THE CHILDEEN'S BOOK A. COLLECTION OF THE BEST AND MOST FAMOUS STOEIES AND POEMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE CHOSEN BY HORACE E. SC UDDER BOSTON PUBLISHED BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLTN AND COMPANY !)c ftifcer^i&e $re, Cam&rifcge 1881 Copyright, 1881, Bi HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY. All rights reserved. OtFTOff Cf > The Riverside Press, Cambridge : Electrotyped and Printed by II. 0. lloughton & Co. TABLE OF CONTENTS. THE BOOK OF FABLES. THE WOLF AND THK LAMB . . . THE Fox AND THE GRAPES .... THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE .... THE CAT AND THE MICE THE FARMER AND HIS SONS . . . . . THE WOMAN AND HER MAIDS .... THE Two PACKS THE FROGS ASK FOR A KING .... THE Fox IN THE WELL THE WOLF AND THE CRANE .... THE CAT, THE WEASEL, AND THE YOUNG RABBIT THE LION AND THE MOUSE .... THE GOOSE THAT LAID GOLDEN EGGS . THE BOYS AND THE FROGS THE LION, THE Ass, AND THE Fox THE ASTROLOGER THE SHEPHERD-BOY AND THE WOLF THE FARMER'S SONS THE STAG AND THE LION HERCULES AND THE WAGONER .... THE SUN AND THE WIND BELLING THE CAT THE FARMER AND THE STORK .... THE CRAB AND HIS MOTHER .... THE CAT, THE MONKEY, AND THE CHESTNUTS THE CROW AND THE PITCHER .... THE LION AND THE Fox A COUNTRY FELLOW AND A RIVER . THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS .... THE Fox THAT LOST HIS TAIL . THE ARCHER AND THE EAGLE . THE ANT AND THE GRASSHOPPER . THE CROW AND THE Fox THE JACKDAW AND THE DOVES . THE Fox AND THE LION THE TORTOISE AND THE EAGLE . THE BOY AND THE NETTLE THE DOG AND THE WOLF THE BOY THAT STOLE APPLES .... THE Fox AND THE STORK THE WOLF AND THE GOAT THE LION IN LOVE PAE . 1 1 . 1 o . 2 2 . 2 3 . 3 3 . 4 6 . 6 6 . 6 . 6 . 7 7 9 . 9 9 10 10 10 10 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 13 13 13 PAGE THE KITE AND THE PIGEONS 13 THE Ass IN THE LION'S SKIN 14 THE DOG AND HIS SHADOW 14 THE LARK AND HER YOUNG ONES .... 14 THE TRAVELER AND THE VIPER . . . .15 THE FROG AND THE Ox 15 THE DOG IN THE MANGER 15 THE FLIES AND THE POT OF HONEY . . . 15 THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING . . . .15 THE COUNTRY MAID AND HER MILK-PAIL . . 16 THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE TOWN MOUSE . . 16 THE LIONESS AND THE Fox 16 THE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR Ass . . .17 THE WOLVES AND THE SHEEP . . . . 17 THE SPENDTHRIFT AND THE SWALLOW . . .17 THE ARAB AND HIS CAMEL . . . . . 18 THE OLD MAN AND DEATH 18 THE CHOICE OF HERCULES 18 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. THE STOKY OF CHICKEN LICKEN . . . .21 THE THREE BEARS 22 THE ELVKS AND THE SHOEMAKER . . . .23 THE FROG-PRINCE 24 THE JEW IN THE BUSH .... .25 THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN ... 27 THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE . . . 30 JORINDA AND JORINDEL ...... 32 THE Six SWANS -34 RUMPEI.-STILTS-KlN THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS LITTLE ONE EYE, LITTLE Two EYES, AND LITTLE THREE EYES -4.3 THE TRAVELING MUSICIANS .... 47 THE WHITE CAT 49 PRINCE CHERRY THE GOLDEN BIRD 60 RlQUET WITH THE TUFT 64 THE NOSE 66 HOP-O'-MY-THUMB 69 A FEW SONGS. LITTLE BIRDIE .75 IV CONTENTS. THE LAMB * . 75 THE CHILD'S DESIRE 75 THE LITTLE DOVES 75 PRETTY Cow 76 TWINKLE, TWINKLE 76 WILLIE WINKIE 76 THE SAME, WITH THE SCOTTICISMS CHANGED . 77 GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-MORNING . . . .77 GENTLE JESUS, MEEK AND MILD .... 78 LULLABY 78 CRADLE SONG 78 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. CINDERELLA ; OR, THE GLASS SLIPPER . . .79 HANS IN LUCK 83 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD . . .85 JACK THE GlANT-KlLLER 89 TOM THUMB 96 Puss IN BOOTS 99 LITTLE RED RIDING-HOOD 103 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 104 THE HISTORY OF SIR RICHARD WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT 109 BLUE BEARD 114 THE HISTORY OF FORTUNATUS 117 JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK 122 THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE AND ORSON CLEVER ALICE THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD . MARY'S LAMB THE SPIDER AND HIS WIFE THE NOTORIOUS GLUTTON DIRTY JACK THE CHATTERBOX . 127 . 132 . 134 . 136 . 136 . 137 . 138 138 MEDDLESOME MATTY . . 138 139 139 140 140 141 142 142 146 THE PIN NEVER PLAY WITH FIRE .... THE POND THE Cow AND THE Ass .... NOSE AND EYES . . . . THE WIND IN A FROLIC .... THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN THE SPIDER AND THE FLY .... A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS 147 THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL .... 148 HOLY THURSDAY 148 AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG < . 149 J* / M M. ^ ^TiiEPiED PIPER OF HAMELIN STORIES FRTfMHAfi ^ THE CONSTANT TIN SOLDIER 154 THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES . 157 PAGE THE DAISY 159 THE UGLY DUCKLING 162 THE FIR-TREE 167 THE FLAX 172 THE SWINEHERD 175 THE LOVERS . .178 LITTLE GLAUS AND BIG CLAUS 179 THE DARNING-NEEDLE 186 THE RED SHOES 188 THE NIGHTINGALE 191 THE PRINCESS ON THE PEA 197 HOLGER DANSKE 198 THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP . 201 " WHAT THE GOOD-MAN DOES is SURE TO HE RIGHT" 203 THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL ..... 206 THE BELL 208 TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' EN- TERTAINMENTS. I. INTRODUCTION .211 II. THE HISTORY OF THE FISHERMAN . . . 219 III. THE STORY OF THE ENCHANTED HORSE . 222 IV. THE STORY OF ALADDIN ; OR, THE WONDERFUL LAMP . . . . . . . . . . 23O V. THE ADVENTURES OF THE CALIPH HAROUN AL- RASCHID 255 VI. THE HISTORY OF ALI BABA, AND OF THE FORTY ROBBERS KILLED BY ONE SLAVE . 284 VII. THE STORY OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR . . 296 VIII. THE STORY OF THE LITTLE HUNCHBACK . 304 IX. THE STORY OF THE BARMECIDE FEXST . . .307 THE BOOK OF BALLADS. JOHN BARLEYCORN 310 ROBIN HOOD AND ALLIN A DALE .... 310 ROBIN HOOD AND THE BISHOP OF HEREFORD . . 312 THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT . . . .313 KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT OF CANTERBURY . .318 SWEET WILLIAM'S GHOST 320 SIR PATRICK SPENS 320 THE HEIR OF LINNE 322 THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY 326 THE BOOK OF FAMILIAR STORIES. THE RENOWNED HISTORY OF GOODY T\vo-Snoi;s . 328 THE RENOWNED HISTORY OF MRS. MARGERY TWO- SHOES 335 EYES, AND NO EYES ; OR, THE ART OF SEEING . 339 THE BOY WITHOUT A GENIUS 342 A TALE OF POTTED SPRATS 344 WASTE NOT, WANT NOT; OR, Two STRINGS TO YOUR Bow 346 THE DISCONTENTED PENDULUM .... 360 A VOYAGE TO LI L LI PUT . . 362 CONTENTS. TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN THE BOOK OF POETRY. THE PET LAMB POOR SUSAN EPITAPH ON A HARE .... LLEWELLYN AND HIS DOG PAUL REVERE'S RIDE .... LOCHINVAR GOODY BLAKE AND HARRY GILL PAGE 393 . 403 404 . 404 405 . 406 409 . 410 HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO Aix .412 LUCY GRAY . 413 OLD IRONSIDES 414 HORATIUS . . 415 THE SKELETON IN ARMOR 420 THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE .... 423 LORD ULLIN'S DAUGHTER 424 THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS . . . . " . 425 THE BEGGAR MAID 427 THE BOOK OF ANCIENT STORIES. THE HORSE OF WOOD 428 THE CYCLOPS 431 THE STORY OF KING CRCESUS 436 THE EXPEDITION OF THE ARGONAUTS . . . 441 THE BOOK OF FABLES. THE AVOLF AND THE LAMB. As a Wolf was lapping at the head of a running brook, he spied a stray Lamb paddling at some dis- tance down the stream. Having made up his mind to seize her, he bethought himself how he might justify his violence. " Villain," said he, running up to her, " how dare you muddle the water that I am drinking ? " " Indeed," said the Lamb, humbly, "I do not see how I can disturb the water, since it runs from vou to me, not from me to you." " Be that as it may," replied the Wolf, " it was but a year ago that you called me many ill names." " O Sir," said the Lamb, trembling, " a year ago I was not born." " Well," replied the Wolf, " if it was not you it was your father, and that is all the same ; but it 's no use trying to argue me out of my supper ; " and without an- other word he fell upon the poor, helpless Lamb and tore her to pieces. THE FOX AND THE GRAPES. A Fox who was hungry discovered some bunches of grapes hanging from a vine high up a tree, and, as he gazed, Jbnfeil 'to-getVtithem, and could not ; so he left therd hjing}ng^ii'3 niftl went off muttering, " Ttie*y "re *s"<3ur' grapes'. 4 '* ""*** THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE. " WHAT a dull, heavy creature," says the Hare, "is this Tortoise." "And yet," says the Tortoise, "I '11 run with you for a wager." " Done," says the Hare, and then they ask the Fox to be the judge. They started together, and the Tortoise THE BOOK OF FABLES. kept jogging on still, till he came to the end of the course. The Hare laid himself down midway and took a nap ; " for," says he, " I can catch up with the Tortoise when I please." But it seems he overslept himself, for when he came to wake, though he scudded away as fast as possible, the Tortoise , had got, to, tHe ,pps;t before him and won the wagei-. Slov/ THE CAT AND THE MICE. IN a certain house there were many Mice. Now a Cat, hearing of this, went there and began to catch them and eat them up one by one. When the Mice were having, this sorry time, they said among themselves : " Let us take time by the forelock and make our way to the eaves, that we may not be every one of us destroyed, for since the Cat cannot get there we shall be saved." Now when the Cat could not get at the Mice, he thought something must be done, and began to plan to get them out by some trick. Climbing tip to a peg, and throwing himself off, he hung from it and pretended to be dead. One of the Mice peeping out saw him there and said : " Ah, you fellow, if you were a bag of meal itself we would n't come out to you." The fable teaches that prudent men, when they have found out rascals, are not to be caught by their make-believe. THE FARMER AND HIS SONS. A FARMER who had come to the end of his life wished his sons to make a trial of farming, and calling them to him, said: " Children, I am now finishing my life, but you will find all that be- longs to me in the vineyard." So they, thinking it must contain a treasure-pot, took spades and plows, after the death of their father, and eagerly dug up all the soil. The treasure-pot, to be sure, they did not find, but the vineyard, being well dug over and improved, yielded an abundant store of grapes and made them rich. The story teaches that hard work is man's treasure-pot. THE WOMAN AND HER MAIDS. A WIDOW, who was a notable housekeeper, was wont to wake her Maids and set them at work by cock-crow. And they, taking this very hard, thought it was only necessary to strangle the house cock, for they thought he was the cause of their ills, because he waked the mistress before dawn. When they had done this the lady of the house waked them earlier still, in the very middle of the night, for she could not tell when it was cock-crow. So it is that their own devices become the very breeders of evil to many men. THE TWO PACKS. EVERY man carries two packs, one in front, the THE WOLF AND THE CRANE. 3 other behind, and each is full of faults. But the down to see what the matter was. " Ah," says one in front holds other people's faults, the one Reynard, pwy lend me your hand, friend, and behind holds his own. And so it is that men do not see their own faults at all, but see very clearly ^s indeed the faults of others. THE FROGS ASK FOR A KING. THE Frogs being concerned at the free and easy way in which they were living, sent their elders to Jove to beg him to send them a king. Now he saw what simpletons they were and tossed a Log into the middle of the lake. The Frogs, frightened out of their senses, plunged at once into the very deepest holes. But after some time had passed, when they saw that the Log was stock g get me out of this." " Poor creature," says the Wolf, " how did this come about ? how long hast thou been here?.thou must be mighty cold." " Come, come," says the Fox, " this is no time for pitying and asking questions ; get me out of the well first, and I will tell you all about it after- ward." THE WOLF AND THE CRANE. A WOLF once had a bone stuck in his throat, and offered the Crane a large reward if she would thrust her head down and draw the bone out. still, they forgot their fright, and felt such con- tempt for it that they jumped up and sat on it. Thinking such a king not worth having, they went a second time to Jove, and asked him to change him. Then he gave them an Eel, but when they saw how stupid he was, they refused to receive him. So they went a third time to Jove, and wanted him to change this one too. And Jove, who was now angry, at once sent a Stork to them, who caught the Frogs and ate them up one by one. The fable shows that it is well to trust God, and so to avoid wicked and troublesome rulers. THE FOX IN THE WELL. AN unlucky Fox dropped into a well, and cried out for help. A Wolf overheard him, and looked She did so, and claimed the reward. At that, the Wolf set up a laugh, and showed his teeth : " Is n't it enough for you," he said, " to have this, and 4 THE BOOK OF FABLES. nothing else, that you have drawn your head safely THE CAT, THE WBASEU AND THE YOUNG out of the jaws of the Wolf ? " The story points at crafty men, who, when they A YOUNG Rabbit was living contentedly at are rid of danger, offer this to their benefactors home, respected by his neighbors, and not disposed for thanks, that they did them no injury. to get into difficulty with any one, for he was , -_ THE GOOSE THAT LAW GOLDEN EGGS. peaceful and temperate in his habits. He went out one morning to the parsley market, to get his dinner, when a Weasel, that was going slyly by, slipped into the Rabbit's house, and made herself at home. It was very comfortable, and quite to her mind, so she decided to remain, and settle down there at housekeeping, and enjoy the society of the neighborhood. By and by the Rabbit re- turned, and saw the Weasel sitting at the window, poking her snout out. " Do you not know that this is my house ? " he asked. " Tut, tut," said the Weasel. " What makes ib yours ? you only scratched the ground a little and came in here where the earth was gone. Do you pretend to own the earth ? " " The law gives it to me," said the Rabbit, " because I made it fit to live in. If you do not leave, I shall send for the consta- ble." " The law, indeed ! " said the Weasel. "And pray what right has the law to give away land? But we will have no more words. We will lay the matter before Grimalkin, and leave it to him." The Rabbit consented, and they went together to Grimalkin, an ancient Cat, who was old, wise, and learned. " Come nearer, my chil- dren," said Grimalkin to them, as they both began talking together; "I am very deaf, and borne down by the weight of years. Nearer still, that I may hear every word." Both approached fear- lessly, each loudly protesting that the other was unjust. As soon, however, as the learned Gri- malkin had them within reach, he darted his claws out on either side at the same moment, and had them both in his clutches, when he settled their dispute by devouring them at his leisure. The house then belonged to him. THE LION AND THE MOUSE. A MOUSE happened to run into the mouth of a sleeping Lion, who roused himself, caught him, and was just about eating him, when the little fellow begged him to let him go, saying, " If I am saved, I shall be everlastingly grateful." So, with a smile, he let him off. It befell him, not long after, to be saved by the Mouse's gratitude, for when he was caught by some hunters and bound by ropes to a tree, the Mouse, hearing his roaring groans, came and gnawed the ropes, and set him free, saying, "You laughed at me once, as if you could receive no return from me, but now, you see, it is you who have to be grateful to me." The story shows that there come sudden changes of affairs, when the most powerful owe everything to the weakest. THE GOOSE THAT LAID GOLDEN EGGS. THEEE was a Man who once had a very hand- some Goose, that always laid golden eggs. Now, he thought there must be gold inside of her, so he wrung her neck straightway, and found she was exactly like all other geese. He thought to find riches, and lost the little he had. The fable teaches that one who has anything 6 THE BOOK OF FABLES. should be content with it, and avoid covetousness, lest he lose what he has. THE BOYS AND THE FROGS. A COMPANY of waggish Boys were watching some Frogs at the side of a pond, and as fast as any of them put up their heads they 'd pelt them down again with stones. " Boys," says one of the Frogs, "you never consider that though this may be fun for you 't is death to us." THE LION, THE ASS, AND THE FOX. THE Lion, the Ass, and the Fox, made a bar- gain to go hunting together. Now when they had caught a good supply of game, they came to eat it ; and the Lion charged the Ass to divide the spoil. So he divided it into three equal parts, and called on them to choose their portion, at which the Lion fell into a rage, and made his supper off the Ass. Afterward, he bade the Fox make the division ; but the Fox put all the game into one great heap, saving only a little bit for himself. Then the Lion said, " My good fellow, who taught you to divide so well ? " and the Fox said, " That dead Ass there." The fable teaches that wise men learn their wisdom from the misfortunes of their neighbors. THE ASTROLOGER. AN Astrologer was wont to go out every even- ing and gaze at the stars. Now it happened once that his walk took him outside of the town, and as he was looking up with all his eyes to the sky, he did not notice where he was going, and fell into a ditch. He was in a sorry plight and set up a cry, whereupon some one passing by heard his groans, and came Tip to him ; when the stranger heard what had happened, he said to him : " Sir, you who are trying to make out things in the sky, don't you see what is on the earth ? " One might apply this word to those who pre- tend to teach men extraordinary things, but are quite unable to attend to the most common af- fairs. THE SHEPHERD-BOY AND THE WOLF. A SHEPHERD-BOY who kept his flock a little way from a village, for some time amused himself with this sport : he would call loudly on the vil- lagers to come to his help, crying, "Wolf! wolf! the wolves are among my lambs ! " Twice, three times, the villagers were startled, and hurried out, and went back laughed at, when finally the wolves really did come. And as the wolves made way with the flock, and he ran crying for help, they supposed him only at his old joke, and paid no attention. And so he lost all his flock. It only shows that people who tell lies get this for their pains, that nobody believes them when they speak the truth. THE FARMER'S SONS. A FARMER'S sons were very quarrelsome, and the father, when he took counsel with them, could HERCULES AND THE WAGONER. do nothing by his words. Then he thought he would persuade them by an example. So while they were sitting there, he bade them bring him some fagots, and when these were fetched, he he was caught by the Lion. When he was about to be doomed, he exclaimed : " What a wretch am I, who was saved and made happy by the very things which I despised, but have come to my end by what I especially gloried in." took them and bound them into one bundle, and ordered his sons in turn to take the bundle and break it. They tried, but could not. But after- ward, when he had loosed the fagots, he gave them to be broken singly. This they did very quickly. Then their father saith to them : " So is it with you, my children ; if you are all of the same mind you will be unconquerable, and un- manageable by your enemies ; but if you continue to rebel and be quarrelsome, you will quickly be mastered by them." THE STAG AND THE LION. A THIRSTY Stag came to a spring to drink ; as he drank he saw his reflection in the water, and was very proud of his antlers when he saw how big and branching they were ;_but he looked griev- ously at his feet, and took it hard that they should be so thin and weak. Now, while he was pondering, a Lion suddenly appeared, and began to chase him, and he, turning to run, had the ad- vantage, for the Stag's virtue is in his feet, the Lion's in his loins. As long as the chase was on the plain the Stag was not to be caught, but out- stripped the Lion ; but when they came to a wooded tract the Stag's horns became tangled in the branches of trees, and not being able to run, The fable teaches this, that in like manner, men often think they have something fine, and get caught by it unawares; or this, often when in danger those of our friends whom we suspect are really our saviors, while those we trust, turn out to be traitors. HERCULES AND THE WAGONER. As a countryman was carelessly driving his wagon along a miry lane, his wheels stuck so deep in the clay that the horses came to a standstill. Upon this, the man, without making the least 8 THE BOOK OF FABLES. effort of his own, began to call upon Hercules to come and help him out of his trouble. But Her- cules bade him lay his shoulder to the wheel, as- suring him that Heaven only helped those who helped themselves. THE SUN AND THE WIND. THERE happened a controversy betwixt the Sun and the Wind, which was the stronger of the two, and they put the point upon this issue : There was a traveler upon the way, and which of the two could make him throw off his cloak should gain his case. The Wind fell presently a storming, and threw hail shot over and above in the very teeth of him. The man wrapped himself closer, and kept advancing still in spite of the weather ; but this gust in a short time blew over, and then the sun broke out, and fell to work upon him with his beams, but still he pushed forward, till in the end he was forced to quit his cloak, and lay himself down upon the ground in a cool shade for his relief, so that the Sun, in the conclusion, carried the point. BELLING THE CAT. THERE was a sly Cat, it seems, in a certain house, and the Mice were so plagued with her at every turn that they called a court to advise upon some ways to prevent being surprised. " If you '11 be ruled by me," says one of the Mice, " there 's nothing like hanging a bell about the Cat's neck, to give warning beforehand when Puss is com- ing." They all looked upon it as a capital con- trivance. " Well," says another," and now we are agreed upon the bell, say who shall put it about the Cat's neck ? " But there was no one ready to bell the Cat. THE FARMER AND THE STORK. A FARMER set a net in his field in order to catch Cranes and Geese that were eating the young growth there. Now a Stork that was caught with them, and had bruised his foot, too, begged the Farmer to let him go free ; he urged him piteously, thus : " Save me, good man, let me go, have pity upon a poor weak thing that has got caught here ; for I am not a Crane : come, quick, see, I 'm a stork, a most useful creature, who take care of my father and mother, and have no need at all of any of these things in the field." But the Farmer laughed heartily, and said : " Oh, I know you, I 'm not ignorant ; I know exactly what you are. But you have been caught with the others and must die like them." The fable teaches that it is wise to run away and not consort with wicked men, lest we fall into the same troubles that entrap them. THE CRAB AND HIS MOTHER. SAID his mother to a Crab: " Why do you walk so crooked, child ? walk straight." " Mother," said he, " show me the way and I will try to walk like A COUNTRY FELLOW AND A RIVER. 9 you." But as long as she could not walk straight her son laughed at her advice. THE CAT, THE MONKEY, AND THE CHEST- NUTS. A CAT and a Monkey were sitting one day in the chimney corner watching some chestnuts which their master had laid down to roast in the ashes. The chestnuts had begun to burst with the heat and the Monkey said to the Cat, " It is plain that your paws were made especially for pulling out those chestnuts. Do you reach forth and draw them out. Your paws are, indeed, exactly like our master's hands." The Cat was greatly flat- tered by this speech, and reached forward for the tempting chestnuts, but scarcely had he touched the hot ashes than he drew back with a cry, for he had burnt his paw, but he tried again, and managed to pull one chestnut out ; then he pulled another, and a third, though each time he singed the hair on his paws. When he could pull no more out he turned about and found that the Monkey had taken the time to crack the chest- nuts and eat them. THE CROW AND THE PITCHER. A CROW that was extremely thirsty found a Pitcher with a little water in it, but it lay so low thought himself, however, of a device at last that did the business ; which was, by dropping a great many little pebbles into the water and raising it, that way, till he had it within reach. THE LION AND THE FOX. A LION that had grown old, and no longer had strength to forage for food, saw that he must get it by cunning. Well, he went into his den, and, creeping into a corner, pretended to be very sick, and so all the animals about came in to take a look at him, and as they came he snapped them up. Now, when a good many beasts had been he could not come at it. He tried first to break the Pitcher and then to overturn it, but it was both too strong and too heavy for him. He be- caught in this way, the Fox, who suspected what his trick was, came along, and taking his stand outside the den, and a little way off, asked the Lion how he did. The Lion answered him, and asked him why he would n't come down into the den. " So I would," said the Fox, " but I notice that all the fot>t-prints point into the den, and there are none pointing out." So prudent men, discovering danger by signs, keep out of the way. A COUNTRY FELLOW AND A RIVER. A BLOCKHEADED boy who was sent to market with butter and cheese by the good old woman, his mother, made a stop at a swift river in the way, and laid himself down on the bank there, till it should run out. About midnight home he goes to his mother, with all his market trade back 10 THE BOOK OF FABLES. again. "Why, how now, my son," says she, " what have we here ! " " Why, mother, yonder 's a river that has been running all this day, and I stayed till just now for the running of it out, and there 'tis, running still." "My son," says the good woman, " thy head and mine will be laid many a fair day before this river has all run by." THE BELLY AND THE MEMBERS. ALL the Members of the body conspired against the Belly, as against the swallowing gulf of all their labors ; for whereas the eyes beheld, the ears heard, the hands labored, the feet traveled, the tongue spake, and all parts performed their func- tions ; only the Belly lay idle, and consumed all. Hereupon, they jointly agreed, all to forbear their labors, and to leave their lazy and public enemy to take care of himself. One day passed over., the second followed very slowly, but the third day was so grievous to them all that they called a common council. The eyes waxed dim, the feet could not support the body, the arms waxed lazy, the tongue faltered, and could not lay open the matter ; there- fore they all, with one accord, desired the advice of the Heart. Then the Heart told them : " It is true that the Belly receives all the meats, but it sends them out again for the noui'ishment of all parts of the body, and all must work together for the common good. The Belly cannot do without the Members, nor the Members without the Belly." THE FOX THAT LOST HIS TAIL. A Fox, that had got caught in a trap and lost his tail when getting away, was so ashamed, that he thought life not worth living. So he had a mind to get the rest of the Foxes into the same scrape, and thus hide his own maiming in the common fortune. Well, he got them all together. and urged them to cut off their tails, telling them that the tail was not only a very ugly thing, but so much dead weight hung on behind. But one of them caught him up, saying, " My good fellow, this is all very well, but if it were not for your benefit you never would be advising us to do it." The story shows the way to answer those who give advice to their neighbors, not out of good will, but because they are looking out for them- selves. THE ARCHER AND THE EAGLE. AN Archer took aim at an Eagle, and, letting fly his shaft, brought the bird down. The Eagle gazed at the arrow and seeing that it was winged with feathers from his own breast, said : " How often the wounds we get come from weapons which we have supplied ! " THE ANT AXD THE GRASSHOPPER. ON a cold, frosty day, an Ant was dragging out some of the corn which he had laid up in summer time, to dry it. A Grasshopper, half perishing with hunger, besought the Ant to give him a mor- THE FOX AND THE LION. 11 sel of it to preserve his life. " What were you him he was wrong, when clown fell the cheese, doing," asked the Ant, "this last summer?" He picked it up and ran off with it saying' : "To be sure you have a voice, Crow, but you have n't any sense." If you believe your enemy you will get punished for it. THE JACKDAW AND THE DOVES. A JACKDAW seeing how well the Doves were cared for in their dove-cote, whitened himself, so that he might have a share in their good fortune. As long as he kept quiet they let him be amongst them, thinking he was a Dove, but when he forgot himself and opened his mouth, they discovered what he really was and flew upon him and drove him out. He, poor fellow, losing that chance, went back to the Jackdaws, but they did not know him on account of his white coat, and would not let him join them, and so for wanting to get into two companies he missed both. The fable* teaches us that we ought to be cdn- tent with our own, arguing that covetousness is not only of no avail but often rids us of what we already have. THE FOX AND THE LION. A Fox who had never seen a Lion met one by chance, and upon first catching sight of him was frightened almost to death ; the next time he hap- " Oh," said the Grasshopper, " I was not idle. I kept singing all summer long." Said the Ant, laughing, and shutting up his granary. " Since you could sing all summer, you may dance all winter." THE CROW AND THE FOX. A CEOW had stolen a cheese and carried it away to a high tree to eat it there in peace. A Fox saw it and meant to get it by a device. " Good Crow," said he, " what a lovely and shapely body you have ! your color is more beautiful than that of many of the birds, and had you but a charming voice, surely you would hold the very first place." Thereupon she opened her mouth to sing, to show pened on him he was frightened, to be sure, but not so much as before ; when he saw him a third 12 THE BOOK OF FABLES. time, he plucked up courage enough to go up and look as if you led an easy life of it." " That I speak to him. do," quoth the Dog : " I have all I can eat and The story teaches that familiarity makes terri- ble things much less frightful. * THE TORTOISE AND THE EAGLE. A TORTOISE seeing an Eagle in flight wanted much to fly like him. So she went to him when he was by and asked him if he would not teach her to fly, if she would pay him well for the lesson. He told her it was impossible, but as she still persisted and begged him, he seized her, bore her aloft, and then let her drop upon a rock, but the blow knocked the breath out of her body. The fable tenches that men who are envious and refuse to take the advice of those who know more than themselves are apt to get into trouble. THE BOY AND THE NETTLE. A BOY playing in the fields was stung* by a Nettle. He ran home to his mother, telling her he had but touched the weed and it had stuns: O him. " It was just touching it that stung you," said she : " the next time you meddle with a Net- tle grasp it boldly and it will not hurt you." THE DOG AND THE WOLF. A LEAN, hungry, half-starved Wolf happening to meet one moonlight night with a plump, well- fed dog, said : " Good morrow to you friend ; you some left over." " That have not I," said the Wolf, "you can count my ribs, I am so lean." " Well, come with me," said the Dog, " and you shall share my supper." As they jogged along the Wolf spied a crease about the Dog's neck. " Now what may that be?" he asked, curiously. "That? that is where my master puts a collar on me when he chains me to my kennel." " Chains you ! then you can't run free when you will ! good-by, my friend, I 'd rather have rny liberty with hunger, than good living with a chain," and the Wolf went back to the woods. THE BOY THAT STOLE APPLES. AN Old Man found a rude Boy upon one of his trees, stealing apples, and told him to come down ; but the young rogue told him plainly he would not. " Won't you ! " said the Old Man, " then I will fetch you down ; " so he pulled up some tufts of grass and threw at him ; but this only made the youngster laugh, to think the Old Man should think to beat him down from the tree with grass only. "Well, well," said the Old Man, "if nei- ther words nor grass will do, I will try what vir- tue there is in stones ; " with that he pelted him heartily with stones, which soon made the Boy clamber down from the tree and beg the Old Man's pardon. THE KITE AND THE PIGEONS. 13 THE FOX AND THE STORK. THE Fox invited the Stork to sup with him, and placed a shallow dish on the table, out of which it was impossible for the Stork, with her long bill, to get anything, while the Fox could father, in a great fright, finding himself in danger, bethought him of a way, and said to the Lion : " I cannot possibly give you my daughter, Lion, unless you will first have your teeth and nails drawn, for these would frighten her." He was so desperately lap up the food with his tongue, and so the Fox had the laugh on the Stork. The Stork, in her turn, invited the Fox to dine with her, and she placed the food in a long-necked jar, from which she could easily feed with her bill, while the Fox could get nothing, and that was tit for tat. Rudeness sometimes gets paid with a just retal- iation. THE WOLF AND THE GOAT. A WOLF seeing a Goat feeding upon the edge of a high precipice, where he could not get at her, begged her to come down lower, where she would be in no danger of falling over the precipice, add- ing that the meadows and grass w^ere much richer where he was. But he answered, " Thank you, good sir ; you are not inviting me to feed myself, but to be food for you." THE LION IN LOVE. A LION that had fallen in love with a Wood- man's daughter, wanted to marry her, so he went to the father and begged him to give him the maid, but the Woodman said he could not think of such a thing as marrying his daughter to a Lion. At that the Lion began to roar furiously, and the in love, that he readily consented, and when it was all over, asked again for the girl, but the Woodman had no longer any fear of him, and drove him off with jeers. THE KITE AND THE PIGEONS. THE Pigeons had long lived in fear of the Kite, but by being always on the alert, and keeping near the dove-cote, they contrived to escape his attacks. Then the Kite, finding he could not take them boldly, tried a trick. He went to the dove-cote and said : " Why do you live in this con- stant fear and anxiety ? I am strong, and could 14 THE BOOK OF FABLES. protect you against your enemies. Make me king." At that, the Pigeons chose him for their king, and when he was once securely within the dove-cote he devoured his subjects at his leisure, one each day, and one of them, when his turn came, said truly, " It serves us right." THE ASS IN THE LION'S SKIN. THE Ass once dressed himself in the Lion's skin and went about frightening all the little beasts. Now he happened on the Fox, and tried to frighten him too ; but the Fox chanced to hear him speak, and said : " Well, to be sure, I should have been frightened too, if I had n't heard you bray, and seen your ears sticking out." So there are some men who make themselves appear very fine outwardly, but are betrayed as soon as they begin to talk. THE DOG AND HIS SHADOW. As a Dog was crossing a river with a morsel of good flesh in his mouth, he saw, as he thought, a bigger piece in the water ; so he dropped what he had, to catch at what was a shadow, and lost both. THE LARK AND HER YOUNG ONES. THEKE was a brood of young Larks in a field of corn, which was just ripe, and the mother, looking every day for the reapers, left word, when- ever she went out in search of food, that her young ones should report to her all the news they heard. One day, while she was absent, the mas- ter came to look at the state of the crops. " It is full time," said he, " to call in all my neighbors and get my corn reaped." When the old Lark came home, the young ones told their mother what they had heard, and begged her to remove them forthwith. " Time enough," said she ; " if he trusts to his neighbors, he will have to wait a while yet for his harvest." Next day, however, the owner came again, and finding the sun still hotter and the corn more ripe, and nothing done, " There is not a moment to be lost," said he : " we cannot depend upon our neighbors: we must call in our relations," and turning to his son, " Go, call your uncles and cousins, and see that they begin to- morrow." In still greater fear the young ones repeated to their mother the farmer's words. " If that be all," says she, " do not be frightened, for the relations have got harvest work of their own ; but take particular notice what you hear the next time, and be sure you let me know." She went abroad the next day, and the owner coming as be- fore, and finding the grain falling to the ground from over-ripeness, and still no one at work, called to his son. " We must wait for our neighbors and friends no longer ; do you go and hire some reap- ers to-night, and we will set to work ourselves to- morrow." When the young ones told their mother this. " Then," said she, " it is time to be off in- deed ; for when a man takes up his business him- THE WOLF IN SHE EPS CLOTHING. 15 self, instead of leaving it to others, you may be reach half its size." The old Frog made one more trial, determined to be as big as the Ox, and burst herself, indeed. sure that he means to set to work in earnest." THE TRAVELER AND THE VIPER. A TKAVELER, going along the road in winter, saw a Viper stiff with cold, and taking pity on it, took it up and placed it in his bosom to warm it back into life. Now the Viper, as long as he was still cold, lay quiet, but as soon as he was well warmed he drove his fangs into the man's breast. And as the man was dying, he said : " I suffer justly, for why should I have taken care of the dying Viper, when I ought to have killed him, though he had been in the best of health ? " So there are some men who show favors to oth- ers, and fail to see that they will only get stings in return. THE FROG AND THE OX. Ax Ox, grazing in a swampy meadow, chanced to set his foot among a parcel of young Frogs, and crushed nearly the whole brood to death. One that escaped ran off to his mother with the dread- ful news: "O mother," said he, " it was a beast such a big four-footed beast, that did it." " Big ? " quoth the old Frog, " How big ? was it as big " and she puffed herself out u as big as this ? " " Oh, a great deal digger than that." "Well, was it so big?" and she swelled herself out yet more. " Indeed, mother, but it was ; and if you were to burst yourself, you would never THE DOG IN THE MANGER. A DOG made his bed in a manger, where he neither ate the grain himself, nor let the Cow eat it, who could. THE FLIES AND THE POT OF HONEY. A POT of Honey having been overturned in the pantry, the Flies clustered about to eat the honey, but owing to the stickiness of the sweet stuff, they could not get away ; their feet were so entangled that they could not fly up, and, choking to death, they cried out : " Wretches that we are, to die just for a moment of pleasure ! " So it is that greediness is for many people the cause of their ill-fortune. THE WOLF IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING. A WOLF, clothing himself in the skin of a sheep, and getting in among the flock, had a chance to make way with a good many of them. At last the Shepherd discovered him, and, tying a rope about his neck, hung him to a tree near by, as a warning to the other wolves. Some shep- herds going by, thought, at a distance, that it was a sheep hung thus, and wondered why the Shep- herd should do this, but when they came near, they saw that* it was a Wolf, and the Shepherd 16 THE BOOK OF FABLES. said : " I hang a Wolf when I catch him, even though he be dressed in a sheep's skin." THE COUNTRY MAID AND HER MILK-PAIL. A COUNTRY MAID was walking slowly along with a pail of milk upon her head, and thinking thus : " The money for which I shall sell this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred. These eggs, allowing for what may prove addled, and what may be destroyed by vermin, will produce, at least, two hundred and fifty chickens. The chickens will be fit to carry to market about Christmas, when poultry always brings a good price, so that by May Day I shall have money enough to buy a new gown. Let me see green suits my complexion best; yes, it shall be green. In this dress I will go to the fair, where all the young fellows will want me for a partner, but I shall, perhaps, refuse every one of them," and by this time she was so full of her fancy that she tossed her head proudly, when over went the pail, which she had entirely forgot- ten, and all the milk was spilled on the ground. Don't count your chickens before they are hatched. THE COUNTRY MOUSE AND THE TOWN MOUSE. A COUNTRY MOUSE had a friend who lived in a house in town. Now the Town Mouse was invited by the Country Mouse to take dinner with him, and out he went and sat down to a meal of barley and wheat. " Do you know, my friend," said he, " that you live a mere ant's life out here ? Now I have abundance at home, come, and enjoy all the good things." So off the two set for town, and there the Town Mouse showed the other his beans and meal, his dates, too, his cheese, and fruit, and honey. And as the Country Mouse ate, drank, and was merry, he praised his friend and bewailed his own poor lot. But while they were urging each other to eat heartily, a man suddenly opened the door, and frightened by the noise they crept into the cracks. Then when they wanted to taste again of some dried figs, in came another person to get something that was in the room, and when they caught sight of him they ran and hid in a hole. At that, the Country Mouse forgot his hunger, and fetching a sigh, said to the other : " Please yourself, my good friend, eating all you want, and having your fill of good things with jol- lity and danger and a constant panic ; as for me, poor wretch, who have only barley and wheat, I will live on, without fear of any one overlooking me." The fable teaches that it is better worth while to live plainly and undisturbed, than to have a surfeit and be always in terror. THE LIONESS AND THE A LIONESS was twitted by a Fox for only giving birth to one at a time. " yes, one, but a Lion." One," said she, THE SPENDTHRIFT AND THE SWALLOW. 17 The fable teaches that good resides not in num- bers but in worth. THE MILLER, HIS SON, AND THEIR ASS. A MILLER and his Son were driving their Ass to a neighboring fair to sell him. They had not gone far when they met with a troop of girls, re- turning from the town, talking and laughing. " Look there ! " cried one of them, " did you ever see such fools, to be trudging along on foot when they might be riding?" The old man, hearing this, bade his Son get on the Ass, and walked along merrily by the side of him. Presently they came to a group of old men in earnest debate. " There ! " said one of them, " that proves what I was saying. What respect is shown to old age in these days ? do you see that idle young rogue rid- ing, while his old father has to walk ? get down, you scape-grace, and let the old man get on ! " Upon this, the Miller made his Son dismount, and got up himself. They had not gone far, when they met a company of women and children. " Why, you lazy old fellow ! " cried several tongues at once, " how can you ride upon the beast, while that poor little lad there can hardly keep pace by the side of you ? " The good-natured Miller there- upon took up his Son behind him. They had now almost reached the town. " Pray, honest friend," said a townsman, " is that Ass your own ? " "Yes," said the old man. " Oh ! one would not have thought so," said the other, " by the way you load him. Why, you two poor fellows are better able to carry the poor beast, than he you ! " " Anything to please you," said the old man. " We can but try." So, alighting with his Son, they tied the Ass's legs together, and by the help of a pole endeavored to carry him on their shoul- ders over a bridge that led to the town. This was so entertaining a sight, that the people ran out in crowds to laugh at it ; till the Ass, not lik- ing the noise or his situation, kicked the cords away, and tumbled off the pole into the river. Upon this, the old man, vexed and ashamed, made the best of his way home again, having learned that by trying to please everybody he had pleased nobody, and lost his Ass into the bargain. THE WOLVES AND THE SHEEP. SAID the Wolves to the Sheep: " Why should there always be war between us ? and how is it no truce or flags go from us to you ? it is all along of these wretched dogs who bark at us the moment we come near you, and stir us up when we had no thought of harming you. Only get rid of them, and we can have peace." The Sheep believed the Wolves, and sent the dogs off, but as soon as they were left unprotected the Wolves ate them up. If you listen to your enemy you will get your- self into danger. THE SPENDTHRIFT AND THE SWALLOW. A DISSOLUTE young man who had spent all his fortune, and had only his cloak left, when he spied 18 THE BOOK OF FABLES. a Swallow coming forth out of season, thought that spring was at hand, and so went and sold his cloak, as having no immediate use for it. But afterward, when a storm arose, and the air was Tery keen, he saw the Swallow lying desolate and dead, and said to her : " Ah, my friend, you have ruined me, and are lost yourself." The fable teaches that one swallow does not make a summer. THE ARAB AND HIS CAMEL. ONE cold night, as an Arab sat in his tent, a Camel gently thrust the flap of the tent aside and looked in. " I pray thee, master," he said, " suffer me but to put my head within the tent, for it is cold with- out." " By all means, and welcome," said the Arab, cheerfully, and the Camel, moving forward, stretched his head into the tent. " If I might but warm my neck also," he said, beseechingly. "Put also your neck inside," said the Arab. Presently the Camel, who had been turning his head from side to side, said again. " I will take but little more room if I place my fore-legs within the tent. It is difficult standing without." " You may also plant your fore-legs within," said the Arab, moving a little to make room, for the tent was very small. " May I not stand wholly within ? " asked the Camel, finally. " I keep the tent open by standing as I do." " Yes, yes," said the Arab, " I will have com- passion on you as well as on myself. Come wholly inside." So the Camel came forward, and crowded into the tent. But the tent was too small for both. " I think," said the Camel, " that there is not room for both of us here. It will be best for you to stand outside, as you are the smaller. There will then be room enough for me," and with that he pushed the Arab a little, who made haste to get outside of the tent. THE OLD MAX AXD DEATH. AN Old Man, after cutting his wood and lifting it upon his shoulders, set out on a long road. And growing very weary, he laid down his burden and began calling on Death. But when Death appeared and asked why he had called for him, the Old Man said : " So that you may help me on with my load again." The fable teaches that every man is a lover of life, even though it go hard with him and he meet a thousand dangers. THE CHOICE OF HERCULES. WHEN Hercules was growing out of boyhood into youth, and had come to the time when young men become their own masters, and show plainly whether they will take the path which leads by virtue's way to the end of life, or will take that which lies through sin, he sat down by the way- side and considered whether of the two he would choose. And as he sat there, two queenly women appeared and drew near ; the one was fair to look upon and noble in form, of fine presence, with downcast eyes and grave bearing, clad in white garments ; and the other was tender and soft, and so adorned as to seem fairer and ruddier than the former, with a bearing that seemed more stately, with eyes that were opened full and fair, and in garments that shone as the day ; and oft she ad- mired herself, and looked to see if any other were THE CHOICE OF HERCULES. 19 gazing upon her, and cast her eyes ever upon her own shadow. As they came near to Hercules, the one first spoken of was keeping on her way, but the other made haste to get before her, and running to Her- cules, said : " O Hercules, I perceive that thou art consid- ering by which of the two paths thou wilt travel to thy life's end. If, now, thou wilt make me thy friend I will lead thee by the pleasantest and easiest path, and thou shalt not fail to taste of all pleasures, and shalt go thy way un vexed by any hardships. For, first of all, thou shalt have no care for wars or the life of busy men, but shalt only cast about, to see what pleasant thing thou mayst have to eat or drink, or what delight there may be for thine eye or thine ear, or what pleas- antness to smell or touch, and how thou mayst take thy joyance in the sports of the young, and how thou mayst sleep softly, and enjoy all these things with the least trouble. And should there come any doubt into thy mind lest there should be a lack of these things, have no fear that I will call thee to toil, and weariness, and hardness of life, that thou mayst obtain them, but know that whatever others labor for that shalt thou have without labor, wanting nothing which it may be possible ever to gain ; for always do I give power to those that follow me to have their heart's de- sire. When Hercules heard these words, he said: " What is thy name, lady? " and she answered : " My friends call me Pleasure, but those who hate me, call me names, and say I am Vice." Thereupon the other, coining near, said, " As for me, I have come to thee, Hercules, because I know those who gave thee birth, and taught thee in thy childhood, and from this have hope that if thou wilt take the path which I take thou wilt become a good laborer in all that is pure and holy, and I shall be held in even higher honor and be yet more comely in the sight of good men. I will not make thee deceitful promises of pleasure, but I will show thee truthfully what the gods have ap- pointed. For the gods give no good or fair thing to men without labor and care; wouldst thou have the gods merciful to thee, thou must serve them; dost thou wish to be beloved by thy friends, thou must do thy friends good deeds ; art thou eager to be honored by any city, thou must be of use to that city ; dost thou long to be admired for thy nobleness by all Greece, thou must make it thy endeavor to do well to Greece ; desirest thou the land to yield thee ripe fruit, thou must till the land ; thinkest thou to be rich in herds, thou must give thy care to the cattle ; art thou impatient to grow mighty by war, and wouldst thou have power to set thy friends free and worst thine ene- mies, thou must study well the art of war with those who understand it, and learn to practice it; and then if thou wishest to have a strong body, thou must make it obedient to thy mind, and thou must exercise it with labor and the sweat of toil." Here Vice interrupted her, and said : " Dost thou know, Hercules, by what a hard and long path this woman would lead thee to pleasure? But I will take thee by an easier and shorter way to happiness." Then Goodness said : " Thou bold woman, what good thing hast thou ? or what real pleasure dost thou know, who art not willing to do aught for the sake of these delights ? for thou canst not even wait for the desire of these pleasures, but before the desire comes thou hast emptied them all, eating before thou art hungry, drinking before thou thirstest, and that thou mayst eat delicately, choosing skillful cooks ; that thou mayst drink agreeably, getting costly wines, and cooling them in summer with snow water , that thou mayst sleep softly, thou gettest not only downy beds, but couches, and carpets beneath the couches, for thou longest for sleep, not because thou hast toiled, but because thou hast nothing to do. Thou art immortal, but thou hast been cast out by the gods, and art dishonored by good men ; to the sweetest of all sounds, praise of thyself, thou art deaf, and to the fairest of all sights thou art blind, for thou never hast seen one good work of thine. And who would trust thee, when thou saidst aught ? and who would satisfy thee, asking 20 THE BOOK OF FABLES. aught? or who in his right mind- would dare to be of thy company ? thy young men are weak, thy old men are senseless ; when they pass their youth without toil they drag through age with toil and burden, ashamed of what they have done, weighed down with what they now do, having run through all pleasures in their youth, and waiting nothing but hardness in their age. But I am companion of the gods, and of all good men ; no beautiful deed of gods or men is done without me. Gods and men pay me honor, each in his own kind ; I am a beloved fellow to the craftsman, a faithful guard to the master of the house, a gracious aid to the townsman, a good partner in the labors of peace, a strong fellow soldier in war, and the best comrade in the world. My friends have a sweet enjoyment at their ease, of meat and drink, for they ask for nothing till they want it, and sleep to them is more refreshing than to those who toil not ; when they miss it the loss is no burden, and when they have it they lose not thereby the doing of any needful thing. The young rejoice in the praises of the old, and the old men are glad at honor from the young ; the memory of their for- mer deeds is pleasant, and they are blessed in their present work, for, by me, they have the gods for their friends, men to love them, and their coun- try to honor them. And whensoever the end of their journey comes, they lie not down in unhon- ored forgetfulness, but with joy at the hymns of praise, which are sung over them forever. " Such things are possible to thee, O Hercules, child of good parents ; to thee it is given by toil to win the most blessed happiness." THE BOOK OF WONDERS. THE STORY OF CHICKEN-LICKEN. As Chicken-licken went one day to the woods, an acorn fell upon her poor bald pate, and she thought the sky had fallen. Then she said she would go and tell the king that the sky had fallen. So Chicken-licken turned back, and met Henny- penny. " Well, Henny-penny, where are you go- ing ? " and Henny-penny said, " I 'm going to the wood for some meat," and Chicken-licken said, " Oh, Henny-penny, don't go, for I was going, and the sky fell upon my poor bald pate, and I 'm go- ing to tell the king." So Henny-penny turned back with Chicken- licken, and met Cocky-locky. " Oh, Cocky-locky, where are you going?" and Cocky-locky said, "I'm going to the wood for some meat." Then Henny-penny said, " Oh, Cocky-locky, don't go, for I was going and met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on her poor bald pate, and we are going to tell the king." So Cocky-locky turned back, and met Ducky- lucky. " Well, Ducky-lucky, where are you going?" And Ducky-lucky said, "I'm going to the wood for some meat." Then Cocky-locky said, " Oh, Ducky-lucky, don't go, for I was going, and met Henny-penny, and Henny-penny met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on her poor bald pate, and we are going to tell the king." So Ducky-lucky turned back, and met Draky- laky. " Well, Draky-laky, where are you go- ing ? " and Draky-laky said, " I 'm going to the wood for some meat." Then Ducky-lucky said, *' Oh, Draky-laky, don't go, for I was going, and met Cocky-locky, and Cocky-locky met Henny- penny, and Henny-penny met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on her poor bald pate, and we are go- ing to tell the king." So Draky-laky turned back, and met Goosey- loosey. " Well, Goosey-loosey, where are you going ? " and Goosey-loosey said, " I 'm going to the wood for some meat." Then Draky-laky said, " Oh, Goosey-loosey, don't go, for I was going, and met .Ducky-lucky, and Ducky-lucky met Cocky- locky, and Cocky-locky met Henny-penny, and Henny-penny met Chicken-licken, and Chicken- licken had been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on her poor bald pate, and we are going to tell the king." So Goosey-loosey turned back, and met Gander- lander. " Well, Gander-lander, where are you going?" and Gander-lander said, "I'm going to the wood for some meat." Then Goosey-loosey said, "Oh, Gander-lander, don't go, for I was going, and met Draky-laky, and Draky-laky met Ducky-lucky, and Ducky-lucky met Cocky-locky, and Cocky-locky met Henny-penny, and Henny- penny met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-licken had been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on her poor bald pate, and we are going to tell the king." So Gander-lander turned back, and met Turkey- lurkey. "Well, Turkey-lurk ey, where are you going? " and Turkey-lurkey said, " I 'm going to the wood for some meat." Then Gander-lander said, " Oh, Turkey-lurkey, don't go, for I was going, and I met Goosey-loosey, and Goosey-loosey met Draky-laky, and Draky-laky met Ducky- lucky, and Ducky-lucky met Cocky-locky, and Cocky-locky met Henny-penny, and Henny-penny 22 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. met Chicken-licken, and Chicken-lickea bad been at the wood, and the sky had fallen on her poor bald pate, and we are going to tell the king." So Turkey-lurkey turned back, and walked with Gander-lander, Goosey-loosey, Draky-laky, Ducky- lucky, Cocky-locky, Henny-penny, and Chicken, licken. And as they were going along they met Fox-lox. And Fox-lox said, "Where are you going, my pretty maids ? " and they said, " Chicken-licken went to the wood, and the sky fell upon her poor bald pate, and we are going to tell the king." And Fox-lox said, " Come along with me, and I will show you the way." But Fox-lox took them 'into the fox's hole, and he and his young ones soon ate up poor Chicken-licken, Henny- penny, Cocky-lock} 7 , Ducky-lucky, Draky-laky, Goosey-loosey, Gander-lander, and Turkey-lurkey, and they never saw the king to tell him that the sky had fallen ! THE THREE BEARS. IN a far-off country there was once a little girl who was called Silver-hair, because her curly hair shone brightly. She was a sad romp, and so rest- less that she could not be kept quiet at home, but must needs run out and away, without leave. One day she started off into a wood to gather wild flowers, and into the fields to chase butter- flies. She ran here and she ran there, and went so far, at last, that she found herself in a lonely place, where she saw a snug little house, in which three bears lived ; but they were not then at home. The door was ajar, and Silver-hair pushed it open and found the place to be quite empty, so she made up her mind to go in boldly, and look all about the place, little thinking what sort of ( people lived there. Now the three bears had gone out to walk a little before this. They were the Big Bear, and the Middle-sized Bear, and the Little Bear ; but they had left their porridge on the table to cool. So when Silver-hair came into the kitchen, she saw the three bowls of porridge. She tasted the largest bowl, which belonged to the Big Bear, and found it too cold ; then she tasted the middle-sized bowl, which belonged to the Middle-sized Bear, and found it too hot ; then she tasted the smallest bowl, which belonged to the Little Bear, and it was just right, and she ate it all. She went into the parlor, and there were three chairs. She tried the biggest chair, which be- longed to the Big Bear, and found it too high, then she tried the middle-sized chair, which be- longed to the Middle-sized Bear, and she found it too broad ; then she tried the little chair, which belonged to the Little Bear, and found it just right, but she sat in it so hard that she broke it. Now Silver-hair was by this time very tired, and she went up-stairs to the chamber, and there she found three beds. She tried the largest bed, which belonged to the Big Bear, and found it too soft ; then she tried the middle-sized bed, which belonged to the Middle-sized Bear, and she found it too hard; then she tried the smallest bed, which belonged to the Little Bear, and found it just right, so she lay down upon it, and fell fast asleep. While Silver-hair was lying fast asleep, the three bears came home from their walk. They came into the kitchen, to get their porridge, but when the Big Bear went to his, he growled out, " SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TASTING MY PORRIDGE!" and the Middle-sized Bear looked into his bowl, and said, " SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TASTING MY POK- KIDGE ! " and the Little Bear piped, " Somebody has tasted my porridge and ate it all up ! " Then they went into the parlor, and the Big Bear growled, "SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR ! " THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER. 23 and the Middle-sized Bear said, " SOMEBODY HAS BEEN SITTING IN MY CHAIR! " and the Little Bear piped, " Somebody has been sitting in my chair, and has broken it all to pieces ! " So they went up-stairs into the chamber, and the Big Bear growled, SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TUMBLING MY BED!" and the Middle-sized Bear said, " SOMEBODY HAS BEEN TUMBLING MY BED ! " and the Little Bear piped, " Somebody has been tumbling my bed, and here she is!" At that, Silver-hair woke in a fright, and jumped out of the window and ran away as fast as her legs could carry her, and never went near the Three Bears' snug little house again. THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER, THERE was once a shoemaker who worked very hard and was very honest ; but still he could not earn enough to live upon, and at last all he had in the world was gone, except just leather enough to make one pair of shoes. Then he cut them all ready to make up the next day, meaning to get up early in the morning to work. His conscience was clear and his heart light, amidst all his troub- les ; so he went peaceably to bed, left all his canes to heaven, and fell asleep. In the morning, after he had said his prayers, he sat himself down at his work, when, to his great wonder, there stood the shoes, all ready made, upon the table. The good man knew not what to say or think of this strange event. He looked at the workmanship ; there was not one false stitch in the whole job ; and all was so neat and true that it was a com- plete masterpiece. That same day a customer came in, and the shoes pleased him so well that he willingly paid a price higher than usual for them ; and the poor shoemaker with the money bought leather enough to make two pairs more. In the evening he cut out the work, and went to bed early, that he might get up and begin betimes next day : but he was saved all the trouble, for when he got up in the morning the work was finished ready to his hand. Presently in came buyers, who paid him handsomely for his goods, so that he bought leather enough for four pairs more. He cut out the work again over night, and found it finished in the morning as before ; and so it went on for some time : what was got ready in the evening was always done by daybreak, and the good man soon became thriving and prosperous again. One evening, about Christmas time, as he and his wife were sitting over the fire chatting to- gether, he said to her, " I should like to sit up and watch to-night, that we may see who it is that comes and does my work for me." The wife liked the thought ; so they left a light burning, and hid themselves in the corner of the room be- hind a curtain that was hung up there, and watched what should happen. As soon as it was midnight there came two little naked dwarfs; and they sat themselves upon the shoemaker's bench, took up all the work that 24 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. was cut out, and began to ply with their little fingers, stitching and rapping and tapping away at such a rate that the shoemaker was all amaze- ment, and could not take his eyes off them for a moment. And on they went busily till the job was quite finished, and the shoes stood, ready for use, upon the table. This was long before day- break ; and then they bustled away as quick as lightning. The next day, the wife said to the shoemaker, " These little wights have made us rich, and we ought to be thankful to them, and do them a good office in return. I am quite vexed to see them run about as they do ; they have nothing upon their backs to keep off the cold. I'll tell you what, I will make each of them a shirt, and a coat and waistcoat, and a pair of pantaloons into the bargain ; do you make each of them a little pair of shoes." The thought pleased the good shoemaker very much ; and one evening, when all the things were ready, they laid them on the table, instead of the work that they used to cut out, and then went and hid themselves, to watch what the little elves would do. About midnight they came in, and were going to sit down to their work as usual ; but when they saw the clothes lying for them, they laughed and were greatly delighted. Then they dressed themselves in the twinkling of an eye, and danced and capered and sprang about as merry as could be, till at last they danced out of the door, over the green ; and the shoemaker saw them no more : but everything went well with him from that time forward, as long as he lived. THE FROG-PRINCE. ONE fine evening a 3 r oung princess went into a wood, and sat down by the side of a cool spring of water. She had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favorite plaything, and she amused her- self with tossing it into the air and catching it again as it fell. After a time she threw it up so high that when she stretched out her hand to catch it, the ball bounded away and rolled along upon the ground, till at last it fell into the spring. The princess looked into the spring after the ball ; but it was very deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. Then she began to lament her loss, and said, " Alas ! if I could only get my ball again, I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world." Whilst she was speaking a frog put its head out of the water and said, " Princess, why do you weep so bitterly ? " "Alas ! " said she, " what can you do for me, you nasty frog ? My golden ball has fallen into the spring." The frog said, " I want not your pearls and jewels and fine clothes ; but if you will love me and let me live with you, and eat from your little golden plate, and sleep upon your little bed, I will bring you your ball again." " What nonsense," thought the princess, "this silly frog is talking! He can never get out of the well : however, he may be able to get my ball for me ; and therefore I will promise him what he asks." So she said to the frog, " Well, if you will bring me my ball, I promise to do all you require." Then the frog put his head down, and dived deep under the water ; and after a little while he came up again with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the ground. As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up, and was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she could. The frog called after her, " Stay, princess, and take me with you as you promised ; " but she did not stop to hear a word. The next day, just as the princess sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise, tap-tap, as if somebody were coming up the marble staircase ; and soon afterwards something knocked gently at the door, and said, THE JEW IN THE BUSH. 25 " Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here ! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool in the greenwood shade." Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and there she saw the frog, whom she had quite forgotten; she was terribly frightened, and shut- ting the door as fast as she could, came back to her seat. The king, her father, asked her what had frightened her. " There is a nasty frog," said she, " at the door, who lifted my ball out of the spring this morning: I promised him that lie should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the spring ; but there he is at the door and wants to come in ! " While she was speaking the frog knocked at the door, and said, " Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here ! And mind the words that thou and I said By the fountain cool in the greenwood shade." The king said to the young princess, " As you have made a promise, you must keep it ; so go and let him in." She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and came up close to the table. " Pray lift me upon a chair," said he to the princess, " and let me sit next to you." As soon as she had done this, the frog said, " Put your plate closer to me that I may eat out of it." This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could he said, " Now I am tired ; carry me up-stairs and put me into your little bed." And the princess took him up in her hand and put him upon the pillow of her own little bed, where he slept all night long. As soon as it was light he jumped up, hopped down-stairs, and went out of the house. " Now," thought the princess, " he is gone and I shall be troubled with him no more." But she was mistaken ; for when night came again, she heard the same tapping at the door, and when she opened it, the frog came in and slept upon her pillow as before till the morning broke : and the third night he did the same ; but when the princess awoke on the following morn- ing, she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince standing at the head of her bed, and gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes that ever were seen. He told her that he had been enchanted by a malicious fairy, who had changed him into the form of a frog, in which he was fated to remain till some princess should take him out of the spring and let him sleep upon her bed for three nights. " You," said the prince, " have broken this cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father's kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live." The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in giving her consent ; and as they spoke a splendid carriage drove up with eight beautiful horses decked with plumes of feathers and golden harness, and beliind rode the prince's servant, the faithful Henry, who had bewailed the mis- fortune of his dear master so long and bitterly that his heart had well nigh burst. Then all set out full of joy for the prince's kingdom ; where they arrived safely, and lived happily a great many years. THE JEW IN THE BUSH. A FARMER had a faithful and diligent servant, who had worked hard for him three years, without having been paid any wages. At last it came into the man's head that he would not go on thus with- out pay any longer ; so he went to his master, and said, " I have worked hard for you a long time, I will trust to you to give me what I deserve to have 4 for my trouble." The farmer was a sad miser, and knew that his man was very simple-hearted; so he took out threepence, and gave him for every year's service a penny. The poor fellow thought it was a great deal of money to have, and said to himself, " Why should I work hard, and live here on bad fare any longer ? I can now travel into 26 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. the wide world, and make myself merry." With that he put his money into his purse, and set out roaming over hill and valley. As he jogged along over the fields, singing and dancing, a little dwarf met him, and asked him what made him so merry. " Why, what should make me down-hearted ? " said he ; " I am sound in health and rich in purse, what should I care for? I have saved up my three years' earnings, and have it all safe in my pocket." " How much may it come to ?"' said the little man. " Full three- pence," replied the countryman. " I wish you would give them to me," said the other ; " I am very poor." Then the man pitied him, and gave him all he had ; and the little dwarf said in return, " As you have such a kind honest heart, I will grant you three wishes one for each penny; so choose whatever you like." Then the countryman rejoiced at his good luck, and said, " I like many things better than money : first I will have a bow that will bring down everything I shoot at ; sec- ondly, a fiddle that will set every one dancing that hears me play upon it ; and thirdly, I should like that every one should grant what I ask." The dwai'f said he should have his three wishes , so he gave him the bow and fiddle, and went his way. Our honest friend journeyed on his way too ; and if he was merry before he was now ten times more so. He had not gone far before he met an old Jew : close by them stood a tree, and on the topmost twig sat a thrush singing away most joy- fully. " Oh, what a pretty bird ! " said the Jew ; " I would give a great deal of money to have such a one." ". If that's all," said the countryman, " I, will soon bring it down." Then he took up his bow, and down fell the thrush into the bushes at the foot of the tree. The Jew crept into the bush to find it ; but directly he had got into the middle, his companion took up his fiddle and played away, and the Jew began to dance and spring about, ca- pering higher and higher in the air. The thorns soon began to tear his clothes till they all hung in rags about him, and he himself was all scratched and wounded, so that the blood ran down. " Oh, for heaven's sake ! " cried the Jew, " master ! mas- ter ! pray let the fiddle alone. What have I done to deserve this ? " " Thou hast shaved many a poor soul close enough," said the other ; " thou art only meeting thy reward : " so he played another tune. Then the Jew began to beg and promise, and offered money for his liberty ; but he did not come up to the musician's price for some time, and he danced him along brisker and brisker, and the Jew bid higher and higher, till at last he offered a round hundred of florins that he had in his purse, and had just gained by cheating some poor fellow. When the countryman saw so much money, he said, " I will agree to your proposal." So he took the purse, put up his fiddle, and trav- eled on very well pleased with his bargain. Meanwhile the Jew crept out of the bush half naked and in a piteous plight, and began to pon- der how he should take his revenge, and serve his late companion some trick. At last he went to the judge, and complained that a rascal had robbed him of his money, and beaten him into the bargain ; and that the fellow who did it carried a bow at his back and a fiddle hung round his neck. Then the judge sent out his officers to bring up the accused wherever they should find him ; and he was soon caught and brought up to be tried. The Jew began to tell his tale, and said he had been robbed of his money. "No, you gave it to me for playing a tune to you," said the country- man ; but the judge told him that was not likely, and cut the matter short by ordering him off to the gallows. So away he was taken ; but as he stood on the steps he said, " My Lord Judge, grant me one last request." " Anything but thy life." " No," said he, " I do not ask my life ; only let me play upon my fiddle for the last time." The Jew cried out, " Oh, no ! no ! for heaven's sake don't listen to him ! don't listen to him ! " But the judge said, " It is only for this once, he will soon have done." The fact Avas, he could not refuse the request, on account of the dwarf's third gift. Then the Jew said, " Bind me fast, bind me fast, for pity's sake." But the countryman seized THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN. 27 his fiddle, and struck up a tune, and at the first note, judge, clerks, and jailer, were in motion ; all began capering, and no one could hold the Jew. At the second note the hangman let his prisoner go, and danced also, and by the time he had played the first bar of the tune, all were dancing together judge, court, and Jew, and all the people who had followed to look on. At first the thing was merry and pleasant enough ; but when it had gone on a while, and there seemed to be no end of playing or dancing, they began to cry out, and beg him to leave off; but he stopped not a whit the more for their entreaties, till the judge not only gave him his life, but promised to return to him the hundred florins. Then he called to the Jew and said, "Tell us now, you vagabond, where you got that gold, or I shall play on for your amusement only." " I stole it," said the Jew in the presence of all the people : " I acknowledge that I stole it, and that you earned it fairly." Then the countryman stopped his fid- dle, and left the Jew to take his place at the gal- lows. THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN. A CERTAIN merchant had two children, a son and daughter, both very young, and scarcely able to run alone. He had two richly laden ships then making a voyage upon the seas, in which he had embarked all his property, in the hope of making great gains, when the news came that they were lost. Thus from being a rich man he became very poor, so that nothing was left him but one small plot of land ; and, to relieve his mind a little of his trouble, he often went out to walk there. One day, as he was roving along, a little rough- looking dwarf stood before him, and asked him why he was so sorrowful, and what it was that he took so deeply to heart. But the merchant re- plied, " IE you could do me any good, I would tell you." ' Who knows but I may ? " said the lit- tle man ; "tell me what is the matter, and per- haps I can be of some service." Then the mer- chant told him how all his wealth was gone to the bottom of the sea, and how he had nothing left ex- cept that little plot of land. " Oh ! trouble not yourself about that," said the dwarf ; " only prom- ise to bring me here, twelve years hence, what- ever meets you first on your return home, and I will give you as much gold as you please." The merchant thought this was no great request , that it would most likely be his dog, or something of that sort, but forgot his little child : so he agreed to the bargain, and signed and sealed the engag- ment to do what was required. But as he drew near home, his little boy was so pleased to see him, that he crept behind him and laid fast hold of his legs. Then the father started with fear, and saw what it was that he had bound himself to do : but as no gold was come, he con- soled himself by thinking that it was only a joke that the dwarf was playing him. About a month afterwards he went up-staira 28 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. into an old lumber room to look for some old iron, that he might sell it and raise a little money ; and there he saw a large pile of gold lying on the floor. At the sight of this he was greatly delighted, went into trade again, and became a greater mer- chant than before. Meantime his son grew up, and as the end of the twelve years drew near, the merchant became very anxious and thoughtful ; so that care and sorrow were written upon his face. The son one day asked what was the matter : but his father refused to tell for some time ; at last however he said that he had, without knowing it, sold him to a little ugly-looking dwarf for a great quantity of gold ; and that the twelve years were coming round when he must perform his agreement. Then the son said, " Father, give yourself very little trouble about that ; depend upon it I shall be too much for the little man." When the time came, they went out together to the appointed place ; and the son drew a circle on the ground, and set himself and his father in the middle. The little dwarf soon came, and said* to the merchant, "Have you brought me what you promised ? " The old man was silent, but his son answered, " What do you want here ? " The dwarf said, " I come to talk with your father, not with you." " You have deceived and betrayed my father," said the son ; " give him up his bond." " No," replied the other, " I will not yield up my rights." Upon this a long dispute arose ; and at last it was agreed that the son should be put into an open boat, that lay on the side of a piece of water hard by, and that the father should push him off with his own hand ; so that he should be turned adrift. Then he took leave of his father, and set himself in the boat ; and as it was pushed off it heaved, and fell on one side into the water : so the merchant thought that his son was lost, and went home very sorrowful. But the boat went safely on, and did not sink ; and the young man sat securely within, till at length it ran ashore upon an unknown land. As he jumped upon the shore, he saw before him a beautiful castle, but empty and desolate within, for it was enchanted. At last, however, he found a white snake in one of the chambers. Now the white snake was an enchanted prin- cess ; and she rejoiced greatly to see him, and said, " Art thou at last come to be my deliverer ? Twelve long years have I waited for thee, for thou alone canst save me. This night twelve men will come : their faces will be black, and they will be hung round with chains. They will ask what thou dost here ; but be silent, give no answer, and let them do what they will beat and tor- ment thee. Suffer all, only speak not a word ; and at twelve o'clock they must depart. The second night twelve others will come ; and the third night twenty-four, who will even cut off thy head : but at the twelfth hour of that night their power is gone, and I shall be free, and will come an.d bring thee the water of life, and will wash thee with it, and restore thee to life and health." And all came to pass as she had said ; the mer- chant's son spoke not a word, and the third night the princess appeared, and*fell on his neck and kissed him ; joy and gladness burst forth through- out the castle ; the wedding was celebrated, and he was king of the Golden Mountain. They lived together very happily, and the queen had a son. Eight years had passed over their heads when the king thought of his father : and his heart was moved, and he longed to see him once again. But the queen opposed his going, and said, " I know well that misfortunes will come." However, he gave her no rest till she consented. At his departure she presented him with a wishing-ring, and said, " Take this ring, and put it on your finger ; whatever you wish it will bring you : only promise that you will not make use of it to bring me hence to your father's." Then he promised what she asked, and put the ring on his finger, and wished himself near the town where his father lived. He found himself at the gates in a moment ; but the guards would not let him enter because he was so strangely clad. So he went up to a neighboring mountain where a shepherd dwelt, and borrowed his old frock, and thus passed unobserved into the town. When he THE KING OF THE GOLDEN MOUNTAIN. 