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+The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Lilac Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang
+#33 in our series by Andrew Lang
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+Title: The Lilac Fairy Book
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+Author: Andrew Lang
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+Release Date: October, 2002  [Etext #3454]
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+
+The Lilac Fairy Book
+
+Edited by Andrew Lang
+
+
+
+
+Preface 
+
+
+
+'What cases are you engaged in at present?' 'Are you stopping
+many teeth just now?' 'What people have you converted lately?'
+Do ladies put these questions to the men--lawyers, dentists,
+clergymen, and so forth--who happen to sit next them at
+dinner parties?
+
+I do not know whether ladies thus indicate their interest in the
+occupations of their casual neighbours at the hospitable board.
+But if they do not know me, or do not know me well, they
+generally ask 'Are you writing anything now?' (as if they should
+ask a painter 'Are you painting anything now?' or a lawyer 'Have
+you any cases at present?'). Sometimes they are more definite and
+inquire 'What are you writing now?' as if I must be writing
+something--which, indeed, is the case, though I dislike being
+reminded of it. It is an awkward question, because the fair being
+does not care a bawbee what I am writing; nor would she be much
+enlightened if I replied 'Madam, I am engaged on a treatise
+intended to prove that Normal is prior to Conceptional Totemism'-
+-though that answer would be as true in fact as obscure in
+significance. The best plan seems to be to answer that I have
+entirely abandoned mere literature, and am contemplating a book
+on 'The Causes of Early Blight in the Potato,' a melancholy
+circumstance which threatens to deprive us of our chief esculent
+root. The inquirer would never be undeceived. One nymph who, like
+the rest, could not keep off the horrid topic of my occupation,
+said 'You never write anything but fairy books, do you?' A French
+gentleman, too, an educationist and expert in portraits of Queen
+Mary, once sent me a newspaper article in which he had written
+that I was exclusively devoted to the composition of fairy books,
+and nothing else. He then came to England, visited me, and found
+that I knew rather more about portraits of Queen Mary than he
+did.
+
+In truth I never did write any fairy books in my life, except
+'Prince Prigio,' 'Prince Ricardo,' and 'Tales from a Fairy
+Court'--that of the aforesaid Prigio. I take this opportunity of
+recommending these fairy books--poor things, but my own--to
+parents and guardians who may never have heard of them. They are
+rich in romantic adventure, and the Princes always marry the
+right Princesses and live happy ever afterwards; while the wicked
+witches, stepmothers, tutors and governesses are never cruelly
+punished, but retire to the country on ample pensions. I hate
+cruelty: I never put a wicked stepmother in a barrel and send her
+tobogganing down a hill. It is true that Prince Ricardo did kill
+the Yellow Dwarf; but that was in fair fight, sword in hand, and
+the dwarf, peace to his ashes! died in harness.
+
+The object of these confessions is not only that of advertising
+my own fairy books (which are not 'out of print'; if your
+bookseller says so, the truth is not in him), but of giving
+credit where credit is due. The fairy books have been almost
+wholly the work of Mrs. Lang, who has translated and adapted them
+from the French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Catalan,
+and other languages.
+
+My part has been that of Adam, according to Mark Twain, in the
+Garden of Eden. Eve worked, Adam superintended. I also
+superintend. I find out where the stories are, and advise, and,
+in short, superintend. I do not write the stories out of my own
+head. The reputation of having written all the fairy books (an
+European reputation in nurseries and the United States of
+America) is 'the burden of an honour unto which I was not born.'
+It weighs upon and is killing me, as the general fash of being
+the wife of the Lord of Burleigh, Burleigh House by Stamford
+Town, was too much for the village maiden espoused by that peer.
+
+Nobody really wrote most of the stories. People told them in all
+parts of the world long before Egyptian hieroglyphics or Cretan
+signs or Cyprian syllabaries, or alphabets were invented. They
+are older than reading and writing, and arose like wild flowers
+before men had any education to quarrel over. The grannies told
+them to the grandchildren, and when the grandchildren became
+grannies they repeated the same old tales to the new generation.
+Homer knew the stories and made up the 'Odyssey' out of half a
+dozen of them. All the history of Greece till about 800 B.C. is a
+string of the fairy tales, all about Theseus and Heracles and
+Oedipus and Minos and Perseus is a Cabinet des F‚es, a collection
+of fairy tales. Shakespeare took them and put bits of them into
+'King Lear' and other plays; he could not have made them up
+himself, great as he was. Let ladies and gentlemen think of this
+when they sit down to write fairy tales, and have them nicely
+typed, and send them to Messrs. Longman & Co. to be published.
+They think that to write a new fairy tale is easy work. They are
+mistaken: the thing is impossible. Nobody can write a new fairy
+tale; you can only mix up and dress up the old, old stories, and
+put the characters into new dresses, as Miss Thackeray did so
+well in 'Five Old Friends.' If any big girl of fourteen reads
+this preface, let her insist on being presented with 'Five Old
+Friends.'
+
+But the three hundred and sixty-five authors who try to write new
+fairy tales are very tiresome. They always begin with a little
+boy or girl who goes out and meets the fairies of polyanthuses
+and gardenias and apple blossoms: 'Flowers and fruits, and other
+winged things.' These fairies try to be funny, and fail; or they
+try to preach, and succeed. Real fairies never preach or talk
+slang. At the end, the little boy or girl wakes up and finds that
+he has been dreaming.
+
+Such are the new fairy stories. May we be preserved from all the
+sort of them!
+
+Our stories are almost all old, some from Ireland, before that
+island was as celebrated for her wrongs as for her verdure; some
+from Asia, made, I dare say, before the Aryan invasion; some from
+Moydart, Knoydart, Morar and Ardnamurchan, where the sea streams
+run like great clear rivers and the saw-edged hills are blue, and
+men remember Prince Charlie. Some are from Portugal, where the
+golden fruits grow in the Garden of the Hesperides; and some are
+from wild Wales, and were told at Arthur's Court; and others come
+from the firesides of the kinsmen of the Welsh, the Bretons.
+There are also modern tales by a learned Scandinavian named
+Topelius.
+
+All the stories were translated or adapted by Mrs. Lang, except
+'The Jogi's Punishment' and 'Moti,' done by Major Campbell out of
+the Pushtoo language; 'How Brave Walter hunted Wolves,' which,
+with 'Little Lasse' and 'The Raspberry Worm,' was done from
+Topelius by Miss Harding; and 'The Sea King's Gift,' by Miss
+Christie, from the same author.
+
+It has been suggested to the Editor that children and parents and
+guardians would like ' The Grey True Ghost-Story Book.' He knows
+that the children would like it well, and he would gladly give it
+to them; but about the taste of fond anxious mothers and kind
+aunts he is not quite so certain. Before he was twelve the Editor
+knew true ghost stories enough to fill a volume. They were a pure
+joy till bedtime, but then, and later, were not wholly a source
+of unmixed pleasure. At that time the Editor was not afraid of
+the dark, for he thought, ' If a ghost is here, we can't see
+him.' But when older and better informed persons said that ghosts
+brought their own light with them (which is too true), then one's
+emotions were such as parents do not desire the young to endure.
+For this reason 'The Grey True Ghost-Story Book' is never likely
+to be illustrated by Mr. Ford.
+
+
+
+                            Contents
+
+
+
+The Shifty Lad
+The False Prince and the True
+The Jogi's Punishment
+The Heart of a Monkey
+The Fairy Nurse
+A Lost Paradise
+How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves
+The Ring of the Waterfalls
+A French Puck
+The Three Crowns
+The Story of a Very Bad Boy
+The Brown Bear of Norway
+Little Lasse
+'Moti'
+The Enchanted Deer
+A Fish Story
+The Wonderful Tune
+The Rich Brother and the Poor Brother
+The One-Handed Girl
+The Bones of Djulung
+The Sea Ring's Gift
+The Raspberry Worm
+The Stones of Plouhinec
+The Castle of Kerglas
+The Battle of the Birds
+The Lady of the Fountain
+The Four Gifts
+The Groac'h of the Isle of Lok
+The Escape of the Mouse
+The Believing. Husbands 
+The Hoodie-Crow
+The Brownie of the Lake
+The Winning of Olwen
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         The Shifty Lad
+
+
+
+
+In the land of Erin there dwelt long ago a widow who had an only
+son. He was a clever boy, so she saved up enough money to send
+him to school, and, as soon as he was old enough, to apprentice
+him to any trade that he would choose. But when the time came, he
+said he would not be bound to any trade, and that he meant to be
+a thief.
+
+Now his mother was very sorrowful when she heard of this, but she
+knew quite well that if she tried to stop his having his own way
+he would only grow more determined to get it. So all the answer
+she made was that the end of thieves was hanging at the bridge of
+Dublin, and then she left him alone, hoping that when he was
+older he might become more sensible.
+
+One day she was going to church to hear a sermon from a great
+preacher, and she begged the Shifty Lad, as the neighbours called
+him from the tricks he played, to come with her. But he only
+laughed and declared that he did not like sermons, adding:
+
+'However, I will promise you this, that the first trade you hear
+named after you come out from church shall be my trade for the
+rest of my life.'
+
+These words gave a little comfort to the poor woman, and her
+heart was lighter than before as she bade him farewell.
+
+When the Shifty Lad thought that the hour had nearly come for the
+sermon to be over, he hid himself in some bushes in a little path
+that led straight to his mother's house, and, as she passed
+along, thinking of all the good things she had heard, a voice
+shouted close to her ear 'Robbery! Robbery! Robbery!' The
+suddenness of it made her jump. The naughty boy had managed to
+change his voice, so that she did not know it for his, and he had
+concealed himself so well that, though she peered about all round
+her, she could see no one. As soon as she had turned the corner
+the Shifty Lad came out, and by running very fast through the
+wood he contrived to reach home before his mother, who found him
+stretched out comfortably before the fire.
+
+'Well, have you got any news to tell me?' asked he.
+
+'No, nothing; for I left the church at once, and did not stop to
+speak to anyone.'
+
+'Oh, then no one has mentioned a trade to you?' he said in tones
+of disappointment.
+
+'Ye--es,' she replied slowly. 'At least, as I walked down the
+path a voice cried out "Robbery! Robbery! Robbery!" but that was
+all.'
+
+'And quite enough too,' answered the boy. 'What did I tell you?
+That is going to be my trade.'
+
+'Then your end will be hanging at the bridge of Dublin,' said
+she. But there was no sleep for her that night, for she lay in
+the dark thinking about her son.
+
+ 'If he is to be a thief at all, he had better be a good one. And
+who is there that can teach him?' the mother asked herself. But
+an idea came to her, and she arose early, before the sun was up,
+and set off for the home of the Black Rogue, or Gallows Bird, who
+was such a wonderful thief that, though all had been robbed by
+him, no one could catch him.
+
+'Good-morning to you,' said the woman as she reached the place
+where the Black Gallows Bird lived when he was not away on his
+business. 'My son has a fancy to learn your trade. Will you be
+kind enough to teach him?'
+
+'If he is clever, I don't mind trying,' answered the Black
+Gallows Bird; 'and, of course, if ANY one can turn him into a
+first-rate thief, it is I. But if he is stupid, it is of no use
+at all; I can't bear stupid people.'
+
+'No, he isn't stupid,' said the woman with a sigh. 'So to-night,
+after dark, I will send him to you.'
+
+The Shifty Lad jumped for joy when his mother told him where she
+had been.
+
+'I will become the best thief in all Erin!' he cried, and paid no
+heed when his mother shook her head and murmured something about
+'the bridge of Dublin.'
+
+ Every evening after dark the Shifty Lad went to the home of the
+Black Gallows Bird, and many were the new tricks he learned. By-
+and-by he was allowed to go out with the Bird and watch him at
+work, and at last there came a day when his master though that he
+had grown clever enough to help in a big robbery.
+
+'There is a rich farmer up there on the hill, who has just sold
+all his fat cattle for much money and has bought some lean ones
+which will cost him little. Now it happens that, while he has
+received the money for the fat cattle, he has not yet paid the
+price of the thin ones, which he has in the cowhouse. To-morrow
+he will go to the market with the money in his hand, so to-night
+we must get at the chest. When all is quiet we will hide in the
+loft.'
+
+There was no moon, and it was the night of Hallowe'en, and
+everyone was burning nuts and catching apples in a tub of water
+with their hands tied, and playing all sorts of other games, till
+the Shifty Lad grew quite tired of waiting for them to get to
+bed. The Black Gallows Bird, who was more accustomed to the
+business, tucked himself up on the hay and went to sleep, telling
+the boy to wake him when the merry-makers had departed. But the
+Shifty Lad, who could keep still no longer, crept down to the
+cowshed and loosened the heads of the cattle which were tied, and
+they began to kick each other and bellow, and made such a noise
+that the company in the farmhouse ran out to tie them up again.
+Then the Shifty Lad entered the room and picked up a big handful
+of nuts, and returned to the loft, where the Black Rogue was
+still sleeping. At first the Shifty Lad shut his eyes too, but
+very soon he sat up, and taking a big needle and thread from his
+pocket, he sewed the hem of the Black Gallows Bird's coat to a
+heavy piece of bullock's hide that was hanging at his back.
+
+By this time the cattle were all tied up again, but as the people
+could not find their nuts they sat round the fire and began to
+tell stories.
+
+'I will crack a nut,' said the Shifty Lad.
+
+'You shall not,' cried the Black Gallows Bird; 'they will hear
+you.'
+
+'I don't care,' answered the Shifty Lad. 'I never spend
+Hallowe'en yet without cracking a nut'; and he cracked one.
+
+ 'Some one is cracking nuts up there,' said one of the merry-
+makers in the farmhouse. 'Come quickly, and we will see who it
+is.'
+
+He spoke loudly, and the Black Gallows Bird heard, and ran out of
+the loft, dragging the big leather hide after him which the
+Shifty Lad had sewed to his coat.
+
+'He is stealing my hide!' shouted the farmer, and they all darted
+after him; but he was too swift for them, and at last he managed
+to tear the hide from his coat, and then he flew like a hare till
+he reached his old hiding-place. But all this took a long time,
+and meanwhile the Shifty Lad got down from the loft, and searched
+the house till he found the chest with the gold and silver in it,
+concealed behind a load of straw and covered with loaves of bread
+and a great cheese. The Shifty Lad slung the money bags round his
+shoulders and took the bread and the cheese under his arm, then
+set out quietly for the Black Rogue's house.
+
+'Here you are at last, you villain!' cried his master in great
+wrath. 'But I will be revenged on you.'
+
+'It is all right,' replied the Shifty Lad calmly. 'I have brought
+what you wanted'; and he laid the things he was carrying down on
+the ground.
+
+'Ah! you are the better thief,' said the Black Rogue's wife; and
+the Black Rogue added:
+
+'Yes, it is you who are the clever boy'; and they divided the
+spoil and the Black Gallows Bird had one half and the Shifty Lad
+the other half.
+
+ A few weeks after that the Black Gallows Bird had news of a
+wedding that was to be held near the town; and the bridegroom had
+many friends and everybody sent him a present. Now a rich farmer
+who lived up near the moor thought that nothing was so useful to
+a young couple when they first began to keep house as a fine fat
+sheep, so he bade his shepherd go off to the mountain where the
+flock were feeding, and bring him back the best he could find.
+And the shepherd chose out the largest and fattest of the sheep
+and the one with the whitest fleece; then he tied its feet
+together and put it across his shoulder, for he had a long way to
+go.
+
+That day, the Shifty Lad happened to be wandering over the moor,
+when he saw the man with the sheep on his shoulder walking along
+the road which led past the Black Rogue's house. The sheep was
+heavy and the man was in no hurry, so he came slowly and the boy
+knew that he himself could easily get back to his master before
+the shepherd was even in sight.
+
+'I will wager,' he cried, as he pushed quickly through the bushes
+which hid the cabin--'I will wager that I will steal the sheep
+from the man that is coming before he passes here.'
+
+'Will you indeed?' said the Gallows Bird. 'I will wager you a
+hundred silver pieces that you can do nothing of the sort.'
+
+'Well, I will try it, anyway,' replied the boy, and disappeared
+in the bushes. He ran fast till he entered a wood through which
+the shepherd must go, and then he stopped, and taking off one of
+his shoes smeared it with mud and set it in the path. When this
+was done he slipped behind a rock and waited.
+
+Very soon the man came up, and seeing the shoe lying there, he
+stooped and looked at it.
+
+'It is a good shoe,' he said to himself, 'but very dirty. Still,
+if I had the fellow, I would be at the trouble of cleaning it';
+so he threw the shoe down again and went on.
+
+The Shifty Lad smiled as he heard him, and, picking up the shoe,
+he crept round by a short way and laid the other shoe on the
+path. A few minutes after the shepherd arrived, and beheld the
+second shoe lying on the path.
+
+'Why, that is the fellow of the dirty shoe!' he exclaimed when he
+saw it. 'I will go back and pick up the other one, and then I
+shall have a pair of good shoes,' and he put the sheep on the
+grass and returned to fetch the shoe. Then the Shifty Lad put on
+his shoes, and, picking up the sheep, carried it home. And the
+Black Rogue paid him the hundred marks of his wager.
+
+When the shepherd reached the farmhouse that night he told his
+tale to his master, who scolded him for being stupid and
+careless, and bade him go the next day to the mountain and fetch
+him a kid, and he would send that as a wedding gift. But the
+Shifty Lad was on the look-out, and hid himself in the wood, and
+the moment the man drew near with the kid on his shoulders began
+to bleat like a sheep, and no one, not even the sheep's own
+mother, could have told the difference.
+
+'Why, it must have got its feet loose, and have strayed after
+all,' thought the man; and he put the kid on the grass and
+hurried off in the direction of the bleating. Then the boy ran
+back and picked up the kid, and took it to the Black Gallows
+Bird.
+
+The shepherd could hardly believe his eyes when he returned from
+seeking the sheep and found that the kid had vanished. He was
+afraid to go home and tell the same tale that he had told
+yesterday; so he searched the wood through and through till night
+was nearly come. Then he felt that there was no help for it, and
+he must go home and confess to his master.
+
+Of course, the farmer was very angry at this second misfortune;
+but this time he told him to drive one of the big bulls from the
+mountain, and warned him that if he lost THAT he would lose his
+place also. Again the Shifty Lad, who was on the watch, perceived
+him pass by, and when he saw the man returning with the great
+bull he cried to the Black Rogue:
+
+'Be quick and come into the wood, and we will try to get the bull
+also.'
+
+'But how can we do that?' asked the Black Rogue.
+
+'Oh, quite easily! You hide yourself out there and baa like a
+sheep, and I will go in the other direction and bleat like a kid.
+It will be all right, I assure you.'
+
+ The shepherd was walking slowly, driving the bull before him,
+when he suddenly heard a loud baa amongst the bushes far away on
+one side of the path, and a feeble bleat answering it from the
+other side.
+
+'Why, it must be the sheep and the kid that I lost,' said he.
+'Yes, surely it must'; and tying the bull hastily to a tree, he
+went off after the sheep and the kid, and searched the wood till
+he was tired. Of course by the time he came back the two thieves
+had driven the bull home and killed him for meat, so the man was
+obliged to go to his master and confess that he had been tricked
+again.
+
+After this the Black Rogue and the Shifty Lad grew bolder and
+bolder, and stole great quantities of cattle and sold them and
+grew quite rich. One day they were returning from the market with
+a large sum of money in their pockets when they passed a gallows
+erected on the top of a hill.
+
+'Let us stop and look at that gallows,' exclaimed the Shifty Lad.
+'I have never seen one so close before. Yet some say that it is
+the end of all thieves.'
+
+There was no one in sight, and they carefully examined every part
+of it.
+
+'I wonder how it feels to be hanged,' said the Shifty Lad. 'I
+should like to know, in case they ever catch me. I'll try first,
+and then you can do so.'
+
+As he spoke he fastened the loose cord about his neck, and when
+it was quite secure he told the Black Rogue to take the other end
+of the rope and draw him up from the ground.
+
+'When I am tired of it I will shake my legs, and then you must
+let me down,' said he.
+
+The Black Rogue drew up the rope, but in half a minute the Shifty
+Lad's legs began to shake, and he quickly let it down again.
+
+'You can't imagine what a funny feeling hanging gives you,'
+murmured the Shifty Lad, who looked rather purple in the face and
+spoke in an odd voice. 'I don't think you have every tried it, or
+you wouldn't have let me go up first. Why, it is the pleasantest
+thing I have ever done. I was shaking my legs from sheer delight,
+and if you had been there you would have shaken your legs too.'
+
+'Well, let me try, if it is so nice,' answered the Black Rogue.
+'But be sure you tie the knot securely, for I don't want to fall
+down and break my neck.'
+
+'Oh, I will see to that!' replied the Shifty Lad. 'When you are
+tired, just whistle, and I'll let you down.'
+
+So the Black Rogue was drawn up, and as soon as he was as high as
+the rope would allow him to go the Shifty Lad called to him:
+
+'Don't forest to whistle when you want to come down; but if you
+are enjoying yourself as I did, shake your legs.'
+
+And in a moment the Black Rogue's legs began to shake and to
+kick, and the Shifty Lad stood below, watching him and laughing
+heartily.
+
+'Oh, how funny you are! If you could only see yourself! Oh, you
+ARE funny! But when you have had enough, whistle and you shall be
+let down'; and he rocked again with laughter.
+
+But no whistle came, and soon the legs ceased to shake and to
+kick, for the Black Gallows Bird was dead, as the Shifty Lad
+intended he should be.
+
+Then he went home to the Black Rogue's wife, and told her that
+her husband was dead, and that he was ready to marry her if she
+liked. But the woman had been fond of the Black Rogue, thief
+though he was, and she shrank from the Shifty Lad in horror, and
+set the people after him, and he had to fly to another part of
+the country where none knew of his doings.
