nWhen the Princess knocked at the door no one answered, and after\nwaiting a short time the Princess opened the door and stepped inside.\nAll was still and she sat down and waited.\n\n\u201cI expect everybody is at breakfast,\u201d thought the Princess. \u201cI wish I\nhad something to eat. I didn\u2019t have any supper, and I have not had my\nbreakfast, either.\n\n\u201cYes, I am hungry and want my breakfast,\u201d said Princess Dido, and,\nthough she did not know it, she had spoken right out loud, and as she\ndid so a table appeared beside her with her breakfast on it and a\nbouquet of beautiful pink roses.\n\n\u201cI wonder where this came from. I didn\u2019t see or hear any one,\u201d said the\nPrincess.\n\nBut she did not wonder about it; she was too hungry. When she had\nfinished she walked along the hall, for, being a princess, she was in\nthe habit of going where she liked, and as she saw no one she did the\nsame here.\n\nBut there was no room opening out of the hall she was in, so the\nPrincess went up the stairs, and here again she found herself in a\nlarge hall, but this was so beautiful she looked about her in wonder,\nfor it was a much more beautiful place than her own castle. The floor\nwas of opals and the walls were the same; the sunlight shining through\nthe windows made the most wonderful colors wherever it fell, and all\naround the place were white roses, making the air sweet with their\nfragrance.\n\nThere was another flight of stairs, and up these the Princess went. The\nstairs were of silver, and on the next floor the Princess found herself\nin a hall of crystal with roses all around; beautiful pink roses such\nas she had never before beheld.\n\n\u201cOh, how I wish I could pick them!\u201d said the Princess as she went from\nbush to bush, and to her surprise the roses nodded as if to tell her\nshe could if she liked.\n\nPrincess Dido broke one from its stem, and then another, and as the\nroses still nodded she picked more until her arms were full.\n\nBut there was another flight of stairs, and these were of gold. So the\nPrincess walked up these and found herself in another beautiful room,\nwhich was blue, the color of sapphires, and around this room grew red\nroses.\n\nBut there was still another flight of stairs, and the Princess did not\nstop long here, with her arms filled with the pink roses. She went up\nthe last flight and found herself in a hall filled with red, pink, and\nwhite roses, but the walls were hung with soft gray silk and the floor\ncovered with velvet of the same color.\n\n\u201cOh, how beautiful! I wish I could live here among the roses,\u201d she said.\n\n\u201cYou can, my Princess of the Roses,\u201d said a voice, and from behind a\ncurtain stepped a handsome prince, dressed in a suit of gray velvet,\nwith trimmings of silver and pink.\n\nHe took from his head a hat with a long plume of pink and bowed low\nbefore the Princess Dido, who had dropped her roses and stood blushing\nas pink as the roses she had dropped.\n\n\u201cThis is my castle, the Castle of the Roses,\u201d explained the Prince,\n\u201cand I vowed I would never marry until I found a princess who loved my\nroses as well as me, and you have proved you do by coming into all of\nmy rose-garden. Others have been here, but when they found only roses\nin each room they never came to this floor.\n\n\u201cBehind these curtains is my palace. These halls of roses are but a\npart of my private rooms. Will you stay, Princess, or shall I call the\nfairies to take you back to your own castle?\u201d asked the Prince.\n\n\u201cYou may call the fairies to take the news to my people that I will\nlive in the Castle of Roses, with the Prince of Roses,\u201d said Princess\nDido.\n\n\u201cBut who hung the little gold key on the bush?\u201d she asked the Prince.\n\n\u201cOh! I asked the fairies to help me find a wife,\u201d said the Prince.\n\u201cThey hung it there. You see, we shall live in an enchanted castle,\nas well as in the Castle of Roses, so there is nothing for us but\nhappiness.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nCATVILLE GOSSIP\n\n\nMr. Tommy Kat was in love with Tabby Gray--at least so all the gossips\nin Catville say, for Tabby was as graceful as a little kit can be. Said\nTommy, when he saw her, \u201cShe\u2019s just the wife for me.\u201d\n\nBut Tabby Gray was fickle, as sometimes kittens are; so she giggled\nand told Tommy he would have to ask her pa. For there was big white\nTom Cat, with coat as smooth as silk, who often took her walking and\ntreated her to milk. He had told her he would give her a ribbon bright\nof red, if she would only promise no other cat to wed.\n\nThen there was Tommy Mouser, who by all was called a sport. He had told\nher that he loved her, and once for her had fought.\n\nAnd there was Tommy Black, the dandy of the town, who was called by\nall who watched him the best dancer to be found.\n\nHe often danced with Tabby Gray, and frightened all the rest away; for\nwhen he danced they all stood by and looked on him with jealous eye.\n\nAnd Tiger Tom, another swain, who always said he felt a pain around his\nheart when any other danced with her except her brother.\n\nAn admirer, too, was Tommy Buff; he said and vowed it was no bluff when\nhe declared he loved Miss Gray and in his heart she held full sway.\n\nAnd there was Tommy Black-and-White, who said he sat up many a night to\nserenade Miss Tabby Gray on the back-yard fence till break of day.\n\nAnd Tommy, who was nicknamed Slim, said she was the only girl for him\nand that his eyes had turned to green because another cat was seen to\nwalk with Tabby down the road. Since that his heart was like a load.\n\nAnd so, you see, Miss Tabby Gray needed time these things to weigh, and\nthat was why she told Tom Kat her pa would have to answer that question\nhe had asked that night on the back-yard fence in the bright moonlight.\n\nSaid Tommy Kat as he looked at a star: \u201cI don\u2019t want to marry your pa.\nNow why do you keep me here a-guessing when we might go round and get\npa\u2019s blessing?\u201d\n\nMiss Tabby stretched and heaved a sigh, then on Tommy Kat she cast her\neye. He was handsomer, far, than all the rest, and she felt quite sure\nshe loved him best. But, like all others of her kind, she pretended to\nmake up her mind.