29 came to his father's house, he said he was his son ; but the merchant would not believe him, and said he had had but one son, who he knew was long since dead : and as he was only dressed like a poor shepherd, he would not even offer him anything to eat. The king however persisted that he was his son, and said, " Is there no mark by which you would know if I am really your son ? " " Yes," observed his mother, " our son has a mark like a raspberry under the right arm." Then he showed them the mark, and they were satisfied that what he had said was true. He next told them how he was king of the Golden Mountain, and was married to a princess, and had a son seven years old. But the merchant said, " That can never be true ; he must be a fine king truly who travels about in a shepherd's frock." At this the son was very angry ; and, forgetting his promise, turned his ring, and wished for his queen and son. In an instant they stood before him ; but the queen wept, and said he had broken his word, and mis- fortune would follow. He did all he could to soothe her, and she at last appeared to be ap- peased ; but she was not so in reality, and only meditated how she should take her revenge. One day he took her to walk with him out of the town, and showed her the spot where the boat was turned adrift upon the wide waters. Then he sat himself down, and said, " I am very tired; sit by me, I will rest my head in your lap, and sleep a while." As soon as he had fallen asleep, however, she drew the ring from his finger, and crept softly away, and wished herself and her son at home in their kingdom. And when the king awoke, he found himself alone, and saw that the ring was gone from his ringer. " I can never return to my father's house," said he ; " they would say I am a sorcerer : I will journey forth into the world till I come again to my king- dom." So saying, he set out and traveled till he came to a mountain, where three giants were sharing their inheritance ; and as they saw him pass, they cried out and said, " Little men have sharp wits ; he shall divide the inheritance between us." Now it consisted of a sword that cut off an enemy's head whenever the wearer gave the words, " Heads off ! " a cloak that made the owner invisible, or gave him any form he pleased ; and a pair of boots that transported the person who put them on wherever he wished. The king said they must first let him try these wonderful things, that he might know how to set a value upon them. Then they gave him the cloak, and he wished himself a fly, and in a moment he was ;i fly. " The cloak is very well," said' he ; " now give me the sword." "No," said they, " not unless you promise not to say ' Heads off ! ' for if you do, we are all dead men." So they gave it him on condition that he tried its virtue only on a tree. He next asked for the boots also ; and the moment he had all three in his possession he wished himself at the Golden Mountain ; and there he was in an instant. So the giants were left behind with no inheritance to divide or quarrel about. As he came near to the castle he heard the sound of merry. music; and the people around told him that his queen was about to celebrate her marriage with another prince. Then he threw his cloak around him, and passed through the cas- tle, and placed himself by the side of his queen, where no one saw him. But when anything to eat was put upon her plate, he took it away and ate it himself; and when a glass of wine was handed to her, he took and drank it : and thus, though they kept on serving her with meat and drink, her plate continued always empty. Upon this, fear and remorse came over her, and she went into her chamber and wept , and he fol- lowed her there. " Alas ! " said she to herself, " did not my deliverer come ? why then doth en- chantment still surround me ? " " Thou traitress ! " said he, " thy deliverer in deed came, and now is near thee : has he deserved this of thee?" And he went out and dismissed the company, and said the wedding was at an end, for that he was returned to his kingdom ; but the princes and nobles and counselors mocked at him. However, he would enter into no parley with them, but only demanded whether they would depart in 30 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. peace, or not. Then they turned and tried to seize him; but he drew his sword, and, with a word, the traitors' heads fell before him ; and he was once more king of the Golden Mountain. THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE. THERE was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a ditch, close by the sea-side. The fisher- man used to go out all day long a-fishing ; and one day, as he sat on the shore with his rod, looking at the shining water and watching his line, all on a sudden his float was dragged away deep under the sea ; and in drawing it up he pulled a great fish out of the water. The fish said to him, " Pray let me live ; I am not a real fish ; I am an enchanted prince, put me in the water again, and let me go." " Oh ! " said the man, " you need not make so many words about the matter ; I wish to have nothing to do with a fish that can talk; so swim away as soon as you please." Then he put him back into the water, and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, and left a long streak of blood behind him. When the fisherman went home to his wife in the ditch, he told her how he had caught a great fish, and how it had told him it was an enchanted prince, and that on hearing it speak he had let it go again. "Did you not ask it for anything?" said the wife. " No," said the man, " what should I ask for ? " " Ah ! " said the wife, " we live very wretchedly here in this nasty stinking ditch ; do go back, and tell the fish we want a little cot- tage." The fisherman did not much like the business ; however, he went to the sea, and when he came there the water looked all yellow and green. And he stood at the water's edge, and said, " O man of the sea ! Come listen to me, For Alice my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee ! " Then the fish came swimming to him, and said, " Well, what does she want ?" "Ah!" answered the fisherman, " my wife says that when I had / V caught you, I ought to have asked you for some- thing before I let you go again ; she does not like living any longer in the ditch, and wants a little cottage." " Go home, then," said the fish, " she is in the cottage already." So the man went home, and saw his wife standing at the door of a cottage. "Come in, come in," said she; "is not this much better than the ditch ? " And there was a parlor, and a bed-chamber, and a kitchen ; and behind the cottage there was a little garden with all sorts of flowers and fruits, and a courtyard full of ducks and chickens. " Ah ! " said the fish- erman, " how happily we shall live ! " " We will try to do so at least," said his wife. Everything went right for a week or two, and then Dame Alice said, " Husband, there is not room enough in this cottage, the courtyard and garden are a great deal too small ; I should like to have a large stone castle to live in ; so go to the fish again, and tell him to give us a castle." "Wife," said the fisherman, "I don't like to go to him again, for perhaps he will be angry . we ought to be content with the cottage." "Non- sense ! " said the wife ; " he will do it very will- ingly ; go along and try." The fisherman went ; but his heart was very heavy , and when he came to the sea it looked blue and gloomy, though it was quite calm, and he went close to it, and said, " O man of the sea ! Come listen to me, For Alice my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee ! " " Well, what does she want now ? " said the fish. " Ah ! " said the man very sorrowfully, " my wife wants to live in a stone castle." " Go home then," said the fish, " she is standing at the door of it already." So away went the fisherman, THE FISHERMAN AND HIS WIFE. 31 and found his wife standing before a great castle. " See," said she, " is not this grand ? " With that they went into the castle together, and found a great many servants there, and the rooms all richly furnished and full of golden chairs and tables ; and behind the castle was a garden, and a wood half a mile long, full of sheep, and goats, and hares, and deer ; and in the courtyard were stables and cow-houses. " Well ! " said the man, " now will we live contented and happy in this beautiful castle for the rest of our lives." " Perhaps we may," said the wife ; " but let us consider and sleep upon it before we make up our minds : " so they went to bed. The next morning, when Dame Alice awoke, it was broad daylight, and she jogged the fisherman with her elbow, and said, " Get up, husband, be- stir yourself, for we must be king of all the land." " Wife, wife," said the man, " why should we wish to be king ? I will not be king." " Then I will," said Alice. " But, wife," answered the fisherman, "how can you be king? the fish cannot make you a king." " Husband," said she, "say no more about it, but go and try; I will be king!" So the man went away, quite sorrowful to think that his wife should want to be king. The sea looked a dark-gray color, and was covered with foam, *is he cried out, a " O man of the sea ! Come listen to me, For Alice my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee ! " " Well, what would she have now ? " said the fish. " Alas ! " said the man, " my wife wants to be king." " Go home," said the fish ; " she is king already." Then the fisherman went home; and as he came close to the palace, he saw a troop of soldiers, and heard the sound of drums and trumpets ; and when he entered, he saw his wife sitting on a high throne of gold and diamonds, with a golden crown upon her head ; and on each side of her, stood six beautiful maidens, each a head taller than the other. " Well, wife," said the fisherman, " are you king ? " " Yes," said she, " I am king." And when he had looked at her for a long time, he said, " Ah, wife ! what a fine thing it is to be king ! now we shall never have anything more to wish for." " I don't know how that may be," said she ; " ne.ver is a long time. I am king, 't is true, but I begin to be tired of it, and I think I should like to be emperor." "Alas, wife! why should you wish to be emperor?" said the fisher- man. "Husband," said she, "go to the fish; I say I will be emperor." " Ah, wife ! " replied the fisherman, " the fish cannot make an emperor, and I should not like to ask for such a thing." " I am king," said Alice, " and you are my slave, so go directly ! " So the fisherman was obliged to go ; and he muttered as he went along, " This will come to no good, it is too much to ask, the fish will be tired at last, and then we shall repent of what we have done." He soon arrived at the sea, and the water was quite black and muddy, and a mighty whirlwind blew over it; but he went to the shore, and said, " O man of the sea ! Come listen to me, For Alice my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee ! " " What would she have now ? " said the fish. " Ah ! " said he, " she wants to be emperor." " Go home," said the fish ; " she is emperor already." So he went home again ; and as he came near, he saw his wife sitting on a very lofty throne, made of solid gold, with a great crown, on her head, full two yards high, and on each side of her stood her guards and attendants in a row, each one smaller than the other, fcom the tallest giant down to a little dwarf, no bigger than my finger. And before her stood princes and dukes, and earls ; and the fisherman went up to her and said, " Wife, are you emperor ? " " Yes," said she, " I am em- peror." " Ah ! " said the man as he gazed upon her, " what a fine thing it is to be emperor ! " Husband," said she, " why should we stay at being emperor ? I will be pope next." " O wife, wife ! " said he, " how can you be pope ? there is 32 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. but one pope at a time in Christendom." " Hus- band," said she, " I will be pope this very day." " But," replied the husband, " the fish cannot make you pope." " What nonsense ! " said she, " if he can make an emperor, he can make a pope, go and try him." So the fisherman went. But when he came to the shore, the wind was raging, and the sea was tossed up and down like boiling water, and the ships were in the greatest distress and danced upon the waves most fearfully ; in the middle of the sky there was a little blue, but to- ward the south it was all red as if a dreadful storm was rising. At this, the fisherman was terribly frightened, and trembled, so that his knees knocked together : but he went to the shore and said, " O man of the sea ! Come listen to me, For Alice my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee ! " " What does she want now ? " said the fish. "Ah!" said the fisherman, "my wife wants to be pope." " Go home," said the fish, " she is pope already." Then ttie fisherman went home, and found his wife sitting on a throne that was two miles high ; and she had three great crowns on her head, and around stood all the pomp and power of the Church ; and on each side were two rows of burn- ing lights, of all sizes, the greatest as large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and the least no larger than a small rushlight. " Wife," said the fisherman, as he looked at all this grand- eur, " are you pope? " " Yes," said she, " I am pope." " Well, wife," replied he, " it is a grand thing to be pope ; and now you must be content, for you can be nothing greater." " I will consider of that," said the wife. Then they went to bed : but Dame Alice could not sleep all night for thinking what she should be next. At last morn- ing came, and the sun rose. " Ha ! " thought she as she looked at it through the window, " cannot I prevent the sun rising? " At this, she was very angry, and she wakened her husband, and said, " Husband, go to the fish and tell him I want to be lord of the sun and moon." The fisherman was half asleep, but the thought frightened him so much that he started and fell out of bed. " Alas, wife ! " said he, " cannot you be content to be pope?" "No," said she, "I am very un- easy, and cannot bear to see the sun and moon rise without my leave. Go to the fish directly." Then the man went trembling for fear ; and as he was going down to the shore, a dreadful storm arose, so that the trees and the rocks shook ; and the heavens became black, and the lightning played, and the thunder rolled ; and you might have seen in the sea great black waves, like mount- ains, with a white crown of foam upon them ; and the fisherman said, " O man of the sea ! Come listen to me, For Alice my wife, The plague of my life, Hath sent me to beg a boon of thee ! " "What does she want now?" said the fish. " Ah ! " said he, " she wants to be lord of the sun and moon." " Go home," said the fish, " to your ditch again ! " And there they live to this very day. JORINDA AND JORINDEL. THERE was once an old castle that stood in the middle of a large thick wood, and in the castle lived an old fairy. All the day long she flew about in the form of an owl, or crept about the country like a cat ; but at night she always became within a hundred paces of her castle, he became quite fixed, and could not move a step till she came and set him free : but when any pretty maiden came within that distance, she was changed into a bird ; and the fairy put her into a an old woman again. When any youth came cage and hung her up in a chamber in the castle. JORINDA AND JORINDEL. 33 There were seven hundred of these cages hang- ing in the castle, and all with beautiful birds in them. Now there was once a maiden whose name was Jorinda : she was prettier than all the pretty girls that ever were seen ; and a shepherd whose name was Jorindel was very fond of her, and they were soon to be married. One day they went to walk in the wood, that they might be alone : and Jo- rindel said, " We must take care that we don't go too near to the castle." It was a beautiful even- ing ; the last rays of the setting sun shone bright through the long stems of the trees upon the green underwood beneath, and the turtle-doves sang plaintively from the tall birches. Jorinda sat down to gaze upon the sun ; Jorin- del sat by her side ; and both felt sad, they knew not why ; but it seemed as if they were to be parted from one another forever. They had wan- dered a long way ; and when they looked to see which way they should go home, they found them- selves at a loss to know what path to take. The sun was setting fast, and already half of his circle had disappeared behind the hill : Jorindel on a sudden looked behind him, and as he saw through the bushes that they had, without know- ing it, sat down close under the old walls of the castle, he shrank for fear, turned pale, and trem- bled. Jorinda was singing, " The ring-dove sang from the willow spray, Well-a-day ! well-a-day ! lie mourn'd for the fate Of his lovely mate, Well-a-day ! " The song ceased suddenly. Jorindel turned to see the reason, and beheld his Jorinda changed into a nightingale ; so that her song ended with a mournful jug, jug. An owl with fiery eyes flew three times round them, and three times screamed, Tu whu ! Tu whu ! Tu whu ! Jorindel could not move : he stood fixed as a stone, and could nei- ther weep, nor speak, nor stir hand or foot. And now the sun went quite down ; the gloomy night came ; the owl flew into a bush ; and a moment after the old fairy came forth pale and meagre, 5 with staring eyes, and a nose and chin that almost met. She mumbled something to herself, seized the nightingale, and went away with it in her hand. Poor Jorindel saw the nightinale was gone, but what could he do ? he could not speak, he could not move from the spot where he stood. At last the fairy came back, and sang with a hoarse voice, " Till the prisoner 's fast, And her doom is cast, There stay ! Oh, stay . When the charm is around her, And the spell has bound her, Hie away ! away ! " On a sudden Jorindel found himself free. Then he fell on his knees before the fairy, and prayed her to give him back his dear Jorinda : but she said he should never see her again, and went her way. He prayed, he wept, he sorrowed, but all in vain. "Alas!"' he said, "what will become of me?" - He could not return to his own home, so he went to a strange village, and employed himself in keeping sheep. Many a time did he walk round and round as near to the hated castle as he dared go. At last he dreamt one night that he found a beautiful purple flower, and in the middle of it lay a costly pearl ; and he dreamt that he plucked the flower, and went with it in his hand into the cas- tle, and that everything he touched with it was disenchanted, and that there he found his dear Jorinda again. In the morning when he awoke, he began to search over hill and dale for this pretty flower ; and eight long days he sought for it in vain : but on the ninth day, early in the morning, he found the beautiful purple flower ; and in the middle of it was a large dew-drop as big as a costly pearl. Then he plucked the flower, and set out and traveled day and night till he came again to the castle. He walked nearer than a hundred paces to it, and yet he did not become fixed as be- fore, but found that he could go close up to the door. 34 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. Jorindel was very glad to see this : he touched the door with the flower, and it sprang open, so that he went in through the court, and listened when he heard so many birds singing. At last he came to the chamber where the fairy sat, with the seven hundred birds singing in the seven hundred cages. And when she saw Jorindel she was very angry, and screamed with rage ; but she could not come within two yards of him ; for the flower he- held in his hand protected him. He looked around at the birds, but alas! there were many, many nightingales, and how then should he find his Jo- rinda? While he was thinking what to do he ob- served that the fairy had taken down one of the cages, and was making her escape through the door. He ran or flew to her, touched the cage with the flower, and his Jorinda stood before him. She threw her arms round his neck and looked as beautiful as ever, as beautiful as when they walked together in the wood. Then he touched all the other birds with the flower, so that they resumed their old forms ; and took his dear Jorinda home, where they lived hap- pily together many years. THE SIX SWANS. ONCE upon a time, a king, hunting in a great forest, chased a wild boar so eagerly, that none of his people could follow him. When evening came, he stopped to look about him, and saw that he had lost himself. He sought everywhere for a way out of the wood, but could find none. Then he perceived coming towards him an old woman, whose head kept constantly shaking. She was a witch. "My good woman," said he to her, "cannot you show me the way through the wood? " " Oh yes, your majesty," answered she, " that I can, but only on one condition, and if you do not agree to it, you will never get out, and must die here of hunger." " What is the condition ? " asked the king, eagerly. "I have an only daughter," said the old woman, "she is as beautiful as any one you could fid in the wide world, and well deserves to be your wife ; if you will make her your queen, I will show you the way out of the wood." The king, in the fear of his heart, consented, and the old woman led him to her house, where her daughter sat by the fire. She received the king as if she had expected him, and he saw that she was very beautiful ; but still she did not please him, and he could not look at her without a secret shudder. After he had lifted the maiden beside him on his horse, the old woman showed him the way, and the king arrived again at his royal castle, where the wedding was celebrated. He had been married once before, and had by his first wife seven children, six boys and a girl, whom he loved more than anything in the world. But, because he was afraid that the stepmother might not treat them well, or might even do them some harm, he took them to a lonely castle which stood in the middle of a wood. It was so hidden, and the road was so difficult to find, that he him- THE SIX SWANS. 35 self would not have found it, if a wise woman had not given him a wonderful skein of thread, which, when he threw it down before him, unrolled of itself and showed him the way. The king went out so often to his dear children that the queen noticed his absence, and was full of curiosity to know what business took him thus alone to the wood. So she gave his servants a sum of money, and they told her the secret, and also told her of the skein, which was the only thing that could show the way. After that she never rested till she had found out where the king kept the skein. Then she made some little white silk shirts, and, as she had learned witchcraft from her mother, she sewed a spell into every one of them. And one day, when the king was gone out to hunt, she took the little shirts and went into the wood, and the skein showed her the way. The six brothers, who saw some one in the dis- tance, thought their dear father was coming, and ran to meet him, full of joy. As they approached, the queen threw one of the shirts over each of them, and when the shirts touched their bodies they were changed into swans, and flew away over the wood. The witch's daughter went home quite happy, and thought she had got rid of all her step-children ; but the one little girl had not run out with her brothers, and the queen knew nothing about her. Next day the king came joyfully to visit his children, but he found nobody except the little sister. " Where are your brothers ? " asked he. " Oh, dear father," she answered, " they are gone and have left me alone," and then she told him all that she had seen out of her window ; how her brothers were turned into swans, and had flown away over the wood ; she also showed him the feathers which they had dropped into the courtyard, and which she had picked up. The king was grieved, but he never thought that the queen had done this wicked deed ; how- ever, because he dreaded lest the little girl would be stolen from him likewise, he wished to take her away with him. But she was afraid of the step-mother, and begged the king to let her stay one night more in the castle in the wood. The poor girl thought, " I cannot rest here any longer ; I will go and look for my brothers." And when the night came she ran away, and went straight into the Avood. She went on all through the night, and the next day too, till she was so tired that she could go no farther. Then she saw a little house, and went in, and found a room with six little beds ; she did not dare to lie down in any, but crept under one of them, laid herself on the hard floor, and meant to pass the night there. But when the sun was just going to set, she heard a rustling, and saw six swans come flying in at the window. They sat down on the floor, and blew at one another, and blew all their feathers off, and took off their swan's-skins like shirts. Then the little girl saw them and recog- nized her brothers, and was very glad, and crept out from under the bed. The brothers were, not less rejoiced when they saw their little sister, but their joy did not last long. " You cannot stop here," said they to her, "this is a house belonging to robbers ; if they come home and find you they will kill you." " Cannot you protect me ? " said the little sis- ter. " No," answered they, " we can only take off our swan's-skins for a quarter of an hour every evening, and have our natural shape for that time, but afterwards we are turned into swans again." The little sister cried, and said, " Cannot you be released ? " " Oh, no ! " " answered they, " the conditions are too hard. You must not speak or laugh for six years, and must make for us six shirts out of stitchweed during that time. If while you are making them a single word comes from your mouth all your work will be of no use." When her brothers had said this the quarter of an hour- was over, and they turned into swans again and flew out of the window. But the little girl made a firm resolution to re- lease her brothers, even if it cost her her life. 36 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. She left the house, and went into the middle of the wood, and climbed up in a tree and spent the night there. Next morning she got down, col- lected a quantity of stitchweed, and began to sew. She could not speak to any one, and she did not want to laugh ; so she sat and only looked at her work. When she had been there a long time it hap- pened that the king of the country was hunting in the wood, and his hunters came to the tree on which the little girl sat. They called to her, and said, " Who are you ? " But she gave them no answer. " Come down and see us," said they, " we will not do you any harm." But she only shook her head. As they kept teasing her with their questions she threw them down her gold necklace, and thought they would be satisfied with that. But they did not leave off, so she threw her sash down to them, and as that was no good she threw down her garters, and at last everything that she had on, and could spare ; so that she had nothing left but her shift. But the hunters would not be sent away, and climbed up the tree and brought down the little girl and took her to the king. The king asked, " Who are you ? what were you doing up in the tree ? " But she did not answer. He asked it in all the languages that he knew, but she remained as dumb as a fish. But, because she was so beauti- ful, the king's heart was moved, and he fell deeply in love with her. He wrapped his cloak round her, took her before him on his horse, and brought her to his castle. Then he had her dressed in rich clothes, and she shone in her beauty like bright sunshine ; but they could not get a word out of her. He set her by him at the table, and her modest look and proper behavior pleased him so much that he said, " I will marry her, and no one else in the world," and after a few days he was married to her. But the king had a wicked mother, who was not pleased with his marriage, and spoke ill of the young queen. " Who knows where the girl comes from ? " said she, " she cannot speak ; she is not good enough for a king." A year after, when the queen brought her first child into the world, the old mother took it away, and smeaved her mouth with blood while she was asleep. Then she went to the king, and accused her of eating her child. The king would not be- lieve it, and would not let any one do her any harm. And she always sat and sewed the shirts, and took no notice of anything else. Next time, when she had another beautiful baby, the wicked mother did the same as before ; but the king could not resolve to believe what she said. He said, " My wife is too pious and good to do such a thing ; if she were not dumb, and if she could defend herself, her innocence would be made clear." But when for the third time the old woman took away the new-born child, and accused the queen, who could not say a word in her own defense, the king could not help himself ; he was forced to give her up to the court of justice, and she was con- demned to suffer death by fire. When the day came upon which the sentence was to be executed, it was exactly the last day of the six years in which she might not speak or laugh ; and she had freed her dear brothers from the power of the spell. The six little shirts were finished, except that on the last one a sleeve was wanting. When she came to the place of execu- tion, she laid the shirts on her arm, and when she stood at the stake, and the fire was just going to be lit, she looked round, and there came six swans flying through the air. Then her heart leaped with joy, for she saw that her deliverance was near. The swans flew to her, and crouched down, so that she could throw the shirts over them ; as soon as the shirts were touched by them, their swan's- skins fell off, and her brothers stood before her. They were all grown up, strong and handsome ; only the youngest had no left arm, but instead of it a swan's wing. They hugged and kissed their sister many times, and then the queen went to the king, and began R UMPEL-STIL TS-KIX. 37 to speak, and said, "Dearest husband, now I may speak, and declare to you that I am innocent and falsely accused; " and she told him about the de- ceit of the old mother, who had taken away her three children, and hidden them. However, they were soon fetched safely back, to the great joy of the king; and the wicked mother- in-law was tied to the stake, and burnt to ashes. But the king and queen, with their six brothers, lived many years in peace and happiness. RUMPEL-STILTS-KIN. IN a certain kingdom once lived a poor miller who had a very beautiful daughter. She was? moreover, exceedingly shrewd and clever ; and the miller was so vain and proud of her that he one day told the king of the land that his daughter could spin gold out of straw. Now this king was very fond of money ; and when he heard the mil- ler's boast his avarice was excited, and he ordered the girl to be brought before him. Then he led her to a chamber where there was a great quantity of straw, gave her a spinning-wheel, and said, "All this must be spun into gold before morning, as you value your life." It was in vain that the poor maiden declared that she could do no such thing; the chamber was locked and she remained alone. She sat down in one corner of the room and be- gan to lament over her hard fate, when on a sud- den the door opened, and a droll-looking little man hobbled in, and said, " Good-morrow to you, my good lass, what are you weeping for ? " "Alas ! " answered she, "I must spin this straw into gold, and I know not how." " What will you give me," said the little man, " to do it for you ? " " My necklace," replied the maiden. He took her at her word, and set himself down at the wheel; round about it went merrily, and presently the work was done and the gold all spun. When the king came and saw this he was greatly astonished and pleased ; but his heart grew still more greedy of gain, and he shut up the poor miller's daughter again with a fresh task. Then she knew not what to do, and sat down once more to weep ; but the little man presently opened the door, and said, " What will you give me to do your task?" "The ring on my finger," replied she. So her little friend took the ring, and began to work at the wheel, till by the morning all was fin- ished again. The king was vastly delighted to see all this glittering treasure ; but still he was not satisfied, and took the miller's daughter into a yet larger room, and said, " All this must be spun to-night ; and if you succeed you shall be my queen." As soon as she was alone the dwarf came in, and said, " What will you give me to spin gold for you this third time?" "I have nothing left," said she. "Then promise me," said the little man, "your first little child when you are queen." " That may never be," thought the miller's daughter; and as she knew no other way to get her task done, she promised him what he asked, and he spun once more the whole heap of gold. The king came in the morning, and, finding all he wanted, married her, and so the miller's daughter really became queen. At the birth, of her first little child the queen rejoiced very much, and forgot the little man and her promise ; but one day he came into her cham- ber and reminded her of it. Then she grieved sorely at her misfortune, and offered him all the treasures of the kingdom in exchange ; but in vain, till at last her tears softened him, and he said, "I will give you three days' grace, and if during that time you tell me my name you shall keep your child." Now the- queen lay awake all night, thinking of all the odd names that she had ever heard, and dispatched messengers all over the land to inquire after new ones. The next day the little man came, and she began with Timothy, Benjamin, Jere- miah, and all the names she could remember ; but to all of them he said, " That's not my name." 38 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. The second day she began with all the comical names she could hear of, Bandy-legs, Hunch-back, Crook-shanks, and so on, but the little gentleman still said to every one of them, " That 's not my name." The third day came back one of the messen- gers, and said, " I can hear of no one other name ; but yesterday, as I was climbing a high hill among the trees of the forest where the fox and the hare bid each other good-night, I saw a little hut, .and before the hut burnt a fire, and round about the fire danced a funny little man upon one leg, and sung, " Merrily the feast I '11 make, To-day I '11 brew, to-morrow bake ; Merrily I Ml dance and sing, For next day will a stranger bring : Little -does my lady dream Rumpel-Stilts-Kin is my name ! " When the queen heard this, she jumped for joy, and as soon as her little visitor came, and said, " Now, lady, what is my name ? " " Is it John ? " asked she. "No!" "Is it Tom?" "No!" " Can your name be Rumpel-Stilts-Kin ? " "Some witch told you that! Some witch told you that ! " cried the little man, and dashed his right foot in a rage so deep into the floor that he was forced to lay hold of it with both hands to pull it out. Then he made the best of his way off, while everybody laughed at him for having had all his trouble for nothing. THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS. THERE was once a king's daughter so beautiful that they named her the Fair One with Golden Locks. These golden locks were the most remark- able in the world, soft and fine, and falling in long waves down to her very feet. She wore them al- ways thus, loose and flowing, surmounted with a wreath of flowers ; and though such long hair was sometimes rather inconvenient, it was so exceed- ingly beautiful, shining in the sun like ripples of molten gold, that everybody agreed she fully de- served her name. Now there was a young king of a neighboring country, very handsome, very rich, and wanting nothing but a wife to make him happy. He heard so much of the various perfections of the Fair One with Golden Locks, that at last, without even see- ing her, he fell in love with her so desperately that he could neither eat nor drink, and resolved to send an ambassador at once to demand her in marriage. So he ordered a magnificent equipage more than a hundred horses and a hundred footmen with instructions to bring back to him the Fair One with Golden Locks, who, he never doubted, would be only too happy to become his queen. Indeed, he felt so sure of her that he refurnished the whole palace, and Lad made, by all the dress- makers of the city, dresses enough to last a lady for a lifetime. But, alas ! when the ambassador arrived and delivered his message, either the prin- cess was in a bad humor, or the offer did not ap- pear to be to her taste ; for she returned her best thanks to his majesty, but said she had not the THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS. 39 slightest wish or intention to be married. She also, being a prudent damsel, declined receiving any of the presents which the king had sent her; except that, not quite to offend his majesty, she retained a box of English pins, which were in that country of considerable value. When the ambassador returned, alone and un- successful, all the court was very much affected, and the king himself began to weep with all his might. Now there was in the palace household a young gentleman named Avenant, beautiful as the sun, besides being at once so amiable and so wise that the king confided to him all his affairs ; and every one loved him, except those people to be found in all courts who were envious of his good fortune. These malicious folk hearing him say gayly, " If the king had sent me to fetch the Fair One with Golden Locks, I know she would have come back with me," repeated the saying in such a manner, that it appeared as if Avenant thought too much of himself and his beauty, and felt sure the princess would have followed him all over the world ; which when it came to the ears of the king, as it was meant to do, irritated him so greatly that he commanded Avenant to be impris- oned in a high tower, and left to die there of hun- ger. The guards accordingly carried off the young man, who had quite forgotten his idle speech, and had not the least idea what fault he had com- mitted. They ill-treated him, and then left him, with nothing to eat and only water to drink. This, however, kept him alive for a few days, during which he did not cease to complain aloud, and to call upon the king, saying, " O king, what harm have I done ? You have no subject more faithful than I. Never have I had a thought which could offend you." And it so befell that the king, coming by chance, or else with a sort of remorse, past the tower, was touched by the voice of the young Avenant, whom he had once so much regarded. In spite of all the courtiers could do to prevent him he stopped to listen, and overheard these words. The tears rushed into his eyes ; he opened the door of the tower, and called, " Avenant ! " Avenant came, creeping feebly along, fell at the king's knees, and kissed his feet : " O sire, what have I done that you should treat me so cruelly ? " " You have mocked me and my ambassador ; for you said, if I had sent you to fetch the Fair One with Golden Locks, you would have been suc- cessful and brought her back." " I did say it, and it was true," replied Avenant, fearlessly ; " for I should have told her so much about your majesty and your various high qualities, which no one knows so well as myself, that I am persuaded she would have returned with me." " I believe it," said the king, with an angry look at those who had spoken ill of his favorite ; he then gave Avenant a free pardon, and took him back with him to the court. After having supplied the famished youth with as much supper as he could eat, the king admitted him to a private audience, and said, " I am as much in love as ever with the Fair One with Golden Locks, so I will take you at your word, and send you to try and win her for me." " Very well, please your majesty," replied Avenant, cheerfully ; " I will depart to-morrow." The king, overjoyed with his willingness and hopefulness, would have furnished him with a still more magnificent equipage and suite than the first ambassador ; but Avenant refused to take any- thing except a good horse to ride, and letters of in- troduction to the princess's father. The king em- braced him, and eagerly saw him depart. It was on a Monday morning when, without any pomp or show, Avenant thus started on his mis- sion. He rode slowly and meditatively, pondering over every possible means of persuading the Fail- One with Golden Locks to marry the king ; but, even after several days' journey towards her coun- try, no clear project had entered into his mind. One morning, when he had started at break of day, he came to a great meadow with a stream running through it, along which were planted wil- lows and poplars. It was such a pleasant, rippling stream that he dismounted and sat down on its banks. There he perceived, gasping on the grass, 40 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. a large golden carp, which, in leaping too far after gnats, had thrown itself quite out of the water, and now lay dying on the greensward. Avenant took pity on it, and though he was very hungry, and the fish was very fat, and he would well enough have liked it for his breakfast, still he lifted it gently and put it back into the stream. No sooner had the carp touched the fresh cool water than it revived and swam away ; but shortly returning, it spoke to him from the water in this wise : " " Avenant, I thank you for your good deed. I was dying, and you have saved me : I will recom- pense you for this one day." After this pretty little speech, the fish popped down to the bottom of the stream, according to the habit of carp, leaving Avenant very much as- tonished, as was natural. Another day he met with a raven that was in great distress, being pursued by an eagle, which would have swallowed him up in a trice. " See," thought Avenant, " how the stronger oppress the weaker ! What right has an eagle to eat up a raven ? " So taking his bow and arrow, which he always carried, he shot the eagle dead, and the raven, delighted, perched in safety on an opposite tree. "Avenant," screeched he, not in the sweetest voice in the world ; "you have generously succored me, a poor miserable raven. I am not ungrate- ful, and I will recompense you one da}'." " Thank you," said Avenant, and continued his road. Entering a thick wood, so dark with the shad- ows of early morning that he could scarcely find his way, he heard an owl hooting, as if in great tribulation. She had been caught by the nets spread by bird-catchers to entrap finches, larks, and other small birds. " What a pity," thought Avenant, " that men must always torment poor birds and beasts who have done them no harm I " So he took out his knife, cut the net, and set the owl free. She went sailing up into the air, but immediately returned, hovering over his head on her brown wings. " Avenant," said she, " at daylight the bird- catchers would have been here, and I should have been caught and killed. I have a grateful heart ; I will recompense you one day." These were the three principal adventures that befell Avenant on his way to the kingdom of the Fair One with Golden Locks. Arrived there, he dressed himself with the greatest care, in a habit of silver brocade, and a hat adorned with plumes of scarlet and white. He threw over all a rich mantle, and carried a basket, in which was a lovely little dog, an offering of respect to the prin- cess. With this he presented himself at the pal- ace-gates, where, even though he came alone, his mien was so dignified and graceful, so altogether charming, that every one did him reverence, and was eager to run and tell the Fair One with Golden Locks that Avenant, another ambassador from the king her suitor, awaited an audience. " Avenant ! " repeated the princess, " that is a pretty name ; perhaps the youth is pretty , % too." " So beautiful," said the ladies of honor, " that while he stood under the palace-window, we could do nothing but look at him." " How silly of you ! " sharply said the princess. But she desired them to bring her robe of blue satin, to comb out her long hair, and adorn it with the freshest garland of flowers ; to give her her high-heeled shoes, and her fan. " Also," added she, " take care that my audience-chamber is well swept and my throne well dusted. I wish, in everything,, to appear as becomes the Fair One with Golden Locks." This done, she seated herself -on her throne of ivory and ebony, and gave orders for her musi- cians to play, but softly, so as not to disturb con- versation. Thus, shining in all her beauty, she admitted Avenant to her presence. He was so dazzled that at first he could not speak : then he began and delivered his harangue to perfection. " Gentle Avenant," returned the princess, after listening to all his reasons for her returning with him, " your arguments are very strong, and I am inclined to listen to them ; but you must first find THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS. 41 for me a ring, which I dropped into the river about a month ago. Until I recover it, I can listen to no propositions of marriage." Avenant, surprised and disturbed, made her a profound reverence and retired, taking with him the basket and the little dog Cabriole, which she refused to accept. All night long he sat sighing to himself, "How can I ever find a ring which she dropped into the river a month ago ? She has set me an impossible task." " My dear master," said Cabriole, " nothing is an impossibility to one so young and charming as you are : let us go at daybreak to the river-side." Avenant patted him, but replied nothing: until, worn out with grief, he slept. Before dawn Ca- briole wakened him, saying, " Master, dress your- self and let us go to the river." There Avenant walked up and down, with his arms folded and his head bent, but saw nothing. At last he heard a voice calling from a distance, " Avenant, Avenant ! " The little dog ran to the water-side " Never believe me again, master, if it be not a golden carp with a ring in its mouth ! " " Yes, Avenant," said the carp, " this is the ring which the princess had lost. You saved my life in the willow meadow, and I have recompensed you. Farewell ! " Avenant took the ring gratefully, and returned to the palace with Cabriole, who scampered about in great glee. Craving an audience, he presented the princess with her ring, and begged her to ac- company him to his master's kingdom. She took the ring, looked at it, and thought she was surely dreaming. " Some fairy must have assisted you, fortunate Avenant," said she. " Madam, I am only fortunate in my desire to obey your wishes." " Obey me still," she said, graciously. " There is a prince named Galifron, whose suit I have re- fused. He is a giant, as tall as a tower, who eats a man as a monkey eats a nut : he puts cannons into his pockets instead of pistols ; and when he speaks his voice is so loud that every one near him 6 becomes deaf. Go and fight him, and bring me his head." Avenant was thunderstruck ; but after a time he recovered himself " Very well, madam. I shall certainly perish, but I will perish like a brave man. I will depart at once to fight the Giant Galifron." The princess, now in her turn surprised and alarmed, tried every persuasion to induce him not to go, but in vain. Avenant armed himself and started, carrying his little dog in its basket. Ca- briole was the only creature that gave him conso- lation : " Courage, master ! While you attack the giant, I will bite his legs : he will stoop down to strike me, and then you can knock him on the head." Avenant smiled at the little dog's spirit, but he knew it was useless. Arrived at the castle of Galifron, he found the road all strewn with bones and carcasses of men. Soon he saw the giant walking. His head was level with the highest trees, and he sang in a ter- rific voice, " Bring me babies to devour ; More more more more Men and women, tender and tough ; All the world holds not enough." To which Avenant replied, imitating the tune, " Avenant you here may see, He is come to punish thee : Be he tender, be he tough, To kill thee, giant, he is enough." Hearing these words, the giant took up his mas- sive club, looked around for the singer, and, per- ceiving him, would have slain him on the spot, had not a raven, sitting on a tree close by, sud- denly flown out upon him, and picked out both his eyes. Then Avenant easily killed him, and cut oft his head, while the raven, watching him, said, " You shot the eagle who was pursuing me : I promised to recompense you, and to-day I have done it. We are quits." " No, it is I who am your debtor, Sir Raven," replied Avenant, as, hanging the frightful head to his saddle-bow, he mounted his horse and rode 42 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. back to the city of the Fair One with Golden Locks. There everybody followed him, shouting, " Here is brave Avenant, who has killed the giant," until the princess, hearing the noise, and fearing it was Avenant himself who was killed, appeared, all trembling ; and even when he appeared with Gali- f roii's head, she trembled still, although she had ndthing to fear. " Madam," said Avenant, " your enemy is dead : so I trust you will accept the hand of the king my master." " I cannot," replied she, thoughtfully, " unless you first bring me a phial of the water in the Grotto of Darkness. It is six leagues in length, and guarded at the entrance by two fiery dragons. Within it is a pit full of scorpions, lizards, and serpents, and at the bottom of this place flows the Fountain of Beauty and Health. All who wash in it become, if ugly, beautiful, and if beau- tiful, beautiful forever ; if old, young ; and if young, young forever. Judge then, Avenant, if I can quit my kingdom without carrying with me some of this remarkable water." " Madam," replied Avenant, " you are already so beautiful that you require it not ; but I am an unfortunate ambassador whose death you desire : I will obey you, though I know I shall never re- turn." So he departed with his only friends his horse and his faithful dog Cabriole ; while all who met him looked at him compassionately, pitying so pretty a youth bound on such a hopeless errand. But, however kindly they addressed him, Avenant rode on and answered nothing, for he was too sad at heart. He reached a mountain-side, where he sat down to rest, leaving his horse to graze, and Cabriole to run after the flies. He knew that the Grotto of Darkness was not far off, yet he looked about him like one who sees nothing. At last he perceived a rock, as black as ink, whence came a thick smoke ; and in a moment appeared one of the two dragons, breathing out flames. It had a yellow and green body, claws, and a long tail. When Cabriole saw the monster, the poor little dog hid himself in terrible fright. But Avenant resolved to die bravely ; so, taking a phial which the prin- cess had given him, he prepared to descend into the cave. u Cabriole," said he, " I shall soon be dead : then fill this phial with my blood, and carry it to the Fair One with Golden Locks, and afterwards to the king my master, to show him I have been faithful to the last." While he was thus speaking, a voice called, " Avenant, Avenant ! " and he saw an owl sit- ting on a hollow tree near by. Said the owl: " You cut the net in which I was caught, and I vowed to recompense you. Now is the time. Give me the phial : I know every corner of the Grotto of Darkness I will fetch you t'he water of beauty." Delighted beyond words, Avenant delivered up his phial ; the owl flew with it into the grotto, and in less than half-an-hour reappeared, bringing it quite full and well corked. Avenant thanked her with all his heart, and joyfully took once more the road to the city. The Fair Qne with Golden Locks had no more to say. She consented to accompany him back, with all her suite, to his master's court. On the way thither she saw so much of him, and found him so charming, that Avenant might have married her himself had he chosen; but he would not have been false to his master for all the beauties under the sun. At length they arrived at the king's city, and the Fair One with Golden Locks became his spouse and queen. But she still loved Avenant in her heart, and often said to the king her lord, " But for Avenant I should not be here ; he has done all sorts of impossible deeds for my sake ; he has fetched me the water of beauty, and I shall never grow old in short, I owe him every- thing." And she praised him in this sort so much, that at length the king became jealous ; and though Avenant gave him not the slightest cause of of- fense, he shut him up in the same high tower once more but with irons on his hands and feet, and LITTLE ONE EYE, LITTLE TWO EYES, AND LITTLE THREE EYES. 43 a cruel jailer besides, who fed him with bread and water only. His sole companion was his little dog Cabriole. When the Fair One with Golden Locks heard of this, she reproached her husband for his ingrati- tude, and then, throwing herself at his knees, im- plored that Avenant might be set free. But the king only said, " She loves him ! " and refused her prayer. The queen entreated no more, but fell into a deep melancholy. When the king saw it, he thought she did not care for him because he was not handsome enough ; and that if he could wash his face with her water of beauty, it would make her love him more. He knew she kept it in a cabinet in her chamber, where she could find it always. Now it happened that a waiting-maid, in clean- ing out this cabinet, had, the very day before, knocked down the phial, which was broken in a thousand pieces, and all the contents were lost. Very much alarmed she then remembered seeing in a cabinet belonging to the king a similar phial. This she fetched, and put in the place of the other one, in which was the water of beauty. But the king's phial contained the water of death. It was a poison, used to destroy great criminals that is, noblemen, gentlemen, and such like. Instead of hanging them or cutting their heads off, like com- mon people, they were compelled to wash their faces with water ; upon which they fell asleep, and woke no more. So it happened that the king, taking up this phial, believing it to be the water of beauty, washed his face with it, fell asleep, and died. Cabriole heard the news, and, gliding in and out among the crowd which clustered round the young and lovely widow, whispered softly to her, " Madam, do not forget poor Avenant." If she had been disposed to do so, the sight of his little dog would have been enough to remind her of him his many sufferings, and his great fidtlit}'. She rose without speaking to anybody, and went straight to the tower where Avenant was con- fined. There, with her own hands, she struck off his chains, and putting a crown of gold on his head, and a purple mantle on his shoulders, said to him, " Be king and my husband." Avenant could not refuse ; for in his heart he had loved her all the time. He threw himself at her feet, and then took the crown and sceptre, and ruled her kingdom like a king. All the people were delighted to have him as their sovereign. The marriage was celebrated with all imaginable pomp, and Avenant and the Fair One with Golden Locks lived and reigned happily together all their days. LITTLE ONE EYE, LITTLE TWO EYES, AND LITTLE THREE EYES. THERE was a woman who had three daughters, the eldest of whom was called Little One Eye, because she had only one eye in the middle of her forehead ; the second, Little Two Eyes, because she had two eyes like other people ; and the youngest, Little Three Eyes, because she had three eyes, one of them being also in the middle of the forehead. But because Little Two Eyes looked no different from other people her sis- ters and mother could not bear her. They said, " You with your two eyes are no better than anybody else ; you do not belong to us." They knocked her about, and gave her shabby clothes, and food which was left over from their own meals ; in short, they vexed her whenever they could. It happened that Little Two Eyes had to go out into the fields to look after the goat ; but she was still quite hungry, because her sisters had given her so little to eat. She sat down on a hillock and began to cry, and cried so much that a little stream ran down out of each eye. And as she looked up once in her sorrow, a woman stood near her, who asked, " Little Two Eyes, why do you cry?" Littlo T\vo Eyes answered, " Have I not need 44 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. to cry ? Because I have two eyes, like other people, my sisters and my mother cannot bear me ; they push me out of one corner into the other, give me shabby clothes, and nothing to eat but what they leave. To-day they have given me so little that I am still quite hungry." The wise woman said, " Little Two Eyes, dry your eyes, and I will tell you something which will keep you from ever being hungry more. Only say to your goat, ' Little goat, bleat ; little table, rise,' and a neatly-laid table will stand before you with the most delicious food on it, so that you can eat as much as you like. And when you are satisfied and do not want the table any more, only say, ' Little goat, bleat ; little table, away,' and it will all disappear before your eyes." Then the wise woman went out of sight. Little TAVO Eyes thought, " I must try directly if it be true what she has said, for I am much too hungry to w r ait." So she said, " Little goat, bleat ; little table, rise ; " and scarcely had she uttered the words, when there stood before her a little table, covered with a white cloth, on which were laid a plate, knife and fork, and silver spoon. The most delicious food was there also, and smok- ing hot, as if just come from the kitchen. Then Little Two Eyes said the shortest grace that she knew, "Lord God, be our Guest at all times. Amen," began to eat, and found it very good. And when she had had enough, she said as the wise woman had taught her, " Little goat, bleat ; little table, away." In an instant the little table, and all that stood on it, had disappeared again. " That is a beautiful, easy way of housekeeping," thought Little Two Eyes, and was quite happy and merry. In the evening, when she came home with her goat, she found a little earthen dish with food, which her sisters had put aside for her, but she did not touch anything she had no need. On the next day she went out again with her goat, and let the few crusts that were given her remain uneaten. The first time and the second time the sisters took no notice ; but when the same thing happened every day, they remarked it, and said, " All is not right with Little Two Eyes ; she al- ways leaves her food, and she used formerly to eat everything that was given her ; she must have found other ways of dining." In order to discover the truth, they resolved that Little One Eye should go with Little Two Eyes when she drove the goat into the meadow, and see what she did there, and if anybody brought her anything to eat and drink. So when Little Two Eyes set out again, Little One Eye came to her and said, " I will go with you into the field, and see that the goat is taken proper care of, and driven to good pasture." But Little Two Eyes saw what Little One Eye had in her mind, and drove the goat into long grass, saying, " Come, Little One Eye, we will sit doAvn ; I will sing you something." Little One Eye sat down, being tired from the unusual \\alk and from the heat of the sun, and Little Two Eyes kept on singing, "Are you awake, Little One Eye ? Are you asleep, Little One Eye ? " Then Little One Eye shut her one eye, and fell asleep. And when Little Two Eyes saw that Little One Eye was fast asleep, and could not betray any- thing, she said, " Little goat, bleat ; little table, rise," and sat herself at her table, and ate and drank till she was satisfied ; then she called out again, "Little goat, bleat ; little table, away," and instantly everything disappeared. Little Two Eyes now woke Little One Eye, and said, " Little One Eye, you pretend to watch, and fall asleep over it, and in the mean time the goat could have run all over the world ; come, we will go home." Then they went home, and Little Two Eyes let her little dish again stand un- touched ; and Little One Eye, who could not tell the mother why her sister would not eat, said, as an excuse, " Oh, I fell asleep out there." The next day the mother said to Little Three Eyes, "This time you shall go and see if Little Two Eyes eats out of doors, and if any one brings her food and drink, for she must eat and drink secretly." Then Little Three Eyes went to Little Two Eyes, and said, " I v.ill go with you and see LITTLE ONE EYE, LITTLE TWO EYES, AND LITTLE THREE EYES. 45 if the goat be taken proper care of, and driven to good pasture." But Little Two Eyes saw what Little Three Eyes had in her mind, and drove the goat into long grass, and said as before, " We will sit down here, Little Three Eyes ; I will sing you something." Little Three Eyes seated herself, being tired from the walk and the heat of the sun, and Little Two Eyes began the same song again, and sang, " Are you awake, Little Three Eyes?" But instead of singing then as she should, " Are you asleep, Little Three Eyes ?" she sang, through carelessness, " Are you asleep, Little Two Eyes ? " and went on singing, " Are you awake, Little Three Eyes ? Are you asleep, Little Two Eyes ? " So the two eyes of Little Three Eyes fell asleep, but the third did not go to sleep, because it was not spoken to by the verse. Little Three Eyes, to be sure, shut it, and made believe to go to sleep, but only through slyness ; for she winked with it, and could see everything quite well. And when Little Two Eyes thought that Little Three Eyes was fast asleep, she said her little sentence, " Little goat, bleat ; little ta- ble, rise," ate and drank heartily, and then told the little table to go away again, " Little goat, bleat ; little table, away." But Little Three Eyes had seen everything. Then Little Two Eyes came to her, woke her. and said, " Ah ! Little Three Eyes, have you been asleep ? you keep watch well ! come, we will go home." And when they got home, Little Two Eyes again did not eat, and Little Three Eyes said to the mother, "I know why the proud thing does not eat: when she says to the goat out there, ' Little goat, bleat ; little table, rise,' there stands a table before her, which is covered with the very best food, much better than we have here ; and when she is satisfied, she says, ' Little goat, bleat ; little table, away,' and every- thing is gone again ; I have seen it all exactly. She put two of my eyes to sleep with her little verse, but the one in my forehead luckily re- mained awake." Then the envious mother cried out, " Shall she be better off than we are?" fetched a butcher's knife, and stuck it into the goat's heart, so that it fell down dead. When Little Two Eyes saw that, she went out full of grief, seated herself on a hillock, and wept bitter tears. All at once the wise woman stood near her again, and said, " Little Two Eyes, why do you cry ? " " Shall I not cry ? " answered she. " The goat who every day, when I said your little verse, laid the table so beautifully, has been killed by my mother ; now I must suffer hunger and thirst again." The wise woman said, " Little Two Eyes, I will give you some good advice ; beg your sisters to give you the heart of the murdered goat, and bury it in the ground before the house door, and it will turn out lucky for you." Then she disappeared, and Little Two Eyes went home and said to her sisters, " Dear sisters, give me some part of my goat ; I don't ask for anything good, only give me the heart." Then they laughed, and said, " You can have that, if you do not want anything else." Little Two Eyes took the heart, and buried it quietly in the evening, before the house door, after the ad- vice of the wise woman. Next morning, when the sisters woke, and went to the house door together, there stood a most wonderfully splendid tree, with leaves of silver and fruit of gold hanging between them. Nothing more beautiful or charming could be seen in the wide world. But they did not know how the tree had come there in the night. Little Two Eyes alone noticed that it had grown out of the heart of the goat, for it stood just where she had buried it in the ground. Then the mother said to Little One Eye, " Climb up, my child, and gather us some fruit from the tree." Little One Eye climbed up, but when she wanted to seize a golden apple, the branch sprang out of her hand : this happened every time, so that she could not gather a single apple, though she tried as hard as she could. Then the mother said, " Little Three Eyes, do 46 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. you climb up ; you can see better about you with your three eyes than Little One Eye can." Little One Eye scrambled down, and Little Three Eyes climbed up. But Little Three Eyes was no cleverer, and might look about her as much as she liked the golden apples always sprang back from her grasp. At last the mother became impatient, and climbed up herself, but could touch the fruit just as little as Little One Eye or Little Three Eyes ; she always grasped the empty air. Then Little Two Eyes said, "I will go up my- self ; perhaps I shall prosper better." " You ! " cried the sisters. " With your two eyes, what can you do ? " But Little Two Eyes climbed up, and the golden apples did not spring away from her, but dropped of themselves into her hand, so that she could gather one after the other, and brought down a whole apron full. Her mother took them from her, and instead of her sisters, Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes, behaving better to poor Little Two Eyes for it, they were only envi- ous because she alone could get the fruit, and be- haved still more cruelly to her. It happened, as they stood together by the tree, one day, that a young knight came riding by on a fine horse. " Quick, Little Two Eyes," cried the two sis- ters, " creep under, so that we may not be ashamed of you ; " and threw over poor Little Two Eyes, in a great hurry, an empty cask that stood just by the tree, and pushed also beside her the golden apples which she had broken off. Now, as the knight came nearer, he proved to be a handsome prince, who stood still, admired the beautiful tree of gold and silver, and said to the two sisters, " To whom does this beautiful tree belong ? She who gives me a branch of it shall have what- ever she wishes." Then Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes answered that the tree was theirs, and the}*- would break off a branch for him. Both gave themselves a great deal of trouble, but it was of no use, for the branches and fruit sprang back from them every time. Then the knight said, " It is very wonderful that the tree belongs to you, and yet you have not the power of gathering anything from it." They insisted, however, that the tree was their own property. But as they spoke, Little Two Eyes rolled a few golden apples from under the cask, so that they ran to the feet of the knight ; for Little Two Eyes was angry that Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes did not tell the truth. When the knight saw the apples, he was aston- ished, and asked where they came from. Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes answered that they had another sister, who might not, however, show herself, because she had only two eyes, like other common people. But the knight desired to see her, and called out, " Little Two Eyes, come out." Then Little Two Eyes came out of the cask quite comforted, and the knight was aston- ished at her great beauty, and said, " You, Little Two Eyes, can certainly gather me a branch from the tree ? " " Yes," answered Little Two Eyes, " I can do that, for the tree belongs to me." And she climbed up and easily broke off a branch, with its silver leaves and golden fruit, and handed it to the knight. Then the knight said, " Little Two Eyes, what shall I give you for it ? " " Oh," answered Little Two Eyes, " I suffer hunger and thirst, sorrow and want, from early morning till late evening ; if you would take me with you and free me, I should be happy." Then the knight lifted Little Two Eyes upon his horse, and took her home to his father's cas- tle; there he gave her beautiful clothes, food, and drink, as much as she wanted, and because he loved her so much he married her, and the mar- riage was celebrated with great joy. Now, when Little Two Eyes was taken away by the handsome knight, the two sisters envied her very much her happiness. " The wonderful tree remains for us, though," thought they ; " and even though we cannot gather any fruit off it, THE TRAVELING MUSICIANS. 47 every one will stand still before it, come to us, and praise it." But the next morning, the tree had disappeared, and all their hopes with it. Little Two Eyes lived happily a long time. Once two poor women came to her at the castle, and begged alms. Then Little Two Eyes looked in their faces, and recognized her sisters, Little One Eye and Little Three Eyes, who had fallen into such poverty that they had to wander about, and seel? their bread from door to door. Little Two Eyes, however, bade them welcome, and was very good to them, and took care of them ; for they both repented from their hearts the evil they had done to their sister in their youth. THE TRAVELING MUSICIANS. AN honest farmer had once an ass that had been a faithful servant to him a great many years, but was now growing old and every day more and more unfit for work. His master, therefore, was tired of keeping him and began to think of put- ting an end to him ; but the ass, who saw that some mischief was in the wind, took himself slyly off, and began his journey towards the great city, u for there," thought he, "I may turn musician." After he had traveled a little way he spied a dog lying by the roadside and panting as if he were very tired. " What makes you pant so, my friend?" said the ass. "Alas!" said the dog, " my master was going to knock me on the head, because I am old and weak, and can no longer make myself useful to him in hunting ; so I ran away : but what can I do to earn my livelihood ?" " Hark ye ! " said the ass, " I am going to the great city to turn musician ; suppose you go with me, and try what you can do in the same way ? " The dog said he was willing, and they jogged on together. They had not gone far before they saw a cat sit- ting in the middle of the road and making a most rueful face. " Pray, my good lady," said the ass, " what 's the matter with you ? you look quite out of spirits ! " "Ah me ! " said the cat, "how can one be in good spirits when one's life is in danger ? Because I am beginning to grow old, and had rather lie at my ease by the fire than run about the house after the mice, my mistress laid hold of me, and was going to drown me ; and though I have, been lucky enough to get away from her, I do not know what I am to live upon." "Oh!" said the ass, "by all means go with us to the great city ; you are a good night singer, and may make your fortune as a musician." The cat was pleased with the thought, and joined the party. Soon afterwards, as they were passing by a farmyard, they saw a cock perched upon a gate, and screaming out with all his might and main. " Bravo ! " said the ass ; " upon my word you make a famous noise ; pray, what is all this about ? " " Why," said the cock, " I was just now saying that we should have fine weather for our washing- day, and yet my mistress and the cook don't thank me for my pains, but threaten to cut off my head to-morrow, and make broth of me for the guests that are coming on Sunday ! " " Heaven forbid ! " said the ass ; " come with us, Master Chanticleer ; it will be better, at any rate, than staying here to have your head cut off ! Besides, who knows ? If we take care to sing in tune, we may get up some kind of a concert : so come along with us." " With all my heart," said the cock ; so they all four went on jollily together. They could not, however, reach the great city the first day ; so when night came on they went into the wood to sleep. The ass and the dog laid themselves down under a great tree, and the cat climbed up into the branches ; while the cock, thinking that the higher he sat the safer he should be, flew up to the very top of the -tree, and then, according to his custom, before he went to sleep, looked out on all sides of him to see that every- thing was well. In doing this he saw afar off something bright and shining ; and calling to his companions said, " There must be a house no great 48 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. way off, for I see a light." " If that be the case," said the ass, " we had better change our quarters, for our lodging is not the best in the world ! " " Besides," added the dog, " I should hot be the worse for a bone or two, or a bit of meat." So they walked off together towards the spot where Chanticleer had seen the light ; and as they drew near it became larger and brighter, till at last they came close to a house in which a gang of robbers lived. The ass, being the tallest of the company, marched up to the window and peeped in. " Well, Donkey," said Clianticleer, "What do you see?" "What do I see?" replied the ass, "why I see a table spread with all kinds of good things, and robbers sitting round it making merry." " That would be a noble lodging for us," said the cock. "Yes," said the ass, "if we could only get in:" so they consulted together how they should con- trive to get the robbers out ; and at last they hit upon a plan. The ass placed himself upright on his hind-legs, with his fore-feet resting against the window ; the dog got upon his back ; the cat scrambled up to the dog's shoulders, and the cock flew up and sat upon the cat's head. When all was ready, a signal was given, and they began their music. The ass brayed, the dog barked, the cat mewed, and the cock screamed ; and then they all broke through the window at once, and came tumbling into the room, amongst the broken glass, with a most hideous clatter! The robbers, who had been not a little frightened by the opening concert, had now no doubt that some frightful hob- goblin had broken in upon them, and scampered away as fast as they could. The coast once clear, our travelers soon sat down, and dispatched what the robbers had left, with as much eagerness as if they had not expected to eat again for a month. As soon as they had satisfied themselves, they put out the lights, and each once more sought out a resting-place to his own liking. The donkey laid himself down upon a heap of straw in the yard ; the dog stretched himself upon a mat behind the door ; the cat rolled herself up on the hearth before the warm ashes ; and the cock perched upon a beam at the top of the house ; and, as they were all rather tired with their jour- ney, they soon fell asleep. But about midnight the robbers, when they saw from afar that the lights were out and that all seemed quiet, began to think that they had been in too great a hurry to run away; and one of them, who was bolder than the rest, went to see what was going on. Finding everything still, he marched into the kitchen, and groped about till he found a match in order to light a candle ; and then, espying the glittering fiery eyes of the cat, he mistook them for live coals, and held the match to them to light it. But the cat, not understand- ing this joke, sprang at his face, and spit, and scratched at him. This frightened him dread- fully, and away he ran to the door : but there the dog jumped up and bit him in the leg ; and as he was crossing over the yard the ass kicked him : and the cock, who had been awakened by the noise, crowed with all his might. At this the robber ran back as fast as he could to his com- rades, and told the captain " how a horrid witch had got into the house, and had spit at him and scratched his face with her long bony fingers ; how THE WHITE CAT. 49 a man with a knife in his hand had hidden him- self behind the door, and stabbed him in the leg ; up here ! ' ' After this the robbers never dared to go back to the house ; but the musicians were how a black monster stood in the yard and struck so pleased with their quarters, that they took up him with a club, and how the judge sat upon the their abode there ; and there they are, I dare say, top of the house and cried out, ' Throw the rascal at this very day. THE WHITE CAT. THERE was once a king who had three sons, all handsome, brave, and noble of heart. Neverthe- less, some wicked courtiers made their father be- lieve they were eager to wear his crown, which, though he was old, he had no mind to resign. He therefore invented a plan to get them out of the kingdom, and prevent their carrying out any un- dutiful projects. Sending for them to a private audience, he conversed with them kindly, and said : " You must be sensible, my dear children, that my great age prevents me from attending so closely as I have hitherto done to state affairs. I fear this may be injurious to my subjects ; I therefore desire to place my crown on the head of one of you ; but it is no more than just that, in return for such a present, you should procure me some amusement in my retirement, before I leave the capital forever. I cannot help thinking that a little dog, handsome, faithful, and engaging, would be the very thing to make me happy ; so that, without bestowing a preference on either of you, I declare that lie who brings me the most perfect little dog shall be my successor in the kingdom." The princes were much surprised at the fancy of their father to have a little dog, yet they ac- cepted the proposition with pleasure ; and accord- ingly, after taking leave of the king, who pre- sented them with an abundance of money and jewels, and appointed that day twelvemonth for their return, they set off on their travels. Before separating, however, they took some re- freshment together, in an old palace about three miles out of town, where they mutually agreed to meet on their return that day twelvemonth, and go all together with their presents to court. They 7 also agreed to change their names, and to travel incognito. Each took a different road ; but it is intended to relate the adventures of the youngest only, who was the most beautiful, amiable, and accomplished prince in the world. As he traveled from town to town, he bought all the handsome dogs that fell in his way ; and as soon as he saw one that was handsomer than those he had, he made a present of the rest ; for twenty servants would scarcely have been sufficient to take care of all the dogs he was continually purchasing. At length, wander- ing he knew not whither, he found himself in a forest ; night suddenly came on, and with it a vio- lent storm of thunder, lightning, and rain : to add to his perplexity, he lost his way. After he had groped about for a long time, he perceived a light, which made him suppose that he was not far from some house : he accordingly pursued his way to- wards it, and in a short time found himself at the gates of the most magnificent palace he had ever beheld. The entrance door was of gold, covered with sapphires, which shone so that the strongest eyesight scarcely could bear to look at it : this was the^ light the prince had seen from the forest. The walls were of transparent porcelain, variously colored, and represented the history of all the fairies that had existed from the beginning of the world. The prince, coming back to the golden door, observed a deer's foot fastened to a chain of diamonds ; he could not help wondering at the magnificence he beheld, and the security in which the inhabitants seemed to live ; " For," said he to himself, " nothing could be easier than for thieves to steal this chain, and as many of the sapphire- stones as would make their fortunes." He pulled 50 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. the chain, and heard a bell, the sound of which was exquisite. In a few moments the door was opened; yet he perceived nothing but twelve hands in the air, each holding a torch. The prince was so astonished that he durst not move a step when he felt himself gently pushed on by some other hands from behind him. He walked on, in great perplexity, till he entered a vestibule inlaid with porphyry and lapis-stone, where the most melodious voice lie had ever heard chanted the following words : " Welcome, prince, no danger fear, Mirth and love attend you here : You shall break the magic spell, That on a beauteous lady fell. " Welcome, prince, no danger fear, Mirth and love attend you here." The prince now advanced with confidence, won- dering what these words could mean ; the hands moved him forward towards a large door of coral, which opened of itself to give him admittance into a splendid apartment built of mother- of r pearl, through which he passed into others so richly adorned with paintings and jewels, and so resplen- dently lighted with thousands of lamps, girandoles, and lustres, that he imagined he must be in an enchanted palace. When he had passed through sixty apartments, all equally splendid, he was stopped by the hands, and a large easy chair ad- vanced of itself towards the fire-place ; then the hands, which he observed were extremely white and delicate, took off his wet clothes, and supplied their place with the finest linen imaginable, add- ing a comfortable wrapping-gown, embroidered with gold and pearls. The hands next brought him an elegant dress- ing-table, and combed his hair so very gently that he scarcely felt their touch. They held before him a beautiful basin, filled with perfumes, for him to wash his face and hands, and afterwards took off the wrapping-gown, and dressed him in a suit of clothes of still greater splendor. When his toilet was complete they conducted him to an apartment he had not yet seen, and which also was magnificently furnished. There was a table spread for supper, and everything upon it was of the purest gold, adorned with jewels. The prince observed there were two covers set, and was won- dering who was to be his companion, when his attention was suddenly caught by a small figure not a foot high, which just then entered the room, and advanced towards him. It had on a long black veil, and was supported by two cats dressed in mourning, and with swords by their sides : they were followed by a numerous retinue of cats, some carrying cages full of rats, and others mouse-traps full of mice. The prince was at a loss to know what to think. The little figure now approached, and throwing aside her veil, he beheld a most beautiful white cat : she seemed young and melancholy ; and, ad- dressing herself to him, said, " My prince, you are welcome ; your presence affords me the greatest pleasure." "Madam," replied he, "I would fain thank you for your generosity, nor can I help observing that you must be an extraordinary creature to possess, with your present form, the gift of speech, and the most magnificent palace I have ever seen." " All this is very true," answered the beautiful cat ; " but, prince, I am not fond of talking, and least of all do I like compliments ; let us therefore sit down to supper." The trunkless hands then placed the dishes on the table, and the prince and Avhite cat seated themselves at it. The first dish was a pie made of young pigeons, and the next was a fricassee of the fattest mice. The view of the one made the prince almost afraid to taste the other, till the white cat, who guessed his thoughts, assured him that there were certain dishes at table which had been dressed on purpose for him, in which there was not a morsel of either rat or mouse : accord- ingly he ate heartily of such as she recommended. When supper was over he perceived that the white cat had a portrait set in gold hanging to one of her feet. He begged her permission to look at it ; when, to his astonishment, he saw the portrait of a handsome young man, who exactly resembled himself ! He thought there was something most THE WHITE CAT. 51 extraordinary in all this : yet, as the white cat sighed and looked very sorrowful, he did not vent- ure to ask any questions. He conversed with her on different subjects, and found her extremely well versed in everything that was passing in the world. When night was far advanced, his hostess wished him a good-night, and he was con- ducted by the hands to his chamber, which was different still from anything he had seen in the palace, being hung with the wings of butter- flies mixed with the most curious feathers. His bed was of gauze, festooned with bunches of the gayest ribbons, and the looking-glasses reaching from the floor to the ceiling. The prince was un- dressed and put into bed by the hands, without speaking a word. He, however, slept little, and in the morning was awakened by a confused noise. The hands took him out of bed, and put on him a handsome hunting-jacket. He looked into the courtyard, and perceived more than five hundred cats, busily employed in preparing for the field for this was a day of festival. Presently the white cat came to his apartment; and having politely inquired after his health, she invited him to partake of their amusement. The prince will- ingly acceded, and mounted a wooden horse, richly caparisoned, which had been prepared for him, and which he was assured would gallop to admiration. The beautiful white cat mounted a monkey ; she wore a dragoon's cap, which made her look so fierce that all the rats and mice ran away in the utmost terror. Everything being read}', the horns sounded, and away they went : no hunting was ever more agreeable. The cats ran faster than the hares and rabbits; and when they caught any, they turned them out to be hunted in the presence of the white cat, and a thousand cunning tricks were played. Nor were the birds in safety ; for the monkey made nothing of climbing up the trees, with the white cat on his back, to the nests of the young eagles. When the chase was over, the whole retinue returned to the palace ; the white cat immediately exchanged her dragoon's cap for the veil, and sat down to supper with the prince, who, being very hungry, ate heartily, and after- wards partook with her of the most delicious wines. He then was conducted to his chamber as before, and wakened in the morning to renew the same sort of life, which day after day became so pleasant to him that he no longer thought of any- thing but of pleasing the sweet little creature who received him so courteously : accordingly, every day was spent in new amusements. The prince had almost forgotten his country and relations, and sometimes even regretted that he was not a cat, so great was his affection for his mewing com- panions. " Alas ! " said he to the white cat, "how will it afflict me to leave you, whom I love so much ! Either make yourself a lady, or make me a cat." She smiled at the prince's wish, but offered no reply. At length the twelvemonth was nearly expired : the white cat, who knew the very day when the prince was to reach his father's palace, reminded him that he had but three days longer to look for a perfect little dog. The prince, astonished at his own forgetfulness, began to afflict himself ; when the cat told him not to be so sorrowful, since she would not only provide him with a little dog, but also with a wooden horse, which should con- vey him safely home in less than twelve hours. " Look here," said she, showing him an acorn ; " this contains what you desire." The prince put the acorn to his ear, and heard the barking of a little dog. Transported with joy, he thanked the cat a thousand times ; and the next day, bidding her tenderly adieu, he set out on his return. The prince arrived first at the place of rendez- vous, and was soon joined by his brothers : they mutually embraced, and began to give an account of their success ; when the youngest showed them only a little mongrel cur, telling them that he thought it could not fail to please the king, from its extraordinary beauty. The brothers trod on each other's toes under the table, as much as to say, " We have little to fear from this sorry-look- ing animal." The next day they went together 52 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. to the palace. The dogs of the two elder brothers were lying on cushions, and so curiously wrapped around with embroidered quilts that one would scarcely venture to touch them. The youngest produced his cur, and all wondered how the prince could hope to receive a crown for such a shabby present. The king examined the two little dogs of the elder princes, and declared he thought them so equally beautiful that he knew not to which, with justice, he could give the pref- erence. They accordingly began to dispute ; when the youngest prince, taking his acorn from his pocket, soon ended their contention ; for a little dog appeared, which could with ease go through the smallest ring, and was, besides, a miracle of beauty. The king could not possibly hesitate in declar- ing his satisfaction ; yet, as he was not more in- clined than the year before to part with his crown, he told his sons that he was extremely obliged to them for the pains they had taken : and since they had succeeded so well, he wished they would make a second attempt ; he therefore begged they would take another year in order to procure a piece of cambric, fine enough to be drawn through the eye of a small needle. The three princes thought this very hard ; yet they set out, in obedience to the king's command. The two eldest took different roads, and the youngest remounted his wooden horse, and in a short time arrived at the palace of his beloved white cat, who received him with the greatest joy, while the trunkless hands helped him to dis- mount, and provided him with immediate refresh- ment. Afterwards the prince gave the white cat an account of the admiration which had been be- stowed on the beautiful little dog, and informed her of the further injunction of his father. " Make yourself perfectly easy, dear prince," said she ; "I have in my palace some cats who are perfect adepts in making such cambric as the king requires ; so you have nothing to do but to give me the pleasure of your company while it is mak- ing, and I will procure you all the amusement pos- sible." She accordingly ordered the most curious fire- works to be played off in sight of the window of the apartment in which they were sitting ; and nothing but festivity and rejoicing was heard throughout the palace for the prince's return. As the white cat frequently gave proofs of an excellent understanding, the prince was by no means tired of her company ; she talked with him of state affairs, of theatres, of fashions : in short, she was at a loss on no subject whatever ; so that when the prince was alone, he had plenty of amuse- ment in thinking how it could possibly be, that a small white cat could be endowed with all the attractions of the very best and most charming of women. The twelvemonth in this manner again passed insensibly away ; but the cat took care to remind the prince of his duty in proper time. " For once, my prince," said she, " I will have the pleasure of equipping you as suits your high rank." And, looking into the courtyard, he saw a superb car, ornamented all over with gold, silver, pearls, and diamonds, drawn by twelve horses as white as snow, and harnessed in the most sumptuous trap- pings ; and behind the car a thousand guards, richly appareled, were waiting to attend on the prince's person. She then presented him with a nut : " You will find in it," said she, " the piece of cambric I promised you : do not break the shell till you are in the presence of the king your fa- ther." Then, to prevent the acknowledgments which the prince was about to offer, she hastily bade him adieu. Nothing could exceed the speed with which the snow-white horses conveyed this fortunate prince to his father's palace, where his brothers had just arrived before him. They embraced each other, and demanded an immediate audience of the king, who received them with the greatest kindness. The princes hastened to place at the feet of his majesty the curious present he had required them to procure. The eldest produced a piece of cam- bric so extremely fine, that his friends had no doubt of its passing through the eye of the needle, which was now delivered to the king, having been THE WHITE OAT. 53 kept locked up in the custody of his majesty's treasurer all the time. But when the king tried to draw the cambric through the eye of the needle it would not pass, though it failed but very little. Then came the second prince, who made as sure of obtaining the crown as his brother had done, but, alas ! with no better success; for though his piece of cambric was exquisitely fine, yet it could not be drawn through the eye of the needle. It was now the turn of the youngest prince, who ac- cordingly advanced, and opening an elegant little box inlaid with jewels, took out a walnut and cracked the shell, imagining he should immedi- ately perceive his piece of cambric ; but what was his astonishment to see nothing but a filbert ! He did not, however, lose his hopes ; he cracked the filbert, and it presented him with a cherry-stone. The lords of the court, who had assembled to wit- ness this extraordinary trial, could not, any more than the princes his brothers, refrain from laugh- ing, to think he should be so silly as to claim the crown on no better pretensions. The prince, how- ever, cracked the cherry-stone, which was filled with a kernel; he divided it and found in the mid- dle a grain of wheat, and in that a grain of millet- seed. He was now absolutely confounded, and could not help muttering between his teeth, " O white cat, white cat, thou hast deceived me ! " At this instant he felt his hand scratched by the claw of a cat ; upon which he again took courage, and opening the grain of millet-seed, to the astonish- ment of all present, he drew forth a piece of cam- bric four hundred yards long, and fine enough to be threaded with perfect ease through the eye of the needle. When the king found he had no pretext left for refusing the crown to his youngest son, he sighed deeply, and it was easy to be seen that he was sorry for the prince's success. " My sons," said he, " it is so gratifying to the heart of a father to receive proofs of his children's love and obedience, that I cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of requiring of you one thing more. You must undertake another expedition. That one of you who, by the end of a year, brings me the most beautiful lady, shall marry her and ob- tain my crown." So they again took leave of the king and of each other, and set out without delay ; and in less than twelve hours our young prince arrived, in his splendid car, at the palace of his dear white cat. Everything went on as before till the end of another year. At length only one day remained of the year, when the white cat thus addressed him : " To-morrow, my prince, you must present yourself at the palace of your father, and give him a proof of your obedience. It depends only on yourself to conduct thither the most beautiful princess ever yet beheld, for the time is come when the enchantment by which I am bound may be ended. You must cut off my head and tail," continued she, "and throw them into the fire." " I ! " said the prince hastily, "I cut off your head and tail ! You surely mean to try my af- fection, which, believe me, beautiful cat, is truly yours." " You mistake me, generous prince," said she ; " I do not doubt your regard ; but if you wish to see me in any other form than that of a cat, you must consent to do as I desire, then you will have done me a service I shall never be able sufficiently to repay." The prince's eyes filled with tears as she spoke, yet he considered himself obliged to undertake the dreadful task ; and, the cat continuing to press him with the greatest eagerness, with a trembling hand he drew his sword, cut off her head and tail, and threw them into the fire. No sooner was this done than the most beautiful lady his eyes had ever seen stood before him : and ere he had suffi- ciently recovered from his surprise to speak to her, a long train of attendants, who, at the same moment as their mistress, were changed to their natural shapes, came to offer their congratulations to the queen, and inquire her commands. She received them with the greatest kindness, and or- dering them to withdraw, thus addressed the as- tonished prince : " Do not imagine, dear prince, that I have al- ways been a cat, or that I am of obscure birth. 