+
+ Perhaps if the Shifty Lad's mother knew anything of this, she
+may have thought that by this time her son might be tired of
+stealing, and ready to try some honest trade. But in reality he
+loved the tricks and danger, and life would have seemed very dull
+without them. So he went on just as before, and made friends whom
+he taught to be as wicked as himself, till they took to robbing
+the king's storehouses, and by the advice of the Wise Man the
+king sent out soldiers to catch the band of thieves.
+
+For a long while they tried in vain to lay hands on them. The
+Shifty Lad was too clever for them all, and if they laid traps he
+laid better ones. At last one night he stole upon some soldiers
+while they were asleep in a barn and killed them, and persuaded
+the villagers that if THEY did not kill the other soldiers before
+morning they would certainly be killed themselves. Thus it
+happened that when the sun rose not a single soldier was alive in
+the village.
+
+Of course this news soon reached the king's ears, and he was very
+angry, and summoned the Wise Man to take counsel with him. And
+this was the counsel of the Wise Man--that he should invite all
+the people in the countryside to a ball, and among them the bold
+and impudent thief would be sure to come, and would be sure to
+ask the king's daughter to dance with him.
+
+'Your counsel is good,' said the king, who made his feast and
+prepared for his ball; and all the people of the countryside were
+present, and the Shifty Lad came with them.
+
+When everyone had eaten and drunk as much as they wanted they
+went into the ballroom. There was a great throng, and while they
+were pressing through the doorway the Wise Man, who had a bottle
+of black ointment hidden in his robes, placed a tiny dot on the
+cheek of the Shifty Lad near his ear. The Shifty Lad felt
+nothing, but as he approached the king's daughter to ask her to
+be his partner he caught sight of the black dot in a silver
+mirror. Instantly he guessed who had put it there and why, but he
+said nothing, and danced so beautifully that the princess was
+quite delighted with him. At the end of the dance he bowed low to
+his partner and left her, to mingle with the crowd that was
+filling the doorway. As he passed the Wise Man he contrived not
+only to steal the bottle but to place two black dots on his face,
+and one on the faces of twenty other men. Then he slipped the
+bottle back in the Wise Man's robe.
+
+By-and-by he went up to the king's daughter again, and begged for
+the honour of another dance. She consented, and while he was
+stooping to tie the ribbons on his shoe she took out from her
+pocket another bottle, which the Wizard had given her, and put a
+black dot on his cheek. But she was not as skilful as the Wise
+Man, and the Shifty Lad felt the touch of her fingers; so as soon
+as the dance was over he contrived to place a second black dot on
+the faces of the twenty men and two more on the Wizard, after
+which he slipped the bottle into her pocket.
+
+ At length the ball came to an end, and then the king ordered all
+the doors to be shut, and search made for a man with two black
+dots on his cheek. The chamberlain went among the guests, and
+soon found such a man, but just as he was going to arrest him and
+bring him before the king his eye fell on another with the same
+mark, and another, and another, till he had counted twenty--
+besides the Wise Man--on whose face were found spots.
+
+Not knowing what to do, the chamberlain hurried back with his
+tale to the king, who immediately sent for the Wise Man, and then
+for his daughter.
+
+'The thief must have stolen your bottle,' said the king to the
+Wizard.
+
+'No, my lord, it is here,' answered the Wise Man, holding it out.
+
+'Then he must have got yours,' he cried, turning to his daughter.
+
+'Indeed, father, it is safe in my pocket,' replied she, taking it
+out as she spoke; and they all three looked at each other and
+remained silent.
+
+'Well,' said the king at last, 'the man who has done this is
+cleverer than most men, and if he will make himself known to me
+he shall marry the princess and govern half my kingdom while I am
+alive, and the whole of it when I am dead. Go and announce this
+in the ballroom,' he added to an attendant, 'and bring the fellow
+hither.'
+
+So the attendant went into the ballroom and did as the king had
+bidden him, when, to his surprise, not one man, but twenty,
+stepped forward, all with black dots on their faces.
+
+'I am the person you want,' they all exclaimed at once, and the
+attendant, as much bewildered as the chamberlain had been,
+desired them to follow him into the king's presence.
+
+But the question was too difficult for the king to decide, so he
+called together his council. For hours they talked, but to no
+purpose, and in the end they hit upon a plan which they might
+just as well have thought of at the beginning.
+
+And this was the plan. A child was to be brought to the palace,
+and next the king's daughter would give her an apple. Then the
+child was to take the apple and be led into a room where the
+twenty men with the black dots were sitting in a ring. And to
+whomsoever the child gave the apple, that man should marry the
+king's daughter.
+
+'Of course,' said the king, 'it may not be the right man, after
+all, but then again it MAY be. Anyhow, it is the best we can do.'
+
+The princess herself led the child into the room where the twenty
+men were now seated. She stood in the centre of the ring for a
+moment, looking at one man after another, and then held out the
+apple to the Shifty Lad, who was twisting a shaving of wood round
+his finger, and had the mouthpiece of a bagpipe hanging from his
+neck.
+
+'You ought not to have anything which the others have not got,'
+said the chamberlain, who had accompanied the princess; and he
+bade the child stand outside for a minute, while he took away the
+shaving and the mouthpiece, and made the Shifty Lad change his
+place. Then he called the child in, but the little girl knew him
+again, and went straight up to him with the apple.
+
+'This is the man whom the child has twice chosen,' said the
+chamberlain, signing to the Shifty Lad to kneel before the king.
+'It was all quite fair; we tried it twice over.' In this way the
+Shifty Lad won the king's daughter, and they were married the
+next day.
+
+ A few days later the bride and bridegroom were taking a walk
+together, and the path led down to the river, and over the river
+was a bridge.
+
+'And what bridge may this be?' asked the Shifty Lad; and the
+princess told him that this was the bridge of Dublin.
+
+'Is it indeed?' cried he. 'Well, now, many is the time that my
+mother has said, when I played her a trick, that my end would be
+that I should hang on the bridge of Dublin.'
+
+'Oh, if you want to fulfil her prophecies,' laughed the princess,
+'you have only to let me tie my handkerchief round your ankle,
+and I will hold you as you hang over the wall of the bridge.'
+
+'That would be fine fun,' said he; 'but you are not strong enough
+to hold me up.'
+
+'Oh, yes, I am,' said the princess; 'just try.' So at last he let
+her bind the handkerchief round his ankle and hang him over the
+wall, and they both laughed and jested at the strength of the
+princess.
+
+'Now pull me up again,' called he; but as he spoke a great cry
+arose that the palace was burning. The princess turned round with
+a start, and let go her handkerchief, and the Shifty Lad fell,
+and struck his head on a stone, and died in an instant.
+
+So his mother's prophecy had come true, after all.
+
+West Highland Tales.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                 The False Prince and the True
+
+
+
+
+The king had just awakened from his midday sleep, for it was
+summer, and everyone rose early and rested from twelve to three,
+as they do in hot countries. He had dressed himself in cool white
+clothes, and was passing through the hall on his way to the
+council chamber, when a number of young nobles suddenly appeared
+before him, and one amongst them stepped forward and spoke.
+
+'Sire, this morning we were all playing tennis in the court, the
+prince and this gentleman with the rest, when there broke out
+some dispute about the game. The prince lost his temper, and said
+many insulting things to the other, who was playing against him,
+till at length the gentleman whom you see there struck him
+violently in the face, so that the blood ran from his mouth and
+nose. We were all so horrified at the sight, that we should most
+likely have killed the man then and there, for daring to lay
+hands on the prince, had not his grandfather the duke stepped
+between and commanded us to lay the affair before you.'
+
+The king had listened attentively to the story, and when it was
+ended he said:
+
+'I suppose the prince had no arms with him, or else he would have
+used them?'
+
+'Yes, sire, he had arms; he always carries a dagger in his belt.
+But when he saw the blood pouring from his face, he went to a
+corner of the court and began to cry, which was the strangest
+thing of all.'
+
+On hearing this the king walked to the window and stood for a few
+minutes with his back to the room, where the company of young men
+remained silent. Then he came back, his face white and stern.
+
+'I tell you,' he said, 'and it is the solemn truth, that I would
+rather you had told me that the prince was dead, though he is my
+only son, than know that he would suffer such an injury without
+attempting to avenge it. As for the gentleman who struck him, he
+will be brought before my judges, and will plead his own cause,
+but I hardly think he can escape death, after having assaulted
+the heir to the crown.'
+
+The young man raised his head as if to reply, but the king would
+not listen, and commanded his guards to put him under arrest,
+adding, however, that if the prisoner wished to visit any part of
+the city, he was at liberty to do so properly guarded, and in
+fifteen days he would be brought to trial before the highest
+judges in the land.
+
+The young man left the king's presence, surrounded by soldiers,
+and accompanied by many of his friends, for he was a great
+favourite. By their advice he spent the fourteen days that
+remained to him going about to seek counsel from wise men of all
+sorts, as to how he might escape death, but no one could help
+him, for none could find any excuse for the blow he had given to
+the prince.
+
+The fourteenth night had come, and in despair the prisoner went
+out to take his last walk through the city. He wandered on hardly
+knowing where he went, and his face was so white and desperate
+that none of his companions dared speak to him. The sad little
+procession had passed some hours in this manner, when, near the
+gate of a monastery, an old woman appeared round a corner, and
+suddenly stood before the young man. She was bent almost double,
+and was so wizened and wrinkled that she looked at least ninety;
+only her eyes were bright and quick as those of a girl.
+
+'Sir,' she said, 'I know all that has happened to you, and how
+you are seeking if in any wise you can save your life. But there
+is none that can answer that question save only I myself, if you
+will promise to do all I ask.'
+
+At her words the prisoner felt as if a load had all at once been
+rolled off him.
+
+'Oh, save me, and I will do anything!' he cried. 'It is so hard
+to leave the world and go out into the darkness.'
+
+'You will not need to do that,' answered the old woman, 'you have
+only got to marry me, and you will soon be free.'
+
+'Marry you?' exclaimed he, 'but--but--I am not yet twenty, and
+you --why, you must be a hundred at least! Oh, no, it is quite
+impossible.'
+
+He spoke without thinking, but the flash of anger which darted
+from her eyes made him feel uncomfortable. However, all she said
+was:
+
+'As you like; since you reject me, let the crows have you,' and
+hurried away down the street.
+
+Left to himself, the full horror of his coming death rushed upon
+the young man, and he understood that he had thrown away his sole
+chance of life. Well, if he must, he must, he said to himself,
+and began to run as fast as he could after the old crone, who by
+this time could scarcely be seen, even in the moonlight. Who
+would have believed a woman past ninety could walk with such
+speed? It seemed more like flying! But at length, breathless and
+exhausted, he reached her side, and gasped out:
+
+'Madam, pardon me for my hasty words just now; I was wrong, and
+will thankfully accept the offer you made me.'
+
+'Ah, I thought you would come to your senses,' answered she, in
+rather an odd voice. 'We have no time to lose--follow me at
+once,' and they went on silently and swiftly till they stopped at
+the door of a small house in which the priest lived. Before him
+the old woman bade the prisoner swear that she should be his
+wife, and this he did in the presence of witnesses. Then, begging
+the priest and the guards to leave them alone for a little, she
+told the young man what he was to do, when the next morning he
+was brought before the king and the judges.
+
+The hall was full to overflowing when the prisoner entered it,
+and all marvelled at the brightness of his face. The king
+inquired if he had any excuse to plead for the high treason he
+had committed by striking the heir to the throne, and, if so, to
+be quick in setting it forth. With a low bow the youth made
+answer in a clear voice:
+
+'O my lord and gracious king, and you, nobles and wise men of the
+land, I leave my cause without fear in your hands, knowing that
+you will listen and judge rightly, and that you will suffer me to
+speak to the end, before you give judgment.
+
+'For four years, you, O king, had been married to the queen and
+yet had no children, which grieved you greatly. The queen saw
+this, and likewise that your love was going from her, and thought
+night and day of some plan that might put an end to this evil. At
+length, when you were away fighting in distant countries, she
+decided what she would do, and adopted in secret the baby of a
+poor quarryman, sending a messenger to tell you that you had a
+son. No one suspected the truth except a priest to whom the queen
+confessed the truth, and in a few weeks she fell ill and died,
+leaving the baby to be brought up as became a prince. And now, if
+your highness will permit me, I will speak of myself.'
+
+'What you have already told me,' answered the king, 'is so
+strange that I cannot imagine what more there is to tell, but go
+on with your story.'
+
+'One day, shortly after the death of the queen,' continued the
+young man, 'your highness was hunting, and outstripped all your
+attendants while chasing the deer. You were in a part of the
+country which you did not know, so seeing an orchard all pink and
+white with apple-blossoms, and a girl tossing a ball in one
+corner, you went up to her to ask your way. But when she turned
+to answer you, you were so struck with her beauty that all else
+fled from your mind. Again and again you rode back to see her,
+and at length persuaded her to marry you. She only thought you a
+poor knight, and agreed that as you wished it, the marriage
+should be kept secret.
+
+'After the ceremony you gave her three rings and a charm with a
+cross on it, and then put her in a cottage in the forest,
+thinking to hide the matter securely.
+
+'For some months you visited the cottage every week; but a
+rebellion broke out in a distant part of the kingdom, and called
+for your presence. When next you rode up to the cottage, it was
+empty, and none could inform you whither your bride had gone.
+That, sire, I can now tell you,' and the young man paused and
+looked at the king, who coloured deeply. 'She went back to her
+father the old duke, once your chamberlain, and the cross on her
+breast revealed at once who you were. Fierce was his anger when
+he heard his daughter's tale, and he vowed that he would hide her
+safely from you, till the day when you would claim her publicly
+as your queen.
+
+'By and bye I was born, and was brought up by my grandfather in
+one of his great houses. Here are the rings you gave to my
+mother, and here is the cross, and these will prove if I am your
+son or not.'
+
+As he spoke the young man laid the jewels at the feet of the
+king, and the nobles and the judges pressed round to examine
+them. The king alone did not move from his seat, for he had
+forgotten the hall of justice and all about him, and saw only the
+apple-orchard, as it was twenty years ago, and the beautiful girl
+playing at ball. A sudden silence round him made him look up, and
+he found the eyes of the assembly fixed on him.
+
+'It is true; it is he who is my son, and not the other,' he said
+with an effort, 'and let every man present swear to acknowledge
+him as king, after my death.'
+
+Therefore one by one they all knelt before him and took the oath,
+and a message was sent to the false prince, forbidding him ever
+again to appear at court, though a handsome pension was granted
+him.
+
+At last the ceremony was over, and the king, signing to his newly
+found son to follow him, rose and went into another room.
+
+'Tell me how you knew all that,' he said, throwing himself into a
+carved chair filled with crimson cushions, and the prince told of
+his meeting with the old woman who had brought him the jewels
+from his mother, and how he had sworn before a priest to marry
+her, though he did not want to do it, on account of the
+difference in their ages, and besides, he would rather receive a
+bride chosen by the king himself. But the king frowned, and
+answered sharply:
+
+'You swore to marry her if she saved your life, and, come what
+may, you must fulfil your promise.' Then, striking a silver
+shield that hung close by, he said to the equerry who appeared
+immediately:
+
+'Go and seek the priest who lives near the door of the prison,
+and ask him where you can find the old woman who visited him last
+night; and when you have found her, bring her to the palace.'
+
+It took some time to discover the whereabouts of the old woman,
+but at length it was accomplished, and when she arrived at the
+palace with the equerry, she was received with royal honours, as
+became the bride of the prince. The guards looked at each other
+with astonished eyes, as the wizened creature, bowed with age,
+passed between their lines; but they were more amazed still at
+the lightness of her step as she skipped up the steps to the
+great door before which the king was standing, with the prince at
+his side. If they both felt a shock at the appearance of the aged
+lady they did not show it, and the king, with a grave bow, took
+her band, and led her to the chapel, where a bishop was waiting
+to perform the marriage ceremony.
+
+For the next few weeks little was seen of the prince, who spent
+all his days in hunting, and trying to forget the old wife at
+home. As for the princess, no one troubled himself about her, and
+she passed the days alone in her apartments, for she had
+absolutely declined the services of the ladies-in-waiting whom
+the king had appointed for her.
+
+One night the prince returned after a longer chase than usual,
+and he was so tired that he went up straight to bed. Suddenly he
+was awakened by a strange noise in the room, and suspecting that
+a robber might have stolen in, he jumped out of bed, and seized
+his sword, which lay ready to his hand. Then he perceived that
+the noise proceeded from the next room, which belonged to the
+princess, and was lighted by a burning torch. Creeping softly to
+the door, he peeped through it, and beheld her lying quietly,
+with a crown of gold and pearls upon her head, her wrinkles all
+gone, and her face, which was whiter than the snow, as fresh as
+that of a girl of fourteen. Could that really be his wife--that
+beautiful, beautiful creature?
+
+The prince was still gazing in surprise when the lady opened her
+eyes and smiled at him.
+
+'Yes, I really am your wife,' she said, as if she had guessed his
+thoughts, 'and the enchantment is ended. Now I must tell you who
+I am, and what befell to cause me to take the shape of an old
+woman.
+
+'The king of Granada is my father, and I was born in the palace
+which overlooks the plain of the Vega. I was only a few months
+old when a wicked fairy, who had a spite against my parents, cast
+a spell over me, bending my back and wrinkling my skin till I
+looked as if I was a hundred years old, and making me such an
+object of disgust to everyone, that at length the king ordered my
+nurse to take my away from the palace. She was the only person
+who cared about me, and we lived together in this city on a small
+pension allowed me by the king.
+
+'When I was about three an old man arrived at our house, and
+begged my nurse to let him come in and rest, as he could walk no
+longer. She saw that he was very ill, so put him to bed and took
+such care of him that by and bye he was as strong as ever. In
+gratitude for her goodness to him, he told her that he was a
+wizard and could give her anything she chose to ask for, except
+life or death, so she answered that what she longed for most in
+the world was that my wrinkled skin should disappear, and that I
+should regain the beauty with which I was born. To this he
+replied that as my misfortune resulted from a spell, this was
+rather difficult, but he would do his best, and at any rate he
+could promise that before my fifteenth birthday I should be freed
+from the enchantment if I could get a man who would swear to
+marry me as I was.
+
+'As you may suppose, this was not easy, as my ugliness was such
+that no one would look at me a second time. My nurse and I were
+almost in despair, as my fifteenth birthday was drawing near, and
+I had never so much as spoken to a man. At last we received a
+visit from the wizard, who told us what had happened at court,
+and your story, bidding me to put myself in your way when you had
+lost all hope, and offer to save you if you would consent to
+marry me.
+
+'That is my history, and now you must beg the king to send
+messengers at once to Granada, to inform my father of our
+marriage, and I think,' she added with a smile, 'that he will not
+refuse us his blessing.'
+
+Adapted from the Portuguese.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     The Jogi's Punishment
+
+
+
+
+Once upon a time there came to the ancient city of Rahmatabad a
+jogi[FN#1: A Hindu holy man.] of holy appearance, who took up
+his abode under a tree outside the city, where he would sit for
+days at a time fasting from food and drink, motionless except for
+the fingers that turned restlessly his string of beads. The fame
+of such holiness as this soon spread, and daily the citizens
+would flock to see him, eager to get his blessing, to watch his
+devotions, or to hear his teaching, if he were in the mood to
+speak. Very soon the rajah himself heard of the jogi, and began
+regularly to visit him to seek his counsel and to ask his prayers
+that a son might be vouchsafed to him. Days passed by, and at
+last the rajah became so possessed with the thought of the holy
+man that he determined if possible to get him all to himself. So
+he built in the neighbourhood a little shrine, with a room or two
+added to it, and a small courtyard closely walled up; and, when
+all was ready, besought the jogi to occupy it, and to receive no
+other visitors except himself and his queen and such pupils as
+the jogi might choose, who would hand down his teaching. To this
+the jogi consented; and thus he lived for some time upon the
+king's bounty, whilst the fame of his godliness grew day by day.
+
+Now, although the rajah of Rahmatabad had no son, he possessed a
+daughter, who as she grew up became the most beautiful creature
+that eye ever rested upon. Her father had long before betrothed
+her to the son of the neighbouring rajah of Dilaram, but as yet
+she had not been married to him, and lived the quiet life proper
+to a maiden of her beauty and position. The princess had of
+course heard of the holy man and of his miracles and his fasting,
+and she was filled with curiosity to see and to speak to him; but
+this was difficult, since she was not allowed to go out except
+into the palace grounds, and then was always closely guarded.
+However, at length she found an opportunity, and made her way one
+evening alone to the hermit's shrine.
+
+Unhappily, the hermit was not really as holy as he seemed; for no
+sooner did he see the princess than he fell in love with her
+wonderful beauty, and began to plot in his heart how he could win
+her for his wife. But the maiden was not only beautiful, she was
+also shrewd; and as soon as she read in the glance of the jogi
+the love that filled his soul, she sprang to her feet, and,
+gathering her veil about her, ran from the place as fast as she
+could. The jogi tried to follow, but he was no match for her; so,
+beside himself with rage at finding that he could not overtake
+her, he flung at her a lance, which wounded her in the leg. The
+brave princess stooped for a second to pluck the lance out of the
+wound, and then ran on until she found herself safe at home
+again. There she bathed and bound up the wound secretly, and told
+no one how naughty she had been, for she knew that her father
+would punish her severely.
+
+Next day, when the king went to visit the jogi, the holy man
+would neither speak to nor look at him.
