{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_68833/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_68833","id":"gutenberg_68833","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68833","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Courts and courtiers -- Juvenile fiction","Fairies -- Juvenile fiction","Fairy tales","Parent and child -- Juvenile fiction","Pride and vanity -- Juvenile fiction","Romance fiction","Wisdom -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"[Illustration: THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION.\n\n                          [See page 131.]\n\n\n\n\n\n  THE\n  ENTERTAINING STORY\n  OF\n  KING BROND\u00c9,\n  His Lily and his Rosebud.\n\n  BY ANNA M. DIAZ.\n\n  WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY W. L. SHEPPARD.\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  BOSTON:\n  TICKNOR AND FIELDS.\n  1869.\n\n\n\n\n  Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by\n  TICKNOR AND FIELDS,\n  in the Clerk\u2019s Office of the District Court of the District of\n  Massachusetts.\n\n\n  UNIVERSITY PRESS: WELCH, BIGELOW, & CO.,\n  CAMBRIDGE.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n  CHAPTER I.                                PAGE\n  THE THREE PRINCESSES                         9\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n  KING BROND\u00c9                                 20\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n  THE WOOD-CUTTER\u2019S CHILDREN                  33\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n  THE CAVE                                    40\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n  MEETING OF THE FAIRIES                      44\n\n  CHAPTER VI.\n  GOING A HUNTING, AND WHAT CAME OF IT        48\n\n  CHAPTER VII.\n  ESCAPING FROM PERILS                        61\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.\n  LIFE AT THE SEA-SHORE                       70\n\n  CHAPTER IX.\n  THE FLOWER-GARDEN                           79\n\n  CHAPTER X.\n  A NEW ACQUAINTANCE                          87\n\n  CHAPTER XI.\n  MEETING AND PARTING                         99\n\n  CHAPTER XII.\n  THE CHILDREN IN TROUBLE                    107\n\n  CHAPTER XIII.\n  THE WHITE LAMB                             114\n\n  CHAPTER XIV.\n  A LONG JOURNEY                             118\n\n  CHAPTER XV.\n  TEARS AND SMILES                           125\n\n  CHAPTER XVI.\n  A DISCOVERY                                132\n\n  CHAPTER XVII.\n  KING MYRTLE AND QUEEN ROSEBUD              141\n\n\n\n\n  THE\n  ENTERTAINING STORY\n  OF\n  KING BROND\u00c9,\n  His Lily and his Rosebud.\n\n\n\n\nTHE KING\u2019S\n\nLILY AND ROSEBUD.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE THREE PRINCESSES.\n\n\nIf anybody had happened to be walking along what was called the\nRobbers\u2019 Road, in Long Forest, a part of the possessions of good King\nBrond\u00e9, who lived many, many hundred years ago, he would have perceived\nthat the road was continually curving towards the right. He would also\nsoon have grown weary, for this winding road led, by degrees, to the\ntop of a mountain. But if he had kept on and on, and did not give up\nfor weariness, he would at length have come to the palace of the very\nking himself. A magnificent palace it was, too, and a sight of it well\nworth the long journey.\n\nIf you could but have seen how the gilded roof shone in the sunlight!\nand the white marble statues in the gardens! and the fountains and\nthe round ponds filled with gold and silver fishes! and the flocks\nof lambs with blue and pink ribbons around their necks! and the\nshepherdesses all dressed in white, each with her crook and her wreath\nof flowers!--if you could but have seen all these beautiful things,\nthen would the weary journey have been soon forgotten.\n\nAnd could you have entered the palace itself, and have kept your eyes\nfrom being blinded by the bright colors, the sparkling ornaments, and\nall the splendor of this wonderful place, and have wandered on and on,\nthrough the spacious apartments, you would at last have come to an\nivory door, over which was perched a red-and-green parrot. This parrot\nwas fed upon flowers made from crystals of white sugar; and had you\ngiven him one of these he would have told you a riddle. But this, of\ncourse, you could not know. And indeed, when the door was once open,\nyou would have forgotten parrots and everything else in gazing at the\nbeautiful lady within,--the beautiful pale lady, King Brond\u00e9\u2019s queen.\n\nThis is her private chamber. The windows are lofty, and more than half\nhidden by rich curtains of crimson. The walls are covered with cloth\nof crimson and gold. Vases of white lilies fill the air with their\nfragrance. How beautiful is the pale lady, reclining upon her dark\ncushions of velvet! Her robe is of blue silk, embroidered with silver.\nHer fair hair is adorned with a wreath of blue flowers. These flowers\nare made of precious stones, and the leaves are of silver. Her eyes\nare blue, too, very blue,--bluer than her silk robe,--bluer than the\nflowers in her hair. And oh! if her cheeks had but looked rosy then,\nshe would have been the most beautiful queen in the world. But her face\nwas very, very pale; so that when she was not called the Queen, she was\noften called the Pale Lady, or the White Lady, and sometimes the Lily\nQueen.\n\nBut what are those blue eyes looking upon so earnestly, so tenderly, so\nsadly?\n\nAh! that I can soon tell you.\n\nBut first I must tell you that fastened to the ceiling was a golden\neagle, holding in its claws a long silver cord. This cord sustained a\nsort of canopy, made of white velvet, and fringed with silver. From\nthis canopy hung curtains of the most gauzy, delicate lace. These\nwere now looped up with their jewelled bands, and it was something\nunderneath upon which the blue eyes of the Pale Lady were fixed so\nearnestly.\n\nNow this something underneath was something very charming indeed.\n\nIt was a babe which lay there, sleeping in its cradle.\n\nThis cradle was curiously wrought of sandalwood and rosewood and\nboxwood and ivory. It was lined with down, and its cushions were white\nand soft as new-fallen snow. The quilt was embroidered with pearls.\nAt each of its four corners, and bending over it, was the sculptured\nfigure of a little smiling boy. Those at the foot seemed playing softly\non musical instruments, as if soothing the child to slumber. The two\nat the head were represented as holding out poppies over the infant\nbeneath.\n\nBut why should the mother look with sadness upon her babe? If any one\ncould weep in such a beautiful place, we might fancy almost those were\ntears in her blue eyes.\n\nThe Pale Lady had, no doubt, cause for sorrow; for she sighed\nfrequently, and bowed her head upon the velvet cushions, saying, \u201cO my\nprecious one! what shall I ask for thee?\u201d\n\nAt length she took from her bosom a curiously shaped whistle, which,\nwhen she put it to her lips, gave forth the sweetest notes you ever\nheard.\n\nThen the ivory door opened softly, and there came in a bright\nblack-eyed little boy, in a red turban. The lady, without speaking,\npointed to a casket at the opposite side of the room. This the little\nblack-eyed, also without speaking, placed in her hands, and then, with\nthe very lightest of footsteps and the very lowest of bows, he left the\nroom.\n\nThe lady unlocked the casket, and, after opening many little drawers,\nshe at last took out a most fairy-like cup, made of alabaster,\nperfectly plain and white. Then, lifting the crimson and gold hangings\nfrom the wall near by, she pressed her finger upon what seemed to be\na small picture fastened in the wood-work. A drawer flew out, from\nwhich the Pale Lady took three small green stones and a vial. Placing\nthe stones in the cup, she poured over them a liquid from the vial,\nand very soon there began to arise a vapor, which spread through the\napartment. And the Pale Lady, while the vapor was rising, sang, in low\ntones, these words:--\n\n  \u201cWild Mountain Fairy, in robes of green,\n  List to the call of the Lily Queen.\n  O, speed thee! speed quickly o\u2019er land and o\u2019er sea,\n  For the child and its mother are waiting for thee.\u201d\n\nAs the vapor melted away, there was seen, standing by the cradle, a\nbeautiful white lamb; which, after walking three times around the room,\nbecame transformed into as pretty a green fairy as ever was seen. Now\nthis is what the fairy said to the lady, and what the lady said to the\nfairy.\n\n_Fairy._--\u201cYes: three times I promised to come at thy bidding. This is\nthe third. What now is the wish of the fair Lily Queen?\u201d\n\n_Lady._--\u201cFairy, I pray thee bestow something good--something\nblessed--upon my youngest-born.\u201d\n\n_Fairy._--\u201cYes, lady. And what shall it be? It is thine to choose. How\nis it with the two princesses, her sisters? Did I not well by them?\u201d\n\n_Lady._--\u201cFairy, what I asked thou gavest. For the eldest, I chose the\ngift of perfect beauty, for I said, \u2018Every one loves the beautiful; she\nwill draw all hearts to herself.\u2019\u201d\n\n_Fairy._--\u201cAnd thus did it prove?\u201d\n\n_Lady._--\u201cListen! I hear her step. Judge now for thyself.\u201d\n\nAs the ivory door swung open, the beautiful princess entered. Perfect\nbeauty had indeed been given her. There was in her countenance such a\nbloom, such a freshness, such a smile upon her lip, such a light in her\neye, that, having once looked, one was hardly able to turn away. She\nwore no ornament, well knowing that gold could buy nothing so pretty,\nso bright, so radiant, as herself.\n\n\u201cAnd such beauty as this, or even greater, wouldst thou choose for thy\nyoungest-born?\u201d asked the fairy.\n\n\u201cO no, no, no!\u201d said the lady, earnestly. \u201cO fairy! yonder beauty has\nno heart, and none love her. She is not happy; she makes no one happy.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd did I not warn thee?\u201d asked the fairy.\n\n\u201cFairy, thou didst. The blame is mine,--mine only. I foolishly trusted\nthat beauty alone would draw loving hearts around her. Oh! she is\nvain; she is silly; she is proud. Examine the book she holds. Inside\nits covers are little mirrors, that she may continually enjoy the\nsight of her beauty. All the artists in the kingdom are busy painting\nlikenesses of her face, her form, her hands. And you will perceive that\nthe very figures upon her dress are only so many miniatures of herself.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd her sister, the second princess,\u201d inquired the fairy, \u201cupon whom,\nat your request, I conferred great wisdom,--you surely find comfort in\nher?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d replied the lady, \u201calthough she can converse in all languages,\nand not even the wisest philosopher can puzzle her with questions,\nyet she cannot make herself beloved, for she knows not the secret of\nmaking even the poorest child happy. Though despising beauty, yet she\nis envious of her sister; and their want of affection saddens my whole\nlife. But you will see, now, this wise princess. That is her step\napproaching. It will be very fortunate if we understand her, for seldom\ndoes she converse in our own language.\u201d\n\nAgain the ivory door opened, to admit the second princess, who\ninstantly began talking.\n\n\u201cAlski, mofo, se lup tak sba tab enryo dyo!\u201d she exclaimed.\n\nHer dress was a brownish robe, reaching to the floor. It was covered\nwith ink-spots. Her hair was tumbled, and stuck full of pens. Her\nhands were filled with big charts and rolls of manuscripts.\n\n\u201cPotobi, ritu fo bam. Shik, sho, tabi,\u201d said she, approaching her\nbeautiful sister so awkwardly that she almost trod upon one of the\npretty miniatures in her dress. The beauty sprang angrily up, and there\nwould have been a great quarrel, had not the Green Fairy, with a motion\nof her wand, ordered them from the apartment.\n\nMeanwhile, the pale Lily Queen, paler now than ever, sat sighing and\nweeping.\n\n\u201cArouse yourself, dear lady,\u201d said the fairy, \u201cand choose quickly, for\nothers may summon me, and I must soon be gone.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood fairy,\u201d said the lady, \u201cbestow upon her, not happiness for\nherself, but the blessing of bringing happiness to others. I ask for\nher the gift of exceeding love. Kindle a love-flame in her heart which\nshall never grow dim.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said the fairy, \u201cwhat you ask is not mine to give. Far, far\naway, in a land which no mortal and no fairy ever saw, is an altar upon\nwhich the holy fire is constantly burning. Now, although no mortal and\nno fairy may enter there, yet there may, and there do, come messengers\nfrom thence, bearing sparks of this holy fire. Happy the heart which\nreceives such messengers, for the love-flame, once kindled from the\nsacred fire, is never quenched. And all who have love in their hearts\npossess the blessing you have chosen,--the power and the will to create\nhappiness. Be silent, now, and let only beautiful and holy thoughts\nenter your mind.\u201d\n\nThe fairy then described with her wand a circle upon the floor, in the\ncentre of which she stood for some time, motionless. At last, in a low\nvoice, she began chanting,--\n\n  \u201cBeautiful Spirit! Spirit of Love,\n  Why dost thou tarry? O, where dost thou rove?\n  Linger not by the altar, sweet Spirit, for see!\n  The child of the Lily Queen waiteth for thee.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs she chanted, her voice grew fainter and fainter. Her form faded,\nbecoming more and more shadow-like, until, at length, its last dim\noutline disappeared.\n\nBut while the Pale Lady was still gazing at the spot where the fairy\nhad stood, she heard a voice faintly singing,--\n\n  \u201cThe Fairy Green\n  No more is seen.\n  Look not for me,\n  Dear lady. But see!\n  Where cometh above\n  The Spirit of Love.\u201d\n\nThe lady raised her eyes to the ceiling, and saw there what appeared\nto be a kind of white cloud. While gazing, full of wonder at this\nstrange appearance, she perceived, flying from it, a small, white dove.\nFollowing its motions with her eye, she saw that it was flying in\ncircles around the cradle. These circles grew smaller and smaller, and\nat length the beautiful little creature alighted upon the clasped hands\nof the child, and then creeping into its bosom, just where its little\nheart was beating, it lay there as quietly as if it had never in its\nlife known any other nest.\n\nThe lady now perceived that the air was filled with the singing of\nbirds, and, looking up, she saw that the white cloud had changed, and\nwas now of the most brilliant colors; and that from the midst of it\nwere flying birds such as she had never before seen or heard,--birds\nof the most radiant plumage, purple and gold and scarlet, and whose\nwarbling was inexpressibly melodious. The whole room was filled with\ntheir brightness and with their music. They seemed to be attendants\nof the white dove, for they hovered about the cradle, though not one\nalighted. Poised in the air, fluttering their bright wings, their\nsinging was not like that of birds, but like some heavenly anthem, such\nas she had imagined might be sung by angels.\n\nAt first this music was overpowering, but grew softer by degrees, and\nso soothing that the lady soon lost all consciousness of what was about\nher. Her eyelids drooped, and she wondered how it was that the music\nsounded so far away.\n\nWhen the power of opening her eyes was restored to her, she looked\neagerly about, and then grew very sad, for there were no sweet sounds\nin the room,--no birds, no music.\n\nRunning to her child, she searched eagerly in its bosom. But no dove\nwas there,--nothing but a warm, bright red spot, just over its little\nheart.\n\nThe babe opened its blue eyes, smiled, and put out its tiny hands to\nits mother; and the Pale Lady might have thought she had been dreaming,\nwere it not for the bright red spot which, as I said before, was\nplainly to be seen just over the little quick-beating heart.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nKING BROND\u00c9.\n\n\nAlthough I have told you something of his palace and of his daughters\nand of his queen, I have as yet hardly spoken of the king himself.\n\nKing Brond\u00e9 was once a poor little boy, and lived with his mother in a\nbrown hut or cottage, near the borders of a forest. One day, when he\nwas in the forest with some other children, chopping fagots for his\nmother\u2019s fire, a giant chanced to pass that way, and, by accident, his\nfoot became entangled in the branches of a thick thorn-tree, causing\nhim to roar out most lustily. The other children screamed, and ran\naway. But Brond\u00e9 climbed the tree, and, with his hatchet, hacked away\nthe branches.\n\n\u201cThank you, my little man!\u201d said the giant. \u201cCome, live with me, and\nI\u2019ll teach you to grow. Would you like that?\u201d\n\n\u201cWith all my heart,\u201d said the lad, \u201cif mother will say yes.\u201d\n\nHe then ran quickly home, and cried out,--\n\n\u201cMother! mother! May I grow up a big man?\u201d\n\n\u201cTo be sure!\u201d said his mother. \u201cWhat\u2019s to hinder?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said the lad, \u201cI shall go now to live with the giant, and he\nwill teach me.\u201d\n\nThen his mother began to weep and to wail most bitterly, and to say, \u201cO\nno! O no!\u201d\n\nBut when the little boy said he was not afraid, and told how stout he\nwould grow and how he would take care of her, and how proud she should\nbe of such a big son, she wiped her tears and gave him her consent. So\nBrond\u00e9 ran to the forest, and cried out, \u201cSir giant! sir giant! I am\nready.\u201d And then the giant put him in his pocket, and walked away.\n\nAnd Brond\u00e9 lived a year in the cave; and the giant fed him with\nsomething which caused him to grow very big and very tall and very\nstrong. This something was a mountain herb which giants fed upon, and\nmay, no doubt, be still found in that region, only that no one knows\nthe spot where it grows.\n\nBrond\u00e9, as I said, grew very large and strong, and would, no doubt,\nhave some day become a giant himself, had his stout friend lived long\nenough.\n\nBut the giant grew sick, and laid him down to die. Knowing that his end\nwas near, he called Brond\u00e9 close to his mouth, and said to him:--\n\n\u201cI shall soon leave you now. Have I not been a friend to you? Have I\nnot fulfilled my promise?\u201d\n\nThen, as Brond\u00e9 could not answer for crying, the giant went on:--\n\n\u201cThere is but one man living as large and strong as yourself. He calls\nhimself Magnus, or \u2018The Great.\u2019 Years ago, I did for him what I have\ndone for you. But he grew wicked as fast as he grew strong, and I\ndrove him from me. You will readily know him; for he is exactly your\nsize. His hair, however, is not fair and curly like yours, but black\nand coarse. I pray, however, that you may never meet, for he would\ngladly kill you, that there may be no man living as large and as strong\nhimself.\n\n\u201cDeath is near,\u201d continued the giant, \u201cand I am not sorry; for mine has\nbeen but a lonely life. But before we part I would bestow upon you a\nparting gift. It is one which this Magnus, of whom I have spoken, often\nbegged of me, but never obtained. You see this vial. A few drops of\nits contents confer upon the person swallowing them immense strength.\nAs its effects pass off, he sinks into a stupor resembling death, from\nwhich he awakes with only his usual powers. You are young, active,\nand will seek adventure,--brave, and will fear no danger. You will\nencounter perils; you will be reduced to extremities in which even your\nuncommon strength shall not avail. Preserve, therefore, this little\nvial with the utmost care, and never use it unless your very life\ndepends upon its aid.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cThis, then,\u201d said the giant, as he hung the vial about the neck of\nBrond\u00e9 by a stout cord, \u201cthis is my dying gift; listen, now, to my\ndying request.\n\n\u201cWhen I am dead, leave my body in this cave. Roll rocks about the mouth\nof it, till no opening can be seen. Pull up oak-trees and plant them\naround, that no one may ever discover the entrance to my tomb.