54 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. My father was the monarch of six kingdoms ; he tenderly loved my mother, and left her always at liberty to follow her own inclinations. Her pre- vailing passion was to travel ; and a short time before my birth, having heard of some fairies who were in possession of the largest gardens filled with the most delicious fruits, she had so strong a desire to eat some of them, that she set out for the country where they lived. She arrived at their abode, which she found to be a magnificent palace, on all sides glittering with gold and pre- cious stones. She knocked a long time at the gates ; but no one came, nor could she perceive the least sign that it had any inhabitant. The diffi- culty, however, did but increase the violence of my mother's longing ; for she saw the tops of the trees above the garden walls, loaded with the most luscious fruits. The queen, in despair, ordered her attendants to place tents close to the door of the palace ; but, having waited six weeks without seeing any one pass the gates, she fell sick of vex- ation, and her life was despaired of. " One night, as she lay half asleep, she turned herself about, and, opening her eyes, perceived a little old woman, very ugly and deformed, seated in the easy-chair by her bedside. ' I and my sister fairies,' said she, ' take it very ill that your maj- esty should so obstinately persist in getting some of our fruit ; but since so precious a life is at stake, we consent to give you as much as you can carry away, provided you will give us in return what we shall ask.' ' Ah ! kind fairy,' cried the queen, ' I will give you anything that I possess, even my very kingdoms, on condition that I eat of your fruit." The old fairy then informed the queen that what they required .was, that she should give them the child she was going to have, as soon as it should be born ; adding that every possible care should be taken of it, and that it should be- come the most accomplished princess. The queen replied that, however cruel the conditions, she must accept them, since nothing but the fruit could save her life. In short, dear prince," con- tinued the lady, " my mother instantly got out of bed, was dressed by her attendants, entered the palace, and satisfied her longing. Having eaten her fill, she ordered four thousand mules to be procured and loaded with the fruit, which had the virtue of continuing all the year round in a state of perfection. Thus provided, she returned to the king my father, who, with the whole court, re- ceived her with rejoicings, as it was before imag- ined she would die of disappointment. All this time the queen said nothing to my father of the promise she had made to give her daughter to the fairies ; so that when the time was come that she expected my birth, she grew very melancholy ; till at length, being pressed by the king, she de- clared to him the truth. Nothing could exceed his affliction when he heard that his only child, when born, was to be given to the fairies. He bore it, however, as well as he could, for fear of adding to my mother's grief ; and also believing he should find some means of keeping me in a place of safety, which the fairies would not be able to approach. As soon, therefore, as I was born, he had me con- veyed to a tower in the palace, to which there were twenty flights of stairs, and a door to each, of which my father kept the key, so that none came near me without his consent. When the fairies heard of what had been done, they sent first to demand me ; and on my father's refusal, they let loose a monstrous dragon, which devoured men, women, and children, and which, by the breath of its nos- trils, destroyed everything it came near, so that even the trees and plants began to die. The grief of the king was excessive ; and, finding that his whole kingdom would in a short time be reduced to famine, he consented to give me into their hands. I was accordingly laid in a cradle of moth- er-of-pearl, ornamented with gold and jewels, and carried to their palace, when the dragon immedi- ately disappeared. The fairies placed me in a tower, elegantly furnished, but to which there was no door, so that whoever approached was obliged to come by the windows, which were of great height from the ground : from these I had the liberty of getting out into a delightful garden, in which were baths, and every sort of cooling fruit. In this place was I educated by the fairies, who THE WHITE CAT. 55 behaved to me with the greatest kindness ; my clothes were splendid, and I was instructed in every kind of accomplishment ; in short, prince, if I had never seen any one but them I should have remained very happy. One day, however, as I was talking at the window with my parrot, I per- ceived a young gentleman who was listening to our conversation. As I had never seen a man save in pictures, I was not sorry for the opportu- nity of gratifying my curiosity. I thought him a very pleasing object, and he at length bowed in the most respectful manner, without daring to speak, for he knew that I was in the palace of the fairies. When it began to grow dark he went away, and I vainly endeavored to see which road he took. The next morning, as soon as it was light, I again placed myself at the window, and had the pleasure of seeing that the gentleman had returned to the same place. He now spoke to me through a speaking-trumpet, and declared that he thought me a most charming lady, and that he should be very unhappy if he did not pass his life in my company. "I resolved to find some way of escaping from my tower, and was not long in devising the means for the execution of my project : I begged the fairies to bring me a netting-needle, a mesh, and some cord, saying I wished to make some nets to amuse myself with catching birds at my window. This they readily complied with, and in a short time I completed a ladder long enough to reach to the ground. I now sent my parrot to the prince, to beg he would come to the usual place, as I wished to speak with him. He did not fail ; and finding the ladder, mounted it, and quickly entered my tower. This at first alarmed me, but the charms of his conversation had restored me to tranquillity, when all at once the window opened, and the Fairy Violent, mounted on the dragon's back, rushed into the tower. My beloved prince thought of nothing but how to defend me from her fury ; for I had had time to relate to him my story, previous to this cruel interruption ; but her attendants overpowered him, and the Fairy Vio- lent had the barbarity to command the dragon to devour my lover before my eyes. In my despair I would have thrown myself also into the mouth of the horrible monster ; but this they took care to prevent, saying my life should be preserved for greater punishment. The fairy then touched me with her wand, and I instantly became a white cat. She next conducted me to this palace, which belonged to my father, and gave me a train of cats for my attendants, together with the twelve hands that waited on your highness. She then informed me of my birth and the death of my parents, and pronounced upon me what she imagined the great- est of maledictions : that I should not be restored to my natural figure until a young prince, the per- fect resemblance of him I had lost, should cut off my head and tail. You are that perfect resem- blance ; and accordingly you ended the enchant- ment. I need not add that I already love you more than my life ; let us therefore hasten to the palace of the king your father, and obtain his ap- probation to our marriage." The prince and princess accordingly set out side by side, in a car of "still greater splendor than be- fore, and reached the palace just as the two brothers had arrived with two beautiful prin- cesses. The king, hearing that each of his sons had succeeded in finding what he had required, again began to think of some new expedient to delay the time of resigning the crown ; but when the whole court were with the king assembled to pass judgment, the princess who accompanied the youngest, perceiving his thoughts by his coun- tenance, stepped majestically forward and thus ad- dressed him : " It is a' pity that your majesty, who is so ca- pable of governing, should think of resigning the crown ! I am fortunate enough to have six king- doms in my possession ; permit me to bestow one on each of the eldest princes, and to enjoy the re- maining four in the society of the youngest. And may it please your majesty to keep your own kingdom, and make no decision concerning the beauty of three princesses, who, without such a proof of your majesty's preference, will no doubt live happily together ! " 56 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. The air resounded with the applauses of the as- sembly : the young prince and princess embraced the king, and next their brothers and sisters : the three weddings immediately took place, and the kingdoms were divided as the princess had pro- posed. PRINCE CHERRY. LONG ago there lived a monarch, who was such a very honest man that his subjects entitled him the Good King. One day, when he was out hunt- ing, a little white rabbit, which had been half killed by his hounds, leaped right into his maj- esty's arms. Said he, caressing it : " This poor creature has put itself under my protection, and I will allow no one to injure it." So he carried it to his palace, had prepared for it a neat little rab- bit-hutch, with abundance of the daintiest food, such as rabbits love, and there he left it. The same night, when he was alone in his chamber, there appeared to him a beautiful lady. She was dressed neither in gold, nor silver, nor brocade; but her flowing robes were white as snow, and she wore a garland of white roses on her head. The Good King was greatly astonished at the sight ; for his door was locked, and he won- dered how so dazzling a lady could possibly enter ; but she soon removed his doubts. " I am the Fairy Candide," said she, with a smiling and gracious air. " Passing through the wood, where you were hunting, I took a desire to know if you were as good as men say you are. I therefore changed myself into a white rabbit, and took refuge in your arms. You saved me ; and now I know that those who are merciful to dumb beasts will be ten times more so to human beings. You merit the name your subjects give you : you are the Good King. I thank you for your protec- tion, and shall be always one of your best friends. You have but to say what you most desire, and I promise you your wish shall be granted." "Madam," replied the king, "if you are a fairy, you must know, without my telling you, the wish of my heart. I have one well-beloved son, Prince Cherry : whatever kindly feeling you have towards me, extend it to him." " Willingly," said Candide. " I will make him the handsomest, richest, or most powerful prince in the world : choose whichever you desire for him." " None of the three," returned the father. " I only wish him to be good the best prince in the whole world. Of what use would riches, power, or beauty be to him if he were a bad man ? " " You are right," said the fairy ; "but I cannot make him good : he must do that himself. I can only "change his external fortunes ; for his per- sonal character, the utmost I can promise is to give him good counsel, reprove him for his faults, and even punish him if he will not punish him- self. You mortals can but do the same with your children." " Ah, yes ! " said the king, sighing. Still, he felt that the kindness of a fairy was something gained for his son, and died, not long after, con- tent and at peace. Prince Cherry mourned deeply, for he dearly loved his father, and would have gladly given all his kingdoms and treasures to keep him in life a little longer. Two days after the Good King was no more, Prince Cherry was sleeping in his cham- ber, when he saw the same dazzling vision of the Fairy Candide. " I promised your father," said she, " to be your best friend, and in pledge of this take what I now give you ; " and she placed a small gold ring upon his finger. " Poor as it looks, it is more precious than diamonds ; for whenever you do ill it will prick your finger. If, ^after that warning, you still continue in evil, you will lose my friendship, and I shall become your direst enemy." So saying, she disappeared, leaving Cherry in such amazement, that he would have believed it all a dream, save for the ring on his finger. PRINCE CHERRY. 57 He was for a long time so good that the ring never pricked him at all ; and this made him so cheerful and pleasant in his humor that everybody called him " Happy Prince Cherry." But one unlucky day he was out hunting and found no sport, which vexed him so much that he showed his ill temper by his looks and ways. He fancied his ring felt very tight and uncomfortable, but as it did not prick him he took no heed of this : until, reentering his palace, his little pet dog, Bibi, jumped up upon him, and was sharply told to get away. The creature, accustomed to nothing but caresses, tried to attract his attention by pulling at his garments, when Prince Cherry turned and gave it a severe kick. At this mo- ment he felt in his finger a prick like a pin. " What nonsense ! " said he to himself. " The fairy must be making game of me. Why, what great evil have I done ! I, the master of a great empire, cannot I kick my own dog?" A voice replied, or else Prince Cherry imagined it, " No, sire ; the master of a great empire has a right to do good, but not evil. I a fairy am as much above you as you are above your dog. I might punish you, kill you, if I chose ; but I pre- fer leaving you to amend your ways. You have been guilty of three faults to-day bad temper, passion, cruelty : do better to-morrow." The prince promised and kept his word a while ; but he had been brought up by a foolish nurse, who indulged him in every way, and was always telling him that he would be a king one day, when he might do as he liked in all things. He found out now that even a king cannot always do that ; it vexed him, and made him angry. His ring began to prick him so often that his little finger was continually bleeding. He disliked this, as was natural, and soon began to consider whether it would not be easier to throw the ring away altogether than to be constantly annoyed by it. It was such a queer thing for a king to have always a spot of blood on his finger ! At last, un- able to put up with it any more, he took his ring off and hid it where he would never see it ; and believed himself the hnppiest of men, for he could 8 now do exactly what he liked. He did it and be- came every day more and more miserable. One day he saw a young girl, so beautiful that, being always accustomed to have his own way, he immediately determined to espouse her. He never doubted that she would be only too glad to be made a queen, for she was very poor. But Zelia that was her name answered, to his great astonishment, that she would rather not marry him. " Do I displease you ? " asked the prince, into whose mind it had never entered that he could displease anybody. " Not at all, my prince," said the honest peas- ant maiden. " You are very handsome, very charming ; but you are not like your father, the Good King. I will not be your queen, for you would make me miserable." At these words the prince's love seemed to turn to hatred : he gave orders to his guards to convey Zelia to a prison near the palace ; and then took cpunsel with his foster-brother, the one of all his ill companions who most incited him to do wrong. "Sire," said this man, "if I were in your majes- ty's place, I would never vex myself about a poor silly girl. Feed her on bread and water till she comes to her senses ; and if she still refuses you, let her die in torment, as a warning to your other subjects should they venture to dispute your will. You will be disgraced should you suffer yourself to be conquered by a simple girl." " But," said Prince Cherry, " shall I not be disgraced if I harm a creature so perfectly inno- cent ? " " No one is innocent who disputes your majes- ty's authority," said the courtier, bowing ; " and it is better to commit an injustice than allow it to be supposed you can ever be contradicted with impunity." This touched Cherry on his weak point his good impulses faded : he resolved once more to ask Zelia if she would marry him, and, if she again refused, to sell her as a slave. Arrived at the cell in which she was confined, what was hia 58 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. astonishment to find her gone ! He knew not whom to accuse, for he had kept the key in his pocket the whole time. At last, the foster-brother suggested that the escape of Zelia might have been contrived by an old man, Suliman by name, the prince's former tutor, who was the only one who now ventured to blame him for anything that he did. Cherry sent immediately, and ordered his old friend to be brought to him, loaded heav- ily with irons. Then, full of fury, he went and shut himself up in his own chamber, where he went raging to and fro, till startled by a noise like a clap of thunder. The Fairy Candide stood before him. " Prince," said she, in a severe voice, " I prom- ised your father to give you good counsels, and to punish you if you refused to follow them. My counsels were forgotten, my punishments despised. Under the figure of a man you have been no bet- ter than the beasts you chase : like a lion in fury, a wolf in gluttony, a serpent in revenge, and a bull in brutality. Take, therefore, in your new form the likeness of all these animals." Scarcely had Prince Cherry heard these words than to his horror he found himself transformed into what the fairy had named. He was a creat- ure with the head of a lion, the horns of a bull, the feet of a wolf, the tail of a serpent. At the same time he felt himself transported to a distant forest, where, standing on the bank of a stream, he saw reflected in the water his own frightful shape, and heard a voice saying : " Look at thyself, and know thy soul has be- come a thousand times uglier even than thy body." Cherry recognized the voice of Candide, and in his rage would have sprung upon her and de- voured her; but he saw nothing, and the same voice said behind him : " Cease thy feeble fury, and learn to conquer thy pride by being in submission to thine own subjects." Hearing no more he soon quitted the stream, hoping, at least, to get rid of the sight of himself ; but he had scarcely gone twenty paces when he tumbled into a pitfall that was laid to catch bears ; the bear-hunters, descending from some trees hard by, caught him, chained him, and, only too delighted to get hold of such a curious-looking animal, led him along with them to the capital of his own kingdom. There great rejoicings were taking place, and the bear-hunters, asking what it was all about, were told that it was because Prince Cherry, the torment of his subjects, had been struck dead by a. thunderbolt just punishment of all his crimes. Four courtiers, his wicked companions, had wished to divide his throne between them ; but the peo- ple had risen up against them, and offered the crown to Suliman, the old tutor whom Cherry had ordered to be arrested. All this the poor monster heard. He even saw Suliman sitting upon his ow r n throne, and trying to calm the populace by representing to them that it was not certain Prince Cherry was dead ; that he might return one day to reassume with honor the crown which Suliman only consented to wear as a sort of viceroy. " I know his heart," said the honest and faith- ful old man ; " it is tainted but not corrupt. If alive, he may reform yet, and be his father over again to you, his people, whom he has caused to suffer so much." These words touched the poor beast so deeply that he ceased to beat himself against the iron bars of the cage in which the hunters carried him about, became gentle as a laTnb, and suffered him- self to be taken quietly to a menagerie, where were kept all sorts of strange and ferocious ani- mals a place which he had himself often visited as a boy, but never thought he should be shut up in. However, he owned he had deserved it all, and began to make amends by showing himself very obedient to his keeper. This man was almost as great a brute as the animals he had charge of, and when he was in ill humor he used to beat them without rhyme or reason. One day, while he was sleeping, a tiger broke loose, and leaped upon him, eager to devour him. Cherry at first felt a thrill of pleasure at the thought of being re- PRINCE CHERRY. 59 venged ; then, seeing how helpless the man was, he wished himself free, that he might defend him. Immediately the doors of his cage opened. The keeper, waking up, saw the strange beast leap out, and imagined, of course, that he was going to be slain at once. Instead, he saw the tiger lying dead and the strange beast creeping up, and lay- ing itself at his feet to be caressed. But as he lifted up his hand to stroke it, a voice was heard saying, "Good actions never go unrewarded;" and, instead of the frightful monster, there crouched on the ground nothing but a pretty little dog. Cherry, delighted to find himself thus metamor- phosed, caressed the keeper in every possible way, till at last the man took him up into his arms and carried him to the king, to whom he related this wonderful story, from beginning to end. The queen wished to have the charming little dog: and Cherry would have been exceedingly happy, could he have forgotten that he was originally a man and a king. He was lodged most elegantly, had the richest of collars to adorn his neck, and heard himself praised continually. But his beauty rather brought him into trouble, for the queen, afraid lest he might grow too large for a pet, took advice of dog-doctors, who ordered that he should be fed entirely upon bread, and that very sparingly ; so poor Cherry was sometimes nearly starved. One day, when they gave him his crust for breakfast, a fancy seized him to go and eat it in the palace-garden ; so he took the bread in his mouth, and trotted away towards a stream which he knew, and where he sometimes stopped to drink. But instead of the stream he saw a splen- did palace, glittering with gold and precious stones. Entering the doors was a crowd of men and women, magnificently dressed ; and within there were singing and dancing, and good cheer of all sorts. Yet, however grandly and gayly the people went in, Cherry noticed that those who came out were pale, thin, ragged, half-naked, covered with wounds and sores. Some of them dropped dead at once ; others dragged themselves on a little way and then lay down, dying of hunger, and vainly begged a morsel of bread from others who were entering in who never took the least no- tice of them. Cherry perceived one woman, who was trying feebly to gather and eat some green herbs. " Poor thing ! " said he to himself, " I know what it is to be hungry, and I want my breakfast badly enough ; but still it will not kill me to wait till dinner-time, and my crust may save the life of this poor woman." So the little dog ran up to her, and dropped his bread at her feet ; she picked it up, and ate it with avidity. Soon she looked quite recovered, and Cherry, delighted, was trotting back again to his kennel, when he heard loud cries, and saw a young girl dragged by four men to the door of the palace, which they were trying to compel her to enter. Oh, how he wished himself a monster again, as when he slew the tiger ! for the young girl was no other than his beloved Zelia. Alas ! what could a poor little dog do to defend her ? But he ran forward and barked at the men, and bit their heels, until at last they chased him away with heavy blows. And then he lay down outside the palace-door, determined to watch and see what had become of Zelia. Conscience pricked him now. " What ! " thought he, "I a in furious against these wicked men who are carrying her away ; and did I not do the same myself ? Did I not cast her into prison, and intend to sell her as a slave ? Who knows how much more wickedness I might not have done to her and others if heaven's justice had not stopped me in time ? " While he lay thinking and repenting, he heard a window open, and saw Zelia throw out a bit of dainty meat. Cherry, who felt hungry enough by this time, was just about to eat it, when the woman to whom he had given his crust snatched him up in her arms. " Poor little beast ! " cried she, patting him, " every bit of food in that palace is poisoned : you shall not touch a morsel." And at the same time the voice in tire air re- peated again, " Good actions never go unre- 60 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. warded ; " and Cherry found himself changed into a beautiful little white pigeon. He remembered with joy that white was the color of the Fairy Candide, and began to hope that she was taking him into favor again. So he stretched his wings, delighted that he might now have a chance of approaching his fair Zelia. He flew up to the palace-windows, and, finding one of them open, entered and sought everywhere, but he could not find Zelia. Then, in despair, he flew out again, resolved to go over the world until he beheld her once more. He took flight at once, and traversed many countries, swiftly as a bird can, but found no trace of his beloved. At length in a desert, sitting be- side an old hermit in his cave, and partaking with him his frugal repast, Cherry saw a poor peasant- girl, and recognized Zelia. Transported with joy, he flew in, perched on her shoulder, and expressed his delight and affection by a thousand caresses. She, charmed with the pretty little pigeon, caressed it in her turn, and promised it that, if it would stay with her, she would love it always. " What have you done, Zelia? " said the hermit, smiling ; and while he spoke the white pigeon vanished, and there stood Prince Cherry in his own natural form. " Your enchantment ended, prince, when Zelia promised to love you. Indeed, she has loved you always, but your many faults constrained her to hide her love. These are now amended, and you may both live happy if you will, because your union is founded upon mutual esteem." Cherry and Zelia threw themselves at the feet of the hermit, whose form also began to change. His soiled garments became of dazzling whiteness, and his long beard and withered face grew into the flowing hair and lovely countenance of the Fairy Candide. . " Rise up, my children," said she ; " I must now transport you to your palace and restore to Prince Cherry his father's crown, of which he is at length worthy." She had scarcely ceased speaking when they found themselves in the chamber of Suliman, who, delighted to find again his beloved pupil and master, willingly resigned the throne, and became the most faithful of his subjects. King Cherry and Queen Zelia reigned together for many years, and it is said that the former was so blameless and strict in all his duties, that though he constantly wore the ring which Candide had restored to him, it never once pricked his finger enough to make it bleed. THE GOLDEN BIRD. A CERTAIN king had a beautiful garden, and in the garden stood a tree which bore golden apples. These apples were always counted, and about the time when they began to grow ripe it was found that every night one of them was gone. The king became very angry at this, and ordered the gardener to keep watch all night under the tree. The gardener set his eldest son to watch ; but about twelve o'clock he fell asleep, and in the morning another of the apples was missing. Then the second son was ordered to watch the tree ; and at midnight he too fell asleep, and in the morning- another apple was gone. Then the third son offered to keep watch; but the gardener at first would not let him, for fear some harm should come to him : however, at last he consented, and the young man laid himself under the tree to watch. As the clock struck twelve he heard a rustling noise in the air, and a bird came flying that Avas of pure gold ; and as it was snapping at one of the apples with its beak the gardener's son jumped up and shot an arrow at it. But the arrow did the bird no harm ; only it dropped a golden feather from its tail, and then flew away. The golden feather was brought to the king in the morning, and all the council was called together. Every one agreed that it was worth more than all the wealth of the kingdom : but the king said, THE GOLDEN BIRD. 61 " One feather is of no use to me, I must have the whole bird." Then the gardener's eldest son set out and thought to find the golden bird very easily ; and when he had gone but a little way, he came to a wood, and by the side of the wood he saw a fox sitting ; so he took his bow and made ready to shoot at it. Then the fox said, " Do not shoot me, for I will give you good counsel; I know what your business is, and that you want to find the golden bird. You will reach a village in the even- ing; and when you get there you will see two inns opposite to each other, one of which is very pleasant and beautiful to look at : go not in there, but rest for the night in the other, though it may appear to you to be very poor and mean." But the son thought to himself, " What can such a beast as this know about the matter ? " So he shot his arrow at the fox ; but he missed it, and it set up its tail above its back and ran into the wood. Then he went his way, and in the even- ing came to the village where the two inns were ; and in vne of these were people singing and danc- ing and feasting ; but the other looked very dirty and poor. " I should be very silly," said he, " if I went to that shabby house, and left this charm- ing place ; " so he went into the smart house, and ate and drank at his ease, and forgot the bird and his country too. Time passed on ; and as the eldest son did not come back, and no tidings were heard of him, the second son set out, and the same thing happened to him. He met the fox, who gave him the same good advice : but when he came to the two inns, his eldest brother was standing at the window where the merrymaking was, and called to him to come in ; and he could not withstand the temp- tation, but went in, and forgot the golden bird and his country in the same manner. Time passed on again, and the youngest son, too, wished to set out into the wide world to seek for the golden bird ; but his father would not hear of it for a long while, for he was very fond of his son, and was afraid that some ill luck might happen to him also, and prevent his com- ing back. However, at last it was agreed he should go, for he would not rest at home ; and as he came to the wood, he met the fox, and heard the same good counsel. But he was thankful to the fox, and did not attempt his life as his broth- ers had done ; so the fox said, " Sit upon my tail, and you will travel faster." So he sat down, and the fox began to run, and away they went over stock and stone so quick that their hair whistled in the wind. When they came to the village, the son fol- lowed the fox's counsel, and without looking about him went to the shabby inn and rested there all night at his ease. In the morning came the fox again and met him as he was beginning his journey, and said, "Go straight forward, till you come to a castle, before which lie a whole troop of soldiers fast asleep and snoring : take no notice of them, but go into the castle and pass on and on till you come to a room, where the golden bird sits in a wooden cage; close by it stands a beautiful golden cage ; but do not try to take the bird out of the shabby cage and put it into the handsome one, otherwise you will repent it." Then the fox stretched out his tail again, and the young man sat himself down, and away 62 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled in the wind. Before the castle gate all was as the fox had said : so the son went in and found the chamber where the golden bird hung in a wooden cage, and below stood a golden cage, and the three golden apples that had been lost were lying close by it. Then thought he to himself, " It will be a very droll thing to bring away such a fine bird in this shabby cage ; " so he opened the door and took hold of it and put it into the golden cage. But the bird set up such a loud scream that all the soldiers awoke, and they took him prisoner and carried him before the king. The next morning the court sat to judge him ; and when all was heard, it sentenced him to die, unless he should bring the king the golden horse which could run as swiftly as the wind ; and if he did this, he was to have the golden bird given him for his own. So he set out once more on his journey, sigh- ing, and in great despair, when on a sudden his good friend the fox met him, and said, " You see now what has happened on account of your not listening to my counsel. I will still, however, tell you how to find the golden horse, if you will do as I bid you. You must go straight on till you come to the castle where the horse stands in his stall : by his side will lie the groom fast asleep and snor- ing : take away the horse quietly, but be sure to put the old leathern saddle upon him, and not the golden one that is close by." Then the son sat down on the fox's tail, and away they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled in the wind. All went right, and the groom lay snoring with his hand upon the golden saddle. But when the son looked at the horse, he thought it a great pity to put the leathern saddle upon him. " I will give him the good one," said he ; " I am sure he deserves it." As he took up the golden saddle, however, the groom awoke and cried out so loud that all the guai'ds ran in and took him prisoner, and in the morning he was again brought be- fore the court to be judged, and was sentenced to die. But it was agreed, that, if he could bring hither the beautiful princess, he should live, and have the bird and the horse given him for his own. Then he went his way again very sorrowful ; but the old fox came and said, " Why did not you listen to me ? If you had, you would have carried away both the bird and the horse ; yet will I once more give you counsel. Go straight on, and in the evening you will arrive at a castle. At twelve o'clock at night the princess goes to the bathing-house : go up to her and give her a kiss, and she will let you lead her away ; but take care you do not suffer her to go and take leave of her father and mother." Then the fox stretched out his tail, and so away they went over stock and stone till their hair whistled again. As they came to the castle all was as the fox had said, and at twelve o'clock the young man met the princess going to the bath and gave her a kiss, and she agreed to run away with him, but begged with many tears that he would let her take leave of her father. At first he refused, but she wept still more and more, and fell at his feet, till at last he consented ; but the moment she came to her father's house the guards awoke and he was taken prisoner again. Then he was brought before the king, and the king said, " You shall never have my daughter unless in eight days you dig away the hill that stops the view from my window." Now this hill was so big that the whole world could not take it away : and when he had worked for seven days, and had done very little, the fox came and said, " Lie down and go to sleep ; I will work for you." And in the morning he awoke and the hill was gone ; so he went merrily to the king, and told him that now it was removed he must give him the princess. Then the king was obliged to keep his word, and away went the young man and the princess ; and the fox came and said to him, " We will have all three, the princess, the horse, and the bird." " Ah ! " said the young man, " that would be a great thing, but how can you contrive it ? " THE GOLDEN BIRD. 63 " If you will only listen," said the fox, " it can soon be done. When you come to the king, and he asks for the beautiful princess, you must say, 'Here she is!' Then he will be very joyful; and you will mount the golden horse that they are to give you, and put out your hand to take leave of them ; but shake hands with the princess last. Then lift her quickly on to the horse behind you ; clap your spurs to his side, and gallop away as fast as you can." All went right : then the fox said, " When you come to the castle where the bird is, I will stay with the princess at the door, and you will ride in and speak to the king ; and when he sees that it is the right horse, he will bring out the bird ; but you must sit still, and say that you want to look at it, to see whether it is the true golden bird ; and when you get it into your hand, ride away." This, too, happened as the fox said ; they car- ried off the bird, the princess mounted again, and they rode on to a great wood. Then the fox came, and said, " Pray kill me, and cut off my head and my feet." But the young man refused to do it : so the fox said, " I will at any rate give you good counsel : beware of two things ; ransom no one from the gallows, and sit down by the side of no river." Then away he went. " Well," thought the young man, " it is no hard matter to keep that advice." He rode on with the princess, till at last he came to the village where he had left his two brothers. And there he heard a great noise and uproar ; and when he asked what was the mat- ter, the people said, " Two men are going to be hanged." As he came nearer, he saw that the two men were his brothers, who had turned rob- befs ; so he said, " Cannot they in any way be saved?" But the people said "No," unless he would bestow all his money upon the rascals and buy their liberty. Then he did not stay to think about the matter, but paid what was asked, and his brothers were given up, and went on with him towards their home. As they came to the wood where the fox first met them, it was so cool and pleasant that the two brothers said, " Let us sit down by the side of the river, and rest a white, to eat and drink." So he said, "Yes," and forgot the fox's counsel, and sat down by the side of the river ; and while he suspected nothing they came behind, and threw him down the bank, and took the princess, the horse, and the bird, and went home to the king their master, and said, " All this have we won by our labor." Then there was great rejoicing made ; but the horse would not eat, the bird would not sing, and the princess wept. The youngest son fell to the bottom of the riv- er's bed ; luckily it was nearly dry, but his bones were almost broken, and the bank was so steep that he could find no way to get out. Then the old fox came once more, and scolded him for not following his advice ; otherwise no evil would have befallen him: "Yet," said he, "I cannot leave you here, so lay hold of my tail and hold fast." Then he pulled him out of the river, and said to him, as he got upon the bank, " Your brothers have set watch to kill yon, if they find you in the kingdom." So he dressed himself as a poor man, and came secretly to the king's court, and was scarcely within the doors when the horse began to eat, and the bird to sing, and the princess left off weeping. Then he went to the king, and told him all his brothers' roguery ; and they were seized and punished, and he had the princess given to him again ; and after the king's death he was heir to his kingdom. A long while after he went to walk one day in the wood, and the old fox met him, and besought him with tears in his eyes to kill him, and cut off his head and feet. At last he did so, and in a moment the fox was changed into a man, and turned out to be the brother of the princess, who had been lost a great many years. 64 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. RIQUET WITH THE TUFT. ONCE upon a time there lived a queen who had the misfortune to have a child extremely ill-formed and ill-looking, though a fairy assured her that the child would have great good sense, and would be very amiable ; besides, this good fairy then and there gave the little thing a great gift : he should have the power to give equally good sense to whomever he loved best. But all this hardly comforted the queen, who was distressed at having such a very homely child, and was scarcely pleased when he began, as soon as he could speak, to say the most charming things and to act with the most admirable cleverness. I had forgotten to say that he was born with a little tuft of hair on his head, which got him the name of Riquet with the Tuft, for Riquet was the family name. About seven or eight years after Riquet with the Tuft was born, the queen of a neighboring king- dom had twin daughters. When the first of the twins came into the world she was so exceedingly fair that the mother was in the greatest excite- ment of joy, and the good fairy who stood by, and who was the one present when Riquet with the Tuft was born, was forced to tell her that the child, for all she was so fair, would be very, very dull, yes, as stupid as she was beautiful. Then came the second of the twins, and she was just as ugly as the first was lovely, and the fairy again tried to help the queen by the assurance that this child would be so sensible that no one would no- tice her lack of beauty. " Heaven send it may be so ! " said the poor queen, " but is there no way of giving sense to the other, who is so beautiful?" " I can do nothing of that sort with her," re- plied the fairy, "but she shall have the gift of making beautiful the person who shall please her. That is all I can do." As the two princesses grew up, their perfections grew with them, and nothing was talked of but the beauty of the elder and the good sense of the younger. To be sure their defects grew too. The younger grew uglier, and the elder more stupid. She either made no answer when she was spoken to. or she said something foolish. Then she was so awkward that she could not place tour dishes on the shelf without breaking one, nor drink a glass of water without spilling some on her dress, and in spite of her beauty she saw that people be- gan to desert her for her sister. At first they flocked about her because she was so lovely to look upon, but little by little they left her and gathered about her sister, because she was so witty and en- tertaining. The elder would have given all she possessed for half her sister's good sense. Even the queen could not help reproaching the poor girl for her stupidity, and this made her exceedingly melancholy. One day the beautiful and stupid princess was walking alone in a wood, bewailing her fate, when she met a little man, dressed very finely, but with a most disagreeable face. It was Riquet with the Tuft, who had seen the princess's portrait, and was so fascinated by it that he had left his father's kingdom to see if he could find this marvelously beautiful girl. He knew her at once and addressed her with the greatest respect and courtesy. He noticed how melancholy she was, and presently said : " I cannot imagine how one so beautiful as you are can be sad. In all my life, and I have trav- eled far and wide, I never have seen so beautiful a woman." "You are very good to say so," said the prin- cess, and then stopped. " Beauty," continued Riquet, seriously, " is so great a gift that nothing can be compared with it, and one who has it can surely be distressed by nothing." " Very fine," said the princess, " but I would rather be as ugly as ugly as you are, and have good sense, than be as beautiful as I am and be stupid." "There is no greater proof of good sense," said R1QUET WITH THE TUFT. 65 Riquet with the Tuft, bowing low, u than the be-" lief that we are without it. It is the nature of that gift that the more we have the more sensible we are of what we lack." " I do not know how that may be," cried the princess, " I only know that I am very stupid, and that is what is killing me." " If that is all that troubles you," said Riquet, " I can easily put an end to your sorrow." "And how?" ' I have the power to give as much wit as any one can possess to the person I love the most. You are the one I love, princess, and if you will only promise to marry me you shall have the greatest good sense and wit." The princess stood stock still with astonish- ment. " I see," said Riquet, " that my offer pains you. 1 am not surprised, but do not hurry. I will give you a year to think of it." The princess had so little sense and wanted so much, and a year seemed so very long to wait, that she said in a moment that she Avould accept him. No sooner had she promised to marry Riquet in a twelvemonth than she felt herself to be quite another person. She heard herself talking with the utmost sprightli- ness, and saying the most sensible things with the greatest ease. Indeed, she talked with so much brilliancy and good nature, that Riquet began to think he had given her more wit than he had kept for himself. She returned alone to the palace, and the whole court speedily discovered that she had been singu- larly changed. Everybody was puzzled to account for hen She said as many bright and sensible things now as before she had said stupid and ri- diculous ones. But whatever had caused the change, every one was charmed, every one, that is, except her younger sister, who had now lost the only advantage she had. People all flocked about the princess who was both witty and handsome. Even the king consulted her judg- ment, and used to hold his councils of state in her chamber. Her fame spread abroad and the princes in the neighborhood all wished to marry 9 her, but now not one of them seemed to her half wise enough. At length there came a prince who was rich, witty, and handsome, and she looked upon him with more favor than on any of the others. Her father, seeing this, called her to himself and told her that he had perfect confidence in her judgment, and he should leave her to choose entirely for her- self. As the more sense we have the more diffi- cult we find it to make up our minds definitely in such cases, she requested, after thanking her father, that he would give her some time to think it over, and then, wishing to be by herself, she went to walk in the wood. It was the same wood where she had met Riquet with the Tuft, and as she walked, thinking hard, she heard a dull sound beneath her feet as of many people running about busily under ground. She stopped to listen, and heard some one say, " Bring me that saucepan," and again, " Give me that kettle/' and " Put some v\*ood on the fire." At that the ground opened, and she saw beneath her what appeared to be a large kitchen, full of cooks, scullions, and all kinds of servants, making ready a great banquet. A band of twenty or thirty cooks came forward and placed themselves at a table, where they set to work preparing dainties, and singing over their work. The princess, very much astonished, in- quired of them for whom they were working so merrily. " Madam," replied one, " for Prince Riquet with the Tuft, who is to be married to-morrow." All at once the princess remembered that to-morrow was the very end of the year when she had promised to marry Riquet. The reason why she had for- gotten this before was that when she made the promise she was a fool, and as soon as she became wise she forgot all her follies. She was lost in amazement and was moving forward when Riquet with the Tuft suddenly appeared, gayly dressed, and with all the air of a man about to be mar- ried. " I have kept my word, princess, as you see," he said, " and I doubt not that you have kept yours and will marry me to-morrow." 66 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. " Prince," said the princess frankly/' I must confess that I had not intended to marry you, and fear I cannot." " You surprise me very much." " No doubt, and I should be disturbed about it if I were dealing with a dull person instead of one with your excellent good sense. You must yourself see that I cannot do what I promised to do when I was a fool. You should not have given me so much sense." " If I were a fool I might be persuaded by you, princess, but being a man of sense I see that you are taking away all the happiness of my life. Tell me frankly, is there anything in me that you complain of besides my ugliness ? I know I am ugly, but do you object to my birth, my temper, my manners or any my good sense ? " " No, truly," replied the princess, " I like every- thing about you, except except your looks." " Then I need not lose my happiness; for if I have the gift of making clever whomever I love best, you are able to make the person you pre- fer as handsome as ever you please. Could you not love me enough to do that ? " " Oh, I did not know that before ! " cried the princess. " With all my heart ! " and she wished eagerly that he might become the handsomest man in the world. No sooner had she uttered this wish than Riquet stood before her eyes the finest, most charming man she had ever seen. And so they were married, and Riquet thought the prin- cess the most sensible and agreeable companion in the world, while the princess looked upon Riquet as the noblest and most commanding man. THE NOSE. DID you ever hear the story of the three poor soldiers, who, after having fought hard in the wars, set out on their road home, begging their way as they went ? They had journeyed on a long way, sick at heart with their bad luck at thus being turned loose on the world in their old days, when one evening they reached a deep gloomy wood through which they must pass ; night came fast upon them, and they found that they must, however unwill- ingly, sleep in the wood ; so to make all as safe as they could, it was agreed that two should lie down and sleep, while a third sat up and watched lest wild beasts should break in and tear them to pieces ; when he was tired lie was to wake one of the others and sleep in his turn, and so on with the third, that they might share the work fairly among them. The two who were to rest first soon lay down and fell fast asleep, and the other made himself a good fire under the trees and sat down by the side to keep watch. He had not sat long before all on a sudden up came a little man in a red jacket. " Who 's there? " said he. " A friend," said the soldier. " What sort of a friend ? " " An old broken soldier," said the other, " with his two comrades who have nothing left to live on ; come, sit down and warm yourself." " Well, my worthy fellow," said the little man, " I will do what I can for you ; take this and show it to your comrades in the morning." So he took out an old cloak and gave it to the soldier, telling him that when- ever he put it over his shoulders anything that he wished for would be fulfilled ; then the little man made him a bow and walked away. The second soldier's turn to watch soon came, and the first laid himself clown to sleep ; but the second man had not sat by himself long before up came the little man in the red jacket again. The soldier treated him in a friendly way as his com- rade had done, and the little man gave him for his part a purse, which he told him was always full of gold, let him draw as much as he would from it. Then the third soldier's turn to watch came, and he also had the little man for his guest, who gave him a wonderful horn that drew crowds around it whenever it was played ; and made THE NOSE. 67 every one furget his business to come and dance to its beautiful music. In the morning each told his story and showed his treasure ; and as they all liked each other very much and were old friends, they agreed to travel together to see the world, and for a while only to make use of the wonderful purse. And thus they spent their time very joyously, till at last they began to be tired of this roving life, and thought they should like to have a home of their own. So the first soldier put his old cloak on, and wished for a fine castle. In a moment it stood before their eyes ; fine gardens and green lawns spread round it, and flocks of sheep and goats and herds of oxen were grazing about, and out of the gate came a fine coach with three dapple gray horses to meet them and bring them home. All this was very well for a time ; but it would not do to stay at home always, so they got to- gether all their rich clothes and trappings and serv- ants, and ordered their coach with three horses, and set out on a journey to see a neighboring king. Now this king had an only daughter, and as he took the three soldiers for kings' sons, he gave them a kind welcome. One day, as the second soldier was walking with the princess, she saw him with the wonderful purse in his hand ; and having asked him what it was, he was foolish enough to tell her ; though, indeed, it did not not much signify, for she was a witch and knew all the wonderful things that the three soldiers brought. Now this princess was very cunning and artful ; so she set to work and made a purse so like the soldier's that no one would know one from the other, and then asked him to come and see her, and mad.e him drink some wine that she had got ready for him, till he fell fast asleep. Then she felt in his pocket, and took away the wonderful purse and left the one she had made in its place. The next morning the soldiers set out for home, and soon after they reached their castle, happen- ing to want some money, they went to their purse for it, and found something indeed in it, but to their great sorrow when they had emptied it none came in the place of what they took. Then the cheat was soon found out: for the second soldier knew where he had been, and how he had told the story to the princess, and he guessed that she had betrayed him. " Alas ! " cried he, " poor wretches that we are, what shall we do ? " " Oh ! " said the first soldier, " let no gray hairs grow for this mishap ; I will soon get the purse back." So he threw his cloak across his shoulders and wished himself in the princess's chamber. There he found her sitting alone, telling her gold that fell around her in a shower from the purse. But the soldier stood looking at her too long, for the moment she saw him she started up and cried out with all her force, " Thieves ! Thieves ! " so that the whole court came running in and tried to seize him. The poor soldier now began to be dreadfully frightened in his turn, and thought it was high time to make the best of his way off ; so, without thinking of the ready way of traveling that his cloak gave him, he ran to the window, opened it, and jumped out ; and unluckily in his haste his cloak caught and was left hanging, to the great joy of the princess, who knew its worth. The poor soldier made the best of his way home to his comrades, on foot and in a very downcast mood ; but the third soldier told him to keep up his heart, and took his horn and blew a merry tune. At the first blast a countless troop of foot and horse came rushing to their aid, and they set out to make war against their enemy. Then the king's palace was besieged, and he was told that he must give up the purse and cloak, or that not one stone should be left upon another. And the king went into his daughter's chamber and talked with her ; but she said, " Let me try first if I cannot beat them some other way." So she thought of a cunning scheme to overreach them, and dressing herself as a poor girl with a basket on her arm set out by night with her maid, and went into the enemy's camp as if she wanted to sell trinkets. In the morning she began to ramble about, singing ballads so beautifully that all the tents were left empty, and the soldiers ran round in 68 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. crowds and thought of nothing but hearing her sing. Amongst the rest came the soldier to whom the horn belonged, and as soon as she saw him she winked to her maid, who slipped slily through the crowd and went into his tent where the horn hung, and stole it away. This done, they both got safely back to the palace ; the besieging army went away, the three wonderful gifts were all left in the hands of the princess, and the three soldiers were as penniless and forlorn as when the little man with the red jacket found them in the wood. Poor fellows ! they began to think what was now to be done. " Comrades," at last said the second soldier, who had had the purse, " we had better part< we cannot live together, let each seek his bread as well as he can." So he turned to the right, and the other two to the left ; for they said they would rather travel together. Then on he strayed till he came to a wood (now this was the same wood where they had met with so much good luck before) ; and he walked on a long time till evening began to fall, when he sat down tired beneath a tree, and soon fell asleep. Morning dawned, and he was greatly delighted, at opening his eyes, to see that the tree was laden with the most beautiful apples. He was hungry enough, so he soon plucked and ate first one, then a second, then a third apple. A strange feeling came over his nose : when he put the ap- ple to his mouth something was in the -way; he felt it ; it was his nose, that grew and grew till it hung down to his breast. It did not stop there, still it grew and grew ; " Heavens ! " thought he, "when will it have done growing?" And well might he ask, for by this time it reached the ground as he sat on the grass, and thus it kept creeping on till he could not bear its weight, or raise himself up; and it seemed as if it would never end, for already it stretched its enormous length all through the wood. Meantime his comrades were journeying on, till on a sudden one of them stumbled against some- thing. " What can that be ? " said the other. They looked, and could think of nothing that it was like but a nose. " We will follow it and find its owner, however," said they ; so they traced it till at last they found their poor comrade lying stretched along under the apple-tree. What was to be done ? They tried to carry him, but in vain. They caught an ass that was passing by, and raised him upon its back ; but it was soon tired of carrying such a load. So they sat down in de- spair, when up came the little man in the red jacket. " Why, how now, friend? " said he, laugh- ing ; "well, I must find a cure for you, I see." So he told them to gather a pear from a tree that grew close by, and the nose would come right again. No time was lost, and the nose was soon brought to its proper size, to the poor soldier's joy. " I will do something more for you yet," said the little man ; " take some of those pears and apples with you ; whoever eats one of the ap- ples will have his nose grow like yours just now; but if you give him a pear, all will come right again. Go to the princess and get her to eat some of your apples ; her nose will grow twenty times as long as yours did ; then look sharp, and you will get what you want of her." HOP- O '-MY- THUMB. 69 Then they thanked their old friend very heartily for all his kindness, and it was agreed that the poor soldier who had already tried the power of of the apple should undertake the task. So he dressed himself up as a gardener's boy, and went to the king's palace, and said he had apples to sell, such as were never seen there before. Every one that saw them was delighted and wanted to taste, but he said they were only for the princess ; and she soon sent her maid to buy his stock. They were so ripe and rosy that she soon began eating, and had already eaten three, when she, too, began to wonder what was the matter with her nose, for it grew and grew, down to the ground, out at the window, and over the garden, nobody knows where. Then the king made known to all his kingdom, that whoever would heal her of this dreadful dis- ease should be richly rewarded. Many tried, but the princess got no relief. And now the old sol- dier dressed himself very sprucely as a doctor, who said he could cure her; so he chopped up some of the apple, and to punish her a little more gave her a dose, saying he would call to-morrow and see her again. The morrow came, and of course, instead of being better, the nose had been growing fast all night, and the poor princess was in a dreadful fright. So the doctor chopped up a very little of the pear and gave her, and said he was sure that would do good, and he would call again the next day. Next day came, and the nose was, to be sure, a little smaller, but yet it was bigger than it was when the doctor first be- gan to meddle with it. Then he thought to himself, " I must frighten this cunning princess a little more before I shall get what I want of her ; " so he gave her another dose of the apple, and said he would call on the morrow. The morrow came, and the nose was ten times as bad as before. "My good lady," said the doctor, " something works against my medicine, and is too strong for it ; but I know by the force of my art what it is ; you have stolen goods about you, I am sure, and if you do not give them back, I can do nothing for you." But the princess de- nied very stoutly that she had anything of the kind. "Very well," said the doctor, "you may do as you please, but I am sure I am right, and you will die if you do not own it." Then he went to the king, and told him how the matter stood. "Daughter," said he, "send back the cloak, the purse, and the horn, that you stole from the right owners." Then she ordered her maid to fetch all three, and gave them to the doctor, and begged him to give them back to the soldiers ; and the moment he had them safe he gave her a whole pear to eat, and the nose came right. And as for the doctor, he put on the cloak, wished the king and all his court a good day, and was in a short time with his two friends, who lived from that time happily at home in their palace, except when they took airings in their coach with the three dapple gray horses. HOP-O-MY-THUMB. THERE was once a wood-cutter and his wife who had seven children, all boys. The eldest was only ten years old, the youngest but seven, and they were thus a burden to their poor parents, for they could as yet do nothing to earn their living. The youngest of all was very delicate, and spoke so seldom that his parents thought him dull, when really he had very good sense. He was so very little when he was born, ssarcely bigger than one's thumb, that he got the name, " Hop-o*-my- Thumb." The little fellow had to take the blame of everything that went wrong. Yet he was the most sensible of all the children, for he was listen- ing when the rest were speaking. There came a very bad harvest, and there was great scarcity of food, so that these poor people determined that they must get rid of their children. One evening, when they were all in bed, the wood-cutter was 70 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. sitting close to the fire with his wife, and said to her with an aching heart : " Thou seest plainly that Ave can no longer find food for ourchil- n ; ; dren. I cannot see them die of hunger, and I am resolved to lose them to- morrow in the wood, which can easily be done, for while they are busy tying up the fagots we can slip away and leave the in." Ah ! " ex- claimed his wife, " hast thou the heart to lose thy own children ? " Her husband begged her to remember how very poor they were ; she would not consent ; she was poor, but she was their moth- er. Then he bade her think how she must see them die of hunger, and so at length she as- sented and went weeping to bed. Now Hop-o'-my- Thumb had heard every- i: tfea thing that was said; for being in bed and hearing them talk, he had stolen quietly to his father's stool and sat under it where he could listen with- out being seen. He went to bed again, but he could not sleep a wink all night, so busy was he thinking what he should do. He rose early and went to the banks of a brook near by, where . i ; lie filled his pockets with small white peb- bles, and then returned home. The family all set out together as usual, but Hop-o'-my- T h u m b said nothing to his brothers of what he had heard. They entered a very thick for- est, so dense that one need go but a few steps to be lost. The wood-cutter be- gan to cut wood and the chil- dren to gather the sticks into bundles of fag- ots. The father and m o t h e r, when they saw them busily en- gage d, stole away gradually and then fled suddenly by a small, winding path. Presently the children found them- selves alone and began to cry with fear. Hop-o'-my-Thumb alone had no tears, for he knew the way home. As they came, he had dropped all along the road the little white pebbles which he had brought in his pocket. HOP- 0--MF- THUMB. 71 "Fear not, brothers," he said, "our father and mother have left us here, but I will lead you safely home. Only follow me." Thereupon he led them back to the house by the same road that they had taken into the forest. They feared to enter im- mediately, but placed themselves close by the door to hear what their father and mother might be saying. Now, just as the wood-cutter and his wife reached home, the lord of the manor sent them ten crowns, which he had been owing them a long time, and they had given up all hopes of ever get- ting. They were ready to starve but for this, and the wood-cutter sent his wife quickly to the butch- er's to buy some meat. As it was many a day since they had tasted meat, she bought three times as much as two persons could need. When they had eaten and were satisfied, the thought of her poor children rushed back upon her, and the wood- cutter's wife cried, " Alas ! where now are our poor children ? There is enough here and to spare. It was thou, husband, that wouldst lose them. Did I not say we should repent it? What are they now doing in the forest? Alas! perhaps the wolves have already devoured them ! Thou hast destroyed my children ! " She said this twenty times over, until the wood- cutter became exceedingly impatient, and threat- ened to beat her if she did not hold her tongue. But the more angry he was the more she re- proached him. She wept bitterly and cried out loudly, " Alas ! where are now my children, my poor children ? " The children who were close by the door heard this, and began to call out eagerly, " Here we are ! here we are ! " She ran quickly to open the door, and threw her arms about them, exclaiming, " O my dear children, how happy I am to see you again. How tired and hungry you must be ! and Peter, how dirty you are. Come and let me wash you." Peter was the eldest of the children, and the one she loved most. They sat down to supper, and ate eagerly with an appetite that de- lighted their father and mother. They began all to speak at once, and to tell how frightened they were in the forest, and how glad to find their way home again. The good people were overjoyed at getting their dear children back, and so long as the ten crowns lasted they were all happy together; but at length the money was spent and they were once more in despair ; and now the wood-cutter and his wife determined to lead their children far- ther still from home, so as to lose them alto- gether. They could not talk of this so privately but that Hop-o'-my-Thumb overheard them, and trusted to do as he had done before. But though he got up very early to collect the little pebbles, he could not get out of the house, for the door was double- locked. He knew not what to do when the wood- cutter's wife gave them each their last piece of bread for breakfast, when he suddenly thought of using crumbs of his bread instead of pebbles, and so he put his piece in his pocket. His father and mother led them into the thickest and darkest part of the wood, and then finding a by-path, slipped away from them unnoticed, as before. Hop-o'- my-Thumb was not much troubled by this, for he thought he should easilv lead his brothers back by V V means of the crumbs which he had dropped along the way. But when he came to look not a crumb was to be seen. The birds had eaten it all ! Then were the children in distress. The more they wandered the deeper they plunged into the forest. Night came on and the wind began to howl, so that they fancied wolves were all about them. They huddled close together, scarcely dar- ing (o speak. Then it began to rain heavily and they were drenched to the skin. They slipped about in the mud and scrambled out of pits, tired and dirty. Hop-o'-my-Thumb climbed a tree to see if he could make out anything from the top of it, and looking all about he saw a little light like that of a candle, but it was far away on the other side of the forest. He came down again and then could not see the light from the ground; but lie knew the direction in which it was, and they all walked toward where they supposed it to be, and 72 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. at length, coining out of the woods, they saw the light and presently came to the house where it was. They knocked at the door, and a good woman came to open it. She asked them what they wanted. Hop-o'-my-Thumb told her they were poor children who had lost their way in the forest, and begged a night's lodging for charity. The woman, seeing they were all so pretty, began to weep and said, " Alas ! my poor children, do you know to what you have come ? This is the house of an ogre who eats little boys ! " "Alas! Madam," answered Hop-o'-my-Thumb, trembling from head to foot as his brothers did, " what shall we do ? If we stay in the forest the wolves will devour us before the morning. We had rather be eaten by the gentleman ; perhaps he may have pity upon us if you but ask him." The ogre's wife, for so she was, was a kind- hearted woman, and" fancied she could hide them from her husband till the next morning, so she brought them into the house, and led them to a fine fire where a whole sheep was on the spit, -roast- ing for the ogre's supper. Just as they were be- ginning to get warm, they heard two or three loud knocks at the door. It was the ogre, who had come home. His wife immediately made the chil- dren hide under the bed, and went to open the door. The ogre asked at once if his supper was ready, and if she had drawn the wine, and with that he sat down to his meal. The mutton was all but raw, but he liked it the better for that. He began to sniff right and left and said that he smelt fresh meat. "It must be the calf I have just skinned that you smell," said his wife. " I smell fresh meat, I tell you again," replied the ogre looking sharply at his wife. " There is something here that I don't understand." Saying this he rose from the table and went straight to the bed. "Ah!" he exclaimed," "thou art de- ceiving me, wretched woman ! I know not what hinders me from eating thee also, except that thou art old and tough. Here is some game which comes in good time for me to entertain three ogres of my acquaintance, who are coming to see me in a day or two." He dragged the children from under the bed one after the other. They fell on their knees begging for mercy, but he was the most cruel of ogres, who felt no pity for them but devoured them already with his eyes, and said to his wife that they would be daiuty bits when she had made a good sauce for them. He went to fetch a great knife, and as he returned to the poor children, he whetted it on a long stone which he held in his left hand. He had already seized one, when his wife said to him. " Why do you do it at this hour of the night ? Will it not be time enough to-morrow ? " " Hold thy peace," replied the ogre, " they will be all the more tender." "But you have already so much on hand," she persisted. " Here, is a calf, two sheep, and half a Pig." " Thou art right," said the Ogre. " Give them a good supper, that they may not fall away, and put them to bed." The good woman was greatly rejoiced and brought the children plenty for sup- per, but they could eat nothing, so terrified were they. As for the ogre, he seated himself to drink again, much pleased to think that he had such a feast in store for his friends, and drained a dozen goblets more than usual, so that his head began to ache, and he went to bed. The ogre had seven daughters, who were still very young. They had the most beautiful com- plexions, in consequence of their eating raw flesh like their father, but they had very small round gray eyes, hooked noses, and very large mouths with long teeth, exceedingly sharp and wide apart. They were not very vicious, as yet, but they showed that they would be, for they had already begun to bite little boys. They had been sent to bed early, and were all seven in a large bed, each wearing a crown of gold on her head. In the same room was another bed just as large. Into this the ogre's wife put the seven little boys to sleep, while she went off to her husband. Hop-o-my-Thumb had noticed that the ogre's daughters all wore golden crowns on their heads, HOP- O'-MF- THUMB. 73 and in the middle of the night, fearing that the ogre might come up in the dark and dispatch them, he got up, took off the night-caps from his and his brothers' heads and went very softly to the bed where the little ogresses were sleeping ; then he removed their golden crowns and put on their heads the night-caps, after which he put the crowns on his brothers' heads and his own, and crept into bed again. Matters turned out just as he had expected. The ogre grew impatient and could not wait for morning to come. He jumped out of bed, and seizing his great knife, said, "Let us go and see how our young rogues are now ; we won't m a k e two bites at a cherry." So he stole on tiptoe up to the chamber, and came to the bed where the little boys 1 a y, who were all asleep except Hop-o'-my-Thumb. He was dread- fully frightened when the ogre placed his hand upon his head to feel it, as he had in turn felt those of all his brothers. The ogre, who felt the golden crowns, was puzzled. " Truly," said he," I was about to do a pretty job. I must have drank too much last night. 