+
+'What is the matter?' asked the king. 'Won't you speak to me to-
+day?'
+
+'I have nothing to say that you would care to hear,' answered the
+jogi.
+
+'Why?' said the king. 'Surely you know that I value all that you
+say, whatever it may be.'
+
+But still the jogi sat with his face turned away, and the more
+the king pressed him the more silent and mysterious he became. At
+last, after much persuasion, he said:
+
+'Let me tell you, then, that there is in this city a creature
+which, if you do not put an end to it, will kill every single
+person in the place.'
+
+The king, who was easily frightened, grew pale.
+
+'What?' he gasped--'what is this dreadful thing? How am I to know
+it and to catch it? Only counsel me and help me, and I will do
+all that you advise.'
+
+'Ah!' replied the jogi, 'it is indeed dreadful. It is in the
+shape of a beautiful girl, but it is really an evil spirit. Last
+evening it came to visit me, and when I looked upon it its beauty
+faded into hideousness, its teeth became horrible fangs, its eyes
+glared like coals of fire, great claws sprang from its slender
+fingers, and were I not what I am it might have consumed me.'
+
+The king could hardly speak from alarm, but at last he said:
+
+'How am I to distinguish this awful thing when I see it?'
+
+'Search,' said the jogi, 'for a lovely girl with a lance wound in
+her leg, and when she is found secure her safely and come and
+tell me, and I will advise you what to do next.'
+
+Away hurried the king, and soon set all his soldiers scouring the
+country for a girl with a lance wound in her left. For two days
+the search went on, and then it was somehow discovered that the
+only person with a lance wound in the leg was the princess
+herself. The king, greatly agitated, went off to tell the jogi,
+and to assure him that there must be some mistake. But of course
+the jogi was prepared for this, and had his answer ready.
+
+'She is not really your daughter, who was stolen away at her
+birth, but an evil spirit that has taken her form,' said he
+solemnly. 'You can do what you like, but if you don't take my
+advice she will kill you all.' And so solemn he appeared, and so
+unshaken in his confidence, that the king's wisdom was blinded,
+and he declared that he would do whatever the jogi advised, and
+believe whatever he said. So the jogi directed him to send him
+secretly two carpenters; and when they arrived he set them to
+make a great chest, so cunningly jointed and put together that
+neither air nor water could penetrate it. There and then the
+chest was made, and, when it was ready, the jogi bade the king to
+bring the princess by night; and they two thrust the poor little
+maiden into the chest and fastened it down with long nails, and
+between them carried it to the river and pushed it out into the
+stream.
+
+As soon as the jogi got back from this deed he called two of his
+pupils, and pretended that it had been revealed to him that there
+should be found floating on the river a chest with something of
+great price within it; and he bade them go and watch for it at
+such a place far down the stream, and when the chest came slowly
+along, bobbing and turning in the tide, they were to seize it and
+secretly and swiftly bring it to him, for he was now determined
+to put the princess to death himself. The pupils set off at once,
+wondering at the strangeness of their errand, and still more at
+the holiness of the jogi to whom such secrets were revealed.
+
+It happened that, as the next morning was dawning, the gallant
+young prince of Dilaram was hunting by the banks of the river,
+with a great following of wazirs, attendants, and huntsmen, and
+as he rode he saw floating on the river a large chest, which came
+slowly along, bobbing and turning in the tide. Raising himself in
+his saddle, he gave an order, and half a dozen men plunged into
+the water and drew the chest out on to the river bank, where
+every one crowded around to see what it could contain. The prince
+was certainly not the least curious among them; but he was a
+cautious young man, and, as he prepared to open the chest
+himself, he bade all but a few stand back, and these few to draw
+their swords, so as to be prepared in case the chest should hold
+some evil beast, or djinn, or giant. When all were ready and
+expectant, the prince with his dagger forced open the lid and
+flung it back, and there lay, living and breathing, the most
+lovely maiden he had ever seen in his life.
+
+Although she was half stifled from her confinement in the chest,
+the princess speedily revived, and, when she was able to sit up,
+the prince began to question her as to who she was and how she
+came to be shut up in the chest and set afloat upon the water;
+and she, blushing and trembling to find herself in the presence
+of so many strangers, told him that she was the princess of
+Rahmatabad, and that she had been put into the chest by her own
+father. When he on his part told her that he was the prince of
+Dilaram, the astonishment of the young people was unbounded to
+find that they, who had been betrothed without ever having seen
+one another, should have actually met for the first time in such
+strange circumstances. In fact, the prince was so moved by her
+beauty and modest ways that he called up his wazirs and demanded
+to be married at once to this lovely lady who had so completely
+won his heart. And married they were then and there upon the
+river bank, and went home to the prince's palace, where, when the
+story was told, they were welcomed by the old rajah, the prince's
+father, and the remainder of the day was given over to feasting
+and rejoicing. But when the banquet was over, the bride told her
+husband that now, on the threshold of their married life, she had
+more to relate of her adventures than he had given her the
+opportunity to tell as yet; and then, without hiding anything,
+she informed him of all that happened to her from the time she
+had stolen out to visit the wicked jogi.
+
+In the morning the prince called his chief wazir and ordered him
+to shut up in the chest in which the princess had been found a
+great monkey that lived chained up in the palace, and to take the
+chest back to the river and set it afloat once more and watch
+what became of it. So the monkey was caught and put into the
+chest, and some of the prince's servants took it down to the
+river and pushed it off into the water. Then they followed
+secretly a long way off to see what became of it.
+
+Meanwhile the jogi's two pupils watched and watched for the chest
+until they were nearly tired of watching, and were beginning to
+wonder whether the jogi was right after all, when on the second
+day they spied the great chest coming floating on the river,
+slowly bobbing and turning in the tide; and instantly a great joy
+and exultation seized them, for they thought that here indeed was
+further proof of the wonderful wisdom of their master. With some
+difficulty they secured the chest, and carried it back as swiftly
+and secretly as possible to the jogi's house. As soon as they
+brought in the chest, the jogi, who had been getting very cross
+and impatient, told them to put it down, and to go outside whilst
+he opened the magic chest.
+
+'And even if you hear cries and sounds, however alarming, you
+must on no account enter,' said the jogi, walking over to a
+closet where lay the silken cord that was to strangle the
+princess.
+
+And the two pupils did as they were told, and went outside and
+shut close all the doors. Presently they heard a great outcry
+within and the jogi's voice crying aloud for help; but they dared
+not enter, for had they not been told that whatever the noise,
+they must not come in? So they sat outside, waiting and
+wondering; and at last all grew still and quiet, and remained so
+for such a long time that they determined to enter and see if all
+was well. No sooner had they opened the door leading into the
+courtyard than they were nearly upset by a huge monkey that came
+leaping straight to the doorway and escaped past them into the
+open fields. Then they stepped into the room, and there they saw
+the jogi's body lying torn to pieces on the threshold of his
+dwelling!
+
+Very soon the story spread, as stories will, and reached the ears
+of the princess and her husband, and when she knew that her enemy
+was dead she made her peace with her father.
+
+From Major Campbell, Feroshepore.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     The Heart of a Monkey
+
+
+
+
+A long time ago a little town made up of a collection of low huts
+stood in a tiny green valley at the foot of a cliff. Of course
+the people had taken great care to build their houses out of
+reach of the highest tide which might be driven on shore by a
+west wind, but on the very edge of the town there had sprung up a
+tree so large that half its boughs hung over the huts and the
+other half over the deep sea right under the cliff, where sharks
+loved to come and splash in the clear water. The branches of the
+tree itself were laden with fruit, and every day at sunrise a big
+grey monkey might have been seen sitting in the topmost branches
+having his breakfast, and chattering to himself with delight.
+
+After he had eaten all the fruit on the town side of the tree the
+monkey swung himself along the branches to the part which hung
+over the water. While he was looking out for a nice shady place
+where he might perch comfortably he noticed a shark watching him
+from below with greedy eyes.
+
+'Can I do anything for you, my friend?' asked the monkey
+politely.
+
+'Oh! if you only would thrown me down some of those delicious
+things, I should be so grateful,' answered the shark. 'After you
+have lived on fish for fifty years you begin to feel you would
+like a change. And I am so very, very tired of the taste of
+salt.'
+
+'Well, I don't like salt myself,' said the monkey; 'so if you
+will open your mouth I will throw this beautiful juicy kuyu into
+it,' and, as he spoke, he pulled one off the branch just over his
+head. But it was not so easy to hit the shark's mouth as he
+supposed, even when the creature had turned on his back, and the
+first kuyu only struck one of his teeth and rolled into the
+water. However, the second time the monkey had better luck, and
+the fruit fell right in.
+
+'Ah, how good!' cried the shark. 'Send me another, please.' And
+the monkey grew tired of picking the kuyu long before the shark
+was tired of eating them.
+
+'It is getting late, and I must be going home to my children,' he
+said, at length, 'but if you are here at the same time to-morrow
+I will give you another treat.'
+
+'Thank you, thank you,' said the shark, showing all his great
+ugly teeth as he grinned with delight; 'you can't guess how happy
+you have made me,' and he swam away into the shadow, hoping to
+sleep away the time till the monkey came again.
+
+For weeks the monkey and the shark breakfasted together, and it
+was a wonder that the tree had any fruit left for them. They
+became fast friends, and told each other about their homes and
+their children, and how to teach them all they ought to know. By
+and bye the monkey became rather discontented with his green
+house in a grove of palms beyond the town, and longed to see the
+strange things under the sea which he had heard of from the
+shark. The shark perceived this very clearly, and described
+greater marvels, and the monkey as he listened grew more and more
+gloomy.
+
+Matters were in this state when one day the shark said: 'I really
+hardly know how to thank you for all your kindness to me during
+these weeks. Here I have nothing of my own to offer you, but if
+you would only consent to come home with me, how gladly would I
+give you anything that might happen to take your fancy.'
+
+'I should like nothing better,' cried the monkey, his teeth
+chattering, as they always did when he was pleased. 'But how
+could I get there? Not by water. Ugh! It makes me ill to think of
+it!'
+
+'Oh! don't let that trouble you,' replied the shark, 'you have
+only to sit on my back and I will undertake that not a drop of
+water shall touch you.'
+
+So it was arranged, and directly after breakfast next morning the
+shark swam close up under the tree and the monkey dropped neatly
+on his back, without even a splash. After a few minutes--for at
+first he felt a little frightened at his strange position--the
+monkey began to enjoy himself vastly, and asked the shark a
+thousand questions about the fish and the sea-weeds and the
+oddly-shaped things that floated past them, and as the shark
+always gave him some sort of answer, the monkey never guessed
+that many of the objects they saw were as new to his guide as to
+himself.
+
+The sun had risen and set six times when the shark suddenly said,
+'My friend, we have now performed half our journey, and it is
+time that I should tell you something.'
+
+'What is it?' asked the monkey. 'Nothing unpleasant, I hope, for
+you sound rather grave?'
+
+'Oh, no! Nothing at all. It is only that shortly before we left I
+heard that the sultan of my country is very ill, and that the
+only thing to cure him is a monkey's heart.'
+
+'Poor man, I am very sorry for him,' replied the monkey; 'but you
+were unwise not to tell me till we had started.'
+
+'What do you mean?' asked the shark; but the monkey, who now
+understood the whole plot, did not answer at once, for he was
+considering what he should say.
+
+'Why are you so silent?' inquired the shark again.
+
+'I was thinking what a pity it was you did not tell me while I
+was still on land, and then I would have brought my heart with
+me.'
+
+'Your heart! Why isn't your heart here?' said the shark, with a
+puzzled expression.
+
+'Oh, no! Of course not. Is it possible you don't know that when
+we leave home we always hang up our hearts on trees, to prevent
+their being troublesome? However, perhaps you won't believe that,
+and will just think I have invented it because I am afraid, so
+let us go on to your country as fast as we can, and when we
+arrive you can look for my heart, and if you find it you can kill
+me.'
+
+The monkey spoke in such a calm, indifferent way that the shark
+was quite deceived, and began to wish he had not been in such a
+hurry.
+
+'But there is no use going on if your heart is not with you,' he
+said at last. 'We had better turn back to the town, and then you
+can fetch it.'
+
+Of course, this was just what the monkey wanted, but he was
+careful not to seem too pleased.
+
+'Well, I don't know,' he remarked carelessly, 'it is such a long
+way; but you may be right.'
+
+'I am sure I am,' answered the shark, 'and I will swim as quickly
+as I can,' and so he did, and in three days they caught sight of
+the kuyu tree hanging over the water.
+
+With a sigh of relief the monkey caught hold of the nearest
+branch and swung himself up.
+
+'Wait for me here,' he called out to the shark. 'I am so hungry I
+must have a little breakfast, and then I will go and look for my
+heart,' and he went further and further into the branches so that
+the shark could not see him. Then he curled himself up and went
+to sleep.
+
+'Are you there?' cried the shark, who was soon tired of swimming
+about under the cliff, and was in haste to be gone.
+
+The monkey awoke with a start, but did not answer.
+
+'Are you there?' called the shark again, louder than before, and
+in a very cross voice.
+
+'Oh, yes. I am here,' replied the monkey; 'but I wish you had not
+wakened me up. I was having such a nice nap.'
+
+'Have you got it?' asked the shark. 'It is time we were going.'
+
+'Going where?' inquired the monkey.
+
+'Why, to my country, of course, with your heart. You CAN'T have
+forgotten!'
+
+'My dear friend,' answered the monkey, with a chuckle, 'I think
+you must be going a little mad. Do you take me for a washerman's
+donkey?'
+
+'Don't talk nonsense,' exclaimed the shark, who did not like
+being laughed at. 'What do you mean about a washerman's donkey?
+And I wish you would be quick, or we may be too late to save the
+sultan.'
+
+'Did you really never hear of the washerman's donkey?' asked the
+monkey, who was enjoying himself immensely. 'Why, he is the beast
+who has no heart. And as I am not feeling very well, and am
+afraid to start while the sun is so high lest I should get a
+sunstroke, if you like, I will come a little nearer and tell you
+his story.'
+
+'Very well,' said the shark sulkily, 'if you won't come, I
+suppose I may as well listen to that as do nothing.'
+
+So the monkey began.
+
+'A washerman once lived in the great forest on the other side of
+the town, and he had a donkey to keep him company and to carry
+him wherever he wanted to go. For a time they got on very well,
+but by and bye the donkey grew lazy and ungrateful for her
+master's kindness, and ran away several miles into the heart of
+the forest, where she did nothing but eat and eat and eat, till
+she grew so fat she could hardly move.
+
+'One day as she was tasting quite a new kind of grass and
+wondering if it was as good as what she had had for dinner the
+day before, a hare happened to pass by.
+
+'"Well, that is a fat creature," thought she, and turned out of
+her path to tell the news to a lion who was a friend of hers. Now
+the lion had been very ill, and was not strong enough to go
+hunting for himself, and when the hare came and told him that a
+very fat donkey was to be found only a few hundred yards off,
+tears of disappointment and weakness filled his eyes.
+
+'"What is the good of telling me that?" he asked, in a weepy
+voice; "you know I cannot even walk as far as that palm."
+
+'"Never mind," answered the hare briskly. "If you can't go to
+your dinner your dinner shall come to you," and nodding a
+farewell to the lion she went back to the donkey.
+
+'"Good morning," said she, bowing politely to the donkey, who
+lifted her head in surprise. "Excuse my interrupting you, but I
+have come on very important business."
+
+'"Indeed," answered the donkey, "it is most kind of you to take
+the trouble. May I inquire what the business is?"
+
+'"Certainly," replied the hare. "It is my friend the lion who has
+heard so much of your charms and good qualities that he has sent
+me to beg that you will give him your paw in marriage. He regrets
+deeply that he is unable to make the request in person, but he
+has been ill and is too weak to move."
+
+'"Poor fellow! How sad!" said the donkey. "But you must tell him
+that I feel honoured by his proposal, and will gladly consent to
+be Queen of the Beasts."
+
+'"Will you not come and tell him so yourself?" asked the hare.
+
+'Side by side they went down the road which led to the lion's
+house. It took a long while, for the donkey was so fat with
+eating she could only walk very slowly, and the hare, who could
+have run the distance in about five minutes, was obliged to creep
+along till she almost dropped with fatigue at not being able to
+go at her own pace. When at last they arrived the lion was
+sitting up at the entrance, looking very pale and thin. The
+donkey suddenly grew shy and hung her head, but the lion put on
+his best manners and invited both his visitors to come in and
+make themselves comfortable.
+
+'Very soon the hare got up and said, "Well, as I have another
+engagement I will leave you to make acquaintance with your future
+husband," and winking at the lion she bounded away.
+
+'The donkey expected that as soon as they were left alone the
+lion would begin to speak of their marriage, and where they
+should live, but as he said nothing she looked up. To her
+surprise and terror she saw him crouching in the corner, his eyes
+glaring with a red light, and with a loud roar he sprang towards
+her. But in that moment the donkey had had time to prepare
+herself, and jumping on one side dealt the lion such a hard kick
+that he shrieked with the pain. Again and again he struck at her
+with his claws, but the donkey could bite too, as well as the
+lion, who was very weak after his illness, and at last a well-
+planted kick knocked him right over, and he rolled on the floor,
+groaning with pain. The donkey did not wait for him to get up,
+but ran away as fast as she could and was lost in the forest.
+
+'Now the hare, who knew quite well what would happen, had not
+gone to do her business, but hid herself in some bushes behind
+the cave, where she could hear quite clearly the sounds of the
+battle. When all was quiet again she crept gently out, and stole
+round the corner.
+
+'"Well, lion, have you killed her?" asked she, running swiftly up
+the path.
+
+'"Killed her, indeed!" answered the lion sulkily, "it is she who
+has nearly killed me. I never knew a donkey could kick like that,
+though I took care she should carry away the marks of my claws."
+
+'"Dear me! Fancy such a great fat creature being able to fight!"
+cried the hare. "But don't vex yourself. Just lie still, and your
+wounds will soon heal," and she bade her friend, good bye, and
+returned to her family.
+
+'Two or three weeks passed, and only bare places on the donkey's
+back showed where the lion's claws had been, while, on his side,
+the lion had recovered from his illness and was now as strong as
+ever. He was beginning to think that it was almost time for him
+to begin hunting again, when one morning a rustle was heard in
+the creepers outside, and the hare's head peeped through.
+
+'"Ah! there is no need to ask how you are," she said. "Still you
+mustn't overtire yourself, you know. Shall I go and bring you
+your dinner?"
+
+'"If you will bring me that donkey I will tear it in two," cried
+the lion savagely, and the hare laughed and nodded and went on
+her errand.
+
+'This time the donkey was much further than before, and it took
+longer to find her. At last the hare caught sight of four hoofs
+in the air, and ran towards them. The donkey was lying on a soft
+cool bed of moss near a stream, rolling herself backwards and
+forwards from pleasure.
+
+'"Good morning," said the hare politely, and the donkey got
+slowly on to her legs, and looked to see who her visitor could
+be.
+
+'"Oh, it is you, is it?" she exclaimed. "Come and have a chat.
+What news have you got?"
+
+'"I mustn't stay," answered the hare; "but I promised the lion to
+beg you to pay him a visit, as he is not well enough to call on
+you."
+
+'"Well, I don't know," replied the donkey gloomily, "the last
+time we went he scratched me very badly, and really I was quite
+afraid."
+
+'"He was only trying to kiss you," said the hare, "and you bit
+him, and of course that made him cross."
+
+'"If I were sure of that," hesitated the donkey.
+
+'"Oh, you may be quite sure," laughed the hare. "I have a large
+acquaintance among lions. But let us be quick," and rather
+unwillingly the donkey set out.
+
+'The lion saw them coming and hid himself behind a large tree. As
+the donkey went past, followed by the hare, he sprang out, and
+with one blow of his paw stretched the poor foolish creature dead
+before him.
+
+'"Take this meat and skin it and roast it," he said to the hare;
+"but my appetite is not so good as it was, and the only part I
+want for myself is the heart. The rest you can either eat
+yourself or give away to your friends."
+
+'"Thank you," replied the hare, balancing the donkey on her back
+as well as she was able, and though the legs trailed along the
+ground she managed to drag it to an open space some distance off,
+where she made a fire and roasted it. As soon as it was cooked
+the hare took out the heart and had just finished eating it when
+the lion, who was tired of waiting, came up.
+
+'"I am hungry," said he. "Bring me the creature's heart; it is
+just what I want for supper."
+
+'"But there is no heart," answered the hare, looking up at the
+lion with a puzzled face.
+
+'"What nonsense!" said the lion. "As if every beast had not got a
+heart. What do you mean?"
+
+'"This is a washerman's donkey," replied the hare gravely.
+
+'"Well, and suppose it is?"
+
+'"Oh, fie!" exclaimed the hare. "You, a lion and a grown-up
+person, and ask questions like that. If the donkey had had a
+heart would she be here now? The first time she came she knew you
+were trying to kill her, and ran away. Yet she came back a second
+time. Well, if she had had a heart would she have come back a
+second time? Now would she?"
+
+'And the lion answered slowly, "No, she would not."
+
+'So you think I am a washerman's donkey?' said the monkey to the
+shark, when the story was ended. 'You are wrong; I am not. And as
+the sun is getting low in the sky, it is time for you to begin
+your homeward journey. You will have a nice cool voyage, and I
+hope you will find the sultan better. Farewell!' And the monkey
+disappeared among the green branches, and was gone.