\n\nBut Tommy Kat was a hasty fellow. He knew present time was always\nmellow; so he told Miss Tabby \u2019twas getting late, and whisked her over\nthe back-yard gate. And before she knew where she was at they stood at\nthe door of Minister Cat.\n\nIn a minute more they came out married, for Minister Cat he never\ntarried. He married off couples quick as scat, and for his fee he took\na rat.\n\nThe reception they held was a howling success, as all who came to it\nhad to confess. And all the way through Catville Town bottles and shoes\nwere strewn up and down. And when Old Sun Man o\u2019er the hill did peep\nevery kit in the town was fast asleep.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHOW THE ELEPHANT GOT HIS TRUNK\n\n\nOne night in the Zoo when the keepers were asleep the other animals\nwere awakened by the chattering in the monkey cage.\n\n\u201cI have heard that Mr. Lion can be made very tame,\u201d said Jocko, \u201cand\nwhile I doubt very much if he really can bite, his growl is most\nunpleasant to hear.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, well, it may be worse than his bite,\u201d said Tito. \u201cThose who make\nthe most noise are not always to be feared, I have been told.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere is Hippo; he is much bigger than Mr. Lion, and he doesn\u2019t make\nas much noise all the time as Mr. Lion.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, dear me, but what a big mouth Hippo has!\u201d laughed Tito. \u201cI wonder\nhow he happened to get such a big one. He must have been the first one\nthere when they gave out mouths.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have heard something about almost every animal here,\u201d said Jocko.\n\u201cWant to hear it?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, tell me,\u201d said Tito, moving close to Jocko. \u201cWhere did Mr. Lion\nget his long hair?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh dear! don\u2019t you know?\u201d laughed Jocko, \u201cMrs. Lion pulled it so much\nit made it long. She hasn\u2019t any, you see. Oh dear, yes, Mr. Lion is a\nhenpecked husband if ever there was one.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou don\u2019t tell me so,\u201d said Tito. \u201cWhat about Hippo? How did it happen\nhe is so big and clumsy?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, don\u2019t you know?\u201d said Jocko. \u201cWhen the animals were being made\nthere was a lot of each animal left and it was all stirred together,\nand that made Hippo. They made his body first and then they did not\nhave enough to give him a long tail or fill in his mouth. That is the\nreason it is so large.\u201d\n\n\u201cHo, ho, ho!\u201d laughed Tito, and Jocko laughed, too, until they nearly\nfell off the place where they were sitting.\n\n\u201cWhere did old Reynard get his bushy tail, Jocko?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, don\u2019t you know that either?\u201d replied Jocko. \u201cHe was caught trying\nto steal chickens by the farmer\u2019s wife, and she threw the brush she was\nusing at him with such force that it struck him handle first, and there\nit stuck right on his back, and he never could be rid of it.\u201d\n\n\u201cHo, ho, ho!\u201d laughed Tito. \u201cAnd where did the giraffe get his long\nneck?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, that is easy,\u201d said Jocko. \u201cHe was so big-feeling and so haughty\nhe would not look at the other animals, and it stretched his neck until\nnow he can\u2019t see the ground, so I have been told. I don\u2019t know, of\ncourse.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe has a very little head, anyway,\u201d said Tito.\n\n\u201cThere is very little in it, my dear Tito,\u201d said Jocko. And then they\nboth laughed again.\n\nOne by one the animals had awakened, but, hearing what was being said,\nthey each hoped to hear something about the other that would offset the\nfun Jocko was making of them, so they kept still.\n\n\u201cWhere did the elephant get his trunk? That is what I should most like\nto hear about,\u201d said Tito.\n\n\u201cWell, that is a long story,\u201d said Jocko. \u201cIt seems that it really was\nonly a nose to begin with, and not much of a nose at that, so I have\nheard it said, but because he was so big he thought he was the boss\nof the jungle, where he lived, and he went about poking his nose into\nevery place he could find to see what was going on. They used to call\nhim Old Nosey, I have been told, and he had such big ears that what he\ndid not see he heard, so every one disliked him, but it took Old Man\nCrocodile to cure him of his bad habit.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat did he do to Mr. Elephant?\u201d asked Tito, excitedly.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll tell you,\u201d said Jocko. \u201cOne day Mr. Elephant was walking by the\nwater when he saw something queer-looking sticking out of the water.\n\n\u201cMr. Elephant had to know what it was, so he poked it with his nose,\nand, zip! it had him right by the nose, and held him, too.\n\n\u201cMy, how he did yell, I was told, but Old Man Crocodile would not let\ngo. He held right on tight.\n\n\u201cMr. Elephant pulled and cried, \u2018Let go!\u2019 and the harder he pulled the\nharder Old Man Crocodile pulled, until Mr. Elephant had that nose you\nsee on him now called a trunk.\n\n\u201cBy and by Old Man Crocodile had to catch his breath, and he let go,\nand down sat Mr. Elephant on the ground with a bang.\n\n\u201cOld Man Crocodile began to cry and say how sorry he was that he had\ngrabbled Mr. Elephant--that he had no idea he was hurting a friend. He\nthought it was a hunter, and would Mr. Elephant please forgive him this\nonce!--he would never do it again.\u201d\n\n\u201cIs there where Old Man Crocodile got his tears?\u201d asked Tito.\n\n\u201cThat is how he began to cry,\u201d said Jocko.\n\n\u201cHo, ho, ho!\u201d they both laughed, and then a terrible roar and\ntrumpeting and all sorts of cries went up from the animals, for Mr.\nElephant could not keep quiet when he heard what Jocko said about his\ntrunk.\n\nWhen Mr. Elephant began to trumpet Mr. Lion began to roar, and Jocko\nand Tito fled to the back of their cage and huddled together, trembling\nwith fright.\n\n\u201cThey can\u2019t get us,\u201d said Jocko. \u201cLet them talk and scream. I guess we\nwoke them up talking and laughing.