10 GidH-t o^rc m liis Seven HOJJ o'myTlumib fcliis Broker S ( wTo Hide J He then went to the bed where his daughters slept, and passing his hand over their heads, felt the little night-caps. "Aha!" he cried, "Here are our young Avags. Let us to work at once." So saying, he immediately cut the throats of his seven daughters, and then wiping his knife with satisfaction, went back to bed again. As soon as Hop- o'-m y-Th u m b heard the ogre snoring, he woke his brothers, and bade them dress themselves quick- ly and follow him. They went down softly into the garden and jumped over the wall. They ran all the rest of the night in fear and trembling, not knowing w hither they should flee. The ogre, on awaking in the morning, said to his wife, " Get up-stairs and dress the little rogues you took in last night." She was much astonished at the kindness of her husband, not suspecting the sort of dressing he meant, and supposing he had ordered her to go and put their clothes on them. She went up-stairs quickly, and there she saw their seven daughters all dead in their beds. She fainted away at the sight, and the ogre, waiting and wondering why his wife 74 THE BOOK OF WONDERS. did not come, went up-stairs to see what was the matter. " Ha ! what have I done ! " he exclaimed. " But these wretches shall pay for it speedily." He threw a basin of water in his wife's face to revive her and said, " Quick ! get me my seven- league boots that I may go and catch them ! " He set out, and after running in every direction came at last upon the track of the poor children, who were not above a hundred yards from their father's house. They saw the ogre striding from hill to hill, and stepping over livers as easily as if they were brooks. Hop-o'-my-Thumb discover- ing a hollow rock close by where they were, bade his brothers hide in it, while he crept in after- ward and kept watch at the entrance. The ogre by this time was very tired, for seven-league boots are fatiguing to the wearer, and sat down to rest upon the very rock in which the little boys had hidden themselves. There he fell sound asleep, and began to snore so dreadfully that the children were quite as frightened as when they were in his house. Hop-o'-my-Thumb whispered to his brothers to run quickly into their house and not be uneasy about him. They did as he told them, and were soon in the wood-cutter's home. Then Hop-o'-my- Thumb, when he saw them safely housed, stole up to the ogre, pulled off his boots, and got into them himself. The boots, to fit the Ogre, were very large and very long, but being fairy boots they had the knack of exactly fitting every leg they were put on, so they were just the right size for Hop-o'-my-Thumb. He went straight to the ogre's house, where he found the ogre's wife weeping bitterly over her daughters. " Your husband," said he, u is in great danger, for he has been seized by a band of robbers who threaten to kill him if he does not give them all his gold and silver. At the moment they had their daggers at his throat, he discovered me, and begged me to come and tell you the plight he was in, and to give me all the money he had, else they would kill him without mercy. He bade me wear his seven-league boots, which you see I have on, that I might make haste, and that you might know I was not imposing on you." The good woman, very much alarmed, imme- diately gave him all the money there was in the house, for the ogre was a good husband to her in spite of his temper and his fondness for little boys. So Hop-o'-rny-Thumb, laden with treasures, hast- ened back to his father's house, where they lived ever after happily together. As for the ogre, he had grown so heavy that he could not get about without his seven-league boots, so there he lay in the sun and the crows came after he died and picked all the skin off his bones. A FEW SONGS. LITTLE BIRDIE. WHAT does little birdie say In her nest at peep of day ? " Let me fly," says little birdie, " Mother, let me fly away." " Birdie, rest a little longer, Till the. little wings are stronger." So she rests a little longer, Then she flies away. What does little baby say In her bed at peep of day ? Baby says, like little birdie, " Let me rise, and fly away." " Baby, sleep a little longer, Till the little limbs are stronger. If she sleeps a little longer, Baby too shall fly away." ALFRED TENNYSON. THE LAMB. LITTLE lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee, Gave thee life, and made thee feed By the stream and o'er the mead ? Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, woolly, bright ? Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice ? Little lamb, who made thee ? Dost thou know who made thee ? Little lamb, I '11 tell thee ; Little lamb, I '11 tell thee : He is called by thy name, For He calls Himself a lamb. He is meek, and He is mild ; He became a little child : I a child, and thou a lamb, We are called by His name. Little lamb, God bless thee ! Little lamb, God bless thee ! WILLIAM BLAKE. THE CHILD'S DESIRE. I THINK, as I read that sweet story of old, When Jesus was here among men, Plow He called little children as lambs to His fold, I should like to have been with them then. I wish that His hands had been placed on my head, That His arms had been thrown around me, And that I might have seen His kind look when He said, " Let the little ones come unto me." But still to His footstool in prayer I may go, And ask for a share in His love : And if I thus earnestly seek Him below, I shall see Him and hear Him above, In that beautiful place He has gone to prepare For all that are washed and forgiven ; And many dear children are gathering there, " For of such is the kingdom of heaven." JEMIMA LUKE. THE LITTLE DOVES. HIGH on the top of an old pine-tree Broods a mother-dove with her young ones three. Warm over them is her soft, downy breast, And they sing so sweetly in their nest. " Coo," say the little ones, " Coo," says she, All in their nest on the old pine-tree. 76 A FEW SONGS. Soundly they sleep through the moonshiny night, Each young one covered and tucked in tight ; Morn wakes them up with the first blush of light, And they sing to each other with all their might. " Coo," say the little ones, " Coo," says she, All in their nest on the old pine-tree. When in the nest they are all left alone, While their mother far for their dinner has flown, Quiet and gentle they all remain, Till their mother they see come home again. Then " Coo," say the little ones, " Coo," says she, All in their nest on the old pine-tree, When they are fed by their tender mother, One never will push nor crowd another : Each opens widely his own little bill, And he patiently waits, and gets his fill. Then, " Coo," say the little ones, " Coo," says she, All in their nest on the old pine-tree. Wisely the mother begins by and by To make her young ones learn to fly ; Just for a little way over the brink, Then back to the nest as quick as a wink. And " Coo," say the little ones, " Coo," says she, All in their nest on the old pine-tree. Fast grow the young ones, day and night, Till their wings are plumed for a longer flight ; Till unto them at the last draws nigh The time when they all must say " Good-by." Then " Coo," say the little ones, " Coo," says she, And away they fly from the old pine-tree. CAROLS, HYMNS, AND SONGS. PRETTY COW. THANK you, pretty cow, that made Pleasant milk to soak my bread, Every day and every night, Warm, and fresh, and sweet, and white. Do not chew the hemlock rank, Growing on the weedy bank ; But the yellow cowslips eat, That will make it very sweet. Where the purple violet grows, Where the bubbling water flows, Where the grass is fresh and fine, Pretty cow, go there and dine. JANE TAYLOR. TWINKLE, TWINKLE. TWINKLE, twinkle, little star How I wonder what you are ! Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky. When the glorious sun is set, When the grass with dew is wet, Then you show your little light, Twinkle, twinkle, all the night. In the dark-blue sky you keep, And often through my curtains peep ; For you never shut your eye Till the sun is in the sky. As your bright and tiny spark Lights the traveler in the dark, Though I know not what you are, Twinkle, twinkle, little star! WILLIE WINKIE. WEE Willie Winkie rins through the town, Up stairs and doon stairs, in his nicht gown, Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock, Are the weans in their bed? for it's now ten o'clock. GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-MORNING. 77 Hey, Willie Winkie ! are ye comin' ben ? The cat's singiu' gay thrums to the sleepin' hen, The doug's speldered on the floor, and disna gie a cheep ; But here 's a waukrife laddie that winna fa' asleep. Onything but sleep, ye rogue ! glowerin' like the moon, Rattlin' in an airn jug wi' an aim spoon, Kumblin', tumblin' roun' about, crawin' like a cock, Skirlin' like a kenna what waukerin' sleepin' folk. Hey, Willie Winkie ! the wean's in a creel ! Waurablin' aft' a bodie's knee, like a vera eel, Ruggin' at the cat's lug, and ravellin' a' her thrums : Hey, Willie Winkie! See, there he comes! Weary is the mither that has a storie wean, A wee stumpie stonesie, that canna rin his lane, That has a battle aye wi' sleep before he '11 close an ee ; But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me. WILLIAM MILLER. Rattling in an iron jug With an iron spoon, Rumbling, tumbling all about, Crowing like a cock, Screaming like I don't know what, Waking sleeping folk. Hey ! Willie Winkie, Can't you keep him still ? Wriggling off a body's knee Like a very eel, Pulling at the cat's ear, As she drowsy hums, Heigh, Willie Winkie, See ! there he comes ! " Wearied is the mother That has a restless wean, A wee, stumpie bairnie Heard whene'er he 's seen That has a battle aye with sleep Before he '11 close an e'e ; But a kiss from off his rosy lips Gives strength anew to me. THE SAME, WITH THE SCOTTICISMS CHANGED. WEE Willie Winkie Runs through the town, Up stairs and down stairs In his night gown, Tapping at the window, Crying at the lock, " Are the weans in their bed, For it's now ten o'clock?" " Hey ! Willie Winkie, Are you coming then ? The cat 's singing Purrie To the sleeping hen, The dog is lying on the floor, And does not even peep ; But here 's a wakeful laddie That will not fall asleep." Anything but sleep, you rogue ! Glowring like the moon ! GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-MORNING. A FAIR little girl sat under a tree, Sewing as long as her eyes could see ; Then smoothed her work, and folded it right, And said, "Dear work, good-night! good-night!" Such a number of rooks came over her head, Crying, " Caw ! caw ! " on their way to bed ; She said, as she watched their curious flight, " Little black things, good-night ! good-night ! " The horses neighed, and the oxen lowed, The sheep's " Bleat ! bleat ! " came over the road, All seeming to say, with a quiet delight, " Good little girl, good-night ! good-night ! " She did not say to the sun " Good-night ! " Though she saw him there, like a ball of light ; For she knew he had God's time to keep All over the world, and never could sleep. 78 A FEW SONGS. The tall pink foxglove bowed his head, The violets curtsied, and went to bed ; And good little Lucy tied up her hair, And said, on her knees, her favorite prayer. And, while on her pillow she softly lay, She knew nothing more till again it was day, And all things said to the beautiful sun, " Good-morning ! good-morning ! our work is begun ! " RICHARD MONKTON MILNES. GENTLE JESUS, MEEK AND MILD. GENTLE Jesus, meek and mild, Look upon a little child ; Pity my simplicity, Suffer me to come to Thee. Fain I would to Thee be brought ; Gracious God, forbid it not : In the kingdom of Thy grace Give a little child a place. Oh, supply my every want, Feed the young and tender plant ; Day and night my keeper be, Every moment watch o'er me. LULLABY. GOLDEN slumbers kiss your eyes, Smiles awake when you do rise ; Sleep, pretty wantons ; do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby, Rock them, rock them, lullaby. Care is heavy, therefore sleep you ; You are care, and care must keep you ; Sleep, pretty wantons ; do not cry, And I will sing a lullaby, Rock them, rock them, lullaby. THOMAS DEKKER. CRADLE SONG. HUSH, my babe, lie still and slumber : Holy angels guard thy bed ; Heavenly blessings without number, Gently falling on thy head. Sleep, my babe, thy food and raiment, House and home, thy friends provide: All without thy care or payment, All thy wants are well supplied. See the lovely babe a-dressiug ; Lovely infant, how He smiled ! When He wept, the mother's blessing Soothed and hushed the Holy Child. Lo, He slumbers in the manger, Where the horned oxen fed ! Peace, my darling ; here 's no danger ; There 's no oxen near thy bed. 'T was to save thee, child, from dying, Save my dear from sin and shame, 'T was to lead thee home to heaven, That thy blest Redeemer came. Mayst thou live to know and fear Him, Trust and love Him all thy days ; Then go dwell forever near Him, See His face, and sing His praise. I could give thee thousand kisses, Hoping what I most desire ; Not a mother's fondest wishes Can to greater joys aspire. ISAAC WATTS. THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. CINDERELLA; OR, THE GLASS SLIPPER. THERE was once an honest gentleman who was left a widower with one little daughter, the image of her mother, beautiful in face and lovely in temper. He thought it well to marry again, for he was lonely and he wished for some one who should take care of his child. But though his second wife was a handsome woman she was very haughty, and she had two daughters by a former marriage, who were as proud and disagreeable as herself. The lady appeared very well before the wedding, but no sooner was that over than she began to show her evil temper. She could not bear her step-daughter, who was so amiable that her own ill-natured children seemed more dis- agreeable than before, and she compelled the poor girl to do all the drudgery of the household. It was she who washed the dishes, and scrubbed down the stairs, and polished the floors in my lady's chamber, and in those of the two pert misses, her daughters ; and while the latter slept on good feather-beds in elegant rooms furnished with full-length looking-glasses in which they could admire themselves all day long, their sister lay in a wretched garret on an old straw mattress. Yet the poor thing bore this ill treatment very meekly, and did not dare complain to her father, for he was so blind to his wife's faults that he would only have scolded the child. When her work was done, she used to sit in the chimney-corner amongst the cinders, so that the two sisters gave her the nickname of Cinderella, or, the cinder- wench ; yet, for all her shabby clothes, Cinderella was a hundred times prettier than they, let them be dressed ever so magnifi- cently. It happened that the king's son gave a ball to which he invited all the rich and the grand ; and as our two young ladies made a great figure in the world, they were to be at the ball, and per- haps would dance with the prince. So they were at once very busy choosing what head-dress and which gown would be the most becoming. Here was fresh work for poor Cinderella ; for it was she, forsooth, who was to starch and get up their ruffles, and iron all their fine linen ; and they talked of nothing but their fine clothes all day long. " I," said the elder, " shall put on my red velvet dress, with my point-lace trimmings." " And I," said the younger sister, " shall wear my ordinary petticoat, but shall set it off with my gold brocaded train and my circlet of diamonds, and what can be finer than that ? " They sent for a clever tire-woman, for they were to have double rows of quilling on their caps, and they bought a quantity of elegant ribbons and bows. They called in Cinderella, to take her advice, as she had such good taste ; and Cinderella not only advised them well, but offered to dress their hair, which they were pleased to accept. While she was thus busied, the sisters said to her, " And pray, Cinderella, would you like to go to the ball ? " " Nay, you are mocking me," replied the poor girl; "it is not for .such as I to goto balls." "True enough," rejoined they; "folks would laugh to see a cinder- wench at a court ball." Any other but Cinderella would have dressed their hair awry to spite them for their rudeness ; but she was so good-natured that she went on and dressed them more becomingly than ever they had 80 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALKS. been in their lives before. The two sisters were so delighted that they scarcely ate a morsel for a couple of days. And besides, it was not easy to eat much, for they were laced tight, to make their waists as slender as possible ; indeed, more than a dozen stay-laces were broken in the attempt. But they were perfectly contented to spend their whole time before a looking-glass, where they nodded their plumes, and turned and turned to see how they looked behind. The long - wished - for evening came at last, and off they set. Cinderella's eyes followed them as long as she could, and then she sat down and began to weep. Her god- mother now appeared, and seeing her in tears inquired what was the mat- ter. " I ^L* 5 ' x : wish I wish," began the poor girl, but her voice was choked with tears. " You wish that you could go to the ball," interrupted her godmother, who was a fairy. "Indeed I do!" said Cin- derella, with a sigh. " Well, then, if you will be a good girl, you shall go," said her godmother. " Run quick and fetch me a pumpkin from the garden." Cinderella flew to gather the finest pumpkin she could find, though she could not understand how it could possibly help her to go to the ball. But her godmother, scooping it quite hollow, touched it with her wand, when it was immediately changed into a gilt coach. She then went to the mouse-trap, where she found six live mice, and bidding Cinder- ella let them out one by one, she changed each mouse into a fine dapple gray horse by a stroke of her wand. But what was she to do for a coach- man ? Cinderella proposed to look for a rat in the rat-trap. " That 's a good thought," quoth her godmother ; " so go and see." Back came Cinderella with the rat-trap, in which were three large rats. The fairy chose one that had a tremendous pair of whiskers, and forthwith changed him into a coach- man with the finest mustachios ever seen. " Now," said she, " go into the garden, and bring me six lizards, which you will find behind the water- ing-pot." These were no sooner brought, than, lo ! with a touch of the wand they were turned into six footmen, with laced liveries, who got up behind the coach just as natur- ally as if they had done nothing else all their lives. The Fairy then said to Cinderella: "Now here is your coach and six, your coachman and your footmen, all to take you to the ball ; are you not pleased ? " " But must I go in these dirty clothes ? " said Cinderella, timidly. Her godmother smiled and just touched her with her wand, when her shabby clothes were changed to a dress of gold and silver tissue, all decked with precious stones. Then she put upon her feet the prettiest pair of glass slippers ever seen. Cin- derella now got into the carriage, after having been warned by her godmother upon no account to prolong her stay beyond midnight, for if she should remain a moment longer at the ball her coach would again become a pumpkin, her horses mice, her footmen lizards, while her beautiful clothes would become the shabby gown of the poor girl that sat among the cinders. Cinderella promised she would not fail to leave the ball be- fore midnight, and set off in an ecstasy of delight. CINDERELLA; OK, THE GLASS SLIPPER. 81 When she arrived it was in such state that the king's son, hearing that some great princess, un- known at court, had just appeared, went to hand her out of her carriage, and brought her into the hall where the company was assembled. The mo- ment she appeared all voices were hushed, the violins ceased playing, and the dancing stopped short, so great was the sensation produced by the stranger's beauty. A confused murmur of ad- miration fluttered through the crowd, and each was fain to exclaim, " How surpassingly lovely she is ! " Even the king, old as he was, could not forbear admiring her like the rest, and whispered to the queen that she was certainly the fairest and comeliest woman he had seen for many a long day. As for the ladies, they were all busy examining her head-dress and her clothes, in order to get similar ones the very next day, if, indeed, they could meet with stuffs of such rich patterns, and find work-women clever enough to make them up. After leading her to the place to which her rank seemed to entitle her, the king's son re- quested her hand for the next dance, when she displayed so much grace that her beauty was heightened, and people said they had not praised her half enough before. An elegant supper was brought in, but the young prince was so taken up with gazing at the fair stranger, that he did not touch a morsel. Cinderella went and sat by her sisters, sharing with them the oranges and citrons the prince had offered her, much to their surprise and delight, for they felt highly flattered, never dreaming who it really was. When Cinderella heard the clock strike three quarters past eleven, she made a low courtesy to the whole assembly, and retired in haste. On reaching home, she found her godmother, and after thanking her for the delight she had enjoyed she ventured to express a wish to return to the ball on the following evening, as the prince had requested her to do. She was still eagerly telling her godmother all that had happened at court, when her two sisters knocked at the door. Cin- derella went and let them in, pretending to yawn 11 ;md stretch herself, and rub her eyes and saying, " How late you are ! " just as if she had been waked up out of a nap, though, one may readily believe, she had never felt less disposed to sleep in her life. " If you had been to the ball," said one of the sisters, " you would not have thought it late. There came the most beautiful princess that ever was seen, who loaded us with polite at- tentions, and gave us oranges and citrons." Cinderella inquired the name of the princess. But they replied that nobody knew her name, and that the king's son was in great trouble about her, and would give the world to know who she could be. " Is she, then, so very beautiful ? " said Cin- derella, smiling. " Ah ! how I should like to see her ! Oh, do, my Lady Javotte, lend me the yel- low dress you wear every day, that I may go to the ball and have a peep at this wonderful prin- cess." " A likely story, indeed ! " cried Javotte, tossing her head disdainfully, " that I should lend my clothes to a dirty, cinder-wench like you ! " Cinderella expected to be refused, and was not sorry for it, as she would have been very much puzzled what to do had her sister really lent her the dress she begged to have. On the following evening the sisters again went to the court ball, and so did Cinderella, dressed even more magnificently than before. The king's son never once left her side, and spent his whole time in waiting upon her. He talked so charm- ingly, and whispered so many delicate speeches, that the young lady was nothing loath to listen to him ; she forgot all else, she forgot her godmoth- er's warning. Eleven o'clock came, but she did not notice the striking ; the half-hour struck, but the prince grew more delightful, and Cinderella could hear nothing else ; the last quarter but still Cinderella sat by the prince. Then the great clock sounded the midnight stroke ; up sprang Cinderella and like a startled fawn fled from the palace. The prince started to follow her, but she was too swift for him ; only, as she flew she dropped one of her glass slippers, which he picked up very eagerly. The last stroke died away as Cinderella reached the great staircase that led 82 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. from the palace. In a twinkling the gay lady was gone, and only a shab- by cinder-wench went running down the steps. The splendid coach and six, driver and footmen, had van- ished; only a pumpkin lay on the ground, and a rat, six mice, and six lizards scampered off. Cinderella reached home, quite out of breath.; but of all her magnificence nothing remained save a little glass slipper, the fellow to the one she had lost. The sentinels at the palace-gate were closely questioned as to whether they had not seen a princess coming out; but they answered they had seen no one except a shabbily-dressed girl, who appeared to be a peasant rather than a young lady. When the two sisters returned from the ball, Cinderella asked them whether they had been well entertained, and whether the beautiful lady was there ? They replied that she was ; but that she had run away as soon as midnight had struck, and so quickly as to drop one of her dainty glass slippers, which the king's son had picked up, and was looking at most fondly during the remainder of the ball ; indeed, it seemed beyond a doubt that he was deeply in love with the beautiful creature to whom it belonged. They spoke truly enough ; for, a few days aft- erwards, the king's son caused a proclamation to be made, by sound of trumpet, all over the king- dom, that he would marry her whose foot should be found to fit the slipper exactly. So the slipper was first tried on by all the princesses ; then by all the duchesses ; and next by all the persons be- longing to the court ; but in vain. Then it was carried to all the fine houses, and it came at last to the two sisters, who tried with all their might to force their feet into the fairy-like slipper, but with no better success. Cinderella, who was present, now laughed, and said, " Suppose I were to try ? " Her sisters ridiculed such an idea ; but Uie gentleman who was appointed to try the slipper looked - atten- tively at Cinderella, and perceiving how beautiful she was, said that it was but fair she should do so, as he had orders to try it on every young maiden in the kingdom. So Cin- derella sat down, and put her foot on a stool to have the slipper tried on, while her sisters looked on con- temptuously ; but no sooner did she put her little foot to the slipper, than she drew it on, and it fitted like wax. The sisters stood amazed ; but their astonishment in- creased tenfold when Cinderella drew the fellow- slipper out of her pocket, and put that on. Her godmother then made her appearance, and touch- ing Cinderella's clothes with her wand, made them once more the robes of a princess, but even more splendid than those which she had worn at the ball. Her two sisters now recognized her for the beau- tiful stranger they had seen, and, falling at her feet, implored her forgiveness for their unworthy HANS IN LUCK. 83 treatment, and all the insults they had heaped upon her head. Cin- derella raised them, saying, as she em- braced them, that she not only forgave them with all her heart, but \vi shed that they might al- ways love her. The gentleman in wait- ing led her to the palace of the young prince, w h o was overjoyed at discov- ering the beautiful maiden, and thought her more lovely than ever. So they were mar- ried, and Cinderella, who was as good as she was beautiful, and wished every one about her .to be happy, allowed her sisters to lodge in the palace, and gave them in marriage, that same day, to two lords belonging to the court. HANS IN LUCK. HANS had served his master seven years, and at last said to him, " Master, my time is up, I should like to go home and see my mother; so give me my wages." And the master said, "You have been a faithful and good servant, so your pay shall be handsome." Then he gave him a piece of silver that was as big as his head. Hans took out his pocket-handkerchief, put the piece of silver into it, threw it over his shoulder, and jogged off homewards. As he went lazily on, dragging one foot after another, a man came in sight, trotting along gayly on a capital horse. " Ah ! " said Hans aloud, " what a fine thing it js to ride on horseback ! there he sits as if he was at home in his chair; he trips against no stones, spares his shoes, and yet gets on he hardly knows how." The horseman heard this, and said, " Well, Hans, why do you go on foot then ? " " Ah ! " said he, " I have this load to carry ; to be sure it is silver, but it is so heavy that I can't hold up my head, and it hurts my shoulder sadly." " What do you say to changing ? " said the horseman : " I will give you my horse, and you shall give me the silver." " With all my heart," said Hans : " but I tell you one thing, you'll have a weary task to drag it along." The horseman got off, took the silver, helped Hans up, put the bridle into his hand, and said, " When you want to go very fast, you must smack your lips loud, and cry Slip.' " Hans was delighted as he sat on the horse, and rode merrily on. After a time he thought he should like to go a little faster, so he smacked his lips and cried " Jip." Away went the horse full gallop ; and before Hans knew what he was about he was thrown off, and lay in a ditch by the road- side ; and his horse would have run away, if a shepherd who was coming by, driving a cow, had not stopped it. Hans soon came to himself, and got upon his legs again. He was sadly vexed, and said to the shepherd, " This riding is no joke when a man gets on a beast like this, that stumbles and flings him off as if he would break his neck. How- ever, I am off now once for all: I like your cow a great deal better; one can walk along at one's leisure behind her, and have milk, butter, and cheese every day into the bargain. What would I give to have such a cow!" "Well," said the shepherd, " if you are so fond of her, I will change my cow for your horse." " Done ! " said Hans, merrily. The shepherd jumped upon the horse and away he rode. Hans drove off his cow quietly, and thought his bargain a very lucky one. " If I have only a piece of bread (and I certainly shall be able to get that), 84 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. I can, whenever I like, eat my butter and cheese with it ; and when I am thirsty I can milk my cow and drink the milk : what can I wish for more ? " When he came to an inn, he halted, ate all his bread, and gave away his last penny for a glass of beer; then he drove his cow towards his mother's village ; and the heat grew greater as noon came on, till at last he found himself on a wide heath that would take him more than an hour to cross, and he began to be so hot and parched that his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. k ' I can find a cure for this," thought he, " now will I milk my cow and quench my thirst ; " so he tied her to the stump of a tree, and held his leathern cap to milk into ; but not a drop was to be had. While he was trying his luck and managing the matter very clumsily, the uneasy beast gave him a kick on the head that knocked him down, and there he lay a long while senseless. Luckily a butcher soon came by driving a pig in a wheel- barrow. " What is the matter with you ? " said the butcher, as he helped him up. Hans told him what had happened, and the butcher gave him a flask, saying, " There, drink and refresh yourself ; your cow will give you no milk ; she is an old beast, good for nothing but the slaughter-house." " Alas, alas ! " said Hans, " who would have thought it ? If I kill her, what would she be good for ? I hate cow-beef, it is not tender enough for me. If it were a pig now, one could do something with it ; it would at any rate make some sausages." " Well," said the butcher, " to please 3*011 I '11 change, and give you the pig for the cow." " Heaven reward you for your kindness ! " said Hans, as he gave the butcher the cow, and took the pig off the wheel- barrow, and drove it along, holding it by the string that was tied to its leg. So on he jogged, and all seemed now to go right with him : he had met with some misfortunes, to be sure, but he was now well repaid for all. The next person he met was a countryman carrying a fine white goose under his arm. The countryman stopped to ask what o'clock it was ; and Hans told him all his luck, and how he had made so many good bargains. The countryman said he was go- ing to take the goose to a christening. " Feel," said he, " how heavy it is, and yet it is only eight weeks old. Whoever roasts and eats it may cut plenty of fat off it, it has lived so well ! " " You 're right," said Hans as he weighed it in his hand; "but my pig is no trifle." Meantime the oountryman began to look grave, and shook his head. " Hark ye," said he, " my good friend ; your pig may get you into a scrape ; in the village I just came from the squire has had a pig stolen out of his stye. I was dreadfully afraid, when I saw you, that you had got the squire's pig ; it will be a bad job if they catch you : the least they '11 do will be to throw you into the horse pond." Poor Hans was sadly frightened. " Good man," cried he, "pray get me out of this scrape; you know this country better than I, take my pig and give me the goose." "I ought to have something into the bargain," said the countryman ; " how- ever, I will not bear hard upon you, as you are in trouble." Then he took the string in his hand, and drove off the pig by a side path ; while Hans went on the way homewards free from care. " After all," thought he, " I have the best of the bargain: first there will be a capital roast; then the fat will find me in goose-grease for six months ; and there are all the beautiful white feathers ; I will put them into my pillow, and then I am sure I shall sleep soundly without rocking. How happy my mother will be ! " As he came to the last village, he saw a scissors- grinder, with his wheel, working away, and sing- ing : " O'er hill and o'er dale so happy I roam, Work light and live well, all the world is my home ; Who so hlythe, so merry as I ? " Hans stood looking for a while, and at last said, " You must be well off, master grinder, you seem so happy at your work." "Yes," said the other, " mine is a golden trade ; a good grinder never puts his hand in his pocket without finding money in it; but where did you get that beautiful goose ? " "I did not buy it, but changed a pig for it." "And where did you get the pig?" "I THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 85 gave a cow for it." " And the cow ? " " I gave a horse for it." "And the horse?" "I gave a piece of silver as big as my head for that." " And the silver ? " " Oh ! I worked hard for that seven long years." " You have thriven well in the world hitherto," said the grinder ; "now if yon could find money in your pocket whenever you put your hand into it, your fortune would be made." " Very true: but how is that to be managed?" "You must turn grinder like me," said the other, "you only want a grindstone ; the rest will come of it- self. Here is one that is a little the worse for wear ; I would not ask more than the value of your goose for it; will you buy?" " How can you ask such a question?" replied Hans; "I should be the happiest man in the world if I could have money whenever I put my hand in my pocket; what could I want more ; there 's the goose ! " "Now," said the grinder, as he gave him a com- mon rough stone that lay by his side, "this is a most capital stone ; do but manage it cleverly, and you can make an old nail cut with it." Hans took the stone and went off with a light heart : his eyes sparkled for joy, and he said to himself, "I must have been born in a lucky hour; everything that I want or wish for comes to me of itself." Meantime he began to be tired, for he had been traveling ever since daybreak ; he was hungry, too, for he had given away his last penny in his joy at getting the cow. At last he could go no farther, and the stone tired him terribly ; he dragged himself to the side of a pond, that he might drink some water and rest a while ; so he laid the stone carefully by his side on the bank : but as he stooped down to drink, he forgot it, pushed it a little, and down it went plump into the pond. For a while he watched it sinking in the deep clear water, then sprang up for joy, and again fell upon his knees, and thanked heaven with tears in his eyes for its kindness in taking away his only plague, the ugly heavy stone. " How happy am I ! " cried he : " no mortal was ever so lucky as I am." Then up he got with a light and mei-ry heart, and walked on free from all his troubles, till he reached his mother's house. THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. ONCE upon a time there was a king and a queen who grieved sorely that they had no children. When at last the queen gave birth to a daughter the king was so overjoyed that he gave a great christening feast, the like of which had never be- fore been known. He asked all the fairies in the land there were seven all told to stand god- mothers to the little princess, hoping that each might give her a gift, and so she should have all imaginable perfections. After the christening, all the company returned to the palace where a great feast had been spread for the fairy godmothers. Before each was set a magnificent plate, with a gold knife and a gold fork studded with diamonds and rubies. Just as they were seating themselves, however, there en- tered an old fairy who had not been invited be- cause more than fifty years ago she had shut her- self up in a tower and it was supposed that she was either dead or enchanted. The king ordered a cover to be laid for her, but it could not be a massive gold one like the others, for only seven had been ordered made. The old fairy thought herself ill-used and muttered be- tween her teeth. One of the young fairies, over- hearing her, and fancying she might work some mischief to the little baby, went and hid herself behind the hangings in the hall, so as to be able to have the last word and undo any harm the old fairy might wish to work. The fairies now be- gan to endow the princess. The youngest, for her gift, decreed that she should be the most beauti- ful pei-son in the world ; the next that she should have the mind of an angel ; the third that she should be perfectly graceful ; the fourth that she should dance admirably well ; the fifth, that she 86 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. should sing like a nightingale ; the sixth, that she should play charmingly upon every musical instru- ment. The turn of the old fairy had now come, and she declared, while her head shook with mal- ice, that the princess should pierce her hand with a spindle and die of the wound. This dreadful fate threw all the company into tears of dismay, when the young fairy who had hidden herself came forward and said : " Be of good cheer, king and queen ; your daugh- ter shall not so die. It is true I cannot entirely undo what my elder has done. The princess will pierce her hand with a spindle, but, instead of dying, she will only fall into a deep sleep. The sleep will last a hundred years, and at the end of that time a king's son will come to wake her." The king, in hopes of preventing what the old fairy had foretold, immediately issued an edict by which he forbade all persons in his dominion from spinning or even having spindles in their houses under pain of instant death. Now fifteen years after the princess was born she was with the king and queen at one of their castles, and as she was running about by herself she came to a little chamber at the top of a tower, and there sat an honest old woman spinning, for she had never heard of the king's edict. " What are you doing ? " asked the princess. " I am spinning, my fair child," said the old woman, who did not know her. " How pretty it is ! " exclaimed the princess. " How do you do it ? Give it to me that I may see if I can do it." She had no sooner taken up the spindle, than, being hasty and careless, she pierced her hand with the point of it, and fainted away. The old woman, in great alarm, called for help. People came running in from all sides ; they threw water in the princess's face and did all they could to restore her, but nothing would bring her to. The king, who had heard the noise and con- fusion, came up also, and remembering what the fairy had said, he had the princess carried to the finest apartment and laid upon a richly embroid- ered bed. She lay there in all her loveliness, for the swoon had not made her pale ; her lips were cherry-ripe and her cheeks ruddy and fair; her eyes were closed, but they could hear her breath- ing quietly ; she could not be dead. The king looked sorrowfully upon her. He knew that she would not awake for a hundred years. The good fairy who had saved her life and turned her death into sleep was in the kingdom of Mataquin, twelve thousand leagues away, when this happened, but she learned of it from a dwarf who had a pair of seven-league boots, and instantly set out for the castle, where she arrived in an hour, drawn by dragons in a fiery chariot. The king came forward to receive her and showed his grief. The good fairy was very wise and saw that the princess when she woke would find herself all alone in that great castle and everything about her would be strange. So this is what she did. She touched with her wand everybody that was THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOOD. 87 in the castle, except the king and queen. She touched the govern- esses, maids of honor, women of the bed-chamber, gentlemen, offi- cers, stewards, cooks, scullions, boys, guards, porters, pages, foot- men ; she touched the horses in the stable with their grooms, the great mastiffs in the court-yard, and even little Pouste, the tiny lap-dog of the princess that was on the bed beside her. As soon as she had touched them they all fell asleep, not to wake again until the time arrived for their mistress to do so, when they would be ready to wait upon her. Even the spits before the fire, laden with par- tridges and pheasants, went to sleep, and the fire itself went to sleep also. It was the work of a moment. The king and queen kissed their daughter farewell and left the castle, issuing a proclamation that no person what- soever was to approach it. That was needless, for in a quarter of an hour there had grown up about it a wood so thick and filled with thorns that nothing could get at the castle, and the castle top itself could only be seen from a great dis- tance. A hundred years went by, and the kingdom was in the hands of another royal family. The son of the king was hunting one day when he discovered the towers of the castle above the tops of the trees, and asked what castle that was. All manner of answers were given to him. One said it was an enchanted castle, another that witches lived there, but most believed that it was occupied by a great ogre which carried thither all the chil- dren he could catch and ate them up one at a time, for nobody could get at him through the wood. The prince did not know what to believe, when finally an old peasant said, " Prince, it is more than fifty years since I heard my father say that there was in that castle the most beautiful princess that ever was seen ; that she was to sleep for a hundred years, and to be awakened at last by the king's son, who was to marry her." The young prince at these words felt himself on fire. He had not a moment's doubt that he was destined to this great adventure, and full of ardor he determined at once to set out for the castle. Scarcely had he come to the wood when all the trees and thorns which had made such an impenetrable thicket opened on one side and the other to offer him a path. He walked toward the castle, which appeared now at the end of a long avenue, but when he turned to look for his followers not one was to be seen ; the woods had closed instantly upon him as he had passed through. He was entirely alone, and utter silence was about him. He entered a large fore-court and stood still with amazement and awe. On every side were stretched the bodies of men and animals apparently lifeless. - But the faces of the men were rosy, and the goblets by them had a few drops of wine left. The men had plainly fallen asleep. His steps resounded as he passed over 88 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. the marble pavement and up the marble staircase. He entered the guard-room ; there the guards stood drawn up in line with carbines at their shoulders, but they were sound asleep. He passed through one apartment after another, where were ladies and gentlemen asleep in their chairs or standing. He entered a chamber covered with O gold, and sa\y on a bed, the curtains of which were drawn, the most lovely sight he had ever looked upon, a princess, who appeared to be about fif- teen or sixteen, and so fair that she seemed to belong to another world. He drew near, trem- bling and wondering, and knelt beside her. Her hand lay upon her breast, and he touched his lips to it. At that moment, the enchantment being ended, the princess awoke, and, looking drowsily and tenderly at the young man, said : u Have you come, my prince ? I have waited long for you." The prince was overjoyed at the words, and at the tender voice and look, and scarcely knew how to speak. But he managed to assure her of his love, and they soon forgot all else as they talked and talked. They talked for four hours, and had not then said half that was in their heads to say. Meanwhile all the rest of the people in the castle had been wakened at the same moment as & the princess, and they were now ex- tremely hungry. The lady-in-wait- ing became very impatient, and at length announced to the princess that they all waited for her. Then the prince took the princess by the hand ; she was dressed in great splendor, but he did not hint that she looked as he had seen pictures of his great-grandmother look ; he thought her all the more charming for that. They passed into a hall of mirrors, where they supped, attended by the officers of the princess. The violins and haut- boys played old but excellent pieces of music, and after supper, to lose no time, the grand almoner married the royal lovers in the chapel of the cas- tle. When they left the castle the next day to re- turn to the prince's home, they were followed by all the retinue of the princess. They marched down the long ave- nue, and the wood opened again to let them pass. Out- side they met the prince's fol- lowers, who were overjoyed to see their master. He turned to show them the castle, but behold ! there was no castle to be seen, and no wood ; castle and wood had vanished, but the prince and princess went gayly away, and when the old king and queen died they reigned in their stead. . JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 89 JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. N the reign of King Ar- thur, and in the county of Cornwall, near to the Land's End of England, there lived a wealthy farmer, who had an only son, named Jack. He was brisk, and of a ready wit, so that whatever he could not perform by force and strength he ac- complished by ingenious wit and policy. Never was any person heard of that could worst him, and he very often baffled even the learned by his sharp and ready inventions. In those days the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a huge and monstrous giant, eighteen feet in height, about three yards in compass, and of a fierce and grim countenance, the terror of all the neighboring towns and villages. He inhabited a cave in the middle of the Mount, and he was such a selfish monster that he would not suffer any one to live near him. He fed on other men's cattle, which often became his prey, for whensoever he wanted food he would wade over to the main-land, where he would furnish himself with whatever came in his way. The people, at his coming, for- sook their homes. Then would he seize on their cattle, making nothing of carrying half-a-dozen oxen on his back at a time ; and as for their sheep and hogs, he would tie them round his waist like a bunch of bandoleers. This course he had fol- lowed for many years, so that a great part of the country was made poor by his robberies. This was the state of affairs when Jack, happen- ing one day to be present at the town-hall, where the governors Vere consulting about the giant, had the curiosity to ask what reward would be given to the person who should destroy him. The giant's treasure was declared as the recompense, and Jack at once undertook the task. In oi'der to effect his purpose, he furnished him- self with a horn, shovel, and pickaxe, and went over to the Mount in the beginning of a dark win- ter's evening, when he fell to work, and before morning had dug a pit twenty-two feet deep, and nearly as broad, covering it over with long sticks and straw. Then strewing a little mould upon it, it appeared like plain ground. This done, Jack placed himself on the side of the pit which was farthest from the giant's lodging, and, just at break of day, he put the horn to his mouth and blew with all his might. Although Jack was a little fellow, he managed to make noise enough to awake the giant, who rushed roaring from his cave, crying out, " You incorrigible villain ! are you come here to disturb my rest ? you shall pay dearly for this. I will take you whole and broil you for my breakfast." He had no sooner uttered this cruel threat than he tumbled into the pit, and his heavy fall made the foundation of the Mount shake. " O Giant I " said Jack, " where are you now ? Oh, faith, you are gotten now into Lob's Pound, 1 where I will surely plague you for your threaten- ing words. What do you think now of broiling me for your breakfast? Will no other diet serve you but poor Jack ? " Thus did little Jack tantalize the big giant, as a cat does a mouse, when she knows it cannot es- cape, and when he had tired of that amusement he gave him a heavy blow with his pickaxe on the very crown of his head, which tumbled him down and killed him on the spot. When Jack saw he was dead, he filled up the pit with earth, and went to search the cave, where he found much treas- ure. Now when the magistrates who employed Jack heard that the work was done, they sent for him, declaring that he should henceforth be termed Jack the Giant-killer, and gave him a sword and embroidered belt, on the latter of which these words were inscribed in letters of gold : 1 An old jocular term for a prison, or aivv place of confinement. 12 90 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. " Here's the right valiant Cornish man Who slew the giant Cormoran." The news of Jack's victory soon spread over- all the West of England, so that another giant, named Blunderbore, hearing of it, vowed to be re- venged on the little hero, if ever it was his fortune to light on him. This giant was lord of an en- chanted castle, situated in the rnidst of a lonesome wood. Now Jack, about four months after his last exploit, walking near this castle, in his jour- ney towards- Wales, being weary, seated himself near a pleasant fountain in the wood, and pres- ently fell asleep. The giant, coming there for water, found him, and by the lines upon his belt knew him to be Jack ; so, without any words, he took him upon his shoulder and carried him to- wards his enchanted castle. Now, as they passed through a thicket, the rust- ling of the boughs awakened Jack, who was uncom- fortably surprised to find himself in the clutches of the giant. His terror was not lessened when, on entering the castle, he saw the courtyard strewed with human bones, the giant telling him his own bones would erelong be added to the pile. This said, the giant locked poor Jack in an upper chamber, leaving him there while he went to fetch another giant, living in the same wood, to keep him company in the destruction of their enemy. While he was gone, dreadful shrieks and lamen- tations affrighted Jack, especially a voice which continually cried : " Do wliat you can to get away, Or you '11 become the giant's prey ; He 's gone to fetch his brother, who Will likewise kill and torture you." This dreadful warning almost distracted poor Jack, who, going to the window and opening a casement, saw afar off the two giants coming to- wards the castle. " Now," quoth Jack to himself, " my death or my deliverance is at hand." Now the giants of those days, although very pow- erful, were really very stupid fellows, and readily conquered by stratagem, even of the humblest kind. There happened to be in the room where Jack was confined two strong cords, at the ends of which he made strong nooses, and as the giants were un- locking the iron gate of the castle he threw the ropes over each of their heads, and then, before the giants knew what he was about, drew the other ends across a beam, and, pulling with all his might, throttled them. Then sliding down the rope, he came to the heads of the giants, and, as they could not defend themselves, he easily dispatched them with his sword. Jack next took a great bunch of keys from the pocket of Blunderbore, and went into the castle again. He made a strict search through all the rooms and in them he found three ladies tied up by the hair of their heads and al- most starved to death. It was they who had warned him. He set them free, gave them the keys of the castle, and proceeded on his journey to Wales. Jack would take no money, and having but lit- tle of his own left, was obliged to make the best of his way by traveling as hard as he could. At length, losing his road, he was belated, and could not get to any place of entertainment until, com- ing to a lonesome valley, he found a large house, and by reason of his present necessity took cour- age to knock at the gate. But what was his as- tonishment when there came forth a monstrous giant, with two heads ! yet he did not appear so fiery as the others were, for he was a Welsh giant, and what he did was by private and secret malice under the false show of friendship. Jack, having unfolded his condition to the giant, was shown into a bedroom, where in the dead of night he heard the giant in another room saying to himself these words : " Though here you lodge with me this night, You shall not see the morning light ; My club shall dash your brains out quite." " Say'st thou so ? " quoth Jack"; "that is like one of your Welsh tricks, yet I hope to be cun- ning enough for you." He immediately got out of bed, and, feeling about in the dark, found a thick billet of wood, which he laid in the bed in his stead, and hid himself in a dark corner of the room. Shortly after in came the Welsh giant, JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 91 who thoroughly pummeled the billet with his club, thinking, naturally enough, he had broken every bone in Jack's skin. The next morning, however, to the inexpressible surprise of the giant, Jack came down-stairs as if nothing had happened, and gave him thanks for his night's lodging. " How have you rested ? " quoth the giant ; 'did you not feel anything in the night ?" " No," said Jack ; " nothing but a rat that gave me two or three flaps with her tail." Concealing his amazement as well as he could, the giant took Jack in to breakfast, and placed upon the table for himself and his guest two bowls, each containing four gallons of hasty-pud- ding. Jack was unwilling that the giant should sup- pose him unable to eat it all, and accordingly placed a large leather bag under his loose coat, in such a position that, without being perceived, he could put in it all the pudding which he could not eat. Breakfast over, Jack excited the giant's curi- osity by offering to show him an extraordinary sleight of hand ; so, taking a knife, he ripped the leather bag and out came all the hasty-pndding upon the ground. The giant, unwilling to be beaten, cried out in true Welsh, " Odds splutters ! hur can do that trick hurself ! " He took the knife, and ripping himself open, immediately fell down dead. Thus Jack outwitted the Welsh giant and pro- ceeded on his journey. A few days after, he met with King Arthur's only son, who had got his father's leave to travel into Wales to deliver a beautiful lady from the power of a wicked magician, by whom she was held in enchantment. When Jack found that the young prince had no servants with him he begged leave to attend him ; and the prince at once agreed to this, and gave Jack many thanks for his kind- ness. King Arthur's son was a handsome, polite, and brave knight, and so good-natured that he gave money to everybody he met. At length he gave his last penny to an old woman, and then, turn- ing to Jack, said, " How shall we be able to get food for ourselves the rest of our journey ? " " Leave that to me," said Jack. " I warrant you we shall never want." Night now came on, and the prince began to grow uneasy at thinking where they should lodge. " Master," said Jack, " we shall do well enough, for I have an uncle who lives within two miles of this place ; he is a huge and monstrous giant, with three heads ; he will fight five hundred men in armor, and make them flee before him." " Alas ! " quoth the prince, " what shall we do then ? He '11 certainly chop us up at one mouth- ful ; nay, we are scarce enough to fill his hollow tooth." " It is no matter for that," quoth Jack ; " I myself will go before and prepare the way for you. Tarry here and wait till I return." Jack now rode off at full speed, and coming to the gate of the castle he knocked so loud that the hills resounded like thunder. The giant, terribly vexed, roared out, " Who 's there ? " He was answered, " No one but your poor Cousin Jack." Quoth he, " What news, Cousin Jack ? " "Dear uncle," said Jack, "I have heavy news." " Pooh ! " said the giant, " what heavy news can come to me? I am a giant with three heads, and besides thou knowest I can fight five hundred men in armor, and make them fly like chaff be- fore the wind." "Oh, but," quoth Jack, "here's the prince coming with a thousand men in armor to kill you, and to destroy all that you have." " O Cousin Jack," said the giant, " this is heavy news indeed ! But I have a large cellar under- ground, where I will immediately run and hide myself, and you shall lock, bolt, and bar me in, and keep the keys till the prince is gone." Now Jack barred the giant fast, and fetching his master to the castle, they feasted and made them- selves merry whilst the poor giant lay trembling in the vault. Early in the morning Jack gave the king's son gold and silver out of the giant's treas- 92 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. ure, and sent him three miles forward on his jour- ney. Then Jack returned to let his uncle out of the hole, who asked what he should give him for saving his castle. " Why," quoth Jack, " I desire nothing but the old coat and cap, together with the old rusty sword and shoes which you keep at your bed's head." Quoth the giant, " Thou shalt have them, and pray keep them for my sake, for they are things of excellent use. The coat will keep you invisible, the cap will give you knowledge, the sword will cut through anything, and the shoes are of ex- traordinary swiftness ; so take them with all my heart." Jack was delighted with these useful presents, and coming up with the king's son they soon ar- rived at the dwelling of the beautiful lady who was under the power of a wicked magician. She, finding the | prince to be a suitor, made a noble feast for him. When it was ended she rose, and, wiping her mouth with a fine handkerchief, said, " My lord, you must show me this handker- chief to-morrow morning, or lose your head." She then put the handkerchief in her bosom and left the room. The prince went to bed in great sorrow, but Jack put on his cap of knowledge, which told him that the lady was forced to meet the wicked ma- gician every night in the middle of the forest. Jack immediately put on his coat of darkness and his shoes of swiftness, and was there before her. When the lady came she gave the handkerchief to the magician, who laid it upon a shelf, whence Jack took it, and brought it to his master, who showed it to the lady the next day, and so saved to morrow morning that she kissed last this night, or lose his head. He replied, "If you kiss none but mine, I will." "That is neither here nor there," said she, "if you do not, death is your portion ! " At midnight she went as before, and was angry with the ma- gician for letting the handkerchief go. " But now," quoth she, " I will be too hard for the prince, for I will kiss thee, and he is to show me thy lips." She did so, and Jack, who was standing by, cut off the magician's head and brought it under his invisible coat to his master, who showed it to the lady, which broke the en- chantment, and restored her to her former good- ness. She was married to the prince on the next day, and they soon after went back with joy to the court of King Arthur, where Jack, for his good services, was created one of the Knights of the Round Table. As Jack had been so lucky in all his advent- ures he resolved not to be idle for the future, but still to do what services he could for the honor of the king and the nation. He therefore humbly besought the king to furnish him with a horse and money, that he might travel in search of new adventures. "For," said he to the king, "there are many giants yet living in the remote part of Wales, to the unspeakable damage of your majesty^s sub- jects ; wherefore, may it please you to favor me, I do not doubt but speedily to rid your realm of these giants and monsters in human shape." Now, when the king heard this offer, and began to think of the cruel deeds of these bloodthirsty giants and savage monsters, he gave Jack every- thing proper for such a journey. After this, Jack took leave of the king, the prince, and all the knights, and set off, taking with him his magical his life. The next evening at supper she saluted cap, sword, shoes, and coat, the better to perform the prince, telling him he must show her the lips the dangerous enterprises which lay before him. JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 93 He went along over hills and mountains ; and on the third day he came to a wide forest, when, on a sadden, he heard dreadful shrieks and cries ; and, forcing his way through the trees, saw a monstrous giant dragging along, by the hair of their heads, a worthy knight and his beautiful lady, with as much ease as if they had been a pair of gloves. Their tears and cries melted the heart of honest Jack ; he alighted from his horse, and, tying him to an oak-tree, put on his invisible coat, under which he carried his sword of sharpness. When he came up to the giant he made several strokes at him, and' succeeded, after considerable trouble, in dispatching the monster, whose dying groans were so terrible that they made the whole wood ring again. The courteous knight and his fair lady were overpowered with gratitude, and, after returning Jack their best thanks, invited him to their house, there to recruit his strength and to receive a further reward. Jack, however, declared that he would not rest until he had found out the giant's abode. The knight, on hearing this, grew very sorrow- ful, and replied : " Noble stranger, it is too much to run a second hazard ; this monster lived in a den under yonder mountain with a brother of his, more fierce and cruel than himself ; therefore, if you should go thither and perish in the attempt, it would be a heart-breaking thing to me and my lady ; so let me persuade you to go back with us, and desist from any farther pursuit." " Nay," answered Jack ; " if there be another, even if there were twenty, I would shed the last drop of blood in my body before one of them should escape. When I have finished this task, I will come and pay my respects to you." So when they had told him where to find them again, he got on his horse and went after the dead giant's brother. Jack had not ridden a mile and a half before he came in sight of the mouth of the cave ; and, near the entrance of it, he saw the other giant, sitting on a huge block of timber, with a knotted iron club by his side, waiting for his brother's return with his prey. His eyes looked like flames of fire, his face was grim and ugly, and his cheeks were like two flitches of bacon ; the bristles of his beard seemed to be thick rods of iron jvire; and his long locks of hair hung down upon his broad shoulders like curling snakes or hissing adders. Jack alighted from his horse, and putting on the invisible coat drew near the giant and said, softly, " Oh ! are you there ? It will not be long ere I shall take you fast by the beard." The giant all this while could not see him, by reason of his invisible coat ; so Jack came quite close to him, and struck a blow at his head with his sword ; but missing his aim, he cut off the nose of the giant instead. The giant rolled his glaring eyes round on every side, but could not see who had given him the blow ; so he took up his iron club and began to lay about him so desperately, that even Jack was frightened, but soon dispatched him. After this Jack cut off the giant's head, and sent it, with the head of his brother, to King Ar- thur, by a wagoner whom he had hired' for that purpose, who gave an account of all Jack's won- derful proceedings. The redoubtable Jack next proceeded to search the giants' cave for their treasure. He passed through many turnings and windings, which led him to a great room paved with freestone ; at the other end of this was a boiling caldron, and on the right hand stood a large table, at which the giants usually dined. He then came to a window secured with iron bars, through which he saw many wretched captives, who cried out, when they saw Jack : " Alas ! alas ! young man, are you come to be one among us poor wretches in this horrid den ? " " I hope," said Jack, " you will not tarry here long; but pray tell me what is the meaning of your being here at all ? " "Alas! "said one poor old man, " I will tell you, sir. We are persons that have been taken by the giants who hold this cave, and are kept till they choose to have a feast ; then the fattest of us is to be killed, and cooked to please their taste. It is not long since they took three for the same pur- pose." THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. " Well," said Jack, "I have given them such a dinner that it will be long enough before they have any more." The captives were amazed at his words. " You may believe me," said Jack, " for I have killed them both with the edge of this sword, and have sent their heads in a wagon to the court of King Arthur, as marks of my glorious victory." To snow that what he said was true, he un- locked the gate and set the captives all free. Then he led them to the great room, placed them round the table, and put before them two quarters of beef, with bread and wine, upon which they feasted their fill. When supper was over, they searched the giants' coffers, and Jack divided among them all the treasures. The next morning they set off to their homes, and Jack to the house of the knight, whom he had left with his lady not long before. It was about sunrise when Jack mounted his horse to go on his way, and he came about noon to the knight's house, where he was received with the greatest joy by the thankful knight and his lady, who, in honor of Jack, gave a grand feast, which lasted many days, all the nobles and gentry in the neighborhood being invited to it. When the company were assembled the knight related Jack's adventures, and gave him a fine ring, on which was engraved the picture of the giant dragging the distressed knight and his lady, 'with this motto round it : "We were in sad distress you see, Under the giant's fierce command ; But gained our lives and liberty By valiant Jack's victorious hand." In the midst of the festivities arrived a messen- ger with the dismal news that Thunderdell, a sav- age giant witlr two heads, having heard of the death of his two kinsmen, was come from the north to take his revenge on Jack ; and was al- ready within a mile of the house, the country peo- ple Hying before him in all directions. At this news the very boldest of the guests trembled ; but Jack drew his sword, and said, " Let him come ; I have a tooth-pick for him. Pray, ladies and gen- tlemen, walk into the garden, and you shall soon behold the giant's defeat and death." To this they all agreed, and heartily wished him success in his dangerous attempt. The knight's house or castle stood on an island surrounded by a moat, thirty feet deep and twenty feet wide, passable by a drawbridge. Jack set men to work to cut the bridge on both sides, al- most to the middle, and then dressed himself in his invisible coat, and went against the giant with his well-tried sword. As he came close to him, though the giant could not see him for his invisi- ble coat, yet he found some danger was near, which made him cry out : " Fi, fee, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman ; Be he alive, or be he dead, I '11 grind his bones to make me bread." " Say you so ? " said Jack ; " then you are a monstrous miller, indeed ! " " Art tho_u," cried the giant, " the villain who killed my kinsmen ? Then I will tear thee with my teeth, and grind thy bones to powder." " You must catch me first," said Jack ; so putting aside his invisible coat that the giant might see him, and putting on his wonderful shoes he began to run, the giant following him like a walking castle, till the earth shook at every step. Jack led him round and round the walls of the house, that the company might see the monster ; but at last, to end the matter, he ran over the drawbridge, the giant going after him with his club ; but when he came to the middle, where the bridge had been cut on both sides, the giant's great weight made it break, and he tumbled into the water, where he rolled about like a vast whale. Jack now stood by the side of the moat and laughed at him, saying, " I think you told me you would grind my bones to powder ; when will you begin ? " After he had teased him sufficiently, Jack got a cart-rope, cast it over the giant, and by the help of a team of horses dragged him out of the moat, cut off his heads ; and sent them both to King Arthur. JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 95 After staying with the knight for some time Jack grew weary of such an idle life, and set out again in search of another giant, the last whose 1 head he was to chop off. He went over hills and dales without meeting any, till he came to the foot of a very high mountain. Here he knocked at the door of a small and lonely house, and an old man, with a head as white as snow, let him in. "Good father," said Jack, "can you lodge a traveler who has lost his way ? " " Yes," said the hermit, " I can, if you will ac- cept such .fare as my poor house affords." Jack entered, and the old man set before him some bread and fruit for his supper. When Jack had eaten as much as he chose the old man, who knew more than Jack suspected, said : " My son, I know you are a famous conqueror of giants; now, at the top of this mountain is an enchanted castle, kept by a giant named Galligantus, who, by the help of a conjuror, gets many knights into his castle, where he changes them into sundry shapes and forms. Above all, I lament a duke's daughter whom they took from her father's garden, and brought hither through the air in a chariot drawn by fiery dragons, and turned her into the shape of a deer. Many knights have tried to break the enchantment and deliver her, yet none have been able to do it, by reason of two fiery griffins who guard the gate of the castle, and destroy all who come nigh ; but, as you, my son, have an in- visible coat, you may pass by them without being seen ; and on the gates of the castle you will find engraven in large characters by what means the enchantment may be broken." In the morning as soon as it was daylight he put on his invisible coat, and got ready for the' en- terprise. When he had reached the top of the mountain he saw the fiery griffins; but being in- visible he passed them without the slightest dan- ger. When he had reached the castle-gate he found a golden trumpet, under which were writ- ten in large characters these lines : " Whoever doth this trumpet blow Shall soon the giant overthrow ; And break the black enchantment straight, So all shall be in happy state." As soon as Jack had read this he seized the trumpet, and blew a shrill blast, which made the gates fly open, and the very castle itself tremble. The giant and the conjuror now knew that their wicked course was at an end, and they stood biting their thumbs and shaking with fear. Jack, stand- ing at the giant's elbow, with his wonderful sword cut off his head, and the conjuror, seeing this, mounted into the air and was carried away in a whirlwind and never heard of more. All the knights and beautiful ladies, who had been changed into birds and beasts, returned to their proper shapes. The castle vanished away like smoke, and the head of the giant Galligantus was sent to King Arthur. The knights and ladies rested that night at the old man's hermitage, and next day they set out for the court. Jack then went up to the king, and gave his majesty an account of all his fierce bat- tles. Jack's fame had spread through the whole country ; and at the king's desire the duke gave him his daughter in marriage, to the joy of all the kingdom. After this, the king gave him a large estate, on which he and his lady lived the rest of their days in joy and content. 96 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. TOM THUMB. THERE was once a poor woodman sitting by the fire in his cottage, and his wife sat by his side spinning. " How lonely it is," said he, " for you and me to sit here by ourselves without any chil- dren to play about and amuse us, while other peo- ple seem so happy and merry with their chil- dren ! " " What you say is very true," said the wife, sighing and turning round her wheel ; " how happy should I be if I had but one child ! and if it were ever so small, nay, if it were no bigger than my thumb, I should be very happy, and love it dearly." Now it came to pass that tliis good woman's wish was fulfilled just as she desired ; for, some time afterwards, she had a little boy who was quite healthy and strong, but not much bigger than her thumb. So they said, " Well, we cannot say we have not got what we wished for, and, little as he is, we will love him dearly ; " and they called him Tom Thumb. They gave him plenty of food, yet he never grew bigger, but remained just the same size as when he was born ; still his eyes were sharp and sparkling, and he soon showed himself to be a clever little fellow, who always knew well what he was about. One day, as the woodman was getting ready to go into the wood to cut fuel, he said, " I wish I had some one to bring the cart after me, for I want to make haste." " O fa- ther ! " cried Tom, " I will take care of that ; the cart shall be in the wood by the time you want it." Then the woodman laughed, and said, " How can that be ? you cannot reach up to the horse's bridle." " Never mind that, father," said Tom : " if my mother will only harness the horse, I will get into his ear, and tell him which way to go." " Well," said the father, " we will try for once." When the time came, the mother harnessed the horse to the cart, and put Tom into his ear ; and as he sat there, the little man told the beast how to go, crying out, " Go on," and " Stop," as he wanted ; so the horse went on just as if the wood- man had driven it himself into the wood. It hap- pened that, as the horse was going a little too fast, and Tom was calling out " Gently ! gently ! " two strangers came up. " What an odd thing that is ! " said one, " there is a cart going along, and I hear a carter talking to the horse, but can see no one. " That is strange," said the other ; " let us follow the cart and see where it goes." So they went on into the wood, till at last they came to the place where the woodman was. Then Tom Thumb, seeing his father, cried out, " See, father, here I am, with the cart, all right and safe ; now take me down." So his father took hold of the horse with one hand, and with the other took his son out of the ear; then he put him down upon a straw, where he sat as merry as you please. The two strangers were all this time looking on, and did not know what to say for wonder. At last one took the other aside and said, " That lit- tle urchin will make our fortune if we can get him, and carry him about from town to town as a show : we must buy him." So they went to the woodman and asked him what he would take for the little man : " He will be better off, "_ said they, " with us than with you." " I won't sell him at all," said the father, "' my own flesh and blood is dearer to me than all the silver and gold in the world." But Tom, hearing of the bargain they wanted to make, crept up his father's coat to his shoulder, and whispered in his ear, " Take the money, father, and let them have me ; I '11 soon come back to you." So the woodman at last agreed to sell Tom to the strangers for a large piece of gold. " Where do you like to sit?" said one of them. " Oh, put me on the rim of your hat, that will be a nice gallery for me ; I can walk about there, and see the country as we go along." So they did as he wished ; and when Tom had taken leave of his father, they took him away with them. They journeyed on till it began to be dusky, and then the little man said, "Let me get down, I'm tired." So the man took off his hat and set him TOM THUMB. 97 down on a clod of earth in a plowed field by the side of the road. But Tom ran about amongst the furrows, and at last slipped into an old mouse- hole. " Good night, masters," said he, "I'm off I mind and look sharp after me the next time." They van directly to the place, and poked the ends of their sticks into the mouse-hole, but all in vain ; Tom only crawled farther and farther in, and at last it became quite dark, so that they were obliged to go their way without their prize, as sulky as you please. When Tom found they were gone, he came out of his hiding-place. " What dangerous walking it is," said he, "in this ploughed field ! If I were to fall from one of these great clods I should certainly break my neck." At last, by good luck, he found a large empty snail-shell. " This is lucky," said he, " I can sleep here very well," and in he crept. Just as he was falling asleep he heard two men passing, and one said to the other, " How shall we manage to steal that rich parson's silver and gold?" "I'll tell you," cried Tom. " What noise was that ? " said the thief, fright- ened, " I am sure I heard some one speak." They stood still listening, and Tom said, " Take me with you, and I '11 soon show you how to get the parson's money." " But where are you ? " said they. "Look about on the ground," an- swered he, " and listen where the sound comes from." At last the thieves found him out, and lifted him up in their hands. " You little ur- chin!" said they, "what can you do for us?" " Why I can get between the iron window-bars of the parson's house, and throw you out whatever you want." "That's a good thought," said the thieves ; " come along, we shall see what you can do." When they came to the parson's house, Tom slipped through the window-bars into the room, and then called out as loud as he could bawl, "Will you have all that is here ?" At this the thieves were frightened, and said, " Softly, softly ! Speak low, that you may not awaken anybody." But Torn pretended not to understand them, and bawled out again, "_How much will you have ? 13 Shall I throw it all out?" Now the cook lay in the next room, and hearing a noise she raised herself in her bed and listened. Meantime the thieves were frightened, and ran off to a little dis- tance ; but at last they plucked up courage, and said, " The little urchin is only trying to make fools of us." So they came back and whispered softly to him, saying, " Now let us have no more of your jokes, but throw out some of the money." Then Tom called out as loud as he could, " Very well: hold your hand?, here it comes." The cook heard this quite plain, so she sprang out of bed and ran to open the door. The thieves ran off as if a wolf was at their tails ; and the maid, having groped about and found nothing, went away for a light. By the time she returned Tom had slipped off into the barn ; and when the cook had looked about and searched every hole and corner, and found nobody, she went to bed, thinking she must have been dreaming with her eyes open. The little man crawled about in the hay-loft, and at last found a glorious place to finish his night's rest in ; so he laid himself down, meaning to sleep till daylight, and then find his way home to his father and mother. But, alas! how cruelly was he disappointed ! what crosses and sorrows happen in this world ! The cook got up early before day- break to feed the cows : she went straight to the hay-loft, and carried away a large bundle of hay with the little man in the middle of it fast asleep. He still, however, slept on, and did not awake till he found himself in the mouth of the cow, who had taken him up with a mouthful of hay : " Good lack-a-day ! " said he, " how did I manage to tum- ble into the mill?" But he soon found out where he really was, and was obliged to have all his wits about him in order that he might not get between the cow's teeth, and so be crushed to death. At last down he went into her stomach. " It is rather dark here," said he; "they forgot to build win- dows in this room to let the sun in ; a candle would be no bad thing." Though he made the best of his bad luck, he did not like his quarters at all ; and the worst of it was, that more and more hay was always coming 98 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. down, and the space in which he was became smaller and smaller. At last he cried out as loud as he could, "^ Don't bring me any more hay! Don't bring me any more hay ! " The maid hap- pened to be just then milking the cow, and hear- ing some one speak and seeing nobody, and yet being quite sure it was the same voice that she had heard in the night, she was so frightened that she fell off her stool and overset the milk-pail. She ran off as fast as she could to her master the parson, and said, " Sir, sir, the cow is talking ! " But the parson said, " Woman, them art surely mad ! " However, he went with her into the cow-house to see 'what was the matter. Scarcely had they set their foot on the threshold when Tom called out. " Don't bring me any more hay ! " Then the parson himself was frightened ; and thinking the cow was surely bewitched, or- dered that she should be killed directly. So the cow was killed, and the stomach, in which Tom lay, was thrown out upon a dunghill. Tom soon set himself to work to get out, which was not a very easy task; but at last, just as he had made room to get his head out, a new mis- fortune befell him : a hungry wolf sprang out, and swallowed the whole stomach, with Tom in it, at a single gulp, and ran away. Tom, however, was not disheartened ; and thinking the wolf would not dislike having some chat with him .as he was going along, he called out, " My good friend, I can show you a famous treat." " Where 's that ? " said the wolf. " In such and such a house," said Tom, describing his father's house, " you can crawl through the drain into the kitchen, and there you will find cakes, ham, beef, and everything your heart can desire." The wolf did not want to be asked twice; so that very night he went to the house and crawled through the drain into the kitchen, and ate and drank there to his heart's content. As soon as he was satisfied he wanted to get away ; but he had eaten so much that he could not get out the same way that he came in. This was just what Tom had reckoned upon ; and he now began to set up a great shout, making all the noise he could. " Will you be quiet? " said the wolf : " you '11 awaken everybody in the house." " What 's that to me ? " said the little man : " you have had your frolic, now I 've a mind to be merry myself ; " and he began again singing and shout- ing as loud as he could. The woodman and his wife, being awakened by the noise, peeped through a crack in the door ; but when they saw that the wolf was there, you may well suppose that they were terribly fright- ened ; and the woodman ran for his axe, and gave his wife a scythe. " Now do you stay behind," said the woodman ; " and when I have knocked him on the head, do you rip up his belly for him with the scythe." Tom heard all this, and said, " Father, father ! I am here, the wolf has swal- lowed me : " and his father said, " Heaven be praised 1 we have found our dear child again;" and he told his wife not to use the scythe, for fear she should hurt him. Then he aimed a great blow, and struck the wolf on the head, and killed him on the spot ; and when he was dead they-cut open his body and set Tommy free. " Ah ! " said the father, " what fears we have had for you ! " " Yes, father," answered he, " I have traveled all over the world, since we parted, in one way or other ; and now I am very glad to get fresh air again." " Why, where have you been? " said his father. "I have been in-a mouse-hole, in a snail- shell, down a cow's throat, and in the wolf's belly ; and yet here I am again safe and sound." " Well," said they, " we will not sell you again for all the riches in the world." So they hugged and kissed their dear little son, and gave him plenty to eat and drink, and fetched new clothes for him, for his old ones were quite spoiled on his journey. PUSS IN BOOTS. 