+
+From 'Swahili Tales,' by Edward Steere, LL.D.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        The Fairy Nurse
+
+
+
+
+There was once a little farmer and his wife living near
+Coolgarrow. They had three children, and my story happened while
+the youngest was a baby. The wife was a good wife enough, but her
+mind was all on her family and her farm, and she hardly ever went
+to her knees without falling asleep, and she thought the time
+spent in the chapel was twice as long as it need be. So, friends,
+she let her man and her two children go before her one day to
+Mass, while she called to consult a fairy man about a disorder
+one of her cows had. She was late at the chapel, and was sorry
+all the day after, for her husband was in grief about it, and she
+was very fond of him.
+
+Late that night he was wakened up by the cries of his children
+calling out 'Mother! Mother!' When he sat up and rubbed his eyes,
+there was no wife by his side, and when he asked the little ones
+what was become of their mother, they said they saw the room full
+of nice little men and women, dressed in white and red and green,
+and their mother in the middle of them, going out by the door as
+if she was walking in her sleep. Out he ran, and searched
+everywhere round the house but, neither tale nor tidings did he
+get of her for many a day.
+
+Well, the poor man was miserable enough, for he was as fond of
+his woman as she was of him. It used to bring the salt tears down
+his cheeks to see his poor children neglected and dirty, as they
+often were, and they'd be bad enough only for a kind neighbour
+that used to look in whenever she could spare time. The infant
+was away with a nurse.
+
+About six weeks after--just as he was going out to his work one
+morning--a neighbour, that used to mind women when they were ill,
+came up to him, and kept step by step with him to the field, and
+this is what she told him.
+
+'Just as I was falling asleep last night, I heard a horse's tramp
+on the grass and a knock at the door, and there, when I came out,
+was a fine-looking dark man, mounted on a black horse, and he
+told me to get ready in all haste, for a lady was in great want
+of me. As soon as I put on my cloak and things, he took me by the
+hand, and I was sitting behind him before I felt myself stirring.
+"Where are we going, sir?" says I. "You'll soon know," says he;
+and he drew his fingers across my eyes, and not a ray could I
+see. I kept a tight grip of him, and I little knew whether he was
+going backwards or forwards, or how long we were about it, till
+my hand was taken again, and I felt the ground under me. The
+fingers went the other way across my eyes, and there we were
+before a castle door, and in we went through a big hall and great
+rooms all painted in fine green colours, with red and gold bands
+and ornaments, and the finest carpets and chairs and tables and
+window curtains, and grand ladies and gentlemen walking about. At
+last we came to a bedroom, with a beautiful lady in bed, with a
+fine bouncing boy beside her. The lady clapped her hands, and in
+came the Dark Man and kissed her and the baby, and praised me,
+and gave me a bottle of green ointment to rub the child all over.
+
+'Well, the child I rubbed, sure enough; but my right eye began to
+smart, and I put up my finger and gave it a rub, and then stared,
+for never in all my life was I so frightened. The beautiful room
+was a big, rough cave, with water oozing over the edges of the
+stones and through the clay; and the lady, and the lord, and the
+child weazened, poverty-bitten creatures--nothing but skin and
+bone--and the rich dresses were old rags. I didn't let on that I
+found any difference, and after a bit says the Dark Man, "Go
+before me to the hall door, and I will be with you in a few
+moments, and see you safe home." Well, just as I turned into the
+outside cave, who should I see watching near the door but poor
+Molly. She looked round all terrified, and says she to me in a
+whisper, "I'm brought here to nurse the child of the king and
+queen of the fairies; but there is one chance of saving me. All
+the court will pass the cross near Templeshambo next Friday
+night, on a visit to the fairies of Old Ross. If John can catch
+me by the hand or cloak when I ride by, and has courage not to
+let go his grip, I'll be safe. Here's the king. Don't open your
+mouth to answer. I saw what happened with the ointment."
+
+'The Dark Man didn't once cast his eye towards Molly, and he
+seemed to have no suspicion of me. When we came out I looked
+about me, and where do you think we were but in the dyke of the
+Rath of Cromogue. I was on the horse again, which was nothing but
+a big rag-weed, and I was in dread every minute I'd fall off; but
+nothing happened till I found myself in my own cabin. The king
+slipped five guineas into my hand as soon as I was on the ground,
+and thanked me, and bade me good night. I hope I'll never see his
+face again. I got into bed, and couldn't sleep for a long time;
+and when I examined my five guineas this morning, that I left in
+the table drawer the last thing, I found five withered leaves of
+oak--bad luck to the giver!'
+
+Well, you may all think the fright, and the joy, and the grief
+the poor man was in when the woman finished her story. They
+talked and they talked, but we needn't mind what they said till
+Friday night came, when both were standing where the mountain
+road crosses the one going to Ross.
+
+There they stood, looking towards the bridge of Thuar, in the
+dead of the night, with a little moonlight shining from over
+Kilachdiarmid. At last she gave a start, and "By this and by
+that," says she, "here they come, bridles jingling and feathers
+tossing!" He looked, but could see nothing; and she stood
+trembling and her eyes wide open, looking down the way to the
+ford of Ballinacoola. "I see your wife," says she, "riding on the
+outside just so as to rub against us. We'll walk on quietly, as
+if we suspected nothing, and when we are passing I'll give you a
+shove. If you don't do YOUR duty then, woe be with you!"
+
+Well, they walked on easy, and the poor hearts beating in both
+their breasts; and though he could see nothing, he heard a faint
+jingle and trampling and rustling, and at last he got the push
+that she promised. He spread out his arms, and there was his
+wife's waist within them, and he could see her plain; but such a
+hullabulloo rose as if there was an earthquake, and he found
+himself surrounded by horrible-looking things, roaring at him and
+striving to pull his wife away. But he made the sign of the cross
+and bid them begone in God's name, and held his wife as if it was
+iron his arms were made of. Bedad, in one moment everything was
+as silent as the grave, and the poor woman lying in a faint in
+the arms of her husband and her good neighbour. Well, all in good
+time she was minding her family and her business again; and I'll
+go bail, after the fright she got, she spent more time on her
+knees, and avoided fairy men all the days of the week, and
+particularly on Sunday.
+
+It is hard to have anything to do with the good people without
+getting a mark from them. My brave nurse didn't escape no more
+than another. She was one Thursday at the market of Enniscorthy,
+when what did she see walking among the tubs of butter but the
+Dark Man, very hungry-looking, and taking a scoop out of one tub
+and out of another. 'Oh, sir,' says she, very foolish, 'I hope
+your lady is well, and the baby.' 'Pretty well, thank you,' says
+he, rather frightened like. 'How do I look in this new suit?'
+says he, getting to one side of her. 'I can't see you plain at
+all, sir,' says she. 'Well, now?' says he, getting round her back
+to the other side. 'Musha, indeed, sir, your coat looks no better
+than a withered dock-leaf.' 'Maybe, then,' says he, 'it will be
+different now,' and he struck the eye next him with a switch.
+Friends, she never saw a glimmer after with that one till the day
+of her death.
+
+'Legendary Fictions of the Irish Celts,' by Patrick Kennedy.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        A Lost Paradise
+
+
+
+
+In the middle of a great forest there lived a long time ago a
+charcoal-burner and his wife. They were both young and handsome
+and strong, and when they got married, they thought work would
+never fail them. But bad times came, and they grew poorer and
+poorer, and the nights in which they went hungry to bed became
+more and more frequent.
+
+Now one evening the king of that country was hunting near the
+charcoal-burner's hut. As he passed the door, he heard a sound of
+sobbing, and being a good-natured man he stopped to listen,
+thinking that perhaps he might be able to give some help. 
+
+'Were there ever two people so unhappy!' said a woman's voice.
+'Here we are, ready to work like slaves the whole day long, and
+no work can we get. And it is all because of the curiosity of old
+mother Eve! If she had only been like me, who never want to know
+anything, we should all have been as happy as kings to-day, with
+plenty to eat, and warm clothes to wear. Why--' but at this point
+a loud knock interrupted her lamentations.
+
+'Who is there?' asked she.
+
+'I!' replied somebody.
+
+'And who is "I"?'
+
+'The king. Let me in.'
+
+Full of surprise the woman jumped up and pulled the bar away from
+the door. As the king entered, he noticed that there was no
+furniture in the room at all, not even a chair, so he pretended
+to be in too great a hurry to see anything around him, and only
+said 'You must not let me disturb you. I have no time to stay,
+but you seemed to be in trouble. Tell me; are you very unhappy?'
+
+'Oh, my lord, we can find no work and have eaten nothing for two
+days!' answered she. 'Nothing remains for us but to die of
+hunger.'
+
+'No, no, you shan't do that,' cried the king, 'or if you do, it
+will be your own fault. You shall come with me into my palace,
+and you will feel as if you were in Paradise, I promise you. In
+return, I only ask one thing of you, that you shall obey my
+orders exactly.'
+
+The charcoal-burner and his wife both stared at him for a moment,
+as if they could hardly believe their ears; and, indeed, it was
+not to be wondered at! Then they found their tongues, and
+exclaimed together:
+
+'Oh, yes, yes, my lord! we will do everything you tell us. How
+could we be so ungrateful as to disobey you, when you are so
+kind?'
+
+The king smiled, and his eyes twinkled.
+
+'Well, let us start at once,' said he. 'Lock your door, and put
+the key in your pocket.'
+
+The woman looked as if she thought this was needless, seeing it
+was quite, quite certain they would never come back. But she
+dared not say so, and did as the king told her.
+
+After walking through the forest for a couple of miles, they all
+three reached the palace, and by the king's orders servants led
+the charcoal-burner and his wife into rooms filled with beautiful
+things such as they had never even dreamed of. First they bathed
+in green marble baths where the water looked like the sea, and
+then they put on silken clothes that felt soft and pleasant. When
+they were ready, one of the king's special servants entered, and
+took them into a small hall, where dinner was laid, and this
+pleased them better than anything else.
+
+They were just about to sit down to the table when the king
+walked in.
+
+'I hope you have been attended to properly,' said he, 'and that
+you will enjoy your dinner. My steward will take care you have
+all you want, and I wish you to do exactly as you please. Oh, by
+the bye, there is one thing! You notice that soup-tureen in the
+middle of the table? Well, be careful on no account to lift the
+lid. If once you take off the cover, there is an end of your good
+fortune.' Then, bowing to his guests, he left the room.
+
+'Did you hear what he said?' inquired the charcoal-burner in an
+awe-stricken voice. 'We are to have what we want, and do what we
+please. Only we must not touch the soup-tureen.'
+
+'No, of course we won't,' answered the wife. 'Why should we wish
+to? But all the same it is rather odd, and one can't help
+wondering what is inside.'
+
+For many days life went on like a beautiful dream to the
+charcoal- burner and his wife. Their beds were so comfortable,
+they could hardly make up their minds to get up, their clothes
+were so lovely they could scarcely bring themselves to take them
+off; their dinners were so good that they found it very difficult
+to leave off eating. Then outside the palace were gardens filled
+with rare flowers and fruits and singing birds, or if they
+desired to go further, a golden coach, painted with wreaths of
+forget-me-nots and lined with blue satin, awaited their orders.
+Sometimes it happened that the king came to see them, and he
+smiled as he glanced at the man, who was getting rosier and
+plumper each day. But when his eyes rested on the woman, they
+took on a look which seemed to say 'I knew it,' though this
+neither the charcoal-burner nor his wife ever noticed.
+
+'Why are you so silent?' asked the man one morning when dinner
+had passed before his wife had uttered one word. 'A little while
+ago you used to be chattering all the day long, and now I have
+almost forgotten the sound of your voice.'
+
+'Oh, nothing; I did not feel inclined to talk, that was all!' She
+stopped, and added carelessly after a pause, 'Don't you ever
+wonder what is in that soup-tureen?'
+
+'No, never,' replied the man. 'It is no affair of ours,' and the
+conversation dropped once more, but as time went on, the woman
+spoke less and less, and seemed so wretched that her husband grew
+quite frightened about her. As to her food, she refused one thing
+after another.
+
+'My dear wife,' said the man at last, 'you really must eat
+something. What in the world is the matter with you? If you go on
+like this you will die.'
+
+'I would rather die than not know what is in that tureen,' she
+burst forth so violently that the husband was quite startled.
+
+'Is that it?' cried he; 'are you making yourself miserable
+because of that? Why, you know we should be turned out of the
+palace, and sent away to starve.'
+
+'Oh no, we shouldn't. The king is too good-natured. Of course he
+didn't mean a little thing like this! Besides, there is no need
+to lift the lid off altogether. Just raise one corner so that I
+may peep. We are quite alone: nobody will ever know.'
+
+The man hesitated: it did seem a 'little thing,' and if it was to
+make his wife contented and happy it was well worth the risk. So
+he took hold of the handle of the cover and raised it very slowly
+and carefully, while the woman stooped down to peep. Suddenly she
+startled back with a scream, for a small mouse had sprung from
+the inside of the tureen, and had nearly hit her in the eye.
+Round and round the room it ran, round and round they both ran
+after it, knocking down chairs and vases in their efforts to
+catch the mouse and put it back in the tureen. In the middle of
+all the noise the door opened, and the mouse ran out between the
+feet of the king. In one instant both the man and his wife were
+hiding under the table, and to all appearance the room was empty.
+
+'You may as well come out,' said the king, 'and hear what I have
+to say.'
+
+'I know what it is,' answered the charcoal-burner, hanging his
+head. The mouse has escaped.'
+
+'A guard of soldiers will take you back to your hut,' said the
+king. 'Your wife has the key.'
+
+'Weren't they silly?' cried the grandchildren of the charcoal-
+burners when they heard the story. 'How we wish that we had had
+the chance! WE should never have wanted to know what was in the
+soup-tureen!'
+
+From 'Litterature Orale de l'Auvergne,' par Paul Sebillot.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                 How Brave Walter Hunted Wolves
+
+
+
+
+A little back from the high road there stands a house which is
+called 'Hemgard.' Perhaps you remember the two beautiful mountain
+ash trees by the reddish-brown palings, and the high gate, and
+the garden with the beautiful barberry bushes which are always
+the first to become grown in spring, and which in summer are
+weighed down with their beautiful berries.
+
+Behind the garden there is a hedge with tall aspens which rustle
+in the morning wind, behind the hedge is a road, behind the road
+is a wood, and behind the wood the wide world.
+
+But on the other side of the garden there is a lake, and beyond
+the lake is a village, and all around stretch meadows and fields,
+now yellow, now green.
+
+In the pretty house, which has white window-frames, a neat porch
+and clean steps, which are always strewn with finely-cut juniper
+leaves, Walter's parents live. His brother Frederick, his sister
+Lotta, old Lena, Jonah, Caro and Bravo, Putte and Murre, and
+Kuckeliku.
+
+Caro lives in the dog house, Bravo in the stable, Putte with the
+stableman, Murre a little here and a little there, and Kuckeliku
+lives in the hen house, that is his kingdom.
+
+Walter is six years old, and he must soon begin to go to school.
+He cannot read yet, but he can do many other things. He can turn
+cartwheels, stand on his head, ride see-saw, throw snowballs,
+play ball, crow like a cock, eat bread and butter and drink sour
+milk, tear his trousers, wear holes in his elbows, break the
+crockery in pieces, throw balls through the windowpanes, draw old
+men on important papers, walk over the flower-beds, eat himself
+sick with gooseberries, and be well after a whipping. For the
+rest he has a good heart but a bad memory, and forgets his
+father's and his mother's admonitions, and so often gets into
+trouble and meets with adventures, as you shall hear, but first
+of all I must tell you how brave he was and how he hunted wolves.
+
+Once in the spring, a little before Midsummer, Walter heard that
+there were a great many wolves in the wood, and that pleased him.
+He was wonderfully brave when he was in the midst of his
+companions or at home with his brothers and sister, then he used
+often to say 'One wolf is nothing, there ought to be at least
+four.'
+
+When he wrestled with Klas Bogenstrom or Frithiof Waderfelt and
+struck them in the back, he would say 'That is what I shall do to
+a wolf!' and when he shot arrows at Jonas and they rattled
+against his sheepskin coat he would say: 'That is how I should
+shoot you if you were a wolf!'
+
+Indeed, some thought that the brave boy boasted a little; but one
+must indeed believe him since he said so himself. So Jonas and
+Lena used to say of him 'Look, there goes Walter, who shoots the
+wolves.' And other boys and girls would say 'Look, there goes
+brave Walter, who is brave enough to fight with four.'
+
+There was no one so fully convinced of this as Walter himself,
+and one day he prepared himself for a real wolf hunt. He took
+with him his drum, which had holes in one end since the time he
+had climbed up on it to reach a cluster of rowan berries, and his
+tin sabre, which was a little broken, because he had with
+incredible courage fought his way through a whole unfriendly army
+of gooseberry bushes.
+
+He did not forget to arm himself quite to the teeth with his pop-
+gun, his bow, and his air-pistol. He had a burnt cork in his
+pocket to blacken his moustache, and a red cock's feather to put
+in his cap to make himself look fierce. He had besides in his
+trouser pocket a clasp knife with a bone handle, to cut off the
+ears of the wolves as soon as he had killed them, for he thought
+it would be cruel to do that while they were still living.
+
+It was such a good thing that Jonas was going with corn to the
+mill, for Walter got a seat on the load, while Caro ran barking
+beside them. As soon as they came to the wood Walter looked
+cautiously around him to see perchance there was a wolf in the
+bushes, and he did not omit to ask Jonas if wolves were afraid of
+a drum. 'Of course they are' (that is understood) said Jonas.
+Thereupon Walter began to beat his drum with all his might while
+they were going through the wood.
+
+When they came to the mill Walter immediately asked if there had
+been any wolves in the neighbourhood lately.
+
+'Alas! yes,' said the miller, 'last night the wolves have eaten
+our fattest ram there by the kiln not far from here.'
+
+'Ah!' said Walter, 'do you think that there were many?'
+
+'We don't know,' answered the miller.
+
+'Oh, it is all the same,' said Walter. 'I only asked so that I
+should know if I should take Jonas with me.
+
+'I could manage very well alone with three, but if there were
+more, I might not have time to kill them all before they ran
+away.'
+
+'In Walter's place I should go quite alone, it is more manly,'
+said Jonas.
+
+'No, it is better for you to come too,' said Walter. 'Perhaps
+there are many.'
+
+'No, I have not time,' said Jonas, 'and besides, there are sure
+not to be more than three. Walter can manage them very well
+alone.'
+
+'Yes,' said Walter, 'certainly I could; but, you see, Jonas, it
+might happen that one of them might bite me in the back, and I
+should have more trouble in killing them. If I only knew that
+there were not more than two I should not mind, for them I should
+take one in each hand and give them a good shaking, like Susanna
+once shook me.'
+
+'I certainly think that there will not be more than two,' said
+Jonas, 'there are never more than two when they slay children and
+rams; Walter can very well shake them without me.'
+
+'But, you see, Jonas,' said Walter, 'if there are two, it might
+still happen that one of them escapes and bites me in the leg,
+for you see I am not so strong in the left hand as in the right.
+You can very well come with me, and take a good stick in case
+there are really two. Look, if there is only one, I shall take
+him so with both my hands and thrown him living on to his back,
+and he can kick as much as he likes, I shall hold him fast.'
+
+'Now, when I really think over the thing,' said Jonas, 'I am
+almost sure there will not be more than one. What would two do
+with one ram? There will certainly not be more than one.'
+
+'But you should come with me all the same, Jonas,' said Walter.
+'You see I can very well manage one, but I am not quite
+accustomed to wolves yet, and he might tear holes in my new
+trousers.'
+
+'Well, just listen,' said Jonas, 'I am beginning to think that
+Walter is not so brave as people say. First of all Walter would
+fight against four, and then against three, then two, and then
+one, and now Walter wants help with one. Such a thing must never
+be; what would people say? Perhaps they would think that Walter
+is a coward?'
+
+'That's a lie,' said Walter, 'I am not at all frightened, but it
+is more amusing when there are two. I only want someone who will
+see how I strike the wolf and how the dust flies out of his
+skin.'
+
+'Well, then, Walter can take the miller's little Lisa with him.
+She can sit on a stone and look on,' said Jonas.
+
+'No, she would certainly be frightened,' said Walter, 'and how
+would it do for a girl to go wolf-hunting? Come with me, Jonas,
+and you shall have the skin, and I will be content with the ears
+and the tail.'
+
+'No, thank you,' said Jonas, 'Walter can keep the skin for
+himself. Now I see quite well that he is frightened. Fie, shame
+on him!'
+
+This touched Walter's pride very near. 'I shall show that I am
+not frightened,' he said; and so he took his drum, sabre, cock's
+feather, clasp-knife, pop-gun and air-pistol, and went off quite
+alone to the wood to hunt wolves.
+
+It was a beautiful evening, and the birds were singing in all the
+branches. Walter went very slowly and cautiously. At every step
+he looked all round him to see if perchance there was anything
+lurking behind the stones. He quite thought something moved away
+there in the ditch. Perhaps it was a wolf. 'It is better for me
+to beat the drum a little before I go there,' thought Walter.
+
+Br-r-r, so he began to beat his drum. Then something moved again.
+Caw! caw! a crow flew up from the ditch. Walter immediately
+regained courage. 'It was well I took my drum with me,' he
+thought, and went straight on with courageous steps. Very soon he
+came quite close to the kiln, where the wolves had killed the
+ram. But the nearer he came the more dreadful he thought the kiln
+looked. It was so gray and old. Who knew how many wolves there
+might be hidden there? Perhaps the very ones which killed the ram
+were still sitting there in a corner. Yes, it was not at all safe
+here, and there were no other people to be seen in the
+neighbourhood. It would be horrible to be eaten up here in the
+daylight, thought Walter to himself; and the more he thought
+about it the uglier and grayer the old kiln looked, and the more
+horrible and dreadful it seemed to become the food of wolves.