\u201d\n\nThe other animals made such a noise that the keepers came running to\nsee what had happened, but, of course, they did not understand a thing\nthey told them about the awful stories Jocko had told about them, and\nso all they could do was to give them a drink of water or a biscuit,\nhoping they would be quiet.\n\nFar into the morning the animals scolded and told Jocko what they\nthought of him, but Tito and Jocko fell asleep in spite of the noise\nand Tito laughed in his dreams about the funny things Jocko had told\nhim.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWHY RABBITS HAVE SHORT TAILS\n\n\nBunny Rabbit was sitting in his yard one day, thinking very hard, when\nhis grandfather came along.\n\n\u201cWhy are you so quiet and sober, grandson?\u201d he inquired.\n\n\u201cI am wondering, grandfather,\u201d said Bunny, \u201cwhy we have such long ears\nand so short a tail. I should think it would be much better if it were\njust the other way about.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course; of course,\u201d said Grandfather Rabbit, bobbing his ears back\nand forth. \u201cWe all think we could have made a better rabbit if we had\nbeen consulted. But let me tell you why your tail is short and your\nears are long, and then you will learn you are better off now than was\nyour great-grandfather\u2019s great-grandfather, who had a long tail and\nshort ears.\u201d\n\nIt did not take Bunny Rabbit long to find a nice soft seat for his\ngrandfather and to sit close and very still, with his ears sticking up\nto listen, for he dearly loved the stories his grandfather told.\n\n\u201cOnce upon a time,\u201d began Grandfather Rabbit, just as all grandfathers\nbegin a story--\u201ca long, long time ago there lived in some woods a\nrabbit. He had a long tail and short ears, just as all the rabbits in\nthose days had.\n\n\u201cOne day he ran over the hill to the garden where Mr. Man lived. He\nshould have been very careful, but he wasn\u2019t, and when he was crawling\nunder the rail fence around the garden didn\u2019t Mr. Dog see him and begin\nto bark and chase Short Ears, as he was called.\n\n\u201cShort Ears was a good runner, and it was lucky he was or there would\nbe an end to this story right here. Through the garden he ran under\ncover of the vegetable leaves, and when he got out he was a good bit\nahead of Mr. Dog.\n\n\u201cOver the field they ran, and under the stone wall went Short Ears and\nover it went Mr. Dog. Down the road they ran lickety split, and into\nhis house ran Short Ears just as Mr. Dog came into the yard.\n\n\u201cShort Ears had no time to lose, I can tell you. He slammed the door,\nand what do you suppose happened?\u201d\n\nBunny Rabbit was so interested in his grandfather\u2019s story he only\nstarted; he did not answer at all. So his grandfather went on.\n\n\u201cWhy, Short Ears slammed that door right on his long tail, and there he\nwas held fast, with his tail hanging outside.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh! Oh! Oh!\u201d cried Bunny Rabbit, feeling of his stubby little tail, to\nbe sure it was safe behind him.\n\n\u201cWhat did poor Short Ears do then?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cHe could not do a thing, for there was Mr. Dog right in the yard and\nrunning straight for the door,\u201d said Grandfather Rabbit.\n\nBunny Rabbit sat closer to his grandfather and his ears grew longer as\nhe listened.\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Grandfather Rabbit, \u201cShort Ears was in a bad fix, as you\ncan see. He could not open the door to get his tail out, because Mr.\nDog would come in and catch him.\n\n\u201cHe did not have long to think about it, for the very next thing he\nknew Mr. Dog grabbed at his tail and off it came right up to the door.\nAnd off he ran. For, you see, he thought he had Short Ears on the end\nof the tail, and he did not stop to look. He just ran.\n\n\u201cWhen his tail broke off, over went Short Ears on the floor, for that\nset him free. \u2018Oh dear! Oh dear! What shall I do?\u2019 he cried, when he\njumped up and looked in the mirror and saw that his long tail was gone\nand all that remained was a little stubby tail, just like yours.\n\n\u201cFirst he ran to the medicine-closet and got some salve and a soft\npiece of cloth. But he found he could not reach the end of his tail--it\nwas too short.\n\n\u201cHis first thought was to run over to his cousin Rabbit\u2019s house, not\nfar-off, but when he started toward the door he remembered Mr. Dog.\n\n\u201cShort Ears leaned his head to the crack in the door and listened hard.\nHis ears were short, you remember, but not so short but that he heard\nMr. Dog barking.\n\n\u201cNearer and nearer came the bark. Short Ears locked the door and ran to\nthe windows and fastened them and drew the shades, and then he ran into\nthe closet and closed the door.\n\n\u201cAway back he crept under his Sunday clothes, where he was sure no one\nwould find him, and there he sat and listened and listened and listened.\n\n\u201cMr. Dog barked and jumped about outside the house, for he was very\nmuch upset when he found that he did not have Short Ears on the end of\nthe tail he carried off.\n\n\u201cBut it was no use. He could not get into Short Ears\u2019s house, and at\nlast he gave it up and ran off home, barking all the way.\n\n\u201cShort Ears listened, and though Mr. Dog\u2019s tones grew fainter and\nfainter, Short Ears was surprised to find he could hear the barking,\nthough it was a long way off.\n\n\u201cAfter it was dark he came out of the closet and crept into his bed\nwithout even thinking of the end of his tail, he was so tired and worn\nout listening.\n\n\u201cAnd now what do you think had happened to him, and what do you think\nhe saw when he looked in the mirror in the morning to brush his hair?\u201d\n\nBunny Rabbit shook his head. \u201cI don\u2019t know, grandfather,\u201d he said.\n\u201cWhat had happened to Short Ears?\u201d\n\n\u201cHis ears had grown long, he had listened so hard to the barking of\nMr. Dog,\u201d said Grandfather Rabbit. \u201cAnd from that day all the Rabbit\nfamily have had short tails and long ears, which is just as it should\nbe, for we can hear Mr. Dog a long way off, and we do not have the\nbother of looking after a long tail when we run to cover. So don\u2019t wish\nto have yours changed again, for you see now that you are better off\nthan poor Short Ears was, don\u2019t you?\u201d\n\nBunny Rabbit said he did, and that he should never wish for a long tail\nand short ears again. And he didn\u2019t.