\u201d\n\nSo the giant died; and Brond\u00e9, with his immense strength, rolled rocks\nand planted trees, until the cave was entirely concealed. And, to this\nday, no traveller journeying that way ever knew he was passing the\ntomb of a giant.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNow Brond\u00e9 had lived in the cave just a year and a day. And the same\nflowers were in bloom, the meadows were as green, the waters as blue,\nthe sky was as bright, the air as soft, and the birds were singing as\nsweetly the very same tunes, as on the day when he kissed his mother\nand ran to meet the giant in the forest.\n\nAnd Brond\u00e9 wondered, as he travelled homeward, whether he really were\nBrond\u00e9, and really had a mother living in a brown cottage by the edge\nof a forest. And the more he wondered, the faster he walked; until, at\nlength, he walked so fast that no horse could pass him by.\n\nNow, when his mother, who was looking out from her little window at the\nhouse-top, saw this big fellow coming at such a rate, she ran down to\nfasten the door. She was too late, however, for he was already in the\nroom, and searching for something on the top shelf of the cupboard.\n\n\u201cAh, here it is!\u201d said he,--\u201cthe little blue honey-pot. Now it is\ncertain I am Brond\u00e9. For though there might be a brown cottage like\nthis, it would not have a cupboard like this, and a little blue\nhoney-pot on the top shelf.\u201d\n\nWhen the good dame reached the bottom of the stairs, she was terribly\nfrightened to see such a powerful man in possession of her room and her\nhoney-pot.\n\n\u201cPardon me,\u201d said he, \u201cbut I have travelled long, and am very hungry.\u201d\n\nThe dame, seeing she could do no other, brought her oatmeal cakes and\nall her pans of milk, and then, by way of passing the time, asked if\nthere were any news.\n\n\u201cO, great news!\u201d said he; \u201cthe giant is dead.\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said the good woman, beginning to weep, \u201cwhere, then, is my\nlittle son?\u201d\n\nThen Brond\u00e9 laughed, and cried out,--\n\n\u201cI am your little son!\u201d\n\nAnd he pulled from his pocket the whole suit of clothes which he had\nworn away.\n\nThen the dame knew it was her own son, and would have fainted away for\njoy, had not Brond\u00e9 caught her in his arms and kissed her and hugged\nher as if she had only been a little child.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAnd Brond\u00e9 lived many years with his mother, and was a good son to her\ntill she died.\n\nHe then went forth into the world to seek his fortune. And chancing to\nstop in a great city, through which a legion of soldiers was passing,\nhe resolved to join the army, and fight for the king.\n\nNow the king of the land soon heard of the marvellous deeds of his new\nsoldier, and straightway sent for him to come to the palace, that he\nmight behold with his own eyes this great wonder.\n\nBrond\u00e9, therefore, visited the palace. And the king was so charmed with\nhis lofty stature, his noble air, and his fine appearance, that he must\nneeds have him among his own private guards, and very soon made him\ncaptain over them all. And it was soon found that this great soldier\nwas as good as he was great, and as gentle as he was strong. For never\nin his life had he used his strength to oppress the weak; but, on the\ncontrary, sought to help all who were in distress.\n\nNow the king had an only child, a daughter as fair and sweet as a\nlily. And the king never called her anything but his White Lily, or\nhis Precious Lily. This princess was the life and light of the court.\nShe was sweet-tempered and modest, yet merry and playful as a kitten,\ndancing and singing from morning to night.\n\nAnd one day, when the king was away, and the courtiers were feasting in\nthe grand banquet-hall, there ran in among them maidens weeping, and\ncrying out,--\n\n\u201cSave the princess! Oh! who will save the princess?\u201d\n\nAnd every one rushed from the palace to learn what had befallen the\nking\u2019s Lily.\n\nThe maidens ran swiftly towards the river, and then every one thought\nshe had been drowned. But no. On towards the mountains the maidens ran.\nAnd, half-way up the mountain path, they pointed below to a crevice\nbetween two huge rocks, and told how the princess, in her eagerness to\nchase a gazelle, had slipped and fallen through. And hardly had they\nfinished speaking before the voice of the princess was heard, in tones\nof distress, calling out for help.\n\nAll were now in dismay, crying out, \u201cAlas! alas! the princess will die!\u201d\n\nBut when Brond\u00e9 arrived, and saw that trees were growing about the foot\nof the outer rock, he quickly let himself down, and began pulling them\nout by their roots. This so loosened the earth that, by means of his\ngreat strength, he could easily start the rock from its nest. And this\nhe did, and sent it rolling, whirling, plunging, nobody looked to see\nhow far, for all were busy with the princess, who, though very little\nhurt, was trembling with fright. And Brond\u00e9, seeing that she could\nhardly stand, took her in his arms and bore her to the palace, the rest\nfollowing far behind.\n\nIf he had not taken her in his arms and borne her to the palace, it is\nprobable this story would never have been written, as will presently be\nshown.\n\nWhen the princess found herself unhurt, she began to laugh within\nherself at this adventure, and at the odd way she was travelling home.\nAnd as her head lay upon the shoulder--the big, broad shoulder--of\nBrond\u00e9, his long, fair curls touched her cheek. So, being fond of\nmischief, she slyly drew forth her scissors, cut off one curl, and kept\nit hid in her hand. And Brond\u00e9 did not know a word about it; though,\nhad he known, it would not have displeased him, since, had she wished,\nhe would gladly have given her every one of them; for he was quite fond\nof the charming little princess.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd he grew still more fond of her as years passed, and wondered\nwithin himself whether such a big fellow as he could ever please such\na delicate little creature as the king\u2019s Lily. And if that could\never happen, why, what would the king say then? It was quite doubtful\nwhether he should be thought worthy to be the son-in-law of a king.\nWhatever his thoughts were, therefore, none were the wiser for them, as\nthey remained hidden in his own breast.\n\nNow the king\u2019s Lily looked with admiration upon the brave,\nnoble-hearted Brond\u00e9.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d said she to herself, \u201che is gentle and good, and can do no wrong;\nhe is strong and brave, and can fear no danger; and he is handsome\nenough to gaze upon for a lifetime. And I think,--I think he likes very\nwell even a small, pale thing like me; yet he has never told me this.\u201d\n\nSo she, too, kept her own counsel, and nobody was the wiser. But it is\ncurious to see how, sometimes, events are brought about.\n\nThe king said one day to his daughter: \u201cChoose you now a husband, for\nold age is coming upon me, and I would know, before I die, that my\nchild and my kingdom are well cared for.\u201d\n\nBut the pretty White Lily grew bashful and said, \u201cLet me not choose,\nbut rather be chosen.\u201d\n\nThen the king said: \u201cWho would dare to choose my beautiful Lily, my\nprincess? But give yourself no uneasiness, since I myself can make the\nchoice.\u201d\n\nThen the princess was quite troubled, not knowing upon whom the\nchoice might fall. And she thought that by a cunning little trick\nmatters might be well arranged. So she said to her father, the king:\n\u201cMy dearest father, in coming from the mountains one day, I discovered\na lock of hair, so beautiful that I have preserved it ever since.\nWhoever, now, in all your court, can match this lock with one of his\nown, he, and he only, shall be my choice.\u201d\n\nNow when this declaration of the princess was made known, it caused\ngreat commotion among the young nobles of the court. All were examining\ntheir locks, and longing to know the color of that which the king\u2019s\nLily had discovered in coming from the mountain.\n\nBrond\u00e9 sent in one of his fair curls with the rest, and was, of course,\nthe lucky winner. For not one in the whole court had hair so soft and\nof so beautiful a color as he.\n\nAnd he soon found that the heart of the princess was quite large\nenough to love even so big a fellow as himself. And the princess made\nthe discovery that the small, pale thing, as she had called herself,\nwas the very thing, in all the world, that Brond\u00e9 most wished for.\nThe king, too, was well pleased to give to his daughter so kind\na protector, and to his kingdom so brave a defender. And thus it\nhappened, for once, that everybody was pleased. The lady with her\nlover, the lover with his lady, the king with his son-in-law, and the\npeople with their king that was to be.\n\nThere was one person, however, who, far away, hearing of Brond\u00e9\u2019s\ngood fortune, was not so well pleased. This person was a man of great\nstrength and size, who has already been spoken of. He called himself\nMagnus, or \u201cThe Great.\u201d\n\nHe, too, had once been among the king\u2019s guards, and would have been\nquite ready to take both daughter and kingdom. But by reason of his\ncruelty and for his many bad acts, he was banished from the country.\nAfter Brond\u00e9 had been made a great captain in the army, Magnus went to\nhim secretly, by night, and said: \u201cCome, now, we two are strong and can\naccomplish whatsoever we will. Let us gather about us a troop of brave\nmen; let us entice the king\u2019s soldiers; there are many who will gladly\nfight under two such powerful leaders. We will attack the palace, throw\nthe king into prison, and become ourselves rulers of the land.\u201d\n\nBut Brond\u00e9 said, \u201cI will not use my strength to do evil.\u201d And Magnus,\nfor this, hated Brond\u00e9, and was, therefore, far from rejoicing at his\ngood fortune.\n\nHis envy and his displeasure, however, were alike unknown to Brond\u00e9\nand the princess. They were married and lived happily. Their father,\nthe king, built for them two fine palaces, one within the city and\nthe other far away among the forests and mountains. It was this summer\npalace, standing high, all glittering with silver and gold, which was\nspoken of in the beginning. And it will now be understood that the\nPale Lady, sitting in the Crimson Chamber, was the good old king\u2019s\nLily Princess whom Brond\u00e9 saved on the mountain, whom he bore home in\nhis arms, and whom he afterwards married. The old king had now long\nbeen dead, and King Brond\u00e9 was enjoying a peaceful reign. Affairs went\nsmoothly on, his people loved him and he loved his people, and he still\nspent the summers at the beautiful palace in Long Forest.\n\nBut peaceful days last not always, and troubles, dangers, and bitter\nsorrows were in store for the good King Brond\u00e9 and his Lily Queen.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE WOOD-CUTTER\u2019S CHILDREN.\n\n\nWe left, at the end of the first chapter, a child sleeping in its\ncradle within a chamber of the royal palace. To this child, this third\nlittle princess, was given the name of Rosebud. Her father, King\nBrond\u00e9, it was, who gave his little daughter this name. He came into\nthe chamber one day just as she had awakened, with flushed cheeks, from\na long sleep. Now the Lily Queen, in remembrance of the Green Fairy,\nhad the child dressed always in green. King Brond\u00e9, when he lifted her\nin his arms, said: \u201cWhy, my dear Lily, with her red cheeks she is like\na rosebud in its green jacket.\u201d And they agreed that she should be\ncalled Rosebud.\n\nAnd a sweet Rosebud she was to them always. First, till she was a\nyear old, when she walked; then, till she was two years old, when she\ntalked; then, till three years old, when she sang; then, till four\nyears old, when she could sit before her father, on horseback, and go\nforth riding in the forest. The lords and ladies of the court were\nquite charmed with the king\u2019s Rosebud, and as her years increased she\ncame to be the delight of the whole palace.\n\nFor the love-flame kindled in her heart was always burning there. It\nshone through her eyes, it lighted up her face, and she had smiles and\npleasant words and loving ways for everybody.\n\nThe heart of the Pale Lily Queen was comforted. And as for King Brond\u00e9,\nthere was nothing too beautiful or too costly for his darling Rosebud.\nShe was the joy of his heart.\n\nBut very often his Lily Queen would say to him: \u201cMy dear Brond\u00e9, we are\nnow too happy. Surely some evil will soon befall us.\u201d\n\nThen would Brond\u00e9 encircle the child with his arms, and say, \u201cO, may\nthis precious one, at least, be kept from harm.\u201d\n\nBut the Lily Queen, sighing, would murmur softly to herself, \u201cAh, she\nis too bright, too lovely a flower for earth!\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAs Rosebud grew older, she showed great delight in birds, squirrels,\nwild flowers, and everything which lived or grew in the woods, and her\nattendants had plenty to do in following her up and down about the\ncountry. The woodmen all knew her, for she was continually dancing\nalong the forest paths, or dropping like a sunbeam into their rude\nhuts. Yes, like a sunbeam, for she brought the light of her bright face\nand the warmth of her loving heart. She made little children glad, she\nmade the old people glad, and for miles around every one knew and loved\nthe king\u2019s Rosebud.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOne day as Rosebud was walking with her sisters along the river\u2019s bank,\nthey heard a noise as of some one calling, \u201cTirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra\nLa!\u201d\n\nIt was not a shout, but a faint, mournful cry. Looking up, they saw, at\na short distance from the shore, a small boat drifting along with the\nstream. A pale, ragged child sat leaning his forehead upon the boat\u2019s\nedge, now and then raising it to call out, in a feeble voice, \u201cTirra,\nTirra, Tirra, Tirra La! Tirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra La!\u201d\n\nSeeing the three maidens, he eagerly stretched forth his hands as if\nasking for assistance.\n\nThe eldest princess said: \u201cPshaw! what do we care for the ugly, dirty\nfellow?\u201d\n\nAnd the second princess said: \u201cStupid, ignorant little wretch! Let him\ngo!\u201d\n\nBut the third princess ran for a man and a boat, which were soon in\nreadiness; for every one was eager to obey even the slightest wish of\nlittle Rosebud.\n\nWhen the drifting boat was towed to the shore, there was found in it\nnot only a boy, but a little girl, lying in the bottom of the boat,--a\nvery pale little girl, who seemed too weak to do more than just open\nher brown eyes and gaze piteously about her. But when food and cordials\nhad been given them, it was found that they could both talk, and that\nquite well.\n\nNow this is the story the little boy told of himself and his little\nsister.\n\nThey belonged a great way up the river. A long time ago, he could not\ntell how long, there was famine in that country, and their mother\nsickened and died.\n\nOne day their father embraced them, with tears in his eyes, and said:--\n\n\u201cFarewell, farewell, my pretty dears. I am going now to seek employment\nin the kingdom of good King Brond\u00e9, where, as I am told, all may find\nwork and bread.\u201d\n\nAnd they were left in the care of a woman who treated them ill.\nThis woman was not only cruel, but a thief. She kept the gold their\nfather sent, and would give them no news of him, except that he was a\nwood-cutter, in Long Forest.\n\nOne moonlight night the boy showed to his sister a bag of dry crusts,\nand said, \u201cLet us go and seek our father.\u201d\n\nAnd she said, \u201cO yes!\u201d\n\nThen they jumped into a little skiff, which had no oar. \u201cNo matter for\nthat,\u201d said the boy; \u201cit will be sure to drift down.\u201d For they knew\nthat their father had sailed away down the river.\n\nAnd a very long river the boy thought it must be. For they had drifted,\nnight and day, through many a desolate plain and gloomy forest. And all\nthe time he had kept shouting, loud and clear at first, but more feebly\nas his strength grew less, \u201cTirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra La! Tirra,\nTirra, Tirra, Tirra La!\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what was that for?\u201d asked Rosebud.\n\nWhy, in their own country, the boy said, were robbers and bandits and\nmany fierce men. There was danger always; and their father, as he\nreturned from his day\u2019s hunting, or his day\u2019s labor, would call out,\nwhile crossing the little bridge near their cottage, \u201cTirra, Tirra,\nTirra, Tirra La! Tirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra La!\u201d to let them know of\nhis safety. And they would answer back the same cry, that he might be\nsure no harm had come to them in his absence.\n\n\u201cAnd so,\u201d continued the little boy, \u201cwe called, \u2018Tirra, Tirra, Tirra,\nTirra La!\u2019 while floating along, that our father might hear.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut he did not hear!\u201d said the little girl, sadly.\n\n\u201cNow, children,\u201d said Rosebud, \u201cdo not be sorrowful any more, for this\nis Long Forest. The palace of King Brond\u00e9 is near, and I am his little\ngirl, and I shall help you to find your father. Pray what is his\nname?\u201d But the children knew only that he was called \u201cFather.\u201d \u201cFor\nall that, we shall find him,\u201d said Rosebud. And every morning, though\ndressed out in costly array, and her princess\u2019s crown, she took the\ntwo children by the hand, and they walked together along the forest\npaths; and whenever they heard the sound of a wood-chopper\u2019s axe they\nshouted:--\n\n\u201cTirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra La!\u201d and then stopped awhile to listen, but\nheard only the echoes, repeating, more and more faintly, \u201cTirra, Tirra,\nTirra, Tirra La! Tirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra La!\u201d\n\nAnd the children grew very sad, and said, \u201cO, we shall never, never\nagain see our father!\u201d\n\nAnd the two elder princesses said: \u201cRosebud, why will you keep such low\ncompany? You really trouble yourself a great deal about nothing.\u201d\n\nBut Rosebud answered, \u201cIs it nothing to lose a father?\u201d And she cheered\nthe two children, and said to them: \u201cDo not give up yet, for I am sure\nwe shall not fail.\u201d\n\nAnd one bright, calm summer noon, as they were passing a thick grove of\noaks, there was heard, far away, the sound of a wood-cutter\u2019s axe.\n\nThey called out, as was their custom, \u201cTirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra La!\u201d\nand then stood listening.\n\n\u201cTirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra La!\u201d they heard in reply.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s not an echo!\u201d cried the boy; \u201ccall again!\u201d\n\nThey called again, all together, very loud: \u201cTirra, Tirra, Tirra, Tirra\nLa!\u201d\n\nThe answer came back in a clear, strong voice, and much nearer than\nbefore.\n\nThen a crashing of branches was heard, and a stout man burst through.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt first he could not speak, from astonishment. But at last he caught\nthe two children in his arms, kissed them, hugged them, wept over them,\nand called them his precious, precious children.\n\nAnd Rosebud, seeing that they both were crying for joy, herself stepped\nforward and told their story.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE CAVE.\n\n\nThe Robbers\u2019 Road, spoken of in the beginning, could never have been\ncalled by that name without some reason.\n\nBefore the father of the Lily Queen built this summer palace for his\nchildren, there dwelt in Long Forest a band of robbers. So numerous and\nso bold were they, that few travellers dared trust themselves in the\nneighborhood, and the road through the forest was called the Robbers\u2019\nRoad.\n\nBut before bringing his bride to the new palace, Brond\u00e9 sent troops of\nsoldiers thither, who scoured the forest, and dispersed the band.\n\nIt happened that, after many years had passed, a portion of these\nrobbers found their way back. They were cautious at first, and wary,\nbut grew bolder as their numbers increased; and, at the time of which\nwe are speaking, their operations were seriously felt by the shepherds,\nthe farmers, and the woodmen.