99 PUSS IN BOOTS. THERE was once a miller, who, at his death, had nothing to leave to his three children but his mill, his ass, and his cat ; so he called in no lawyer, and ma^le no will. The eldest son took the mill ; the second the ass ; while the youngest had nothing but the cat, who seemed more likely to prove a burden than a boon to his new master. The poor fellow was quite downcast and said to himself : " My brothers, by putting their goods together, will be able to earn an honest liveli- hood ; but as for myself, when I shall have eaten my cat, and sold his skin, what is there left ? then I shall die of hunger." The cat, who was sitting on the window-seat, overheard these words, without seeming to do so, and, looking up, said to him with a very serious, sober air, " Nay, dear master, do not be downcast at your future pros- pects. Only give me a bag, and get me a pair of boots made, such as other folks wear, so that I may stride through the bram- bles, and you will soon see that you have a better bargain than you think for." Although the cat's new master did not put much faith in these promises, yet he had seen him perform so many clever tricks in catching rats and mice, such as hanging stiff by his hind legs, to make believe he were dead, and concealing him- self in the meal-tub, as if he were nowhere about, that he did not quite despair of his helping him to better his fortunes. Besides, he knew not what else to do, and there was no harm in trying this. young rabbit, unused to worldly snares and wiles, should see the dainty feast and never think of the cat. He had scarcely lain a few moments in aui- bush before a thoughtless young rabbit caught at the bait, and went head- long into the bag, where- upon the cat drew the strings, and immediately strangled the foolish creature. The cat was vastly proud of his victory, and immediately went to the palace and asked to speak to the king. He was shown into the king's cabinet, when he bowed re- spectfully to his majesty, and said, " Sire, this is a rabbit from the warren of the Marquis of Carabas (such was the title the cat took it into his head to bestow on his master), which he desired me to present to your majesty." " Tell your master that I am obliged by his As soon as the cat was provided with what he asked for, he drew on his boots, and, slinging the courtesy, and that I accept his present with much bag round his neck, took hold of the two strings pleasure," replied the king, looking graciously at with his fore-paws, and set off for a warren that he knew of, plentifully stocked with rabbits. He filled his bag with bran and sow-thistles, and then stretched himself out as stiff as though he had been dead, waiting patiently till some simple him. Another time the cat went and concealed him- self in a cornfield, and held his bag open as before, and, very shortly after, two partridges were lured into the trap, when he drew the strings and made 100 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. them both prisoners. He then went and presented them to the king, as he had done the rabbit. The king received the partridges very graciously, and ordered the messenger to be rewarded for his trouble. For two or three months, Puss continued to carry game every now and then to the king, al- ways presenting it in the name of his master, the Marquis of Carabas, who he said was a fa- mous sportsman. At last he happened to hear that the king was going to take a drive on the banks of the river, in company with his daugh- ter, who was the most beautiful princess in the world ; and he said to his master, " If yon will but follow my advice, your fortune is as good as made. You need only go and bathe in the river at the spot that I shall point out, and leave the rest to me." The Marquis of Carabas did as his cat advised him, though it was too much for him to say what it was all coming to. Just as he was bathing, the king came driving past, when Puss began to bawl out as loud as he could, " Help ! help ! the Mar- quis of Carabas is drowning! Save him!" On hearing this, the king looked out of the car- riage-window, and, recognizing the cat who had so frequently brought him game, ordered his body- guards to fly to the assistance of my Lord Marquis of Carabas. While the poor marquis was being fished out of the river, Puss stepped np to the royal carriage, and informed his majesty, that, during the time his master was bathing, some robbers had stolen his clothes, although he had cried out " Stop thief ! " with all his might. " The rogue had really only hidden them under a large stone. The king immediately ordered the gentlemen of his ward- robe to go and fetch one of his most sumptuous dresses for the Marquis of Carabas. When the marquis, who was a well-grown, hand- some young fellow, came forth gayly dressed, he looked so ek>- ; . , t , -*-.. v , ..,- ,.,.. gant that the \jSv king took him for a very fine gentleman, and said the politest things in the world to him, while the prin- cess was so struck with his ap- pearance, that my Lord Mar- quis of Carabas had scarcely made his obeisance to her, and looked at her once or twice with a very tender air, before she fell over head and ears in love with him. The king insisted on his getting into the carriage and taking a drive with them. Puss, highly delighted at the turn things were taking, and determined that all should turn out in the very best way, now ran on before, and having reached a meadow where some peasants were mowing the grass, he thus accosted them : " I say, good folks, if you do not tell the king, when he comes this way, that the field you are mowing belongs to the Marquis of Carabas, you shall all be chopped as fine as mince-meat." PUSS IN BOOTS. 101 When the carriage came by, the king put his head ont, and asked the mowers whose good grass- land that was. " It belongs to the Marquis of Ca- rabas, please your majesty," said they in a breath, for the cat's threats had frightened them mightily. " Upon my word, marquis," observed the king, *' that is a fine estate of yours." " Yes, sire," replied the marquis, with an easy air, " it yields me a tolerable income every year." Puss, who continued to run on before the car- riage, presently came up to some reapers. " I say, you reapers," cried he, " mind you tell the king that all this corn belongs to the Marquis of Cara- bas or else you shall, every one of you, be chopped into mince-meat." The king passed by a moment after, and in- quired to whom those cornfields belonged. u To the Marquis of Carabas, please your maj- esty," replied the reapers. " Faith, it pleases our majesty right well to see our beloved marquis is so wealthy ! " quoth the king. Puss kept still* running on before the carriage, and repeating the same instructions to all the la- borers he met, and the king was astounded at the vast possessions of the Marquis of Carabas, and kept congratulating him, while the new-made no- bleman received each fresh compliment more lightly than the last, so that one could see lie was really a marquis, and a very grand one too. At length Puss reached a magnificent castle be- longing to an ogre, who was immensely rich, since all the lands the king had been riding through were a portion of his estate. Puss having inquired what sort of a person the ogre might be, and what he was able to do, sent in a message asking leave to speak with him, adding that he was unwilling to pass so near his castle without paying his re- spects to him. The ogre received him as civilly as it is in the nature of an ogre to do, and bade him rest him- self. " I have been told," said Puss, " that you have the power of transforming yourself into all sorts of animals, such, for instance, as a lion, or an ele- phant." " So I have," replied the ogre, sharply ; " do you disbelieve it ? then look, and you shall see me become a lion at once. ' When Puss saw a lion before him, he was seized with such a fright that he scrambled up to the roof, although it was no easy job, owing to his boots, which were not intended for walking in a gutter and over tiles. At last perceiving that the ogre had returned to his natural shape, Puss came down again, and con- fessed he had been exceedingly frightened. " But I have also been told," said Puss, " only I really cannot believe it, that you likewise possess the power of taking the shape of the smallest ani- mals, and that, for instance, you could change yourself into a rat or a mouse ; but that is really too much to believe; it is quite impossible." " Impossible, indeed I " quoth the ogre, now put upon his mettle ; " you shall see ! " 102 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. So sayjng,,he immediately took on the shape of a mouse, an-dUbegaiv fr.iskin-g, about the floor, when Puss pou.ne a ^i , - , ; ' ^ \ that I may get out of this wood, for I have traveled a great way without food." She asked what country he was of. He replied, " Of Cyprus, and am constrained by poverty to seek my fortune." " Fear not, For- tunatus," said she ; " I am the Goddess Fortune, and by the permission of Heaven have the power of six gifts, one of which I will bestow on thee. So choose for yourself. They are, Wisdom, Strength, Rich- es, Health, Beauty, and Long Life." Said Fortuna- tus, "I desire to have Riches as long as I live." With that she gave him a saying, often as purse, " As you hand put your into this purse, you shall find ten pounds of the coin of any nation you shall happen to be in." Fortuna- tus returned many thanks to the g oddess. Then she bid him follow her out of the wood, and so vanished., He then put his hand into the purse, and drew out the first - fruits of the goddess's bounty, with which he went to an inn, and refreshed himself. After which he paid his host, and instantly de- parted, as doubting the reality of his money, not- withstanding the evidence of his hands and eyes. 120 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. Two miles from this wood was a little town and castle, where dwelt an earl who owned the wood. Fortunatus here took up his lodging at the best inn, and asked the host if he could help him to some good horses. The host him told there was a dealer who had several very fine ones, of which the earl had chosen three ; but was refused, though he offered three hundred crowns for them. O Fortunatus went to his chamber, and took out of his purse six hundred crowns, and bid the host to send for the dealer with his horses. The host at first supposed he had been in jest, seeing him so meanly appareled ; but on being convinced by the sight of the money, the dealer and horses were sent for, and Fortunatus, with a few words, bargained for two of those the earl had wanted, and gave three hundred crowns for them. He bought also costly saddles and furniture, and desired his host to get him two servants. The earl, hearing that the two horses had been bought out of his hands, grew angry, and sent to the innkeeper, to be informed who he was. The earl, being told that he was a stranger, com- manded him to be apprehended, imagining he had committed some robbery. Fortunatus, on being questioned who he was, answered he was born in Cyprus, and was the son of a decayed gentleman. The earl asked him how he got so much money. He told him he came by it honestly. Then the earl swore in a violent passion, that if he would not discover, he would put him to the rack. Fortunatus proposed to die rather than re- veal it. Upon this he was put on the rack ; and being again asked how he got so many crowns, he said that he found them in a wood adjoining. " Thou villain," said the earl, " the money you found is mine, and thy body and goods are for- feited." "O my gracious lord," said he, "I knew not it was in your dominion." " But," said the earl, " this shall not excuse you, for to-day I will take thy goods, and to-morrow thy life." Then did Fortunatus wish he had chosen Wis- dom before Riches. He earnestly begged his life of the earl, who, at the entreaty of some of the nobles, spared his life, and restored him the crowns and his purse, and charged him never to come into his dominion. Fortunatus rejoiced that he had so well escaped, and had not lost his purse. After that he had traveled towards his own coun- try, having got horses and servants to attend him, he arrived at Famagosta, where it was told him that his father and mother were dead. He then pur- chased his father's house, pulled it down, and built a stately palace. He also built a fine church, and had three tombs made : one for his father and 'mother, the other for the wife he intended to marry, and the last for his heirs and himself. Not far from Famagosta lived a lord who had three daughters, one of whom the King of Cyprus intended to bestow on Fortunatus, but gave him leave to take his choice. When Fortunatus had asked them the question, he chose the youngest, to the great grief of the other two sisters; but the countess and earl approved of the match. Fortu- natus presented the countess, his wife's mother, and her two sisters with several rich jewels. Then did the king offer to keep the wedding at his court ; but Fortunatus wished to keep it at his own palace, desiring the king and queen's com- pany. " Then," said the king, " I will come with my queen and all my relations." After four days the king and all his company went to Fortunatus' house, where they were entertained in a grand manner. His house was adorned with costly fur- niture, glorious to behold. This feasting lasted forty days. Then the king returned to his court, vastly well satisfied with the entertainment. After this, Fortunatus made another feast for the citizens, their wives and daughters. Fortunatus and his wife Cassandra lived long in a happy state, and found no want of anything but children. Fortunatus knew the virtue of his purse would fail at his death if he had no heirs. Therefore he made it constantly his prayer to God that he would be pleased to send him a child, and at length in due time a son was born to him, and he named him Ampadu. Shortly after, he had another son : and he provided for them the best of tutors, to take care they had an education suitable to their fortunes. THE HISTORY OF FORTUNATUS. 121 Fortunatus, having been married twelve years, took it into his head to travel once more ; which his wife much opposed, desiring him, by all the love he bore to her and her dear children, not to leave them. But he was resolved, and soon after took leave of his wife and children, promising them to return again in a short space. A few days after, he took shipping for Alexandria, where he stayed some time, and got acquainted with the sultan, whose favor he gained so as to receive let- ters to carry him safe through his dominions. Fortunatus, after supper, opened his purse, and gave to all the sultan's servants very liberally. The sultan, being highly pleased, told Fortunatus he would show him such curiosities as he had never seen. Then he took him to a strong marble tower. In the first room were several very rich vessels and jewels ; in the second he showed sev- eral vessels of gold coin, with a fine wardrobe of garments, and golden candlesticks, which shone all over the room, and mightily pleased Fortu- natus. Then the sultan showed him his bed-chamber, which was finely adorned ; and likewise a small felt hat, simple to behold ; saying, " I set more value on this hat than on all my jewels, as such another is not to be had, for it lets a person be wherever he doth wish." Fortunatus imagined this hat would agree very well with his purse, and he thereupon put it on his head, saying he should be very glad of a hat that had such virtue. So the sultan immediately gave it to him. With that he suddenly wished himself in his ship, it being then under sail, that 16 he might return to his own country. The sultan, looking out of the window and seeing the ship un- der sail, was very angry, and commanded his men to fetch him back, declaring, if they took him, he should be immediately put to death. But all in vain. Fortunatus was too quick for them, and ar- riving safe at Famagosta, richly laden, was joy- fully received by his wife, two sons, and the citi- zens. He now began to care for the advancement of his children, maintained a princely court, and pro- vided masters to instruct his children in all man- ner of chivalry. The youngest was most inclined to behave manfully, which caused Fortunatus to bestow many jewels upon him for his exploits. When he had many years enjoyed all earthly pleas- ures, Cassandra died, which so grieved him that he prepared himself for death also. Fortunatus, perceiving his death to approach, said to his two sons : " God has taken away your mother, who so tenderly nourished you ; and I, perceiving death at hand, will show you how you may continue in honor to your dying days." Then he declared to them the virtue of his purse, and that it would last no longer than their lives. He also told them the virtue of his wishing-hat, and commanded them not to part with those jewels, but to keep them in common, and live friendly to- gether, and not to make any person privy to their virtues ; " For," said he, " I have concealed them forty years, and never revealed them to any but you." Having said this, he ceased to speak and immediately gave up the ghost. His sons buried him in the magnificent church before mentioned. 122 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK. N the days of King Al- fred, there lived a poor woman, whose cottage was in a remote country village, many miles from London. She had been a widow some years, and had an only child named Jack, whom she indulged so much that he never paid the least attention to anything she said, but was idle, careless, and wasteful. His follies were not owing to a bad disposition, but to his mother's foolish partiality. By degrees, he spent all that she had scarcely anything remained but a cow. One day, for the first time in her life, she reproached him : " Cruel, cruel boy ! you have at last brought me to beg- gary. I have not money enough to purchase even a bit of bread; nothing now remains to sell but my poor cow ! I am sorry to part with her ; it grieves me sadly, but Ave cannot starve." For a few minutes Jack felt remorse, but it was soon over ; and he began asking his mother to let him sell the cow at the next village, and teased her so much that she at last consented. As he was go- ing along he met a butcher, who inquired why he was driving the cow from home ? Jack replied, he was going to sell it. The butcher held some curious beans in his hat ; they were of various col- ors, and attracted Jack's attention : this did not pass unnoticed by the man, who, knowing Jack's easy temper, thought now was the time to take advantage of it ; and, determined not to let slip so good a chance, asked what was the price of the cow, offering at the same time all the beans in his hat for her. The silly boy could not hide the pleasure he felt at what he fancied so great an offer : the bargain Avas struck instantly, and the COAV ex- changed for a feAV paltry beans. Jack made the best of his way home, calling aloud to his mother before he reached the door, thinking to surprise her. When she saw the beans, and heard Jack's ac- count, her patience quite forsook her : she tossed the beans out of the Avindow, Avhere thcA 7 fell on the garden-bed below. Then she threw her apron over her head, and cried bitterly. Jack tried to console her, but in vain, and, not having anything to eat, they both went supperless to bed. Jack awoke early in the morning, and seeing something uncommon darkening the window of his bed-cham- ber, ran down-stairs into the garden, where he found some of the beans had taken root, and sprung up surprisingly : the stalks were of an immense thick- ness, and had twined together until they formed a ladder like a chain, and so high that the top ap- peared to be lost in the clouds. Jack Avas an ad- venturous lad; he determined to climb up to the top, and ran to tell his mother, not doubting but that she Avould be equally pleased. She declared he should not go ; said it Avould break her heart if he did entreated and threatened, but all in vain. Jack set out, and after climbing for some hours reached the top of the bean-stalk, quite ex- hausted. Looking around, he found himself in a strange country ; it appeared to be a barren desert not a tree, shrub, house, or living creature was to be seen ; here and there Avere scattered frag- ments of stone ; and at unequal distances small heaps of earth were loosely thrown together. Jack seated himself upon a block of stone, and thought of his mother ; he thought Avith SOITOAV upon his disobedience in climbing the bean-stalk against her Avill, and feared that he must die of hun- ger. HoAvever, he walked on, hoping to see a house, Avhere he might beg something to eat and drink. He did not find it; but he saw at a distance a beautiful lady, walking alone. She was elegantly clad, and carried a white Avand, at the top of Avhich sat a peacock of pure gold. Jack, who Avas a gallant fellow, went straight up to her; Avhen, Avith a bewitching smile, she asked him how he came there. He told her all about the bean-stalk. The lady answered him by JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK. 123 a question, "Do you remember your father, young man ? " " No, madam ; but I am sure there is some mystery about him, for when I name him to my mother she always begins to weep, and will tell rne nothing." " She dare not," replied the lady, " but I can and will. For know, young man, that I am a fairy, and was your father's guardian. But fairies are bound by laws as well as mortals,; and by an error of mine I lost my power for a term of years, so that I was unable to succor your father when he most needed it, and he died." Here the fairy looked so sorrowful that Jack's heart warmed to her, and he begged her earnestly to tell him more. "I will; only you must promise to obey me in everything, or you will perish yourself." Jack was brave, and, besides, his fortunes were so bad they could not well be worse so he prom- ised. The fairy continued : " Your father, Jack, was a most excellent, amiable, generous man. He had a good wife, faithful servants, plenty of money ; but he had one misfortune a false friend. This was a giant, whom he had succored in misfort- une, and who returned his kindness by murdering him, and seizing on all his property ; also making your mother take a solemn oath that she would never tell you anything about your father, or he would murder both her and you. Then he turned her off with you in her arms, to wander about the wide world as she might. I could not help her, as my powei only returned on the day you went to sell your cow." " It was I," added the fairy, " who impelled you to take the beans, who made the bean-stalk grow, and inspired you with the desire to climb up it to this strange country ; for it is here the wicked giant lives who was your father's destroyer. It is you who must avenge him, and rid the world of a monster who never will do anything but evil. I will help you. You may lawfully take possession of his house and all his riches, for everything he has belonged to your father, and is therefore yours. Now farewell ! Do not let your mother know you are acquainted with your father's his- tory ; this is my command, and if you disobey me you will suffer for it. Now go." Jack asked where he was to go. " Along the-direct road, till you see the house where the giant lives. You must then act accord- ing to your own judgment, and I will guide you if any difficulty arises. Farewell ! " She bestowed on the youth a benignant smile, and vanished. Jack pursued his journey. He walked on till after sunset, when, to his great joy, he espied a large mansion. A plain-looking woman was at the door : he accosted her, begging she would give him a morsel of bread and a night's lodging. She expressed the greatest surprise, and said it was quite uncommon to see a human being near their house ; for it was well known that her husband was a powerful giant, who would never eat any- thing but human flesh, if he could possibly get it; that he would walk fifty miles to procure it, usu- ally being out the whole day for that purpose. This account greatly terrified Jack, but still he hoped to elude the giant, and therefore he again entreated the woman to take him in for one night only, and hide him where she thought proper. She at last suffered herself to be persuaded, for she was of a compassionate and generous nature, and took him into the house. First, they entered a fine large hall, magnificently furnished; then they passed through several spacious rooms, in the same style of grandeur ; but all appeared forsaken and desolate. A long gallery came next , it was very dark just light enough to show that, in- stead of a wall on one side, there was a grating of iron which parted off a dismal dungeon, from whence issued the groans of those victims whom the cruel giant kept in confinement for his own voracious appetite. Poor Jack was half dead with fear, and would have given the world to have been with his mother again, for he now began to doubt if he should ever see her more ; he even mistrusted the good woman, and thought she had let him into the house for no other purpose than to lock him up among the unfortunate people in 124 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. the dungeon. However, he sat down to the abun- dant table when she bade him, and, not seeing any- thing to make him uncomfortable, soon forgot his fear, and was just beginning to enjoy himself, when he was startled by a loud knocking at the outer door, which made the whole house shake. " Ah ! that 's the giant ; and if he sees you he will kill you and me too," cried the poor woman, trembling all over. " What shall I do ? " " Hide me in the oven," cried Jack, now as bold as a lion at the thought of being face to face with his father's cruel murderer. So he crept into the oven for there was no fire near it and listened to the giant's loud voice and heavy step as he went up and down the kitchen scolding his wife. At last he seated himself at table, and Jack, peeping through a crevice in the oven, was amazed to see what a quantity of food, he devoured. It seemed as if he never would have done eating and drinking ; but he did at last, and, leaning back, called to his wife in a voice like thunder : " Bring me my hen ! " She obeyed, and placed upon the table a very beautiful live hen. " Lay ! " roared the giant, and the hen laid im- mediately an egg of solid gold. " Lay another ! " and every time the giant said this the hen laid a larger egg than before. He amused himself a long time with his hen, and then sent his wife to bed, while he fell asleep by the fireside, and snored like the roaring of can- non. As soon as he was asleep Jack crept out of the oven, seized the hen, and ran off with her. He got safely out of the house, and finding his way along the road by which he had come, reached the top of the bean-stalk, which he descended in safety. His mother was overjoyed to see him. She thought he had come to some ill end. " Not a bit of it, mother. Look here ! " and he showed her the hen. " Now lay ! " and the hen obeyed him as readily as she did the giant, and laid as many golden eggs as he desired. These eggs being sold, Jack and his mother got plenty of money, and for some months lived very happily together ; till Jack had another great long- ing to climb the bean-stalk, and carry away some more of the giant's riches. He had told his mother of his adventure, but had been very care- ful not to say a word about his father. He thought of his journey again and again, but still he could not summon resolution enough to break it to his mother, being well assured that she would endeavor to prevent his going. However, one day he told her boldly that he must take another journey up the bean-stalk ; she begged and prayed him not to think of it, and tried all in her power to dissuade him. She told him that the giant's wife would certainly know him again, and that the giant would desire nothing better than to get him into his power, that he might put him to a cruel death, in order to be revenged for the loss of his hen. Jack, finding that all his arguments were useless, ceased speaking, though resolved to go at all events. He had a dress prepared which would disguise him, and something to color his skin ; he thought it impossible for any one to rec- ollect him in this dress. A few mornings after, he rose very early and, unperceived by any one, climbed the bean-stalk a second time. He was greatly fatigued when he reached the top, and very hungry. Having rested some time on one of the stones, he pursued his journey to the giant's mansion, which he reached late in the evening : the woman was at the door as before. Jack addressed her, at the same time telling her a pitiful tale, and requesting that she would give him some victuals and drink, and also a night's lodging. She told him (what he knew before very well) about her husband's being a powerful and cruel giant, and also that she had one night admitted a poor, hungry, friendless boy ; that the little un- grateful fellow hud stolen one of the giant's treas- ures ; and ever since that her husband had been worse than before, using her very cruelly, and con- tinually upbraiding her with being the cause of his misfortune. Jack felt sorry for her, but con- fessed nothing, and did his best to persuade her to JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK 125 seated himself after exclaim- fresh meat ! " was the brought a and left it admit him, but found it a very hard task. At last she consented, and as she led the way, Jack observed that everything was just as he had found it before : she took him into the kitchen, and after he had done eating and drinking, she hid him in an old lumber-closet. The giant returned at the usual time, and walked in so heavily that the house was shaken to its foundation. He by the fire, and soon ed : " Wife, I smell The wife replied it crows, which had piece of raw meat, at the top of the house. While supper was pre- paring, the giant was very ill-tempered and impatient, frequently lift- ing up his hand to strike his wife for not being quick enough. He was also con- tin u ally up- braiding her with the loss of his wonderful hen. At last, having ended his supper, he cried, " Give me something to amuse me my harp or my money-brigs." " Which will you have, my dear ? " said the wife, humbly. " My money-bags, because they are the heaviest to caury," thundered he. She brought them, staggering under the weight; two bags one filled with new guineas, and the other with new shillings ; she emptied them out on the table, and the giant began counting them in great glee. " Now you may go to bed, you old fool." So the wife crept away. Jack, from his 1; id ing-place, watched the count- ing of the money, which he knew was his poor father's, and wished it was his own ; it would give him much less trouble than going about selling the golden eggs. The giant, little thinking he was so iraftowly observed, reckoned it all up, and then replaced it in the two bags, which he tied up very carefully and put beside his chair, with his little dog to guard them. At last he fell asleep as before, and snored so loud, that Jack compared his noise to the roaring of the sea in a high wind, when the tide is coming in. At last Jack, con- cluding all secure, stole out, in order to carry off the two bags of money ; but just as he laid his hand upon one of them the little dog, which he had not perceived before, started from under the giant's chair and barked most furi- ously. Instead of endeavoring to escape, Jack stood still, though ex- pecting his enemy to awake every instant. Con- trary, however, to his expecta- tion, the giant continued in sound sleep, and Jack, seeing a piece of meat, threw it to the dog, who at once ceased barking, and began to devour it. So Jack carried off the bags, one on each shoulder, but they were so heavy that it took him two whole days to descend the bean-stalk and get back to his mother's door. When he came he found the cottage deserted. He ran from one room to another, without being able to find any one ; he then hastened into the village, hoping to see some of the neighbors, who could inform him where he could find his mother. An old woman at last directed him to a neighbor- ing house, where she was ill of a fever. He was greatly shocked at finding her apparently dying, and blamed himself bitterly as the cause of it all. 126 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. However, at sight of her dear son the poor woman revived, and slowly recovered health. Jack gave her his two money-bags : they had the cottage rebuilt and well furnished, and lived happier than they had ever done before. For three years Jack talked no more of the bean-stalk, but he could not forget it, though he feared making his mother un- happy. It was in vain endeav- oring to amuse himself ; he be- came thoughtful, and would arise at the first dawn of day, and sit looking at the bean-stalk for hours together. His mother saw that something preyed upon his mind, and endeavored to discover the cause ; but Jack knew too well what the consequence would be should she succeed. He did his utmost, therefore, to conquer the great desire he had for another journey up the bean-stalk. Finding, however, that his inclination grew too powerful for him, he began to make secret preparations for his journey. He got ready a new disguise, better and more complete than the former; and when summer came, on the longest day he woke as soon as it was light, and, without telling his mother, ascended the bean-stalk. He found the road and journey much as on the two former times. He arrived at the giant's mansion in the evening, and found the wife standing, as usual, at the door. Jack had disguised himself so completely that she did not appear to have the least recollection of him ; however, when he pleaded hunger and poverty, ,in order to gain admittance, he found it very difficult indeed to persuade her. At last he prevailed, and was concealed in the copper. When the giant returned, he said, furi- ously, " I smell fresh meat ! " But Jack felt quite composed, as he had said so before, and had been soon satisfied. However, the giant started up sud- denly, and, notwithstanding all his wife could say, he searched all round the room. Whilst this was going forward Jack was exceedingly terrified, wishing himself at home a thou- sand times ; but when the giant approached the copper, and put his hand upon the lid, Jack thought his death was certain. However, nothing happened ; for the giant did not take the' trouble to lift up the lid, but sat down shortly by the fireside, and began to eat his enormous supper. When he had finished, he commanded his wife to fetch his harp. Jack peeped under the copper-lid, and saw a most beautiful harp. The giant placed it on the table, said " Play ! " and it played of its own accord, without anybody touching it, the most exquisite music imaginable. Jack, who was a very good THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE AND ORSON. 127 musician, was delighted, and more anxious to get this than any other of his enemy's treasures. But the giant not being particularly fond of music, the harp had only the effect of lulling him to sleep earlier than usual. As for the wife, she had gone to bed as soon as ever she could. As soon as he thought all was safe, Jack got out of the copper, and seizing the harp, was eagerly running off with it. But the harp was enchanted by a fairy, and as soon as it found itself in strange hands it called out loudly, just as if it had been alive, " Master ! Master ! " The giant awoke, started up, and saw Jack scampering away as fast as his legs could carry him. " O you villain ! it is you who have robbed me of my hen and my money-bags, and now you are stealing my harp also. Wait till I catch you, and I '11 eat you up alive ! " " Very well ; try ! '.' shouted Jack, who was not a bit afraid, for he saw the giant was so tipsy he could hardly stand, much less run ; and he him- self had young legs and a clear conscience, which carry a man a long way. So, after leading the giant a considerable race, he contrived to be first at the top of the bean-stalk, and then scrambled down it as fast as he could, the harp playing all the while the most melancholy music, till he said, " Stop," and it stopped. Arrived at the bottom, he found his mother sit- ting at her cottage-door, weeping silently. " Here, mother, don't ory ; just give me a hatchet ; make haste." For he knew there was not a moment to spare ; he saw the giant begin- ning to descend the bean-stalk. The giant was midway when Jack with his hatchet cut the bean-stalk close off at the root ; the monster fell headlong into the garden, and was killed on the spot. Instantly the fairy appeared, and explained everything to Jack's mother, begging her to for- give Jack, who was his father's own son for bravery and generosity, and who would be sure to make her happy for the rest of her days. So all ended well, and nothing was ever more heard or seen of the wonderful Bean-stalk. THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE AND ORSON. IT stands upon record that Pepin, king of France, had a fair sister named Bellisant, who was married to Alexander, the Emperor of Greece, and by him carried to his capital at Constantino- ple ; from whence, after having lived with great virtue, she was banished through the means of a false accuser, whom she had severely checked for his imprudence. Although she was ill, yet was she compelled to leave her husband's empire, to the great regret of the people, and went away at- tended by a squire named Blandiman. After a long and fatiguing journey, she arrived in the forest of Orleans, where, being very faint, she dismissed her attendant for a nurse, but before his return gave birth to two lovely children, one of which was carried off by a she-bear ; but she, wishing to save it, pursued on her hands and knees, leaving the other behind. Before her re- turn, King Pepin, being a-hunting in the forest, came to the tree where she had left the other babe, and causing it to be taken up, sent it to a nurse, and when it grew up he called his name Valen- tine. Blandiman at length came back and instead of finding his mistress, found her brother Pepin at the tree, to whom he declared all that had hap- pened, and how his sister was banished through the false suggestions of the arch-priest. But King Pepin, hearing this, believed the charge, and was greatly enraged against the Lady Bellisant, saying the emperor ought to have put her to death. So leaving Blandiman, he returned with his nobles to Paris. The Lady Bellisant, having followed the bear to no purpose, returned to the place where she had left the other babe ; but great was her sorrow when Blandiman said he had seen her brother Pe- 128 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. pin, but could tell nothing of the child ; and hav- ing comforted her for the loss of it, they went to the seaside, took shipping, and arrived at the cas- tle of the great Feragus, in Portugal. All this while the bear nourished the infant among her young ones, until at length it grew up a wild, hairy man, doing great mischief to all that passed through the forest ; in which we will leave him and return to the arch-priest, who continued his ill-doing until he was impeached by a mer- chant of having wrongfully accused the empress ; upon which they fought, and the merchant con- quering, made the priest confess all his treasons. The emperor wrote about it to the King of France and the arch-priest was hanged. Now was Valentine grown a lusty young man, and by the king was greatly beloved, as if he had been his own child; he commanded him to be taught the use of arms, in which he soon became so expert that few in the court dared to encounter him, which made Hufray and Henry, the king's sons, exceedingly envy him. At this juncture great complaints were made against the Wild Man, from whom no knight who had encountered him had escaped with his life, which made the king promise a thousand marks to any one who should bring him dead or alive, which offer none dared to accept. Hufray and Henry desired King Pepin to send Valentine, with a view of getting rid of so powerful a rival in the king's favor; but his maj- esty, seeing their malice, was very angry, telling them he had rather lose the best baron in the land. However, Valentine desired leave of his majesty to go to the forest, resolving either to conquer the Wild Man or die in the attempt. Accordingly, having furnished himself with a good horse and arms, he set forward on his journey, and after hard traveling he arrived in the forest. In the evening he tied his horse to a large spreading oak, and got up into a tree himself for security, where he rested that night. Next morning he beheld the Wild Man travers- ing the forest in search of his prey ; at length he came to the tree where Valentine's horse stood, from whom he pulled many hairs, upon which the horse kicked him. The Wild Man feeling the pain, was going to tear him to pieces, which Val- entine seeing, made signs as if he would fight him, and accordingly he leaped down and gave him a blow, but the Wild Man caught him by the arm and threw him to the ground ; then taking up Valentine's shield, he beheld it with amaze, in re- spect to the colors thereon emblazoned. Valentine being much bruised, got up and came to his brother in much anger, but Orson ran to a tree, and then they engaged, but both being terribly wounded, gave out by consent ; after which Valentine sig- nified to Orson that if he would yield to him he would order matters so as he should become a ra- tional creature. Orson, thinking that he meant no harm, stretched forth his hands to him ; upon which he bound him and then led him to Paris, where he. presented him to King Pepin, who had the Wild Man baptized by the name of Orson, from his be- ing taken in a wood. Orson's actions, during their stay there, very much amused the whole court, so that at length the Duke of Acquitain sent letters importing that whoever should overcome the Green Knight, a fierce Pagan champion, should have his daughter Fazon in marriage. Upon which Valen- tine set out for that province, attended by his brother Orson, by which means he came to the knowledge of his parents, as we shall find here- after. After a long journey, Valentine and Orson ar- rived at Duke Savary's palace in Acquitain, and making known the reasons that brought them there, were pi-esented to Fazon, to whom Valen- tine thus addressed himself: "Sweet creature! King Pepin has sent me hither to fight the Green Knight, and with me the bravest knight in all his realm, who, though he is dumb and naked, is en- dued with such valor that no knight under the sun is able to cope with him." During this speech she viewed Orson narrowly and he her ; but supper coming in, interrupted them, and they sat down to eat. Whilst they were in the midst of their feasting, the Green Knight entered, saying, THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE AND ORSON. 129 "Noble Duke of Acquitain, hast thou any more knights to cope with me for thy daughter? " " Yea," replied the duke, " I have seventeen," and so he showed them to him. The Green Knight then said to them : " Eat your fill, for to-morrow will be your last." Orson, hearing what he had said, was much in- censed against him, and suddenly rising from the table, threw the Green Knight with such force against the wall as laid him dead for some time, which very much pleased the whole company. Next day, many knights went to fight the Green Knight, but he overcame and slew them all, until at last Orson, being armed in Valentine's armor, came to the Green Knight's pavilion, and defying him, they began the most desperate combat that ever was heard of, and the Green Knight made so great a stroke at him, as cut off the top of his helmet, and half his shield, wounding him much. But this served only to enrage the valiant Orson, who, coming to him on foot, took hold of him, and pulling him from his horse, got astride him, and was just going to kill him, when he was pre- vented by Valentine, who interceded with .Orson to spare his life, on condition of his turning Christian, and he acquainted King Pepin how he was conquered. The Green Knight having promised to perform all that was desired, they led him a prisoner to the city of Acquitain, and the duke received them with great joy, and offered the Lady Fazon to Orson; but he would not marry her till his brother had won the Green Knight's sister, Lady Cleri- mond, nor till they had talked with the enchanted Head of Brass, to know his parents, and get the proper use of his tongue. When the lady knew this she was very sorrowful, because she loved Orson, and was resolved to marry none but him who had nobly conquered the Green Knight. Valentine and Orson having taken leave of the Duke of Acquitain and his daughter Fazon, pro- ceeded on their journey in search of the Lady Clerimond, and at last came to a tower of bur- nished brass ; which upon inquiry they discovered IT to be kept by Clerimond, sister to Feragus and the Green Knight ; and having demanded entrance were refused it by the sentinel, which provoked Valentine to that degree that he drew sword against him with such fury as to make the sentinel fall dead at his feet. The Lady Clerimond beheld all this dispute, and, seeing them brave knights, received them courteously. Valentine having presented tokens from the Green Knight, told her he came there for the love of her, and to discourse with the all- knowing Head of Brass concerning their parents. After dinner the Lady Clerimond took them by the hand, and led them to the Chamber of Varie- ties, where the Head was placed between four pillars of pure jasper. When they entered the chamber the Head made the following speech to Valentine : " Thou famous knight of royal extract art called Valentine the Valiant, who of right ought to marry the Lady Clerimond. Thou art son to the Em- peror of Greece and the Empress Bellisant who is now in the castle of Feragus in Portugal, where she has resided for twenty years. King Pepin is thy uncle, and the Wild Man thy brother. The Empress Bellisant brought ye two forth in the forest of Orleans ; he was taken away by a raven- ous bear; and thou wast taken up by thy uncle Pepin, who brought thee up to man's estate. Moreover, I likewise tell thee that thy brother shall never speak until thou cuttest the thread that groweth under his tongue." The Brazen Head having ended his speech, Valentine embraced Orson, and cut the thread which grew under his tongue, when he directly related many surprising things. After which Val- entine married the Lady Clerimond, but not be- fore she had turned a Christian. In this castle there lived a dwarf, named Paco- let, who was an enchanter, and by his art had contrived a horse of wood, and in the forehead a fixed pin, by turning of which one could convey one's self to the farthest part of the world. This enchanter flew to Portugal and informed Feragus of his sister's nuptials, and of her turning Chris- 130 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. tian, which so enraged him that lie swore by Ma- homet he would make her rue it, and therefore got ready his fleet and sailed toward the castle of Clerimond, where, when he arrived, he concealed his malice from his sister, and also the two knights, telling them that he came to fetch them into Portugal, the better to solemnize their marriage, and he would turn Christian on their arrival at his castle, all which they believed, and soon after embarked with him. When he had got them on board he ordered them to be put in irons, which so much grieved his sister Clerimond that she would have thrown herself into the sea, had she not been stopped. When they were come to Portugal he put Val- entine and Orson into a dungeon, and fed them with bread and water, but allowed his sister Cleri- mond the liberty of the castle, where she met the Empress Bellisant, who had been confined twenty years in the castle of Feragus. She seeing her so full of grief, consoled her, inquiring the reason, which she told her. The empress was mightily grieved, but Pacolet comforted them, saying that he would release them all that evening, which he accordingly did in the following manner. In the dead of the night he went to the dungeon where lay Valentine and Orson bound in chains, and touching the doors with his magic wand, they flew open, and coming to the knights he released them and conducted them to the apartment where Bellisant and Cleri- mond were, who were exceedingly transported ; but Pacolet hindered them from discoursing long by telling them that they must depart before the guards of Feragus awaked, which would put a stop to his proceedings. So Pacolet led them out of the castle and having prepared a ship, he con- veyed them to Lady Fazon, at the city of Acqui- tain. The next morning when Feragus heard of their escape he was enraged to the highest de- gree. The knights and ladies being out of danger soon arrived at Acquitain, to the great joy of Lady Fazon, who was soon after married to Orson with great solemnity, upon which occasion tilts and tournaments were performed for many days, but Valentine carried off the prize, overthrowing at least a hundred brave knights. Feragus, to be revenged on them, assembled an army, marched against the city of Acquitain, and laid close siege to it, with a vast army of Saracens. When Duke Savary perceived it, he resolved to give them battle the very next morning, and ac- cordingly he sallied forth with all his forces, but venturing too far, he was taken by the Saracens, and carried to Feragus's tent. Now Orson was resolved to set him free or lose his life ; so putting on the armor of a dead Sara- cen, he called Pacolet, and went through the enemy without being molested, until they arrived at the tent where the duke was confined ; which done, they gave him a horse and a road to the Christian army ; on their return, a general shout was made by all the army, " Long live the Duke of Acqui- tain," which so dismayed the Saracens that they fled away in confusion, and the Christians pur- sued them, till the night obliged them to give over. Soon after the victory, Valentine, Orson, the Ladies Bellisant, Clerimond, and Fazon, after they had taken leave of Duke Savary and his nobles, set out for Constantinople to see the emperor, and were received with great joy. At length the emperor set out from Constan- tinople, after taking leave of his family, to visit a strong castle he had in Spain. While he was absent Brandifer, brother to Feragus, invaded the empire with a very great army, and finally be- sieged Constantinople, where lay Valentine and Orson, the Green Knight, and all the ladies. Val- entine, seeing the condition they all were in, re- solved to give Brandifer battle, and thereupon di- vided his army into ten battalions commanded by ten knights, and sallying out of the city began the fight with the Saracens, who drew up in readiness to receive them. In the mean time the emperor, who was at sea, returned homeward, and in his way he met a fleet going to the assistance of Brandifer, which bore upon him with full sail ; whereupon, exhorting his THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE AND ORSON. 131 companions to behave like men, they made ready to receive them, and after a most bloody and ob- stinate battle the emperor got the victory, having slajn many of the Pagans and dispersed their ships. After this victory the emperor commanded his men to put on the arms of the vanquished, as he did himself, thinking thereby the better to fall on the besiegers his enemies, but the stratagem proved most fatal to him, as we shall hereafter find. All this while the Christians and Valentine bravely encountered Brandifer and his men be- fore the walls of Constantinople, sometimes gain- ing, and sometimes losing, ground ; but at length Valentine came to the standard of Brandifer, where an Indian king; ran upon him with great force, but Valentine, avoiding him, struck him with such fury as cleft him down the middle. On the other hand Orson and the Green Knight were not idle, but with their brandished swords cut themselves a passage quite through the Pagan army, destroying all that opposed them. Soon after, news came that a mighty fleet of Saracens was entering the harbor ; whereupon Valentine judged it was necessary to go thither and oppose their landing, but it proved fatal; for in this fleet was the emperor, his father, whom, being clad in Saracen armor, Valentine by mis- take ran quite through the body with his spear ; which when he knew, he would have killed him- self, had not his brother and the Green Knight prevented him ; but getting a horse, with an in- tent to lose his life, he rushed into the midst of the enemy, till he came to the giant Brandifer, who when he saw Valentine encountered him so fiercely that both fell to the ground ; but Valen- tine recovering gave him a stab, which sent him after his false prophet Mahomet. The Pagans, seeing their king dend, threw down their arms and ran, and the Christians pursued them with a mighty slaughter. At last, the pur- suit being over, they returned to Constantinople, and Orson acquainted the empress with the death of his father, but concealed by whom it was done, upon which it was concluded that Valentine and Orson should govern the empire by turns, with their wives, the Ladies Fazon and Clerimond, whose brother, the Green Knight, was crowned King of the Green Mountain, the people of which were much delighted to have so brave a warrior for their king. Now Valentine being greatly vexed in mind for the death of his father, whom he had killed out of a mistake, resolved to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Sepulchre ; and thereupon taking leave of his wife Clerimond, and giving the government of the empire unto his brother, he departed, to the great sorrow of all, particularly his brother Orson and the fair Clerimond. After seven years' ab- sence he returned, dressed like a poor palmer, beg- ging victuals at the gate of his own palace ; and at length being sick and about to die, he called for Clerimond and made himself known to her, at which she was ready to give up the ghost. At last, having recommended her to his broth- er's care, and the empress, his dear mother, and asking a blessing of them, he turned on one side and breathed out his noble soul from his illustri- ous body, to the great grief of all the valiant knights of Christendom, to whom he had been a most noble example and a generous reliever. Clerimond never would espouse any one, but be- took her to a single life, always lamenting the loss of her beloved husband. After his death, Orson governed the empire with great wisdom and justice for seven years, till at length, seeing the fragile state of human affairs, he gave the charge of his empire, wife, and chil- dren to the Green Knight, and then, turning her- mit, he became once more a voluntary dweller in the forests and woods, where, after living to a great age, this magnanimous and invincible hero surrendered up his body unto never-sparing death, and his soul to the immortal God, of whose attri- bute it had a true resemblance. Thus, reader, you may see that none withstand, Though great in valor, or in vast command, The mighty force of death's all conquering hand. 132 THE BOOK OF POPULAR TALES. CLEVER ALICE. ONCE upon a time there was a man who had a daughter, who was called " Clever Alice ; " and when she was grown up her father said, " We must see about her marrying." " Yes," replied her mother, " whenever a young man shall appear who is worthy of her." At last a certain youth, by name Hans, came from a distance to make a proposal of marriage ; but he required one condition, that the Clever Alice should be very prudent. " Oh," said her father, " no fear of that ! she has got a head full of brains ; " and the mother added, " Ah, she can see the wind blow up the street, and hear the flies cough ! " " Very well," replied Hans ; " but remember, if she is not very prudent I will not take her." Soon afterwards they sat down to dinner, and her mother said, " Alice, go down into the cellar and draw some beer." So Clever Alice took the jug down from the wall, and went into the cellar, jerking the lid up and down on her way, to pass away the time. As soon as she got down-stairs, she drew a stool and placed it before the cask, in order that she might not have to stoop, for she thought stooping might in some way injure her back, and give it an un- desirable bend. Then she placed the can before her and turned the tap, and while the beer was running, as she did not wish her eyes to be idle, she looked about upon the wall above and be- low. Presently she perceived, after much peeping into this corner and that corner, a hatchet, which the bricklayers had left behind, sticking out of the ceiling right above her. head. At the sight of this Clever Alice began to cry, saying, " Oh ! if I marry Hans, and we have a child, and he grows up, and we send him into the cellar to draw beer, the hatchet will fall upon his head and kill him ; " and so she sat there weeping with all her might over the impending misfortune. Meanwhile the good folks up-stairs were waiting for the beer, but as Clever Alice did not come, her mother told the maid to go and see what she was stopping for. The maid went down into the cel- lar, and found Alice sitting before the cask crying heartily, and she asked, " Alice, what are you weeping about ? " "Ah," she replied, "have I not cause? If I marry Hans, and we have a child, and he grows up, and we send him here to draw beer, . that hatchet will fall upon his head and kill him." " Oh," said the maid, "what a clever Alice we have ! " And, sitting down, she began to weep, too, for the misfortune that was to happen. After a while, when the servant did not return, the good folks above began to feel very thirsty ; so the husband told the boy to go down into the cel- lar, and see what had become of Alice and the maid. The boy went down, and there sat Clever Alice and the maid both crying, so he asked the reason ; and Alice told him the same tale, of the hatchet that was to fall on her child, if she mar- ried Hans, and if they had a child. When she had finished, the boy exclaimed, " What a clever Alice we have ! " and fell weeping and howling with the others. Up-stairs they were still waiting, and the hus- band said, when the boy did not return, " Do you go down, wife, into the cellar and see why Alice stays so long." So she went down, and finding all three sitting there crying, asked the reason, and Alice told her about the hatchet which must inevi- tably fall upon the head of her son. Then the mother likewise exclaimed, " Oh, what a clever Alice we have ! " and, sitting down, began to weep as much as any of the rest. Meanwhile the husband waited for his wife's re- turn ; but at last he felt so very thirsty that he said, "I must go myself down into the cellar and see what is keeping our Alice." As soon as he entered the cellar, there he found the four sitting and crying together, and when he heard the rea- son, he also exclaimed, u Oh, what a clever Alice CLEVER ALICE. 133 we have ! " and sat down to cry with the whole strength of his lungs. All this time the bridegroom above sat waiting, but when nobody returned, lie thought they must be waiting for him, and so he went down to see what was the matter. When he entered, there sat the five crying and groaning, each one in a louder key than his neighbor. " What misfortune has happened ? " he asked. " Ah, dear Hans ! " cried Alice, " if you and I should marry one another, and have a child, and he should grow up, and we, perhaps, send him down to this cellar to tap the beer, the hatchet which has been left sticking up there may fall on his head, and so kill him ; and do you not think this is enough to weep about ? " " Now," said Hans, " more prudence than this is not necessary for my housekeeping ; because you are such a clever Alice, I will have you for my wife." And, taking her hand, he led her home, and celebrated the wedding directly. After they had been married a little while, Hans said one morning, " Wife, I will go oat to work and earn some money ; do you go into the field and gather some corn wherewith to make bread." " Yes," she answered, " I will do so, dear Hans." And when he was gone, she cooked herself a nice mess of pottage to take with her. As she came to the field she said to herself, " What shall I do ? Shall I cut first, or eat first ? Ay, I will eat first ! " Then she ate up the contents of her pot, and when it was finished she thought to herself, " Now, shall I reap first or sleep first ? Well, I think I will have a nap ! " and so she laid herself down amongst the corn, and went to sleep. Meanwhile Hans returned home, but Alice did not come, and so he said, " Oh, what a prudent Alice I have ! She is so industrious that she does not even come home to eat anything." By and by, however, evening came on, and still she did not return ; so Hans went out to see how much she had reaped ; but, behold, nothing at all, and there lay Alice fast asleep among the corn ! So home he ran very fast, and brought a net with little bells hanging on it, which he threw over her head while she still slept on. When he had done this, he went back again and shut the house-door, and, seating himself on his stool, began working very industriously. At last, when it was nearly dark, the Clever Alice awoke, and as soon as she stood up, the net fell all over her hair, and the bells jingled at every step she took. This quite frightened her, and she began to doubt whether she were really Clever Alice, and said to herself, " Am I she, or am I not ? " This was a question she could not answer, and she stood still a long while considering about it. At last she thought she would go home and ask whether she were really herself supposing somebody would be able to tell her. When she came to the house-door it was shut ; so she tapped at the window, and asked, " Hans, is Alice with- in ? " " Yes," he replied, " she is." At which an- swer she became really terrified, and exclaiming,- " Ah, heaven, then I am not Alice ! " she ran up to another house, intending to ask the same ques- tion. But as soon as the folks within heard the jingling of the bells in her net, they refused to open their doors, and nobody would receive her. So she ran straight away from the village, and no one has ever seen her since. THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD. Now ponder well, you parents dear, These words which I shall write ; A doleful story you shall hear, In time brought forth to light. A gentleman of good account In Norfolk dwelt of late, Who did in honor far surmount Most men of his estate. Sore sick he was, and like to die, No help his life could save ; His wife by him as sick did lie, And both possessed one grave No love between these two was lost, Each was to other kind ; In love they lived, in love they died, And left two babes behind. The one, a fine and pretty boy, Not passing three years old ; The other, a girl more young than he, And framed in beauty's mold. The father left his little son, As plainly doth appear, When he to perfect age should come, Three hundred pounds a year. And to his little daughter Jane, Five hundred pounds in gold, To be paid down on her marriage-day, Which might not be controlled : But if the children chanced to die Ere they to age should come, Their uncle should possess their wealth ; For so the will did run. " Now, brother," said the dying man, " Look to my children dear ; Be good unto my boy and girl, No friends else have they here : To God and you I recommend My children dear this day ; But little while be sure we have Within this world to stay. " You must be father and mother both, And uncle all in one ; God knows what will become of them, When I am dead and gone." With that bespake their mother dear, " O brother kind," quoth she, " You are the man must bring our babes To wealth or misery. " And if you keep them carefully, Then God will you reward ; But if you otherwise should deal, God will your deeds regard." With lips as cold as any stone, They kissed their children small : THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD. 135 "God bless you both, my children dear ; " With that their tears did fall. These speeches then their brother spake To this sick couple there : " The keeping of your little ones, Sweet sister, do not fear. God never prosper me nor mine, Nor aught else that I have, If I do wrong your children dear When you are laid in grave." The parents being dead and gone, The children home he takes, And brings them straight unto his house, Where much of them he makes. He had not kept these pretty babes A twelvemonth and a day, But, for their wealth, he did devise To make them both away. He bargained with two ruffians strong Which were of furious mood, That they should take these children young And slay them in a wood. He told his wife an artful tale : He would the children send To be brought up in fair London, With one that was his friend. Away then went those pretty babes, . Rejoicing at that tide, Rejoicing with a merry mind, They should on cock-horse ride. They prate and prattle pleasantly, As they rode on the way, To those that should their butchers be, And work their lives' decay. So that the pretty speech they had, Made murder's heart relent : And they that undertook the deed Full sore did now repent. Yet one of them, more hard of heart, Did vow to do his charge, Because the wretch that hired him Had paid him very large. The other won't agree thereto, So here they fall to strife ; With one another they did fight About the children's life : And he that was of mildest mood, Did slay the other there, Within an unfrequented wood : The babes did quake for fear ! 4 He took the children by the hand, Tears standing in their eye, And bade them straightway follow him, And look they did not cry ; And two long miles he led them on, While they for food complain : ' Stay here," quoth he, " I '11 bring you bread, When I come back again." These pretty babes, with hand in hand, Went wandering up and down ; But never more could see the man Approaching from the town : Their pretty lips with blackberries Were all besmeared and dyed, 136 THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. And when they saw the darksome night, They sat them down and cried. Thus wandered these poor innocents Till death did end their grief, In one another's arms they died, As wanting due relief: No burial this pretty pair Of any man receives, Till Robin Redbreast piously Did cover them with leaves. And now the heavy wrath of God Upon their uncle fell ; Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house, His conscience felt an hell : His barns were fired, his goods consumed, His lands were barren made, His cattle died within the field, And nothing with him stayed. And in the voyage to Portugal Two of his sons did die ; And, to conclude, himself was brought To want and misery. He pawned and mortgaged all his land Ere seven years came about, And now at length this wicked act Did by this means come out : The fellow that did take in hand These children for to kill, Was for a robbery judged to die, Such was God's blessed will. Who did confess the very truth, As here hath been displayed : Their uncle having died in gaol, Where he for debt was laid. You that executors be made, And overseers eke Of children that be fatherless, And infants mild and meek ; Take you example by this thing, And yield to each his right, Lest God with such like misery Your wicked minds requite. OLD BALLAD. MARY'S LAMB. MARY had a little lamb, Its fleece was white as snow ; And everywhere that Mary went, The lamb was sure to go. He followed her to school one day. That was against the rule ; It made the children laugh and play, To see a lamb at school. So the teacher turned him out, But still he lingered near, And waited patiently about, Till Mary did appear. Then he ran to her, and laid His head upon her arm, As if he said, " I 'm not afraid, You '11 keep me from all harm." " What makes the lamb love Mary so ? " The eager children cry. u Oh, Mary loves the lamb, you know," The teacher did reply. MRS. HALE. THE SPIDER AND HIS WIFE. IN a little dark crack, half a yard from the ground, An honest old spider resided: So pleasant and snug, and convenient 't was found, That his friends came to see it for many miles round It seemed for his pleasure provided. Of the cares, and fatigues, and distresses of life. This spider was thoroughly tired : So leaving those scenes of contention and strife, (His children all settled) he came with his wife, To live in this cranny retired. He thought that the little his wife would consume, 'T would be easy for him to provide her, Forgetting he lived in a gentleman's room, Where came every morning a maid and a broom, Those pitiless foes to a spider. THE NOTORIOUS GLUTTON. 137 For when (as sometimes it would chance to befall) Just when his neat web was completed, B rus h canie the great broom down the side of the wall. And perhaps carried with it, web, spider, and all, He thought himself cruelly treated. One day, when their cupboard was empty and dry, His wife (Mrs. Hairy-leg Spinner) Said to him, " Dear, go to the cobweb and try, If you can't find the leg or the wing of a fly, As a bit of a relish for dinner." Directly he went, his long search to resume, (For nothing he ever denied her) Alas ! little guessing his terrible doom ; Just then came the gentleman into his room. And saw the unfortunate spider. So, while the poor fellow, in search of his pelf, In the cobwebs continued to linger, The gentleman reached a long cane from the shelf (For certain good reasons best known to himself Preferring his stick to his jinger) Then presently poking him down to the floor, (Not stopping at all to consider) With one horrid crush the whole business was o'er, The poor little spider was heard of no more, To the lasting distress of his widow ! JANE TAYLOR. THE NOTORIOUS GLUTTON. A DUCK, who had got such a habit of stuffing, That all the day long she was panting and puffing ; And by every creature, who did her great crop see, Was thought to be galloping fast for a dropsy ; One day, after eating a plentiful dinner, With full twice as much as there should have been in her, While up to her eyes in the gutter a roking, Was greatly alarmed by the symptoms of choking. Now there was an old fellow, much famed for discerning (A drake, who had taken a liking for learning), 18 And, high in repute with his feathery friends, Was called Doctor Drake ; for this doctor she sends. In a hole of the dunghill was Doctor Drake's shop, Where he kept a few simples for curing the crop ; Some gravel and pebbles, to help the digestion, And certain famed plants of the doctor's selection. So, taking a handful of comical things, And brushing his topple and pluming his wings, And putting his feathers in apple-pie order, Set out, to prescribe for the lady's disorder. " Dear sir," said the duck, with a delicate quack, Just turning a little way round on her back, And leaning her head on a stone in the yard, " My case, Doctor Drake, is exceedingly hard. u I feel so distended with wind, and opprest, So squeamish and faint such a load at my chest; And, day after day, I assure you it is hard To suffer with patience these pains in my gizzard." " Give me leave," said the doctor, with medical look, As her flabby cold paw in his fingers he took ; " By the feel of your pulse your complaint, I 've been thinking Is caused by your habit of eating and drinking." " Oh no, sir, believe me," the lady replied (Alarmed for her stomach as well as her pride), " I am sure it arises from nothing I eat, For I rather suspect I got wet in my feet. " I 've only been raking a bit in the gutter, Where the cook had been pouring some cold melted butter ; And a slice of green cabbage, and scraps of cold meat, Just a trifle or two, that I thought I could eat." The doctor was just to his business proceeding, By gentle emetics, a blister, and bleeding, When all on a sudden she rolled on her side, Gave a horrible quackle, a struggle, and died ! Her remains were interred in a neighboring swamp By her friends, with a great deal of funeral pomp; 138 THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. But I 've heard this inscription her tombstone was put Nor once did she lack to continue her clack, on, Till again she laid down on her pillow. "HERE LIES MRS. DUCK, THE NOTORIOUS GLUTTON:" And all the young ducklings are brought by their You '11 think now, perhaps, there would have been gaps friends, If she had n't been wonderful clever ; To learn the disgrace in which gluttony ends. That her sense was so great, and so witty her pate JANE TAYLOR. DIRTY JACK. THERE was one little Jack, not very long back, And 't is said to his lasting disgrace, That he never was seen with his hands at all clean, Nor yet ever clean was his face. His friends were much hurt to see so much dirt, And often and well did they scour : But all was in vain, he was dirty again Before they had done it an hour. When to wash he was sent, he reluctantly went, With water to splash himself o'er, But he left the black streaks all over his cheeks, And made them look worse than before. The pigs in the dirt could n't be more expert Than he was, at grubbing about ; And the people have thought, this gentleman ought To be made with four legs and a snout. The idle and bad may, like to this lad, Be dirty and black, to be sure, But good boys are seen to be decent and clean, Although they are ever so poor. JANE TAYLOR. THE CHATTERBOX. FROM morning to night 'twas Lucy's delight To chatter and talk without stopping ; There was not a day but she rattled away, Like water forever a dropping ! As soon as she rose, while she put on her clothes, 'T was vain to endeavor to still her ; That it would be forthcoming forever. But that 's quite absurd, for have you not heard, Much tongue and few brains are connected, That they are supposed to think least who talk most, And their wisdom is always suspected ? While Lucy was young, had she bridled her tongue With a little good sense and exertion, Who knows but she might have been our delight, Instead of our jest and aversion ? JANE TAYLOR. MEDDLESOME MATTY. OH, how one ugly trick has spoiled The sweetest and the best ! Matilda, though a pleasant child, One ugly trick possest, Which, like a cloud before the skies, Hid all her better qualities. Sometimes she'd lift the tea-pot lid, To peep at what was in it ; Or tilt the kettle, if you did But turn your back a minute. In vain you told her not to touch, Her trick of meddling grew so much. Her grandmamma went out one day, And by mistake she laid Her spectacles and snuff-box gay Too near the little maid: Ah, well ! thought she. I '11 try them on, As soon as grandmamma is gone. Forthwith she placed upon her nose The glasses large and wide ; And looking round, as I suppose, The snuff-box too she spied. NEVER PLAT WITH FIRE. 139 Oh, what a pretty box is this ! I '11 open it, said little miss. I know that grandmamma would say, Don't meddle with it, dear ! But then, she 's far enough away, And no one else is near ; Besides, what can there be amiss In opening such a box as this ? So thumb and finger went to work To move the stubborn lid ; And presently a mighty jerk The mighty mischief did ; For, all at once, ah woeful case ! The snuff came puffing in her face. Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, and chin, A dismal sight presented ; And, as the snuff got farther in, Sincerely she repented. In vain she ran about for ease, She could do nothing else but sneeze ! She dashed the spectacles away To wipe her tingling eyes ; And as in twenty .bits they lay, Her grandmamma she spies. Heyday ! and what 's the matter now ? Cried grandmamma, with lifted brow. Matilda, smarting with the pain, And tingling still, and sore, Made many a promise to refrain From meddling evermore ; And 't is a fact, as I have heard, She ever since has kept her word. JANE TAYLOR. THE PIN. DEAR me ! what signifies a pin, Wedged in a rotten board ? I 'm certain that I won't begin, At ten years old, to hoard ! I never will be called a miser, That I 'm determined, said Eliza. So onward tript the little maid, And left the pin behind, Which very snug and quiet laid, To its hard fate resigned ; Nor did she think (a careless chit) 'T was worth her while to stoop for it. Next day a party was to ride To see an air balloon ; And all the company beside Were dressed and ready soon ; But she a woeful case was in, For want of just a single pin ! In vain her eager eye she brings To every darksome crack, There was not one ! and all her things Were dropping off her back. She cut her pincushion in two, But no ! notone had slidden through. At last, as hunting on the floor Over a crack she lay, The carriage rattled to the door, Then rattled fast away ; But poor Eliza was not in, For want of just a single pin. There 's hardly anything so small, So trifling, or so mean, That we may never want at all, For service unforeseen ; And willful waste, depend upon 't, Is, almost always, willful want ! JANE TAYLOR. NEVER PLAY WITH FIRE. MY prayers I said, I went to bed, And soon I fell asleep : But soon I woke, my sleep was broke, I through my curtain peep. I heard a noise of men and boys, The watchman's rattle too ; And FIRE they cried and then cried I, Oh dear ! what shall I do ? 140 THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE, A shout so loud came from the crowd Around, above, below ; And in the street the neighbors meet, Who would the matter know. Now down the stairs run threes and pairs Enough to break their bones ; The firemen swear, the engines tear And thunder o'er the stones. The roof and wall, and stair and all, And rafters tumble in ; Red flames and blaze now alt amaze, And make a dreadful din ! And horrid screams, when bricks and beams Come tumbling on their heads ; And some are smashed, and some are crashed ; Some leap on feather beds. Some burn, some choke with fire and smoke ! And oh, what was the cause ? My heart 's dismayed, last night I played With Tommy, lighting straws ! ADELAIDE TAYLOR. THE POND. THERE was a round pond, and a pretty pond too, About it white daisies and buttercups grew, And dark weeping willows, that stooped to the 'ground, Dipped in their long branches and shaded it round. A party of ducks to this pond would repair, To feast on the green water-weeds that grew there ; Indeed the assembly would frequently meet To talk o'er affairs in this pleasant retreat. Now the subjects, on which they were wont to con- verse, I 'm sorry I cannot include in my verse ; For though I 've oft listened in hopes of discerning, I own 't is a matter that baffles my learning. One day a young chicken, who lived thereabout, Stood watching to see the ducks pass in and out ; Now standing tail upwards, now diving below ; She thought of all things she should like to do so. So this foolish chicken began to declare, " I Ve really a great mind to venture in there ; My mother 's oft told me I must not go nigh, But really, for my part, I cannot tell why. " Ducks have feathers and wings, and so have I too, And my feet what 's the reason that they will not do ? Though my beak is pointed, and their beaks are round, Is that any reason that I should be drowned ? " So why should not I swim as well as a duck ? Suppose that I venture and e'en try my luck ? For," said she, spite of all that her mother had taught her, " I 'm really remarkably fond of the water." So in this poor ignorant animal flew, And found that her dear mother's cautions were true ; She splashed, and she dashed, and she turned herself round, And heartily wished herself safe on the ground. But now 't was too late to begin to repent, The harder she struggled the deeper she went ; And when every effort she vainly had tried. She slowly sank down to the bottom and died ! The ducks, I perceived, began loudly to quack, When they saw the poor fowl floating dead on its back ; And by their grave looks, it was very apparent, They discoursed on the sin of not minding a parent. v JANE TAYLOR. THE COW AND THE ASS. HARD by a green meadow a stream used to flow, So clear, one might see the white pebbles below ; To this cooling stream the warm cattle would stray, To stand in the shade on a hot summer's day. A cow, quite oppressed with the heat of the sun, Came here to refresh, as she often had done ; And standing stock still, leaning over the stream, Was musing, perhaps, or perhaps she might dream. NOSE AND ETES. 141 But soon a brown ass, of respectable look, Came trotting up also to taste of the brook, And to nibble a few of the daisies and grass ; " How d' ye do ? " said the cow ; " How d' ye do ? " said the ass. ' Take a seat," cried the cow, gently waving her hand ; ' By no means, dear madam," said he, " while you stand ; " Then stooping to drink, with a complaisant bow, " Ma'am, your health," said the ass ; " thank you, sir," said the cow. When a few of these compliments more had been past, They laid themselves down on the herbage at last ; And, waiting politely, as gentlemen must, The ass held his tongue, that the cow might speak first. Then with a deep sigh, she directly began, " Don't you think, Mr. Ass, we 're injured by man ? 'T is a subject that lays with a weight on my mind : We certainly are much oppressed by mankind. " Now what is the reason (I see none at all) That I always must go when Suke chooses to call ; Whatever I 'm 'doing ('t is certainly hard) At once I must go to be milked in the yard. " I 've no will of my own, but must do as they please, And give them my milk to make butter and cheese : I 've often a vast mind to knock down the pail, Or give Suke a box ou the ear with my tail." " But, ma'am," said the ass, " not presuming to teach Oh dear, I beg pardon pray finish your speech ; I thought you had done, ma'am, indeed," said the swain, " Go on, and I '11 not interrupt you again." " Why, sir, I was only a going to observe, I 'm resolved that these tyrants no longer I '11 serve : But leave them forever to do as they please, And look somewhere else for their butter and cheese." Ass waited a moment, to see if she 'd done, And then, " not presuming to teach," he began ; " With submission, dear madam, to your better wit, I own I am not quite convinced of it yet. " That you 're of great service to them is quite true, But surely they are of some service to you ; 'T is their nice green pasture in which you regale, They feed you in winter when grass and weeds fail. 'T is under their shelter you snugly repose, When without it, dear ma'am, you perhaps might be froze. For my part, I know, I receive much from man, And for him, in return, I do all that I can." The cow upon this cast her eye on the grass, Not pleased at thus being reproved by an ass ; Yet, thought she, " I 'm determined I '11 benefit by 't, For I really believe the fellow is right." JANE TAYLOR. NOSE AND EYES. BETWEEN Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose ; The spectacles set them unhappily wrong ; The point in dispute was, as all the world knows, To which the said spectacles ought to belong. So the Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause With a great deal of skill, and a wig full of learn- ing ; While Chief-justice Ear sat to balance the laws, So famed for his talent in nicely discerning. " In behalf of the Nose, it will quickly appear, And your lordship," he said, " will undoubtedly find, That the Nose has had spectacles always in wear, Which amounts to possession time out of mind." Then holding the spectacles up to the court, " Your lordship observes they are made with a straddle As wide as the ridge of the Nose is ; in short, Designed to sit close to it, just like a saddle. " Again, would your lordship a moment suppose ('T is a case that has happened, and may be again) That the visage or countenance had not a Nose, O Pray who would or who could wear spectacles then? 142 THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. On the whole it appears, and my argument shows, With a reasoning the court will never condemn, That the spectacles plainly were made for the Nose, And the Nose was as plainly intended for them." Then, shifting his side, as a lawyer knows how, He pleaded again in behalf of the Eyes ; But what were his arguments few people know, For the court did not think they were equally wise. So his lordship decreed, with a grave, solemn tone, Decisive and clear, without one if or but, That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on, By daylight or candle-light, Eyes should be shut. WILLIAM COWPER. THE WIND IN A FROLIC. THE wind one morning sprang up from sleep, Saying, " Now for a frolic ! now for a leap ! Now for a madcap galloping chase ! I '11 make a commotion in every place ! " So it swept with a bustle right through a great town, Creaking the signs, and scattering down Shutters, and whisking, with merciless squalls, Old women's bonnets and gingerbread stalls. There never was heard a much lustier shout, As the apples and oranges tumbled about ; And the urchins, that stand with their thievish eyes Forever on watch, ran off each with a prize. Then away to the fields it went blustering and hum- ming, And the cattle all wondered whatever was coming. It plucked by their tails the grave, matronly cows, And tossed the colts' manes all about their brows. Till, offended at such a familiar salute, They all turned their backs and stood silently mute. So on it went, capering and playing its pranks ; Whistling with reeds on the broad river banks ; Puffing the birds, as they sat on the spray, Or the traveler grave on the king's highway. It was not too nice to bustle the bags Of the beggar, and flutter his dirty rags. 