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE HUNTER\u2019S FRIEND, JOHNNIE BEAR\n\n\nIn a hut on the side of a mountain lived an old hunter all alone. He\nhad only one room, which was very scantily furnished, and he cooked his\nmeals in a fireplace. In the fireplace was a big hook where he hung his\nkettle, and he cooked his meat by holding it between two sticks over\nthe coals.\n\nYou need not pity this old man, for he would rather eat his food cooked\nin this way than in any other. He had a bunk built in the room about\nhalf-way up the wall, where he had to climb a ladder to reach it, and\nwhen he went to bed he covered himself with a big bearskin. Beside the\nbunk a gun hung on the wall where he could quickly reach it if it were\nneeded. Across the door at night he fastened a big bar, for he did not\nintend that any one should enter while he was asleep.\n\nThe old hunter had set a trap by his door, and one morning he found a\nbaby bear caught in it by the left hind paw. He very carefully opened\nthe trap and took the little fellow out. Then he took Johnnie Bear, as\nhe named him, into his cabin and very carefully washed the poor cut\nfoot and bound it up with some healing salve.\n\nJohnnie Bear seemed to know that the hunter was helping him, and he\ndid not bite or try to get away. He made a funny little noise like a\nbaby when it is hurt. Then the hunter warmed some milk and put it in a\nbottle, which he gave to the bear. Johnnie Bear took the bottle in both\nhis paws and held it to his mouth and drank the milk very greedily.\nThen the hunter fixed a bed for him and put a log on the fire to keep\nthe place warm while he went for a hunting trip.\n\nJohnnie Bear slept all day, and when the hunter returned at night he\ntried to run to meet him, but his poor foot hurt him so he had to lie\ndown again. Several weeks passed before Johnnie Bear\u2019s foot became\nquite well, and he always limped, because the trap had cut so deep.\n\nThe little fellow became very fond of the hunter and would run to meet\nhim at night, and when the hunter brought in his game Johnnie Bear\nwould poke it over with his nose and paw, as though to tell the hunter\nthat he had done well.\n\nOne day he did not run to meet the hunter, and when night came he did\nnot come to his supper. The old hunter began looking around the cabin\nand he found the footprints of two bears. One was Johnnie Bear\u2019s, which\nhe could tell by the light mark which the lame foot made, and the other\nwas of a big bear, which had enticed Johnnie back into the woods. The\nhunter felt very lonely and looked for Johnnie every day for a long\ntime, but after a year had gone by he gave up all hope of ever seeing\nJohnnie again.\n\nA long time after this the hunter was going through a part of the wood\nthat was filled with bushes and vines and in some way his foot became\nentangled and he fell, breaking his arm. His gun fell some distance\nfrom him, and as he went to pick it up he saw a big mother bear with\ntwo cubs coming toward him. She was growling and showing her teeth and\nthe hunter felt that he had little chance for escape from a fight, and\nwith his right arm broken he wondered how the fight might come out.\n\nHe braced himself against a tree and waited for the bear to come up.\nHe held his gun in his left hand, intending to use it to beat her off\nas long as possible. Just then another bear came in sight and the poor\nhunter gave up all hope. But all at once the first bear stopped and\nlooked at the other bear, then suddenly walked toward him. Both stood\nand looked at the hunter, who did not move. Suddenly the second bear\ngrowled strangely and the first bear walked away with the two cubs.\nThen the second bear came nearer, and as he walked the hunter saw that\nhe limped. It was Johnnie Bear, and in some unknown tongue he had sent\nthe other bear away and saved the hunter\u2019s life. He did not come any\nnearer the hunter, but only looked at him, as though to say, \u201cYou saved\nmy life once, now I have paid my debt to you.\u201d Then he limped away in\nthe direction the other bears had gone. Perhaps the mother bear was\nJohnnie\u2019s wife and the cubs were their children.\n\nWho can tell?\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPLAID TROUSERS\n\n\nMr. Tim Coon had a pair of red-and-green plaid trousers and that was\nwhat made everybody in the woods envious.\n\nBut there was one who not only was envious--he was very jealous of his\nrights--and that one was Mr. Fox.\n\nFor Mr. Fox thought, and so did every one else in the woods, that he\nwas the very smartest and nattiest fellow around until Tim Coon came\nalong with those red-and-green plaid trousers.\n\nMr. Fox at first did not bother much about the trousers, for he felt\nsure that in a short time he could persuade Tim Coon to part with them,\nbut here he was mistaken, as time proved.\n\nMr. Fox had called on Tim every day. He had carried the fattest hen or\nduck, and even two fat chickens, and each time he hinted that he might\npart with each or any of them if he were offered the right thing.\n\nBut Tim Coon was well supplied with the season\u2019s good things to eat and\nwould not offer anything worth having.\n\nAnd that was the reason that Mr. Fox sat on his steps one morning in\ndeep thought while he smoked his old corncob pipe.\n\nWhile he was thinking his eyes happened to alight upon a piece of paper\non which there was some printing, and then he saw the word WOOL in big\nletters.\n\n\u201cWool?\u201d thought Mr. Fox; \u201cthat is what those red-and-green trousers\nare; all wool, Tim Coon says.\u201d\n\nMr. Fox got up from the steps and picked up the paper. He began to\nread, and as he read his eyes grew big. The more he read the bigger\nthey grew, and at last he became so interested he dropped his pipe from\nhis mouth without noticing it.\n\nMr. Fox read all the printing. Then he crumpled up the paper and threw\nit into the bushes.\n\n\u201cIf he only would get them soiled,\u201d he said, \u201cthe rest would be easy;\nhe would be sure to ask my advice.\n\n\u201cI know what I will do,\u201d he said, starting for his barn. \u201cI\u2019ll paint\nthe seat of my rocking-chair; he loves to sit in that.