\n\nTheir head-quarters were in a large cave. There they plotted mischief\nand divided the spoils.\n\nIt was in this cave that, late one summer\u2019s night, they came together,\neach bringing with him the booty he had secured during the day.\nBlazing torches hung around on the dark walls. In the corners were\npiles of grain, fruit, meats, stolen from the farmers; also bags and\nportmanteaus taken from unfortunate travellers.\n\nThey gathered about the long table,--tall, gaunt figures, with dark\nfaces,--they gathered about the long table with but few words, for they\nhad travelled fast and far, and were eager for food.\n\nWhen their appetites were satisfied, their captain drew forth a heavy\nbag, from which he emptied a heap of gold. Half of this he locked up in\nan iron box, and was proceeding to divide the remainder, when, chancing\nto raise his eyes, he saw, standing at the foot of the table, a man of\ngreat size, dressed in skins and well armed. A company of men, dressed\nand armed like himself, but inferior in size, were stealing softly into\nthe cave and grouping themselves around him.\n\n\u201cBetrayed!\u201d shouted the robbers; and each man felt for his sword.\n\nBut the fierce-looking stranger threw down his arms, bade his followers\ndo the same, and, waving his hand to the company, said:--\n\n\u201cNo, not betrayed. We are no spies, but, on the contrary, would become\nyour friends. Listen, now, for a while, that I may show you how well\nwe shall agree, and that our interests are the same. Do you love a wild\nlife, and to be your own masters?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo do I. Do you like plenty of gold, good living, and light labor?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do.\u201d\n\n\u201cSo do I. Do you care for law?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do not.\u201d\n\n\u201cNeither do I. For knowledge?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do not.\u201d\n\n\u201cNeither do I. For goodness?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do not.\u201d\n\n\u201cNeither do I, my friends. And now another question. Do you hate King\nBrond\u00e9?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do!\u201d they exclaimed.\n\n\u201cDo you wish his destruction?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe do.\u201d\n\n\u201cWill you do your best to accomplish this?\u201d\n\n\u201cWe will! We will!\u201d they cried.\n\n\u201cAnd so will I. You see, now, how well we are agreed, and that our\ninterests are the same. My name is Magnus. These are my trusty\nfollowers. Shake hands, my brave fellows. Right! We are brothers\nnow. You hate King Brond\u00e9, because it was to make room for him that\nyour once powerful band was dispersed. Many of you mourn the loss of\nfriends, comrades, kindred, slain by his orders.\u201d\n\n\u201cTrue! True!\u201d they cried, eagerly.\n\n\u201cYes, true,\u201d exclaimed Magnus. \u201cAnd I hate King Brond\u00e9 because he is\nricher and luckier than myself. There is no reason why I should not\nhave wedded a princess and inherited a kingdom. I am as strong to\nprotect, as brave to defend. And I seek his death; for, when he is\ngone, I need not then say, \u2018I am the largest and strongest man living,\nexcept--\u2019; but, \u2018I am the largest and strongest man living,\u2019--and\nnothing more. I have a plan, my friends, which I will now unfold to\nyou.\u201d\n\nThis speech was received with cheers and wild hurrahs; but Magnus, with\na wave of his hand, said:--\n\n\u201cQuietly, my brave fellows. Our time is not yet. Nothing can be done\nopenly. King Brond\u00e9 is surrounded by brave soldiers, who would shed for\nhim their last drop of blood. Listen now.\u201d\n\nThere was then deep silence in the cave, while Magnus, in a long\nspeech, unfolded his plans.\n\nBut what those plans were, need not here be related, since all who read\nfurther will discover for themselves.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nMEETING OF THE FAIRIES.\n\n\nNow on this very night the Green Fairy was holding her court in Daisy\nHollow, deep in the forest. How lovely were these pretty creatures, as\nthey appeared, one after another, their bright wings fluttering, and\nglistening with dew!\n\nTruly fairy-like were their greetings! A mortal, listening near, might\nhave supposed he heard only the sighing of the summer breeze, the\nmurmur of brooklets, or the far-off tinkling of little bells.\n\nBut their queen allowed them very little time for greeting. For it\nhad been long since they met, and much was to be told and much heard,\nbefore the dawn. She therefore began singing:--\n\n  \u201cWhere the softest grass is found,\n  Quickly form your circle round.\n          Let each one say,\n          E\u2019er the dawning of day,\n  What wonderful things she has seen on her way.\n  Through meadow and wildwood ye\u2019ve been on the wing,\n  What news do ye bring? What news do ye bring?\u201d\n\nThey then began telling, each in turn, of all their adventures since\nthe last meeting. And, at last, one little pink fairy jumped up\nbriskly, singing thus; and, as she sang, a little attendant fairy\nechoed her last words:--\n\n  \u201cI know a cave in the forest deep,\n                        Forest deep,\n  Where a wicked band their revels keep,\n                        Revels keep.\n  Old Magnus now has joined them too,\n                        Joined them too,\n  With his bold and fearless crew,\n                        Fearless crew.\n  I scented mischief in the air,\n                        In the air.\n  There\u2019s mighty mischief brewing there,\n                        Brewing there.\u201d\n\nNow, when the Green Fairy heard this, she quickly broke up the court.\nFor Magnus\u2019s hatred of King Brond\u00e9 was well known to her; and, although\nignorant of his plans, yet she knew very well whose life they would\nendanger.\n\nIn the shape of an owl she flew into the cave, and there, perched on a\nrock near the roof, she listened while Magnus made known to the company\nhis intentions with regard to King Brond\u00e9 and his court.\n\nNext day, changing herself to a beautiful bird, she flew swiftly to the\npalace, where the queen was sitting with her ladies upon the balcony.\nAnd while flying over their heads, she sang thus:--\n\n  \u201cThere is danger in the air.\n  Lily Queen, beware, beware!\n  Danger dark to one you love;\n  Bid him not afar to rove;\n  Bid him keep a watchful care;\n  There is danger in the air!\u201d\n\nNone but the queen understood the song. The ladies only said, \u201cTruly a\npretty bird, and a sweet singer!\u201d and wondered why it was that their\nLily Queen turned so deadly pale and left them so hastily.\n\nShe ran swiftly through the rooms of the palace, found the king in his\nprivate apartments, and eagerly told him of the beautiful bird and its\nwarning song.\n\nBut when the king learned that the others had only heard sweet music,\nhe treated the matter rather lightly, thinking it to be merely her\nfancy. What could a little woman fear, he said, who had a husband so\nbig and strong! But, that she might be comforted, he promised to be\nwatchful, and not to roam about the forest unattended. If he had only\nknown what we know, he would have sent to the city for a strong army of\nsoldiers, who could easily have taken possession of the cave and routed\nthe whole band.\n\nBut, as he did not know, he only took his Lily Queen upon his knee,\nand there they sat, a long, long time, talking of their sweet little\nRosebud, and of old times, and of the good king, her father, and how\nshe was near dying in the rocky chasm. And then, as she felt his brown\ncurls brushing her cheek, she confessed, for the first time, the trick\nshe played him on their way from the mountains. But I don\u2019t believe he\nwas at all angry with her,--do you?\n\nNot long after this, as the king and all his court were amusing\nthemselves one fine morning on the lawn, in front of the palace, there\ncame running in among them a wood-cutter, crying out that two lions had\nbeen seen in the forest! Then ran every man for his bow and spear, the\nking as swift as any. All were eager for the hunt, but the queen was\nfull of alarm. She wept, and, clasping the hands of her husband, begged\nhim to remain. But this, of course, he would not do. What were a couple\nof lions to a strong man like him?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nGOING A HUNTING, AND WHAT CAME OF IT.\n\n\nNow these were the orders which Magnus had given to his company.\n\nFirst, no blood must be shed. King Brond\u00e9\u2019s men were to be carried off\nprisoners to his strong castle, in a far country,--an immense castle,\nwhose walls were of such thickness, and so well defended, that the king\nof the country himself dared not attack it. The ladies of the court\nwere also to be taken to the castle, and even their children. For all\nthese prisoners, Magnus expected that heavy ransoms would be offered in\nsilver and gold. King Brond\u00e9, loaded with chains, would be confined in\nthe cave, until Magnus should decide the manner of his death. As for\nthe lower people, the wood-cutters, foresters, laborers, they must also\nbe carried off with the rest, as laboring men were much needed at the\ncastle.\n\nBut in the first place Magnus sent a message to the powerful band he\nhad left behind, commanding that one hundred of his strongest, boldest\nmen, well armed, should come to him without delay.\n\nAs soon as this order was received, one hundred strong, bold men, well\narmed, mounted their fleetest horses, and rode night and day until they\nreached the cave.\n\nSpies were then sent out, with orders to watch the movements of King\nBrond\u00e9, and to give timely notice whenever he should go forth to hunt.\n\nBut a whole week passed, and still the wished-for notice was not given.\n\n\u201cKing Brond\u00e9 is weary of hunting deer,\u201d said one of the men, as they\nwere gathered, one evening, in the cave.\n\n\u201cIf that be so,\u201d cried Magnus, \u201cwhy, we can easily manage a lion or\ntwo.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe then made a sign to one of his men, who suddenly gave such a\nterrible roar that the whole company sprang to their feet, thinking\nthere was surely a lion near.\n\nMagnus then took some skins, and had them stuffed so well that they\nmight easily, at a distance, be taken for lions.\n\nNot long after this the most terrible roarings were heard in the\nforest, and on several occasions, when the wood-cutters were walking\nhomeward at twilight, the stuffed lions were popped out so suddenly\nbefore them, with such awful roarings, that they ran home almost out of\ntheir wits, and with scarcely breath enough to tell the story.\n\nThis trick of the robbers accomplished their purpose. The wood-cutter,\nwith his story, startled the whole court. All were eager to join the\nlion hunt; and, in an hour\u2019s time after the alarm was given, lords,\nhigh captains, knights, squires, pages, foresters, woodmen, were\nscouring the forest in every direction.\n\nIt was a fine, breezy day. The skies were clear, the sun shone\nbrightly, birds sang sweetly. The horses were fleet, the hearts of the\nhuntsmen were light and gay. Baying of hounds, merry shouts and bugle\ncalls, resounded through the forest.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nOrders had been given that at midday all should assemble at Daisy\nHollow, there to report progress, and to partake of the refreshment\nwhich must at that time be needed.\n\nAccordingly, at the time appointed, they began to appear, one after\nanother, at this rendezvous, and to relate their adventures.\n\nIt seemed that but little had been done. One had seen a tail, another\na head, many had heard roarings, and many had neither seen nor heard\nanything at all. Provisions were spread upon the grass, and, after\neating and drinking, the whole company joined in singing a hunting-song.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nMeanwhile, Magnus\u2019s men had quietly formed a circle around the Hollow,\nand were eagerly awaiting from their leader the signal to advance.\nMagnus had ordered that each should select his man, he himself taking\nKing Brond\u00e9. But knowing that the strength of his rival fully equalled\nhis own, he had selected from the company ten stout men to assist him.\n\nWhile the hunting party were gayly eating and drinking, the circle\nhad been gradually closing around them. As soon as the singing began,\nMagnus waved his sword. This was the signal agreed upon, and the wild\ncrew crept stealthily forward among the trees, now flat upon the grass,\nnow over rocks, and now forcing with their swords a way through tangled\nthickets.\n\nAnd at last, just as the chorus of the merry band rang loudly and\ncheerily out, they burst with loud cries from the wood, and in an\ninstant each one of the hunters found himself laid prostrate upon the\nground, a powerful foot upon his breast, a sharp knife at his throat.\nAnd so quickly and so skilfully was this accomplished, that hardly a\nsingle drop of blood had been shed.\n\nThe moment that King Brond\u00e9 saw the powerful form bending over him,\nhe knew well who was his enemy. Exerting all his immense strength, he\nendeavored to set himself free. But Magnus was armed, and had strength\nfully equal to his own. He was also assisted by the ten picked men.\n\nKing Brond\u00e9, recollecting the little vial hanging at his neck,\ncontrived to draw it forth, and was in the act of drawing out the cork\nwith his teeth, when Magnus, who knew its contents, snatched it away,\nat the same time breaking the cord.\n\nBut in the contest the little vial fell to the ground. Magnus vainly\nsought it, for one of Brond\u00e9\u2019s men, who had in some way escaped from\nhis captor, very cunningly, with the tip of his sword, rolled it under\na plantain-leaf. When the search was over, he hid it in his bosom, and\namid the confusion contrived to make his way unnoticed to the woods,\nand so escaped.\n\nKing Brond\u00e9 and his men were taken to the cave, and there made to\nexchange clothes with their captors. Magnus cut off King Brond\u00e9\u2019s fair\ncurls, and covered with them his own coarse black locks, that the Lily\nQueen might suppose him to be the real Brond\u00e9.\n\nThe robbers then, clothed in the garments of their prisoners, and\nbearing their bows and spears, marched boldly to the palace. Now the\nqueen and all her ladies were met upon the Velvet Lawn, near the\npalace, where they were amusing themselves by shooting at a mark. They\nwore dresses of pure white, their heads were adorned with wreaths of\nflowers, and about their waists were green garlands. Their arrows were\nsilver-tipped, and their bows decked with ribbons. But the dress of\nRosebud was green, besprinkled with diamonds like dew-drops on the\ngrass. For she was always dressed in this color, in remembrance of the\nGreen Fairy.\n\nThe robbers approached, amid the winding of horns and bugle-blasts.\n\n\u201cAh!\u201d cried Rosebud, \u201cI see my stout, handsome father coming!\u201d And she\nwas off like an arrow to meet him.\n\n\u201cAh, yes!\u201d cried the queen; \u201cthere are my Brond\u00e9\u2019s fair curls. And\nthere is the red feather I placed this morning in his cap!\u201d\n\nAh, poor Rosebud! And ah, poor Lily Queen! In one short hour after\nthis, queen, ladies, servants, children, laborers,--all were\nprisoners! All bound, and on their way to some gloomy castle belonging\nto Magnus. Also the costly treasures of the palace, the gold, the\njewels, the ermine robes,--everything of value which could be taken.\n\nOne precious thing only was left, and this precious thing was the\nking\u2019s Rosebud.\n\nIt happened in this way.\n\nRosebud, with outstretched arms, ran to meet her father, her face\nbeaming with joy, her heart brimming over with love for him. He had\nreturned!--returned safe! Nothing had happened to him in the forest.\n\n\u201cDear, dear father!\u201d she cried.\n\nAs we all know, however, it was not really her father, but the wicked\nMagnus.\n\nNow, when this wicked Magnus looked down into the face of Rosebud, he\nbeheld there something which he never saw before. He had seen courage,\nhe had seen strength, he had seen bravery; but a deep, o\u2019erflowing\nlove, like that expressed in the flushed and beaming face before him,\nhe had never yet known.\n\nAnd while he secured her as his prisoner, and saw her tears, and the\nhorror and affright with which she regarded him, he felt a strange\ndesire creeping into his heart to bring back that same look again; and,\nmore than this, to have that beautiful look meant, really meant, for\nhimself. That grim, bad man actually felt that the love of a little\nchild would be a pleasant thing to have!\n\n\u201cVery soon,\u201d said he to himself, \u201cshe will have neither father nor\nmother. I can very well manage that. I will then provide for her a\nbeautiful abode, and give her many pretty things, gay toys, fine\nclothes, and she shall call me father. And when I come home she will\nrun with outstretched arms, and with a shining face, and will say,\n\u2018Dear, dear father!\u2019\u201d\n\nRosebud, therefore, was not sent away with the rest, but was placed on\na bed, in an upper chamber, all by herself, with the door locked.\n\nAnd in the middle of the night there came a stout man into the chamber,\nwho lifted her from the bed, saying:--\n\n\u201cI am sent by the great Magnus. You need not struggle, for I am strong;\nnor cry aloud, for there are none to hear you; and you need not fear,\nfor no harm will befall you.\u201d\n\nSo Rosebud lay quite still in his arms, like a wounded bird, while he\ntrudged stoutly on, till they came to a place in the woods where stood\nthree men by a litter. Into this litter Rosebud was placed, and the\nfour men, each bearing one end of a pole, went on as rapidly as the\npath would admit.\n\nOn they travelled, day after day, a weary, weary way. But Rosebud\ncared little for weariness. She mourned for her father, whose fate was\nnot known to her, and for her mother in the power of that cruel man.\n\nBut so tender and so full of love was her little heart, that she could\nnot help pitying the men who had to carry her so far. And she spoke so\ngently, and smiled so sweetly, in the midst of her grief, that even\nthose wild robbers were softened. They moved her tenderly, they placed\nsoft furs about her, and plucked, now and then, some pretty flower\nwhich grew by the wayside, well pleased if she but smiled in return.\n\nAnd one of these, the guide, whose name was Rupert, resolved that\nRosebud should not be taken to Magnus, but that he himself would keep\nher for his own. He had once been a simple-minded, laboring man, and\nhad joined the robbers only from being pressed by poverty. What though\noutwardly rough and ungainly, his heart was kind, and so wholly drawn\nto Rosebud, that he could not see her come to harm. He was weary of\nroving, weary of strife. He would quit the castle, and in some other\nkingdom would lead an honest life; and Rosebud should be his own child,\nhis pleasant little companion. He would go forth mornings, to work for\nfood; she would tidy up the house and welcome him back with smiles.\n\nNow this fine little plan was not fully carried out. A beginning,\nhowever, was made, as will now be related.\n\nOne night, after weeks of weary journeying,--not in the direction of\nthe castle, however, Rupert had seen to that,--after weeks of weary\njourneying, they stopped by the edge of a wood for a few hours\u2019 sleep.\nRosebud was lying in her litter, upon the ground. A lion-skin was\nthrown over her, as a protection from the night dews.\n\nShe heard the deep breathing of the men around her, and knew that they\nwere asleep. And as she lay there, quite still, looking up through\nthe branches at the twinkling stars, listening to the rustling of the\nleaves as the night wind blew over them, she heard, so it seemed to\nher, a whispering or murmuring voice, which appeared to come from a\ntall, flowering shrub growing near, whose blossoms were white in the\nmoonlight.\n\nA soft, silvery voice it was, but Rosebud, listening carefully, could\ndistinguish words like these:--\n\n  \u201cBe of good cheer,\n  O maiden dear;\n  No longer fear,\n  For help is near.\u201d\n\nRosebud opened wide her eyes to make sure it was not a dream. But no,\nthere were the stars, the rustling leaves, and the sleeping men around\nher.