'T was so bold that it feared not to play its joke With the doctor's wig, and the gentleman's cloak. Through the forest it roared, and cried gayly, " Now, You sturdy old oaks, I '11 make you bow ! " And it made them bow without more ado, Or it cracked their great branches through and through. Then it rushed like a monster o'er cottage and farm, Striking their inmates with sudden alarm ; And they ran out like bees in a midsummer swarm. There were dames with their kerchiefs tied over their caps, To see if their poultry were free from mishaps ; The turkeys they gobbled, the geese screamed aloud, And the hens crept to roost in a terrified crowd ; There was rearing of ladders, and logs laying on, Where the thatch from the roof threatened soon to be gone. But the wind had passed on, and had met in a lane With a school-boy, who panted and struggled in vain, For it tossed him, and twirled him, then passed, and he stood With his hat in a pool, and his shoe in the mud. WILLIAM HOWITT. THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN. JOHN GILPIN was a citizen Of credit and renown, A train-band captain eke was he Of famous London Town. John Gilpin's spouse said to her dear, " Though wedded we have been These twice ten tedious years, yet we No holiday have seen. " To-morrow is our wedding-day, And we will then repair Unto the Bell at Edmonton, All in a chaise and pair. " My sister and my sister's child, Myself, and children three, Will fill the chaise ; so you must ride On horseback after we." He soon replied, " I do admire Of womankind but one, And you are she, my dearest dear, Therefore it shall be done. THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN. " I am a linen-draper bold, As all the world doth know, And my good friend, the Calender, Will lend his horse to" go." Quoth Mrs. Gilpin, " That 's well said ; And for that wine is dear, We will be furnished with our own, Which is both bright and clear." John Gilpin kissed his lov- ing wife ; O'erjoyed was he to find That, though on pleasure she was bent, She had a frugal mind. The morning came, the chaise was brought, But yet was not al- lowed To drive up to the door, lest all Should say that she was proud. So three doors off the chaise was stayed, Where they did all get in, Six precious souls, and all agog To dash through thick and thin. Smack went the whip, round went the wheels, Were never folk so glad ; The stones did rattle underneath, As if Cheapside were mad. John Gilpin, at his horse's side, Seized fast the flowing mane, And up he got, in haste to ride, But soon came down again. For saddle-tree scarce reached had he, His journey to begin, When, turning round his head, he saw Three customers come in. So down he came ; for loss of time, Although it grieved him sore, Yet loss of pence, full well he knew, Would trouble him much more. 'T was long before the customers Were suited to their mind, When Betty, screaming, came down-stairs, " The wine is left behind ! " " Good lack !" quoth he, <; yet bring it me, My leathern belt likewise, In which I bear my trusty sword When I do exercise." Now Mistress Gilpin (careful soul) ! Had two stone-bottles found, To hold the liquor that she loved, And keep it safe and sound. Each bottle had a curling ear, O ' Through which the belt he drew, And hung a bottle on each side, To make his balance true. Then over all, that he might be Equipped from top to toe, His long red cloak, well brushed and neat, He manfully did throw. Now see him mounted once again Upon his nimble steed, Full slowly pacing o'er the stones, With caution and good heed. But finding soon a smoother road Beneath his well-shod feet, . The snorting beast began to trot, Which galled him in his seat. So, " Fair and softly," John he cried, But John he cried in vain ; That trot became a gallop soon, In spite of curb and rein. 144 THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. So stooping down, as needs he must Who cannot sit upright, He grasped the mane with both his hands, And eke with all his might. His horse, who never in that sort Had handled been before, What thing upon his back had got Did wonder more and more. Away went Gilpin, neck or nought ; Away went hat and wig ; He little dreamt, when he set out, Of running such a rig. The wind did blow, the cloak did fly, Like streamer long and gay, Till loop and button failing both, At last it flew away. Then might all people well discern The bottles he had slung ; A bottle swinging at each side, As hath been said or sung. The dogs did bark, the children screamed, Up flew the windows all ; And every soul cried out, " Well done ! " As loud as he could bawl. THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN. 145 Away went Gilpin who but he ? His fame soon spread around, " He carries weight ! he rides a race ! 'T is for a thousand pound ! " And still as fast as he drew near, 'T was wonderful to view How in a trice the turnpike men Their gates wide open threw. And now, as he went bowing down His reeking head full low, The bottles twain behind his back Were shattered at a blow. Down ran the wine into the road, Most piteous to be seen, Which made his horse's flanks to smoke As they had basted been. But still he seemed to carry weight, With leathern girdle braced ; For all might see the bottle necks Still dangling at his waist. Thus all through merry Islington These gambols he did play, Until he came unto the Wash Of Edmonton so gay ; And there he threw the wash about On both sides of the way, Just like unto a trundling mop, Or a wild goose at play. At Edmonton his loving wife From the balcony spied Her tender husband, wondering much To see how he did ride. " Stop, stop, John Gilpin ! Here 's the house " They all aloud did cry ; " The dinner waits, and we are tired ; " Said Gilpin, " So am I ! " But yet his horse was not a whit Inclined to tarry there ; 19 For why ? his owner had a house Full ten miles off, at Ware. So like an arrow swift he flew, Shot by an archer strong ; So did he fly which brings me to The middle of my song. Away went Gilpin, out of breath, And sore against his will, Till, at his friend the Calender's, His horse at last stood still. The Calender, amazed to see His neighbor in such trim-, Laid down his pipe, flew to the gate, And thus accosted him. " What news ? what news ? your tidings tell ; Tell me you must and shall Say, why bare-headed you are come, Or why you come at all ? " Now Gilpin had a pleasant wit, And loved a timely joke ; And thus unto the Calender, In merry guise, he spoke : " I came because your horse would come ; And, if I well forebode, My hat and wig will soon be here, They are upon the road." The Calender, right glad to find His friend in merry pin, Returned him not a single word, But to the house went in ; Whence straight he came, with hat and wig, A wiff that flowed behind ; o A hat not much the worse for wear, Each comely in its kind. He held them up, and in his turn Thus showed his ready wit ; " My head is twice as big as yours, They therefore needs must fit. 146 THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VJIRSE. " But let me scrape the dust away, That hangs upon your face ; And stop and eat, for well you may Be in a hungry case." Said John, " It is my wedding-day, And all the world would stare, If wife should dine at Edmonton, And I should dine at Ware." So, turning to his horse, he said, " I am in haste to dine ; 'T was for your pleasure you came here, You shall go back for mine." Ah, luckless speech, and bootless boast ! For which he paid full dear ; For, while he spake, a braying ass Did sing most loud and clear ; Whereat his horse did snort, as he Had heard a lion roar, Arid galloped off with all his might, As he had done before. Away went Gilpin, and away Went Gilpin's hat and wig; He lost them sooner than at first, For why ? they were too big. Now Mrs. Gilpin, when she saw Her husband posting down Into the country far away, She pulled out half-a-crown ; And thus unto the youth she said, That drove them to the Bell, " This shall be yours, when you bring back My husband safe and well." The youth did ride, and soon did meet John coming back amain ; Whom in a trice he tried to stop, By catching at his rein ; But not performing what he meant, And gladly would have done, The frighted steed he frighted more, And made him faster run. Away went Gilpin, and away Went postboy at his heels. The postboy's horse right glad to miss The rumbling of the wheels. Six gentlemen upon the road Thus seeing Gilpin fly, With postboy scampering in the rear. They raised a hue and cry : " Stop thief ! stop thief ! a highwayman ! " Not one of them* was mute; And all and each that passed that way Did join in the pursuit. And now the turnpike gates again Flew open in short space: The toll-men thinking, as before, That Gilpin rode a race. And so he did, and won it too, For he got first to town ; Nor stopped till where he had got up He did again get down. Now let us sing, long live the king, And Gilpin, long live he ; And, when he next doth ride abroad, May I be there to see. WILLIAM COWPER. THE SPIDER AND THE FLY. " Will you walk into my parlor ? " said the spider to the fly ; " 'T is the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy. The way into my parlor is up a winding stair, And I have many curious things to show when you are there." ' Oh no, no," said the little fly ; " to ask me is in vain, For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down a^aiu." A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS. 147 " I 'm sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high; Will you rest upon my little bed? " said the spider to the fly. " There are pretty curtains drawn around ; the sheets are fine and thin, And if you like to rest a while, I'll snugly tuck you in !" " Oh no, no," said the little fly, " for I 've often heard it said, They never, never wake again who sleep upon your bed ! " Said the cunning spider to the fly : " Dear friend, what can I do To prove the warm affection I 've always felt for you ? I have within my pantry good store of all that 's nice ; I 'm sure you 're very welcome will you please to take a slice ? " " Oil no, no," said the little fly ; " kind sir, that cannot be: I've heard what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see !. " " Sweet creature ! " said the spider, " you 're witty and you 're wise ; How handsome are your gauzy wings ! how brilliant are your eyes ! I have a little looking-glass upon my parlor shelf ; If you '11 step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself." " I thank you, gentle sir," she said, for what you 're pleased to say, And, bidding you good-morning now, I '11 call another day." The spider turned him round about, and went into his den, For well he knew the silly fly would soon come back again : So he wove a subtle web in a little corner sly, And set his table ready to dine upon the fly ; Then came out to his door again, and merrily did sing : " Come hither, hither, pretty fly, with the pearl and silver wing ; ~ Your robes are green and purple; there's a crest upon your head ; Your eyes are like the diamond bright^ but mine are dull as lead ! " Alas, alas ! how very soon this silly little fly, Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by ;< With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew, Thinking only of her brilliant eyes and green and pur- ple hue, Thinking only of her crested head. Poor, foolish thing ! at last Up jumped the cunning spider, and fiercely held her fast ; He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den Within his little parlor but she ne'er came out again ! And now, dear little children, who may this story read, To idle, silly, flattering words I pray you ne'er give heed ; Unto an evil counselor close heart and ear and eye, And take a lesson from this tale of the spider and the fly. MAKY HOWITT. A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS. T WAS the night before Christmas, when all through the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse ; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there ; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads ; And mamma in her kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter nap, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. The moon, on the breast of the new-fallen snow, Gave a lustre of midday to objects below ; When what to my wondering eyes should appear But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than eagles his coursers they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name ; 148 THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. " Now, Dasher ! now, Dancer ! now, Prancer and Vixen ! On ! Comet, on ! Cupid, on ! Dunder and Blixen ! To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall ! Now, dash away, dash away, dash away all ! " As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky, So up to the house-top the coursers they flew, With the sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas too. And then in a twinkling I heard on the roof The prancing and pawing of each little hoof. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound. He was dressed all in fur from his head to his foot, And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot, A bundle of toys he had flung on his back, And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack. His eyes, how they twinkle ! his dimples, how merry ! His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry ; His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow. The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath. He had a broad face and a little round belly That shook, when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly. He was chubby and plump a right jolly old elf ; And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself. A wink of his eye, and a twist of his head, Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And filled all the stockings ; then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle ; But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, " Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night ! " i CLEMENT C. MOORE. THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL. THE mountain and the squirrel Had a quarrel, And the former called the latter " Little prig ; " Bun replied, " You are doubtless very big, . But all sorts of things and weather Must be taken in together To make up a year, And a sphere. And I think it no disgrace To occupy my place. If I 'm not so large as you, You are not so small as I, And not half so spry : I '11 not deny you make A very pretty squirrel track. Talents differ ; all is well and wisely put ; If I cannot carry forests on my back, Neither can you crack a nut." RALPH WALDO EMERSON. HOLY THURSDAY. 'TwAS on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean, Came children walking two and two, in red, and blue, and green : Gray-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow, Till into the high dome of Paul's, they like Thames' waters flow. Oh what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of Lon- don town, Seated in companies they were, with radiance all their own : The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs, Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.. Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song, Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among : Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor. Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door. WILLIAM BLAKE. THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. 149 AN ELEGY ON THE DEATH DOG. OF A MAD GOOD people all, of every sort, Give ear unto rny song ; And if you find it wondrous short, It cannot hold you long. In Islington there was a man, Of whom the world might say, That still a godly race he ran Whene'er he went to pray. A kind and gentle heart he had, To comfort friends and foes ; The naked every day he clad, When he put on his clothes. And in that town a dog was found, As many dogs there be, Both mongrel, puppy, whelp, and hound, And curs of low degree. This dog and man at first were friends ; But when a pique began, The dog, to gain his private ends, Went mad, and bit the man. Around from all the neighboring streets The wondering neighbors ran, And swore the dog had lost his wits, To bite so good a man. The wound it seemed both sore and sad To every Christian eye : And while they swore the dog was mad. They swore the man would die. But soon a wonder came to light. That showed the rogues they lied, The man recovered of the bite, The dog it was that died. OLIVER GOLDSMITH. THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. HAMELIN Town's in Brunswick, By famous Hanover city ; The river Weser deep and wide Washes its walls on the southern side ; A pleasanter spot you never spied ; But, when begins my ditty, Almost five hundred years ago, To see the townsfolk suffer so From vermin, was a pity. Rats! They fought the dogs and killed the cats, And bit the babies in their cradles, And ate the cheeses out of the vats, And licked the soup from the cook's own ladles, Split open the kegs of salted sprats, Made nests inside men's Sunday hats. And even spoiled the women's chats, By drowning their speaking With shrieking and squeaking In fifty different sharps and flats. At last the people in a body To the Town-hall came flocking : " 'T is clear," cried they, " our Mayor 's a noddy : And as for our Corporation shocking To think we buy gowns lined with ermine For dolts that can't or won't determine What 's best to rid us of our vermin ! You hope, because you 're old and obese, To find in the furry civic robe ease ! Rouse up, sirs ! Give your brains a racking To find the remedy we Ye lacking, Or, sure as fate, we '11 send you packing ! " At this the Mayor and Corporation Quaked with a mighty consternation. An hour they sat in council, At length the Mayor broke silence : " For a guilder I 'd my ermine gown sell ; I wish I were a mile hence ! It 's easy to bid one rack one's brain I 'm sure my poor head aches again, I -ve scratched it so, and all in vain. Oh for a trap, a trap, a trap ! " Just as he said this, what should hap At the chamber door, but a gentle tap ? " Bless us," cried the Mayor, " what 's that ? Anything like the sound of a rat Makes my heart go pit-a-pat ! 150 . THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. " Come in ! " the Mayor cried, looking bigger : And in did come the strangest figure ! His queer long coat from heel to head Was half of yellow, and half of red ; And he himself was tall and thin, With sharp blue eyes each like a pin, And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin, No tuft on cheek, nor beard on chin, But lips where smiles went out and in There was no guessing his kith and kin ! And nobody could enough admire The tall man and his quaint attire : Quoth one, " It 's as if my great-grandsire, Starting up at the trump of Doom's tone, Had walked this way from his painted tombstone ! " He advanced to the council table : And, " Please your honors," said he, " I 'm able, By means of a secret charm, to draw All creatures living beneath the sun, That creep, or swim, or fly, or run, After me so as you never saw ! And I chiefly use my charm On creatures that do people harm, The mole, the toad, the newt, the viper ; And people call me the Pied Piper. Yet," said he, " poor piper as I am, In Tartary I freed the Cham, Last June, from his huge swarm of gnats ; I eased in Asia the Nizam Of a monstrous brood of vampyre bats : And as for what your brain bewilders, If I can rid your town of rats Will you give a thousand guilders ? " " One ? fifty thousand ! " was the exclamation Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation. Into the street the Piper stept, Smiling first a little smile, As if he knew what magic slept In his quiet pipe the while ; Then like a musical adept, To blow the pipe his lips he wrinkled, And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled, Like a candle flame where salt is sprinkled ; And ere three shrill notes the pipe had uttered, You heard as if an army muttered ; And the muttering grew to a grumbling ; And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling ; And out of the houses the rats came tumbling O Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats, Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats, Grave old plodders, gay young friskers, Fathers, mothers, uncles, cousins, Cocking tails, and pricking whiskers, Families by tens and dozens, Brothers, sisters, husbands, wives Followed the Piper for their lives. From street to street he piped, advancing, And step for step they followed dancing, Until they came to the river Weser Wherein all plunged and perished, Save one, who stout as Julius Caesar, Swam across, and lived to carry (As he the manuscript he cherished) To Rat-land home his commentary, Which was, " At the first shrill notes of the pipe, I heard a sound as of scraping tripe, And putting apples wondrous ripe Into a cider press's gripe ; And a moving away of pickle-tub boards, And a leaving ajar of conserve cupboards, And a drawing the corks of train-oil flasks, And a breaking the hoops of butter casks ; And it seemed as if a voice (Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery Is breathed) called out, O rats, rejoice ! The world is grown to one vast drysaltery ! So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon, Breakfast, dinner, supper, luncheon ! And just as a bulky sugar puncheon, All ready staved, like a great sun shone Glorious, scarce an inch before me, Just as methought it said, ' Come, bore me ! ' I found the Weser rolling o'er me." You should have heard the Hamelin people Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple.; " Go," cried the Mayor, " and get long poles ! Poke out the nests, tind block up the holes ! Consult with carpenters and builders, And leave in our town not even a trace Of the rats ! " When suddenly up the face Of the Piper perked in the market-place, With a " First, if you please, my thousand guild- ers ! " THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. 151 A thousand guilders ! The Mayor looked blue, So did the Corporation too. For council dinners made rare havock With Claret, Moselle, Vin-de-Grave, Hock ; And half the money would replenish Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish. To pay this sum to a wandering fellow With a gypsy coat of red and yellow ! " Besides," quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink, " Our business was done at the river's brink ; We saw with our eyes the vermin sink, And what 's dead can't come to life, I think. So, friend, we 're not the folks to shrink From the duty of giving you something for drink, And a matter of money to put in your poke ; But, as for the guilders, what we spoke Of them, as you very well know, was in joke Beside, our losses have made us thrifty : A thousand guilders ! come, take fifty ! " The Piper's face fell, and he cried, " No trifling ! I can't wait beside ! I 've promised to visit by dinner-time Bagdat, and accept the prime Of the head-cook's pottage, all he 's rich in, For having left in the caliph's kitchen, Of a nest of scorpions no survivor. With him I proved no bargain-driver, With you, don't think I '11 bate a stiver ! And folks who put me in a passion May find me pipe to another fashion." " How ? " cried the Mayor, " d' ye think I '11 brook Being worse treated than a cook ? Insulted by a lazy ribald AVith idle pipe and vesture piebald ? You threaten us, fellow ? Do your worst, Blow your pipe there till you burst." Once more he stept into the street, And to his lips again Laid his long pipe of smooth, straight cane ; And ere he blew three notes (such sweet Soft notes as yet musician's cunning Never gave the enraptured air), There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling, Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling, Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering, Little hands clapping and little tongues chattering. And like fowls in a farmyard when barley is scatter- ing Out came the children running : All the little boys and girls, With rosy cheeks and flaxen curls, And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls, Tripping and skipping ran merrily after The wonderful music with shouting and laughter. The Mayor was dumb, and the Council stood As if they were changed into blocks of wood, Unable to move a step, or cry To the children merrily skipping by And could only follow with the eye That joyous crowd at the Piper's back. And now the Mayor was on the rack, And the wretched Council's bosoms beat, As the Piper turned from the High Street To where the Weser rolled its waters Right in the way of their sons and daughters ! However he turned from south to west, And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed, And after him the children pressed ; Great was the joy in every breast. " He never can cross that mighty top ; He 's forced to let the piping drop, And we shall see our children stop ! " When, lo ! as they reached the mountain's side, A wondrous portal opened wide, As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed ; And the Piper advanced, and the children followed, And when all were in to the very last, The door in the mountain side shut fast. Did I say, all ? No ! One was lame, And could not dance the whole of the way ; And in after years, if you would blame His sadness, he was used to say, " It 's dull in our town since my playmates left ! I can't forget that I 'm bereft Of? all the pleasant sights they see, Which the Piper also promised me : For he led us, he said, to a joyous land, Joining the town and just at hand, Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew, And flowers put forth a fairer hue. And everything was strange and new ; The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here, 152 THE BOOK OF STORIES IN VERSE. And their dogs outran our fallow-deer, And honey-bees had lost their stings, And horses were born with eagles' wings ; And just as I became assured My lame foot would be speedily cured, The music stopped and I stood still, And found myself outside the hill, Left alone against my will, To go now limping as before, And never hear of that country more ! " The Mayor sent east, west, north, and south To offer the Piper by word of mouth, Wherever it was man's lot to find him, THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN. 153 Silver and gold to his heart's content, If he 'd only return the way he went, And bring the children behind him. But when they saw 't was a lost endeavor, And Piper and dancers were gone forever, They made a decree that lawyers never Should think their records dated duly, If after the day of the month and year These words did not as well appear, " And so long after what happened here On the twenty-second of July, Thirteen hundred and seventy-six ; " And the better in memory to fix The place of the children's last retreat, They called it the Pied Piper's Street Where any one playing on pipe or tabor, Was sure for the future to lose his labor. Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern To shock with mirth a street so solemn ; But opposite the place of the cavern They wrote the story on a column, And on the great church window painted 20 The same, to make the world acquainted How their children were stolen away ; And there it stands to this very day. And I must not omit to say That in Transylvania there 's a tribe Of alien people, that ascribe The outlandish ways and dress On which their neighbors lay such stress, To their fathers and mothers having risen Out of some subterraneous prison Into which they were trepanned Long ago in a mighty band, Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land, But how or why, they don't understand. So, Willy, let you and me be wipers Of scores out with all men, especially pipers. And whether they pipe us free from rats or from mice If we 've promised them aught, let us keep our prom- ise. ROBERT BROWNING. STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. THE CONSTANT TIN SOLDIER. THERE were once five-and-twenty tin soldiers ; they were all brothers, for they had all been born of one old tin spoon. They shouldered their muskets, and looked straight before them; their uniform was red and blue, and very splendid. The first thing they had heard in the world, when the lid was taken off their box,, had been the words " Tin soldiers! " These words were uttered by a little boy, clapping his hands ; the soldiers had been given to him, for it was his birthday ; and now he put them upon the table. Each sol- dier was exactly like the rest ; but one of them had been cast last of all, and there had not been enough tin to finish him ; but he stood as firmly upon his one leg as the others on their two ; and it was just this soldier who became remark- able. On the table on which they had been placed stood many other playthings, but the toy that attracted most attention was a neat castle of card- board. Through the little windows one could see straight into the hall. Before the castle some little trees were placed round a little looking- glass, which was to represent a clear lake. Waxen swans swam on this lake, and were mirrored in it. This was all very pretty ; but the prettiest of all was a little lady, who stood at the open door of the castle ; she was also cut out in paper, but she had a dress of the clearest gauze, and a little nar- row blue ribbon over her shoulders, that looked like a scarf ; and in the middle of this ribbon was a shining tinsel rose, as big as her whole face. The little lady stretched out both her arms, for she was a dancer, and then she lifted one leg so high that the Tin Soldier could not see it at all, and thought that, like himself, she had but one leg. " That would be the wife for me," thought he ; but she is very grand. She lives in a castle, and I have only a box, and there are five-and-twenty of us in that. It is no place for her. But I must try to make acquaintance with her." And then he lay down at full length behind a snuff-box which was on the table; there he could easily watch the little dainty lady, who con- tinued to stand on one leg without losing her bal- ance. When the evening came, all the other tin sol- diers were put into their box, and the people in the house went to bed. Now the toys began to play at " visiting," and at " war," and " giving balls." The tin soldiers rattled in their box, for they wanted to join, but could not lift the lid. The Nut-cracker threw somersaults, and the Pen- cil amused itself on the table ; there was so much noise that the Canary woke up, and began to speak too, and even in verse. The only two who did not stir from their places were the Tin Soldier and the Dancing Lady ; she stood straight up on the point of one of her toes, and stretched out both her arms : and he was just as enduring on his one leg ; and he never turned his eyes away from her. Now the clock struck twelve and, bounce ! the lid flew off the snuff-box ; but there was not snuff in it, but a little black goblin ; you see, it was a trick. " Tin Soldier," said the Goblin, " don't stare at things that don't concern you." But the Tin Soldier pretended not to hear him. THE CONSTANT TIN SOLDIER. " Just you wait till to-morrow ! " said the Gob- lin. But when the morning came, and the children got up, the Tin Soldier was placed in the win- dow ; and whether it was the Goblin or the draught that did it, all at once the window flew open, and the Soldier fell, head over heels, out of the third story. That was a terrible passage ! He put his leg straight up, and struck with his helmet downward, and his bayonet between the paving-stones. The servant-maid and the little boy came down directly to look for him, but though they almost trod upon him they could not see him. If the Soldier had cried out, "Here I am!" they would have found him ; but he did not think it fitting to call out loudly, because he was in uniform. Now it began to rain ; the drops soon fell thicker, and at last it came down in a complete stream. When the rain was past, two street boys came by. " Just look ! " said one of them, " there lies a tin soldier. He must come out and ride in the boat." And they made a boat out of a newspaper, and put the Tin Soldier in the middle of it ; and so he sailed down the gutter, and the two boys ran beside him and clapped their hands. Goodness preserve us ! how the waves rose in that gutter, and how fast the stream ran ! But then it had been a heavy rain. The paper boat rocked up and down, and sometimes turned round so rapidly that the Tin Soldier trembled ; but he remained firm, and never changed countenance, and looked straight before him, and shouldered his musket. All at once the boat went into a long drain, and it became as dark as if he had been in his box. " Where am I going now ? " he thought. " Yes, yes, that 's the Goblin's fault. Ah ! if the little lady only sat here with me in the boat, it might be twice as dark for what I should care." Suddenly there came a great water-rat, which lived under the drain. " Have you a passport? " said the Rat. " Give me your passport." But the Tin Soldier kept silence, and only 'held his musket tighter than ever. The boat went on, but the Rat came after it. Hu ! how he gnashed his teeth, and called out to the bits of straw and wood, "Hold him! hold him! he has n't paid toll he hasn't shown his passport ! " But the stream became stronger and stronger. The Tin Soldier could see the bright day- light where the arch, ended ; but he heard a roaring noise, which might well frighten a bolder man. Only think, just where the tunnel ended, the drain ran into a great canal ; and for him that would have been as dangerous as for us to be car- ried down a great waterfall. Now he was already so near it that he could not stop. The boat was carried out, the poor Tin Sol- dier stiffening himself as much as he could, and no one could say that he moved an eyelid. The boat whirled round three or four times, and was full of water to the very edge it must sink. The Tin Soldier stood up to his neck in water, and the boat sank deeper and deeper, and the paper was- loosened more and more ; and now the water closed over the soldier's head. Then he thought of the pretty little Dancer, and how he should never 156 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. see her again ; and it sounded in the soldier's ears : "Farewell, farewell, thou warrior brave, Die shalt thou this day." And now the paper parted, and the Tin Soldier fell out ; but at that moment he was snapped up by a great fish. Oh, how dark it was in that fish's body ! It was darker yet than in the drain tunnel ; and then it was very narrow, too. But the Tin Soldier re- mained unmoved, and lay at full lengtji, shoulder- ing his musket. The fish swam to and fro ; he made the most wonderful movements, and then became quite still. At last something flashed through him like light- ning. The daylight shone quite clear, and a voice said aloud, " The Tin Soldier ! " The fish had been caught, carried to market, bought, and taken into the kitchen, where the cook cut him open with a large knife. She seized the soldier round the body with both her hands, and carried him into the room, where all were anxious to see the remarkable man who had traveled about in the inside of a fish ; but the Tin Soldier was not at all proud. They placed him on the table, and there no! What curious things may happen in the world ! The Tin Soldier was in the very room in which he had been before ! he saw the same chil- dren, and the same toys stood upon the table : and there was the pretty castle with the graceful little Dancer. She was still balancing herself on one leg, and held the other extended in the air. She was faithful too. That moved the Tin Soldier : he was very near weeping tin tears, but that would not have been proper. He looked at her, but they said nothing to each other. Then one of the little boys took the Tin Soldier and flung him into the stove. He gave no reason for doing this. It must have been the fault of the Goblin in the snuff-box. The Tin Soldier stood there quite illuminated, and felt a heat that was terriible ; but whether this heat proceeded from the real fire or from love he did not know. The colors had quite gone off from him ; but whether that had happened on the journey, or had been caused by grief, no one could say. He looked at the little lady, she looked at him, and he felt that he was melting ; but he stood firm, shouldering his musket. Then suddenly the door flew open, and the draught of air caught the Dancer, and she flew like a sylph just into the stove to the Tin Soldier, and flashed up in a flame, and then was gone ! Then the Tin Soldier melted down into a lump, and when the servant-maid took the ashes out next day, she found him in the shape of a little tin heart. But of the Dancer nothing remained but the tinsel rose, and that was burned as black as a coal. THE EMPERORS NEW CLOTHES. THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES. 157 MANY years ago there lived an emperor, who was so excessively fond of grand new clothes that he spent all his money upon them, that he might be very fine. He did not care about his soldiers, nor about the theatre, and only liked to drive out and show his new clothes. He had a coat for every hour of the day; and just as they say of a king, " He is in council," so they always said of him, " The emperor is in the wardrobe." In the great city in which he lived it was al- ways very merry; every day came many stran- gers ; one day two rogues came : they gave them- selves out as weavers, and declared they could weave the finest stuff any one could imagine. Not only were their colors and patterns, they said, un- commonly beautiful, but the clothes made of the stuff possessed the wonderful quality that they be- came invisible to any one who was unfit for the of- fice he held, or was incorrigibly stupid. " Those would be capital clothes ! " thought the emperor. " If I wore those, I should be able to find out what men in my empire are not fit for the places they have ; I could tell the clever from the dunces. Yes, the stuff must be woven for ine di- rectly ! " And he gave the two rogues a great deal of cash in hand, that they might begin their work at once. As for them, they put up two looms, and pre- tended to be working ; but they had nothing at all on their looms. They at once demanded the finest silk and the costliest gold : this they put into their own pockets, and worked at the empty looms till late into the night. " I should like to know how far they have got on with the stuff," thought the emperor. But he felt quite uncomfortable when he thought that those who were not fit for their offices could not see it. He believed, indeed, that he had nothing to fear for himself, but yet he preferred first to send some one else to see how matters stood. All the people in the city knew what peculiar power the stuff possessed, and all were anxious to see how bad or how stupid their neighbors were. " I will send my honest old minister to the weavers," thought the emperor. " He can judge best how the stuff looks, for he has sense, and no one understands his office better than he." Now the good old minister went out into the hall where the two rogues sat working at the empty looms. " Mercy on us ! " thought the old minister, and he opened his eyes wide. " I cannot see anything at all ! " But he did not say this. Both the rogues begged him to be so good as to come nearer, and asked if he did not approve of the colors and the pattern. Then they pointed to the empty loom, and the poor old minister went on opening his eyes ; but he could see noth- ing for there was nothing to see. " Mercy ! " thought he, " can I indeed be so stupid? I never thought that, and not a soul must know it. Am I not fit for my office ? No, it will never do for me to tell that I could not see the stuff." " Don't you say anything to it? " asked one, as he went on weaving. " Oh, it is charming quite enchanting !" an- swered the old minister, as he peered through his spectacles. " What a fine pattern, and what colors ! Yes, I shall tell the emperor that I am very much pleased with it." " Well, we are glad of that," said both the weavers ; and then they named the colors, and explained the strange pattern. The old minister listened attentively, that he might be able to re- peat it when the emperor came. And he did so. Now the rogues asked for more money, and silk and gold, which they declared they wanted for weaving. They put all into their own pockets, and not a thread was put upon the loom ; they continued to work at the empty frames as before. The emperor soon sent again, dispatching an- other honest officer of the court, to see how the 158 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. weaving was going on, and if the stuff would soon be ready. He fared just like the first : he looked and looked, but, as there was nothing to be seen but the empty looms, he could see nothing. " Is not that a pretty piece of stuff ? " asked the two rogues ; and they displayed and explained the handsome pattern which was not there at all. " I am not stupid ! " thought the man : " it must be my good office, for which I am not fit. It is funny enough, but I must not let it be no- ticed." And so he praised the stuff which he did not see, and expressed his pleasure at the beauti- ful colors and charming pattern. " Yes, it is en- chanting," he told the emperor. All the people in the town were talk- ing of the gorgeous stuff. The emperor wished to see it him- self while it was still upon the loom. With a whole crowd of chosen men, among whom were also the two honest statesmen who had already been there, he went to the two cunning rogues, who were now weaving with might and main without fibre or thread. " Is not that splendid ? " said the two states- men, who had already been there once. " Does not your majesty remark the pattern and the colors ? " And they pointed to the empty loom, for they thought that the others could see the stuff. "What's this?" thought the emperor. "I can see nothing at all! That is terrible. Am I stupid ? Am I not fit to be emperor ? That would be the most dreadful thing that could hap- pen to me. Oh, it is very pretty ! " he said aloud. " It has our highest approbation." And he nod- ded in a contented way, and gazed at the empty loom, for he would not say that he saw nothing. The whole suite whom he had with him looked and looked, and saw nothing, any more than the rest ; but, like the emperor they said, " That is pretty ! ". and counseled him to wear the splendid new clothes for the first time at the greai proces- sion that was presently to take place. " It is splendid, excellent ! " went from mouth to mouth. On all sides there seemed to be general rejoicing and the emperor gave the rogues the title of Im- perial Court Weavers. The whole night before the morning on which the procession was to take place, the rogues were up, and kept more than sixteen candles burning. The people could see that they were hard at work, completing the em- peror's new clothes. They pretended to take the stuff down from the loom ; they made cuts in the air with great scissors ; they sewed with nee- dles without thread; and at last they said, " Now the clothes are ready ! " The emperor came himself with his no- blest cavaliers ; and the two rogues lifted up one arm as if they were holding something, and said, " See, here are the trousers ! here is the coat ! here is the cloak ! " and so on. " It is as light as a spider's web : one would think one had nothing on ; but that is just the beauty of it." " Yes," said all the cavaliers ; but they could not see anything, for nothing was there. " Will your imperial majesty please to conde- scend to take off your clothes ? " said the rogues ; " then we will put on you the new clothes here in front of the great mirror." The emperor took off his clothes, and the rogues pretended to put on him each new garment as it was ready ; and the emperor turned round and round before the mirror. THE DAISY. 159 " Ob, how well they look ! how capitally they fit ! " said all. " What a pattern ! what colors ! That is a splendid dress ! " " They are standing outside with the canopy which is to be borne above your majesty in the procession ! " announced the head master of cere- monies. " Well, I am ready," replied the emperor. " Does it not suit me well ? '' And he turned again to the mirror, for he wanted it to appear as if he contemplated his adornment with great interest. The two chamberlains who were to carry the train stooped down with their hands toward the floor, just as if they were picking up the mantle ; then they pretended to be holding something in the air. They did not dare to let it be noticed that they saw nothing. So the emperor went in procession under the rich canopy, and every one in the streets said, " How incomparable are the emperor's new clothes ! what a train he has to his mantle ! how it fits him ! " No one would let it be perceived that he could see nothing, for that would have shown that he was not fit for his office, or was very stupid. No clothes of the emperor's had ever had such a success as these. " But he has nothing on ! " a little child cried out at last. " Just hear what that innocent says ! " said the father: and one whispered to another what the child had said. " But he has nothing on ! " said the whole people at length. That touched the emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right ; but he thought within himself, " I must go through with the procession." And so he held himself a little higher, and the chamberlains held on tighter than ever, and carried the train that did not exist at all. THE DAISY. Now you shall hear . Out in the country, close by the road-side, there was a country house : you yourself have certainly once seen it. Before it is a little garden with flowers, and a paling which is painted. Close by it, by the ditch, in the midst of the most beautiful green grass, grew a little Daisy. The sun shone as warmly and as brightly upon it as on the great splendid garden flowers, and so it grew from hour to hour. One morning it stood in full bloom, with its little shining white leaves spreading like rays round the little yellow sun in the centre. It never thought that no man would notice it down in the grass, and that it was a poor despised floweret ; no, it was very merry, and turned to the warm sun, looked up at it, and listened to the Lark carol- ing high in the air. The little Daisy was as happy as if it were a great holiday, and yet it was only a Monday. All the children were at school ; and while they sat on their benches learning, it sat on its little green stalk, and learned also from the warm sun, and from all around, how good God is. And the Daisy was very glad that everything that it si- 160 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. lently felt was sung so loudly and charmingly by the Lark. And the Daisy looked up with a kind of respect to the happy bird who could sing and fly ; but it was not at all sorrowful because it could not fly and sing also. " I can see and hear," it thought : " the sun shines on me, and the forest kisses me. Oh, how richly have I been gifted ! " Within the palings stood many stiff, aristocratic flowers the less scent they had the more they flaunted. The peonies blew themselves out to be greater than the roses, but size will not do it ; the tulips had the most splendid colors, and they knew that, and held themselves bolt upright, that they might be seen more plainly. They did not notice the little Daisy outside there, but the Daisy looked at them ,t h e more, and thought, " How rich and beautiful they are ! Yes, the pretty bird flies across to them and visits them. I am glad that I stand so near them, for at any rate I can enjoy the sight of their splendor!" And just as she thought that "keevit ! " down came flying the Lark, but not down to the peonies and tulips no, down into the grass to the lowly Daisy, which started so with joy that it did not know what to think. The little bird danced round about it, and sang, " Oh, how soft the grass is ! and see what a lovely little flower, with gold in its heart and sil- ver on its dress ! " For the yellow point in the Daisy looked like gold, and the little leaves around it shone silvery white. How happy was the little Daisy no one can conceive how happy ! The bird kissed it with his beak, sang to it, and then flew up again into the blue air. A quarter of an hour passed, at least, before the Daisy could recover itself. Half ashamed, yet inwardly rejoiced, it looked at the other flowers in the garden, for they had seen the honor and happiness it had gained, and must un- derstand what a joy it was. But the tulips stood up twice as stiff as before, and they looked quite peaky in the face and quite red, for they had been vexed. The peonies were quite wrong-headed : it was well they could not speak, or the Daisy would have received a good scolding. The poor little flower could see very well that they were not in a good humor, and that hurt it sensibly. At this moment there came into the garden a girl with a great sharp, shining knife; she went straight up to the tulips, and cut off one after another of them. " Oh ! " sighed the little Daisy, t; that is dreadful ! Now it is all over with them." Then the girl went away with the tulips. The Daisy was glad to stand out in the grass, and to be only a poor little flower; it felt very grateful ; and when the sun went clown it folded its leaves and went to sleep, and dreamed all night long about the sun and the pretty little bird. The next morning, when the flower again hap- pily stretched out all its white leaves, like little arms, toward the air and the light, it recognized the voice of the bird, but the song he was singing sounded mournfully. Yes, the poor Lark had good reason to be sad : he was caught, and now sat in a cage close by the open window. He sang of free and happy roaming, sang of the young green corn in the fields, and of the glorious jour- ney he might make on his wings high through the air. The poor Lark was not in good spirits, for there he sat a prisoner in a cage. THE DAISY. 161 The little Daisy wished very much to help him. But what was it to do ? Yes, that was difficult to mnke out. It quite forgot how everything was so beautiful around, how warm the sun shone, and how splendidly white its own leaves were, Ah ! it could think only of the imprisoned bird, and how it was powerless to do anything for him. Just then two little boys came out of the gar- den. One of them carried in his hand the knife which the girl had used to cut off the tulips. They went straight up to the little Daisy, which could not at all make out what they wanted. " Here we may cut a capital piece of turf for the Lark," said one of the boys ; and he began to cut off a square patch round about the Daisy, so that the flower remained standing in its piece of grass. " Tear off the flower ! " said the other boy. And the Daisy trembled with fear, for to be torn off would be to lose its life; and now it wanted particularly to live, as it was to be given with the piece of turf to the captive Lark. "No, let it stay," said the other boy; "it makes such a nice ornament." And so it remained, and was put into the Lark's cage. But the poor bird complained aloud of his lost liberty, and beat his wings against the wires of his prison ; and the little Daisy could not speak could say no consoling word to him, gladly as it would have done so. And thus the whole morn- ing passed. " Here is no water," said the captive Lark. " They are all gone out, and have forgotten to give me anything to drink. My throat is dry and burning. It is like fire and ice within me, and the air is so close. Oh, I must die! I must leave the warm sunshine, the fpesh green, and all the splendor that God has created ! " And then he thrust his beak into the cool turf to refresh himself a little with it. Then the bird's eye fell upon the Daisy, and he nodded to it, and kissed it with his beak, and said, " You also must wither in here, poor little flower. They have given you to me with the little patch of green grass on which you grow, instead of 21 the whole world which was mine out there ! Every little blade of grass shall be a great tree for me, and every one of your fragrant leaves a great flower. Ah, you only tell me how much I have lost ! " " If I could only comfort him ! " thought the Daisy. It could not stir a leaf ; but the scent which streamed forth from its delicate leaves was far stronger than is generally found in these flowers ; the bird also noticed that,- and though he was fainting with thirst, and in his pain plucked up the green blades of grass, he did not touch the flower. The evening came on, and yet nobody appeared to bring the poor bird a drop of water. Then he stretched out his pretty wings and beat the air frantically with them ; his song changed to a mournful piping, his little head sank down toward the flower, and the bird's heart broke with want and yearning. Then the flower could not fold its leaves, as it had done on the previous evening, and sleep ; it drooped, sorrowful and sick, toward the earth. Not till the next morn did the boys come ; and when they found the bird dead they wept wept many tears and dug him a neat grave, which they adorned with leaves .of flowers. The bird's corpse was put into a pretty red box, for he was to be royally buried the poor bird ! While he was alive and sang they forgot him, and let him sit in his cage and suffer want ; but now that he was dead he had adornment and many tears. But the patch of turf with the Daisy on it was thrown out into the high-road : no one thought of the flower that had felt the most for the little bird, and would have been so glad to console him. 162 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. THE UGLY DUCKLING. IT was so glorious out in the country ; it was summer; the cornfields were yellow, the oats were green, the hay had been put up in stacks in the green meadows, and the stork went about on his long red legs, and chattered Egyptian, for this was the language he had learned from his good mother. All around the fields and meadows were great forests, and in the midst of these forests lay deep lakes. Yes, it was right glorious out in the country. In the midst of the sunshine there lay an old farm, with deep canals about it, and from the wall down to the water grew great burdocks, so high that little chil- dren could stand upright under the loftiest of them. It was just as wild there as in the deepest wood, and here sat a Duck upon her nest ; she had to hatch her ducklings ; but she was almost tired out before the little ones came and then she so seldom had visitors. The other ducks liked better to swim about in the canals than to run up to sit down under a burdock, and cackle with her. At last one egg-shell after another burst open. " Piep ! piep ! " it cried, and in all the eggs there were little creatures that stuck out their heads. " Quack ! quack ! " they said ; and they all came quacking out as fast as they could, looking all round them under the green leaves ; and the mother let them look as much as they chose, for green is good for the eye. " How wide the world is ! " said all the young ones, for they certainly had much more room now than when they were in the eggs. "D'ye think this is all the world?" said the mother. " That stretches far across the other side of the garden, quite into the parson's field; but I have never been there yet. I hope you are all to- gether," and she stood up. " No, I have not all. The largest egg still lies there. How long is that to last? I am really tired of it." And she sat down again. "Well, how goes it?" asked an old Duck who had come to pay her a visit. " It lasts a long time with that one egg," said the Duck who sat there. "It will not burst. Now, only look at the others ; are they not the prettiest little ducks one could possibly see? They are all like their father : the rogue, he never comes to see me." " Let me see the egg which will not burst," said the old visitor. " You may be sure it is a turkey's egg. I was once cheated in that way, and had much anxiety and trouble with the young ones, for they are afraid of the water. Must I say it to you, I could not get them to venture in. I quacked and I clacked, but it was no use. Let me see the egg. Yes, that 's a turkey's egg. Let it lie there, and teach the other children to swim." " I think I will sit on it a little longer," said the Duck. " I 've sat so long now that I can sit a few days more." " Just as you please," said the old Duck ; and she went away. At last the great egg burst. " Piep ! piep ! " said the little one, and crept forth. It was THE UGLY DUCKLING. 163 very large and very ugly. The Duck looked at it. "It's a very large duckling," said she ; "none of the others look like that : can it really be a tur- key chick ? Well, we shall soon find out. It must go into the water, even if I have to thrust it in myself." ' The next day it was bright, beautiful weather ; the sun shone on all the green trees. The Mother- Duck went down to the canal with all her family. Splash ! she jumped into the water. " Quack ! quack ! " she said, and one duckling after another plunged in. The water closed over their heads, but they came up in an instant, and swam cap- itally ; their legs went of themselves, and they were all in the water. The ugly gray Duckling swam with them. "No, it's not a turkey," said she; "look how well it can use its legs, and how straight it holds itself. It is my own child ! On the whole it 's quite pretty, if one looks at it rightly. Quack ! quack ! come with me, and I '11 lead you out into the great world, and present you in the duck-yard ; but keep close to me, so that no one may tread on you, and take care of the cats ! " And so they came into the duck-yard. There was a terrible riot going on in there, for two fam- ilies were quarreling about an eel's head, and the cat got it after all. " See, that 's how it goes in the world ! " said the Mother-Duck ; and she whetted her beak, for she too wanted the eel's head. " Only use your legs," she said. " See that you can bustle about, and bow your heads before the old Duck yonder. She 's the grandest of all here; she's of Spanish blood that 's why she 's so fat ; and d' ye see ? she has a red rag round her leg ; that 's something particularly fine, and the greatest distinction a duck can enjoy ; it signifies that one does not want to lose her, and that she 's to be known by the animals and by men too. Shake yourselves don't turn in your toes ; a well brought-up duck turns its toes quite out, just like father and mother, so! Now bend your necks and say Quack ! ' " And they did so : but the other ducks round about looked at them, and said quite boldly, " Look there ! now we 're to have these hang- ing on, as if there were not enough of us already ! And fie! how that duckling yonder looks; we won't stand that ! " And one duck flew up at it, and bit it in the neck. "Let it alone," said the mother; "it does no harm to any one." " Yes, but it 's too large and peculiar," said the Duck who had bitten it ; " and therefore it must be put down." " Those are pretty children that the mother has there," said the old Duck with the rag round her leg. " They 're all pretty but that one ; that was rather unlucky. I wish she could bear it over again." " That cannot be done, my lady," replied the Mother-Duck. " It is not pretty, but it has a really good disposition, and swims as well as any other ; yes, I may even say it, swims better. I think it will grow up pretty, and become smaller in time ; it has lain too long in the egg, and there- fore is not properly shaped." And then she pinched it in the neck, and smoothed its feathers. " Moreover, it is a drake," she said, " and therefore it is not of so much consequence. I think he will be very strong : he makes his way already." " The other ducklings are graceful enough," said the old Duck. " Make yourself at home ; and if you find an eel's head, you may bring it me." And now they were at home. But the poor Duckling which had crept last out of the egg, and looked so ugly, was bitten and pushed and jeered, as much by the ducks as by the chickens. " It is too big ! " they all said. And the turkey- cock, who had been born with spurs, and therefore thought himself an emperor, blew himself up like a ship in full sail, and bore straight down upon it; then he gobbled and grew quite red in the face. The poor Duckling did not know where it should stand or walk ; it was quite melancholy because it looked ugly, and was the butt of the whole duck- yard. So it went on the first day ; and afterwards it 164 STORMS FROM I1AXS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. became worse and worse. The poor Duckling was hunted about by every one ; even its brothers and sisters were quite angry with it, and said, " If the cat would only catch you, you ugly creature ! " And the mother said, " If you were only far away ! " And the ducks bit it, and the chickens beat it, and the girl who had to feed the poultry kicked at it with her foot. Then it ran and flew over the fence, and the lit- tle birds in the bushes flew up in fear. " That is because I am so ugly ! " thought the Duckling ; and it shut its eyes, but flew on far- ther, and so it came out into the great moor, where the wild ducks lived. Here it lay the whole night long; and it was weary and downcast. Towards morning the wild ducks flew up, and looked at their new companion. " What sort of a one are you ? " they asked ; and the Duckling turned in every direction, and bowed as well as it could. " You are remarkably ugly ! " said the Wild Ducks. " But that is noth- ing to us, so long as you do not marry into our family." Poor thing ! it certainly did not think of marry- ing, and only hoped to obtain leave to lie among the reeds and drink some of the swamp water. Thus it lay two whole days ; then came thither two wild geese, or, properly speaking, two wild ganders. It was not long since each had crept out of an egg, and that 's why they were so saucy. " Listen, comrade," said one of them. " You 're so ugly that I like you. Will you go with us, and become a bird of passage ? Near here, in another moor, there are a few sweet lovely wild geese, all unmarried, and all able to say ' Rap ? ' You 've a chance of making your fortune, ugly as you are." " Piff ! paif ! " resounded through the air ; and the two ganders fell down dead in the swamp, and the water became blood red. " Piff ! paff ! " it sounded again, and the whole flock of wild geese rose up from the reeds. And then there was an- other report. A great hunt was going on. The sportsmen were lying in wait all round the moor, and some were even sitting up in the branches of the trees, which spread far over the reeds. The blue smoke rose up like clouds among the dark trees, and was wafted far away across the water ; and the hunting dogs came splash, splash! into the swamp, and the rushes and the reeds bent down on every side. That was a fright for the poor Duckling ! It turned its head, and put it un- der its wing; but at that moment a frightful great dog stood close by the Duckling. His tongue hung far out of his mouth, and his eyes gleamed horrible and ugly; he thrust out his nose close against the Duckling, showed his sharp teeth, and splash, splash ! on he went, without seiz- ing it. " Oh, Heaven be thanked ! " sighed the Duck- ling. " I am so ugly that even the dog does not like to bite me ! " And so it lay quite quiet, while the shots rattled through the reeds and gun after gun was fired. At last, late in the day, all was still ; but the poor Duckling did not dare to rise up ; it waited several hours before it looked round, and then hastened" away out of the moor as fast as it could. It ran on over field and meadow ; there was such a storm raging that it was difficult to get from one place to another. Towards evening the Duck came to a little mis- erable peasant's hut. This hut was so dilapidated that it did not itself know on which side it should fall ; and that's why it remained standing. The storm whistled round the Duckling in such a way that the poor creature was obliged to sit down, to stand against it; and the wind blew worse and worse. Then the Duckling noticed that one of the hinges of the door had given way, and the door hung so slanting that the Duckling could slip through the crack into the room ; and that is what it did. Here lived a woman, with her Cat and her Hen. And the Cat, whom she call Sonnie, could arch his back and purr, he could even give out sparks ; but for that one had to stroke his fur the wrong way. The Hen had quite little, short legs, and therefore she was called Chickabiddy Shortshanks ; she laid good eggs, and the woman loved her as her own child. THE UGLY DUCKLING. 165 In the morning the strange Duckling was at once noticed, and the Cat began to purr and the Hen to cluck. " What 's this ? " said the woman, and looked all round ; but she could not see well, and there- fore she thought the Duckling was a fat duck that had strayed. "This is a rare prize!" she said. "Now I shall have _,.,: -. duck's eggs. I hope it is not a drake. We must try that." And so the Duck- ling was admitted on trial for three weeks ; but no eggs came. And the Cat was mas- ter of the house, and the Hen was the lady, and always said " We a,nd the world ! " for she thought they were half the world, and by far the better half. The Duckling thought one might have a different opin- ion, but the Hen would not allow it. "Can you lay eggs ? " she asked. " No." " Then will you hold your tongue ! " And the Cat said, " Can you curve your back, and purr, and give out sparks ?" " No." " Then you will please have no opinion of your own when sensible folks are speaking." And the Duckling sat in a corner and was mel- ancholy ; tKen the fresh air and the sunshine streamed in ; and it was seized with such a strange longing to swim on the water, that it could not help telling the Hen of it. " What are you thinking of ? " cried the Hen. " You have nothing to do, that 's why you have these fancies. Lay eggs, or purr, and they will pass over." " But it is so charming to swim on the water ! " said the Duckling, "so refreshing to let it close above one's head, arid to dive down to the bot- tom." " Yes, that must be a mighty pleasure, truly," quoth the Hen, " I fancy you must have gone crazy. Ask the Cat about it, he 's the cleverest an- imal I know, ask him if he likes to swim on the water, or to dive down : I won't speak about myself. Ask our mistress, the old woman ; no one in the word is cleverer than she. Do you think she has any desire to swim, and to let the water close above her head ? " " You don't under- stand me," said the Duckling. "We don't under- stand you ? Then pray who is to un- derstand you ? You surely don't pretend to be cleverer than the Cat and the woman I won't say anything of my- self. Don't be conceited, child, and thank your Maker for all the kindness you have received. Did you not get into a warm room, and have you not fallen into company from which you may learn something? But you are a chatterer, and it is not pleasant to associate with you. You may believe me, I speak for your good. I tell you disagreeable things, and by that one may always know one's true friends! Only take -care that 166 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. you learn to lay eggs, or to purr, and give out sparks ! " " I think I will go out into the wide world," said the Duckling. " Yes, do go," replied the Hen. And so the Duckling went away. It swam on the water, and dived, but it was slighted by every creature because of its ugliness. Now came the autumn. The leaves in the for- est turned yellow and brown ; the wind caught them so that they danced about, and up in the air it was very cold. The clouds hung low, heavy with hail and snow-flakes, and on the fence stood the raven, crying, " Croak ! croak ! " for mere cold ; yes, it was enough to make one feel cold to think of this. The poor little Duckling certainly had not a good time. One evening the sun was just setting in his beauty there came a whole flock of- great, handsome birds out of the bushes ; they were dazzlingly white, with long, flexible necks ; they were swans. They uttered a very pe- culiar cry, spread forth .their glorious great wings, and flew away from that cold region to warmer lands, to fair open lakes. , They mounted so high, so high ! and the ugly Duckling felt quite strangely as it watched them. It turned round and round in the water like a wheel, stretched out its neck towards them, and uttered such a strange, loud cry as frightened itself. Oh ! it could not forget those beautiful, happy birds ; and so soon as it could see them no longer, it dived down to the very bottom, and when it came up again it was quite beside itself. It knew not the name of those birds, and knew not whither they were fly- ing; but it loved them more than it had ever loved any one. It was not at all envious of them. How could it think of wishing to possess such loveliness as they had ? It would have been glad if only the ducks would have endured its company the poor, ugly creature ! And the winter grew cold, very cold ! The Duckling was forced to swim about in the water, to prevent the surface from freezing entirely ; but every night the hole in which it swam about be- came smaller and smaller. It froze so hard that the icy covering crackled again ; and the Duck- ling was obliged to use its legs continually to pre- vent the hole from freezing up. At last it became exhausted, and lay quite still, and thus froze fast into the ice. Early in the morning a peasant came by, and when he saw what had happened, he took his wooden shoe, broke the ice crust to pieces, and carried the Duckling home to his wife. Then it came to itself again. The children wanted to play with it ; but the Duckling thought they wanted to hurt it, and in 'its terror fluttered up into the milk-pan, so that the milk spurted down into the room. The woman clasped her hands, at which the Duckling flew down into the butter-tub, and then into the meal-barrel and out again. How it looked then ! The woman screamed, and struck at it with the fire-tongs ; the children tumbled over one another in their efforts to catch the Duckling ; and they laughed and they screamed ! well it was that the door stood open, and the poor creature was able to slip out between the shrubs into the newly-fallen snow there it lay quite exhausted. But it would be too melancholy if I were to tell all the misery and care which the Duckling had to endure in the hard winter. It lay out on the moor among the reeds, when the sun began to shine again and the larks to sing : it was a beauti- ful spring. Then all at once the Duckling could flap its wings : they beat the ' air more strongly than be- fore, and bore it strongly away; and before it well knew how all this happened, it found itself in a great garden, where the elder-trees smelt sweet, and bent their long green branches down to the canal that wound through the region. Oh, here it was so beautiful, such a gladness of spring ! and from the thicket came three glorious white swans ; they rustled their wings, and swam lightly on the water. The Duckling knew the splendid creat- ures, and felt oppressed by a peculiar sadness. " I will fly away to them, to the royal birds ! and they will beat me, because I, that am so ugly, dare to come near them. But it is all the same. THE FIR-TREE. 167 Better to be killed by them than to be pursued by ducks, and beaten by fowls, and pushed about by the girl who takes care of the poultry yard, and to suffer hunger in winter ! " And it flew out into the water, and swam towards the beautiful swans : these looked at it, and came sailing down upon it with outspread wings. "'Kill me I " said the poor creature, and bent its head down upon the water, expecting nothing but death. But what was this that it saw in the clear water ? It beheld its own image ; and, lo ! it was no longer a clumsy dark-gray bird, ugly and hateful to look at, but a swan I It matters nothing if one is born in a duck-yard if one has only lain in a swan's egg. It felt quite glad at all the need and misfortune it had suffered, now it realized its happiness in all the splendor that surrounded it. And the great swans swam round it, and stroked it with their beaks. Into the garden came little children, who threw bread and corn into the water ; and the youngest cried, " There is a new one ! " and the other chil- dren shouted joyously, " Yes, a new one has ar- rived ! " And they clapped their hands and danced about, and ran to their father and mother ; and bread and cake were thrown into the water ; and they all said, " The new one is the most beauti- ful of all ! so young and handsome ! " and the old swans bowed their heads b e f or e him. Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his wings, for he did not know what to do; he was so happy, and yet not at all proud. He thought how he had been persecuted and despised ; and now he heard them saying that he was the most beautiful of all birds. Even the elder-tree bent its branches straight down into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and mild. Then his wings rustled, he lifted his slender neck, and cried rejoicingly from the depths of his heart, " I never dreamed of so much happiness when I was the Ugly Duckling ! " THE FIR-TREE. OUT in the woods stood a nice little Fir-tree. The place he had was a very good one ; the sun shone on him ; as to fresh air, there was enough of that, and round him grew many large-sized comrades, pines as well as firs. But the little Fir wanted so very much to be a grown-up tree. He did not think of the warm sun and of the fresh air ; he did not care for the little cottage- children that ran about and prattled when they were in the woods looking for wild strawberries. The children often came with a whole pitcher full of strawberries, or a long row of them threaded on a straw, and sat down near the young tree and said, " Oh, how pretty he is ! what a nice little fir! " But this was what the tree could not bear to hear. At the end of a year he had shot up a good deal, and after another year he was another long bit taller ; for with fir-trees one can always tell by the shoots how many years old they are. "Oh, were I but such a high tree as the others are," sighed he. " Then I should be able to spread out my branches, and with the tops to look into the wide world ! Then would the birds build 168 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. nests among my branches ; and when there was a breeze, I could bend with as much stateliness as the others ! " Neither the sunbeams, nor the birds, nor the red clouds which morning and evening sailed above him, gave the little tree any pleasure. In winter, when the snow lay glittering on the ground, a hare would often come leaping along, and jump right over the little tree. Oh, that made him so angry ! But two winters were past, and in the third the tree was so large that the hare was obliged to go round it. " To grow and grow, to get older and be tall," thought the tree, " that, after all, is the most delightful thing in the world ! " In autumn the wood-cutters always came and felled some of the largest trees. This happened every year ; and the young Fi r-tree, that had now grown to a very comely size, trembled at the sight ; for the magnificent great trees fell to the earth with noise and cracking, the branches were lopped off, and the trees looked long and bare : they were hardly to be recognized ; and then they were laid in carts, and the horses dragged them out of the wood. Where did they go to ? What became of them ? In spring, when the Swallows and the Storks came, the tree asked them, " Don't you know where they have been taken ? Have you not met them anywhere ? " The Swallows did not know anything about it: but the Stork looked musing, nodded his head, and said, " Yes ; I think I know ; I met many ships as I was flying hither from Egypt ; on the ships were magnificent masts, and I venture to as- sert that it was they that smelt so of fir. I may congratulate you, for they lifted themselves on high most majestically ! " " Oh, were I but old enough to fly across the sea ! But how does the sea look in reality ? What it is like ? " " That would take a long time to explain," said the Stork, and with these words off he went. " Rejoice in thy growth ! " said the Sunbeams, " rejoice in thy vigorous growth, and in the fresh life that moveth within thee ! " And the Wind kissed the tree, and the Dew wept tears over him ; but the Fir understood it not. W T hen Christmas came, quite young trees were /. cut down ; trees which fS^~*\ -^^-SVT^SKX I, t^<*j/M often were not even as large or of the same age as this Fir- tree, who could never rest, but always wanted to be off. These young trees, and they were always the finest looking, re- tained their branches ; they were laid on carts, and the horses drew them out of the wood. " Where are they going to ? " asked the Fir. " They are not taller than I ; there was one in- deed that was considerably shorter ; and why do they retain all their branches ? Whither are they taken ? " " We know ! we know ! " chirped the Spar- rows. " We have peeped in at the windows in the town below ! W r e know whither they are taken ! The greatest splendor and the greatest magnificence one can imagine await them. We peeped through the windows, and saw them planted in the middle of the warm room, and or- namented with the most splendid things, with gilded apples, with gingerbread, with toys, and many hundred lights ! " " And then ? " asked the Fir-tree, trembling THK FIR-TREE. 169 in every bough. "And then? What happens then ? " " We did not see anything more : it was in- comparably beautiful." " I would fain know if 1 am destined for so glorious a career," cried the tree, rejoicing. " That is still better than to cross the sea ! What a long- ing do I suffer ! Were Christmas but come ! I am now tall, and my branches spread like the others that were carried off last year ! Oh, were I but already on the cart ! Were I in the warm room with all the splendor and magnificence ! Yes ; then something better, something still grander, will surely follow, or wherefore should they thus ornament me ? Something better, some- thing still grander, must follow but what ? Oh, how I long, how I suffer ! I do not know myself what is the matter with me ! " "Rejoice in our presence!" said the Airland the Sunlight ; " rejoice in thy own fresh youth ! " But the tree did not rejoice at all ; he grew and grew, and was green both winter and sum- mer. People that saw him said, " What a fine tree ! " and towards Christmas he was one of the first that was cut down. The axe struck deep into the very pith ; the tree fell to the earth with a sigh : he felt a pang it was like a swoon ; he could not think of happiness, for he was sorrowful at being separated from his home, from the place where he had sprung up. He well knew that he should never see his dear old comrades, the little bushes and flowers around him, any more ; per- haps not even the birds ! The departure was not at all agreeable. The tree only came to himself when he was unloaded in a courtyard with the other trees, and heard a man say, " That one is splendid ! we don't want the others." Then two servants came in rich livery and carried the Fir-tree into a large and splendid drawing-room. Portraits were hang- ing on the walls, and near the white porcelain stove stood two large Chinese vases with lions on the covers. There, too, were large easy-chairs, silken sofas, large tables full of picture-books, and full of toys worth hundreds and hundreds of 22 crowns at least the children said so. And the Fir-tree was stuck upright in a cask that was filled with sand : but no one could see that it was a cask, for green cloth was hung all round it, and it stood on a large gayly-colored carpet. Oh, how the tree quivered ! What was to happen ? The servants, as well as the young ladies, decorated it. On one branch there hung little nets cut out of colored paper, and each net was filled with sugar- plums ; and among the other boughs gilded apples and walnuts were suspended, looking as though they had grown there, and little blue and white tapers were placed among the leaves. Dolls that looked for all the world like men the tree had never beheld such before were seen among the foliage, and at the very top a large star of gold tinsel was fixed. It was really splendid beyond description splendid. " This evening ! " said they all ; " how it will shine this evening ! " " Oh," thought the tree, " if the evening were but come ! If the tapers were but lighted ! And then I wonder what will happen ! Perhaps the other trees from the forest will come to look at me ! Perhaps the sparrows will beat against the window-panes ! I wonder if I shall take root here, and winter and summer stand covered with orna- ments ! " He knew very much about the matter ! but he was so impatient that for sheer longing he got a pain in his back, and this with trees is the same thing as a headache with us. The candles were now lighted. What bright- ness ! What splendor ! The tree trembled so in every bough that one of the tapers set fire to the foliage. It blazed up splendidly. " Help ! help ! " cried the young ladies, and they quickly put out the fire. Now the tree did not even dare tremble. What a state he was in ! He was so uneasy lest he should lose something of his splendor, that he was quite bewildered amidst the glare and brightness ; when suddenly both folding-doors opened, and a troop of children rushed in as if they would upset the tree. The older persons followed quietly ; the 170 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. little ones stood quite still. But it was only for a moment ; then they shouted so that tbe whole place reechoed with their rejoicing; they danced round the tree, and one present after the other was pulled off. "What are they about?" thought the tree. "What is to happen now!" And the lights burned down to the very branches, and as they burned down they were put out one after the other, and then the children had permission to plunder the tree. So they fell upon it with such violence that all its branches cracked ; if it had not been fixed firmly in the cask, it would certainly huve tumbled down. The children danced about with their beautiful playthings ; no one looked at the tree except the old nurse, who peeped between the branches ; but it was only to see if there was a fig or an apple left that had been forgotten. " A story ! a story ! " cried the children, draw- ing a little fat man towards the tree. He seated himself under it, and said, " Now we are in the shade, and the tree can listen too. But I shall tell only one story. Now which will you have ; that about Ivedy-Avedy, or about Klumpy-Dumpy who tumbled down-stairs, and yet after all came to the throne and married the princess ? " " Ivedy-Avedy," cried some ; " Klumpy-Dumpy," cried the others. There was such a bawling and screaming ! the Fir-tree alone was silent, and he thought to himself, " Am I not to bawl with the rest ? am I to do nothing whatever ? " for he was one of the company, and had done what he had to do. And the man told about Klumpy-Dumpy that tumbled down, who notwithstanding came to the throne, and at last married the princess. And the children clapped their hands, and cried out, " Oh, go on ! Do go on ! " They wanted to hear about Ivedy-Avedy too, but the little man only told them about Klumpy-Dumpy. The Fir-tree stood quite still and absorbed in thought : the birds in the wood had never related the like of this, " Klumpy-Dumpy fell down-stairs, and yet he married the princess ! Yes, yes ! that 's the way of the world ! " thought the Fir-tree, and believed it all, because the man who told the story was so good-looking. " Well, well ! who knows, perhaps I may fall down-stairs too, and get a princess as wife ! " And he looked forward with joy to the morrow, when he hoped to be decked out again with lights, playthings, fruits, and tinsel. " I won't tremble to-morrow ! " thought the Fir- tree. " I will enjoy to the full all my splendor ! To-morrow I shall hear again the story of Klumpy- Dumpy, and perhaps that of Ivedy-Avedy too." And the whole night the tree stood still and in deep thought. In the morning the servant and the housemaid came in. " Now then the splendor will begin again," thought the Fir. But they dragged him out of the room, and up the stairs into the loft ; and here in a dark corner, where no daylight could enter, they left him. " What 's the meaning of this? " thought the tree. "What am I to do here? What shall I hear now, I wonder ? " And he leaned against the wall lost in reverie. Time enough had he too for his reflections ; for clays and nights passed on, and nobody came up ; and when at last somebody did come, it was only to put some great trunks in a corner out of the way. There stood the tree quite hidden ; it seemed as if he had been entirely forgotten. " 'T is now winter out-of-doovs ! " thought the tree. " The earth is hard and covered with snow ; men cannot plant me now, and therefore I have been put up here under shelter till the spring- time comes ! How thoughtful that is ! How kind man is, after all ! If it only were not so dark here, and so terribly lonely ! Not even a hare. And out in the woods it was so pleasant, when the snow was on the ground, and the hare leaped by; yes even when he jumped over me; but I did not like it then. It is really terribly lonely here ! " " Squeak ! squeak! " said a little Mouse at the same moment, peeping out of his hole. And then another little one came. They snuffed about the Fir-tree, and rustled among the branches. THE FIR-TREE. 171 " It is dreadfully cold," said the Mouse. " But for that, it would be delightful here, old Fir, would n't it ? " " I am by no means old," said the Fir-tree. " There 's many a one considerably older than I am." " Where do you come from," asked the Mice ; " a'nd what can you do ? " They were so extremely curious. " Tell us about the most beautiful spot on the earth. Have you never been there ? Were you never in the larder, where cheeses lie on the shelves, and hams hang from above ; where one dances about on tallow candles ; that place where one enters lean, and comes out again fat and portly?" " I know no such place," said the tree. " But I know the wood, where the sun shines, and where the little birds sing." And then he told all about his youth ; and the little Mice had never heard the like before ; and they listened and said, " Well, to be sure ! How much you have seen ! How happy you must have been ! " " I ! " said the Fir-tree, thinking over what he had himself related. " Yes, in reality those were happy times." And then he told about Christmas Eve, when he was decked out with cakes and can- dles. " Oh," said the little Mice, " how fortunate you have been, old Fir-tree ! " " I am by no means old," said he. " I came from the wood this winter ; I am in my prime, and am only rather short for my age." " What delightful stories you know ! " said the Mice : and the next night they came with four other little Mice, who were to hear what the tree recounted ; and the more he related, the more plainly he remembered all himself; and it ap- peared as if those times had really been happy times. "But they may still come they may still come. Klumpy-Dumpy fell down-stairs, and yet he got a princess ! " and he thought at the moment of a nice little Birch-tree growing out in the woods : to the Fir, that would be a real charming princess. " Who is Klumpy-Dumpy ? " asked the Mice. So then the Fir-tree told the whole fairy tale, for he could 1 remember every single word of it ; and the little Mice jumped for joy up to the very top of the tree. Next night two more Mice came, and on Sunday two Rats, even ; but they said the stories were not interesting, which vexed the little Mice ; and they, too, now began to think them not so very amusing either. u Do you know only one story ? " asked the Rats. " Only that one," answered the tree. " I heard it on my happiest evening ; but I did not then know how happy I was." " It is a very stupid story ! Don't you know one about bacon and tallow candles ? Can't you tell any larder-stories ? " " No," said the tree. " Then good-by," said the Rats ; and they went home. At last the little Mice stayed away also ; and the tree sighed : " After all, it was very pleasant when the sleek little Mice sat round me and list- ened to what I told them. Now that too is over. But I will take good care to enjoy myself when I am brought out again." But when was that to be? Why, one morning there came a quantity of people and set to work in the loft. The trunks were moved, the tree was pulled out and thrown rather hard, it is true down on the floor, but a man drew him towards the stairs, where the daylight shone. " Now a merry life will begin again," thought the tree. He felt the fresh air, the first sunbeam, and now he was out in the courtyard. All passed so quickly, there was so much going on around him, that the tree quite forgot to look to himself. The court adjoined a garden, and all was in flower ; the roses hung so fresh and odorous over the balustrade, the lindens were in blossom, the Swallows flew by, and said " Quirre-vit ! my husband is come ! " but it was not the Fir-tree that they meant. " Now, then, I shall really enjoy life," said he, exultingly, and spread out his branches ; but, alas ! they were all withered and yellow. It was in a 172 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. corner that he lay, among weeds and nettles. The golden star of tinsel was still on the top of the tree, and glittered in the sunshine. In the courtyard some of the merry children were playing who had danced at Christmas round the Fir-tree, and were so glad at the sight of him. One of the youngest ran and tore off the golden star. " Only Look what is still on the ugly old Christ- mas-tree ! " said he, trampling on the branches, so that they all cracked beneath his feet. And the tree beheld all the beauty of the flowers, and the freshness in the garden ; he be- held himself, and wished he had remained in his dark corner in the loft : he thought of his first youth in the wood, of the merry Christmas Eve, and of the little Mice who had listened with so much pleasure to the story of Klumpy-Dmnpy. "'Tis over 'tis past!" said the poor tree. " Had I but rejoiced when I had reason to do so ! But now 't is past, 't is past ! " And the gardener's boy chopped the tree into small pieces ; there was a whole heap lying there. The wood flamed up splendidly under the large brewing copper, and it sighed so deeply ! sigh was like a shot. Each The boys played about in the court, and the youngest wore the gold star on his breast which the tree had had on the happiest evening of his life. However, that was over now, the tree gone, the story at an end. All, all was over ; every tale must end at last. THE FLAX. THE Flax stood in blossom ; it had pretty little blue flowers, delicate as a moth's wings and even more delicate. The sun shone on the Flax, and the rain clouds moistened it, and this was just as good for it as it is for little children when they are washed, and afterward get a kiss from their mother; they become much prettier, and so did the Flax. " The people say that I stand uncommonly well," said the Flax, " and that I 'm fine and long, and shall make a capital piece of linen. How happy I am ! I 'm certainly the happiest of be- ings. How well I am off ! And I may come to something^. How the sunshine gladdens, and the rain tastes good and refreshes me ! I 'm wonder- fully happy ; I 'm the happiest of beings." " Yes, yes, yes ! " said the Hedge-stake. " You don't know the world, but we do, for we have knots in us ; " and then it creaked out mourn- fully, - " Snip-snap-snurre, Bassellurre ! The song is done." " No, it is not done," said the Flax. ' To-mor- row the sun will shine, or the rain will refresh us. I feel that I 'm growing, I feel that I 'm in blos- som ! I 'm the happiest of beings." But one day the people came and took the Flax by the head and pulled it up by the root. That hurt ; and it was laid in water as if they were going to drown it, and then put on the fire as if it was going to be roasted. It was quite fearful ! " One can't always have good times," said the THE FLAX. 173 Flax. " One must make one's experiences, and so one gets to know something." Bat bad times certainly came. The Flax was moistened, and roasted, and broken, and hackled. Yes, it did not even know what the operations were called that they did with it. It was put on the spinning-wheel whirr! whirr! whirr! it was not possible to collect one's thoughts. " I have been uncommonly happy," it thought in all its pain. " One must be content with the good one has enjoyed. Contented! contented! Oh ! " And it continued to say that when it was put into the loom, and till it became a large, beau- tiful piece of linen. All the Flax, to the last stalk, was used in making one piece. " But this is quite remarkable ! I should never have believed it ! How favorable fort- une is to me ! The Hedge-stake is well informed, truly, with its " Snip-snap-sntiiTe, Bassellurre ! ' The song is not done by any means. Now it ? s beginning in earnest. That 's quite remarkable ! If I 've suffered something, I 've been made into something ! I 'm the happiest of *all ! How strong and fine I am, how white and long ! That 's something different from being a mere plant : even if one bears flowers, one is not attended to, and only gets watered when it rains. Now I 'm attended to and cherished : the maid turns me over every morning, and I get a shower bath from the watering-pot every evening. Yes, the clergy- man's wife has even made a speech about me, and says I 'm the best piece in the whole parish. I cannot possibly be happier ! " Now the Linen was taken into the house, and put under the scissors : how they cut and tore it, and then pricked it with needles ! That was not pleasant; but twelve pieces of body linen of a kind not often mentioned by name, but indispen- sable to all people, were made of it a whole dozen ! " Just look ! Now something has really been made of me ! So ; that was my destiny. That 's a real blessing. Now I shall be of some use in the world, and that 's right, that 's a true pleasure ! We've been made into twelve things, but yet we 're all one and the same ; we 're just a dozen : how charming that is ! " Years rolled on, and now they would hold to- gether no longer. " It must be over one day," said each piece. " I would gladly have held together a little longer, but one must not expect impossibilities." They were now torn into pieces and fragments. They thought it was all over now, for they were hacked to shreds, and soft- ened, and boiled : yes, they themselves did not know all that was done to them ; and then they became beautiful white paper. "Now, that is a surprise, and a glorious surprise ! " said the Paper. " Now I 'm finer than before, and I shall be written on : that is remarkable good fortune." And really the most beautiful stories and verses were written upon it, and only once there came a blot ; that was certainly remarkable good fortune. And the people heard what was upon it ; it was sensible and good, and made people much more sensible and better : there was a great blessing in the words that were on this paper. " That is more than I ever imagined when I was a little blue flower in the fields. How could I fancy that I should ever spread joy and knowl- edge among men ? I can't yet understand it my- self, but it really is so. I have done nothing my- self but what I was obliged with my weak powers 174 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. to do for my own preservation, and yet I have been promoted from one joy and honor to another. Each time when I think ' the song is done,' it be- gins again in a higher and better way. Now I shall certainly be sent about to journey through the world, so that all people may read me. That cannot be otherwise ; it 's the only probable thing. I have splendid thoughts, as many as I had pretty flowers in the old times. I 'm the happiest of be- ings." But the Paper was not sent on its travels, it was sent to the printer, and everything that was written upon it was set up in type for a book, or rather for many hundreds of books, for in this way a very far greater number could derive pleas- ure and profit from the book than if the one paper on which it was written had run about the world, to be worn out before it had got half way. " Yes, that is certainly the wisest way," thought the Written Paper. " I really did not think of that. I shall stay at home, and be held in honor, just like an old grandfather ; and I am really the grandfather of all these books. Now something can be effected ; I could not have wandered about thus. He who wrote all this looked at me ; every word flowed from his pen right into me. I am the happiest of all." Then the Paper was tied together in a bundle, and thrown into a tub that stood in the wash- house. " It 's good resting after work," said the Paper. " It 's very right that one should collect one's thoughts. Now I 'm able for the first time to think of what is in me, and to know one's self is true progress. What will be done with me now ? At any rate I shall go forward again : I 'm always going forward ; I 've found that out." Now, one day all the Paper was taken out and laid by on the hearth ; it was to be burned, for it might not be sold to hucksters to be used for cov- ering for butter and sugar, they said. And all the children in the house stood round about, for they wanted to see the Paper burn, that flamed so prettily, and afterwards one could see many red sparks among the ashes, careering here and there. One after another faded out as quick as the wind, and that they called "seeing the children come out of school," and the last spark was the old schoolmaster : one of them thought he had already gone, but the next moment there came another spark. " There goes the schoolmaster ! " they said. Yes, they knew all about it ; they should have known who it was who went there : we shall get to know it, but they did not. All the old Paper, the whole bundle, was laid upon the fire, and it was soon alight. " Ugh ! " it said, and burst out into bright flame. Ugh ! that was not very agreeable, but when the whole was wrapped in bright flames, these mounted up higher than the Flax had ever been able to lift its little blue flowers, and glittered as the white Linen had never been able to glitter. All the written letters turned for a moment quite red, and all the words and thoughts turned to flame. " Now I 'm mounting straight up to the sun," said a voice in the flame ; and it was as if a thou- sand voices said this in unison ; and the flames mounted up through the chimney and out at the top, and more delicate than the flames, invisible to human eyes, little tiny beings floated there, as many as there had been blossoms on the Flax. They were lighter even than the flame from which they were born ; and when the flame was extinguished, and nothing remained of the Paper but black ashes, they danced over it once more, and where they touched the black mass the little red sparks appeared. The children came out of school, and the schoolmaster was the last of all. That was fun ! And the children sang over the dead ashes, " Snip-snap-snurre, Bassellurre ! The song is done." But the little invisible beings all said, " The song is never done, that is the best of all. We know it, and therefore we 're the happiest of all." But the children could neither hear that nor understand it ; nor ought they, for children must not know everything. THE SWINEHERD. 175 THE SWINEHERD. THERE was once a poor prince ; be had a king- dom that was very small ; still it was quite large enough to marry upon ; and he wished to marry. It was certainly rather cool of him to say to the Emperor's daughter, " Will you have me ? " But so he did ; for his name was renowned far and wide ; and there were a hundred princesses who would have answered, " Thank you." But see what she said. Now we will hear. By the grave of the prince's father there grew a rose-tree, a most beautiful rose-tree ; it blos- somed only once in every five years, and even then bore only one flower, but that was a rose that smelt so sweet as to make one forget all cares and sorrows. And furthermore, the prince had a nightingale, Avho could sing in such a manner that it seemed as though all sweet melodies dwelt in her little throat. So the princess was to have the rose and the nightingale ; and they were accordingly put into large silver caskets, and sent to her. The emperor had them brought into a large hall, where the princess was playing at " making calls," with the ladies of the court ; they never did anything else, and when she saw the caskets with the presents, she clapped her hands for jy- k ' Ah, if it were but a little pussy-cat ! " ex- claimed she ; then out came the beautiful rose. " Oh, how prettily it is made ! " said all the court-ladies. " It is more than pretty," said the emperor ; " it is charming ! " But the princess touched it, and was almost ready to cry. " Fie, papa ! " said she, " it is not made at all ; it is natural! " " Fie ! " cried all the court-ladies ; " it is nat- ural ! " " Let us see what is in the other casket, before we get into a bad humor, proposed the emperor. So the nightingale came forth, and sang so de- lightfully that at first no one could say anything ill-humored of it. " Superbe ! charment ! " exclaimed the ladies; for they all used to chatter French, each one worse than her neighbor. " How much the bird reminds me of the musical box that belonged to our blessed empress ! " re- marked an old knight. " Ah yes ! it is the very same tone, the same execution." "Yes! yes!" said the emperor, and he wept like a little child. " I will still hope that it is not a real bird," said the princess. " Yet it is a real bird," said those who .had brought it. " Well, then let the bird fly," returned the princess ; and she positively refused to see the prince. However, he was not to be discouraged ; he daubed his face over brown and black, pulled his cap over his ears, and knocked at the door. " Good day, emperor ! " said he. " Can I have employment at the palace ? " " Oh, there are so many that want a place ! " said the emperor ; " well let me see, I want some one to take care of the pigs, for we have a great many of them." So the prince was appointed " Imperial Swine- herd." He had a dirty little room close by the pig-sty ; and there he sat the whole day, and worked. By the evening he had made a pretty little saucepan. Little bells were hung all around it ; and when the pot was boiling, these bells tin- kled in the most charming manner, and played the old melody : " Ah ! thou dearest Augustine ! All is gone, gone, gone ! " But what was still more curious, whoever held his finger in the smoke of this saucepan immedi- ately smelt all the dishes that were cooking on every hearth in the city : this, you see, was some- thing quite different from the rose. 176 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. Now the princess happened to walk that way : and when she heard the tune, she stood quite still, and seemed pleased T for she could play "Dearest Augustine ; " it was the only piece she knew, and she played it with one finger. " Why, there is my piece ! " said the princess ; " that swineherd must certainly have been well educated ! Here ! Go in and ask him the price of the instrument." And so one of the court-ladies must run in ; however, she drew on wooden slippers first. " What will you take for the saucepan ? " in- quired the lady. " I will have ten kisses from the princess," said the swineherd. " Mercy on us I " said the lady. " Yes, I cannot sell it for less," said the swineherd. " Well, Avhat does he say ? " asked the princess. "I cannot tell you really," replied the lady "it is too bad!" " Then you can whisper it ! " So the lady whispered it. " He is an impu- ' dent fellow ! " said the princess, and she walked on ; but when she had gone a little way, the bells tinkled so prettily, " Ah ! thou dearest Augustine ! All is gone, gone, gone ! " " Stay," said the princess. u Ask him if he will have ten kisses from the ladies of my court." " No, thank you ! " answered the swineherd : " ten kisses from the princess, or I keep the sauce- pan myself." " That must not be, either ! " said the princess ; " But do you all stand before me, that no one may see us." And the court-ladies placed themselves in front of her, and spread out their dresses ; and so the swineherd got ten kisses, and she got the saucepan. It was delightful ! the saucepan was kept boil- ing all the evening, and the whole of the following day. They knew perfectly well what was cook- ing at every fire throughout the city, from the chamberlain's to the cobbler's ; the court-ladies danced, and clapped their hands. " We know who has soup and who has pancakes for dinner to-day, who has cutlets, and who has eggs. How interesting ! " And " How interesting ! " said the lord stew- ard's wife. " Yes, but keep my secret, for I am an emper- or's daughter." " Mercy on us," said they all. The swineherd v. that the is to say prince, for no one knew that he was other than an ill- favored swineherd let not a day pass without working at something; he at last constructed a rattle, which, when it was swung round, played all the waltzes and jig-tunes which have ever been heard since the creation of the world. " Ah, that is superbe!" said the princess when she passed by ; "I have never heard prettier com- positions ! Go in and ask him the price of the instrument ; but I won't kiss him ! " " He will have a hundred kisses from the prin- cess ! " said the court-lady who had been in to ask. " I think he is crazy ! " said the princess, and walked on ; but when she had gone a little way, she stopped again. " One must encourage art," said she; "I am the emperor's daughter. Tell him, he shall, as on yesterday, have ten kisses from me, and may take the rest from the ladies of the court." THE SWINEHERD. 177 " Oh ! but we should not like that at all ! " said the court-ladies. " What are you muttering ? " asked the prin- cess ; "if I can kiss him, surely you can! Re- member, I give you your food and wages." So the court-ladies were obliged to go to him again. "A hundred kisses from the princess ! " said he, "or else let every one keep his own." " Stand round ! " said she ; and all the ladies stood round her whilst the kiss- ing was going on. " What can be the reason for such a crowd close by the pig-sty ? " said the emperor, who hap- pened just then to step out on the bal- cony. He rubbed his eyes and put on his spectacles. " They are the la- dies of the court ; there is some play going on. I must go down and see what they are about!" So he pulled up his slip- pers at the heel, for he had trodden them down. Heh there ! what a hurry he is in. As soon as he had got into the courtyard, he moved very softly, and the ladies were so much engrossed with counting the kisses, that all might go on fairly, that they did not perceive the em- peror. He rose on his tiptoes. " What is all this ? " said he, when he saw what was going on, and he boxed the princess's ears with his slipper, just as the swineherd was taking the eighty-sixth kiss. " Off with you ! " cried the emperor, for he was very angry ; and both princess and swineherd were thrust out of the city. The princess now stood and wept, the swine- herd scolded, and the rain poured down. " Oh, how miserable I am ! " said the princess. " If I had but mar- ried the handsome young prince! Ah ! how unfortu- nate I am ! " And the swine- herd went behind a tree, washed the black-and-brown color from his face, threw off his dirty clothes, and stepped forth in his princely robes; he looked so noble that the princess could not help bowing before him. "lam come to de- spise thee," said he. u Thou wouldst not have an honorable prince ! thou couldst not prize the rose and the nightin- gale, but thou wast ready to kiss the swineherd for the sake of a trumpery plaything. Now thou hast thy deserts ! " He then went back to his own little kingdom, and shut the door of his palace in her face. Now she might well sing, "Ah! thou dearest Augustine! All is gone, gone, gone ! " 178 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. THE LOVERS. A TOP and a little Ball were together in a drawer among some other toys ; and the Top said to the Ball, - " Shall we not be lovers, as we live together in the same box ? " But the Ball, which had a coat of morocco leather, and was just as conceited as any fine lady, would make no answer to such a proposal. The next day came the little boy to whom the toys be- longed : he painted the Top red and yellow, and hammered a brass nail into it ; and it looked splen- did when the Top turned round. *' Look at me ! " he cried to the little Ball. "What do you say now? Shall we not be engaged to each other ? We suit one another so well ! You jump and I dance ! No one could be happier than we two should be." " Indeed ! Do you think so ? " replied the little Ball. "Per- haps you do not know that my papa and my mamma were morocco slippers, and that I have a Spanish cork inside me?" " Yes, but I am made of mahogany," said the Top ; " and the mayor himself turned me. He has a turning lathe of his own, and it amuses him greatly." " Can I depend on that ? " asked the little Ball. " May I never be whipped again if it is not true ! " replied the Top. " You can speak well for yourself," observed the Ball, "but I cannot grant your request. I am as good as engaged to a swallow : every time I leap up into the air he puts his head out of the nest and says, ' Will you ? ' And now I have silently said ' Yes,' and that is as good as half engaged ; but I promise I will never forget you." " Yes, that will be much good ! " said the Top. And they spoke no more to each other. Next day the Ball was taken out by the boy. The Top saw how she flew high into the air, like a bird ; at last one could no longer see her. Each time she came back again, but gave a high leap when she touched the earth, and that was done either from her longing to mount up again, or because she had a Spanish cork in her body. But the ninth time the little Ball remained ab- sent, and did not come back again ; and the boy sought and sought, but she was gone. " I know very well where she is ! " sighed the Top. " She is in the Swallow's nest, and has married the Swallow ! " The more the Top thought of this, the more it longed for the Ball. Just be- cause it could not get the Ball, its love increased ; and the fact that the Ball had chosen another formed a peculiar feature in the case. So the Top danced round and hummed, but always thought of the little Ball, which became more and more beautiful in his fancy. Thus several years went b}^ and now it was an old love. And the Top was no longer young ! But one day he was gilt all over ; never had he looked so handsome ; he was now a golden Top, and sprang till he hummed again. Yes, that was something worth seeing ! But all at once he sprang too high, and he was gone ! They looked and looked, even in the cellar, but he was not to be found. Where could he be ? LITTLE GLAUS AND BIG GLAUS. 179 He had jumped into the dust-box, where all kinds of things were lying : cabbage stalks, sweep- ings, and dust that had fallen down from the roof. " Here 's a nice place to lie in ! The gilding will soon leave me here. Among what a rabble have I alighted ! " And then he looked sideways at a long leafless cabbage stump, and at a curious round thing like an old apple ; but it was not an apple it was an old Ball, which had lain for years in the roof-gut- ter and was quite saturated with water. " Thank goodness, here comes one of us, with whom one can talk ! " said the little Ball, and looked at the gilt Top. " I am really morocco, worked by maidens' hands, and have a Spanish cork within me ; but no one would think it, to look at me. I was very near marrying a swallow, but I fell into the gutter on the roof, and have lain there full five years, and become quite wet through. You may believe me, that 's a long time for a young girl." But the Top said nothing. He thought of his old love ; and the more he heard, the clearer it be- came to him that this was she. Then came the servant-girl, and wanted to turn out the dust-box. " Aha ! there 's a gilt top ! " she cried. And so the Top was brought again to notice and honor, but nothing was heard of the little Ball. And the Top spoke no more of his old love ; for that dies away when the beloved object has lain for five years in a roof-gutter and got wet through ; yes, one does not know her again when one meets her in the dust-box. LITTLE GLAUS AND BIG CLAUS. THERE lived in a village two men who both had the same name ; they were called Glaus ; but one of them had four horses, and the other had only one horse ; so in order to tell one from the other, people called the owner of the four horses, u Big Glaus," and him who had only one, " Little Glaus." Now we shall hear what happened to the two, for this is a true story. The whole week through Little Glaus was obliged to plow for Big Glaus, and lend him his one horse ; and, in return, Big Glaus lent him all his four horses, but only on one day of the week, and that was Sunday. Then how proudly Little Glaus would smack his whip over all five horses ! they were as good as his own on that one day. The sun shone brightly, and all the bells in the church tower were ringing merrily as the people passed by, dressed in their best clothes, with their prayer-books under their arms. They were going to hear the clergyman preach, and they looked at Little Glaus plowing with his five horses, and he was so proud that he smacked his whip, and said, " G'up, all my horses ! " " You must not say that," said Big Glaus ; ' for only one of them belongs to you." But when an- other lot of people went by to church, Little Glaus forgot what he ought to say, and called out, " G'up, all my horses ! " " Now I tell you not to say that again," said Big Glaus; "for if you do, I shall hit your horse 180 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. on the head, so that he will drop dead on the spot, and that will be the end of him." " I promise you I will not say it any more," said the other; but as soon as people came by, nodding to him, and wishing him " Good day," he became so pleased, and thought how grand it looked to have five horses plowing in his field, that he cried out again, " G'up, all my horses ! " " I '11 g'up your horses for you," said Big Glaus ; and, seizing a carriage weight, he struck the one horse of Little Glaus on the head, and he fell dead instantly. " Ah ! now I have no horse at all," said Little Glaus, and he began to weep. But after a while he took off the dead horse's skin, and hung the hide to dry in the wind. Then he put the dry skin into a bag, and placing it over his shoulder, went out into the next town to sell the horse's hide. He had a very long way to go, and had to pass through a dark, gloomy forest. Presently a storm arose, and he lost his way, and before he discovered the right path, evening came on, and it was still a long way to the town, and too far to return home before night. Near the road stood a large farm-house. The shutters outside the windows were closed, but lights shone through the crevices and at the top. " I might get permission to stay here for the night," thought Little Glaus ; so he went up to the door and knocked. The farmer's wife opened the door ; but when she heard what he wanted, she told him to go away, as her husband would not allow her to ad- mit strangers. " Then I shall be obliged to lie out here," said Little Glaus to himself, and the farmer's wife shut the door in his face. Near to the farm-house stood a large hay-stack, and between it and the house was a small shed, with a thatched roof. " I can lie up there," said Little Clans, as he saw the roof ; " it will make a famous bed, but I hope the stork will not fly down and bite my legs ; " for on it stood a living stork, whose nest was in the roof. So Little Glaus climbed to the roof of the shed, and while he turned himself to get comfortable, he discovered that the wooden shutters, which were closed, did not reach to the tops of the windows of the farm-house, so that he could see into a room in which a large table was laid out, with wine, roast meat, and a splendid fish. The farmer's wife and the sexton were sitting at the table together ; and she filled his glass, and helped him plen- teously to fish, for that was something he was fond of. " If I could only get some, too," thought Little Glaus ; and he stretched his neck toward the window. Oh, what a lovely p}e he could see there ! Oh, but that was a feast ! Now he heard some one riding down the road, toward the farm-house. It was the woman's hus- band coming home. He was a good man, but still he had a very strange prejudice, he could not bear the sight of a sexton. If one appeared before him, he would put himself in a terrible rage. And so it was that the sexton had gone to visit the farmer's wife during her husband's ab- sence from home, and the good woman had placed before him the best she had in the house to eat. When she heard the farmer coming she was fright- ened, and begged the sexton to hide himself in a large empty chest that stood in the room. He did so, for he knew her husband could not endure the sight of a sexton. The woman then quickly put away the wine, and hid all the rest of the nice things in the oven ; for if her husband had seen LITTLE GLAUS AND BIG GLAUS. 181 them he would have asked what they were brought out for. ^ Oh dear ! " sighed Little Glaus from the top of the shed, as he saw all the good things disap- pear. " Is any one up there ? " asked the farmer, looking up and discovering Little Glaus. " Why are you lying up there ? Come down, and come into the house with me." So Little Glaus came down and told the farmer how he had lost his way, and begged for a night's lodging. "All right," said the farmer; "but we must have something to eat first." The woman received them both very kindly, laid the cloth on a large table, and placed before them a dish of groats. The farmer was very hungry, and ate his groats with a good appetite, but Little Glaus could not help thinking of the nice roast meat, fish, and pies, which he knew were in the oven. Under the table, at his feet, lay the sack containing the horse's skin, which he intended to sell at the next town. Now Little Glaus did not relish the groats at all, so he trod with his foot on the sack under the table, and the dry skin squeaked quite loud. " Hush ! " said Little Glaus to his sack, at the same time tread- ing upon it again, till it squeaked louder than be- fore. "Hallo! what have you got in your sack?" asked the farmer. " Oh, it is a conjurer," said Little Glaus ; "and he says we need not eat groats, for he has conjured the oven full of roast meat, fish, and pie." " Wonderful ! " cried the farmer, and he opened the oven door ; and there lay all the nice things hidden by the farmer's wife, but which he sup- posed had been conjured there by the wizard un- der the table. The woman dared not say any- thing ; so she placed the things before them, and they both ate of the fish, the meat, and the pastry. Then Little Glaus trod again upon his sack, and it squeaked as before. " What does he say now? ".asked the farmer. "He says," replied Little Glaus, "that there are three bottles of wine for us, standing in the corner, by the oven." So the woman was obliged to bring out the wine also, which she had hidden, and the farmer drank it till he became quite merry. He would have liked such a conjurer as Little Glaus carried in his sack. "Could he conjure up the devil?" asked the farmer. " I should like to see him now, while I am so merry." " Oh, yes ! " replied Little Glaus, " my conjurer can do anything I ask him, can you not ? " he asked, treading at the same time on the sack till it squeaked. " Do you hear ? he answers ' Yes,' but he fears that we shall not like to look at him." " Oh, I am not afraid. What will he be like ? " " W T ell, he is very much like a sexton." "Ha!" said the farmer; "then he must be ugly. Do you know I cannot endure the sight of a sexton. However, that does n't matter, I shall know who it is ; so I shall not mind. Now then, I have got up my courage, but don't let him come too near me." " Stop, I must ask the conjurer," said Little Glaus ; so he trod on the bag, and stooped his ear down to listen. " What does he say ? " " He says that you must go and open that large chest which stands in the corner, and you will see the devil crouching down inside; but you must hold the lid firmly, that he may not slip out." " Will you come and help me hold it ? " said the farmer going toward the chest in which his wife had hidden the sexton, who now lay inside, very much frightened. The farmer lifted the lid a very little way, and peeped in. " Eh ! " cried he, springing backwards. " Ah, I saw him, and he is exactly like our sexton. How dreadful it is ! " So after that he was obliged to drink again, and they sat and drank till far into the night. "You must sell your conjurer to me," said the farmer; " ask as much as you like, I will pay it ; indeed, I would give you directly a whole bushel of gold." 182 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. no == " No, indeed, I cannot," said Little Claus ; " only think how much profit I could make out of this conjurer." " But I should like to have him," said the farmer, still continuing his entreaties. " Well," said Little Claus at length, you have been so good as to give me a night's lodging, I will not refuse you ; you shall have the conjurer for a bushel of money, but I will have quite full measure." "So you shall," said the farmer ; " but you must take away the chest as well. I would not have it in the house another hour ; there is knowing if he may not be still there." So Little Claus gave the farmer the sack containing the dried horse's skin, and re- ceived in exchange a bushel of money full measure. The Farmer also gave him a wheel -barrow on which to carry away the chest and the gold. "Farewell," said Little Claus, as he went off with his money and the great chest, in which the sexton lay still concealed. On one side of the forest was a broad, deep river ; the water flowed so rapidly that very few were able to swim against the stream. A new bridge had lately been built across it, and in the middle of this bridge Little Claus stopped, and said, loud enough to be heard by the sexton, " Now, what shall I do with this stupid chest ? it is as heavy as if it were full of stones : I shall be tired if I roll it any farther, so I may as well throw it into the river ; if it swims after me to my house, well and good, and if not, it will not much matter." So he seized the chest in his hand, and lifted it up a little, as if he were going to throw it into the water. " No, leave it alone," cried the sexton from within the chest ; " let me out first." " Oh," exclaimed Little Claus, pretend- ing to be frightened, " he is in there still, is he ? I must throw him into the river, that he may be drowned." " Oh no ! Oh no ! " cried the sexton ; " I will give you a whole bushel full of money if you will let me go." "Why, that is an- other matter," said Little Claus, opening the chest. The sexton crept out, pushed the empty chest into the water, and went to his house ; then he measured out a whole bushel full of gold for Little Claus, who had already received one from the farmer, so that now he had a barrow full. " I have been well paid for my horse," said he to himself when he reached home, entered his own room, and emptied all his money into a heap on the floor. " How vexed Big Claus will be when he finds how rich I have become all through my one horse ; but I shall not tell him exactly how it all happened." Then he sent a boy to Big Claus to borrow a bushel measure. LITTLE CLAUS AND BIG CLAUS. 183 "What can he want it for?" thought Big Glaus ; so he smeared the bottom of the measure with tar, that some of whatever was put into it might stick there and remain. And so it hap- pened ; for when the measure returned three new silver florins were sticking to it. u What does this mean ? " said Big Glaus ; so he' ran off directly to Little Glaus, and asked, " Where did you get so much money ? " " Oh, for my horse's hide ; I sold it yesterday." " It was certainly well paid for then," said Big Glaus ; and he ran home to his house, seized a hatchet, and knocked all his four horses on the head, flayed off their skins, and took them to the town to sell. " Hides, hides ! who'll buy hides? " he cried, as he went through the streets. All the shoemakers and tanners came running, and asked how much he wanted for them. " A bushel of money for each," replied Big Glaus. " Are you mad ? " they all cried ; " do you think we have money to spend by the bushel ? " " Hides, hides ! " he cried again, " who '11 buy hides? " but to all who inquired the price his an- swer was, " A bushel of money." " He is making fools of us," said they all ; then the shoemakers took their straps, and the tanners their leather aprons, and began to beat Big Glaus. " Hides, hides ! " they cried, mocking him ; " yes, we '11 mark your hide for you, till it is black and blue." " Out of the town with him," said they. And Big Glaus was obliged to run as fast as he could ; he had never before been so thoroughly beaten. "Ah," said he, as he came to his house, "Little Glaus shall pay me for this ; I will beat him to death." Now it happened that the old grandmother of Little Glaus died. She had been cross, unkind, and really spiteful to him ; but he was very sorry, and took the dead woman and laid her in his warm bed to see if he could bring her to life again. There he determined that she should lie the whole night, while he seated himself in a chair in a cor- ner of the room, as he had often done before. During the night, as he sat there, the door opened, and in came Big Glaus with a hatchet. He knew well where Little Claus's bed stood ; so he went right up to it, and struck the old grand- mother on the head, thinking it must be Little Glaus. " Thei'e," cried he, " now you cannot make a fool of me again ; " and then he went home. " That is a very wicked man," thought Little Glaus ; " he meant to kill me. It is a good thing for my old grandmother that she was already dead, or he would have taken her life." Then he dressed his old grandmother in her best clothes, borrowed a horse of his neighbor, and harnessed it to a cart. Then he placed the old woman on the back seat, so that she might not fall out as he drove, and rode away through the wood. By sunrise they reached a large inn, where Little Glaus stopped and went to get something to eat. The landlord was a rich man, and a good man, too ; but as passionate as if he had been made of pepper and snuff. " Good-morning," said he to Little Glaus ; " you are come betimes to-day." " Yes," said Little Glaus ; " I am going to the town with my old grandmother ; she is sitting at the back of the wagon, but I cannot bring her into the room. Will you take her a glass of mead? but you must speak very loud, for she cannot hear well." "Yes, certainly I will," replied the landlord; and, pouring out a glass of mead, he carried it out to the dead grandmother, who sat upright in the cart. " Here is a glass of mead from your grandson," said the landlord. The dead woman did not an- swer a word, but sat quite still. "Do you not hear?" cried the landlord, as loud as he could ; "here is a glass of mead from your grandson." Again and again he bawled it out, but as she did not stir he flew into a passion, and threw the glass of mead in her face ; it struck her on the nose, and she fell backwards out of the cart, for she was only seated there, not tied in. STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. " Mercy ! " cried Little Glaus, and sprang out of the door, and seized hold of the landlord by the throat ; " you have killed my grandmother ; see, here is a great hole in her forehead." " Oh, how unfortunate," said the landlord, wringing his hands. " This all comes of my fiery temper. Dear Little Glaus, I will give you a whole bushel of money, and will bury your grand- mother as if she were my own ; only keep silent, or else they will cut off my head, and that would be disagreeable." So it happened that Little Glaus received an- other bushel of money, and the landlord buried his old grandmother as if she had been his own. When now Little Glaus reached home again, he immediately sent a boy to Big Glaus, requesting him to lend him a bushel measure. " How is this ? " thought Big Glaus ; " did I not kill him ? I must go and see for myself." So he went to Little Glaus, and took the bushel measure with him. " How did you get all this money?" asked Big Glaus, staring with wide open eyes at his neighbor's treasures. " You killed my grandmother instead of me," said Little Glaus, " so I have sold her for a bushel of money." " That is a good price, any way," said Big Glaus. So he went home, took a hatchet, and killed his old grandmother with one blow. Then he placed her on a cart, and drove into the town to the apoth- ecary, and asked him if he would buy a dead body. " Whose is it, and where did you get it ? " asked the apothecary. "It is my grandmother," he replied ; " I struck her dead for a bushel of money." " Heaven preserve us ! " cried the apothecary. " you are out of your mind. Don't say such things, or you will lose your head." And then he talked to him seriously about the wicked deed he had done, and told him that such a wicked man would surely be punished. Big Glaus got so frightened that he rushed out of the apothecary shop, jumped into the cart, whipped up his horses, and drove home quickly. The apothecary and all the people thought him mad, and let him drive where he liked. " You shall pay for this," said Big Glaus, as soon as he got into the high-road, "that you shall, Little Glaus." So as soon as he reached home he took the largest sack he could find, and went over to Little Glaus. " You have played me another trick," said he. " First, I killed all my horses, and then my old grandmother, and it is all your fault ; but you shall not make a fool of me any more." So he laid hold of Little Glaus round the body, and pushed him into the sack, which he took on liis shoulders, saying, " Now I 'm going to drown you in the river." He had a long way to go before he reached the river, and Little Glaus was not a very light weight to carry. The road led by the church, and as they passed he could hear the organ playing and the people singing beautifully. Big Glaus put down the sack close to the church door, and thought he might as well go in and hear a psalm before he went any farther. Little Glaus could not possibly get out of the sack, and all the people were in church ; so in he went. " Oh dear, oh dear," sighed Little Glaus in the sack, as he turned and twisted about ; but he found he could not loosen the string with which it was tied. Presently an old cattle driver, with snowy hair, passed by, carrying a large staff in his hand, with which he drove a large herd of cows and oxen before him. They stumbled against the sack in which lay Little Glaus, and turned it over. "Oh dear," sighed Little Glaus, "I am so young, and going so soon to heaven." " And I, poor fellow," said the drover, " I, who am so old already, cannot get there." " Open the sack," cried Little Glaus ; " creep into it instead of me, and you will soon be there." " With all my heart," replied the drover, open- ing the sack, from which sprang Little Glaus as quickly as possible. " Will you take care of my cattle ? " said the old man, as he crept into the bag. " Yes," said Little Glaus, and he tied up the LITTLE CLAUS AND BIG CLAUS. 185 sack, and then walked off with all the cows and oxen. When Big Glaus came out of church, he took up the sack, and placed it on his shoulders. It ap- peared to have become lighter, for the old drover was not half so heavy as Little Glaus. " How light he seems now," said he. " Ah, it is- because I have been to a church." So he walked on to the river, which was deep and broad, and threw the sack containing the old drover into the water, believing it to be Little Glaus. " There you may lie ! " he exclaimed ; " you will play me no 'more tricks now." Then he turned to go home, but when he came to a place where two roads crossed, there was Little Glaus driving the cattle. " How is this ? " said Big Glaus. "Did I not drown you just now ? " "Yes," said Little Glaus ; " you threw me into the river about half an hour ago." " But wherever did you get all these fine beasts?" asked Big- Glaus. " These beasts are sea-cattle," replied Little Glaus. " I '11 tell you the whole story, and thank you for drowning me ; I am above you now ; I am really very rich. I was frightened, to be sure, while I lay tied up in the sack, and the wind whistled in my ears when you threw me into the river from the bridge, and I sank to the bottom immediately ; but I did not hurt myself, for I fell upon beautifully soft grass which grows down there ; and, in a moment, the sack opened, and the sweetest little maiden came towards me. She had snow-white robes, and a wreath of green leaves on her wet hair. She took me by the hand, and said, ' So you are come, Lit- tle Glaus, and here are some cattle for you to be- gin with. About a mile farther on the road, there is another herd for you.' Then I saw that the 24 river formed a great highway for the people who live in the sea. They were walking and driving here and there from the sea to the land at the spot where the river terminates. The bed of the river was covered with the loveliest flowers and sweet, fresh grass. The fish swam past me aa rapidly as the birds do here in the air. How handsome all the people were, and what fine cat- tle were grazing on the hills and in the valleys ! " "But why did you come up again," said Big Glaus, " if it was all so beautiful down there ? I should not have done so." " Well," said Little Glaus, " it was good policy on my part ; you heard me say just now that I was told by the sea-maiden to go a mile farther on the road, and I should find a whole herd of cattle. By the road she meant the river, for she could not travel any other way ; but I knew the winding of the river, and how it bends, sometimes to the right and some- times to the left, and it seemed a long way, so I chose a shorter one ; and, by coming up to the land, and then driving across the fields back again to the river, I shall save half a mile, and get all my cattle more quickly." " What a lucky fellow you are ! " exclaimed Big Glaus. " Do you think I should get any sea- cattle if I went down to the bottom of the river ? " "Yes, I think so," said Little Glaus; "but I cannot carry you there in a sack, you are too heavy. However, if you will go there first, and then creep into a sack, I will throw you in with the greatest pleasure." " Thank you," said Big Glaus ; " but remem- ber, if I do not get any sea-cattle down there, I shall come up again and give you a good thrash- ing." "No, now, don't be too fierce about it I " said 186 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. Little Glaus, as they walked on towards the river. When they approached it, the cattle, who were very thirsty, saw the stream, and ran down to drink. " See what a hurry they are in," said Little Glaus, " they are longing to get down again." " Come. Help me, make haste," said Big Glaus, " or you '11 get beaten." So he crept into a large sack, which had been lying across the back of one of the oxen. " Put in a stone," said Big Glaus, " or I may not sink." " Oh, there 's not much fear of that," he replied ; still he put a large stone into the bag, and then tied it tightly, and gave it a push. " Plump ! " In went Big Glaus, and immedi- ately sank to the bottom of the river. " I 'm afraid he will not find any cattle," said Little Glaus, and then he drove his own beasts homeward. THE DARNING-NEEDLE. THERE was once a darning-needle, who thought herself so fine, she imagined she was an embroider- ing needle. ' ; Take care, and mind you hold me tight I " she said to the Fingers that took her out. " Don't let me fall ! If I fall on the ground I shall cer- tainly never be found again, for I am so fine ! " " That 's as it may be," said the Fingers ; and they grasped her round the body. " See, I 'm coming with a train ! " said the Darning-needle, and she drew a long thread after her, but there was no knot in the thread. The Fingers pointed the needle just at the cook's slipper, in which the upper leather had burst, and was to be sewn together. " That 's vulgar work," said the Darning- needle. " I shall never get through. I 'm break ing ! I 'm breaking ! " And she really broke. " Did I not say so ? " said the Darning-needle; " I'm too fine!" " Now it 's quite useless," said the Fingers ; but they were obliged to hold her fast, all the same ; for the cook dropped some sealing-wax upon the needle, and pinned her handkerchief together with it in front. " So, now I 'm a breast-pin ! " said the Darning- needle. " I knew very well that I should come to honor : when one is something, one comes to some- thing ! " And she laughed quietly to herself and one can never see when a darning-needle laughs. There she sat, as proud as if she was in a state coach, and looked" all about her. " May I be permited to ask if you are of gold ? " she inquired of the pin, her neighbor. " You have a very pretty appearance, and a peculiar head, but it is only little. You must take pains to grow, for it's not every one that has sealing-wax dropped upon him." And the Darning-needle drew herself up so proudly that she fell out of the handkerchief right into the sink, which the cook was rinsing out. "Now we're going on a journey," said the Darning-needle. " If I only don't get lost ! " But she. really was lost. " I 'm too fine for this world," she observed, as she lay in the gutter. " But I know who I am, and there 's always something in that ! " So the Darning-needle kept her proud behavior, and did not lose her good-humor. And things of many kinds swam over her, chip and straws and pieces of old newspapers. " Only look how they sail ! " said the Darning- needle. " They don't know what is under them ! I 'm here, I remain firmly here. See, there goes a chip thinking of nothing in the world but of him- self of a chip ! There 's a straw going by now. How he turns ! how he twirls about ! Don't think only of yourself, you might easily run up against a stone. There swims a bit of newspaper. What 's written upon it has long been forgotten, and yet it gives itself airs. I sit quietly and pa- THE DARNING-NEEDLE. 187 tiently here. I know who I am, and I shall re- main what I am." One day something lay close beside her that glittered splendidly ; then the Darning-needle be- lieved that it was a diamond ; but it was a bit of broken bottle ; and because it shone, the Darning- needle spoke to it, introducing herself as a breast- pin. " I suppose you are a diamond ?" she observed. " Why, yes, something of that kind." And then each believed the other to be a very valuable thing; and they began speaking about the world, and how very conceited it was. " I have been in a lady's box," said the Darn- ing-needle, " and this lady was a cook. She had five fingers on each hand, and I never saw any- thing so conceited as those five fingers. And yet they were only there that they might take me out of the box and put me back into it." " Were they of good birth ? " asked the Bit of Bottle. " No, indeed," replied the Darning-needle, " but very haughty. There were five brothers, all of the finger family. They kept very proudly to- gether, though they were of different lengths : the outermost, the thumbling, was short and fat ; he walked out in front of -the ranks, and only had one joint in his back, and could only make a single bow ; but he said that if he were hacked off a man, that man was useless for service in war. Daintymouth, the second finger, thrust himself into sweet and sour, pointed to sun and moon, and gave the impression when they wrote. Long- man, the third, looked at all the others over his shoulder. Goldborder, the fourth, went about with a golden belt round his waist ; and little Playman did nothing at all, and was proud of it. There was nothing but bragging among them, and therefore I went away." " And now we sit here and glitter ! " said the Bit of Bottle. At that moment more water came into the gutter, so that it overflowed, and the Bit of Bot- tle was carried away. " So he is disposed of," observed the Darning- needle. "I remain here, I am too fine. But ^ that's my pride, and my pride is honorable." And proudly she sat there, and had many great thoughts. "I could almost believe I had been born of a sunbeam, I 'in so fine ! It really appears as if the sunbeams were always seeking for me under the water. Ah ! I 'm so fine that my mother cannot find me. If I had my old eye, which broke off, I think I should cry ; but, no, I should not do that : it 's not genteel to cry." One day a couple of street boys lay grubbing in the gutter, where they sometimes found old nails, farthings, and similar treasures. It was dirty work, but they took great delight in it. " Oh ! " cried one, who had pricked himself with the Darning-needle, "there's a fellow for you!" 188 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. " I 'm not a fellow ; I 'm a young lady ! " said the Darning-needle. But nobody listened to her. The sealing-wax had come off, and she had turned black ; but black makes one look slender, and she thought herself finer even than before. " Here comes an egg-shell sailing along ! " said the boys ; and they stuck the Darning-needle fast in the egg-shell. " White walls, and black myself ! that looks well," remarked the Darning-needle. " Now one can see me. I only hope I shall not be sea- sick ! " But she was not seasick at all. " It is good against seasickness, if one has a steel stomach, and does not forget that one is a little more than an ordinary person ! Now my seasick- ness is over. The finer one is, the more one can bear." " Crack ! " went the egg-shell, for a wagon went over her. " Good heavens, how it crushes one ! " said the Darning-needle. " I 'm getting seasick now, I 'm quite sick." But she was not really sick, though the wagon went over her ; she lay there at full length, and there she may lie. THE RED SHOES. THERE was once a little girl, a very nice, pretty little girl. But in summer she had to go barefoot, because she was poor, and in winter she wore thick wooden shoes, so that her little instep became quite red, altogether red. In the middle of the village lived an old shoe- maker's wife ; she sat and sewed, as well as she could, a pair of little shoes, of old strips of red cloth ; they were clumsy enough, but well meant, and the little girl was to have them. The little girl's name was Karen. On the day when her mother was buried she received the red shoes and wore them for the first time. They were certainly not suited for mourn- ing ; but she had no others, and therefore thrust her little bare feet into them and walked behind the plain deal coffin. Suddenly a great carriage came by, and in the carriage sat an old lady : she looked at the little girl and felt pity for her, and said to the clergy- man, " Give me the little girl, and I will provide for her." Karen thought this was for the sake of the shoes ; but the old lady declared they were hid- eous ; and they were burned. But Karen her- self was clothed neatly and properly : she was taught to read and to sew, and the people saw she was agreeable. But her mirror said, u You are much more than agreeable ; you are beautiful." Once the queen traveled through the country, and had her little daughter with her ; and the daughter was a princess. And the people flocked toward the castle, and Karen too was among them ; and the little princess stood in a fine white dress at a window, and let herself be gazed at. She had neither train nor golden crown, but she wore splendid red morocco shoes ; they were cer- tainly far handsomer than those the shoemaker's wife had made for little Karen. Nothing in the world can compare with red shoes ! Now Karen was old enough to be confirmed : new clothes were made for her, and she was to have new shoes. The rich shoemaker in the town took the measure of her little feet ; this was done in his own house, in his little room, and there stood great glass cases with neat shoes and shining boots. It had quite a charming appearance, but the old lady could not see well, and therefore took no pleasure in it. Among the shoes stood a red pair, just like those which the princess had worn. How beautiful they were ! The shoemaker also said they had been made for a count's child, but they had not fitted. " That must be patent leather," observed the old lady, "the shoes shine so ! " THE RED SHOES. " Yes, they shine ! " replied Karen ; and they fitted her, and were bought. But the old lady did not know that they were red ; for she would never have allowed Karen to go to her Confirma- tion in red shoes ; and that is what Karen did. Every one was looking at her shoes. And when she went across the church porch, toward the door of 'the choir, it seemed to her as if the old pictures on the tombstones, the portraits of clergymen and clergymen's wives, in their stiff collars and long black garments, fixed their eyes upon her red shoes. And she thought of her shoes only, when the priest laid his hand upon her head and spoke holy words. And the organ pealed solemnly, the children sang with their fresh sweet voices, and the old precentor sang too ; but Karen thought only of her red shoes. In the afternoon the old lady was informed by every one that the shoes were red ; and she said it was naughty and unsuitable, and that when Karen went to church in future, she should always go in black shoes, even if they were old. Next Sunday was Sacrament Sunday. And Karen looked at the black shoes, and looked at the red ones looked at them again and put on the red ones. The sun shone gloriously; Karen and the old lady went along the foot-path through the fields, and it was rather dusty. By the church door stood an old invalid soldier with a crutch and a long beard ; the beard was rather red than white, for it was red altogether ; and he bowed down almost to the ground, and asked the old lady if he might dust her shoes. And Karen also stretched out her little foot. " Look, what pretty dancing shoes ! " said the old soldier. " Fit so tightly when you dance ! " And he tapped the soles with his hand. And the old lady gave the soldier an alms, and went into the church with Karen. And every one in the church looked at Karen's red shoes, and all the pictures looked at them. And while Karen knelt in the church she only thought of her red shoes , and she forgot to sing her psalm, and forgot to say her prayer. Now all the people went out of church, and the old lady stepped into her carriage. Karen lifted up her foot to step in too ; then the old soldier said, " Look, what beautiful dancing shoes ! " And Karen could not resist : she was obliged to dance a few steps ; and when she once began, her legs went on dancing. It was just as though the shoes had obtained power over her. She danced round the corner of the church she could not help it ; the coachman was obliged to run behind her and seize her : he lifted her into the carriage, but her feet went on dancing, so that she kicked the good old lady violently. At last they took off her shoes and her legs became quiet. At home the shoes were put away in a cup- board ; but Karen could not resist looking at them. Now the old lady became very ill, and it was said she would not recover. She had to be nursed and waited on ; and this was no one's duty so much as Karen's. But there was to be a great ball in the town, and Karen was invited. She looked at the old lady who could not recover ; she looked at the red shoes, and thought there would be no harm in it. She put on the shoes, and that she might very well do ; but they went to the ball and began to dance. But when she wished to go to the right hand, the shoes danced to the left, and when she wanted to go up-stairs the shoes danced downward, down into the street and out at the town gate. She danced, and was obliged to dance, straight out into the dark wood. There was something glistening up among the trees, and she thought it was the moon, for she saw a face. But it Avas the old soldier with the red beard : he sat and nodded, and said, " Look, what beautiful dancing shoes ! " Then she was frightened, and wanted to throw away the red shoes ; but they clung fast to her. And she tore off her stockings : but the shoes had grown fast to her feet. And she danced and was O compelled to go dancing over field and meadow, 190 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. in rain and sunshine, by night and by day; but it was most dreadful at night. She danced out into the open church-yard ; but the dead there do not dance ; they have far better things to do. She wished to sit down on the poor man's grave, where the bitter fern grows ; but there was no peace nor rest for her. And when she danced toward the open church door, she saw there an , angel in long white garments, with wings that reached from his shoulders to his feet ; his countenance was serious and stern, and in his hand he held a sword that was broad and gleam- ing. " Thou shalt dance ! " he said "dance on thy red shoes, till thou art pale and cold, and till thy body shrivels to a skeleton. Thou shalt dance from door to door; and where proud, haughty children dwell, shalt thou knock, that they may hear thee, and be afraid of thee ! Thou shalt dance, dance ! " " Mercy ! " cried Karen. But she did not hear what the angel answered, for the shoes carried her away carried her through the door on to the field, over stock and stone, and she was always obliged to dance. One morning she danced past a door which she knew well. There was a sound of psalm-singing within, and a coffin was carried out, adorned with flowers. Then she knew that the old lady was dead, and she felt that she was deserted by all, and condemned by the angel of heaven. She danced, and was compelled to dance to dance in the dark night. The shoes carried her on over thorn and brier ; she scratched herself till she bled ; she danced away across the heath to a little lonely house. Here she knew the executioner dwelt ; and she tapped with her fingers on the panes, and called, " Come out, come out ! I cannot come in, for I must dance ! " And the executioner said, "You probably don't know who lam? I cut off the bad people's heads with my axe, and mark how my axe rings ! " " Do not strike off my head," said Karen, " for if you do I cannot repent of my sin. But strike off my feet with the red shoes ! " And then she confessed all her sin, and the exe- cutioner cut off her feet with the red shoes ; but the shoes danced away with the little feet over the fields and into the deep forest. And he cut her a pair of wooden feet, with crutches, and taught her a psalm, which the crimi- nals always sing ; and she kissed the hand that had held the axe, and went away across the heath. " Now I have suffered pain enough for the red shoes," said she. " Now I will go into the church, that they may see me." And she went quickly toward the church door ; but when she came there the red shoes danced be- fore her, so that she was frightened and turned back. The whole week through she was sorrowful, and wept many bitter tears ; but when Sunday came, she said, " Now I have suffered and striven enough ! I think that I am just as good as many of those who sit in the church and carry their heads high." And then she went boldly on ; but she did not get farther than the church-yard gate before she saw the red shoes dancing along before her : then she was seized with terror, and turned back, alid repented of her sin right heartily. And she went to the parsonage, and begged to be taken there as a servant. She promised to be industrious, and to do all she could : she did not care for wages, and only wished to be under a roof and with good people. The clergyman's wife pit- ied her, and took her into her service. And she was industrious and thoughtful. Silently she sat and listened when in the evening the pastor read the Bible aloud. All the little ones were very fond of her ; but when they spoke of dress and splendor and beauty she would shake her head. Next Sunday they all went to church, and she was asked if she wished to go too ; but she looked sadly, with tears in her eyes, at her crutches. And then the others went to hear God's word ; but she went alone into her little room, which was only large enough to contain her bed and a chair. And THE NIGHTINGALE. 191 here she sat with her hymn-book ; and as she read it with a pious mind, the wind bore the notes of the organ over to her from the church ; and she lifted up her face, wet with tears, and said, " O Lord, help me ! " Then the sun shone so brightly; and before her stood the angel in the white garments, the same she had seen that night at the church door. But he no longer grasped the sharp sword : he held a green branch covered with roses ; and he touched the ceiling, and it rose up high and wherever he touched it a golden star gleamed forth ; and he touched the walls, and they spread forth widely, and she saw the organ which was pealing its rich sounds ; and she saw the old pictures of clergymen and their wives ; and the congregation sat in the decorated seats, and sang from their hymn-books. The church had come to the poor girl in her nar- row room, or her chamber had become a church. She sat in the chair with the rest of the clergy- man's people; and when they had finished the psalm, and looked up, they nodded and said, " That was right, that you came here, Karen." " It was mercy ! " said she. And the organ sounded its glorious notes ; and the children's voices singing in chorus sounded sweet and lovely ; the clear sunshine streamed so warm through the window upon the chair in which Karen sat ; and her heart became so filled with sunshine, peace, and joy that it broke. Her soul flew on the sunbeams to heaven ; and there was nobody who asked after the RED SHOES ! THE NIGHTINGALE. % !N China, you must know, the emperor is a Chinaman, and all whom he has a1)out him are Chinamen too. It happened a good many years ago, but that's just why it's worth while to hear the story, before it is forgotten. The emperor's palace was the most splendid in the world ; it was made entirely of porcelain, very costly, but so del- icate and brittle that one had to take care how one touched it. In the garden were to be seen the most wonderful flowers, and to the costliest of them silver bells were tied, which sounded, so that nobody should pass by without noticing the flow- ers. Yes, everything in the emperor's garden was admirably arranged. And it extended so far, that the gardener himself did not know where the end was. If a man went on and on, he came into a glorious forest with high trees and deep lakes. The wood extended straight down to the sea, which was blue and deep ; great ships could sail to and fro beneath the branches of the trees ; and in the trees lived a Nightingale, which sang so splendidly that even the poor fisherman, who had many other things to do, stopped still and listened, when he had gone out at night to throw out his nets, and heard the Nightingale. " How beautiful that is ! " he said ; but he was obliged to attend to his property, and thus forgot the bird. But when in the next night the bird sang again, and the fisherman heard it, he ex- , claimed again, " How beautiful that is I " From all the countries of the world travelers came to the city of the emperor and admired it, and the palace, and the garden, but when they heard the Nightingale, they said, "That is the best of all ! " And the travelers told of it when they came 192 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. home ; and the learned men wrote many books about the town, the palace, and the garden. But they did not forget the Nightingale ; that was placed highest of all ; and those who wei'e poets wrote most magnificent poems about the Nightin- gale in the wood by the deep lake. The books went through all the world, and a few of them once came to the emperor. He sat in his golden chair, and read, and read : every moment he nodded his head, for it pleased him to peruse the masterly descriptions of the city, the palace, and the garden. " But the Nightingale is the best of all ! " it stood written there. " What 's that ? " exclaimed the emperor. " I don't know the Nightingale at all ! Is there such a bird iu my empire, and even in my garden ? I 've never heard of that. To think that I should have to learn such a thing for the first time from books ! " And hereupon he called his cava- lier. This cavalier was so grand that if any one lower in rank than himself dared to speak to him, or to ask him any question, he an- swered nothing but " P ! " and that meant nothing. " There is said to be a wonderful bird here called a Nightingale ! " said the emperor. " They say it is the best thing in all my great empire. Why have I never heard anything about it ? " "I have never heard him named," replied the cavalier. " He has never been introduced at court." " I command that he shall appear this evening, and sing before me," said the emperor. "All the world knows what I possess, and I do not know it myself ! " " I have never heard him mentioned," said the --. cavalier. " I will seek for him. I will find him." But where was he to be found ? The cavalier ran up and down all the staircases, through halls and passages, but no one among all those whom he met had heard talk of the Nightingale. And the cavalier ran back to the emperor, and said that it must be a fable invented by the writers of books. " Your imperial majesty cannot believe how much is written that is fiction, besides something that they call the black art." " But the book in which I read this," said the emperor, " was sent to me by the high and mighty Emperor of Japan, and therefore it cannot be a , falsehood. I will hear the Nightin- gale ! It must be here this evening ! It has my imperial favor ; and if it does not come, all the court shall be trampled upon after the court has supped ! " "Tsing- pel "said the cavalier ; and again he ran up and down all the stair- cases, and through all the halls and corridors ; and half the court ran with him, for the courtiers did not like being trampled upon. " Then there was a great inquiry after the won- derful Nightingale, which all the world knew ex- cepting the people at court. At last they met with a poor little girl in the kitchen, who said, " The Nightingale ? I know it well ; yes, it can sing gloriously. Every evening I get leave to carry my poor sick mother the scraps from the ta- ble. She lives down by the strand, and when I get back and am tired, and rest in the wood, then I hear the Nightingale sing. And then the water comes into my eyes, and it is just as if my mother kissed me ! ' THE NIGHTINGALE. 193 " Little kitchen girl," said the cavalier, " I will get you a place in the kitchen, with permission to see the emperor dine, if you will lead us to the Nightingale, for it is announced for this even- ing." So they all went out into the wood where the Nightingale was accustomed to sing ; half the court went forth. When they were in the midst of their journey a cow began to low. " Oh! " cried the court pages, "' now we have it ! That shows a wonderful power in so small a creature ! I have certainly heard it before." " No, those are cows lowing ! " said the little kitchen girl. " We are a long way from the place yet." Now the frogs began to croak in the marsh. "Glorious!" said the Chinese court preacher. " Now I hear it it sounds just like little church bells." " No, those are frogs ! " said the little kitchen- maid. " But now I think we shall soon hear it." And then the Nightingale began to sing. " That is it ! " exclaimed the little girl. " List- en, listen ! and yonder it sits." And she pointed to a little gray bird up in the boughs. " Is it possible ? " cried the cavalier. " I should never have thought it looked like that ! How simple it looks ! It must certainly have lost its color at seeing such grand people around." " Little Nightingale ! " called the little kitchen- maid, quite loudly, " our gracious emperor wishes you to sing before him." " With the greatest pleasure ! " replied the Nightingale, and began to sing most delightfully. " It sounds just like glass bells ! " said the cav- alier. " And look at its little throat, how it 's working ! It 's wonderful that we should never have heard it before. That bird will be a great success at court." " Shall I sing once more before the emperor ? " asked the Nightingale, for it thought the emperor was present. " My excellent little Nightingale," said the cav- alier, " I have great pleasure in inviting you to a 25 court festival this evening, when you shall charm his imperial majesty with your beautiful singing.'' " My song sounds best in the greenwood ! " replied the Nightingale ; still it came willingly when it heard what the emperor wished. The palace was festively adorned. The walls and the flooring, which were of porcelain, gleamed in the rays of thousands of golden lamps. The most glorious flowers, which could ring clearly, had been placed in the passages. There was a running to and fro, and a thorough draught, and all the bells rang so loudly that one could not hear one's self speak. In the midst of the great hall, where the em- peror sat, a golden perch had been placed, on which the Nightingale was to sit. The whole court was there, and the little cook-maid had got leave to stand behind the door, as she had now re- ceived the title of a real court cook. All were in full dress, and all looked at the little gray bird, to which the emperor nodded. And the Nightingale sang so gloriously that the tears came into -the emperor's eyes, and the tears ran down over his cheeks ; and then the Nightingale sang still more sweetly, that went straight to the heart. The emperor was so much pleased that he said the Nightingale should have his golden slipper to wear round its neck. But the Nightingale declined this with thanks, saying it had already received sufficient reward. ."I have seen tears in the emperor's eyes that is the real treasure to me. An emperor's tears have a peculiar power. I am rewarded enough ! " And then it sang again with a sweet, glorious voice. " That 's the most amiable coquetry I ever saw ! said the ladies who stood round about, and then they took water in their mouths to gurgle when any one spoke to them. They thought they should be nightingales too. And the lackeys and chambermaids reported that they were sat- isfied too ; and that was saying a good deal, for they are the most difficult to please. In short, the Nightingale achieved a real success. It was now to remain at court, to have its own 194 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. cage, with liberty to go out twice every day and once at night. Twelve servants were appointed when the Nightingale went out, each of whom had a silken string fastened to the bird's leg, which they held very tight. There was really no pleas- ure in an excursion of that kind. The whole city spoke of the wonderful bird, and when two people met, one said nothing but " NighthV and the other said " gale ; " and then they sighed, and understood one another. Eleven peddlers' children were named after the bird, but not one of them could sing a note. One day the emperor received a large parcel, on which wa*s written " The Nightingale." " There we have a new book about this cele- brated bird," said the emperor. Bat it was not a book, but a Jittle work of art contained in a box, an artificial nightingale, which was to sing like a natural one, and was brilliantly ornamented with diamonds, rubies, and sapphires. So soon as the artificial bird was wound up, he could sing one of the .pieces that he really sang, and then his tail moved up and down, and shone with silver and gold. Round his neck hung a little ribbon, and on that was written, " The Emperor of China's Nightingale is poor compared to that of the Emperor of Japan." " That is capital ! " said they all, and he who had brought the artificial bird immediately received the title, Imperial Head-Nightingale- Bringer. "Now they must sing together; what a duet that will be ! " And so they had to sing together ; but it did not sound Very well, for the real Nightingale sang in its own way, and the artificial bird sang waltzes. "That's not his fault," said the play-master; " he 's quite perfect, and very much in my style." Now the artificial bird was to sing alone. He had just as much success as the real one, and then it was much handsomer to look at it shone like bracelets and breastpins. Three -and-thirty times over did it sing the same piece, and yet was not tired. The people would gladly have heard it again, but the emperor said that the living Nightingale ought to sing some- thing now. But where was it? No one had noticed that it had flown away out of the open window, back to the greenwood. " But what is become of that?" said the em- peror. And all the courtiers abused the Nightingale, and declared that it was a very ungrateful creature. " We have the best bird, after all," said they. And so the artificial bird had to sing again, and that was the thirty-fourth time that they list- ened to the same piece. For all that they did not know it quite by heart, for it was so very difficult. And the play-master praised the bird particularly ; yes, he declared that it was better than a nightin- gale, not only with regard to its plumage and the many beautiful diamonds, but inside as well. " For you see, ladies and gentlemen, and above all, your imperial majesty, with a real nightingale one can never calculate what is coming, but in this artificial bird everything is settled. One can explain it ; one can open it, and make people un- derstand where the waltzes come from, how they go, and how one follows up another." " Those are quite our own ideas," they all said. And the speaker received permission to show the bird to the people on the next Sunday. The people were to hear it sing too, the emperor com- manded ; and they did hear it, and were as much pleased as if they had all got tipsy upon tea, for that 's quite the Chinese fashion ; and they all said, " Oh ! " and held up their forefingers and nodded. But the poor fisherman, who had heard the real Nightingale, said, " It sounds pretty enough, and the melodies re- semble each other, but there 's something wanting, though I know not what ! " The real Nightingale was banished from the country and empire. The artificial bird had its place on a silken cushion close to the emperor's bed ; all the presents it had received, gold and precious stones, were ranged about it ; in title it had advanced to be the High Imperial After-Din- ner-Singer, and in rank, to number one on the left hand ; for the emperor considered that side the THE NIGHTINGALE. 