+
+'Shall I go back and say that I struck one wolf and it escaped?'
+thought Walter. 'Fie!' said his conscience, 'Do you not remember
+that a lie is one of the worst sins, both in the sight of God and
+man? If you tell a lie to-day and say you struck a wolf, to-
+morrow surely it will eat you up.'
+
+'No, I will go to the kiln,' thought Walter, and so he went. But
+he did not go quite near. He went only so near that he could see
+the ram's blood which coloured the grass red, and some tufts of
+wool which the wolves had torn from the back of the poor animal.
+
+It looked so dreadful.
+
+'I wonder what the ram thought when they ate him up,' thought
+Walter to himself; and just then a cold shiver ran through him
+from his collar right down to his boots.
+
+'It is better for me to beat the drum,' he thought to himself
+again, and so he began to beat it. But it sounded horrid, and an
+echo came out from the kiln that seemed almost like the howl of a
+wolf. The drumsticks stiffened in Walter's hands, and he thought
+now they are coming. ...!
+
+Yes, sure enough, just then a shaggy, reddish-brown wolf's head
+looked out from under the kiln!
+
+What did Walter do now? Yes, the brave Walter who alone could
+manage four, threw his drum far away, took to his heels and ran,
+and ran as fast as he could back to the mill.
+
+But, alas! the wolf ran after him. Walter looked back; the wolf
+was quicker than he and only a few steps behind him. Then Walter
+ran faster. But fear got the better of him, he neither heard nor
+saw anything more. He ran over sticks, stones and ditches; he
+lost drum-sticks, sabre, bow, and air-pistol, and in his terrible
+hurry he tripped over a tuft of grass. There he lay, and the wolf
+jumped on to him. ...
+
+It was a gruesome tale! Now you may well believe that it was all
+over with Walter and all his adventures. That would have been a
+pity. But do not be surprised if it was not quite so bad as that,
+for the wolf was quite a friendly one. He certainly jumped on to
+Walter, but he only shook his coat and rubbed his nose against
+his face; and Walter shrieked. Yes, he shrieked terribly!
+
+Happily Jonas heard his cry of distress, for Walter was quite
+near the mill now, and he ran and helped him up.
+
+'What has happened?' he asked. 'Why did Walter scream so
+terribly?'
+
+'A wolf! A wolf!' cried Walter, and that was all he could say.
+
+'Where is the wolf?' said Jonas. 'I don't see any wolf.'
+
+'Take care, he is here, he has bitten me to death,' groaned
+Walter.
+
+Then Jonas began to laugh; yes, he laughed so that he nearly
+burst his skin belt.
+
+Well, well, was that the wolf? Was that the wolf which Walter was
+to take by the neck and shake and throw down on its back, no
+matter how much it struggled? Just look a little closer at him:
+he is your old friend, your own good old Caro. I quite expect he
+found a leg of the ram in the kiln. When Walter beat his drum,
+Caro crept out, and when Walter ran away, Caro ran after him, as
+he so often does when Walter wants to romp and play.
+
+'Down, Caro! you ought to be rather ashamed to have put such a
+great hero to flight!'
+
+Walter got up feeling very foolish.
+
+'Down, Caro!' he said, both relieved and annoyed.
+
+'It was only a dog, then if it had been a wolf I certainly should
+have killed him. ...'
+
+'If Walter would listen to my advice, and boast a little less,
+and do a little more,' said Jonas, consolingly. 'Walter is not a
+coward, is he?'
+
+'I! You shall see, Jonas, when we next meet a bear. You see I
+like so much better to fight with bears.'
+
+'Indeed!' laughed Jonas. 'Are you at it again?
+
+'Dear Walter, remember that it is only cowards who boast; a
+really brave man never talks of his bravery.'
+
+From Z. Topelius.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                   The King of the Waterfalls
+
+
+
+
+When the young king of Easaidh Ruadh came into his kingdom, the
+first thing he thought of was how he could amuse himself best.
+The sports that all his life had pleased him best suddenly seemed
+to have grown dull, and he wanted to do something he had never
+done before. At last his face brightened.
+
+'I know!' he said. 'I will go and play a game with the Gruagach.'
+Now the Gruagach was a kind of wicked fairy, with long curly
+brown hair, and his house was not very far from the king's house.
+
+But though the king was young and eager, he was also prudent, and
+his father had told him on his deathbed to be very careful in his
+dealings with the 'good people,' as the fairies were called.
+Therefore before going to the Gruagach the king sought out a wise
+man of the countryside.
+
+'I am wanting to play a game with the curly-haired Gruagach,'
+said he.
+
+'Are you, indeed?' replied the wizard. 'If you will take my
+counsel, you will play with someone else.'
+
+'No; I will play with the Gruagach,' persisted the king.
+
+'Well, if you must, you must, I suppose,' answered the wizard;
+'but if you win that game, ask as a prize the ugly crop-headed
+girl that stands behind the door.'
+
+'I will,' said the king.
+
+So before the sun rose he got up and went to the house of the
+Gruagach, who was sitting outside.
+
+'O king, what has brought you here to-day?' asked the Gruagach.
+'But right welcome you are, and more welcome will you be still if
+you will play a game with me.'
+
+'That is just what I want,' said the king, and they played; and
+sometimes it seemed as if one would win, and sometimes the other,
+but in the end it was the king who was the winner.
+
+'And what is the prize that you will choose?' inquired the
+Gruagach.
+
+'The ugly crop-headed girl that stands behind the door,' replied
+the king.
+
+'Why, there are twenty others in the house, and each fairer than
+she!' exclaimed the Gruagach.
+
+'Fairer they may be, but it is she whom I wish for my wife, and
+none other,' and the Gruagach saw that the king's mind was set
+upon her, so he entered his house, and bade all the maidens in it
+come out one by one, and pass before the king.
+
+One by one they came; tall and short, dark and fair, plump and
+thin, and each said 'I am she whom you want. You will be foolish
+indeed if you do not take me.'
+
+But he took none of them, neither short nor tall, dark nor fair,
+plump nor thin, till at the last the crop-headed girl came out.
+
+'This is mine,' said the king, though she was so ugly that most
+men would have turned from her. 'We will be married at once, and
+I will carry you home.' And married they were, and they set forth
+across a meadow to the king's house. As they went, the bride
+stooped and picked a sprig of shamrock, which grew amongst the
+grass, and when she stood upright again her ugliness had all
+gone, and the most beautiful woman that ever was seen stood by
+the king's side.
+
+The next day, before the sun rose, the king sprang from his bed,
+and told his wife he must have another game with the Gruagach.
+
+'If my father loses that game, and you win it,' said she, 'accept
+nothing for your prize but the shaggy young horse with the stick
+saddle.'
+
+'I will do that,' answered the king, and he went.
+
+'Does your bride please you?' asked the Gruagach, who was
+standing at his own door.
+
+'Ah! does she not!' answered the king quickly. 'Otherwise I
+should be hard indeed to please. But will you play a game to-
+day?'
+
+'I will,' replied the Gruagach, and they played, and sometimes it
+seemed as if one would win, and sometimes the other, but in the
+end the king was the winner.
+
+'What is the prize that you will choose?' asked the Gruagach.
+
+'The shaggy young horse with the stick saddle,' answered the
+king, but he noticed that the Gruagach held his peace, and his
+brow was dark as he led out the horse from the stable. Rough was
+its mane and dull was its skin, but the king cared nothing for
+that, and throwing his leg over the stick saddle, rode away like
+the wind.
+
+On the third morning the king got up as usual before dawn, and as
+soon as he had eaten food he prepared to go out, when his wife
+stopped him. 'I would rather,' she said, 'that you did not go to
+play with the Gruagach, for though twice you have won yet some
+day he will win, and then he will put trouble upon you.'
+
+'Oh! I must have one more game,' cried the king; 'just this one.'
+And he went off to the house of the Gruagach.
+
+Joy filled the heart of the Gruagach when he saw him coming, and
+without waiting to talk they played their game. Somehow or other,
+the king's strength and skill had departed from him, and soon the
+Gruagach was the victor.
+
+'Choose your prize,' said the king, when the game was ended, 'but
+do not be too hard on me, or ask what I cannot give.'
+
+'The prize I choose,' answered the Gruagach, 'is that the crop-
+headed creature should take thy head and thy neck, if thou dost
+not get for me the Sword of Light that hangs in the house of the
+king of the oak windows.'
+
+'I will get it,' replied the young man bravely; but as soon as he
+was out of sight of the Gruagach he pretended no more, and his
+face grew dark and his steps lagging.
+
+'You have brought nothing with you to-night,' said the queen, who
+was standing on the steps awaiting him. She was so beautiful that
+the king was fain to smile when he looked at her, but then he
+remembered what had happened, and his heart grew heavy again.
+
+'What is it? What is the matter? Tell me thy sorrow that I may
+bear it with thee, or, it may be, help thee!' Then the king told
+her everything that had befallen him, and she stroked his hair
+the while.
+
+'That is nothing to grieve about,' she said when the tale was
+finished. 'You have the best wife in Erin, and the best horse in
+Erin. Only do as I bid you, and all will go well.' And the king
+suffered himself to be comforted.
+
+He was still sleeping when the queen rose and dressed herself, to
+make everything ready for her husband's journey; and the first
+place she went to was the stable, where she fed and watered the
+shaggy brown horse and put the saddle on it. Most people thought
+this saddle was of wood, and did not see the little sparkles of
+gold and silver that were hidden in it. She strapped it lightly
+on the horse's back, and then led it down before the house, where
+the king waited.
+
+'Good luck to you, and victories in all your battles,' she said,
+as she kissed him before he mounted. 'I need not be telling you
+anything. Take the advice of the horse, and see you obey it.'
+
+So he waved his hand and set out on his journey, and the wind was
+not swifter than the brown horse--no, not even the March wind
+which raced it and could not catch it. But the horse never
+stopped nor looked behind, till in the dark of the night he
+reached the castle of the king of the oak windows.
+
+'We are at the end of the journey,' said the horse, 'and you will
+find the Sword of Light in the king's own chamber. If it comes to
+you without scrape or sound, the token is a good one. At this
+hour the king is eating his supper, and the room is empty, so
+none will see you. The sword has a knob at the end, and take heed
+that when you grasp it, you draw it softly out of its sheath. Now
+go! I will be under the window.'
+
+Stealthily the young man crept along the passage, pausing now and
+then to make sure that no man was following him, and entered the
+king's chamber. A strange white line of light told him where the
+sword was, and crossing the room on tiptoe, he seized the knob,
+and drew it slowly out of the sheath. The king could hardly
+breathe with excitement lest it should make some noise, and bring
+all the people in the castle running to see what was the matter.
+But the sword slid swiftly and silently along the case till only
+the point was left touching it. Then a low sound was heard, as of
+the edge of a knife touching a silver plate, and the king was so
+startled that he nearly dropped the knob.
+
+'Quick! quick!' cried the horse, and the king scrambled hastily
+through the small window, and leapt into the saddle.
+
+'He has heard and he will follow,' said the horse; 'but we have a
+good start,' And on they sped, on and on, leaving the winds
+behind them.
+
+At length the horse slackened its pace. 'Look and see who is
+behind you,' it said; and the young man looked.
+
+'I see a swarm of brown horses racing madly after us,' he
+answered.
+
+'We are swifter than those,' said the horse, and flew on again.
+
+'Look again, O king! Is anyone coming now?'
+
+'A swarm of black horses, and one has a white face, and on that
+horse a man is seated. He is the king of the oak windows.'
+
+'That is my brother, and swifter still than I,' said the horse,
+'and he will fly past me with a rush. Then you must have your
+sword ready, and take off the head of the man who sits on him, as
+he turns and looks at you. And there is no sword in the world
+that will cut off his head, save only that one.'
+
+'I will do it,' replied the king; and he listened with all his
+might, till he judged that the white-faced horse was close to
+him. Then he sat up very straight and made ready.
+
+The next moment there was a rushing noise as of a mighty tempest,
+and the young man caught a glimpse of a face turned towards him.
+Almost blindly he struck, not knowing whether he had killed or
+only wounded the rider. But the head rolled off, and was caught
+in the brown horse's mouth.
+
+'Jump on my brother, the black horse, and go home as fast as you
+can, and I will follow as quickly as I may,' cried the brown
+horse; and leaping forward the king alighted on the back of the
+black horse, but so near the tail that he almost fell off again.
+But he stretched out his arm and clutched wildly at the mane and
+pulled himself into the saddle.
+
+Before the sky was streaked with red he was at home again, and
+the queen was sitting waiting till he arrived, for sleep was far
+from her eyes. Glad was she to see him enter, but she said
+little, only took her harp and sang softly the songs which he
+loved, till he went to bed, soothed and happy.
+
+It was broad day when he woke, and he sprang up saying:
+
+'Now I must go to the Gruagach, to find out if the spells he laid
+on me are loose.'
+
+'Have a care,' answered the queen, 'for it is not with a smile as
+on the other days that he will greet you. Furiously he will meet
+you, and will ask you in his wrath if you have got the sword, and
+you will reply that you have got it. Next he will want to know
+how you got it, and to this you must say that but for the knob
+you had not got it at all. Then he will raise his head to look at
+the knob, and you must stab him in the mole which is on the right
+side of his neck; but take heed, for if you miss the mole with
+the point of the sword, then my death and your death are certain.
+He is brother to the king of the oak windows, and sure will he be
+that the king must be head, or the sword would not be in your
+hands.' After that she kissed him, and bade him good speed.
+
+'Didst thou get the sword?' asked the Gruagach, when they met in
+the usual place.
+
+'I got the sword.'
+
+'And how didst thou get it?'
+
+'If it had not had a knob on the top, then I had not got it,'
+answered the king.
+
+'Give me the sword to look at,' said the Gruagach, peering
+forward; but like a flash the king had drawn it from under his
+nose and pierced the mole, so that the Gruagach rolled over on
+the ground.
+
+'Now I shall be at peace,' thought the king. But he was wrong,
+for when he reached home he found his servants tied together back
+to back with cloths bound round their mouths, so that they could
+not speak. He hastened to set them free, and he asked who had
+treated them in so evil a manner.
+
+'No sooner had you gone than a great giant came, and dealt with
+us as you see, and carried off your wife and your two horses,'
+said the men.
+
+'Then my eyes will not close nor will my head lay itself down
+till I fetch my wife and horses home again,' answered he, and he
+stopped and noted the tracks of the horses on the grass, and
+followed after them till he arrived at the wood, when the
+darkness fell.
+
+'I will sleep here,' he said to himself, 'but first I will make a
+fire,' And he gathered together some twigs that were lying about,
+and then took two dry sticks and rubbed them together till the
+fire came, and he sat by it.
+
+The twigs cracked and the flame blazed up, and a slim yellow dog
+pushed through the bushes and laid his head on the king's knee,
+and the king stroked his head.
+
+'Wuf, wuf,' said the dog. 'Sore was the plight of thy wife and
+thy horses when the giant drove them last night through the
+forest.'
+
+'That is why I have come,' answered the king; and suddenly his
+heart seemed to fail him and he felt that he could not go on.
+
+'I cannot fight that giant,' he cried, looking at the dog with a
+white face. 'I am afraid, let me turn homewards.'
+
+'No, don't do that,' replied the dog. 'Eat and sleep, and I will
+watch over you.' So the king ate and lay down, and slept till the
+sun waked him.
+
+'It is time for you to start on your way,' said the dog, 'and if
+danger presses, call on me, and I will help you.'
+
+'Farewell, then,' answered the king; 'I will not forget that
+promise,' and on he went, and on, and on, till he reached a tall
+cliff with many sticks lying about.
+
+'It is almost night,' he thought; 'I will make a fire and rest,'
+and thus he did, and when the flames blazed up, the hoary hawk of
+the grey rock flew on to a bough above him.
+
+'Sore was the plight of thy wife and thy horses when they passed
+here with the giant,' said the hawk.
+
+'Never shall I find them,' answered the king, 'and nothing shall
+I get for all my trouble.'
+
+'Oh, take heart,' replied the hawk; 'things are never so bad but
+what they might be worse. Eat and sleep and I will watch thee,'
+and the king did as he was bidden by the hawk, and by the morning
+he felt brave again.
+
+'Farewell,' said the bird, 'and if danger presses call to me, and
+I will help you.'
+
+On he walked, and on and on, till as dusk was falling he came to
+a great river, and on the bank there were sticks lying about.
+
+'I will make myself a fire,' he thought, and thus he did, and by
+and bye a smooth brown head peered at him from the water, and a
+long body followed it.
+
+'Sore was the plight of thy wife and thy horses when they passed
+the river last night,' said the otter.
+
+'I have sought them and not found them,' answered the king, 'and
+nought shall I get for my trouble.'
+
+'Be not so downcast,' replied the otter; 'before noon to-morrow
+thou shalt behold thy wife. But eat and sleep and I will watch
+over thee.' So the king did as the otter bid him, and when the
+sun rose he woke and saw the otter lying on the bank.
+
+'Farewell,' cried the otter as he jumped into the water, 'and if
+danger presses, call to me and I will help you.'
+
+For many hours the king walked, and at length he reached a high
+rock, which was rent into two by a great earthquake. Throwing
+himself on the ground he looked over the side, and right at the
+very bottom he saw his wife and his horses. His heart gave a
+great bound, and all his fears left him, but he was forced to be
+patient, for the sides of the rock were smooth, and not even a
+goat could find foothold. So he got up again, and made his way
+round through the wood, pushing by trees, scrambling over rocks,
+wading through streams, till at last he was on flat ground again,
+close to the mouth of the cavern.
+
+His wife gave a shriek of joy when he came in, and then burst
+into tears, for she was tired and very frightened. But her
+husband did not understand why she wept, and he was tired and
+bruised from his climb, and a little cross too.
+
+'You give me but a sorry welcome,' grumbled he, 'when I have
+half-killed myself to get to you.'
+
+'Do not heed him,' said the horses to the weeping woman; 'put him
+in front of us, where he will be safe, and give him food, for he
+is weary.' And she did as the horses told her, and he ate and
+rested, till by and bye a long shadow fell over them, and their
+hearts beat with fear, for they knew that the giant was coming.
+
+'I smell a stranger,' cried the giant, as he entered; but it was
+dark inside the chasm, and he did not see the king, who was
+crouching down between the feet of the horses.
+
+'A stranger, my lord! no stranger ever comes here, not even the
+sun!' and the king's wife laughed gaily as she went up to the
+giant and stroked the huge hand which hung down by his side.
+
+'Well, I perceive nothing, certainly,' answered he, 'but it is
+very odd. However, it is time that the horses were fed;' and he
+lifted down an armful of hay from a shelf of rock and held out a
+handful to each animal, who moved forward to meet him, leaving
+the king behind. As soon as the giant's hands were near their
+mouths they each made a snap, and began to bit them, so that his
+groans and shrieks might have been heard a mile off. Then they
+wheeled round and kicked him till they could kick no more. At
+length the giant crawled away, and lay quivering in a corner, and
+the queen went up to him.
+
+'Poor thing! poor thing!' she said, 'they seem to have gone mad;
+it was awful to behold.'
+
+'If I had had my soul in my body they would certainly have killed
+me,' groaned the giant.
+
+'It was lucky indeed,' answered the queen; 'but tell me, where is
+thy soul, that I may take care of it?'
+
+'Up there, in the Bonnach stone,' answered the giant, pointing to
+a stone which was balanced loosely on an edge of rock. 'But now
+leave me, that I may sleep, for I have far to go to-morrow.'
+
+Soon snores were heard from the corner where the giant lay, and
+then the queen lay down too, and the horses, and the king was
+hidden between them, so that none could see him.
+
+Before the dawn the giant rose and went out, and immediately the
+queen ran up to the Bonnach stone, and tugged and pushed at it
+till it was quite steady on its ledge, and could not fall over.
+And so it was in the evening when the giant came home; and when
+they saw his shadow, the king crept down in front of the horses.
+
+'Why, what have you done to the Bonnach stone?' asked the giant.
+
+'I feared lest it should fall over, and be broken, with your soul
+in it,' said the queen, 'so I put it further back on the ledge.'
+
+'It is not there that my soul is,' answered he, 'it is on the
+threshold. But it is time the horses were fed;' and he fetched
+the hay, and gave it to them, and they bit and kicked him as
+before, till he lay half dead on the ground.
+
+Next morning he rose and went out, and the queen ran to the
+threshold of the cave, and washed the stones, and pulled up some
+moss and little flowers that were hidden in the crannies, and by
+and bye when dusk had fallen the giant came home.
+
+'You have been cleaning the threshold,' said he.
+
+'And was I not right to do it, seeing that your soul is in it?'
+asked the queen.
+
+'It is not there that my soul is,' answered the giant. 'Under the
+threshold is a stone, and under the stone is a sheep, and in the
+sheep's body is a duck, and in the duck is an egg, and in the egg
+is my soul. But it is late, and I must feed the horses;' and he
+brought them the hay, but they only bit and kicked him as before,
+and if his soul had been within him, they would have killed him
+outright.
+
+It was still dark when the giant got up and went his way, and
+then the king and the queen ran forward to take up the threshold,
+while the horses looked on. But sure enough! just as the giant
+had said, underneath the threshold was the flagstone, and they
+pulled and tugged till the stone gave way. Then something jumped
+out so suddenly, that it nearly knocked them down, and as it fled
+past, they saw it was a sheep.
+
+'If the slim yellow dog of the greenwood were only here, he would
+soon have that sheep,' cried the king; and as he spoke, the slim
+yellow dog appeared from the forest, with the sheep in his mouth.
+With a blow from the king, the sheep fell dead, and they opened
+its body, only to be blinded by a rush of wings as the duck flew
+past.