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPresently a whiskered face was brought close to her own, and a voice\nwhispered, \u201cDo not speak; I am your true friend.\u201d She then felt herself\nlifted up and borne swiftly through the bushes.\n\nAfter some time, she was laid gently upon the ground and felt herself\nsinking, sinking, very slowly, into a deep hole in the earth. But\nthe bottom was covered thick with leaves and soft grass; Rosebud,\ntherefore, was not at all hurt, but very much frightened; for why\nshould a true friend bury her up?\n\nRupert, for it was he who was the true friend, then drew a fallen tree\nover the hole, in such a manner that the air could easily make its way\nthrough, and then, with all speed, he joined his comrades by the edge\nof the woods. He lay quietly down among them, and, being very tired\nfrom the long journey, fell sound asleep.\n\nAt daylight he was aroused by the voices of his companions calling upon\nhim to rise quickly and help to find their little prisoner, who had\nescaped, or had been carried away, during the night. Rupert then ran\neagerly about among the trees, taking care to go always in the wrong\ndirection.\n\nAfter long searching, they became weary and resolved to seek no longer.\nFor, said they, whatever may be her fate, the child cannot fare worse\nthan if in the hands of Magnus.\n\nBut, in order to escape his anger, they agreed to leave the country and\nnever return.\n\nNow Rupert, as soon as the other three were at a safe distance, ran\nquickly to release Rosebud. She was fast asleep!\n\nSome miles distant, close by the sea-shore, dwelt an old woman, who,\nin her youth, had been the friend of Rupert\u2019s mother; and it was in\nher care that for the present he had determined to leave Rosebud. He\nremained in the woods through the day, and at night took his little\ngirl in his arms, and carried her safely to the hut of this old woman.\nIt was his plan to leave her here, while he sought, in some distant\ncountry, employment by which to support both her and himself. He would\nthen claim and keep her for his own.\n\nSo Rosebud was left in the hut by the sea-shore, where she had some\ntruly wonderful adventures, all of which will be told at a proper time.\nWe must now see what became of King Brond\u00e9, whom we left with his men\nin the Robbers\u2019 Cave.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nESCAPING FROM PERILS.\n\n\nAll the other prisoners were carried away to the castle, but King\nBrond\u00e9 was left,--left alone in the cave. This was because it would\ntake too many men to guard him on the road. A strong band were to\nreturn for him. He was, therefore, dragged to the deepest depths of\nthe cave, far from the light of day, and there securely bound. Magnus,\nthen, with his immense strength, and the assistance of his men, heaped\nup at the entrance such a mountain of rocks, earth, and trees as would\nrequire an army of men to remove.\n\nNow while the robbers, in the depths of the cave; were roughly\nfastening their chains around good King Brond\u00e9, he observed that one\namong them, who was very busy at his right arm, seemed much fiercer\nthan the rest, much more eager to bind him. And when, at one time,\nthis very zealous robber rudely thrust his hand beneath the robe of\nthe king, and directly over his heart, Brond\u00e9 was sure that he meant,\nwith some hidden weapon, to deal him his death-blow. But the hand was\nquickly withdrawn, and King Brond\u00e9 felt that it had left something in\nhis bosom. Some deadly poison, he feared it was, which, working by slow\ndegrees, would destroy his life. Still he showed no fear, nor asked for\nmercy, for freedom, or for life.\n\nAnd when the last man had disappeared, and he was left alone, a\nprisoner, chained, buried in the depths of the earth, he by no means\ndespaired. A few glaring pine torches still blazed upon the walls, and\nhe resolved that, while these yet burned, he would exert his strength\nto the utmost in an effort to burst his chains. Once freed from these,\nhe was possessed of a secret, by means of which he was sure of escaping.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTo his surprise and joy, on moving very slightly his right arm, the\nchain dropped! His right arm was free! He quickly drew forth from his\nbosom what had been so mysteriously placed there. It was a rude box,\nmade of dark wood. He must have touched some hidden spring, for the lid\nflew up, and he beheld there the vial which had been lost in the fight.\n\nAs he joyfully seized this lost treasure, now become doubly precious,\nhe touched another spring. A second lid flew up, and he saw within a\nhalf-blown rosebud and a pure white lily, side by side. With tears of\njoy he kissed the pretty flowers, emblems of his dear wife and child,\nand his heart was comforted. For he had yet a friend able to assist\nhim,--a friend who would care for his loved ones.\n\nThe mystery of this friend may as well be explained at once, and\nnow. He was the wood-cutter, whose little boy and girl Rosebud had\nsaved from the boat,--that little boy and girl with whom she ran,\nhand in hand, along the forest paths, calling as they ran, \u201cTirra,\nTirra, Tirra, Tirra La!\u201d She was kind and good to them always, and he\nfelt grateful, and longed to do her a service. When King Brond\u00e9 was\noverpowered in Green Hollow, on the day of the lion hunt, he kept close\nby his side. It was he, who, with the tip of his sword, thrust the\nlittle vial under the plantain-leaf, and afterwards escaped with it.\nAfter the robbers had exchanged clothes with their prisoners, they\nwere, of course, dressed like himself. He then went boldly among them\nand heard all their plans. As Magnus offered great rewards for the lost\nvial, he felt sure it contained some secret charm, and resolved to\nrestore it to King Brond\u00e9. He was the very zealous robber who was so\neager to secure the right arm of the king, but who, in reality, left\nthe chain unfastened.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nKing Brond\u00e9, now, his right arm free, his lost treasure restored, felt\nsure of escaping. He swallowed a few drops of the liquid, and then,\nmaking one powerful effort, burst his chains and stood once more erect\nwith limbs unbound!\n\nAfter this, he lay for hours in a heavy sleep, or stupor. Upon\nawakening, he found himself in complete darkness, the torches having\nburnt out long before. After groping in the dark for some time, he\nsucceeded in finding the spot where the entrance had been, but the\nmasses of rock there heaped up were as firm as were the solid walls. He\nfelt for his vial, but it was gone. It had, no doubt, dropped upon the\nground, during that long sleep, and afterwards been crushed beneath his\nheavy tread, for not a trace of it was ever found.\n\nBut, as has been mentioned, he was possessed of a secret, by means of\nwhich he might escape.\n\nIt appears that, long before, and at the time their summer palace had\nbeen built by the father of his Lily Queen, King Brond\u00e9 had often,\nwhile his men were ranging in the forest, examined this cave in every\npart, and, being exceedingly tall, had made a discovery. And it was by\nmeans of this discovery that he now proposed to gain his freedom.\n\nClimbing up, several yards from the ground, he reached an opening which\nextended, not upwards, but horizontally, for thirty feet or more.\nThrough this he crept, until he came to a second opening, which led\nupwards. Through this he began climbing, but soon found, to his sorrow,\nthat it was filled with rocks and earth.\n\nThis opening was, no doubt, a private entrance to the cave, known\nonly to the leaders of the first band of robbers, until accidentally\ndiscovered by King Brond\u00e9.\n\nThe obstructions which now filled this opening he, with great labor,\nat length removed. As there was no means of telling day from night,\nit was impossible to know how much time was thus consumed. By degrees\nhe worked his way upwards, taking no rest, and at last felt himself\ngrasping the roots of trees. And presently after, to his great joy,\nhe perceived a ray of light! A faint, feeble ray, but it came, as he\nknew, from the warm sun and through the free air! Redoubling now his\nexertions, he pressed upwards, and not many hours elapsed before he\nsprang forth into the open air, and stood, a free man, upon the side of\nthe mountain!\n\nNot knowing how many of his enemies might be near, he concealed himself\nuntil evening, and then cautiously approached his palace. He watched\nand listened long, but saw no light, heard no sound. What, then, had\nbecome of all the ladies of the court? of his own Lily and precious\nRosebud? He entered the palace, wandered through its deserted chambers,\nbut found none to answer the questions he was so eager to ask.\n\nHe stood long by the window, gazing at the desolate scene around,\nvainly striving to think calmly, that he might decide upon some plan\nof action. The moon shone brightly, lighting up the deserted lawn, the\nwoodland paths, the pleasant groves which had once rung with the music\nof happy voices! He heard the bleating of a goat near. It was a little\nwhite goat, belonging to Rosebud, and which she had fed daily. O, where\nwas Rosebud now?\n\nIn his despair he was about to rush from the palace, when his attention\nwas arrested by a noise like that of distant music. As it grew nearer,\nhe could plainly distinguish the roll of drums. Nearer, still, it came,\nand he saw the glitter of spears in the moonlight.\n\n\u201cMagnus,\u201d said he, \u201chas returned; I will conceal myself.\u201d He looked\nagain. O, the joyful surprise! They were his own soldiers!--his City\nGuards! On they came, covering the vast lawn before the palace, the\nwide meadows, and reaching, he could not tell how far, into the woods\nbeyond!\n\nNow who had sent this army to the rescue of King Brond\u00e9? It was that\nsame true friend, the wood-cutter. He had hastened to the city and\nsounded the alarm. The soldiers of the City Guard heard, in the dead\nhours of the night, loud cries.\n\n\u201cThe king! The king is in danger! Arouse! The king! The king is buried\nalive! To arms! To arms!\u201d And thus the whole city was aroused, and the\nCity Guards marched with all speed to Long Forest. But when they saw\nhim, alive and well, standing between the great brazen lions which\nguarded the palace gate, they were overcome with joy, and made the\nforest ring with cries and loud huzzas!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nI will now relate how the castle of Magnus was burned, and his\nprisoners set free.\n\nKing Brond\u00e9 first learned from the wood-cutter the name of the country\nto which the robbers had fled with their prisoners. He then sent\nmessengers to the king of that country, saying that he should come with\nhis soldiers to rescue his family and his people, and demanding help.\n\nNow this king was feeble, both in mind and body, and had by no means\na large army at his command. He was, therefore, well pleased that King\nBrond\u00e9 should unite with him to break up that powerful band of robbers,\nwho, entrenched in their strong castle, had grown so strong and bold,\nthat they were the terror of the whole country, defying the king and\nall his soldiers.\n\nThese two kings, then, with their two armies, marched boldly to the\ncastle. The robbers, fearing no danger, had set no watchmen upon the\ntowers. They were surprised and captured. Their prisoners were found\nconfined, far apart from each other, in dismal cells. These were set\nfree, while Magnus and all his men were carried off in chains, by the\nking of the country. The castle was then set on fire. This all took\nplace in the night.\n\nAs may well be imagined, there were many joyful meetings among the\nprisoners. Husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and\nsisters, rushed to embrace each other. King Brond\u00e9 pressed to his\nheart the pale Lily Queen, with tears of joy. And next the two elder\nprincesses were folded in his arms.\n\n\u201cBut where is Rosebud?\u201d he cried, looking eagerly among the crowd.\n\nAnd, \u201cWhere is Rosebud?\u201d asked the Lily Queen of the king.\n\nAlas, neither of them could tell where was Rosebud!\n\nAnd all were certain that it was not known even to Magnus himself,\nfor many inquiries about her had been made by him, and large rewards\noffered, but all in vain. It was known that four men had set out with\nher from Long Forest, but not one of these four men had been heard from\nsince. Grateful, then, as were the king and queen at being restored to\neach other, their return home was but sorrowful, for the joy of their\nlife, their darling Rosebud, was lost to them, and O, would she ever,\never be found?\n\nBut King Brond\u00e9 and his soldiers and the whole assembly must now depart\nfor their own country. Trumpets were sounded, drums beaten, bugle calls\nrang loud and clear, and at dawn of the day word was given to move\nforward.\n\nThus, with the blazing castle behind them, and the glowing eastern\nsky before, they began their journey home. A happy journey to the\nhusbands and wives, parents and children, so lately reunited, but full\nof sadness to King Brond\u00e9 and his Lily Queen, mourning for their lost\nRosebud!\n\nLet us leave them, now, to find their way back to Long Forest, while we\nlearn how it fares with their child, in the hut of the old woman.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nLIFE AT THE SEA-SHORE.\n\n\nIf Rupert had known more of this old woman, he certainly would not\nhave left Rosebud in her care. The place where she lived was under\nthe control of a powerful lord, or governor, appointed by the king of\nthat country. This lord had in various parts of his dominions curious\nlittle stone cages, very small stone cages, in which he shut up such as\noffended him; and of one of these our old woman was the keeper. They\nwere very mysterious cages. No one knew where they were, except their\nowner, their prisoners, and their keepers. The approach to them was\nhidden. Several of these were placed in an extensive wood, which could\nbe seen from the hut. It was called the Enchanted Wood.\n\nIt was called the Enchanted Wood, on account of sounds frequently heard\nthere; sometimes singing, sometimes notes of a musical instrument, and\nat other times sorrowful moans. The prisoners could, of course, have\nexplained these sounds; but as they were not free to do it, and no one\nelse could or would, it happened that the place obtained the name of\nthe Enchanted Wood. Besides being the keeper of one of these cages, our\nold woman was friendly with a number of bad characters from whom she\nreceived stolen money and jewels, which she hid for them in the cellar\nbeneath her hut. She was a little bent old woman, with thin gray locks\nabout her withered face, and always wore a small blue blanket pinned\nover her head. Being lame, she never went without her staff.\n\n\u201cWhat are you crying for?\u201d she said, as Rosebud sat weeping, after\nRupert had said good by. \u201cWhat are you crying for? there, go to bed.\u201d\nAnd she pushed open the door of a closet which contained one stool, and\none little mattress of straw, and one very small square window.\n\nThis was the best she could give Rosebud,--Rosebud, so lately come from\nthe splendid chambers, the velvet cushions, the decorated walls, the\nlofty ceilings, the soft couches of a palace, where helpful servants\nwere glad to do her bidding, and where, better than all, she was blest\nwith the love of her dear father and mother. Poor little Rosebud! She\nthought, while crying herself to sleep, that she would gladly live in\nthe hut, could she but see the pale face of her mother bending over\nher for a good-night kiss, or lay her weary head upon her father\u2019s big\nshoulder, and feel his arms clasped lovingly around her. But Rosebud\nhad become quite accustomed to crying herself to sleep now, and, being\nweary from so long a journey, was soon quite unconscious whether she\nwere in a hut or a palace.\n\nThe next morning she found that three grandchildren lived with the old\nwoman,--a girl named Bess, another girl named Judy, and a little boy\ncalled Grump. She could hear them from her room, quarrelling over their\nbreakfast, calling each other names, while the old woman scolded or\nbeat them with her staff.\n\nRosebud opened her door and stood among them with that same sweet,\ninnocent look which had already won so many hearts, and spoke to them\npleasantly. The children gazed upon her with wonder, their rude voices\nhushed. It was as if some rare flower had suddenly bloomed out before\nthem, or some sweet song-bird had alighted there!\n\nAfter breakfast she was ordered to help scour the platters, sand the\nfloor, wash the potatoes, and drive the geese to water, and then to go\nwith the others to pick up drift-wood.\n\nDrift-wood is whatever bits of board, sticks, or timber the waves throw\nup and leave upon the sand. This drift-wood was collected at low water,\ndried in the sun, and supplied the people of the shore with their\nwinter\u2019s fuel.\n\nRosebud was delighted with this employment. The ocean was new to her,\nand she was never tired of looking at the foaming, tumbling waves, the\nsea-birds skimming over the water, the far-off white-sailed ships, or\nthe smaller boats tossing up and down near the shore. For the beach was\ninhabited by fishermen who owned a great many boats. She longed to be\nin one of these, and sit riding all so lightly upon the waves.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd Grump promised to give her a boat-ride, for he could manage an oar\nvery well.\n\n\u201cBut not now,\u201d said he, \u201cwhile granny is watching, for if too little\nwood is got, then she will beat us. But when she goes to the town,\nthen we\u2019ll go, up and down, up and down, all day long. Shall you like\nthat? What a funny name! Rosebud! Where did you come from? How white\nyour face is! All but your cheeks, and they are the color of these pink\nshells! And what a pretty green robe!\u201d\n\nBut Rosebud did not tell Grump where she came from. Rupert had told her\nit would not be well for the old woman to find it out. For she might\ntake her to Magnus, in hopes of a reward.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nRosebud very soon became accustomed to the life of the shore, could\nrun about on the sands barefoot, and lift her basketful with the rest.\nShe never grew weary of watching the sea when the wind was high, or of\npicking up shells in the sands, or of being rowed about in the little\nboats by Grump, in the calm summer afternoons when work was over.\nStill, she had many sad hours, and would have had many more, only for\nthe company of Grump, who was always full of talk, and ready to help.\n\n\u201cO, if I only had a white face,\u201d said he one day. \u201cA white face is so\npretty. Would granny be very angry, Rosebud, if I washed my face again?\u201d\n\nRosebud laughed at this.\n\n\u201cAnd why should your granny be angry?\u201d she asked.\n\n\u201cBess took some soap one day,\u201d said he, \u201cand scrubbed my face, and it\nturned very red, and then very white, and granny came home from the\ntown, and she beat me for it with her cane, and shut me up for a great\nmany days. It was very long ago, but I have not forgotten.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind,\u201d said Rosebud; \u201cif shut up, you can still hear the dashing\nof the waves, and I will sit and sing beneath your window. And you\nwould have no wood to fetch. Come, here is a spring, and pray be in\nhaste.\u201d\n\nThen Grump began scrubbing. And his face first became red and then\nwhite, and at last a beautiful red and white. His eyes were blue, like\nRosebud\u2019s, but darker. There was a color in his cheeks, like Rosebud\u2019s,\nbut brighter. His curls were shorter than Rosebud\u2019s, and thicker and\nbrowner, and were pushed back from his broad white forehead, while hers\ndrooped in ringlets about her face. He had a round, rosy mouth, and two\npretty rows of white teeth, the same as Rosebud.\n\n\u201cNow, that is good,\u201d cried Rosebud. \u201cAnd you look much too pretty to be\ncalled Grump. I must think of some nicer name than that for so nice a\nboy. What shall I call you?\u201d\n\n\u201cCall me something that goes well with Rosebud,\u201d said Grump; \u201cfor now\nthat you are come, I shall work with you more than anybody, and play\nwith you more than anybody, for I like you more than anybody. Rosebud,\nI like you very much indeed.