\u201d\n\nPretty soon Mr. Fox had his rocking-chair painted a nice shiny black,\nand then he sat down to watch for Tim Coon, who always passed by about\nthat time. He did not have to wait long before Tim came along, wearing\nthe plaid trousers. \u201cCome in, Tim, and have a smoke,\u201d said Mr. Fox, in\nhis most polite manner.\n\nMr. Fox went to the closet to get a pipe for Tim, and, just as he\nexpected, down sat Tim Coon in the rocking-chair right on the wet paint.\n\n\u201cOh dear, oh dear, how sorry I am!\u201d said Mr. Fox, hurrying to Tim.\n\n\u201cGet up quick, Tim! I just painted that chair. I hope you have not got\nit on your plaid trousers.\u201d\n\nMr. Fox\u2019s eyes twinkled as he got behind poor Tim to look at the seat\nof his trousers, but that, of course, Tim Coon did not see, and when\nMr. Fox told him there was a big black spot, but that he felt sure he\ncould tell him just how to get it out, Tim thought he was a very kind\nfellow.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t you bother at all, Tim. I read the other day just how to wash\nwoolen garments. It said it was sure and safe, so I will help you, for\nI really feel to blame; I ought to have remembered that rocker was\nfreshly painted.\n\n\u201cFirst, I must get you some white soap, and as I have none in the house\nI shall have to run over to Mr. Man\u2019s and get some; he has everything\nin his house.\u201d\n\nTim Coon thought Mr. Fox was the very kindest fellow he knew, and he\nran right home to take off the trousers and wait for Mr. Fox to return.\n\n\u201cOh, you might put on a kettle of water,\u201d called Mr. Fox as Tim was\nhurrying away, \u201cand have it boiling; it must boil hard.\u201d\n\nMr. Fox had a harder time than he expected getting the soap from Mr.\nMan\u2019s, for Mr. Dog had gone to sleep right in the doorway of the barn,\nand that was where Mr. Fox wanted to go.\n\nHe had seen a piece of white soap on a box in the barn one day, where\nMr. Man had been washing his best harness, and he hoped very much he\nwould find it there now.\n\nAfter a while Mr. Dog awoke and went away and Mr. Fox crept in. He was\nlucky enough to find the soap, and off he ran for Tim Coon\u2019s house just\nas the sun was going down.\n\n\u201cI risked a good deal, Tim, to get this soap,\u201d he said. \u201cI do not like\nto go over the hill in the daytime--too risky.\n\n\u201cNow we must put the trousers in a pail,\u201d explained Mr. Fox, \u201cand then\nvery slowly pour the water on them. Are you sure the water is boiling\nhard?\u201d\n\nTim said he was, and so Mr. Fox told him to bring it along, and as Tim\npoured it in the pail Mr. Fox shaved up the soap and dropped it in.\n\n\u201cNow get me a stick,\u201d he said, \u201cso I can stir it and make a good suds,\nand now I will leave you, for I am sure you can do the rest, and I must\nget home, as it is getting dark.\n\n\u201cAll you have to do is to let them soak overnight and take them out in\nthe morning and hang them in the sun, and if that recipe for washing\nwoolen is good for anything your trousers will be as good as new.\u201d\n\nOff ran Mr. Fox for home, chuckling to himself all the way. \u201cYes, they\nwill be as good as new,\u201d he said, \u201cbut not for you to wear, my friend\nTim. They may fit a very young coon, but not a full-grown-up coon like\nyou. Oh no.\u201d\n\nPoor Tim Coon viewed his trousers as they hung on the line the next day\nwith a sinking heart, for the black stain of the paint was of course\nstill to be seen, but later when they were dry and he tried to put them\non it was not a feeling of sadness which came over him. It was anger.\n\nTim looked at himself in the looking-glass and saw that his handsome\nplaid trousers were no longer fit for him to wear. They were well up to\nhis knees, and so snugly did they fit him he could not bend, let alone\nwalk.\n\nIt took some time to get out of them, but when he did he took them over\nto Mr. Fox\u2019s house and showed him the remains of what had once been his\nplaid trousers.\n\n\u201cIt did not work right. That is all I can say,\u201d said Mr. Fox, trying\nhard to look sad. \u201cYou never can tell about those recipes you read in\npapers and magazines until you have tried them.\u201d\n\n\u201cI wish some one else had tried it first,\u201d said Tim, with a sigh, as he\nlooked at his trousers.\n\n\u201cI might have worn a long-tailed coat and covered up the paint spot,\nbut there is nothing I can do with these short legs.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou could wear a skirt or put some lace on the bottom of the legs,\u201d\nsuggested Mr. Fox.\n\n\u201cAre you sure the water had to boil?\u201d asked Tim.\n\n\u201cSure as I am that the sun will shine!\u201d replied Mr. Fox. \u201cAre you sure,\nTim, those trousers are all wool?\u201d\n\n\u201cI thought they were,\u201d said Tim.\n\n\u201cI know they are,\u201d said Mr. Fox, looking after Tim down the path.\n\nOf course the plaid trousers were of no use to any one, but Mr. Fox was\nsatisfied so long as he did not have to see Tim Coon wearing them.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTHE THREE RUNAWAYS\n\n\nMr. Dog sat in front of his house, looking very sad; Mr. Tom Cat came\nalong with his head hanging down, very sad, too.\n\n\u201cHello, Tommie!\u201d said Mr. Dog. \u201cYou look as sad as I feel. What is the\nmatter?\u201d\n\n\u201cMatter enough, Mr. Dog,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat. \u201cI have just been driven\nout of the house with a broom by cook, who says I am of no use; that I\nam too fat and too well fed to catch the mice.\n\n\u201cMr. Dog, I have caught all the mice in that house for years, and just\nbecause I slept one night--that was last night--that cook forgets\nall about all the good work I have done in the past and puts me out,\nand with a broom, too. Oh, it is too terrible, and I have not had my\nbreakfast, either.\u201d\n\n\u201cTommie, dear fellow,\u201d said Mr. Dog, \u201cyou certainly have a hard time\nof it, but let me tell you what has happened to me after all my years\nof service to the master. Last night a fox got into the hen-house, and\njust because I did not keep awake all night and catch him the master\ntook me up to the hen-house and put my nose right down on the floor\nwhere that fox had walked, and then he boxed my ears. Think of it,\nThomas, he boxed my ears before all the hens and chickens and said I\nwas getting old and good for nothing, and I have not had a bite to eat\nthis morning. I wonder what this place is coming to when such good\nfellows as we are get such treatment. That is what I would like to\nknow, Thomas Cat.