195 most important on which the heart is placed, and even in an emperor the heart is on the left side ; and the play-master wrote a work of five-and- twenty volumes about the artificial bird"; it was very learned and very long, full of the most diffi- cult Chinese words ; but yet all the people de- clared that they had read it, and understood it, for fear of being considered stupid, and having their bodies trampled on. So a whole year went by. The em- peror, the court, and all the other Chinese knew every little twit- ter in the artificial bird's song by heart. But just for that rea- son it pleased them best they could sing with it themselves, and they did so. The street boys sang, "Tsi-tsi-tsi-glug- glug ! " and the em- peror himself sang it too. Yes, that was certainly famous. But one evening, when the artificial bird was singing its best, and the em- peror lay in bed list- ening to it, something inside the bird said, " Whizz ! " something cracked. " Whir-r-r ! " All the wheels ran round, and then the music stopped. The emperor immediately sprang out of bed, and caused his body physician to be called ; but what could Tie do ? Then they sent for a watch- maker, and after a good deal of talking and inves- tigation, the bird was put into something like order ; but the watchmaker said that the bird must be carefully treated, for the barrels were worn, and it would be impossible to put new ones in in such a manner that the music would go. There was a great lamentation ; only once in a year was it permitted to let the bird sing, and that was almost too much. But then the play- master made a little speech, full of heavy words, and said this was just as good as before and so of course it was as good as before. Now five years had gone by, and a real grief came upon the whole nation. The Chinese were really fond of their em- peror, and now he was ill, and could not, it was said, live much longer. Already a new emperor had been chosen, and the people stood out in the street and asked the cavalier how their old emperor did. " P ! " said he, and shook his head. Cold and pale lay the emperor in his great gorgeous bed ; the whole court thought him dead, and each one ran to pay homage to the new ruler. The chamberlains ran out to talk it over, and the ladies'-maids had a great coffee party. All about in all the halls and pas- sages cloth had been laid down so that no footstep could be heard, and therefore it was quiet there, quite quiet. But the emperor was not dead yet ; stiff and pale he lay on the gorgeous bed with the long velvet curtains and the heavy gold tassels ; high up, a window stood open, and the moon shone in upon the emperor and the artificial bird. 196 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, The poor emperor could scarcely breathe ; it was just as if something lay upon his chest: he opened his eyes, and then he saw that it was Death who sat upon his chest, and had put on his golden crown, and held in one hand the emperor's sword, and in the other his beautiful banner. And all around, from among the folds of the splendid vel- vet curtains, strange heads peered forth ; a few very ugly,- the rest quite lovely and mild. These were all the emperor's bad and good deeds, that stood before him now that Death sat upon his heart. "Do you remember this?" whispered one to the other. " Do you remember that ? " and then they told him so much that the perspiration ran from his forehead. " I did not know that ! " said the emperor. " Music ! music ! the great Chinese drum ! " he cried, " so that I need not hear all they say ! " And they continued speaking, and Death nod- ded like a Chinaman to all they said. " Music ! music ! " cried the emperor. " You little precious golden bird, sing, sing ! I have given you gold and costly presents ; I have even hung my golden slipper around your neck sing now, sing ! " But the bird stood still; no one was there to wind him up, and he could not sing without that ; but Death continued to stare at the emperor with his great hollow eyes, and it was quiet, fearfully quiet. Then there sounded from the window, suddenly, the most lovely song. It was the little live Night- ingale, that sat outside on a spray. It had heard of the emperor's sad plight, and had come to sing to him of comfort and hope. And as it sang the spectres grew paler and paler; the blood ran quicker and more quickly through the emperor's weak limbs ; and even Death listened, and said, " Go on, little Nightingale, go on ! " " But will you give me that splendid golden sword ? Will you give me that rich banner ? Will you give me the emperor's crown ? " And Death gave up each of these treasures for a song. And the Nightingale sang on and on ; and it sang of the quiet church-yard where the white roses grow, where the elder-blossom smells sweet, and where the fresh grass is moistened by- the tears of survivors. Then Death felt a longing to see his garden, and floated out at the window in the form of a cold, white mist. " Thanks ! thanks ! " said the emperor. " You heavenly little bird ! I know you well. I ban- ished you from my country and empire, and yet you have charmed away the evil faces from my couch, and banished Death from my heart ! How can I reward you ? " " You have rewarded me ! " replied the Night- ingale. " I have drawn tears from your eyes, when I sang the first time I shall never forget that. Those are the jewels that rejoice a singer's heart. But now sleep and grow fresh and strong again. I will sing you something." And it sang, and the emperor fell into a sweet slumber. Ah ! how mild and refreshing that sleep was ! The sun shone upon him through the windows, when he awoke refreshed and restored ; not one of his servants had yet returned, for they all thought he was dead ; only the Nightingale still sat beside him and sang. " You must always stay with me," said the em- peror. " You shall sing as you please ; and I'll break the artificial bird into a thousand pieces." " Not so," replied tho Nightingale. " It did well as long as it could ; keep it as you have done till now. I cannot build my nest in the palace to dwell in it, but let me come when I feel the wish ; then I will sit in the evening on the spray yonder by the window, and sing you something, so that you may be glad and thoughtful at once. I will sing of those who are happy and of those who suffer. I will sing of good and of evil that remain hidden round about you. The little singing bird flies far around, to the poor fisherman, to the peasant's roof, to every one who dwells far away from you and from your court. I love your heart more than your crown, and yet the crown has an air of sanctity about it. I will come and sing to you but one thing you inust promise me." " Everything ! " said the emperor ; and he THE PRINCESS ON THE PEA. stood there in his imperial robes, which he had put on himself, and pressed the sword which was heavy with gold to his heart. " One thing I beg of you : tell no one that you have a little bird who tells you everything. Then 197 And the Nightingale it will go all the better." flew away. The servants came in to look to their dead em- peror, and yes, there he stood, and the emperor said " Good-morning ! " THE PRINCESS ON THE PEA. THERE was once a prince who wanted to marry a princess ; but she was to be a real princess. So he traveled about, all through the world, to find a real one, but everywhere there was something in the way. There were princesses enough, but whether they were real princesses he could not quite make out: there was always something that did not seem quite right. So he came home again, and was quite sad : for he wished so m;ch to have a real princess. One evening a terrible stor.n came on. It light- ened and thundered, the rar* streamed down ; it was quite fearful ! Then there was a knocking at the town gate, and the old king went out to open it. It was a princess who stood outside the gate. But, mercy! how she looked, from the rain and the rough weather ! The water ran down from her hair and her clothes ; it ran in at the points of her shoes, and out at the heels ; and yet she declared that she was a real princess. u Yes, we will soon find that out," thought the old queen. But she said nothing, only went into the bedchamber, took all the bedding off, and put a pea on the flooring of the bedstead ; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them upon the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds upon the mattresses. On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept. " Oh, miserably ! " said the princess. " I scarcely closed my eyes all night long. Good- ness knows what was in my bed. I lay upon something hard, so that I am black and blue all over. It is quite dreadful ! " Now they saw that she was a real prin- cess, for through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds she had felt the pea. No one but a real princess could be so delicate. So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a true princess ; and the pea was put in the museum, and it is there now, un- less somebody has carried it off. Look you, this is a true story. 198 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. HOLGER DANSKE. IN Denmark there lies a castle named Kron- borg. It lies close by the Ore Sound, where the ships pass through by hundreds every day ' English, Russian, and likewise Prussian ships. And they salute the old castle with cannons " Boom ! " And the castle answers with a " Boom ! " for that 's what the cannons say in- stead of " Good-day " and " Thank you ! " In winter no ships sail there, for the whole sea is covered with ice quite across to the Swedish coast ; but it has quite the look of a high-road. There wave the Danish flag and the Swedish flag, and Danes and Swedes say "Good-day" and "Thank you!" to each other, not with cannons, but with a friendly grasp of the hand ; and one gets white bread and bis- cuits from the other for strange fare tastes best. But the most beautiful of all is the old Kronborg; and here it is that Holger Danske sits in the deep dark cellar, where nobody goes. He is clad in iron and steel, and leans his head on his strong arin ; his long beard hangs down over the marble table, and has grown into it. He sleeps and dreams, but in his dreams he sees everything that happens up here in Den- mark. Every Christmas Eve comes an angel, and tells him that what he has dreamed is right, and that he may go to sleep in quiet, for that Den- mark is not yet in any real danger ; but when once such a danger conies, then old Holger Danske will rouse himself, so that the table shall burst when he draws out his beard ! Then he will come forth and strike, so that it shall be heard in all the countries in the world." An old grandfather sat and told his little grand- son all this about Holger Danske ; and the little boy knew that what his grandfather told him was true. And while the old man sat and told his story, he carved an image which was to represent Holger Danske, and to be fastened to the prow of a ship ; for the old grandfather was a carver of figure-heads, that is, one who cuts out the figures fastened to the front of ships, and from which every ship is named. And here he had cut out Holger Danske, who stood there proudly with his long beard, and held the broad battle-sword in one hand, while with the other he leaned upon the Danish arms. And the old grand- father told so much about distinguished men and women, that it appeared at List to the little grandson as if he knew as much as Holger Danske him- self, who, after all, could only dream ; and when the little fellow was in his bed, lie thought so much of it, that he actually pressed his chin against the cover- let, and fancied he had a long beard that had grown fast to it. But the old grandfather remained sitting at his work, and carved away at the last part of it ; and this was the Danish coat of arms. When he had done, he looked at the whole, and thought of all he had read and heard, and that he had told this evening to the little boy ; and he nodded, and wiped his spectacles, and put them on again, and said, " Yes, in my time Holger Danske will probably not come ; but the boy in the bed yonder may get to see him, and be there when the push really comes." And the old grandfather nodded again ; and HOLGER DANSKE. 199 the more he looked at Holger Danske the more plain did it become to him that it was a good image he had carved. It seemed really to gain color, and the armor appeared to gleam like iron and steel ; the hearts in the Danish arms became redder and redder, and the lions with the golden crowns on their heads leaped up. 1 "'That's the most beautiful coat of arms there is in the world ! " said the old man. " The lions are strength, and the heart is gentleness and love ! " And he looked at the uppermost lion, and thought of King Canute, who bound great Eng- land to the throne of Denmark ; and he looked at the second lion, and thought of Waldemar, who united Denmark and conquered the Wendish lands ; and he glanced at the third lion, and remembered Margaret, who united Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. But while he looked at the red hearts, they gleamed more brightly than be- fore ; they became flames, and his heart followed each of them. The first heart led him into a dark, narrow prison ; there sat a prisoner, a beautiful woman, the daughter of King Christian IV., Eleanor Ul- feld ; 2 and the flame, which was shaped like a rose, attached itself to her bosom and blossomed, so that it became one with the heart of her, the noblest and best of all Danish women. And his spirit followed the second flame, which led him out upon the sea, where the cannons thun- dered and the ships lay shrouded in smoke ; and the flame fastened itself in the shape of a ribbon of honor on the breast of Hvitfeld, as he blew 1 The Danish arms consist of three lions between nine hearts. 2 This highly gifted princess was the wife of Corfitz Ulfeld, who was accused of high treason. Her only crime was the most faithful love to her unhappy consort; but she was compelled to pass twenty-two years in a horrible dungeon, until her persecutor, Queen Sophia Amelia, was dead. 3 In the naval battle in Kjoge Bay between the Danes and the Swedes, in 1710, Hvitf eld's ship, the Dannebrog, took fire. To save the town of Kjoge, and the Danish fleet which was being driven by the wind toward his vessel, he blew himself and his whole crew into the air. 4 Hans Egede went to Greenland in 1721 and toiled there dur- ing fifteen years among incredible hardships and privations. himself and his ship into the air, that he might save the fleet. 3 And the third flame led him to the wretched huts of Greenland, where preacher Hans Egede 4 wrought, with love in every word and deed : the flame was a star on his breast, another heart in the Danish arms. And the spirit of the old grandfather flew on before the waving flames, for his spirit knew whither the flames desired to go. In the humble room of the peasant woman stood Frederick VI., writing his name with chalk on the beam. 5 The flame trembled on his breast, and trembled in his heart ; in the peasant's lowly room his heart, too, became a heart in the Danish arms. And the old grandfather dried his eyes, for he had known King Frederick with the silvery locks and the honest blue eyes, and had lived for him : he folded his hands, and looked in silence straight before him. Then came the daughter-in-law of the old grandfather, and said it was late, he ought now to rest ; and the supper table was spread. " But it is beautiful, what you have done, grandfather ! " said she. " Holger Danske, and all our old coat of arms ! It seems to me just as if I had seen that face before ! " " No, that can scarcely be," replied the old grandfather ; " but I have seen it, and I have tried to carve it in wood as I have kept it in my memory. It was when the English lay in front of the wharf, on the Danish second of April, 6 when we showed that we were old Danes. In the Den- mark on board which I was, in Steen Bille's squadron, I had a man at my side it seemed as Not only did he spread Christianity, but exhibited in himself a remarkable example of a Christian man. 5 On a journey on the west coast of Jutland, the king visited an old woman. When he had already quitted her house, the woman ran after him and begged him, as a remembrance, to write his name upon a beam; the king turned back, and com- plied. During his whole life-time he felt and worked for the peasant class ; therefore the Danish peasants begged to be al- lowed to carry his coffin to the royal vault at Koeskilde, four Danish miles from Copenhagen. 6 On the 2d of April, 1801, occurred the sanguinary naval bat- tle between the Danes and the English under Sir Hyde Parker and Nelson. 200 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. if the bullets were afraid of him ! Merrily he sang old songs, and shot and fought as if he were something more than a man. I remember his face yet; but whence he came, and whither he went, I know not nobody knows. I have often thought he might have been old Holger Danske himself, who had swum down from the Kronborg, and aided us in the hour of danger : that was my idea, and there stands his picture." And the statue threw its great show up against the wall, and even over part of the ceiling ; it looked as though the real Holger Danske were standing behind it, for the shadow moved ; but this might have been because the flame of the candle did not burn steadily. And the daughter-in-law kissed the old grandfather, and led him to the great arm- chair by the table ; and she and her husband, who was the son of the old man, and father of the little boy in the bed, sat and ate their supper ; and the grandfather spoke of the Danish lions and of the Danish hearts, of strength and of gentleness ; and quite clearly did he explain that there was another strength besides the power that lies in the sword ; and he pointed to the shelf on which were the old books, where stood the plays of Holberg, which had been read so often, for they were very amus- ing ; one could almost fancy one recognized the people of by-gone days in them. " See, he knew how to strike, too," said the grand- father : "he scourged the foolishness and preju- dice of the people so long as he could " and the grandfather nodded at the mirror, above which stood the calendar, with the " Round Tower " l on it, and said, " Tycho Brahe was also one who used the sword, not to cut into flesh and bone, but to build up a plainer way among all the stars of heaven. And then he whose father belonged to my calling, the son of the old figure-head carver, he whom we have ourselves seen with his silver l:airs and his broad shoulders, he whose name is 1 The astronomical observatory at Copenhagen. spoken of in all lands ! Yes, he was a sculptor ; / am only a carver. Yes, Holger Danske may come in many forms, so that one hears in every country in the world of Denmark's strength. Shall we now drink the health of Bertel ? " 2 But the little lad in the bed saw plainly the old Kronborg with the Ore Sound, the real Holger Danske, who sat deep below, with his beard grown through the marble table, dreaming of all that happens up here. Holger Danske also dreamed of the little humble room where the carver sat ; he heard all that passed, and nodded in his sleep, and said, " Yes, remember me, ye Danish folk ; remem- ber me. I shall come in the hour of need." And without by the Kronborg shone the bright day, and the wind carried the notes of the hunt- ing-horn over from the neighboring land ; the ships sailed past, and saluted " Boom ! boom ! " and from the Kronborg came the reply, " Boom ! boom ! " But Holger Danske did not awake, however loudly they shot, for it was only " Good- day " and " Thank you ! " There must be another kind of shooting before he awakes ; but he will awake, for there is faith in Holger Danske. 2 Bertel Thonvaldsen. THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP. 201 THE SHEPHERDESS AND THE CHIMNEY-SWEEP. HAVE you ever seen a very, very old clothes- press, quite black with age, on which all sorts of flourishes and foliage were carved ? Just such a one stood in a certain room. It was a legacy from a grandmother, and it was carved from top to bottom with roses and tulips ; the most curious flourishes were to be seen on it, and between them little stags popped out their heads with zig- zag antlers. But on the top a whole man was carved. True, he was laughable to look at ; for he showed his teeth, laughing one could not call it, had goat's legs, little horns on his head, and a long beard. The children in the room always called him General-clothes-press- inspector- head -super- intendent Goatslegs, for this was a name difficult to pronounce, and there are very few who get the title ; but to cut him out in wood that was no trifle. However, there he was. He looked down upon the table and toward the mirror, for there a charming little por- celain shepherdess was standing. Her shoes were gilded, her gown was tastefully looped up with a red rose, and she had a golden hat and cloak ; in short, she was most exquisite. Close by stood a little chimney-sweep, as black as a coal, but of porcelain too. He was just as clean and pretty as another ; as to his being a sweep, that was only what he represented ; and the porcelain manu- facturer could just as well have made a prince of him as a chimney-sweep, if he had chosen ; one was as easy as the other. There he stood so prettily with his ladder, and with a little round face as fair and as rosy as that of the shepherdess. In reality this was a fault ; 28 for a little black he certainly ought to have been. He was quite close to the shepherdess ; both stood where they had been placed ; and as soon as they were put there, they had mutually promised each other eternal fidelity ; for they suited each other exactly they were young, they were of the same porcelain, and both equally fragile. Close to them stood another figure three times as large as they were. It was an old Chinese, that could nod his head. He was of porcelain too, and said that he was grandfather of the little shepherdess; but this he could not prove. He as- serted, moreover, that he had authority over her, and that was the reason he had nodd- ed his assent to the General-clothes - press- i nspector - head - super- intendent Goatslegs, w h o p a i d his ad- dresses to the shep- herdess. "In him," said the old Chinese, " you will have a husband who, I verily believe, is of mahogany. You will be Mrs. Goatslegs, the wife of a General-clothes-press-inspector-head-superin- tendent, who has his shelves full of plate, be- sides what is hidden in secret drawers and re- cesses." " I will not go into the dark cupboard," said the little shepherdess ; " I have heard say that he has eleven wives of porcelain in there already." " Then you may be the twelfth," said the Chi- nese. " To-night, as soon as the old clothes-press cracks, as sure as I am a Chinese, we will keep the wedding." And then he nodded his head, and fell asleep. But the little shepherdess wept, and looked at her beloved at the porcelain chimney-sweep. 202 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. " I implore you," said she, " fly hence with me ; for here it is impossible for us to remain." " I will do all you ask," said the little chim- ney-sweep. " Let us leave this place. I think my trade will enable me to support you." " If we were only down from the table," said she. " I shall not be happy till we are far from here, and free." He consoted her, and showed her how she was to set her little foot on the carved border and on the gilded foliage which twined around the leg of the table, brought his ladder to her assistance, and at last both were on the floor ; but when they looked toward the old clothes-press, they observed a great stir. All the carved stags stretched their heads out farther, raised their antlers, and turned round their heads. The General-clothes-press-in- spector-head-superintendent gave a jump, and called to the old Chinese, 4i They are eloping, they are eloping ! " At this she grew a little frightened, and jumped quickly over the ridge into the drawer. Here lay three or four packs of cards, which were not complete, and a little puppet-show, which was set up as well as it was possible to do. A play was being performed, and all the ladies, Di- amonds as well as Hearts, Clubs, and Spades, sat in the front row, and fanned themselves with the tulips they held in their hands, while behind them stood the varlets. The play was about two persons who could not have each other, at which the shepherdess wept, for it was her own history. " I cannot bear it longer," said she ; " I must get out of the drawer." But when she had got down on the floor, and looked up to the table, she saw that the old Chi- nese was awake, and that his whole body was rock- ing. " The old Chinese is coming ! " cried the little shepherdess ; and down she fell on her porcelain knee, so frightened was she. " A thought has struck me," said the chimney- sweep ; " let us creep into the great pot-pourri jar that stands in the corner ; there we can lie on roses and lavender, and if he comes after us, throw dust in his eyes." " 'Tis of no use," said she. " Besides, I know that the old Chinese and the Pot-pourri Jar were once betrothed ; and when one has been once on such terms, a little regard always lingers behind. No; for us there is nothing left but to wander forth into the wide world." " Have you really courage to go forth with me into the wide world ? " asked the chimney-sweep tenderly. " Have you considered how large it is, and that we can never come back here again I " " I have," said she. And the sweep gazed fixedly upon her, and then said, " My way lies up the chimney. Have you really courage to go with me through the stove, and to creep through all the flues ? We shall then get into the main flue, after which I am not at a loss what to do. Up we mount, then, so high, that they can never reach us ; and at the top is an opening that leads out into the world." And he led her toward the door of the stove. " It looks quite black," said she ; but still she went with him, and on through all the intricacies of the interior, and through the flues, where a pitchy darkness reigned. " We are now in the chimney," said she ; " and behold, behold, above us is shinning the loveliest star!" It was a real star in the sky that shone straight down upon them, as if to show them the way. They climbed and they crept higher and higher. It was a frightful way ; but he lifted her up, he held her, and showed her the best places on which to put her little porcelain feet; and thus they reached the top of the chimney, and seated them- selves on the edge of it ; for they were tired, which is not to be w r ondered at. The heaven and all its stars were above them, and all the roofs of the town below them ; they could see far around, far away into the world. The poor shepherdess had never pictured it to herself thus ; she leaned her little head on her sweep, and wept so bitterly that all the gilding of her girdle came off. WHAT THE GOOD-MAN DOES IS SURE TO BE RIGHT! 203 " Oh, this is too much ! " said she ; " I cannot bear it. The world is too large. Oh, were I but again on the little table under the looking-glass ! I shall never be happy till I am there again. I have followed you into the wide world ; now, if you really love me, you may follow me home again." 'And the chimney-sweep spoke sensibly to her, spoke to her about the old Chinese and the Gen- eral-clothes-press-inspector - head - superintendent ; but she sobbed so violently, and kissed her little sweep so passionately, that he was obliged to give way, although it was not right to do so. So now down they climbed again with great difficulty, crept through the flue, and into the stove, where they listened behind the door, to discover if anybody was in the room. It was quite still ; they peeped, and there, on the floor, in the middle of the room, lay the old Chinese. He had fallen from the table in trying to follow the fugitives, and was broken in three pieces ; his whole back was but a stump, and his head had rolled into a corner, while Gen- eral - clothes - press - inspector - head - superintendent Goatslegs was standing where he had ever stood, absorbed in thought. " How dreadful ! " said the little shepherdess. " My old grandfather is dashed to pieces, and we are the cause. I never can survive the accident." And she wrung her little hands in agony. " He can be mended," said the chimney-sweep ; "he can easily be mended. Only do not be so hasty. If we glue his back together, and rivet his neck well, he will be as good as new, and will be able to say enough disagreeable things to us yet." " Do you think so ? " said she ; and then they clambered up again to the table on which they had stood before. " You see," said the sweep, ." we might have spared ourselves these disagreeables, after all." " If we had but mended my old grandfather ! '* said the shepherdess. " Does it cost much ? " And mended he was. The family had his back glued, and his neck riveted, so that he was as good as new, except that he could not nod. "Meseems, you have grown haughty since you were dashed to pieces," said Gen- eral - clothes - press-in- spector-head-superintendent Goatslegs. " How- ever, I think there is not so very much to be proud of. Am I to have her, or am I not? " The chimney-sweep and the little shepherdess looked so touchingly at the old Chinese; they feared he would nod, but he could not, and it was disagreeable to him to tell a stranger that he had constantly a rivet in his neck. So the little porce- lain personages remained together. They blessed the old grandfather's rivet, and loved each other till they fell to pieces. "WHAT THE GOOD-MAN DOES IS SURE TO BE RIGHT!" I AM going to tell you a story that was told to older they grow the pleasanter they grow, and me when I was a little one, and which I like bet- that is delightful ! ter and better the oftener I think of it. For it is Of course you have been into the country? with stories as with some men and women, the Well, then, you must have seen a regularly poor 204 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. old cottage. Moss and weeds spring up amid the thatch of the roof, a stork's nest decorates the chim- ney (the stork can never be dispensed with), the walls are aslant, the windows low (in fact, only one of them can be shut), the baking-oven projects forward, and an elder-bush leans over the gate, where you will see a tiny pond with a duck and ducklings in it, close under a knotted old willow- tree. Yes, and then there is a watch-dog that barks at every passer-by. Just such a poor little cottage as this was the one in my story, and in it dwelt a husband and wife. Few as their possessions were, one of them they Could do without, and that was a horse, that used to graze in the ditch beside the high-road. The good-man rode on it to town, he lent it to his neighbors, and received slight services from them in return, but still it would be more profita- ble to sell the horse, or else exchange it for some- thing they could make of more frequent use. But which should they do ? sell, or exchange ? "Why, you will find out what is best, good- man," said the wife. "Isn't this market-day? Come, ride off to the town get money, or what you can for the horse whatever you do is sure to be right. Make haste for the market ! " So she tied on his neckerchief for that was a matter she understood better than he she tied it with a double knot, and made him look quite spruce ; she dusted his hat with the palm of her hand ; and she kissed him and sent him off, rid- ing the horse that was to be either sold or bar- tered. Of course, he would know what to do. The sun was hot, and not a cloud in the sky. The road was dusty, and such a crowd of folk passed on their way to market. Some in wagons, some on horseback, some on their own legs. A fierce sun and no shade all the way. A man came driving a cow as pretty a cow ;is could be. " That creature must give beautiful milk," thought the peasant; "it would not be a bad bargain if I got that. I say, you fellow with the cow ! " he began aloud; " let 's have some talk together. Look you, a horse, I believe, costs more lhan a cow, but it is all the same to me, as I have more use for a cow shall we make an ex- change ? " " To be sure ! " was the answer, and the bar- gain was made. The good-man might just as well now turn back homeward he had finished his business. But he had made up his mind to go to market, so to market he must go, if only to look on, so, with his cow, he continued on his way. He trudged fast, so did the cow, and soon they overtook a man who was leading a sheep a sheep in good condition, well clothed with wool. " I should very much like to have that ! " thought the peasant. " It would find pasture enough by our road-side, and in winter we might take it into our own room. And really it would be more reasonable for us to be keeping a sheep than a cow. Shall we exchange ? " Yes, the man who owned the sheep was quite willing ; so the exchange was made, and the good- man now went on with his sheep. Presently there passed him a man with a big goose under his arm. " Well, you have got a heavy fellow there ! " quoth the peasant. " Feathers and fat in plenty ! How nicely we could tie her up near our little pond, and it would be something for the good- wife to gather up the scraps for. She has often said : ' If we had but a goose ! ' Now she can have one and she shall, too ! Will you ex- change? I will give you my sheep for your goose, and say ' thank you ' besides." The other had no objection, so the peasant had his will and his goose. He was now close to the town ; he was wearied with the heat and the crowd, folk and cattle pushing past him, throng- ing on the road, in the ditch, and close up to the turnpike-man's cabbage-garden, where his one hen was tied up, lest in her fright she should lose her way and be carried off. It was a short-backed hen : she winked with one eye, crying, " Cluck, cluck ! " What she was thinking of I can't say, but what the peasant thought on seeing her, was this : " That is the prettiest hen I have ever seen much prettier than any of our parson's chickens. -WHAT THE GOOD-MAN DOES IS SURE TO BE RIGHT!" 205 I should very much like to have her. A hen can always pick up a grain here and there can pro- vide for herself. I almost think it would be a good plan to take her instead of the goose. Shall we exchange ? " he asked. " Exchange ? " re- peated the owner ; " not a bad idea ! " So it was done ; the turnpike-man got the goose, the peas- ant the hen. He had transacted a deal of business since first starting on his way to the town ; hot was he, and wearied too ; he must have a drain and a bit of bread. He was on the point of entering an inn, when the innkeeper met him in the doorway swinging a sack chock-full of something. " What have you there ? " asked the peas- ant. " Mellow apples," was the answer, " a whole sackful for swine." " What a quantity ! would n't my wife like to see so many ! Why, the last year we had only one single apple on the whole tree at home. Ah ! I wish my wife could see them ! " " Well, what will you give me for them ? " " Give for them ? why, I will give you my hen." So he gave the hen, took the apples, and entered the inn, and going straight up to the bar, set his sack upright against the stove without consider- ing that there was a fire lighted inside. A good many strangers were present, among them two Englishmen, both with their pockets full of gold and fond of laying wagers, as Englishmen in stories are wont to do. Presently there came a sound from the stove, "Suss suss suss!" the apples were roasting. " What is that ? " folk asked, and soon heard the whole history of the horse that had been ex- changed, first for a cow, and lastly for a sack of rotten apples. " Well ! won't you get a good sound cuff from your wife, when you go home ? " said one of the Englishmen. " Something heavy enough to fell an ox, I warn you ! " " I shall get kisses, not cuffs," replied the peas- ant. " My wife will say, ' Whatever the good- man does is right.' ' " A wager I " cried the Englishmen, " for a hundred pounds? " " Say rather a bushelful," quoth the peasant, and I can only lay my bushel of apples with my- self and the good-wife, but that will be more than full measure, I trow." " Done ! " cried they. And the innkeeper's cart was brought out forthwith, the Englishmen got into it, the peasant got into it, the rotten ap- ples got into it, and away they sped to the peas- ant's cottage. " Good evening, wife." " Same to you, good-man." " Well, I have exchanged the horse, not sold it." " Of course," said the wife, taking his hand, and in her eagerness to listen noticing neither the sack nor the strangers. " I exchanged the horse for a cow." " Oh ! how delightful ! now we can have milk, butter, and cheese on our table. What a capital idea ! " " Yes, but I exchanged the cow for a sheep." " Better and better ! " cried the wife. " You are always so thoughtful ; we have only just grass enough for a sheep. But now we shall have ewe's milk, and ewe's cheese, and woolen stockings, nay, woolen jackets too ; and a cow would not give us that ; she loses all her hairs. But you are always such a clever fellow." " But the ewe I exchanged again for a goose." "What! shall we really keep Michaelmas this year, good-man? You are always thinking of what will please me, and that was a beautiful thought. The goose can be tethered to the willow-tree and grow fat for Michaelmas Day." " But I gave the goose away for a hen," said the peasant. " A hen ? well, that was a good exchange," said his wife. " A hen will l:iy eggs, sit upon them, and we shall have chickens. Fancy ! a hen-yard ! that is just the thing I have always wished for most." " Ah, but I exchanged the hen for a sack of mellow apples." " Then I must give thee a kiss," cried the wife. 206 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. " Thanks, my own husband. And now I have something to tell. When you were gone I thought how I could get a right good dinner ready for you : omelets with parsley. Now I had the eggs, but not the parsley. So I went over to the school- master's ; they have parsley, I know, but the woman is so crabbed, she wanted something for it. Now what could I give her ? nothing grows in our garden, not even a rotten apple, not even that had I for her ; but now I can give her ten, nay, a whole sackful. That is famous, good-man ! " and she kissed him again. " Well done ! " cried the Englishmen. " Al- ways down hill, and always happy ! Such a sight is worth the money ! " And so quite contentedly they paid the bushelful of gold pieces to the peas- ant, who had got kisses, not cuffs, by his bar- gains. Certainly virtue -is her own reward, when the wife is sure that her husband is the wisest man in the world, and that whatever he does is right. So now you have heard this old story that was once told to me, and I hope have learnt the moral. THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, IT was terribly cold ; it snowed and was al- ready almost dark, and evening came on, the last evening of the year. In the cold and gloom a poor little girl, bare-headed and barefoot, was walk- ing through the streets. When she left her own house she certainly had had slip- pers on ; but of what use were they ? They were very big slippers, and her mother had used them till then, so big were they. The little maid lost them as she slipped across the road, where two carriages were rattling by terribly fast. One slipper was not to be found again, and a boy had seized the other, and run away with it. He thought he could use it very well as a cradle, some day when he had children of his own. So now the little girl went with her little naked feet, which were quite red and blue with the cold. In an old apron she carried a number of matches, and a bundle of them in her hand. No one had bought any- thing of her all day, and no one had given her a farthing. Shivering with cold and hunger she crept along, a picture of misery, poor little girl ! The snow-flakes covered her long fair hair, which fell in pretty curls over her neck ; but she did not think of that now. In all the windows lights were shining and there was a glorious smell of roast goose, for it was New Year's Eve. Yes, she thought of that ! In a corner formed by two houses, one of which projected be- yond the other, she sat down, cowering. She had drawn up her lit- tle feet, but she was still colder, and she did not dare to go home, for she had sold no matches, and did not bring a farthing of money. From her father she would certainly receive a beating, and besides, it was cold at home, for they had nothing over them but a roof through which the wind whistled, though the largest rents had been stopped with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost benumbed with the cold. Ah ! a match might do her good, if she could only draw one from a bundle, and rub it against the wall, and warm her hands at it. She drew one out. R-r-atch ! how it sputtered and THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL. 207 burned ! It was a warm bright flame, like a little candle, when she held her hands over it ; it was a wonderful little light ! It really seemed to the little girl as if she sat before a great polished stove, with bright brass feet and a brass cover. How the fire burned ! how comfortable it was ! but the little flame went out, the stove vanished, and she had only the remains of the burned match in her hand. A second was rubbed against the wall. It burned, up, and when the light fell upon the wall it became transparent like a thin veil, and she could see through it into the room. On the table a snow-white cloth was spread ; upon it stood a shining dinner service ; the roast goose smoked gloriously, stuffed with apples and dried plums. And what was still more splendid to behold, the goose hopped down from the dish, and waddled along the floor, with a knife and fork in its breast, to the little girl. Then the match went out, and only the thick, damp, cold wall was before her. She lighted another match. Then she was sitting under a beautiful Christmas-tree ; it was greater and more ornamented than the one she had seen through the glass door at the rich merchant's. Thousands of candles burned upon the green branches, and colored pictures like those in the print shops looked down upon them. The little girl stretched forth her hand toward them ; then the match went out. The Christmas lights mounted higher. She saw them now as stars in the sky : one of them fell down, forming a long line of fire. " Now some one is dying," thought the little girl, for her old grandmother, the only person who had loved her, and who was now dead, had told her that when a star fell down a soul mounted up to God. She rubbed another match against the wall ; it became bright again, and in the brightness the old grandmother stood clear and shining, mild and lovely. " Grandmother ! " cried the child, " Oh ! take, me with you ! I know you will go when the match is burned out. You will vanish like the warm fire, the warm food, and the great, glorious Christmas-tree ! " And she hastily rubbed the whole bundle of matches, for she wished to hold her grandmother fast. And the matches burned with such a glow that it became brighter than in the middle of the day ; grandmother had never been so large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and both flew in brightness and joy above the earth, very, very high, and up there was neither cold, nor hunger, nor care, they were with God. But in the corner, leaning against the wall, sat the poor girl with red cheeks and smiling mouth, frozen to death on the last 'evening of the Old Year. The New Year's sun rose upon a little corpse ! The child sat there, stiff and cold, with the matches, of which one bundle was burned. u She wanted to warm herself," the people said. No one imagined what a beautiful thing she had seen, and in what glory she had gone in with her grandmother to the New^ Year's Day. STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. THE BELL. PEOPLE said, " The evening-bell is sounding, the sun is setting." A strange wondrous tone was heard in the narrow streets of a large town. It was like the sound of a church-bell : but it was only heard for a moment, for the rolling of the car- riages, and the voices of the multitude made too great a noise. Those persons who were walking without the town, where the houses were farther apart, with gardens or little fields between them, could see the evening sky still better, and heard the sound of the bell much more distinctly. It was as if the tones came from a church in the still forest ; people looked thith- erward, and felt their minds attuned most solemnly. A long time passed, and people said to each other, "I wonder if there is a church out in the wood ? The bell has a tone that is wondrous sweet ; let us stroll thither, and examine the matter nearer." And the rich people drove out, and the poor walked, but the way seemed strangely long to them ; and when they came to a clump of willows which grew on the skirts of the forest, they sat down, and looked up at the long branches, and fancied they were now in the depth of the green wood. The confectioner of the town came out, and set up his booth there ; and soon after came another confectioner, who hung a bell over his stand, as a sign or ornament, but it had no clapper, and it was tarred over to preserve it from the rain. When all the people returned' home, they said it had been very romantic, and that it was quite a different sort of thing to a picnic or tea-party. There were three persons who asserted they had penetrated to the end of the forest, and that they had always heard the wonderful sounds of the bell, but it had seemed to them as if it had come from the town. One wrote a whole poem about it, and said the bell sounded like the voice of a mother to a good dear child, and that no melody was sweeter than the tones of the bell. The king of the country was also observant of it, and vowed that he who could discover whence the sounds proceeded should have the title of " Uni- versal Bell-ringer," even if it were not really a bell. _-- --^j-v- .:--., Many persons now went to the wood, for the sake of getting the place, but one only re- turned with a sort of explanation ; for nobody went far enough, that one not farther than the others. However, he said that the sound proceeded from a very large owl, in a hollow tree ; a sort of learned owl, that continually knocked its head against the branches. But whether the sound came from his head or from the hollow tree, that no one could say with cer- tainty. So now he got the place of " Universal Bell-ringer," and wrote yearly a short treatise " On the Owl ; " but everybody was just as wise as before. It was the day of Confirmation. The clergyman had spoken so touchingly, the children who were confirmed had been greatly moved ; it was an eventful day for them ; from children they be- came all at once grown-up persons ; it was as if their infant souls were now to fly all at once into persons with more understanding. The sun was shining gloriouslv ; the children that had been THE BELL. 209 confirmed went out of the town, and from the wood was borne toward them the sounds of the unknown bell with wonderful distinctness. They all immediately felt a wish to go thither ; all ex- cept three. One of them had to go home to try on a ball-dress, for it was just the dress and the ball which had caused her to be confirmed this time, for otherwise she would not have come ; the other was a poor boy, who had borrowed his coat and boots to be confirmed in from the innkeeper's son, and he was to give them back by a certain hour ; the third said that he never went to a strange place if his parents were not with him ; that he had always been a good boy hitherto, and would still be so now that he was confirmed, and that one ought not to laugh at him for it: the others, however, did make fun of him, after all. There were three, therefore, that did not go ; the others hastened on. The sun shone, the birds sang, and the children sang too, and each held the other by the hand ; for as yet they had none of them any high office, and were all of equal rank in the eye of God. But two of the youngest soon grew tired, and both returned to town ; two little girls sat down, and twined garlands, so they did not go either ; and when the others reached the willow-tree, where the confectioner was, they said, " Now we are there ! In reality the bell does not exist ; it is only a fancy that people have taken into their heads ! " At the same moment the bell sounded deep in the wood, so clear and solemnly that five or six determined to penetrate somewhat farther. It was so thick, and the foliage so dense that it was quite fatiguing to proceed. Woodroof and anem- ones grew almost too high ; blooming convolvu- luses and blackberry-bushes hung in long garlands from tree to tree, where the nightingale sang and the sunbeams were playing : it was very beautiful, but it was no place for girls to go ; their clothes would get so torn. Large blocks of stone lay there, overgrown with moss of every color; the fresh spring bubbled forth, and made a strange gurgling sound. " That surely cannot be the bell," said one of 27 the children, lying down and listening ; " this must be looked to." So he remained, and let the others go on without him. They afterwards came to a little house, made of branches and the bark of trees ; a large wild apple-tree bent over it, as if it would shower down all its blessings on the roof, where roses were blooming. The long stems twined round the ga- ble, on which there hung a small bell. Was it that which people had heard ? Yes : everybody was unanimous on the subject, except one, who said that the bell was too small and too fine to be heard at so great a distance, and besides, it had very different tones from those that could move a human heart in such a manner. It was a king's son who spoke ; whereon the others said, " Such people always want to be wiser than every- body else." They now let him go on alone ; and as he went, his breast was filled more and more with the for- est solitude ; but he still heard the little bell with which the others were so satisfied, and now and then, when the wind blew, he could also hear the people singing who were sitting at tea where the confectioner had his 'tent ; but the deep sound of the/ bell rose louder ; it was almost as if an organ were accompanying it, and the tones came from the left hand, the side where the heart is placed. A rustling was heard in the bushes, and a little boy stood before the king's son ; a boy in wooden shoes, and with so short a jacket that one could see what long wrists he had. Both knew each other ; the boy was that one among the children who could not come because he had to go home and return his jacket and boots to the innkeeper's son. This he had done, and was now going on in wooden shoes and in his humbler dress, for the bell sounded with so deep a tone, and with such strange power, that proceed he must. " Why, then, we can go together," said the king's son. But the poor child that had been confirmed was quite ashamed ; he looked at his wooden shoes, pulled at the short sleeves of his jacket, and said, " He was afraid he could not walk so fast ; besides, he thought that the bell 210 STORIES FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN. must be looked for to the right ; for that was the place where all sorts of beautiful things were to be found." " But there we shall not meet," said the king's son, nodding at the same time to the poor boy, who went into the darkest, thickest part of the wood, where thorns tore his humble dress, and scratched his face, and hands, and feet, till they bled. The king's son got some scratches, too ; but the sun shone on his path, and it is him that we will fol- low, for he was an excellent and resolute youth. "I must and will find the bell," said he, " even if I am obliged to go to the end of the world." The ugly apes sat upon the trees, and grinned. " Shall we thrash him ? " said they ; " shall we thrash him ? He is the son of a king ! " But on he went, without being disheartened, deeper and deeper into the wood, where the most wonderful flowers were growing. There stood white lilies with blood-red stamens ; sky-blue tu- lips, which shone as they waved in the winds ; and apple-trees, the apples of which looked exactly like large soap-bubbles : so only think how the trees must have sparkled in the sunshine ! Around the nicest green meads, where the deer were play- ing in the grass, grew magnificent oaks and beeches ; and if the bark of one of the trees was cracked, there grass and long creeping plants grew in the crevices. And there were large, calm lakes there too, in which white swans were swim- ming, and beat the air with their wings. The king's son often stood still and listened. He thought the bell sounded from the depths of these still lakes ; but then he remarked again that the tone proceeded not from there, but farther off, from out the depths of the forest. The sun now set ; the atmosphere glowed like tire. It was still in the woods, so very still ; and he fell on his knees, sung his evening hymn, and said : " I cannot find what I seek ; the sun is go- ing down, and night is coming the dark, dark night. Yet perhaps I may be able once more to see the round, red sun before he entirely disap- pears. I will climb up yonder rock." And he seized hold of the creeping-plants, and the roots of trees, climbed up the moist stones where the water-snakes were writhing and the toads were croaking and he gained the summit before the sun had quite gone down. How mag- nificent was the sight from this height ! The sea the great, the glorious sea, that dashed its long waves against the coast was stretched out be- fore him. And yonder, where sea and sky meet, stood the sun, like a large, shining altar, all melted together in the most glowing colors. And the wood and the sea sang a song of rejoicing, and his heart sang with the rest : all nature was a vast, holy church, in which the trees and the buoyant clouds were the pillars, flowers and grass the velvet carpeting, and heaven itself the large cupola. The red colors above faded away as the sun vanished, but a million stars were lighted, a million lamps shone ; and the king's son spread out his arms toward heaven, and wood, and sea ; when at the same moment, coming by a path to the right, appeared, in his wooden shoes and jacket, the poor boy who had been confirmed with him. He had followed his own path, and had reached the spot just as soon as the son of the king had done. They ran toward each other, and stood together, hand in hand, in the vast church of nature and of poetry, while over them sounded the invisible, holy bell ; blessed spirits floated around them, and lifted up their voices in a rejoicing hallelujah ! FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS, I. INTRODUCTION. It is written in the chronicles of the Sassanian monarchs, that there once lived an illustrious prince, beloved by his own subjects for his wisdom and prudence, and feared by his enemies for his courage, and for the hardy and well-disciplined army of which he was the leader. This prince had two sons, the elder called Schah-riar, and the younger Schah-zenan, both equally good and -de- serving of praise. The old king died at the end of a long and glo- rious reign, and Schah-riar, his eldest son, as- cended the throne and reigned in his stead. A friendly contest quickly arose between the two brothers as to which could best promote the happi- ness of the other. The younger, Schah-zenan, did all he could to show his loyalty and affection, while the new sultan loaded his brother with all possible honors, and, in order that he might in some degree share his own power and wealth, be- stowed on him the kingdom of Great Tartary. Schah-zenan went immediately and took possessio'n of the empire allotted him, and fixed his residence at Samarcand, the chief city. After a separation of ten years, Schah-riar ar- dently desired to see his brother, and sent his first vizier, with a splendid embassy, to invite him to revisit his court. Schah-zenan, being informed of the approach of the vizier, went out to meet him, with all his ministers, most magnificently dressed for the occasion, and urgently inquired after the health of the sultan, his brother. Having replied to these affectionate inquiries, the vizier unfolded the more especial purpose of his coming. Schah- zenan, who was much affected at the kindness and recollection of his brother, then addressed the viz- ier in these words : " Sage vizier, the sultan, my brother, does me too much honor. It is impossible that his wish to see me can exceed my anxious de- sire of again beholding him. You have come at an opportune moment. My kingdom is tranquil, and in ten days' time I will be ready to depart with you. In the mean while pitch your tents on this spot ; I will take care and order every refresh- ment and accommodation for you and your whole train." At the end of ten days everything was ready. Schah-zenan took a tender leave of the queen, his consort, and, accompanied by such officers as he had appointed to attend him, left Samarcand in the evening, to be near the tents of his brother's ambassador, with the intention of proceeding on his journey early on the following morning. Wishing, however, once more to see his queen, whom he tenderly loved, and whom he believed to return his 'love with an equal affection, he re- turned privately to the palace, and went directly to her apartment, when, to his extreme grief, he found that she loved another man, and he a slave, better than himself. The unfortunate, monarch, yielding to the first outburst of his indignation, drew his scimitar, and with one rapid stroke changed their sleep into death. After that he 212 TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. threw their dead bodies into the fosse or great ditch that surrounded the palace. Having thus satisfied his revenge, he went from the city as privately as he entered it, and returned to his pavilion. On his arrival, he did not men- tion to any one what had happened, but ordered the tents to be struck, and began his journey. It was scarcely daylight when they commenced their march to the sound of drums and other instru- ments. The whole train was rilled with joy, ex- cept the king, who could think of nothing but his queen's misconduct, and he became a prey to the deepest grief and melancholy during the whole journey. When he approached the capital of Persia, he perceived the Sultan Schah-riar and all his court coining out to greet him. What joyful sensations arose in their breasts at this fraternal meeting ! They alighted and embraced each other ; and after a thousand expressions of regard, they remounted, and entered the city amidst the acclamations pf the multitude. The sultan conducted the king, his brother, to a palace which had been prepared for him. It communicated by a garden with his own ; and was even more magnificent, as it was the spot where all the fetes and splendid enter- tainments of the court were given. Schah-riar immediately left the King of Tar- tary, in order that he might have time to bathe and change his dress ; on his return from the bath he went immediately to him again. They seated themselves on a sofa, and conversed with each other at their ease, after so long an absence ; and seemed even more united by affection than blood. They ate together at supper, and after their re- past they again conversed, till Schah-riar, per- ceiving the night far advanced, left his brother to repose. The unfortunate Schah-zenan retired to his couch ; but if the presence of the sultan had for a while suspended his grief, it now returned with re- doubled force. Every circumstance of the queen's misconduct arose to his mind and kept him awake, and impressed such a look of sorrow on his coun- tenance that the sultan could not fail to remark it. Conscious that he had done all in his power to testify the sincerity of his continued love and affection, he sought diligently to amuse his brother; but the most splendid entertainments and the gayest fetes only served to increase his melancholy. Schah-riar having one morning given orders for a grand hunting party, at the distance of two days' journey from the city, Schah-zenan requested permission to remain in his palace, excusing him- self on account of a slight indisposition. The sul- tan wishing to please him, gave him his choice, and went with all his court to partake of the f sport. The King of Tartary was no sooner alone than he shut himself up in his apartment, and gave way to a. sorrowful recollection on the calamity which had befallen him. As, however, he sat thus griev- ing at the open window, looking out upon the beautiful garden of the palace, he suddenly saw the sultana, the loved wife of his brother, meet in the garden and hold secret conversation with an- other man beside her husband. Upon witnessing this interview, Schah-zenan determined within himself that he would no longer give way to such inconsolable grief for a misfortune which came to other husbands as well as to himself. He ordered supper to be brought, and ate with a better appe- tite than he had before done since his departure from Samarcand, and even enjoyed the fine con- cert performed while he sat at table. Schah-riar, on his return from hunting at the close of the second day, was delighted at the change which he soon found had taken place in his brother, and urgently pressed him to explain both the cause of his former deep depression, and of its sudden change to his present joy. The King of Tartary being thus pressed, and feeling it his duty to obey his suzerain lord, related to his brother the whole narrative of his wife's miscon- duct, and of the severe punishment with which he had visited it on the offenders. Schah-riar ex- pressed his full approval of his conduct. " I own," he said, " had I been in your place, I should, per- haps, have been less easily satisfied. I should not INTRODUCTION. 213 have been contented with taking away the life of one woman, but should have sacrificed a thousand to my resentment. Your fate, surely, is most sin- gular, nor can have happened to any one besides. Since, however, it has pleased God to afford you consolation, and as I am sure it is equally well founded as the cause of your grief, inform me, I beg, of that also, and make me acquainted with the whole." The reluctance of Schah-zenan to relate what he had seen yielded at last to the urgent com- mands and entreaties of his brother, and he re- vealed to him the, secret of his disgrace in the faithlessness of his own queen. On hearing these dreadful and unexpected tidings, the rage and grief of Schah-riar knew no bounds. He far ex- ceeded his brother in his invectives and indigna- tion. He immediately sentenced to death his un- happy sultana and the unworthy accomplice of her guilt ; and not content with this, in all the power of an Eastern despot, he bound himself by a solemn vow that, to prevent the possibility of such misconduct in future, he would marry a new wife every night, and command her to be strangled in the morning. Having imposed this cruel law upon himself, he swore to observe it immediately on the departure of the king his brother, who soon after had a solemn audience of leave, and re- turned to his own kingdom, laden with the most magnificent presents. When Schah-zenan was gone, the sultan began to put into execution- his unhappy oath. He mar- ried every night the daughter of some one of his subjects, who, the next morning, was ordered out to execution, and thus every day was a maiden married, and every day a wife sacrificed. How- ever repugnant these commands were to the be- nevolent grand vizier, he was obliged to submit at the peril of the loss of his own head. The report of this unexampled inhumanity spread a panic of universal consternation through the city. In one place a wretched father was in tears for the loss of his daughter ; in another, the air resounded with the groans of tender mothers, who dreaded lest the same fate should attend their offspring. In this manner, instead of the praises and blessings with which, till now, they loaded their monarch, all his subjects poured out imprecations on his head. The grand vizier,, who, as has been mentioned, was the unwilling agent of this horrid injustice, had two daughters ; the elder was called Schehera- zade, and the youngest Dinar-zacie. Schehera- zade was possessed of a degree of courage beyond her sex. She had read much, and was possessed of so great a memory, that she never forgot any- thing once learned ; her beauty was only equaled by her virtuous disposition. The vizier was passionately fond of so deserving a daughter. As they were conversing together one day, she made a request to her father, to his very great astonishment, that she might have the honor of becoming the sultan's bride. The grand vizier endeavored to dissuade his daughter from her in- tention by pointing out the fearful penalty of an immediate death attached to the favor which she sought. Schehera-zade, however, persisted in her request, intimating to her father that she had in her mind a plan which she thought might be suc- cessful in making a change in the intention of the sultan, and in putting a stop to the dreadful cru- elty exercised towards the inhabitants of the city. "Yes, my father," replied this heroic woman, "I am aware of the danger I run, but it does not de- ter me from my purpose. If I die, my death will be glorious ; and if I succeed, I shall render my country an important service." The vizier was most reluctant to allow his beloved child to enter on so dangerous an enterprise, and endeavored to dissuade her from her purpose, but at length, overcome by his daughter's firmness, yielded to her entreaties ; and although he was very sorry at not being able to conquer her resolution, he imme- diately went to Schah-riar, and announced to him that Schehera-zade herself would be his bride on the following night. The sultan was much astonished at the sacrifice of the grand vizier. " Is it possible," said he, " that you can give up your own child ? " " Sire," re- plied the vizier, " she has herself made the offer. 214 TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. The dreadful fate that hangs over her does not alarm her ; and she resigns her life for the honor of being the consort of your majesty, though it be but for one night." "Vizier," said the sultan, " do not deceive yourself with any hopes ; for be assured that, in delivering Schehera-zade into your charge to-morrow, it will be with an order for her death ; and if you disobey, your own head will be the forfeit." " Al- t h o u g h," answered the vizier, " I am her father, I will answer for the fidelity of this arm in fulfilling your commands." When the grand vizier returned to Schehera-zade, she thanked her father ; and observing him to be much afflicted, con- soled him by saying that she hoped he would be so far from repenting her mar- riage with the sultan, that it would become a subject of joy to him for the remainder of his life. Before Schehera- zade went to the pal- ace, she called her sis- ter, Dinar-zade, aside, and said, " As soon as I shall have presented myself before the sultan, I shall entreat him to suffer you to sleep in the bridal chamber, that I may enjoy for the last time your company. If I obtain this favor, as I expect, remember to awaken me to-morrow morning an hour before daybreak, and say, ' If you are not asleep, my sister, I beg of you, till the morning appears, to recount to me one of those delightful stories you know.' I will immediately begin to tell one ; and I flatter myself that by these means I shall free the kingdom from the consternation in which it is." Dinar-zade promised to do with pleasure what she required. Within a short time Schehera-zade was conducted by her father to the palace, and was ad- mitted to the pres- ence of the sultan. They were no sooner alone than the sultan ordered her to take off her veil. He was charmed with her beauty ; but perceiv- ing her tears, he de- manded the cause of them. " Sire," an- s w e r e d Schehera- zade, " I have a sister whom I tenderly love; I earnestly wish that she might be per- mitted to pass the night in this apart- ment, that we may again see each other, and once more take a tender farewell. Will you allow me the consolation of giv- ing her this last proof of my affection ? " Schah-riar having agreed to it, they sent for Dinar-zade, who came directly. The sultan passed the night with Sche- hera-zade on an elevated couch, as was the custom among the Eastern monarchs, and Dinar-zade slept at the foot of it on a mattress, prepared for the purpose. Dinar-zade, having awoke about an hour before INTRODUCTION. 215 day, did what her sister had ordered her. " My dear sister," she said, " if you are not asleep, I en- treat you, as it will soon be light, to relate to me one of those delightful tales you know. It will, alas! be the last time I shall receive that pleas- ure." Instead of returning any answer to her sister, Schehera-zade addressed these words to the sul- tan : " Will your majesty permit me to indulge my sister in her request?" "Freely," replied he. Schehera-zade then desired her sister to attend, and, addressing herself to the sultan, began as fol- lows : THE STORY OF THE MERCHANT AND THE GENIE. There was formerly, sire, a merchant, who was possessed of great wealth, in land, merchandise, and ready money. Having one day an affair of great importance to settle at a considerable dis- tance from home, he mounted his horse, and with only a sort of cloak-bag behind him, in which he had put a few biscuits and dates, he began his journey. He arrived without any accident at the place of his destination ; and having finished his business, set out on his return. On the fourth day of his journey, he felt him- self so incommoded by the heat of the sun, that he turned out of his road, in order to rest under some trees, by which there was a fountain. He alighted, and tying his horse to a branch of the tree, sat down on its bank to eat some biscuits and dates from his little store. When he had satisfied his hunger, he amused himself with throwing about the stones of the fruit with considerable velocity. When he had finished his frugal repast, he washed his hands, his face, and his feet, and repeated a prayer, like a good Mussulman. He was still on his knees, when he saw a genie, white with age, and of an enormous stature, ad- vancing towards him, with a scimitar in his hand. As soon as he was close to him, he said in a most terrible tone, " Get up, that I may kill thee with this scimitar, as thou hast caused the death of my son." He accompanied these words with a dread- ful yell. The merchant, alarmed by the horrible figure of this giant, as well as the words he heard, replied in terrible accents, " How can I have slain him ? I do not know him, nor have I ever seen him." " Didst thou not," replied the giant, " on thine arrival here, sit down, and take some dates from thy wallet; and after eating them, didst thou not throw the stones about on all sides ? " " This is all true," replied the merchant ; " I do not deny it." "Well, then," said the other, "I tell thee thou hast killed my son ; for while thou wast throwing about the stones, my son passed by ; one of them struck him in the eye, and caused his death, and thus hast thou slain my son." " Ah, sire, forgive me," cried the merchant. " I have neither forgiveness nor mercy," added the giant ; "and is it not just that he who has inflicted death should suffer it?" "I grant this; yet surely I have not done so ; and even if I have, I have done so innocently, and therefore I entreat you to par- don me, and suffer me to live." "No, no," cried the genie, still persisting in his resolution, "I must destroy thee, as thou hast done my son." At these words, he took the merchant in his arms, and hav- ing thrown him with his face on the ground, he lifted up his sabre, in order to strike off his head. Schehera-zade, at this instant, perceiving it was day, and knowing that the sultan rose early to his prayers, and then to hold a council, broke off. " What a wonderful story," said Dinar-zade, " have you chosen ! " " The conclusion," answered Sche- hera-zade, " is still more surprising, as you would confess, if the sultan would suffer me to live an- other day, and in the morning permit me to con- tinue the relation." Schah-riar, who had listened with much pleasure to the narration, determined to wait till to-morrow, intending to order her ex- ecution after she had finished her story. He arose, and having prayed, went to the council. The grand vizier, in the mean time, was in a state of cruel suspense. Unable to sleep, he passed the night in lamenting the approaching fate of his daughter, whose executioner he was compelled to be. Dreading, therefore, in this melancholy situ- ation, to meet the sultan, how great was his sur- 216 TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS ENTERTAINMENTS. prise in seeing him enter the council-chamber without giving him the horrible order he expected ! The sultan spent the day, as usual, in regulating the affairs of his kingdom, and on the approach of night retired with Schehera-zade to his apartment. On the next morning the sultan did not wait for Schehera-zade to ask permission to continue her story, but said, " Finish the tale of the genie and the merchant; I am curious to hear the end of it." Schehera-zade immediately went on as follows : When the merchant, sire, perceived that the genie was about to execute his purpose, he cried aloud, " One word more, I entreat you ; have the goodness to grant me a little delay ; give me only one year to go and take leave of my dear wife and children, and I promise to return to this spot, and submit myself entirely to your pleasure." " Take Allah to witness of the promise thou hast made me," said the other. " Again I sweai'," replied he, "and you may rely on my oath." On this the genie left him near the fountain, and im- mediately disappeared. The merchant, on his reaching home, related faithfully all that had happened to him. On hearing the sad news, his wife uttered the most lamentable groans, tearing her hair, and beating her breast ; and his children made the house re- sonnd with their grief ; while the father, overcome by affection, mingled his tears with theirs. The year quickly passed away. The good merchant, having settled his affairs, paid his just debts, given alms to the poor, and made provision to the best of his ability for his wife and family, tore himself away amidst the most frantic expressions of grief, and, mindful of his oath, arrived at the destined spot on the very day he had promised. While he was waiting for the arrival of the genie, there suddenly appeared an old man leading a hind, who, after a respectful salutation, inquired what brought him to that desert place. The merchant satisfied the old man's curiosity, and related his adventure, on which he expressed a wish to witness his interview with the genie. . He had scarcely finished his speech when another old man, accompanied with two black dogs, came in sight, and having heard the tale of the merchant, determined also to re- main to see the event. Soon they perceived, towards the plain, a thick vapor or smoke, like a column of dust raised by the wind. This vapor approached them, and then suddenly disappearing, they saw the genie, who, without noticing them, went towards the mer- chant, with his scimitar in his hand ; and raking him by the arm, " Get up," said he, li that I may kill thee, as thou hast slain my son." Both the merchant and the two old men, struck with terror, began to weep and fill the air with their lamenta- tions. When the old man who conducted the hind saw the genie lay hold of the merchant, and about to murder him without mercy, he threw himself at the monster's' feet, and, kissing them, said, " Lord genie, I humbly entreat you to suspend your rage, and hear my history, and that of the hind which you see ; and if you find it more won- derful and surprising than the adventure of this merchant, whose life you wish to take, may I not hope that you will at least grant me one half part of the blood of this unfortunate man?" After meditating some time, the genie answered, " Well then, I agree to it." THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST OLD MAN AND THE HIND. The hind, whom you, lord genie, see here, is my wife. I married her when she was twelve years old, and we lived together thirty years with- out having any children. At the end of that time I adopted into my family a son whom a slave had borne. This act of mine excited against the mother and her child the hatred and jealousy of my wife. She availed herself, during my absence on a journey, of her knowledge of magic, to change the slave and my adopted son into a cow and a calf, and sent them to my farm to be fed ami taken care of by the steward. Immediately on my return, I inquired after my child and his mother. " Your slave is dead," said she, "and it is now more than two months since I have beheld your son ; nor do I know what is become of him." I was sensibly affected at the INTRODUCTION. 217 death of the slave ; but as my son had only disap- peared, I flattered myself that lie would soon be found. Eight months, however, passed, and he did not return ; nor could I learn any tidings of him. In order to celebrate the festival of the great Bairam, which was approaching, I ordered my bailiff to bring me the fattest cow I possessed for 'a sacrifice. He obeyed my commands. Having bound the cow, I was about to make the sacrifice, when, at the very instant, she lowed most sorrow- fully, and the tears even fell from her eyes. This seemed to me so extraordinary that I could not but feel compassion for her, and was unable to give the fatal blow. I therefore ordered her to be taken away and another brought. My wife, who was present, seemed very angry at my compassion, and opposed my order. I then said to my steward, " Make the sacrifice yourself ; the lamentations and tears of the animal have overcome me." The steward was less compassionate, and sacri- ficed her. On taking oft the skin we found hardly anything but bones, though she appeared very fat. " Take her away," said I to the steward, truly chagrined ; " and if you have another very fat calf, bring it in her place." He returned with a re- markably fine calf, who, as soon as he perceived me, made so great an effort to come to me, that he broke his cord. He lay down at my feet, with his head on the ground, as if he endeavored to excite my compassion, and to entreat me not to have the cruelty to take away his life. "Wife," answered I, "I will not sacrifice this calf ; I wish to favor him ; do not you, therefore, oppose it." She, however, did not agree to my proposal ; and continued to demand his sacrifice so obstinately that I was compelled to yield. I bound the calf, and took the fatal knife to bury it in his throat, when he turned his eyes, filled with tears, so persuasively upon me, that I had no power to execute my intention. The knife fell from my hand, and I told my wife I was deter- mined to have another calf. She tried every means to induce me to alter my mind ; I contin- ued firm, however, in my resolution, in spite of 28 all she could say ; promising, for the sake of ap- peasing her, to sacrifice this calf at the feast of Bairam on the following year. The next morning my steward desired to speak with me in private. He informed me that his daughter, who had some knowledge of magic, wished to speak with me. On being admitted to my presence, she informed me that, during my absence, my wife had turned the slave and my son into a cow and a calf ; that I had already sacrificed the cow, but that she could restore my son to life, it' I would give him to her for her husband, and allow her to visit my wife with the punishment her cruelty had deserved. To these proposals I gave my consent. The damsel then took a vessel full of water, and pronouncing over it some words I did not un- derstand, she threw the water over the calf, and he instantly regained his own form. " My son ! my son ! " I exclaimed, and em- braced him with transport ; " this damsel has de- stroyed the horrible charm with which you were surrounded. I am sure your gratitude will induce you to marry her, as I have already promised for you." He joyfully consented ; but before they were united, the damsel changed my wife into this hind, which you see here. Since this, my son has become a widower, and is now traveling. Many years have passed since I have heard anything of him ; I have, therefore, now set out with a view to gain some informa- tion ; and as I did not like to trust my wife to the care of any one during my search, I thought proper to carry her along with me. This is the history of myself and this hind ; can anything be more wonderful ? "I agree with you," said the genie, " and in consequence, I grant to you a half of the blood of this merchant." As soon as the first old man had finished, the second, who led the two black dogs, made the same request to the genie for a half of the mer- chant's blood, on the condition that his tale ex- ceeded in interest the one that had been just re- lated. On the genie signifying his assent, the old man began. 218 TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. THE HISTOEY OP THE SECOND OLD MAN AND THE TWO BLACK DOGS. Great prince of the genies, you must know that these two black dogs, which you see here, and my- self are three brothers. Our father, when he died, left us one thousand sequins each. With this sum we all embarked in business as mer- chants. My two brothers determined to travel, that they might trade in foreign parts. They were both unfortunate, and returned at the end of two years in a state of abject poverty, having lost their all. I had in the mean while prospered, and I gladly received them, and gave them one thou- sand sequins each, and again set them up as mer- chants. My brothers frequently proposed to me that I should make a voyage with them for the purpose of traffic. Knowing their former want of success, I refused to join them, until at the end of five years I at length yielded to their repeated so- licitations. On consulting on the merchandise to be bought for the voyage, I discovered that noth- ing remained of the thousand sequins I had given to each. I did not reproach them ; on the con- trary, as my capital was increased to six thousand sequins, I gave them each one thousand sequins, and kept a like sum myself, and concealed the other three thousand in a corner of my house, in order that if our voyage proved unsuccessful, we might be able to console ourselves, and begin our former profession. We purchased our goods, em- barked in a vessel, which we ourselves freighted, and set sail with a favorable wind. After sailing about a month, we arrived, without any accident, at a port, where we landed, and had a most advan- tageous sale for our merchandise. I, in particu- lar, sold mine so well that I gained ten for one. About the time that we were ready to embark on our return, I accidentally met on the sea-shore a female of great beauty, but very poorly dressed. She accosted me by kissing my hand, and en- treated me most earnestly to permit her to be my wife. I started many difficulties to such a plan ; but at length she said so much to persuade me that I ought not to regard her poverty, and that I should be well satisfied with her conduct, I was quite overcome. I directly procured proper dresses for her, and after marrying her in due form, she embarked with me, and we set sail. During our voyage, I found my wife possessed of so many good qualities that I loved her every day more and more. In the mean time my two brothers, who had not traded so advantageously as myself, and who were jealous of my prosperity, began to feel exceedingly envious. They even went so far as to conspire against my life ; for one night, while my wife and I were asleep, they threw us into the sea. I had hardly, however, fallen into the water, before my wife took me up and transported me into an island. As soon as it was day, she thus addressed me: " You must know that I am a fairy, and being upon the shore when you were about to sail, I wished to try the good- ness of your heart, and for this purpose I pre- sented myself before you in the disguise you saw- You acted most generously, and I arn therefore delighted in finding an occasion of showing my gratitude ; and I trust, my husband, that in sav- ing your life, I have not ill rewarded the good you have done me ; but I am enraged against your brothers, nor shall I be satisfied till I have taken their lives." I listened with astonishment to the discourse of the fairy, and thanked her, as well as I was able, for the great obligation she had conferred on me. " But, madam," said I to her, " I must entreat you to pardon my brothers." I related to her what I had done for each of them, but my account only increased her anger. " I must instantly fly after these ungrateful wretches," cried she, " and bring them to a just punishment ; I will sink their ves- sel, and precipitate them to the bottom of the sea." " No, beautiful lady," replied I; " for Heav- en's sake, moderate your indignation, and do not execute so dreadful an intention ; remember they are still my brothers, and that we are bound to re- turn good for evil." No sooner had I pronounced these words, than I was transported in an instant from the island where we were to the top of my own house. I de- THE HISTORY Ob' THE FISHERMAN. 219 scended, opened the doors, and dug up the three thousand sequins which I hud hidden. I after- wards repaired to my shop, opened it, and re- ceived the congratulations of the merchants in the neighborhood on my arrival. When I returned home, I perceived these two black dogs, which came towards me with a submissive air. I could not imagine what this meant, but the fairy, who soon appeared, satisfied my curiosity. " My dear husband," said she, "be not surprised at seeing these two dogs in your house ; they are your broth- ers." My blood ran cold on hearing this, and I inquired by what power they had been trans- formed into that state. " It is I," replied the fairy, " who have done it, and I have sunk their ship ; for the loss of the merchandise it contained I shall recompense you. As to your brothers, I have condemned them to remain under this form for ten years, as a punishment for their perfidy." Then informing me where I might hear of her, she disappeared. The ten years are now completed, and I am traveling in search of her. " This, O lord genie, is my history ; does it not appear to you of a most extraordinary nature? " " Yes," replied the genie, " I confess it is most wonderful, and therefore I grant you the other half of this merchant's blood ; " and having said this, the genie disap- peared, to the great joy of the merchant and of the two old men. The merchant did not omit to bestow many thanks upon his liberators, who, bidding him adieu, proceeded on their travels. He remounted his horse, and returned home to his wife and children, and spent the remainder of his days with them in tranquillity. II. THE HISTORY OF THE FISHERMAN. THERE was formerly an aged fisherman, so poor that he could barely obtain food for himself, his wife, and his three children. He went out early every morning to his employment ; and he had imposed a rule upon himself never to cast his nets above four times a day. On one occasion he set out before the morn had disappeared. When lie reached the sea-shore, he- undressed himself, and cast his nets. In drawing them to land three times in succession, he felt sure, from their resistance and weight, that he had secured an excellent draught of fish. Instead of which he only found on the first haul the car- cass of