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat is very kind of you,\u201d said Rosebud. \u201cI wonder what we shall call\nyou. What does go well with Rosebud?\u201d\n\nGrump couldn\u2019t think of anything that went so much with rosebuds as\nthorns. But that would not do, for Rosebud said he was not in the least\nlike a thorn. At length she remembered a very pretty song she had heard\nabout the rose and the myrtle. Suppose he should be called Myrtle. How\nwould he like that? O, very much, very much indeed. And thus it was\nagreed that he should be called Myrtle.\n\nBut granny did not shut the boy up or even notice him at all. She\nprobably had other matters to trouble her. For every day she came home\nvery cross from the town, and sat crouching in the corner, muttering,\nand poking the ashes with her cane. Perhaps some prisoner had escaped\nfrom her stone cage. Or perhaps she had heard that the owners of the\nstolen jewels she had hidden were in search of them. No one could tell.\n\nSo Myrtle grew cleaner and prettier and happier every day. And\nstrangers, walking upon the beach, often stopped to wonder at the\nstrange loveliness of the little barefoot boy and girl, as they ran\npattering along the sands with their wood-baskets. Rosebud, with her\npleasant face and gentle ways, soon became a favorite with the children\nof the shore. They were all eager to play with her, to help her pick\nup wood and moss among the rocks, to show her where the birds built,\nand often coaxed her to their huts, that the family at home might know\nthis lovely little stranger. Thus she never lacked for company.\n\nBut, as the summer wore away, she sickened for home and friends, and\nin the midst of the happy children felt all, all alone. And one day,\none calm, bright summer day, when she and Myrtle were floating about in\ntheir little boat, which scarcely moved, so still was the water, she\ntold him her whole history,--told it with sobs and tears and broken\nwords, which caused Myrtle to sigh and weep too, although he strove\nto talk bravely, and promised Rosebud that, when he was only one year\nolder, they would set out together to seek her friends or to learn\ntheir fate. He himself was tired of their gloomy little hut.\n\nThe hut, indeed, was but a cheerless home. For as months passed, and\nstill Rupert did not appear, the old woman became angry that Rosebud\nshould be left so long, and no money sent. And she was cruel to the\nchild, and laid tasks upon her too heavy to bear. Bess and Judy, seeing\nthat Rosebud was better liked than themselves, became envious. And\nthey, too, gave her rough words and sometimes blows.\n\n\u201cYou pink-faced thing, you! You eat our bread!\u201d they cried.\n\nBut not when Myrtle was by. They did not dare. Her brave defender was\nMyrtle; for he believed the whole world could not produce another so\ngood, so kind, so lovely as their Rosebud.\n\nIndeed, from the very first, this boy had seemed to consider himself\nbound to shield from all harm the delicate, gentle child, who had come\namong them. He performed her rougher tasks, he made his sisters afraid\nto ill-use her, and even one day faced the old woman herself, and, when\nshe was about to strike Rosebud, caught the staff from her hand!\n\nSo, when he was by, Bess and Judy did not dare show their ill temper.\nNeither did they dare give him any other name than Myrtle when within\nhis reach. But sometimes, when they were safe behind granny, they would\ncall him \u201cGrump.\u201d Or, if he were off a little way from the shore, in\nhis boat, they would sit upon the rocks, calling out, \u201cGrump! Grump!\nhow is your health, Grump!\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nTHE FLOWER-GARDEN.\n\n\nOne day Myrtle met Rosebud coming from the fishermen\u2019s huts, looking\nquite sorrowful.\n\n\u201cPretty little Rosebud,\u201d said he, \u201cwhat troubles you, I pray?\u201d\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d said Rosebud, \u201cI have now nothing to bestow. I have seen a\nlittle lame child, and a poor, suffering, sick young maiden, and a pale\nwoman, dressed all in black, who weeps every day. And I have nothing\nto bestow. At the palace were so many beautiful things, and gold in\nplenty. The wood-cutters\u2019 children were so pleased when I brought\nthem gifts! Now I have nothing! Not even a flower! But, Myrtle,\u201d she\ncried, \u201cwe will plant flowers! and they will grow! And we will gather\nsuch sweet nosegays! Nosegays and garlands for everybody! for all love\nflowers. Flowers such as I plucked in my own garden. Bright, blooming,\nfragrant flowers!\u201d she continued, mournfully, her voice growing every\nmoment fainter and more sorrowful. Myrtle feared she was going to cry,\nand so made haste to answer.\n\n\u201cBut we have no seeds. And, besides, winter is coming; flowers die in\nthe winter.\u201d\n\n\u201cTrue,\u201d said Rosebud; \u201cwe will wait till spring. The rich man, who\nlives behind the hill yonder, has a fine garden. I have looked through\nat the beds of flowers, often; and I shall beg seeds from the gardener.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut the dog!\u201d cried Myrtle. \u201cHis great, black, barking dog! he might\ntear you in pieces!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I shall pat his head,\u201d said Rosebud; \u201cand I shall say, \u2018Good\ndoggie!\u2019 It is not wise to be always afraid.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWinter was now approaching. Storms were frequent, cold winds blew, the\nsea became rough, and the high waves came roaring, tumbling, foaming to\nthe shore. Snow fell, fishing-boats were hauled up out of reach of the\ntide, and soon the beach was covered with cakes of ice. The children\nwere often compelled to remain for days and weeks inside the hut.\n\nFor employment, Rosebud began to make various things of the shells\ncollected in summer. The sick girl had taught her. Beautiful shells\nthey were; pink, yellow, purple, and white, and very pretty boxes,\nbaskets, vases they made. Even Bess and Judy begged to learn, and\nMyrtle helped too.\n\n\u201cAnd now we have something to bestow!\u201d cried Rosebud, one day.\n\u201cThis, now, shall be for the little lame child. She will look up so\npleasantly, with her soft brown eyes! And the pale woman in black,\nwho is weeping always, she shall have this small, pure white basket.\nPerhaps she may smile for once.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo!\u201d cried the old woman, looking up from the ashes,--\u201cno, I say! They\nshall be sold,--sold in the town! Can you tell me where your bread is\nto come from?\u201d\n\nSo all the pretty things were taken to the town and sold. And the old\nwoman, finding they brought money, compelled them to work every stormy\nday until the shells were gone. But whenever it was possible to leave\nthe house they were made to pick up drift-wood as usual. Bitter cold\nwork it was, creeping among the ice-cakes and over the slippery rocks!\n\nThe days when granny was away were happy days for them. They could then\nsing their songs, tell their stories, play their plays, and invite to\ntheir hut the little children of the shore, without fearing blows from\nthe old staff.\n\nIn the summer Rosebud had taken very little notice of the doings of\ngranny. She only knew, that, although appearing quite lame, she went\noften to the town; that when at home she did little but poke in the\nashes and smoke her pipe; and now Rosebud began to wonder how she fed\nthem all. She spoke of this to Myrtle, but he only shook his head, and\nsaid granny would not bear to be questioned, and that she would be very\nsorry if she made the old woman angry.\n\nNow, as Rosebud had no wish to make the old woman angry, she kept her\nmouth shut, but opened her eyes very wide, and wondered why granny\nmuttered so much to herself, and fell asleep often in her chair, and,\nwhen asleep, muttered strange things, and whose were the voices she\nheard evenings, when all the children were in bed?--gruff men\u2019s voices.\n\nAnd, when tired of wondering at all these, she would wonder about\nRupert, and why he never had come for her as he promised, and almost\nhoped he would not, now that she had become accustomed to her new life,\nand to Myrtle, and to all the children of the shore, and that there was\nso much to be done, when winter was over, about the garden. She hoped\nRupert would leave her there, at least until the earth had been dug up\nand the seeds planted, and the plants came up and budded and bloomed,\nand lovely nosegays had been gathered.\n\nPoor Rupert! Rosebud need neither have feared nor wondered concerning\nhis coming had she known the ill that had befallen him.\n\nIt may be remembered that, when Rosebud was taken from the palace, she\nwore a green dress besprinkled with diamonds. Now, on the day in which\nRupert had taken her to the hut, while waiting in the wood for the\napproach of evening, Rosebud, at his request, gave him those diamonds,\nthat he might with them pay the expenses of his journey. And, had he\nknown their real value, all might have gone well with him; but, as he\nby no means knew the worth of these jewels, all went ill with him.\n\nFor at an inn of some great city he offered one of them for a loaf of\nbread, two cuts of bacon, and a night\u2019s lodging.\n\n\u201cYou thief!\u201d cried the innkeeper, and called an officer of justice,\nwho arrested him upon the spot. The unlucky Rupert was stripped of his\njewels and thrown into prison, where he was lying, sad and miserable,\nall the time his little girl was thinking how strange it was that he\ncame not as he had promised.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut, as spring drew near, Rosebud gave up all her thinking and her\nwondering, and began hoping. She hoped the weather would be mild, hoped\ngranny would let her have a garden, hoped the dog would not bite, hoped\nthe gardener would not refuse the seeds, hoped every one would come up,\nhoped the high winds would not blow them over, hoped the plants would\nbud, and the buds would blossom, and the blossoms would look lovely,\nsmell sweet, and delight everybody.\n\nThe snow now began to melt, and the grass to spring up in the fields\nabove the beach. Leaves came out upon the trees,--red at first, and\ntender, but soon so bright and green that the birds came back to build\namong them. The days grew longer, the sun shone higher in the heavens\nat noonday. The fishermen again launched their boats upon the waters,\nnow no longer dark and ice-bound, but brightly blue, sparkling in the\nsunlight.\n\nThe planting season had come. There was no need of longer putting off\ntheir grand project. The ground was already soft. Myrtle thought it\nbetter not to ask granny, lest she should say no, but to work in the\nvery early mornings, before the others were stirring. This would not\ninterfere with their daily tasks.\n\nThey dug up the ground, and brought basketfuls of soil from beyond the\nbeach; for the hut stood in a barren, sandy spot.\n\nThe dog did not bite; he was chained. The gardener was a rough man.\nWhen he saw Rosebud coming, he caught up his stick, and cried, \u201cBe off!\nyou--\u201d\n\nBut when he looked down into her gentle, pleading face, as it was\nupturned to him, he left the sentence unfinished, and said, quite\nmildly, \u201cDo you want anything of me?\u201d\n\n\u201cPlease, sir, some flower-seeds, for my garden, sir,\u201d said Rosebud.\n\n\u201cHumph!\u201d cried he. \u201cAnd what will you pay?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will pay you two shell-baskets,\u201d said Rosebud,--\u201ca pink and a white\nshell-basket; and here they are,\u201d--for she had made them that morning\nto bring.\n\n\u201cHa!\u201d cried he. \u201cThese will please my wife! Here, take the seeds.\u201d\n\nAnd he gave Rosebud her apron full.\n\nAnd when Myrtle returned with the old fisherman, who had before dawn\ntaken him off to fish in his boat, she ran down to meet him, and to\ndisplay all these treasures. And long the two sat together upon the\nrocks, gazing with wonder at the tiny atoms from which such beautiful\nthings were to grow.\n\nThe garden was once more dug over, and its surface smoothed. And by the\nnext fine day their seeds were snug in the ground, waiting patiently,\nas seeds do always, for their time to come up.\n\nNow that the snow was gone and the weather mild, the children of the\nshore could pat along on the sands again; and, hearing of the wonderful\ngarden, they came often to the hut, to watch the planting of the seeds,\nand to see what might happen next.\n\nThere was great joy, therefore, along the shore, when the first pale,\ntender sprouts appeared above the ground, and all came running to see.\nFor never before had there been a flower-bed upon the beach. And as for\nRosebud and Myrtle, they could hardly bear to be a single hour away,\nlest some little green stranger should come to town in their absence.\n\nThose were the days when the pewter platters got but few scrubbings,\nand when the broom came to but little wear; when the pretty shells were\nneglected, and the drift-wood was tumbled hastily into the baskets.\n\nO, when would the flowers come? What color? How large? Fragrant? Would\nthey last?\n\n\u201c\u2019Twill be a pity to pluck them,\u201d said Rosebud, \u201cafter they have taken\nso much pains to grow.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut then they would die on the stalk, you know,\u201d said Myrtle.\n\nAnd it was therefore agreed that the flowers should be cut off, no\nmatter how lovely.\n\nAnd many sick people might have been cheered by them, and many a dark\nroom brightened, had not something happened to prevent it all. It was a\nstrange adventure, this that happened to our Rosebud, and should have a\nchapter by itself.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nA NEW ACQUAINTANCE.\n\n\nOne night Rosebud was awakened in the middle of the night by the moon\nshining full in her face; and, while lying there awake, she heard a\nnoise of some one moving in the next room. Presently the outer door\nshut, and the footsteps were heard outside.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nRosebud sprang to her little window, and saw the old woman hobbling\naway quite fast, and carrying a lighted lantern.\n\nNow Rosebud had, besides a whole heart full of love, two other things\nvery good in their place, namely, great curiosity and great courage.\nThe first of these caused her to wonder why granny should carry a\nlighted lantern on such a bright night, and the second to follow and\nfind out for herself.\n\nThrowing an old cloak about her, she hastened out, and caught sight of\nthe old woman disappearing over the brow of a hill. Running quite fast,\nshe gained the top, and saw granny with her cane fast crossing the\nmeadow beyond.\n\nAfter the meadow came another hill, then a hollow, then still another\nhill very steep, and then a wide strip of barren land called \u201cThe\nPlains.\u201d Beyond this was the Enchanted Wood. And it was towards this\nWood that the old woman directed her steps,--Rosebud following not far\nbehind, her little bare feet never heeding the stones.\n\nBut very suddenly granny disappeared. It seemed to Rosebud that the old\nwoman must have sunk into the earth. She came to the very spot where\nthe flutter of her blue blanket had a moment before been seen, but\ncould find no trace of her. It was very near the edge of the wood. But\ngranny could not have entered, for just there the thicket was thorny\nand tangled, and not even the crack of a twig or the rustle of a leaf\nhad Rosebud heard.\n\n\u201cI am very far from home,\u201d thought the little girl, looking round, \u201cand\nin the middle of the night too. But is not the moonlight as safe as\nthe sunlight? It is surely much prettier.\u201d\n\nEverything was quiet. The trees seemed holding their branches still\nfor the moon to shine upon them. How they glistened in its rays! only\nstirring a very little now and then, with a rustle, whispering softly,\njust to tell what pretty things some passing zephyr had said to them.\n\nBut it suddenly occurred to Rosebud that granny might reach home by\nsome other way, and find her room empty. \u201cI will go now,\u201d she thought,\n\u201cand return in the morning.\u201d\n\nAt the hut all was just as she had left it. She crept softly into\nbed, and resolved to lie awake until granny\u2019s return, but long before\ndaylight was sound asleep.\n\nThe next morning, as soon as breakfast was over, and the old woman had\ntaken her staff, pinned on her blue blanket, and hobbled off, Rosebud,\nwithout telling Bess or Judy, or even Myrtle,--lest he persuade her to\nremain at home,--hastened away over hills and plains, until she came to\nthe edge of the Enchanted Wood, where on the night before granny had so\nsuddenly vanished.\n\nWhile looking about in search of some hidden cavern or grotto, she saw\nlovely flowers growing among the bushes. These were charming, and would\nmake fine nosegays or most lovely garlands.\n\nShe entered the Wood and rambled on and on, taking any path which\noffered, and while plucking the lovely flowers, and also the purple\nberries, forgot that the hours were flying so swiftly; and when at last\nshe became weary, and would have returned, there appeared no way of\ngetting from the Wood. Many paths were tried, but all in vain; and at\nlength, overcome with fatigue, she sank down upon a mossy bank to rest.\n\nBut she was hardly seated before she heard, not far off, a voice\nsinging. It was a young girl\u2019s voice, very sweet, but full of sadness.\n\n            \u201cAlone, alone!\n  Alas, my true love has gone!\n  To the wars he is marching on,\n            And I am alone!\u201d\n\nLooking in the direction of the voice, Rosebud saw, a few yards from\nher, what seemed to be a pile of rocks surrounded by trees. She stepped\nsoftly that way. When quite near, some one spoke--some young girl--in\ngentle tones, and said, \u201cWhat do you seek, little one?\u201d\n\n\u201cOnly to know who sang so sweetly,\u201d replied Rosebud, faintly.\n\n\u201cAnd if you knew,\u201d said the voice, \u201cwould you, if you could, do the\nsinger a service?\u201d\n\n\u201cO yes,\u201d cried Rosebud, \u201cand with all my heart. But I am only a little\ngirl,--only Rosebud, that lives in a little hut upon the sands, with\nBess, and Judy, and Myrtle, and our poor lame granny.\u201d\n\n\u201cDoes your granny wear a blue blanket?\u201d asked the voice; \u201cand is she a\nlittle deaf? and does she mutter to herself, and carry a staff?\u201d\n\n\u201cHow did you know all that?\u201d asked Rosebud.\n\n\u201cYour granny is the keeper of my cage,\u201d replied the voice. \u201cShe comes\nby night to bring food for me and my little maid. Come near, Rosebud;\nyou need not be afraid. I am only a young maiden, not so very much\nbigger than yourself. My uncle is lord of the land here, but not so\npowerful as my father, my brave father, who has now gone to the wars;\nfor he is king, and rules over the whole country. O, he was loving\nand kind, and gave to me jewels and fine clothes in plenty! But, ah!\nhe will not let me have my true love till one, two, three years have\npassed over my head. Yet I can tell you that I am already very old.\n\n\u201cAnd, Rosebud, before going to the wars he sent me to visit my uncle,\nthat I might forget my true love. And my uncle is a wicked, cruel man,\nand a tyrant over me; but I am proud and defy him. He persuades my\nfather, in his letters, that I am bad, and will be glad to make him\nbelieve this of me. Were I to die, would he grieve for it? Not at all;\nfor then he would inherit the kingdom. I sought to escape, and that\nis why I am here, although he says it is that I may forget. Is this a\nplace to forget? O no. For what says the song?\n\n  \u2018When the wind goes sobbing by,\n  I think my love doth sigh,\n              Doth sigh for me.\n\n  \u2018When the sun is brightly gleaming,\n  Then I sit, dreaming, dreaming\n              He smiles on me.\n\n  \u2018When the rain-drops tear by tear\n  Do fall, I think my dear\n              Doth weep for me.\n\n  \u2018When the sea so sadly moans,\n  I think in mournful tones\n              He calls for me.\u2019\n\n\u201cBut I will escape from here,\u201d she said, suddenly ceasing her song. \u201cI\nwill flee to my native home; for there are those who will be my guides\nwhen once at liberty. And you will do me a service, Rosebud, as you\npromised?\u201d\n\n\u201cO yes, indeed!\u201d cried Rosebud; \u201cbut how? Where is the door? Where is\nyour little maid? What is your name?