\u201d\n\nMr. Tom Cat licked his mouth and stretched himself before he answered:\n\u201cI think, Mr. Dog, we better give the master and cook a chance to think\nover what they have done to us and perhaps they may remember all the\ngood things we have done all these years and think that one little\nmistake was not so bad, after all. I am for running away, I am. What do\nyou say?\u201d\n\n\u201cNow I never thought of that, Thomas,\u201d said Mr. Dog, standing up and\nlooking very serious. \u201cI believe that is a good plan, Thomas. I do,\nindeed; but where shall we run?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, we can walk; you know we don\u2019t have to run at all, only they call\nit running away if you go off where people can\u2019t find you,\u201d said Mr.\nTom Cat. \u201cI know a place we can go. Come with me.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll go with you,\u201d said Mr. Dog. \u201cLead the way, Thomas.\u201d\n\nJust as they were passing the barn-yard they saw Mr. Rooster scrooged\nunder the fence.\n\n\u201cHello, Mr. Rooster!\u201d said Mr. Dog. \u201cWhat has happened to you that you\nlook so unhappy this morning?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t I look unhappy?\u201d replied Mr. Rooster. \u201cHere I have been\non this farm and looking after all those silly hens these long years,\nand this morning the master said he wished the fox had got me last night\ninstead of the hen he carried off. I tell you it is hard luck, after\nall I have done for the master.\u201d\n\n\u201cCome with us,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat. \u201cWe are running away; the cook chased\nme out this morning because I happened to sleep all night and didn\u2019t\ncatch the mice, and Mr. Dog was blamed because the fox got into your\nhouse last night. We are not appreciated around here, that is plain.\nWill you come along?\u201d\n\n\u201cI had never thought of running away,\u201d said Mr. Rooster, getting out\nfrom under the fence and flapping the dust from his wings, \u201cbut I think\nI like the idea of running away. I will go along with you. Perhaps the\nmaster and those foolish hens of mine will begin to think what a fine\nfellow I am and wish I had not gone. Where are you going?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, to a place I know where no one will find us,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat,\nrunning ahead.\n\nMr. Dog and Mr. Rooster followed Mr. Tom Cat, and soon they were in the\nwoods where the bushes grew thick and the trees shut out the sun.\n\n\u201cHere we are,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat; \u201cnow no one will find us and we can\nrest in ease.\u201d\n\n\u201cI have not had my breakfast,\u201d said Mr. Rooster, scratching the ground.\n\n\u201cNeither have we,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat, \u201cbut I have heard somewhere that\nyou should not think of your troubles and they will not bother you,\nso suppose we each tell a story to take up the time and also take our\nminds off the thought that we have not had our breakfast. You begin,\nMr. Dog, because you are such a good story-teller and have had so many\nadventures.\u201d\n\nMr. Dog looked very wise and scratched his head as if he was thinking\nvery hard.\n\n\u201cDid I ever tell you about how I treed a coon?\u201d he asked.\n\nMr. Rooster and Mr. Tom Cat said they never had heard it, but they\nshould like to hear about it very much indeed.\n\n\nMR. DOG\u2019S STORY\n\nMr. Dog cleared his throat and then he said: \u201cI have always had the\nreputation of being a good hunter, especially when coons were in\nseason, but this story which I am about to tell will show that I had\nthe hardest time a dog ever had getting a coon.\n\n\u201cOne moonlight night the master came out of the house and whistled to\nme; he had his gun over his shoulder and I knew pretty well what was\ngoing to happen; we were going coon-hunting.\n\n\u201cSo I wagged my tail and gave two or three sharp barks because I knew I\ncould not bark again until I had something to bark about.\n\n\u201cOh, it was a beautiful night, and just as we got out in the road a\nlittle way from the barn I saw something moving. I wasn\u2019t sure at first\nwhether it was a fox or a coon, both of them being equally fond of\nvisiting the poultry-yard; but I kept very still and pretty soon I saw\nhim right in the full moonlight. It was as fat a coon as I ever saw,\nand he didn\u2019t see me and I made a run for him.\n\n\u201cWell, you may have seen a coon run, my friends, but believe me when I\ntell you that you never saw one run as this one did. He gave a bound\nand away he went, and I went after him, and Mr. Man followed, for I was\nbarking now, for there was reason for it.\n\n\u201cWell, that coon got to the tree first, and up he went, for I saw him,\nand I can tell you I was some tickled, for I knew that the master would\nbe pleased enough when he saw the size of that coon.\n\n\u201cAfter he got into the tree I stood under it and looked up and barked\nwith all my might, and Mr. Man was coming a-running as fast as he could\nin the distance.\n\n\u201cBut while I saw that coon go up the tree as plainly as I ever saw\nanything, I couldn\u2019t see hide nor hair of him when I looked up.\n\n\u201cMr. Man came up to me after a while and said, \u2018Where is he, Rover?\u2019\n\n\u201cI kept looking up in the tree and barking to keep up my courage,\nthough I could see nothing but tree.\n\n\u201c\u2018You are fooled, old fellow,\u2019 said the master; \u2018he got away from you.\nGo after him, old boy.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut I knew I wasn\u2019t fooled, though for the life of me I could not see\nthat coon.\n\n\u201cI kept on barking and jumping about and the master took another look,\nbut he did not see that coon and pretty soon he got tired.\n\n\u201c\u2018You are a fake, Rover,\u2019 he said to me. \u2018I am going home. We will try\nit another night and see if you can see straight.\u2019 And off he went.\n\n\u201cBut I didn\u2019t leave that tree. I knew that coon couldn\u2019t have jumped\nout of the tree and I also knew he went up the tree, so I was sure he\nwas in the tree right then.\n\n\u201cI barked louder than ever, and though the master whistled and called,\nI still barked and jumped about.