+
+'If the hoary hawk of the rock were only here, he would soon have
+that duck,' cried the king; and as he spoke the hoary hawk was
+seen hovering above them, with the duck in his mouth. They cut
+off the duck's head with a swing of the king's sword, and took
+the egg out of its body, but in his triumph the king held it
+carelessly, and it slipped from his hand, and rolled swiftly down
+the hill right into the river.
+
+'If the brown otter of the stream were only here, he would soon
+have that egg,' cried the king; and the next minute there was the
+brown otter, dripping with water, holding the egg in his mouth.
+But beside the brown otter, a huge shadow came stealing along--
+the shadow of the giant.
+
+The king stood staring at it, as if he were turned into stone,
+but the queen snatched the egg from the otter and crushed it
+between her two hands. And after that the shadow suddenly shrank
+and was still, and they knew that the giant was dead, because
+they had found his soul.
+
+Next day they mounted the two horses and rode home again,
+visiting their friends the brown otter and the hoary hawk and the
+slim yellow dog by the way.
+
+From 'West Highland Tales.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         A French Puck
+
+
+
+
+Among the mountain pastures and valleys that lie in the centre of
+France there dwelt a mischievous kind of spirit, whose delight it
+was to play tricks on everybody, and particularly on the
+shepherds and the cowboys. They never knew when they were safe
+from him, as he could change himself into a man, woman or child,
+a stick, a goat, a ploughshare. Indeed, there was only one thing
+whose shape he could not take, and that was a needle. At least,
+he could transform himself into a needle, but try as he might he
+never was able to imitate the hole, so every woman would have
+found him out at once, and this he knew.
+
+Now the hour oftenest chosen by this naughty sprite (whom we will
+call Puck) for performing his pranks was about midnight, just
+when the shepherds and cowherds, tired out with their long day's
+work, were sound asleep. Then he would go into the cowsheds and
+unfasten the chains that fixed each beast in its own stall, and
+let them fall with a heavy clang to the ground. The noise was so
+loud that it was certain to awaken the cowboys, however fatigued
+they might be, and they dragged themselves wearily to the stable
+to put back the chains. But no sooner had they returned to their
+beds than the same thing happened again, and so on till the
+morning. Or perhaps Puck would spend his night in plaiting
+together the manes and tails of two of the horses, so that it
+would take the grooms hours of labour to get them right in the
+morning, while Puck, hidden among the hay in the loft, would peep
+out to watch them, enjoying himself amazingly all the time.
+
+One evening more than eighty years ago a man named William was
+passing along the bank of a stream when he noticed a sheep who
+was bleating loudly. William thought it must have strayed from
+the flock, and that he had better take it home with him till he
+could discover its owner. So he went up to where it was standing,
+and as it seemed so tired that it could hardly walk, he hoisted
+it on his shoulders and continued on his way. The sheep was
+pretty heavy, but the good man was merciful and staggered along
+as best he could under his load.
+
+'It is not much further,' he thought to himself as he reached an
+avenue of walnut trees, when suddenly a voice spoke out from over
+his head, and made him jump.
+
+'Where are you?' said the voice, and the sheep answered:
+
+'Here on the shoulders of a donkey.'
+
+In another moment the sheep was standing on the ground and
+William was running towards home as fast as his legs would carry
+him. But as he went, a laugh, which yet was something of a bleat,
+rang in his ears, and though he tried not to hear, the words
+reached him, 'Oh, dear! What fun I have had, to be sure!'
+
+Puck was careful not always to play his tricks in the same place,
+but visited one village after another, so that everyone trembled
+lest he should be the next victim. After a bit he grew tired of
+cowboys and shepherds, and wondered if there was no one else to
+give him some sport. At length he was told of a young couple who
+were going to the nearest town to buy all that they needed for
+setting up house. Quite certain that they would forget something
+which they could not do without, Puck waited patiently till they
+were jogging along in their cart on their return journey, and
+changed himself into a fly in order to overhear their
+conversation.
+
+For a long time it was very dull--all about their wedding day
+next month, and who were to be invited. This led the bride to her
+wedding dress, and she gave a little scream.
+
+'Just think! Oh! how could I be so stupid! I have forgotten to
+buy the different coloured reels of cotton to match my clothes!'
+
+'Dear, dear!' exclaimed the young man. 'That is unlucky; and
+didn't you tell me that the dressmaker was coming in to-morrow?'
+
+'Yes, I did,' and then suddenly she gave another little scream,
+which had quite a different sound from the first. 'Look! Look!'
+
+The bridegroom looked, and on one side of the road he saw a large
+ball of thread of all colours--of all the colours, that is, of
+the dresses that were tied on to the back of the cart.
+
+'Well, that is a wonderful piece of good fortune,' cried he, as
+he sprang out to get it. 'One would think a fairy had put it
+there on purpose.'
+
+'Perhaps she has,' laughed the girl, and as she spoke she seemed
+to hear an echo of her laughter coming from the horse, but of
+course that was nonsense.
+
+The dressmaker was delighted with the thread that was given her.
+It matched the stuffs so perfectly, and never tied itself in
+knots, or broke perpetually, as most thread did. She finished her
+work much quicker than she expected and the bride said she was to
+be sure to come to the church and see her in her wedding dress.
+
+There was a great crowd assembled to witness the ceremony, for
+the young people were immense favourites in the neighbourhood,
+and their parents were very rich. The doors were open, and the
+bride could be seen from afar, walking under the chestnut avenue.
+
+'What a beautiful girl!' exclaimed the men. 'What a lovely
+dress!' whispered the women. But just as she entered the church
+and took the hand of the bridegroom, who was waiting for her, a
+loud noise was heard.
+
+'Crick! crack! Crick! crack!' and the wedding garments fell to
+the ground, to the great confusion of the wearer.
+
+Not that the ceremony was put off for a little thing like that!
+Cloaks in profusion were instantly offered to the young bride,
+but she was so upset that she could hardly keep from tears. One
+of the guests, more curious than the rest, stayed behind to
+examine the dress, determined, if she could, to find out the
+cause of the disaster.
+
+'The thread must have been rotten,' she said to herself. 'I will
+see if I can break it.' But search as she would she could find
+none.
+
+The thread had vanished!
+
+From 'Litterature Orale de l'Auvergne,' par Paul Sebillot.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        The Three Crowns
+
+
+
+
+There was once a king who had three daughters. The two eldest
+were very proud and quarrelsome, but the youngest was as good as
+they were bad. Well, three princes came to court them, and two of
+them were exactly like the eldest ladies, and one was just as
+lovable as the youngest. One day they were all walking down to a
+lake that lay at the bottom of the lawn when they met a poor
+beggar. The king wouldn't give him anything, and the eldest
+princesses wouldn't give him anything, nor their sweethearts; but
+the youngest daughter and her true love did give him something,
+and kind words along with it, and that was better than all.
+
+When they got to the edge of the lake what did they find but the
+beautifullest boat you ever saw in your life; and says the
+eldest, 'I'll take a sail in this fine boat'; and says the second
+eldest, 'I'll take a sail in this fine boat'; and says the
+youngest, 'I won't take a sail in that fine boat, for I am afraid
+it's an enchanted one.' But the others persuaded her to go in,
+and her father was just going in after her, when up sprung on the
+deck a little man only seven inches high, and ordered him to
+stand back. Well, all the men put their hands to their swords;
+and if the same swords were only playthings, they weren't able to
+draw them, for all strength that was left their arms. Seven
+Inches loosened the silver chain that fastened the boat, and
+pushed away, and after grinning at the four men, says he to them.
+'Bid your daughters and your brides farewell for awhile. You,'
+says he to the youngest, 'needn't fear, you'll recover your
+princess all in good time, and you and she will be as happy as
+the day is long. Bad people, if they were rolling stark naked in
+gold, would not be rich. Good-bye.' Away they sailed, and the
+ladies stretched out their hands, but weren't able to say a word.
+
+Well, they weren't crossing the lake while a cat 'ud be lickin'
+her ear, and the poor men couldn't stir hand or foot to follow
+them. They saw Seven Inches handing the three princesses out of
+the boat, and letting them down by a basket into a draw-well, but
+king nor princes ever saw an opening before in the same place.
+When the last lady was out of sight, the men found the strength
+in their arms and legs again. Round the lake they ran, and never
+drew rein till they came to the well and windlass; and there was
+the silk rope rolled on the axle, and the nice white basket
+hanging to it. 'Let me down,' says the youngest prince. 'I'll die
+or recover them again.' 'No,' says the second daughter's
+sweetheart, 'it is my turn first.' And says the other, 'I am the
+eldest.' So they gave way to him, and in he got into the basket,
+and down they let him. First they lost sight of him, and then,
+after winding off a hundred perches of the silk rope, it
+slackened, and they stopped turning. They waited two hours, and
+then they went to dinner, because there was no pull made at the
+rope.
+
+Guards were set till next morning, and then down went the second
+prince, and sure enough, the youngest of all got himself let down
+on the third day. He went down perches and perches, while it was
+as dark about him as if he was in a big pot with a cover on. At
+last he saw a glimmer far down, and in a short time he felt the
+ground. Out he came from the big lime-kiln, and, lo! and behold
+you, there was a wood, and green fields, and a castle in a lawn,
+and a bright sky over all. 'It's in Tir-na-n-Oge I am,' says he.
+'Let's see what sort of people are in the castle.' On he walked,
+across fields and lawn, and no one was there to keep him out or
+let him into the castle; but the big hall-door was wide open. He
+went from one fine room to another that was finer, and at last he
+reached the handsomest of all, with a table in the middle. And
+such a dinner as was laid upon it! The prince was hungry enough,
+but he was too mannerly to eat without being invited. So he sat
+by the fire, and he did not wait long till he heard steps, and in
+came Seven Inches with the youngest sister by the hand. Well,
+prince and princess flew into one another's arms, and says the
+little man, says he, 'Why aren't you eating?' 'I think, sir,'
+says the prince, 'it was only good manner to wait to be asked.'
+'The other princes didn't think so,' says he. 'Each o' them fell
+to without leave, and only gave me the rough words when I told
+them they were making more free than welcome. Well, I don't think
+they feel much hunger now. There they are, good marble instead of
+flesh and blood,' says he, pointing to two statues, one in one
+corner, and the other in the other corner of the room. The prince
+was frightened, but he was afraid to say anything, and Seven
+Inches made him sit down to dinner between himself and his bride;
+and he'd be as happy as the day is long, only for the sight of
+the stone men in the corner. Well, that day went by, and when the
+next came, says Seven Inches to him, 'Now, you'll have to set out
+that way,' pointing to the sun, 'and you'll find the second
+princess in a giant's castle this evening, when you'll be tired
+and hungry, and the eldest princess to-morrow evening; and you
+may as well bring them here with you. You need not ask leave of
+their masters; and perhaps if they ever get home, they'll look on
+poor people as if they were flesh and blood like themselves.'
+
+Away went the prince, and bedad! it's tired and hungry he was
+when he reached the first castle, at sunset. Oh, wasn't the
+second princess glad to see him! And what a good supper she gave
+him. But she heard the giant at the gate, and she hid the prince
+in a closet. Well, when he came in, he snuffed, an' he snuffed,
+and says he, 'By the life, I smell fresh meat.' 'Oh,' says the
+princess, 'it's only the calf I got killed to-day.' 'Ay, ay,'
+says he, 'is supper ready?' 'It is,' says she; and before he rose
+from the table he ate three-quarters of a calf, and a flask of
+wine. 'I think,' says he, when all was done, 'I smell fresh meat
+still.' 'It's sleepy you are,' says she; 'go to bed.' 'When will
+you marry me?' says the giant. 'You're putting me off too long.'
+'St. Tibb's Eve,' says she. 'I wish I knew how far off that is,'
+says he; and he fell asleep, with his head in the dish.
+
+Next day, he went out after breakfast, and she sent the prince to
+the castle where the eldest sister was. The same thing happened
+there; but when the giant was snoring, the princess wakened up
+the prince, and they saddled two steeds in the stables and rode
+into the field on them. But the horses' heels struck the stones
+outside the gate, and up got the giant and strode after them. He
+roared and he shouted, and the more he shouted, the faster ran
+the horses, and just as the day was breaking he was only twenty
+perches behind. But the prince didn't leave the castle of Seven
+Inches without being provided with something good. He reined in
+his steed, and flung a short, sharp knife over his shoulder, and
+up sprung a thick wood between the giant and themselves. They
+caught the wind that blew before them, and the wind that blew
+behind them did not catch them. At last they were near the castle
+where the other sister lived; and there she was, waiting for them
+under a high hedge, and a fine steed under her.
+
+But the giant was now in sight, roaring like a hundred lions, and
+the other giant was out in a moment, and the chase kept on. For
+every two springs the horses gave, the giants gave three, and at
+last they were only seventy perches off. Then the prince stopped
+again, and flung the second knife behind him. Down went all the
+flat field, till there was a quarry between them a quarter of a
+mile deep, and the bottom filled with black water; and before the
+giants could get round it, the prince and princesses were inside
+the kingdom of the great magician, where the high thorny hedge
+opened of itself to everyone that he chose to let in. There was
+joy enough between the three sisters, till the two eldest saw
+their lovers turned into stone. But while they were shedding
+tears for them, Seven Inches came in, and touched them with his
+rod. So they were flesh, and blood, and life once more, and there
+was great hugging and kissing, and all sat down to breakfast, and
+Seven Inches sat at the head of the table.
+
+When breakfast was over, he took them into another room, where
+there was nothing but heaps of gold, and silver, and diamonds,
+and silks, and satins; and on a table there was lying three sets
+of crowns: a gold crown was in a silver crown, and that was lying
+in a copper crown. He took up one set of crowns, and gave it to
+the eldest princess; and another set, and gave it to the second
+youngest princess; and another, and gave it to the youngest of
+all; and says he, 'Now you may all go to the bottom of the pit,
+and you have nothing to do but stir the basket, and the people
+that are watching above will draw you up. But remember, ladies,
+you are to keep your crows safe, and be married in them, all the
+same day. If you be married separately, or if you be married
+without your crowns, a curse will follow--mind what I say.'
+
+So they took leave of him with great respect, and walked arm-in-
+arm to the bottom of the draw-well. There was a sky and a sun
+over them, and a great high wall, covered with ivy, rose before
+them, and was so high they could not see to the top of it; and
+there was an arch in this wall, and the bottom of the draw-well
+was inside the arch. The youngest pair went last; and says the
+princess to the prince, 'I'm sure the two princes don't mean any
+good to you. Keep these crowns under your cloak, and if you are
+obliged to stay last, don't get into the basket, but put a big
+stone, or any heavy thing inside, and see what will happen.'
+
+As soon as they were inside the dark cave, they put in the eldest
+princess first, and stirred the basket, and up she went. Then the
+basket was let down again, and up went the second princess, and
+then up went the youngest; but first she put her arms round her
+prince's neck, and kissed him, and cried a little. At last it
+came to the turn of the youngest prince, and instead of going
+into the basket he put in a big stone. He drew on one side and
+listened, and after the basket was drawn up about twenty perches,
+down came it and the stone like thunder, and the stone was broken
+into little bits.
+
+Well, the poor prince had nothing for it but to walk back to the
+castle; and through it and round it he walked, and the finest of
+eating and drinking he got, and a bed of bog-down to sleep on,
+and long walks he took through gardens and lawns, but not a sight
+could he get, high or low, of Seven Inches. He, before a week,
+got tired of it, he was so lonesome for his true love; and at the
+end of a month he didn't know what to do with himself.
+
+One morning he went into the treasure room, and took notice of a
+beautiful snuff-box on the table that he didn't remember seeing
+there before. He took it in his hands and opened it, and out
+Seven Inches walked on the table. 'I think, prince,' says he,
+'you're getting a little tired of my castle?' 'Ah!' says the
+other, 'if I had my princess here, and could see you now and
+then, I'd never know a dismal day.' 'Well, you're long enough
+here now, and you're wanted there above. Keep your bride's crowns
+safe, and whenever you want my help, open this snuff-box. Now
+take a walk down the garden, and come back when you're tired.'
+
+The prince was going down a gravel walk with a quickset hedge on
+each side, and his eyes on the ground, and he was thinking of one
+thing and another. At last he lifted his eyes, and there he was
+outside of a smith's gate that he often passed before, about a
+mile away from the palace of his betrothed princess. The clothes
+he had on him were as ragged as you please, but he had his crowns
+safe under his old cloak.
+
+Then the smith came out, and says he, 'It's a shame for a strong,
+big fellow like you to be lazy, and so much work to be done. Are
+you any good with hammer and tongs? Come in and bear a hand, an
+I'll give you diet and lodging, and a few pence when you earn
+them.' 'Never say't twice,' says the prince. 'I want nothing but
+to be busy.' So he took the hammer, and pounded away at the red-
+hot bar that the smith was turning on the anvil to make into a
+set of horse-shoes.
+
+They hadn't been long at work when a tailor came in, and he sat
+down and began to talk. 'You all heard how the two princess were
+loth to be married till the youngest would be ready with her
+crowns and her sweetheart. But after the windlass loosened
+accidentally when they were pulling up her bridegroom that was to
+be, there was no more sign of a well, or a rope, or a windlass,
+than there is on the palm of your hand. So the princes that were
+courting the eldest ladies wouldn't give peace or ease to their
+lovers nor the king till they got consent to the marriage, and it
+was to take place this morning. Myself went down out o'
+curiousity, and to be sure I was delighted with the grand dresses
+of the two brides, and the three crowns on their heads--gold,
+silver, and copper, one inside the other. The youngest was
+standing by mournful enough, and all was ready. The two
+bridegrooms came in as proud and grand as you please, and up they
+were walking to the altar rails, when the boards opened two yards
+wide under their feet, and down they went among the dead men and
+the coffins in the vaults. Oh, such shrieks as the ladies gave!
+and such running and racing and peeping down as there was! but
+the clerk soon opened the door of the vault, and up came the two
+princes, their fine clothes covered an inch thick with cobwebs
+and mould.
+
+So the king said they should put off the marriage. 'For,' says
+he, 'I see there is no use in thinking of it till the youngest
+gets her three crowns, and is married with the others. I'll give
+my youngest daughter for a wife to whoever brings three crowns to
+me like the others; and if he doesn't care to be married, some
+other one will, and I'll make his fortune.'
+
+'I wish,' says the smith, 'I could do it; but I was looking at
+the crowns after the princesses got home, and I don't think
+there's a black or a white smith on the face of the earth that
+could imitate them.' 'Faint heart never won fair lady,' says the
+prince. 'Go to the palace and ask for a quarter of a pound of
+gold, a quarter of a pound of silver, and a quarter of a pound of
+copper. Get one crown for a pattern, and my head for a pledge,
+I'll give you out the very things that are wanted in the
+morning.' 'Are you in earnest?' says the smith. 'Faith, I am so,'
+says he. 'Go! you can't do worse than lose.'
+
+To make a long story short, the smith got the quarter of a pound
+of gold, and the quarter of a pound of silver, and the quarter of
+a pound of copper, and gave them and the pattern crown to the
+prince. He shut the forge door at nightfall, and the neighbours
+all gathered in the yard, and they heard him hammering,
+hammering, hammering, from that to daybreak; and every now and
+then he'd throw out through the window bits of gold, silver, and
+copper; and the idlers scrambled for them, and cursed one
+another, and prayed for the good luck of the workman.
+
+Well, just as the sun was thinking to rise, he opened the door,
+and brought out the three crowns he got from his true love, and
+such shouting and huzzaing as there was! The smith asked him to
+go along with him to the palace, but he refused; so off set the
+smith, and the whole townland with him; and wasn't the king
+rejoiced when he saw the crowns! 'Well,' says he to the smith,
+'you're a married man. What's to be done?' 'Faith, your majesty,
+I didn't make them crowns at all. It was a big fellow that took
+service with me yesterday.' 'Well, daughter, will you marry the
+fellow that made these crowns?' 'Let me see them first, father,'
+said she; but when she examined them she knew them right well,
+and guessed it was her true love that sent them. 'I will marry
+the man that these crowns came from,' says she.
+
+'Well,' says the king to the elder of the two princes, 'go up to
+the smith's forge, take my best coaches, and bring home the
+bridegroom.' He did not like doing this, he was so proud, but he
+could not refuse. When he came to the forge he saw the prince
+standing at the door, and beckoned him over to the coach. 'Are
+you the fellow,' says he, 'that made these crowns?' 'Yes,' says
+the other. 'Then,' says he, 'maybe you'd give yourself a
+brushing, and get into that coach; the king wants to see you. I
+pity the princess.' The young prince got into the carriage, and
+while they were on the way he opened the snuff-box, and out
+walked Seven Inches, and stood on his thigh. 'Well,' says he,
+'what trouble is on you now?' 'Master,' says the other, 'please
+let me go back to my forge, and let this carriage be filled with
+paving stones.' No sooner said than done. The prince was sitting
+in his forge, and the horses wondered what was after happening to
+the carriage.
+
+When they came into the palace yard, the king himself opened the
+carriage door, for respect to his new son-in-law. As soon as he
+turned the handle, a shower of small stones fell on his powdered
+wig and his silk coat, and down he fell under them. There was
+great fright and some laughter, and the king, after he wiped the
+blood from his forehead, looked very cross at the eldest prince.
+'My lord,' says he, 'I'm very sorry for this accident, but I'm
+not to blame. I saw the young smith get into the carriage, and we
+never stopped a minute since.' 'It's uncivil you were to him.
+Go,' says he to the other prince, 'and bring the young smith
+here, and be polite.' 'Never fear,' says he.