\u201d\n\n\u201cMy name is Bertha. My little maid is asleep. There is no door,--at\nleast not here. At the edge of the Wood is a mossy gray rock. Behind\nthis rock is a flat stone. Beneath that stone commences the long\nunderground passage which will lead you here. But have you courage?\u201d\n\n\u201cO yes!\u201d cried Rosebud, with eagerness; \u201cI will come instantly!\u201d\n\n\u201cThat,\u201d said Bertha, \u201cyou cannot do. Listen now, while I give you\ninstructions. Do you fear the night?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, pretty Bertha,\u201d said Rosebud. \u201cFor me the night is often more\nbeautiful than the day. I walked behind my granny, last night, a long\nway in the moonlight, and was not afraid.\u201d\n\nAnd Rosebud then related to Bertha what had happened, and how she had\nfollowed the old woman.\n\n\u201cAh, I see that you have courage!\u201d said Bertha; \u201cyou will not fail me.\nBut why do you say \u2018pretty Bertha\u2019? I can see you, little Rosebud, for\nthere are holes pierced in the rock to let in the light of day, and\nthrough one of these I see your face, and a charming face it is; but I\nam hid from you.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut your voice is pretty,\u201d said Rosebud.\n\n\u201cDo you think that?\u201d asked Bertha; \u201clisten, then, to it, while it\ninstructs you what to do.\n\n\u201cFollow the old woman when she comes at night to the Wood. Watch when\nshe lifts the stone, then follow her through the entrance. Mind the\nstairs. Ten steep stairs. A false step there would throw you down\nand spoil everything. Once at the bottom, keep close behind your old\ngranny,--it is well for us she is a little deaf,--until she stops at an\niron door. Then look narrowly to see from whence she takes the heavy\nbrass key. No more can be done then. Make your way home as quickly as\nyou may, lest she turn and discover you. Does little Rosebud understand\nthus far?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes,\u201d said Rosebud, \u201cI am to learn where the great brass key is kept.\u201d\n\n\u201cExactly,\u201d said Bertha. \u201cNow listen again. When next the old woman goes\nto the town, you must hasten to the Wood, remove the flat stone, and\nenter the passage, find your way through, unlock the iron door,--you\nwill know where the key is kept,--then keep on still farther until you\ncome to a second iron door, then call, \u2018Bertha!\u2019 and I will answer.\nThen, Rosebud, I and my little maid will be free, and shall fly far\nfrom here!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut where?\u201d asked Rosebud. \u201cWill you not be discovered? and will not\nyour bad uncle punish you?\u201d\n\n\u201cNever fear that!\u201d cried Bertha. \u201cAre there no boats? We can manage an\noar.\n\n  \u2018Softly, softly dips the oar,\n  Farther, farther from the shore\n    We go, we go, we cheerily go!\n  O the sea, the rippling sea!\n  The bright, the glancing waves for me!\n    Go build me a boat\n    All lightly to float,\n  And away o\u2019er the waters so free\n    We\u2019ll row, we\u2019ll row, we\u2019ll cheerily row!\u2019\n\n\u201cYes, little Rosebud, a boat! Are there no boats upon the shore?\u201d\n\n\u201cMany boats,\u201d said Rosebud. \u201cO, very many boats!\u201d\n\n\u201cAll will then be well,\u201d said Bertha. \u201cMy father taught me to row, and\nto ride, and to hunt, and to aim the bow. We shall reach our native\nhome, for with gold can be bought a trusty guide. All will go well.\nAnd now, sweet Rosebud, farewell. Be cautious, but at the same time be\nbrave. Tell no one what has happened to-day. Adieu!\u201d\n\nRosebud promised most faithfully, then bade adieu to Bertha, and ran\nhastily along the first path which offered; but soon found herself\nagain bewildered among thickets of tangled vines and thorny bushes,\nthrough which no way seemed to open.\n\nStill it was a pleasant spot. Flowering shrubs were growing there, and\nberries in plenty. A little brook fell over some rocks near by, and\nRosebud stooped to drink of its waters. Squirrels ran nimbly up the\ntrees, peeping out with their bright eyes from among the leaves. While\nwatching these, as they hopped so nimbly from bough to bough, she\nperceived, sitting upon the lower branch of a tree, a fine-feathered\nbird, seemingly so tame that she stepped nearer to examine its bright\nwings. But on her approach it flew slowly to the next tree; and then,\nas Rosebud followed, it again flew, and alighted on a tall bush, a\nlittle farther on.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cBird, I must have you!\u201d cried Rosebud; \u201cand Myrtle must make for you a\ncage, a painted cage! O you pretty bird! You fine-feathered bird! Ah,\nyou stop! You are not afraid! Come, now!\u201d And she reached forward,\nhand extended, to grasp it.\n\nBut the bird still flew a little farther, and a little farther, now in\nthis direction, now in that, and she was upon the point of giving it up\naltogether, when it began to sing so charmingly!\n\n\u201cO, now I cannot leave you!\u201d she cried. And so kept on and on, until\nshe felt at last that the power of turning away from it was gone, and\nthat, wherever the bird led, there must she follow.\n\nA long while he flew, and most charmingly he sang the while. But\nRosebud grew very weary, and was about to sink down upon the grass in\ndespair of ever again finding her way home, when, looking around her,\nshe found herself quite near the spot where she had entered the Wood in\nthe morning.\n\n\u201cAnd now, fair bird, won\u2019t you go home with me?\u201d she cried; but the\nfine-feathered bird had flown.\n\nRosebud then searched out the mossy gray rock and the flat stone, which\nshe found herself quite able to move.\n\nBut it was now long past noon.\n\n\u201cI must wait no longer,\u201d she said, \u201cfor Bess and Judy and Myrtle will\nbe wondering what has befallen me.\u201d\n\nArrived home, she was greeted with joy by Myrtle, and with endless\nquestions from all. To which her only answer was, that she had found\nberries in plenty, also lovely flowers, and had seen a fine-feathered\nbird which sang sweetly.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nMEETING AND PARTING.\n\n\nThe next night Rosebud lay awake, anxiously waiting for the hour when\ngranny should go forth with her lantern. Her heart beat quickly at the\nthought of what must that night be done, of all that Bertha expected\nfrom her, and she only a little girl, only Rosebud.\n\nBut courage was by no means wanting. And, besides, she was very curious\nto see the sweet singer,--the pleasant-voiced maiden, who, she felt\nsure, must be wondrously beautiful.\n\nAt length footsteps were heard in the next room, the outer door closed,\nand Rosebud could see from her window the old woman hobbling away to\nthe Wood. She followed, well wrapped in her cloak. Everything was the\nsame as before,--the dew upon the grass, the stillness, the brightness,\nall the same. Having reached the Wood, Rosebud watched very closely\nwhere the old woman disappeared, and entered, behind her, the opening\nof which Bertha had spoken. She remembered the ten stone stairs,\ncounted them one by one, and reached the bottom in safety. Granny was\nmaking her way along the passage; at length she paused, and set down\nthe lantern. Stooping over, she removed a stone from the wall near the\nground; from behind this stone she drew out a heavy brass key, with\nwhich she proceeded to open the iron door.\n\nRosebud felt a strong desire to follow still farther, and, if possible,\nget just one glimpse of the mysterious singer and her little maid, but\ndeemed it wiser to follow Bertha\u2019s directions and return home at once.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNot many days after, granny, one fine morning, took her staff and her\nbundle, and started for the town. \u201cNow,\u201d thought Rosebud, \u201cnow, if\never, must I fulfil my promise.\u201d\n\nAnd when Myrtle had gone off for a day\u2019s fishing, as granny now often\ncompelled him to do; and when she had piled up her drift-wood, and\nscrubbed the platters, and sanded the floor, and looked at her plants,\nand driven the geese to water,--she hastened away over hills and\nvalleys to the Wood, as she had often done before.\n\nThe flat stone was soon found, and, after some exertion, removed.\nCarefully descending the ten steep stairs, she found herself in a\nnarrow passage below. If she had but thought of the lantern! But it was\nnow too late for that.\n\nWith both hands extended, she groped along the passage to the iron\ndoor. Here, stooping down, she soon found the loose stone. The heavy\nbrass key was drawn forth, and applied to the lock. But, although it\nturned freely, the door would not open. What was now to be done? There\nwas no time to lose. Suppose some chance traveller were to find the\nentrance? or suppose granny herself should happen that way?\n\nAgain she grasped the key, again it turned in the lock, and again the\ndoor would not open.\n\n\u201cBertha! Bertha!\u201d she called. But Bertha could not hear.\n\nWhen almost ready to give up in despair, she heard, not far off, a\nsound like the warbling of a bird, and could very clearly distinguish\nthese words:--\n\n  \u201cCourage, maiden, never fear,\n  All is well, no danger near;\n  To the left now turn the key,\n  Three times three, three times three.\u201d\n\nWith new courage Rosebud began turning the key to the left, and at the\nninth turning the door swung slowly open.\n\nBut there was yet a long way to travel. A long, long way it seemed to\nRosebud. But she thought of her promise to the sorrowful maiden, and\nkept bravely on.\n\nPresently she heard voices singing, and knew then that the end of the\nlong passage was near. She called aloud, \u201cBertha! Bertha!\u201d\n\n\u201cIs it you? Is it Rosebud?\u201d cried a voice. \u201cHasten, there is yet\nanother iron door.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut how shall I enter?\u201d called out Rosebud.\n\n\u201cFeel for the bolt. You can easily slip the bolt,\u201d said Bertha.\n\nThe bolt yielded readily, the door flew open, and Rosebud felt herself\nembraced with kisses and with tears of joy.\n\nFor all the dim light, Rosebud could easily perceive how beautiful was\nher new friend. And she stood gazing, like one entranced, at her dark,\nflashing eyes, her black, braided hair, and her rosy red cheeks. Upon\nher head was a small velvet cap of scarlet, and the facings of her dark\nvelvet jacket were of the same color. She was but little taller than\nRosebud, but was straight and well formed, and the long, dark braids of\nhair hung below her waist. A small plume, fastened to the little cap\nby a cluster of jewels, drooped gracefully at one side. Her face wore\na merry look in spite of her troubles, and when she smiled--O, Rosebud\nthought nothing could be more beautiful than her smile!\n\n\u201cThis is my dear little maid,\u201d said she,--\u201cmy faithful, loving little\nmaid, who will never desert me.\u201d\n\nThe little maid now came forward, and was, so Rosebud thought, almost\nas charming as her mistress. She was certainly as ready to escape, and\nin any way Bertha might choose.\n\nIt was arranged that Rosebud should leave them, and return to the hut,\nlest some one should come out in search of her. Late in the afternoon\nBertha and her little maid would venture forth, taking care to lock\nthe door behind them, and leave the great brass key in its place.\nThey would remain concealed in the wood until evening, and would then\nproceed with all haste to the shore, where Rosebud promised to meet\nthem and guide them to a boat.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThat night there was no sleep for Rosebud. The moment that granny left\nthe hut with her lantern, she arose and stepped out softly upon the\nsands. The stars were out, but the moon had not yet risen,--which, for\nthose who wished to remain hid, was all the better. Rosebud walked\ntimidly down to the water\u2019s edge, her little heart beating quickly, for\nshe knew that Bertha and her little maid were then on their way to the\nshore. She sat down upon the rocks to wait. The time seemed long. Had\nharm befallen them? Perhaps they were lost in the woods, or had met\nwith robbers, or granny had found them.\n\nBut as Rosebud sat there upon the rocks, listening to the dash of the\nwaves, fearing she knew not what, though hoping all would be well,\nshe heard footsteps near, and at the same moment a low, sweet voice\nsinging,--\n\n    \u201cGo build me a boat,\n    All lightly to float\n  And away o\u2019er the waters so free\n    We\u2019ll row, we\u2019ll row,\n    We\u2019ll cheerily row.\u201d\n\nRosebud sprang to meet them.\n\n\u201cSafe?\u201d she whispered.\n\n\u201cSafe!\u201d cried Bertha. \u201cWhere is the boat?\u201d\n\n\u201cThis way,\u201d said Rosebud; \u201ccome with me.\u201d\n\nBertha threw her arm about Rosebud, and, as they thus walked along\nupon the sands, listening to the rush of the night breeze through the\ntall beach-grass, and to the never-ending song of the sea, the stars\ntwinkling down upon them all the while, she put to her many questions.\nWas granny really her grandmother? How long had they lived there? Who\nwere her parents? Where were they? Why was she not with them?\n\nAnd Rosebud told Bertha her whole history,--weeping as she spoke of her\nfather and mother, and told how they had loved her. And Bertha wept\ntoo, and begged that Rosebud would go with her, and be her own dear\nsister.\n\nBut no, Rosebud said, when Rupert came, she might, perhaps, obtain from\nhim some tidings of her parents. She must wait for Rupert. But if,\nafter long waiting, Rupert came not, then she and Myrtle together would\nseek in distant lands to learn their fate.\n\nThen Bertha promised that her father should send a great army to take\nthe wicked Magnus, and to rescue the good King Brond\u00e9 and his Lily\nQueen.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIn the boat they selected were lines, hooks, leads, and a heavy\nsea-coat. These were left upon the rocks, and in the pocket of the\nheavy sea-coat Bertha placed two rings containing jewels of value, that\nthe owner of the boat might suffer no loss.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBertha then embraced Rosebud, kissing her many times. \u201cMy dear\nRosebud,\u201d said she, \u201cyour sweet face draws my whole heart to you. I\ngrieve that we must now part, and you be left here so sad and lonely.\nMay my dearest hopes perish if I do not yet render you good service!\nBut see! the moon is rising. One more kiss! Farewell!\u201d\n\nThey launched their boat, and, stepping in, pushed boldly off from\nshore. The rising moon threw its beams across the sea. Each little wave\ndanced and sparkled in the light.\n\nFarther, farther away sped the boat; and Rosebud, listening to the dash\nof the oars, could faintly distinguish the words of Bertha\u2019s farewell,\nwhich was a reply to Rosebud\u2019s question, whether they were not afraid\nto sail away thus alone.\n\n                          \u201cO, not alone.\n  The moon shall guide me o\u2019er the sea;\n  The little stars are friends to me;\n  And the dancing waves, so light and free,\n  O, they shall bear me company!\n    Farewell, now fare thee well!\u201d\n\nFainter and fainter grew the music. The boat was now but a speck upon\nthe waters.\n\nAnd thus did Bertha and her little maiden float away in the moonlight\nout upon the wide sea!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nTHE CHILDREN IN TROUBLE.\n\n\nWhen the little boat could no longer be seen, Rosebud went sorrowfully\nback to the hut and to her bed. And there she lay, trembling, expecting\nevery moment the return of the old woman. But day dawned; the sun rose,\nthe children also; and still she had not appeared.\n\nWhat had become of granny?\n\nRosebud and Myrtle permitted themselves to linger long about the\nflower-garden. Many of the plants had budded, a few had bloomed.\nRosebud bent over them, touching tenderly their soft green leaves, and\npersuading them, so Myrtle affirmed, to grow faster, and even, as he\nfurther declared, whispering to them of what pretty color they should\ntint their blossoms!\n\nThe children of the shore, with their baskets, had gathered around to\ntalk with Rosebud, to wonder at the growth of the plants, and to admire\nall they saw. Every child must examine every flower that had bloomed,\nmarvel at its beauty, and all were longing for the next buds to open.\n\nWhile they were thus assembled, talking earnestly, granny suddenly\nappeared among them.\n\nHer dress was torn, the blue blanket had fallen from her head, the gray\nlocks streamed about her withered face, and her eyes glared fiercely.\nThe children with looks of affright shrank from the old woman. Coming\nnear them, she shook her fist angrily at Rosebud.\n\n\u201cAnd is it thus you work when I am away?\u201d she cried. \u201cI\u2019ll teach you!\u201d\n\nAnd with that she hobbled in among the flowers, and began beating them\nwith her staff, pulling them up, and throwing them far and wide. In a\nfew moments the pretty garden was destroyed!\n\nPoor Rosebud! she had loved them so! It seemed as if those were parts\nof herself which were thus cruelly tossed upon the sands. So much had\nshe lived with them, caressed them, talked to them, that they were to\nher almost like living beings.\n\nBut not a word did she say, neither did one of the rest dare speak to\nthe old woman in her fury.\n\n\u201cBe off! Be off now! the whole pack of you! Take your baskets and be\ngone, I say!\u201d she cried, stamping her foot with rage.\n\nMournfully the little group moved toward the shore, Myrtle and Rosebud\namong them. For they dared not stay, even to witness the death of their\nflowers.\n\nWhen they returned at noon, granny was again absent. But there lay\nthe flowers, their tender green leaves, with a few bright blossoms,\ndrooping, scorching, dying in the noonday sun.\n\nRosebud bent over them, hoping some might be found which, if replanted,\nwould yet live. But no, the scorching heat had done its work.\n\nSorrowfully then they gathered up the remains of the dear plants which\nhad given them so much delight, and buried them, with some tears, in\nthe same spot they had blessed with their short-lived beauty,--the spot\nnow saddened by their cruel death.\n\nEven their fear of the angry old woman could not prevent the children\nof the shore from gathering there when they knew what Myrtle and\nRosebud were doing; and they looked so mournful when the flowers one\nafter another were covered with the dark earth!\n\n\u201cThe funeral of the flowers!\u201d said one little child, sadly, as she\nsmoothed the surface with her hand.\n\nThis same little child, during the afternoon, begged of a countryman\nseeds of pretty grasses, which were strewn thickly over the spot.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nEven Bess and Judy were sorry for Rosebud. For as the sun warms the\nhard rock, and melts the cold ice, so had the sunshine of Rosebud\u2019s\nsweet face warmed and melted their hearts. If you rudely strike a\nlittle bird, it will but droop its head; and, if you crush a flower,\nit will but wither and fade. So when these two girls gave to Rosebud\nspiteful words, or even blows, she did but droop her head and look\nsorrowful. For the love-flame had never yet grown dim in her heart. It\nburned clear and bright, purifying her whole nature.\n\nAnd thus it came about that Bess and Judy were at last melted to\nkindness. They had long ceased to give spiteful words to one who never\nreturned them, and would now as soon have thought of striking a bird or\na flower as this loving, gentle child who had come among them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd in this time of her trouble they were even willing to do something\nto comfort her. At twilight, just after the seeds were sown over the\ngrave of the flowers, they came, bringing two little feeble plants,\nwhich they had found in a moist spot, under the shelter of a rock. The\ndamp earth still clung to their roots. These were replanted in a hidden\ncorner, and watered daily. One died. The other lived and grew and\nblossomed. And its flower was a delicate white lily.\n\nMyrtle, one morning, found Rosebud bending sadly over this flower,\nscarcely raising her eyes at his approach.\n\n\u201cI think it must,\u201d said she, at last, looking up, and smiling through\nher tears.\n\n\u201cMust what?\u201d asked Myrtle.\n\n\u201cMust mean,\u201d said Rosebud, \u201cthat she is yet alive.