\n\n\u201cSuddenly I thought if I kept very still a minute that coon might show\nhis head, so I stepped close to the tree and stood in the shadow and\nkept quiet. It wasn\u2019t more than a minute before, just as I thought, out\npoked the head of that coon to see if I had gone.\n\n\u201cWell, I just barked some then and I danced, and pretty soon master\ncame running back and I jumped and barked right under the place where I\nhad seen the head of Mr. Coon.\n\n\u201c\u2018Ah, you are right, boy,\u2019 I heard the master say, softly, and then\nbang went his gun and Mr. Coon dropped to the ground.\n\n\u201c\u2018Good old boy, you can\u2019t be fooled, can you, Rover?\u2019 said master,\npatting me on the head; \u2018you can\u2019t be beat for coon-hunting. Come along\nhome and show what we got.\u2019\n\n\u201cThe next night they had a great time at the master\u2019s house. He told\nthem all how I treed that coon and how I stuck to it in spite of his\ngoing away and calling to me to go along.\n\n\u201cI was patted on the head and made a great deal of, and every time I\nsee the master with that coon cap he wears I feel very happy.\u201d\n\nMr. Dog stopped and looked sad again, and Mr. Tom Cat said: \u201cOh, cheer\nup, Mr. Dog, the master will soon be wearing that cap again, and he\nwill remember how you caught the coon. That is a good story to tell.\nNow we will listen to what Mr. Rooster has to tell us.\u201d\n\nMr. Rooster said he would tell them about the new rooster that came to\nthe barn-yard one day.\n\n\nMR. ROOSTER\u2019S STORY\n\nMr. Rooster straightened himself and said he was proud to say he was\nraised on the master\u2019s farm. He was proud, too, to say he had succeeded\nthe old rooster that had gone to a dinner one day and did not return.\n\n\u201cI have always taken good care of my family, and, if I do say it, there\nis not a better-looking family than mine around these parts,\u201d said Mr.\nRooster.\n\n\u201cThere have been many young roosters in the barn-yard, but they have\ngone away to other farms to live, for the master has an eye for beauty,\nand he has always decided that I was too--er--valuable to lose.\u201d\n\nMr. Dog and Mr. Tom Cat smiled a little on the side at this last\nremark, for they well knew how vain Mr. Rooster was, and then he really\ndid have fine feathers and a beautiful comb.\n\n\u201cI have never had any trouble with my family until one morning Madam\nBlackie came running to me,\u201d continued Mr. Rooster, \u201cto tell me a new\nrooster had come in the barn-yard to live.\u201d\n\n\u201c\u2018It is shameful the way all those silly hens are running around him,\u2019\nshe said. \u2018He isn\u2019t noticing them a little bit and they strut back and\nforth, eying him as if they had never seen a handsome rooster before.\n\n\u201c\u2018For my part, I think the old friends are the best, though of course\nyou are not old, my dear Mr. Rooster, only old in acquaintance I mean.\u2019\n\n\u201cI had always thought Madam Blackie an old busybody, but now, if this\nwas all true, I had found her my only friend.\n\n\u201c\u2018You are most kind, Madam Blackie,\u2019 I said, \u2018and I thank you, but\nI feel sure that the master will not have a new rooster here. This\nnew-comer will probably leave in a few days.\u2019\n\n\u201cI expected he would, too, for I had as fine a set of spurs as I had\never seen, and I intended to show them to this new rooster.\n\n\u201cAs soon as I could get away from Madam Blackie I took a stroll around\nby the barn-yard, and sure enough there were all my family, even the\nchickens, walking around and clucking and cackling as hens will at a\nhandsome red-and-black rooster that stood by the barn door.\n\n\u201cI felt pretty queer for a minute, for that new rooster had a very\nshiny-looking set of feathers, and I knew he would be very popular for\na while at least, and with the whole family against me, even my spurs\nmight not make me king.\n\n\u201cI held my head very high, and with my light step I walked past them\nsome distance from the barn, but still I knew they all saw me.\n\n\u201cThere was a little flutter at first, and they ran toward me, but they\ngave a look at the new rooster. I could see them out of the corner\nof my eyes, and back the whole silly lot went and began their silly\ncackling and clucking.\n\n\u201cI went behind a wall and watched them through a hole. First they would\nscratch the ground near the new rooster and talk away to one another,\nand then they would walk by him, but not once did he turn his head.\n\n\u201c\u2018He isn\u2019t going to let them think he sees them,\u2019 I thought; but the\nlonger I watched the stranger it seemed to me that with all those\nfine-looking hens and chickens cackling about him he should not look\nonce their way; and then a thought came to me which made me jump up, so\nI crawled under the gate and walked into the barn-yard.\n\n\u201cI walked right up to that family of mine and looked at them, and then\nI looked at the new rooster. I was right close to him then.\n\n\u201cEvery hen opened her eyes and mouth, for they thought right then and\nthere was to be a settlement of rights, but one glance at the new\nrooster told me what I had thought was true, and I just turned my\nback on him and said: \u2018When you silly hens and chickens get tired of\nadmiring the new weather-cock you better come over in the lot back of\nthe barn. There is some corn and grain on the ground. I am surprised\nthat my family cannot tell a tin weather-cock from a real rooster,\u2019 and\naway I walked with my head held higher than ever.\n\n\u201cAfter that I never had the least trouble with them, but of course I\nfound out that Madam Blackie had been the first one to see the tin\nrooster and had gone right up to him and found it out, and then waited\nto see if the others would be fooled. When she found they were she ran\naway to tell me.\n\n\u201cOh, it takes all kinds of hens to make a barn-yard family!\u201d sighed the\nrooster.\n\n\u201cI guess they will miss you,\u201d said Mr. Dog, \u201cand the master will, too,\nfor all the hens are likely to run away, with no one to keep them at\nhome.\u201d\n\n\u201cTommie Cat, we will hear what you have to tell. I bet it will be about\na mouse.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou win the bet,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat.\n\n\nMR. TOM CAT\u2019S STORY\n\n\u201cMy story,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat, \u201cis about a mouse, the only mouse that\never got away from me--that is, the only one that I ever saw. Of\ncourse, I did not see the ones that cook thought I should have caught.\n\n\u201cI came to live at the master\u2019s house when I was a very little kitten,\nand right away I began to catch the mice.\n\n\u201cI have heard it said that my mother and father were the best mousers\nanywhere around, and I expect I take after them. Anyway, I could catch\nmice, so I became a great pet in the house.\n\n\u201cAnd while I always had plenty of milk--and sometimes cream--to eat, I\nnever failed to catch a mouse each night, and sometimes more, for a cat\nhad not lived in the house for years, and those mice thought they owned\nit until I came.\n\n\u201cThey ran about everywhere, on the pantry shelves and all over the\nrooms at night, and they would even run over me sometimes when I was\ntaking forty winks; but I soon stopped that. I played I was asleep when\nI wasn\u2019t and caught those silly mice until the others began to learn\nthat I was a thing to be feared and not to be taken as a joke.\n\n\u201cBut there was one mouse I could not catch. He was larger than the\nothers and had a little piece taken out of one ear, so I always knew\nhim, and it gave me no end of worry to think he always escaped me.\n\n\u201cThe others called him Tip, because it was the tip of his ear that was\ngone; and Tip was some runner, I can tell you. He could get through the\nsmallest hole in the wall and he could get away from you when you had\nyour paw right over him. I made up my mind to get Tip if I had to let\nthe other mice have the house, and so for a week I laid for Tip.\n\n\u201cOne night he came out of his hole and jumped right over my head and I\nchased him around the kitchen, when all at once right before my eyes he\ndisappeared.\n\n\u201cI sniffed and hunted. I knew he was there, but I could not see him or\nfind him. All at once I saw a shoe of the master\u2019s, that stood near the\nstove, move, and as quick as a wink I flew at it and put in my paw.\n\n\u201cDid I get Tip? No, sir; that slick little fellow crawled out of a hole\nin the side of that shoe and ran for his hole in the wall, laughing and\ngiggling to think he had fooled me again.\n\n\u201cI did not sleep for two days after that, sitting by that hole in the\nwall, and I was thinking how hungry Tip must be, having to stay in\nthere without any food and feeling sure he would have to come out soon\nor starve, when I felt something touch my tail.\n\n\u201cI turned around and there was Tip. How he got out I never knew, but I\nexpect he gnawed a hole in another part of the wall. Anyway, there he\nwas sitting on his hind legs and making funny motions with his front\npaws.\n\n\u201cI jumped, but he was ready for that, and away he scampered into the\npantry and I after him.\n\n\u201cOver the shelves he went, and I went, too. Back of the boxes, and I\nwent, too, tins and dishes falling with clatter and smash, but I did\nnot care. I was after that Tip mouse and I knew it was now or never.\n\n\u201cHe knew it was a fight to the death, I think, by the mad dash he made\nbehind dishes and tins, but after a while he grew tired and made for\nhis hole in the wall. I knew that was my chance to get him in the open,\nand I flew after him and reached him with the tip of my paw, but it was\nonly his tail I had. Tip was in the hole. I grabbed at the tail with my\nteeth and off it came. I have that tail yet, for I never got Tip, and I\nlike to look at it sometimes just to get up my fighting spirit.\u201d\n\n\u201cDidn\u2019t you ever see Tip again?\u201d asked Mr. Rooster and Mr. Dog.\n\n\u201cOh yes, I saw him once after that,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat, with a yawn.\n\n\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you catch him?\u201d they asked, together.\n\n\u201cOh, Tip was in a trap when I saw him,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat.\n\n\u201cWas it one of those traps that catch them by the head?\u201d asked Mr. Dog.\n\n\u201cNo, it was a little wire affair,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat, \u201cand I looked in\nand saw him running about.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy didn\u2019t you catch him then when the master opened the trap? Didn\u2019t\nthey give you a chance at him?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, Mr. Dog,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat, looking very lofty. \u201cI am a sportsman\nand no true sportsman ever touches a caged mouse. Tip was let out of\nthe trap, and the master thought I would catch him, but I didn\u2019t even\nrun after him, and for all I know Tip may be living yet. I will do my\nown hunting and catching; none of those traps can ever help me to get a\nmouse.\u201d\n\n\u201cSome of his grandchildren might go back there to live, even if Tip did\nnot return to the hole in the wall,\u201d said Mr. Dog.\n\n\u201cIt might be that those very mice that were running about last night\nwere some of his relations.\u201d\n\n\u201cI never thought of that,\u201d said Mr. Tom Cat. \u201cI will watch for them\nto-night, and whether they are or not I will remember Tip and catch\nthem all.\u201d\n\n\u201cI guess I will go along with you,\u201d said Mr. Dog. \u201cI am pretty hungry,\nand it must be dinner-time.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you all are going home, I guess I better get back in time for\ndinner, too,\u201d said Mr. Rooster; \u201cmy family will think I am lost.\u201d\n\nSo all three started off for their home, forgetting all about their\ngrievances in listening to the story each had told, and if nothing has\nhappened to them I expect they are living there yet.\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Notes:\n\n\nMinor errors and omissions in punctuation have been fixed\n\nPage 55: Changed \u201cbut that it still\u201d to \u201cbut that is still\u201d\n\nPage 124: Changed \u201cMartha did not treat her\u201d to \u201cMartha treated her\u201d\n\nPage 155: Changed \u201c\u2018Oh, don\u2019t you know?\u2019 said Jacko\u201d to \u201c\u2018Oh, don\u2019t\n  you know?\u2019 said Jocko\u201d\n\nPage 179: Changed \u201cthe master he wished\u201d to \u201cthe master said he\n  wished\u201d","title":"Sandman's rainy day stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":36629}