+
+But there's some people that couldn't be good-natured if they
+tried, and not a bit civiller was the new messenger than the old,
+and when the king opened the carriage door a second time, it's
+shower of mud that came down on him. 'There's no use,' says he,
+'going on this way. The fox never got a better messenger than
+himself.'
+
+So he changed his clothes, and washed himself, and out he set to
+the prince's forge and asked him to sit along with himself. The
+prince begged to be allowed to sit in the other carriage, and
+when they were half-way he opened his snuff-box. 'Master,' says
+he, 'I'd wish to be dressed now according to my rank.' 'You shall
+be that,' says Seven Inches. 'And now I'll bid you farewell.
+Continue as good and kind as you always were; love your wife; and
+that's all the advice I'll give you.' So Seven Inches vanished;
+and when the carriage door was opened in the yard, out walks the
+prince as fine as hands could make him, and the first thing he
+did was to run over to his bride and embrace her.
+
+Every one was full of joy but the two other princes. There was
+not much delay about the marriages, and they were all celebrated
+on the one day. Soon after, the two elder couples went to their
+own courts, but the youngest pair stayed with the old king, and
+they were as happy as the happiest married couple you ever heard
+of in a story.
+
+From 'West Highland Tales.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                  The Story of a Very Bad Boy
+
+
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived in a little village in the very
+middle of France a widow and her only son, a boy about fifteen,
+whose name was Antoine, though no one ever called him anything
+but Toueno-Boueno. They were very poor indeed, and their hut
+shook about their ears on windy nights, till they expected the
+walls to fall in and crush them, but instead of going to work as
+a boy of his age ought to do, Toueno-Boueno did nothing but
+lounge along the street, his eyes fixed on the ground, seeing
+nothing that went on round him.
+
+'You are very, very stupid, my dear child,' his mother would
+sometimes say to him, and then she would add with a laugh,
+'Certainly you will never catch a wolf by the tail.'
+
+One day the old woman bade Antoine go into the forest and collect
+enough dry leaves to make beds for herself and him. Before he had
+finished it began to rain heavily, so he hid himself in the
+hollow trunk of a tree, where he was so dry and comfortable that
+he soon fell fast asleep. By and by he was awakened by a noise
+which sounded like a dog scratching at the door, and he suddenly
+felt frightened, why he did not know. Very cautiously he raised
+his head, and right above him he saw a big hairy animal, coming
+down tail foremost.
+
+'It is the wolf that they talk so much about,' he said to
+himself, and he made himself as small as he could and shrunk into
+a corner.
+
+The wolf came down the inside of the tree, slowly, slowly;
+Antoine felt turned to stone, so terrified was he, and hardly
+dared to breathe. Suddenly an idea entered his mind, which he
+thought might save him still. He remembered to have heard from
+his mother that a wolf could neither bend his back nor turn his
+head, so as to look behind him, and quick as lightning he
+stretched up his hand, and seizing the wolf's tail, pulled it
+towards him.
+
+Then he left the tree and dragged the animal to his mother's
+house.
+
+'Mother, you have often declared that I was too stupid to catch a
+wolf by the tail. Now see,' he cried triumphantly.
+
+'Well, well, wonders will never cease,' answered the good woman,
+who took care to keep at a safe distance. 'But as you really have
+got him, let us see if we can't put him to some use. Fetch the
+skin of the ram which died last week out of the chest, and we
+will sew the wolf up in it. He will make a splendid ram, and to-
+morrow we will drive him to the fair and sell him.'
+
+Very likely the wolf, who was cunning and clever, may have
+understood what she said, but he thought it best to give no sign,
+and suffered the skin to be sewn upon him.
+
+'I can always get away if I choose,' thought he, 'it is better
+not to be in a hurry;' so he remained quite still while the skin
+was drawn over his head, which made him very hot and
+uncomfortable, and resisted the temptation to snap off the
+fingers or noses that were so close to his mouth.
+
+The fair was at its height next day when Toueno-Boueno arrived
+with his wolf in ram's clothing. All the farmers crowded round
+him, each offering a higher price than the last. Never had they
+beheld such a beautiful beast, said they, and at last, after much
+bargaining, he was handed over to three brothers for a good sum
+of money.
+
+It happened that these three brothers owned large flocks of
+sheep, though none so large and fine as the one they had just
+bought.
+
+'My flock is the nearest,' observed the eldest brother; 'we will
+leave him in the fold for the night, and to-morrow we will decide
+which pastures will be best for him.' And the wolf grinned as he
+listened, and held up his head a little higher than before.
+
+Early next morning the young farmer began to go his rounds, and
+the sheep-fold was the first place he visited. To his horror, the
+sheep were all stretched out dead before him, except one, which
+the wolf had eaten, bones and all. Instantly the truth flashed
+upon him. It was no ram that lay curled up in the corner
+pretending to be asleep (for in reality he could bend back and
+turn his head as much as he liked), but a wolf who was watching
+him out of the corner of his eye, and might spring upon him at
+any moment. So the farmer took no notice, and only thought that
+here was a fine chance of revenging himself on his next brother
+for a trick which he had played, and merely told him that the ram
+would not eat the grass in that field, and it might be well to
+drive him to the pasture by the river, where his own flock was
+feeding. The second brother eagerly swallowed the bait, and that
+evening the wolf was driven down to the field where the young man
+kept the sheep which had been left him by his father. By the next
+morning they also were all dead, but the second brother likewise
+held his peace, and allowed the sheep which belonged to the
+youngest to share the fate of the other two. Then they met and
+confessed to each other their disasters, and resolved to take the
+animal as fast as possible back to Toueno-Boueno, who should get
+a sound thrashing.
+
+Antoine was sitting on a plum tree belonging to a neighbour,
+eating the ripe fruit, when he saw the three young farmers coming
+towards him. Swinging himself down, he flew home to the hut,
+crying breathlessly, 'Mother, mother, the farmers are close by
+with the wolf. They have found out all about it, and will
+certainly kill me, and perhaps you too. But if you do as I tell
+you, I may be able to save us both. Lie down on the floor, and
+pretend to be dead, and be sure not to speak, whatever happens.
+
+Thus when the three brothers, each armed with a whip, entered the
+hut a few seconds later, they found a woman extended on the
+floor, and Toueno kneeling at her side, whistling loudly into her
+ears.
+
+'What are you doing now, you rascal?' asked the eldest.
+
+'What am I doing? Oh, my poor friends, I am the most miserable
+creature in the world! I have lost the best of mothers, and I
+don't know what will become of me,' and he hid his face in his
+hands and sobbed again.
+
+'But what are you whistling like that for?'
+
+'Well, it is the only chance. This whistle has been known to
+bring the dead back to life, and I hoped--' here he buried his
+face in his hands again, but peeping between his fingers he saw
+that the brother had opened their six eyes as wide as saucers.
+
+'Look!' he suddenly exclaimed with a cry, 'Look! I am sure I felt
+her body move! And now her nostrils are twitching. Ah! the
+whistle has not lost its power after all,' and stooping down,
+Toueno whistled more loudly than before, so that the old woman's
+feet and hands showed signs of life, and she soon was able to
+life her head.
+
+The farmers were so astonished at her restoration, that it was
+some time before they could speak. At length the eldest turned to
+the boy and said:
+
+'Now listen to me. There is no manner of doubt that you are a
+young villain. You sold us a ram knowing full well that it was a
+wolf, and we came here to-day to pay you out for it. But if you
+will give us that whistle, we will pardon what you have done, and
+will leave you alone.'
+
+'It is my only treasure, and I set great store by it,' answered
+the boy, pretending to hesitate. 'But as you wish for it so much,
+well, I suppose I can't refuse,' and he held out the whistle,
+which the eldest brother put in his pocket.
+
+Armed with the precious whistle, the three brothers returned home
+full of joy, and as they went the youngest said to the others, 'I
+have such a good idea! Our wives are all lazy and grumbling, and
+make our lives a burden. Let us give them a lesson, and kill them
+as soon as we get in. Of course we can restore them to life at
+once, but they will have had a rare fright.'
+
+'Ah, how clever you are,' answered the other two. 'Nobody else
+would have thought of that.'
+
+So gaily the three husbands knocked down their three wives, who
+fell dead to the ground. Then one by one the men tried the
+whistle, and blew so loudly that it seemed as if their lungs
+would burst, but the women lay stark and stiff and never moved an
+eyelid. The husbands grew pale and cold, for they had never
+dreamed of this, nor meant any harm, and after a while they
+understood that their efforts were of no use, and that once more
+the boy had tricked them. With stern faces they rose to their
+feet, and taking a large sack they retraced their steps to the
+hut.
+
+This time there was no escape. Toueno had been asleep, and only
+opened his eyes as they entered. Without a word on either side
+they thrust him into the sack, and tying up the mouth, the eldest
+threw it over his shoulder. After that they all set out to the
+river, where they intended to drown the boy.
+
+But the river was a long way off, and the day was very hot, and
+Antoine was heavy, heavier than a whole sheaf of corn. They
+carried him in turns, but even so they grew very tired and
+thirsty, and when a little tavern came in sight on the roadside,
+they thankfully flung the sack down on a bench and entered to
+refresh themselves. They never noticed that a beggar was sitting
+in the shade at the end of the bench, but Toueno's sharp ears
+caught the sound of someone eating, and as soon as the farmers
+had gone into the inn he began to groan softly.
+
+'What is the matter?' asked the beggar, drawing a little nearer.
+'Why have they shut you up, poor boy?'
+
+'Because they wanted to make me a bishop, and I would not
+consent,' answered Toueno.
+
+'Dear me,' exclaimed the beggar, 'yet it isn't such a bad thing
+to be a bishop.'
+
+'I don't say it is,' replied the young rascal, 'but I should
+never like it. However, if you have any fancy for wearing a
+mitre, you need only untie the sack, and take my place.'
+
+'I should like nothing better,' said the man, as he stooped to
+undo the big knot.
+
+So it was the beggar and not Toueno-Boueno who was flung into the
+water.
+
+The next morning the three wives were buried, and on returning
+from the cemetery, their husbands met Toueno-Boueno driving a
+magnificent flock of sheep. At the sight of him the three farmers
+stood still with astonishment.
+
+'What! you scoundrel!' they cried at last, 'we drowned you
+yesterday, and to-day we find you again, as well as ever!'
+
+'It does seem odd, doesn't it?' answered he. 'But perhaps you
+don't know that beneath this world there lies another yet more
+beautiful and far, far richer. Well, it was there that you sent
+me when you flung me into the river, and though I felt a little
+strange at first, yet I soon began to look about me, and to see
+what was happening. There I noticed that close to the place where
+I had fallen, a sheep fair was being held, and a bystander told
+me that every day horses or cattle were sold somewhere in the
+town. If I had only had the luck to be thrown into the river on
+the side of the horse fair I might have made my fortune! As it
+was, I had to content myself with buying these sheep, which you
+can get for nothing.'
+
+'And do you know exactly the spot in the river which lies over
+the horse fair?'
+
+'As if I did not know it, when I have seen it with my own eyes.'
+
+'Then if you do not want us to avenge our dead flocks and our
+murdered wives, you will have to throw us into the river just
+over the place of the horse fair.'
+
+'Very well; only you must get three sacks and come with me to
+that rock which juts into the river. I will throw you in from
+there, and you will fall nearly on to the horses' backs.'
+
+So he threw them in, and as they were never seen again, no one
+ever knew into which fair they had fallen.
+
+From 'Litterature Orale de L'Auvergne,' par Paul Sebillot.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                    The Brown Bear of Norway
+
+
+
+
+There was once a king in Ireland, and he had three daughters, and
+very nice princesses they were. And one day, when they and their
+father were walking on the lawn, the king began to joke with
+them, and to ask them whom they would like to be married to.
+'I'll have the king of Ulster for a husband,' says one; 'and I'll
+have the king of Munster,' says another; 'and,' says the
+youngest, 'I'll have no husband but the Brown Bear of Norway.'
+For a nurse of hers used to be telling her of an enchanted prince
+that she called by that name, and she fell in love with him, and
+his name was the first name on her tongue, for the very night
+before she was dreaming of him. Well, one laughed, and another
+laughed, and they joked with the princess all the rest of the
+evening. But that very night she woke up out of her sleep in a
+great hall that was lighted up with a thousand lamps; the richest
+carpets were on the floor, and the walls were covered with cloth
+of gold and silver, and the place was full of grand company, and
+the very beautiful prince she saw in her dreams was there, and it
+wasn't a moment till he was on one knee before her, and telling
+her how much he loved her, and asking her wouldn't she be his
+queen. Well, she hadn't the heart to refuse him, and married they
+were the same evening.
+
+'Now, my darling,' says he, when they were left by themselves,
+'you must know that I am under enchantment. A sorceress, that had
+a beautiful daughter, wished me for her son-in-law; but the
+mother got power over me, and when I refused to wed her daughter
+she made me take the form of a bear by day, and I was to continue
+so till a lady would marry me of her own free will, and endure
+five years of great trials after.'
+
+Well, when the princess woke in the morning, she missed her
+husband from her side, and spent the day very sadly. But as soon
+as the lamps were lighted in the grand hall, where she was
+sitting on a sofa covered with silk, the folding doors flew open,
+and he was sitting by her side the next minute. So they spent
+another happy evening, but he warned her that whenever she began
+to tire of him, or ceased to have faith in him, they would be
+parted for ever, and he'd be obliged to marry the witch's
+daughter.
+
+She got used to find him absent by day, and they spent a happy
+twelvemonth together, and at last a beautiful little boy was
+born; and happy as she was before, she was twice as happy now,
+for she had her child to keep her company in the day when she
+couldn't see her husband.
+
+At last, one evening, when herself, and himself, and her child
+were sitting with a window open because it was a sultry night, in
+flew an eagle, took the infant's sash in his beak, and flew up in
+the air with him. She screamed, and was going to throw herself
+out the window after him, but the prince caught her, and looked
+at her very seriously. She bethought of what he said soon after
+their marriage, and she stopped the cries and complaints that
+were on her tongue. She spent her days very lonely for another
+twelvemonth, when a beautiful little girl was sent to her. Then
+she thought to herself she'd have a sharp eye about her this
+time; so she never would allow a window to be more than a few
+inches open.
+
+But all her care was in vain. Another evening, when they were all
+so happy, and the prince dandling the baby, a beautiful greyhound
+stood before them, took the child out of the father's hand, and
+was out of the door before you could wink. This time she shouted
+and ran out of the room, but there were some of the servants in
+the next room, and all declared that neither child nor dog passed
+out. She felt, somehow, as if it was her husband's fault, but
+still she kept command over herself, and didn't once reproach
+him.
+
+When the third child was born she would hardly allow a window or
+a door to be left open for a moment; but she wasn't the nearer to
+keep the child to herself. They were sitting one evening by the
+fire, when a lady appeared standing by them. The princess opened
+her eyes in a great fright and stared at her, and while she was
+doing so, the lady wrapped a shawl round the baby that was
+sitting in its father's lap, and either sank through the ground
+with it or went up through the wide chimney. This time the mother
+kept her bed for a month.
+
+'My dear,' said she to her husband, when she was beginning to
+recover, 'I think I'd feel better if I was to see my father and
+mother and sisters once more. If you give me leave to go home for
+a few days I'd be glad.' 'Very well,' said he, 'I will do that,
+and whenever you feel inclined to return, only mention your wish
+when you lie down at night.' The next morning when she awoke she
+found herself in her own old chamber in her father's palace. She
+rang the bell, and in a short time she had her mother and father
+and married sisters about her, and they laughed till they cried
+for joy at finding her safe back again.
+
+In time she told them all that had happened to her, and they
+didn't know what to advise her to do. She was as fond of her
+husband as ever, and said she was sure that he couldn't help
+letting the children go; but still she was afraid beyond the
+world to have another child torn from her. Well, the mother and
+sisters consulted a wise woman that used to bring eggs to the
+castle, for they had great faith in her wisdom. She said the only
+plan was to secure the bear's skin that the prince was obliged to
+put on every morning, and get it burned, and then he couldn't
+help being a man night and day, and the enchantment would be at
+an end.
+
+So they all persuaded her to do that, and she promised she would;
+and after eight days she felt so great a longing to see her
+husband again that she made the wish the same night, and when she
+woke three hours after, she was in her husband's palace, and he
+himself was watching over her. There was great joy on both sides,
+and they were happy for many days.
+
+Now she began to think how she never minded her husband leaving
+her in the morning, and how she never found him neglecting to
+give her a sweet drink out of a gold cup just as she was going to
+bed.
+
+One night she contrived not to drink any of it, though she
+pretended to do so; and she was wakeful enough in the morning,
+and saw her husband passing out through a panel in the wainscot,
+though she kept her eyelids nearly closed. The next night she got
+a few drops of the sleepy posset that she saved the evening
+before put into her husband's night drink, and that made him
+sleep sound enough. She got up after midnight, passed through the
+panel, and found a Beautiful brown bear's hide hanging in the
+corner. Then she stole back, and went down to the parlour fire,
+and put the hide into the middle of it till it was all fine
+ashes. She then lay down by her husband, gave him a kiss on the
+cheek, and fell asleep.
+
+If she was to live a hundred years she'd never forget how she
+wakened next morning, and found her husband looking down on her
+with misery and anger in his face. 'Unhappy woman,' said he, 'you
+have separated us for ever! Why hadn't you patience for five
+years? I am now obliged, whether I like or no, to go a three
+days' journey to the witch's castle, and marry her daughter. The
+skin that was my guard you have burned it, and the egg-wife that
+gave you the counsel was the witch herself. I won't reproach you:
+your punishment will be severe without it. Farewell for ever!'
+
+He kissed her for the last time, and was off the next minute,
+walking as fast as he could. She shouted after him, and then
+seeing there was no use, she dressed herself and pursued him. He
+never stopped, nor stayed, nor looked back, and still she kept
+him in sight; and when he was on the hill she was in the hollow,
+and when he was in the hollow she was on the hill. Her life was
+almost leaving her, when, just as the sun was setting, he turned
+up a lane, and went into a little house. She crawled up after
+him, and when she got inside there was a beautiful little boy on
+his knees, and he kissing and hugging him. 'Here, my poor
+darling,' says he, 'is your eldest child, and there,' says he,
+pointing to a woman that was looking on with a smile on her face,
+'is the eagle that carried him away.' She forgot all her sorrows
+in a moment, hugging her child, and laughing and crying over him.
+The woman washed their feet, and rubbed them with an ointment
+that took all the soreness out of their bones, and made them as
+fresh as a daisy. Next morning, just before sunrise, he was up,
+and prepared to be off, 'Here,' said he to her, 'is a thing which
+may be of use to you. It's a scissors, and whatever stuff you cut
+with it will be turned into silk. The moment the sun rises, I'll
+lose all memory of yourself and the children, but I'll get it at
+sunset again. Farewell!' But he wasn't far gone till she was in
+sight of him again, leaving her boy behind. It was the same to-
+day as yesterday: their shadows went before them in the morning
+and followed them in the evening. He never stopped, and she never
+stopped, and as the sun was setting he turned up another lane,
+and there they found their little daughter. It was all joy and
+comfort again till morning, and then the third day's journey
+commenced.
+
+But before he started he gave her a comb, and told her that
+whenever she used it, pearls and diamonds would fall from her
+hair. Still he had his memory from sunset to sunrise; but from
+sunrise to sunset he travelled on under the charm, and never
+threw his eye behind. This night they came to where the youngest
+baby was, and the next morning, just before sunrise, the prince
+spoke to her for the last time. 'Here, my poor wife,' said he,
+'is a little hand-reel, with gold thread that has no end, and the
+half of our marriage ring. If you ever get to my house, and put
+your half-ring to mine, I shall recollect you. There is a wood
+yonder, and the moment I enter it I shall forget everything that
+ever happened between us, just as if I was born yesterday.
+Farewell, dear wife and child, for ever!' Just then the sun rose,
+and away he walked towards the wood. She saw it open before him
+and close after him, and when she came up, she could no more get
+in than she could break through a stone wall. She wrung her hands
+and shed tears, but then she recollected herself, and cried out,
+'Wood, I charge you by my three magic gifts, the scissors, the
+comb, and the reel--to let me through'; and it opened, and she
+went along a walk till she came in sight of a palace, and a lawn,
+and a woodman's cottage on the edge of the wood where it came
+nearest the palace.
+
+She went into the lodge, and asked the woodman and his wife to
+take her into their service. They were not willing at first; but
+she told them she would ask no wages, and would give them
+diamonds, and pearls, and silk stuffs, and gold thread whenever
+they wished for them, and then they agreed to let her stay.
+
+It wasn't long till she heard how a young prince, that was just
+arrived, was living in the palace of the young mistress. He
+seldom stirred abroad, and every one that saw him remarked how
+silent and sorrowful he went about, like a person that was
+searching for some lost thing.
+
+The servants and conceited folk at the big house began to take
+notice of the beautiful young woman at the lodge, and to annoy
+her with their impudence. The head footman was the most
+troublesome, and at last she invited him to come and take tea
+with her. Oh, how rejoiced he was, and how he bragged of it in
+the servants' hall! Well, the evening came, and the footman
+walked into the lodge, and was shown to her sitting-room; for the
+lodge-keeper and his wife stood in great awe of her, and gave her
+two nice rooms for herself. Well, he sat down as stiff as a
+ramrod, and was talking in a grand style about the great doings
+at the castle, while she was getting the tea and toast ready.