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nGreat was the surprise of the old woman at finding the cage empty, her\nbird flown. The bolt was secured, the iron door locked, the key safe,\nnothing out of the way except--the prisoners.\n\nThinking they must be concealed near, she looked in the woods about,\nbeat the bushes, got tangled in the thicket, scratched by the briers,\ntore her garments, but did not give up the search until long after\nsunrise in the morning.\n\nIt was from this vain search, that, weary, angry, and much alarmed for\nher own safety, she arrived home to find the children gathered about\nthe flower-garden, as has been told.\n\nAnd there was very good reason to be alarmed; for the Governor of the\nland, as soon as he knew of Bertha\u2019s escape, sent his officers, bidding\nthem to seize the old woman, and to throw her into that very same rocky\ncage. The children were in dismay at seeing granny carried off in such\na manner. None could guess the reason except Rosebud; and she told only\nMyrtle. It was one pleasant day, when they were off sailing, that she\nrelated to him the whole history.\n\nThey often went sailing in the little boat, that they might talk\ntogether of Rosebud\u2019s parents, and the palace, and Rupert. Myrtle said\nthat Rupert\u2019s coming should no longer be looked for, and that, if\nRosebud\u2019s father was a king, why, then, she was a princess. Did any one\never hear of a princess picking up drift-wood, or going barefoot, or\nliving in a hut? It was quite time they set forth upon their travels in\nsearch of her home. Couldn\u2019t she tell in what direction to go? or how\nfar? or anything at all about it?\n\nNo, Rosebud only knew that they travelled fast, and for many, many\ndays, and not always in one direction; for one very bright star which\nshe came to know, and to watch for, on the journey, shone some nights\non her right, and at others on her left.\n\nBut however that might be, she said, they must go. \u201cYes,\u201d said Myrtle,\n\u201cthat certainly is quite plain. And we will go as little pedlers,\nselling our shell-work; or perhaps as little singers, singing our\nsongs. And at every great town we will ask, \u2018Who is the king of this\ncountry?\u2019 \u2018Can you tell us any news of the Good King Brond\u00e9?\u2019 We will\nbegin at once to collect the shells. And as we journey along we shall\nrest often in the shade of the trees, by the wayside, or on some\nflowery bank, and there make our shell-work.\u201d\n\nThus all was well arranged.\n\nBut before they were quite ready to begin this pleasant journey,\nsomething very unexpected happened to Rosebud; very unexpected,\nbut very good. Indeed, had she been allowed her choice of all the\ndelightful things that might happen, she could have chosen nothing more\ndelightful than this.\n\nBut now, while Myrtle and Rosebud are so busy with their shells and\nwith their wise plans, it will, perhaps, be well to inquire concerning\nthe Good King Brond\u00e9 and his Lily Queen, and whether they reached home\nin safety.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nTHE WHITE LAMB.\n\n\nKing Brond\u00e9 and his court reached the end of their homeward journey in\nsafety.\n\nThey arrived safely, but to find their palace in disorder, its beauty\nspoiled, its treasures stolen, its walks, gardens, statues, fountains\ndestroyed.\n\nThe good king and queen, however, thought only of Rosebud. Their\nwell-beloved child,--was she living? And, if yet alive, into whose\nhands had she fallen? Messengers were sent far and near throughout\nthe kingdom. Large rewards were offered, but all in vain. And at the\napproach of winter they gladly removed to their city palace, away from\nall which so sadly reminded them of that unhappy day on which she was\ntaken from them.\n\nNow, although it would seem that every possible means had been tried,\nand though many weary months had passed, yet the Lily Queen still hoped\nthat her dear child might be restored to her. And, during the winter\nevery seer, fortune-teller, witch, or wizard who dwelt in the city, or\nwho wandered that way, had been consulted. But all had failed to give\ntrue directions for discovering the lost one.\n\nThus, mid hopes and fears, the winter and spring passed wearily by.\n\nAs summer came on, the queen walked much by herself in the gardens of\nthe palace, that she might, undisturbed, mourn for her lost darling.\nSleepless nights and much weeping had made her a Pale Lady indeed. Her\nstrength was failing, her step feeble. Still, however, she continued\nher daily walks.\n\nAnd one day, while wandering in the Orange-Grove, she saw, in the path\nbefore her, a white lamb.\n\n\u201cPretty creature!\u201d she cried, \u201cyou are pure and innocent as my own lost\nlamb!\u201d\n\nAnd she followed it to the end of the walk, and so beyond the palace\nwalls, into a cedar-grove.\n\nHere, close by a ruined hovel, which some poor fagot-gatherer had\ndeserted, the lamb disappeared. He seemed to have entered the hovel.\nBut, upon stepping inside the door, she saw only an aged woman, dressed\nin dark, flowing robes, who scarcely raised her eyes from the ground.\n\n\u201cI seek,\u201d said the queen, \u201ca white lamb.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe Pale Lady,\u201d said the aged woman, still without raising her\neyes,--\u201cthe Pale Lady seeks, not a lamb, but a sweet flower. Grief lies\nheavy at her heart. Threads of white are among her once fair locks. Her\neye is sunken, her strength gone. All night her tears flow, and the day\nbrings only weariness.\n\n  \u201cNo joy, no joy for her;\n    Sorrow and tears abound.\n  No smile, no smile for her\n    Until the lost be found.\n  But the Wanderer shall return;\n    The lost shall yet be found;\n  Then for the sorrowing one\n    Shall joy and smiles abound!\u201d\n\nThe queen sprang forward, her hands clasped, her whole face lighted up\nwith joy.\n\n\u201cTell me!--tell me where is my child!\u201d she cried.\n\nThe aged woman made no reply. Slowly raising her head, she gazed long\nand earnestly in one direction. It seemed as if her pale, filmy blue\neye were fixed upon some object or objects far, far away. Her head\nbent forward, her right arm slowly raised itself, while the forefinger\nseemed pointing to something in the dim distance.\n\nAt length she spoke. The words came slowly, and there was an intent\nexpression upon her face, as if she were listening to indistinct sounds.\n\n\u201cI hear the distant moaning of the sea. I hear the dash of waves upon\nthe shore. I see the tall beach-grass bending in the breeze. Shells lie\nupon the sands,--pink, purple, and white. Their gleaming is beautiful\nin the sunlight. White-sailed ships go by. A boat is tossing upon\nthe waves. A noble boy pulls the oar. Brave and handsome as a young\nprince. How boldly he guides the boat! It touches the shore. A little\ngirl runs smiling to meet him! Her fair curls stream in the wind. Her\nteeth are like pearls; her eye is like the violet; her cheek like the\nrose. Gayly flutter her green robes. The boy is glad to see the little\ngirl, running to meet him. He calls out to her, \u2018Rosebud! Rosebud!\u2019\u201d\n\nThe queen had stood, bending forward, her eyes fastened upon the\nwithered face before her, hardly daring to breathe, lest some precious\nword be lost. Her excitement grew every moment more intense, and when\nthe last word, \u201cRosebud!\u201d was spoken, she uttered a cry of joy, and\nsank, half fainting, to the ground.\n\nUpon recovering, the Lily Queen found herself alone in the hovel. No\ndark-robed old woman or pretty white lamb was to be seen. Neither could\nit be told how long she had lain there.\n\nBut she felt sure that, during the time, a form had bent over her, and\nspoken these words:--\n\n\u201cTravel towards the setting sun, as far as the shores of Silver Lake.\nFrom this lake flows a stream. Follow this stream to the sea.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nA LONG JOURNEY.\n\n\nKing Brond\u00e9 had been so often disappointed, that he was, at first,\nunwilling to set forth upon so very doubtful a journey; and especially\nas no person could be found who could tell in what direction lay this\nunknown Silver Lake.\n\nIn order, however, to divert the mind of the queen, he laid aside his\ndoubts, and commanded that preparations for travelling be made at once.\n\nThe grand state coach, all covered with gold and silver, and drawn by\ntwenty white horses, was got in readiness, and also other magnificent\ncoaches; for many lords and nobles of the court were to go in\nattendance, and also a band of soldiers.\n\nOn they travelled, for days and weeks. Many gave up all hope, and spoke\nof returning. Beautiful lakes had they passed, but thus far not one\nbearing the name Silver Lake had been found. And the king said one\nday:--\n\n\u201cMy dear Lily Queen, this Silver Lake, with its stream flowing to the\nsea,--was it not all a dream? Shall we chase a vision? Let us return,\nand no longer cherish vain hopes.\u201d\n\nThe queen, however, would not be persuaded. A little farther, she said,\nand yet a little farther; but at last agreed, that if, by the morrow\u2019s\nsunset, no Silver Lake was found, they would then return.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe morrow was past. Bravely had they travelled on, and, just as the\nsun went down, were ready to halt in a poor little village.\n\nThe sky was all aglow with the brilliant hues of sunset. In the west\nlay clouds of purple and gold, and of all radiant colors. The Lily\nQueen gazed mournfully at this fine show. For the morrow was now past,\nthe sunset hour had come, and she could no longer ask to continue the\njourney. This last hope, then, was gone.\n\nBut while her gaze was fixed upon a broad, high hill, which stood\ndarkly up against the western sky, she perceived, advancing steadily\nover it, a long procession or company of people. Perhaps, thought she,\na troop of hostile soldiers, or perhaps some robber band to waylay us.\nShe distinctly saw plumes waving, also banners streaming, and heard the\nsound of music.\n\nShe hastened to the king. He and his attendants were already alarmed,\nand were watching, with some anxiety, the oncoming of this host. The\nsoldiers, well armed, stood ready to receive them.\n\nNearer and nearer they come. Now down the sides of the hill; now along\nthe plain; and now they enter the streets of the village. Troops of\nhorsemen ride in advance. In the midst of these is a grand chariot,\ndecked out with costly trappings.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nInside this chariot sits a royally dressed person, who has a noble\ncountenance, and who wears a crown. By his side is a sprightly young\nmaiden, with sparkling black eyes and a merry face. Upon her head is\na red velvet cap and plume, from beneath which hang long braids of\nshining hair. She also wears a velvet jacket, with scarlet facings.\n\nThis bright-eyed maiden is Bertha. She has persuaded her father to make\ninquiries concerning the good King Brond\u00e9, and they are now on their\nway to his kingdom with trains of armed attendants.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWho can describe the raptures of the Lily Queen as she held in her arms\none who had, not so very long before, embraced her darling child?--one\nwho could relate all that happened to her after the day when they were\nparted. Then came endless questions.\n\nWhere was Rosebud now? Was she well? Was she sorrowful? Was she in\ndistress? And, above all, could Bertha guide them to her?\n\nNo. Not directly. Bertha was ignorant of both the name and the\nsituation of that little village by the shore.\n\nDid she know of Silver Lake?\n\nO yes! Certainly, she knew of Silver Lake.\n\n\u201cCome,\u201d said she, \u201cto the top of yonder hill, which looms so darkly\nagainst the sunset brightness.\u201d\n\nAll therefore proceeded to the top of this broad hill, and there, far\nbelow, they beheld a sheet of water, so smooth, so silvery, and so\nfair, that it seemed a round piece of silver, just dropped from the\nsky.\n\n\u201cBut where is the stream which flows to the sea?\u201d asked the king.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe stream which flowed to the sea was, at first, only a little brook.\nIt ran out from the lake, beneath mosses and bending grass; hid itself,\nfor a long way, among thick, overhanging bushes, but at length came\ndancing out into the sunshine, and went its way through meadow and wood\nsinging its own happy song.\n\nAnd soon it was joined by other little singing brooks, all going the\nsame way. Thus it happened that, after travelling many miles, the small\nstream became a river, and flowed to the sea.\n\nBut by no means in a direct course, or always by pleasant ways. It\nran here and there, doubling, curving, winding, now through tangled\nforests, now sweeping around the base of a mountain, now leaping a\nprecipice or dashing itself against the ragged rocks, thus leading\nour travellers a tiresome and oftentimes a dangerous journey; for\nthere were mountains to climb, roads to cut through the forest, and\nfrequently a hasty bridge to be thrown across a stream.\n\nAnd one night while resting in a small village they narrowly escaped\na great danger; for, without the assistance of the king,--Bertha\u2019s\nfather,--they must have all been taken prisoners. This danger was from\nMagnus, King Brond\u00e9\u2019s old enemy.\n\nHaving, by means of his great strength, escaped from prison, he had\nagain rallied around him a powerful band. He then sent out spies, and,\nhaving learned from them of King Brond\u00e9\u2019s journey, he resolved to\nsurprise and attack him by night. It was Bertha who discovered their\napproach. She was sitting late at the window, looking at the moon and\nthe hurrying clouds, and thinking of her true love away at the wars,\nwhen her eye caught from afar the gleaming of steel in the moonlight,\nand she presently saw armed men winding around the foot of a hill. She\nquickly gave the alarm, and all placed themselves in readiness for\nwhatever might come.\n\nNow Magnus had supposed that Brond\u00e9\u2019s party would be easily taken.\nIntending a surprise, he was himself surprised at being so far\noutnumbered, and fled in dismay, with all his band.\n\nBut a shower of sharp-pointed arrows was sent in among them. Many of\nhis men were seen to fall; and Magnus himself received wounds, of which\na few years after he died.\n\nAnd now, dreading another attack, a watch was set every night. They\nwere not, however, again molested. All went well with them. Full of\nhope, they kept bravely on, and at length arrived, one beautiful\nmorning, at the top of a high hill, from whence could be heard the\ndistant moaning of the sea.\n\nBertha begged the Queen to calm herself, and to remember that even if\nthey found the little fishing-hamlet, it was by no means sure that\nRosebud would still be living there. Rupert might have come for her,\nor else she and Myrtle might have begun their travels in search of her\nhome, as they had planned.\n\nThe queen only answered by a sign to go on faster, faster!\n\nOn arriving at the summit of the next hill, the sea, the broad blue\nsea, lay spread before them. Its waves came dashing upon the sandy\nshores below.\n\nThey saw the white-sailed ships go by, and the little boats tossing\nupon the waters, near the shore. One is guided by a boy. There are\nchildren sitting on the rocks. A little girl runs down to the water\u2019s\nedge.\n\nKing Brond\u00e9 and the queen dared no longer look. Unable to speak or\nhardly to breathe, they sank back among the cushions, and there awaited\nin silence what might be the fulfilment, or might be the destruction,\nof their hopes.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nTEARS AND SMILES.\n\n\nNow it happened that on this very day Myrtle and Rosebud had planned a\nvisit to the town. Myrtle said they would first try their luck there,\nas little pedlers, before venturing farther. He would rise before\ndaybreak and go out with the boat, and if he made a good catch, they\nwould take, besides the shell-work, fresh fish, to sell by the way.\nLong before the girls were stirring, therefore, he was far out upon the\nwaters.\n\nBess and Judy were full of wonder at the courage of Rosebud, in daring\nto venture upon so long a journey. Never in their lives had they\nseen the town. They were, however, quite ready to help; prepared the\nbreakfast, tidied the hut, drove the geese to water, and assisted in\npacking the shell-baskets.\n\nWhen all was in readiness, the three went out to sit upon the rocks and\nthere await the coming of Myrtle. The children of the shore, with their\nbaskets, gathered around them; for all had heard of the coming journey\nto the town.\n\nPresently the boat appeared in sight. On it came, bounding over the\nwaves, and rapidly approached the shore. All the children stood still,\nwatching the little boat, and admiring the skill with which Myrtle\ndirected its course.\n\nAll but Rosebud. She, as was her custom, ran down to meet him at the\nwater\u2019s edge, her fair curls streaming, her green robes fluttering in\nthe wind. She laughed aloud and clapped her hands, while waiting for\nMyrtle to call to her from the boat.\n\n\u201cRosebud! Rosebud!\u201d he cried, at last, as the boat touched the shore,\n\u201csuch a catch of fish! we will take some to the town, and spread some\nto dry on the rocks, and some we will--\u201d\n\nBut here he was interrupted by loud cries from the children, who came\nrunning to them, calling out, that there were, O so many horses, and\nsoldiers, and coaches larger than their hut, all covered with gold and\nsilver, and great lords in purple and scarlet with gay feathers and\njewels, all sparkling and shining! Rosebud and Myrtle must run quick!\nQuick!\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBut there was no need to run far, for all these wonders were speedily\ndrawing near. A few moments, and soldiers, chariots, and horses covered\nthe sands.\n\nThe great state coach of King Brond\u00e9 was in advance of all the rest.\nIts door flew open, and Rosebud, with a cry of joy, sprang forward.\n\nRosebud, the lonely wanderer, Rosebud, the long-lost child, was in the\narms of her mother!\n\nThen from the great company assembled there arose a shout both long and\nloud, which made the heavens ring. And in the midst of all could be\nheard and seen Bertha, clapping her hands and dancing for joy.\n\nIt was a long time before the happy family within the coach could do\nmore than to embrace one another, and to weep tears of happiness. But\nat length King Brond\u00e9 desired to be conducted to the hut, which had for\nso long been the home of his child.\n\nA portion of the doorway was hewn down, and into that humble dwelling\nKing Brond\u00e9 entered, and there sat down with the Lily Queen and with\nRosebud, while all the children of the shore stood outside lost in\nwonder, answering, as best they might, the various questions put to\nthem by the lords and nobles.\n\nKing Brond\u00e9, having learned the character of the old woman, ordered the\nhut to be searched, and in the cellar were found concealed many costly\njewels. These he commanded should be carefully packed and taken to his\npalace, and there kept until the old woman could be brought and made to\ntell who were their rightful owners.\n\nThis being settled, King Brond\u00e9 and his queen were eager to set out\nfor their own kingdom. But Rosebud would first bid farewell to the\nchildren of the shore; and also to Bess and Judy, who were weeping\nbitterly. What could they do without Rosebud? She had been so gentle\nwith them, and so kind. Must they lose that sunny smile? The hut would\nbe dark and lonely now!\n\nThe other children were standing sorrowfully by; and when Rosebud would\nhave bidden them farewell, they with one accord burst into tears.\n\nPoor Rosebud, she must needs weep too! For they had loved her, and she\nhad loved them, every one.\n\nBut where was Myrtle? Had any one seen Myrtle? All began to look about\nand to inquire. But no one had seen him, since he first leaped ashore\nwith his basket of fish.\n\nAt length one little girl whispered to Rosebud, pointing at the same\ntime to a clump of bushes at a little distance.\n\nAnd there she found him, lying upon the ground, crying as if his very\nheart would break.\n\nRosebud begged him not to cry, but to arise, come to the hut, and see\nher father and mother,--her father and mother, of whom they had so\noften talked. They need not be little pedlers, now.\n\nBut he would not be persuaded, and Rosebud returned sorrowfully to the\nhut.\n\n\u201cBut who is this Myrtle?\u201d asked King Brond\u00e9.\n\nThen Rosebud told how good Myrtle was, and how they had played\ntogether, and sailed together, and of their plans, and of all his\nkindness to her ever since she came to the shore.\n\n\u201cAnd why not take Myrtle?\u201d asked the Lily Queen; \u201csurely our coach is\nbig enough to hold him, and surely our palace is big enough to receive\nhim, and surely our hearts are big enough to love one who has been so\ngood to our Rosebud!\u201d\n\n\u201cVery true!\u201d cried King Brond\u00e9.\n\nRosebud flew once more to the clump of bushes. \u201cMyrtle! Myrtle!\u201d she\ncried, \u201cyou are to go with us! to go! to go! to go! In my father\u2019s\ncoach! And live in my father\u2019s palace! Myrtle! do you hear?\u201d\n\nNo wonder she asked, \u201cDo you hear?\u201d For the poor boy was so\noverwhelmed, first by his grief, and then by his joy, that he seemed to\nhave lost all power of speech and motion.\n\nBut Rosebud urged him to rise, and then led him to the same spot where\nshe had once advised him to wash his face in the spring. And here she\nbade him bathe his swollen eyes, and smooth his hair, that the king and\nqueen might see what a handsome Myrtle he was.\n\nBut alas! so red was his face and so inflamed by weeping, that she was\nobliged to tell them this herself. And they were quite ready to believe\nit.\n\nKing Brond\u00e9 now gave Rosebud money to distribute among her late\ncompanions, and there was not one who did not get a bright gold piece,\nor who did not preserve it carefully as a remembrance of one they had\nloved so well. Bess and Judy, at Rosebud\u2019s request, were given in\ncharge to some of the attendants, that they might also be taken home,\nand provided for in a comfortable manner.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAll now being ready, the joyful party entered the coach. Drums beat,\nbugles played, the twenty white horses arched their proud necks and\nstepped gayly off to the sound of the music. And side by side with\nthe great state coach came another royal chariot, wherein sat Bertha,\nsmiling-faced Bertha, with her father the king. Behind followed all\ntheir lords, nobles, attendants, and bands of soldiers,--a numerous\ntrain.\n\nThe children of the shore stood watching till the last plume of the\nlast soldier disappeared, then turned sorrowfully toward their homes.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWho can speak of the happiness of that homeward journey? When the Lily\nQueen could spare Rosebud from her own embrace, King Brond\u00e9 would sit\nfor hours with her clasped in his arms, looking down into her face,\nand stroking her hair softly and tenderly, as if each touch conveyed a\nblessing. And as for Myrtle, so great was his joy, that he scarcely\nknew whether he were waking or dreaming. So he rolled himself up in\none corner of the coach, gazing at the pale Lily Queen, and the big\nhandsome King Brond\u00e9 in his royal robes and his golden crown, and\nwondered how long they would let the poor little fisher-boy stay in\ntheir palace.\n\nThus this great company journeyed home. As soon as the towers of the\ncity came in sight, King Brond\u00e9 ordered a bright flag to be raised,\nfor this was the signal agreed upon in case the search should prove\nsuccessful. As they drew nearer, troops of mounted soldiers came out\nto meet them; also bands of music and a great multitude of lords and\nladies of the court, in their fine gilded coaches, all in grand array.\nAlso one hundred young nobles, in shining steel armor, and all mounted\nupon jet black horses, whose trappings were of pure gold.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nLike a triumphal procession they entered the city, bugles playing,\ntrumpets sounding, drums beating, banners streaming, horses prancing,\nplumes waving, and were met by the people with wild huzzas. And years\nand years after, mothers related to their children the story of the\nwonderful day when good King Brond\u00e9 brought home his lost child.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nA DISCOVERY.\n\n\nYears passed by, and happy years they were. Rosebud, as she grew older,\nwas the same sweet-voiced, kindly maiden, winning love from all. People\ngazing at her beaming face asked themselves often what it was that so\ncharmed them there. This which they could not name was the love-light,\nwhich shone through her eyes and lighted up her countenance; for the\nholy fire burned always in her heart, making her whole life pure and\nbright. The idol of the court, praised, petted, flattered, still was\nshe not spoiled. Ah, Rosebud was far too modest, too humble for that.\nReal love not only brightens, but purifies, keeping away all evil.\n\nAs King Brond\u00e9 had no son, he adopted Myrtle for his own. He provided\nfor him the best instructors, and treated him in all things as if he\nwere really his child.\n\nAnd the youth grew up, stately and handsome as a young prince. He\nmingled freely with the young nobles of the court, and, by his gentle\nbearing and his true manliness, became a favorite with every one.\n\nBess and Judy were established in a handsome house of their own, and\nevery day had cause to bless the good King Brond\u00e9 and his Lily Queen.\n\nThus, as was before observed, the years flew happily on. But when years\nfly on, though never so happily, they carry us along with them. And the\nhappy years that were flying on at the palace were taking King Brond\u00e9\nand his queen towards old age, were taking Myrtle out of his childhood,\nand changing our Rosebud to a full-blown rose.\n\nAnd when Myrtle was no longer a child, he began to think. And when he\nbegan to think, he thought how wonderful it was that he should have\nthus been brought from a hut to a palace, changed from a fisher-boy to\nthe son of a king.\n\nAnd he thought, also, that he should like to be still more a son to\nhim, and to marry Rosebud for his wife, if King Brond\u00e9 were willing,\nbut was afraid to ask. For were there not plenty of young lords, and\nalso real princes, who came to visit the court? King Brond\u00e9 might\nprefer one of these. Rosebud herself might. He was not sure, after all,\nthat he would not rather they two were still living at the hut, for\nwhen they were children of the shore she liked him better than any. But\nthese, he felt, were selfish thoughts, and must never come again.\n\nStill, if selfish thoughts might be kept away, serious, anxious\nthoughts could not; and these came often to cloud his face, and to\nmake Rosebud wonder why Myrtle appeared so thoughtful, so troubled.\n\nNow it happened, one lovely afternoon, when the king and his court were\nat the summer palace, near Long Forest, that Myrtle was walking in the\ngardens with Rosebud. These same anxious thoughts were present in his\nmind. They clouded his face, and gave to his voice a sorrowful tone.\n\n\u201cWhere are your thoughts?\u201d asked Rosebud, \u201cand why are you so troubled?\u201d\n\n\u201cI will tell you,\u201d said Myrtle, after a few moments of silence,--\u201cI\nwill tell you, first, where are my thoughts, and next, why I am so\ntroubled. My thoughts are far away at the sea-shore, by a little\nspring, where a little girl once declared that the rose and the myrtle\nwent well together. I fear she may not think so always. That is why I\nam so troubled.\u201d\n\nRosebud looked down, and walked silently on by his side, until they\ncame to a rosebush, bearing a rose, not quite fully blown, which she\nplucked. A little farther on they passed the queen\u2019s fine myrtle-arbor.\nFrom this she cut a sprig and intwined it with the rose. The two, thus\njoined, she placed in his hand. He knew then that the little girl still\nbelieved that the rose and the myrtle went well together.\n\nAt a little distance they saw, walking towards them, the king and his\nqueen. As they met, Myrtle held out to the king the pretty token he had\njust received from Rosebud,--held it out doubtfully, as if fearing his\ndispleasure.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut the king smiled, remembering, no doubt, the long ago when he\nhimself had loved a king\u2019s daughter; and the queen smiled; and Rosebud\nsmiled. Why, then, should not Myrtle smile, too? And then the good King\nBrond\u00e9 opened wide his arms, clasped them both to his heart, gave them\nhis blessing, and wished they might live as happily together as had he\nand his beloved Lily Queen.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nNot long after this came the wedding. And such a wedding was surely\nnever known before.\n\nThe kings of all the countries round about came with their queens,\nand their courts, and their mounted guards, and their bands of music,\nand their waving banners. There were illuminations in the cities, and\nfires blazed upon the mountain-tops. Prisoners were released, and gold\nand silver thrown by handfuls to the poor. Tables were spread in the\nstreets, that everybody might feast.\n\nHappy they who could obtain entrance into the palace. Happier still\nthey who were admitted into that grand apartment where the marriage\nrites were performed. Happiest of all they who obtained a glimpse of\nthe charming bride.\n\nShe wore, at Myrtle\u2019s request, a robe of the very palest green, which\nwas besprinkled with diamonds. Upon her fair curls rested a coronet of\nrosebuds, every leaf of which was a separate jewel.\n\nBut nothing was so lovely, so charming to all, as her own sweet face,\nexpressing, as might plainly be seen, the most perfect love and the\nmost perfect happiness.\n\nAll her old friends were present. Bess and Judy were there, side by\nside with her own sisters. The wood-cutter\u2019s children were there, the\nlittle boy and girl whom Rosebud saved from the boat. The wood-cutter\nhimself was there. For his services on the day and night of the lion\nhunt, in Long Forest, he had been well rewarded, and he now lived on a\nfine estate, with gold in plenty, and servants to command.\n\nEven Rupert was present. For when released from prison, he sought the\nold woman\u2019s hut, and after learning from the fishermen all that had\nhappened, he went immediately to King Brond\u00e9\u2019s dominions, and obtained\nemployment in the grounds of the palace, that he might be always near\nRosebud. At her request, he was made head-gardener of her flower-beds,\nand brought her every morning a fresh nosegay; and was welcomed with\nsmiles, which, it may be remembered, was a part of the nice little plan\nhe had laid when acting as guide.\n\nBertha, too, was there, the dark-eyed, bright-faced Bertha; and\ncharming enough she looked too, in her bright colors, and her little\njewelled cap. And happy enough, too; for the lover came safely back\nfrom the wars, and that same lover, now her husband, was by her side,\nand as happy as herself.\n\nThe Green Fairy, too, was there, though no one knew it, in the form\nof a fine-feathered bird, perched high on the top of a marble column.\nSomebody else, too, was there, who will shortly speak for herself.\n\nAfter the marriage ceremony had been performed, the whole company\nrepaired to the most spacious hall in the palace, where was served up a\nsumptuous banquet. The tables were loaded with dishes of solid gold,\nand with crystal ornaments. Sweetmeats, cordials, and spices of richest\nfragrance were brought from the remotest corners of the earth. Players\nof musical instruments, hidden from sight, sent forth their softest,\nsweetest strains.\n\nRoses were everywhere,--roses and myrtle; in rich vases upon the table,\namong the decorations of the walls, in hanging-baskets, in the hands of\nmarble statues, festooned from the ceiling, wreathed about the white\ncolumns. Roses and myrtle everywhere. The air was filled with their\nfragrance. And everybody said, how beautiful were the myrtle and the\nrose together.\n\nAt the close of the banquet, King Brond\u00e9 observed that the great king\nwho sat at his left hand appeared sad and downcast; that, although\nstriving to be gay with the rest, yet he often turned aside to wipe\naway a tear.\n\n\u201cWhat is your grief?\u201d asked King Brond\u00e9; \u201cwhat great sorrow dwells in\nyour heart, that will make itself felt, even at this bridal feast?\u201d\n\n\u201cI can tell you that!\u201d cried a strange voice at his side.\n\nKing Brond\u00e9 turned and saw, standing quite near him, a little old\nwoman, holding a staff, and wearing a blue blanket pinned over her head.\n\n\u201cAnd who are you?\u201d cried King Brond\u00e9. \u201cBy what means gained you\nentrance here? And what should one like you know of the troubles of a\ngreat king?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe great king has but one trouble,\u201d she replied, \u201cand that shall soon\nbe taken away. Listen, now, and you shall hear a true story.\n\n\u201cMany years ago I lived, with my grandchildren, in a cabin by a lonely\nwood. One stormy night a woman, a coarse-featured woman, came to my\ndoor, bringing a young child, which she had stolen for the sake of the\njewels he wore.\n\n\u201cThis woman offered me one half, provided I would allow them to remain\nhidden there, until her strength returned, when she would go on with\nher journey.\n\n\u201cI accepted this offer, thinking she would soon be gone, and that the\njewels would make me rich.\u201d\n\n\u201cYou thief! wretch!\u201d cried King Brond\u00e9.\n\n\u201cTrue, both true,\u201d answered the old woman; \u201cbut permit me to go on with\nthe story; for not many days are left me, and I would do one good act\nbefore I die.\n\n\u201cThe woman never recovered her strength. She died there, in my cabin.\nBefore her death she confessed to me that this stolen child was the son\nof the king. She had enticed him from his attendants, while they were\nwalking with him, in the grounds belonging to the palace.\n\n\u201cI dared not remain in the country with the child, for if he were\nfound in my hands it would be certain death to me. I therefore fled\nwith him and my two grandchildren into another kingdom, where I dwelt\nin a little hut by the sea.\n\n\u201cThe boy grew up, fair, and with a true princely look. I compelled him,\nuntil all danger of pursuit was over, to go meanly clad and dirty, lest\nhis beauty should attract the notice of some passing traveller.\n\n\u201cAnd now, when all are making bridal presents, I come also with a gift\nto the bridegroom. I present to him a father. Great king, you have no\nlonger a trouble: this is your lost boy.\u201d\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nAfter the rejoicing, the happy weeping, the embracing, and all the deep\nexcitement caused by the old woman\u2019s story, had somewhat abated, orders\nwere given to bring forth the jewels, which were brought from the hut,\nthat she might declare who were their rightful owners.\n\nAnd among these was the king\u2019s signet ring, which he had heedlessly\ngiven his boy to play with on the morning of the day when he was\nstolen. This signet ring the old woman had never dared offer for sale.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nKING MYRTLE AND QUEEN ROSEBUD.\n\n\nThus it came about that Myrtle was, after all, a true prince; and his\nnow happy father, having passed so many childless years, begged that\nthe young couple might spend at least one half the time at his court.\nThis request was cheerfully granted.\n\nAnd after the death of King Brond\u00e9 and his Lily Queen, which was not\nuntil they had reached a good old age, Rosebud gave up her share of the\nkingdom to her two sisters, that she might dwell always with Myrtle in\nhis own country.\n\nThus the two sisters reigned together. The eldest, with her beauty and\nher grace, was an ornament to the court, and drew together the lively\nand the gay; while the second, with her great wisdom, sat in council\nwith the nobles and managed with rigor the affairs of state; and their\nreign was called ever after \u201cThe Reign of the Two Queens.\u201d\n\nThe old woman died, soon after telling her story, at the house of Bess\nand Judy, and was buried, as she herself had requested, with the blue\nblanket upon her head, and her staff beside her.\n\nAfter the father of Myrtle died, he and Rosebud became king and queen,\nand reigned in his stead.\n\nTheir first act was to purchase from the king of the country adjoining\ntheir own the tract of land which contained the little fishing-hamlet\nby the sea; and there, by the side of the old hut, they reared a\nsplendid palace. The hut was preserved, standing exactly as it stood in\ntheir childhood; and the little garden-spot behind--the grave of their\nshort-lived flowers--was planted with lilies, an affectionate tribute\nto the memory of the Lily Queen.\n\nThe waters of the spring where Myrtle, with fear and trembling, once\ndared to wash his face were made to gush up through a marble fountain,\naround which the rose and the myrtle grew well together.\n\nTheir old companions were well cared for; and they loved their king\nand queen just as well as when they were children of the shore with\nthemselves; for the good queen loved her people, and never ceased to\nlabor for their happiness. The holy fire had never grown dim; and\nMyrtle, the noble-hearted Myrtle, thought and acted always with his\nbeloved queen. In all things they went hand in hand and heart in heart;\nand dwellers upon the remotest borders of their kingdom found reason to\nbless the reign of King Myrtle and Queen Rose.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe story is ended, but there is one thing which some might care to\nknow.\n\nOne day, as the king and queen were sitting in their private chamber,\ntalking of the long ago, the king said: \u201cMy dear Rosebud, why was it\nthat the Green Fairy, as she must have had the power, did not find some\nway of informing your parents where you were hidden, or did not come to\nyour rescue?\u201d\n\n\u201cShe is here,\u201d said a voice near them,--\u201cshe is here to answer for\nherself.\u201d\n\nThey turned quickly, and there, in her own proper form, stood the Green\nFairy, who spoke as follows:--\n\n\u201cThe Green Fairy,\u201d said she, \u201cwished to prove whether the child Rosebud\ncould be as gentle, as sweet-tempered, when in poverty, and exposed to\nharsh treatment, as when living in a palace, the idol of a court. The\nlittle fisher-boy may answer that question for himself.\u201d\n\nBut the Green Fairy was not so entirely neglectful of the little girl.\nSomething she could tell of a fine-feathered bird, which guided her\nthrough the woods. Something, too, of a bird-song, heard by a little\ngirl standing alone in a dark passage.\n\n  \u201cTo the left now turn the key,\n  Three times three, three times three.\u201d\n\nAlso of hopeful words, murmured softly from a tall flowering shrub,\nto a child who lay one night in the forest, looking up at the stars\ntwinkling through the trees.\n\n  \u201cBe of good cheer\n  O maiden dear;\n  No longer fear,\n  For help is near.\u201d\n\nAnd something she could tell, too, of a white lamb and of an aged woman\nwith pale blue eyes and dark flowing robes, who whispered to the Lily\nQueen of Silver Lake, and the stream which flowed to the sea.\n\nShe was at the wedding, too, looking down from above, to see that all\nwent well with the happy ones below. Like this!\n\nAnd, changing to a beautiful bird, she flew to the top of a marble\ncolumn.\n\nAnd while they were gazing, she began to fly slowly around the\napartment, and disappeared at last through an open window. But still\nthey heard her voice singing to them her last farewell:--\n\n  \u201cFarewell, farewell, most noble king!\n    Farewell, farewell, O gracious queen!\n  For other lands I\u2019m on the wing,\n    No more you\u2019ll see the Fairy Green.\n  Long may you live, all hearts to bless,\n  Long may you know true happiness!\u201d\n\n\nCambridge: Electrotyped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER\u2019S NOTES:\n\n\n  Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.\n\n  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.\n\n  Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.\n\n  Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.\n\n  An incorrect page number in the Table of Contents has been corrected.\n\n  The author\u2019s first name on the title page is mistakenly shown as Anna.\n    Her actual name is Abby.","title":"The entertaining story of King Brond\u00e9, his Lily and his Rosebud","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":27891}