+'Oh,' says she to him, 'would you put your hand out at the window
+and cut me off a sprig or two of honeysuckle?' He got up in great
+glee, and put out his hand and head; and said she, 'By the virtue
+of my magic gifts, let a pair of horns spring out of your head,
+and sing to the lodge.' Just as she wished, so it was. They
+sprung from the front of each ear, and met at the back. Oh, the
+poor wretch! And how he bawled and roared! and the servants that
+he used to be boasting to were soon flocking from the castle, and
+grinning, and huzzaing, and beating tunes on tongs and shovels
+and pans; and he cursing and swearing, and the eyes ready to
+start out of his head, and he so black in the face, and kicking
+out his legs behind him like mad.
+
+At last she pitied him, and removed the charm, and the horns
+dropped down on the ground, and he would have killed her on the
+spot, only he was as weak as water, and his fellow-servants came
+in and carried him up to the big house. Well, some way or other
+the story came to the ears of the prince, and he strolled down
+that way. She had only the dress of a countrywoman on her as she
+sat sewing at the window, but that did not hide her beauty, and
+he was greatly puzzled after he had a good look, just as a body
+is puzzled to know whether something happened to him when he was
+young or if he only dreamed it. Well, the witch's daughter heard
+about it too, and she came to see the strange girl; and what did
+she find her doing but cutting out the pattern of a gown from
+brown paper; and as she cut away, the paper became the richest
+silk she ever saw. The witch's daughter looked on with greedy
+eyes, and, says she, 'What would you be satisfied to take for
+that scissors?' 'I'll take nothing,' says she, 'but leave to
+spend one night outside the prince's chamber.' Well, the proud
+lady fired up, and was going to say something dreadful; but the
+scissors kept on cutting, and the silk growing richer and richer
+every inch. So she promised what the girl had asked her.
+
+When night came on she was let into the palace and lay down till
+the prince was in such a dead sleep that all she did couldn't
+awake him. She sung this verse to him, sighing and sobbing, and
+kept singing it the night long, and it was all in vain:
+
+Four long years I was married to thee; Three sweet babes I bore
+to thee; Brown Bear of Norway, turn to me.
+
+At the first dawn the proud lady was in the chamber, and led her
+away, and the footman of the horns put out his tongue at her as
+she was quitting the palace.
+
+So there was no luck so far; but the next day the prince passed
+by again and looked at her, and saluted her kindly, as a prince
+might a farmer's daughter, and passed one; and soon the witch's
+daughter passed by, and found her combing her hair, and pearls
+and diamonds dropping from it.
+
+Well, another bargain was made, and the princess spent another
+night of sorrow, and she left the castle at daybreak, and the
+footman was at his post and enjoyed his revenge.
+
+The third day the prince went by, and stopped to talk with the
+strange woman. He asked her could he do anything to serve her,
+and she said he might. She asked him did he ever wake at night.
+He said that he often did, but that during the last two nights he
+was listening to a sweet song in his dreams, and could not wake,
+and that the voice was one that he must have known and loved in
+some other world long ago. Says she, 'Did you drink any sleepy
+posset either of these evenings before you went to bed?' 'I did,'
+said he. 'The two evenings my wife gave me something to drink,
+but I don't know whether it was a sleepy posset or not.' 'Well,
+prince,' said she, 'as you say you would wish to oblige me, you
+can do it by not tasting any drink to-night.' 'I will not,' says
+he, and then he went on his walk.
+
+Well, the great lady came soon after the prince, and found the
+stranger using her hand-reel and winding threads of gold off it,
+and the third bargain was made.
+
+That evening the prince was lying on his bed at twilight, and his
+mind much disturbed; and the door opened, and in his princess
+walked, and down she sat by his bedside and sung:
+
+Four long years I was married to thee; Three sweet babes I bore
+to thee; Brown Bear of Norway, turn to me.
+
+'Brown Bear of Norway !' said he. 'I don't understand you.'
+'Don't you remember, prince, that I was your wedded wife for four
+years?' 'I do not,' said he, 'but I'm sure I wish it was so.'
+'Don't you remember our three babes that are still alive?' 'Show
+me them. My mind is all a heap of confusion.' 'Look for the half
+of our marriage ring, that hangs at your neck, and fit it to
+this.' He did so, and the same moment the charm was broken. His
+full memory came back on him, and he flung his arms round his
+wife's neck, and both burst into tears.
+
+Well, there was a great cry outside, and the castle walls were
+heard splitting and cracking. Everyone in the castle was alarmed,
+and made their way out. The prince and princess went with the
+rest, and by the time all were safe on the lawn, down came the
+building, and made the ground tremble for miles round. No one
+ever saw the witch and her daughter afterwards. It was not long
+till the prince and princess had their children with them, and
+then they set out for their own palace. The kings of Ireland and
+of Munster and Ulster, and their wives, soon came to visit them,
+and may every one that deserves it be as happy as the Brown Bear
+of Norway and his family.
+
+From 'West Highland Tales.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          Little Lasse
+
+
+
+
+There was once a little boy whose name was Lars, and because he
+was so little he was called Little Lasse; he was a brave little
+man, for he sailed round the world in a pea-shell boat.
+
+It was summer time, when the pea shells grew long and green in
+the garden. Little Lasse crept into the pea bed where the pea
+stalks rose high above his cap, and he picked seventeen large
+shells, the longest and straightest he could find.
+
+Little Lasse thought, perhaps, that no one saw him; but that was
+foolish, for God sees everywhere.
+
+Then the gardener came with his gun over his shoulder, and he
+heard something rustling in the pea bed.
+
+'I think that must be a sparrow,' he said. 'Ras! Ras!' but no
+sparrows flew out, for Little Lasse had no wings, only two small
+legs. 'Wait! I will load my gun and shoot the sparrows,' said the
+gardener.
+
+Then Little Lasse was frightened, and crept out on to the path.
+
+'Forgive me, dear gardener!' he said. 'I wanted to get some fine
+boats.'
+
+'Well, I will this time,' said the gardener. 'But another time
+Little Lasse must ask leave to go and look for boats in the pea
+bed.'
+
+'I will,' answered Lasse; and he went off to the shore. Then he
+opened the shells with a pin, split them carefully in two, and
+broke small little bits of sticks for the rowers' seats. Then he
+took the peas which were in the shells and put them in the boats
+for cargo. Some of the shells got broken, some remained whole,
+and when all were ready Lasse had twelve boats. But they should
+not be boats, they should be large warships. He had three liners,
+three frigates, three brigs and three schooners. The largest
+liner was called Hercules, and the smallest schooner The Flea.
+Little Lasse put all the twelve into the water, and they floated
+as splendidly and as proudly as any great ships over the waves of
+the ocean.
+
+And now the ships must sail round the world. The great island
+over there was Asia; that large stone Africa; the little island
+America; the small stones were Polynesia; and the shore from
+which the ships sailed out was Europe. The whole fleet set off
+and sailed far away to other parts of the world. The ships of the
+line steered a straight course to Asia, the frigates sailed to
+Africa, the brigs to America, and the schooners to Polynesia. But
+Little Lasse remained in Europe, and threw small stones out into
+the great sea.
+
+Now, there was on the shore of Europe a real boat, father's own,
+a beautiful white-painted boat, and Little Lasse got into it.
+Father and mother had forbidden this, but Little Lasse forgot. He
+thought he should very much like to travel to some other part of
+the world.
+
+'I shall row out a little way--only a very little way,' he
+thought. The pea-shell boats had travelled so far that they only
+looked like little specks on the ocean. 'I shall seize Hercules
+on the coast of Asia,' said Lasse, 'and then row home again to
+Europe.'
+
+He shook the rope that held the boat, and, strange to say, the
+rope became loose. Ditsch, ratsch, a man is a man, and so Little
+Lasse manned the boat.
+
+Now he would row--and he could row, for he had rowed so often on
+the step sat home, when the steps pretended to be a boat and
+father's big stick an oar. But when Little Lasse wanted to row
+there were no oars to be found in the boat. The oars were locked
+up in the boat-house, and Little Lasse had not noticed that the
+boat was empty. It is not so easy as one thinks to row to Asia
+without oars.
+
+What could Little Lasse do now? The boat was already some
+distance out on the sea, and the wind, which blew from land, was
+driving it still further out. Lasse was frightened and began to
+cry. But there was no one on the shore to hear him. Only a big
+crow perched alone in the birch tree; and the gardener's black
+cat sat under the birch tree, waiting to catch the crow. Neither
+of them troubled themselves in the least about Little Lasse, who
+was drifting out to sea.
+
+Ah! how sorry Little Lasse was now that he had been disobedient
+and got into the boat, when father and mother had so often
+forbidden him to do so! Now it was too late, he could not get
+back to land. Perhaps he would be lost out on the great sea. What
+should he do?
+
+When he had shouted until he was tired and no one heard him, he
+put his two little hands together and said, 'Good God, do not be
+angry with Little Lasse.' And then he went to sleep. For although
+it was daylight, old Nukku Matti was sitting on the shores of the
+'Land of Nod,' and was fishing for little children with his long
+fishing rod. He heard the low words which Little Lasse said to
+God, and he immediately drew the boat to himself and laid Little
+Lasse to sleep on a bed of rose leaves.
+
+Then Nukku Matti said to one of the Dreams, 'Play with Little
+Lasse, so that he does not feel lonesome.'
+
+It was a little dream-boy, so little, so little, that he was less
+than Lasse himself; he had blue eyes and fair hair, a red cap
+with a silver band, and white coat with pearls on the collar. He
+came to Little Lasse and said, 'Would you like to sail round the
+world?'
+
+'Yes,' said Lasse in his sleep, 'I should like to.'
+
+'Come, then,' said the dream-boy, 'and let us sail in your pea-
+shell boats. You shall sail in Hercules and I shall sail in The
+Flea.'
+
+So they sailed away from the 'Land of Nod,' and in a little while
+Hercules and The Flea were on the shores of Asia away at the
+other end of the world, where the Ice Sea flows through Behring
+Straits into the Pacific Ocean. A long way off in the winter mist
+they could see the explorer Nordenskiold with his ship Vega
+trying to find an opening between the ice. It was so cold, so
+cold; the great icebergs glittered strangely, and the huge whales
+now lived under the ice, for they could not make a hole through
+with their awkward heads. All around on the dreary shore there
+was snow and snow as far as the eye could see; little grey men in
+shaggy skins moved about, and drove in small sledges through the
+snow drifts, but the sledges were drawn by dogs.
+
+'Shall we land here?' asked the dream-boy.
+
+'No,' said Little Lasse. 'I am so afraid that the whales would
+swallow us up, and the big dogs bite us. Let us sail instead to
+another part of the world.'
+
+'Very well,' said the dream-boy with the red cap and the silver
+band; 'it is not far to America'--and at the same moment they
+were there.
+
+The sun was shining and it was very warm. Tall palm trees grew in
+long rows on the shore and bore coconuts in their top branches.
+Men red as copper galloped over the immense green prairies and
+shot their arrows at the buffaloes, who turned against them with
+their sharp horns. An enormous cobra which had crept up the stem
+of a tall palm tree threw itself on to a little llama that was
+grazing at the foot. Knaps! it was all over the little llama.
+
+'Shall we land here?' asked the dream-boy.
+
+'No,' said Little Lasse. 'I am so afraid that the buffaloes will
+butt us, and the great serpent eat us up. Let us travel to
+another part of the world.'
+
+'Very well,' said the dream-boy with the white coat, 'it is only
+a little way to Polynesia'--and then they were there.
+
+It was very warm there, as warm as in a hot bath in Finland.
+Costly spices grew on the shores: the pepper plant, the cinnamon
+tree, ginger, saffron; the coffee plant and the tea plant. Brown
+people with long ears and thick lips, and hideously painted
+faces, hunted a yellow-spotted tiger among the high bamboos on
+the shore, and the tiger turned on them and stuck its claws into
+one of the brown men. Then all the others took to flight.
+
+'Shall we land here?' asked the dream-boy.
+
+'No,' said Little Lasse. 'Don't you see the tiger away there by
+the pepper plant? Let us travel to another part of the world.'
+
+'We can do so,' said the dream-boy with the blue eyes. 'We are
+not far from Africa'--and as he said that they were there.
+
+They anchored at the mouth of a great river where the shores were
+as green as the greenest velvet. A little distance from the river
+an immense desert stretched away. The air was yellow; the sun
+shone so hot, so hot as if it would burn the earth to ashes, and
+the people were as black as the blackest jet. They rode across
+the desert on tall camels; the lions roared with thirst, and the
+great crocodiles with their grey lizard heads and sharp white
+teeth gaped up out of the river.
+
+'Shall we land here?' asked the dream-boy.
+
+'No,' said Little Lasse. 'The sun would burn us, and the lions
+and the crocodiles would eat us up. Let us travel to another part
+of the world.'
+
+'We can travel back to Europe,' said the dream-boy with the fair
+hair. And with that they were there.
+
+They came to a shore where it was all so cool and familiar and
+friendly. There stood the tall birch tree with its drooping
+leaves; at the top sat the old crow, and at its foot crept the
+gardener's black cat. Not far away was a house which Little Lasse
+had seen before; near the house there was a garden, and in the
+garden a pea bed with long pea shells. An old gardener with a
+green coat walked about and wondered if the cucumbers were ripe.
+Fylax was barking on the steps, and when he saw Little Lasse he
+wagged his tail. Old Stina was milking the cows in the farmyard,
+and there was a very familiar lady in a check woollen shawl on
+her way to the bleaching green to see if the clothes were
+bleached. There was, too, a well-known gentleman in a yellow
+summer coat, with a long pipe in his mouth; he was going to see
+if the reapers had cut the rye. A boy and a girl were running on
+the shore and calling out, 'Little Lasse! Come home for bread-
+and-butter!'
+
+'Shall we land here?' asked the dream-boy, and he blinked his
+blue eyes roguishly.
+
+'Come with me, and I shall ask mother to give you some bread-and-
+butter and a glass of milk,' said Little Lasse.
+
+'Wait a little,' said the dream-boy. And now Little Lasse saw
+that the kitchen door was open, and from within there was heard a
+low, pleasant frizzling, like that which is heard when one whisks
+yellow batter with a wooden ladle into a hot frying-pan.
+
+'Perhaps we should sail back to Polynesia now?' said the happy
+dream-boy.
+
+'No; they are frying pancakes in Europe just now,' said Little
+Lasse; and he wanted to jump ashore, but he could not. The dream-
+boy had tied him with a chain of flowers, so that he could not
+move. And now all the little dreams came about him, thousands and
+thousands of little children, and they made a ring around him and
+sang a little song:
+
+          The world is very, very wide,
+               Little Lasse, Lasse,
+          And though you've sailed beyond the tide,
+          You can never tell how wide
+          It is on the other side,
+               Lasse, Little Lasse.
+          You have found it cold and hot,
+               Little Lasse, Lasse;
+          But in no land is God not,
+               Lasse, Little Lasse.
+          Many men live there as here,
+          But they all to God are dear,
+               Little Lasse, Lasse.
+          When His angel is your guide,
+               Little Lasse, Lasse,
+          Then no harm can e'er betide,
+          Even on the other side
+               Where the wild beasts wander.
+          But tell us now,
+               Whene'er you roam,
+               Do you not find the best is home
+          Of all the lands you've looked upon,
+               Lasse, Little Lasse?
+
+When the dreams had sung their song they skipped away, and Nukku
+Matti carried Lasse back to the boat. He lay there for a long
+time quite still, and he still heard the frying-pan frizzling at
+home of the fire, the frizzling was very plain, Little Lasse
+heard it quite near him; and so he woke up and rubbed his eyes.
+
+There he lay in the boat, where he had fallen asleep. The wind
+had turned, and the boat had drifted out with one wind and
+drifted in with another while Little Lasse slept, and what Lasse
+thought was frizzling in a frying-pan was the low murmur of the
+waves as they washed against the stones on the shore. But he was
+not altogether wrong, for the clear blue sea is like a great pan
+in which God's sun all day makes cakes for good children.
+
+Little Lasse rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked around
+him. Everything was the same as before; the crow in the birch
+tree, the cat on the grass, and the pea-shell fleet on the shore.
+Some of the ships had foundered, and some had drifted back to
+land. Hercules had come back with its cargo from Asia, The Flea
+had arrived from Polynesia, and the other parts of the world were
+just where they were before.
+
+Little Lasse did not know what to think. He had so often been in
+that grotto in the 'Land of Nod' and did not know what tricks
+dreams can play. But Little Lasse did not trouble his head with
+such things; he gathered together his boats and walked up the
+shore back to the house.
+
+His brother and sister ran to meet him, and called out from the
+distance, 'Where have you been so long, Lasse? Come home and get
+some bread-and-butter.' The kitchen door stood open, and inside
+was heard a strange frizzling.
+
+The gardener was near the gate, watering the dill and parsley,
+the carrots and parsnips.
+
+'Well,' he said, 'where has Little Lasse been so long?'
+
+Little Lasse straightened himself up stiff, and answered: 'I have
+sailed round the world in a pea-shell boat.'
+
+'Oh!' said the gardener.
+
+He has forgotten Dreamland. But you have not forgotten it; you
+know that it exists. You know the beautiful grotto and the bright
+silver walls whose lustre never fades, the sparkling diamonds
+which never grow dim, the music which never ceases its low, soft
+murmur through the sweet evening twilight. The airy fairy fancies
+of happy Dreamland never grow old; they, like the glorious stars
+above us, are always young. Perhaps you have caught a glimpse of
+their ethereal wings as they flew around your pillow. Perhaps you
+have met the same dream-boy with the blue eyes and the fair hair,
+the one who wore the red cap with the silver band and the white
+coat with pearls on the collar. Perhaps he has taken you to see
+all the countries of the world and the peoples, the cold waste
+lands and the burning deserts, the many coloured men and the wild
+creatures in the sea and in the woods, so that you may earn many
+things, but come gladly home again. Yes, who knows? Perhaps you
+also have sailed round the wide world once in a pea-shell boat.
+
+From Z. Topelius.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                             'Moti'
+
+
+
+
+Once upon a time there was a youth called Moti, who was very big
+and strong, but the clumsiest creature you can imagine. So clumsy
+was he that he was always putting his great feet into the bowls
+of sweet milk or curds which his mother set out on the floor to
+cool, always smashing, upsetting, breaking, until at last his
+father said to him:
+
+'Here, Moti, are fifty silver pieces which are the savings of
+years; take them and go and make your living or your fortune if
+you can.'
+
+Then Moti started off one early spring morning with his thick
+staff over his shoulder, singing gaily to himself as he walked
+along.
+
+In one way and another he got along very well until a hot evening
+when he came to a certain city where he entered the travellers'
+'serai' or inn to pass the night. Now a serai, you must know, is
+generally just a large square enclosed by a high wall with an
+open colonnade along the inside all round to accommodate both men
+and beasts, and with perhaps a few rooms in towers at the corners
+for those who are too rich or too proud to care about sleeping by
+their own camels and horses. Moti, of course, was a country lad
+and had lived with cattle all his life, and he wasn't rich and he
+wasn't proud, so he just borrowed a bed from the innkeeper, set
+it down beside an old buffalo who reminded him of home, and in
+five minutes was fast asleep.
+
+In the middle of the night he woke, feeling that he had been
+disturbed, and putting his hand under his pillow found to his
+horror that his bag of money had been stolen. He jumped up
+quietly and began to prowl around to see whether anyone seemed to
+be awake, but, though he managed to arouse a few men and beasts
+by falling over them, he walked in the shadow of the archways
+round the whole serai without coming across a likely thief. He
+was just about to give it up when he overheard two men
+whispering, and one laughed softly, and peering behind a pillar,
+he saw two Afghan horsedealers counting out his bag of money!
+Then Moti went back to bed!
+
+In the morning Moti followed the two Afghans outside the city to
+the horsemarket in which they horses were offered for sale.
+Choosing the best-looking horse amongst them he went up to it and
+said:
+
+'Is this horse for sale? may I try it?' and, the merchants
+assenting, he scrambled up on its back, dug in his heels, and off
+they flew. Now Moti had never been on a horse in his life, and
+had so much ado to hold on with both hands as well as with both
+legs that the animal went just where it liked, and very soon
+broke into a break-neck gallop and made straight back to the
+serai where it had spent the last few nights.
+
+'This will do very well,' thought Moti as they whirled in at the
+entrance. As soon as the horse had arrived at its table it
+stopped of its own accord and Moti immediately rolled off; but he
+jumped up at once, tied the beast up, and called for some
+breakfast. Presently the Afghans appeared, out of breath and
+furious, and claimed the horse.
+
+'What do you mean?' cried Moti, with his mouth full of rice,
+'it's my horse; I paid you fifty pieces of silver for it--quite a
+bargain, I'm sure!'
+
+'Nonsense! it is our horse,' answered one of the Afghans
+beginning to untie the bridle.
+
+'Leave off,' shouted Moti, seizing his staff; 'if you don't let
+my horse alone I'll crack your skulls! you thieves! I know you!
+Last night you took my money, so to-day I took your horse; that's
+fair enough!'
+
+Now the Afghans began to look a little uncomfortable, but Moti
+seemed so determined to keep the horse that they resolved to
+appeal to the law, so they went off and laid a complaint before
+the king that Moti had stolen one of their horses and would not
+give it up nor pay for it.
+
+Presently a soldier came to summon Moti to the king; and, when he
+arrived and made his obeisance, the king began to question him as
+to why he had galloped off with the horse in this fashion. But
+Moti declared that he had got the animal in exchange for fifty
+pieces of silver, whilst the horse merchants vowed that the money
+they had on them was what they had received for the sale of other
+horses; and in one way and another the dispute got so confusing
+that the king (who really thought that Moti had stolen the horse)
+said at last, 'Well, I tell you what I will do. I will lock
+something into this box before me, and if he guesses what it is,
+the horse is his, and if he doesn't then it is yours.'
+
+To this Moti agreed, and the king arose and went out alone by a
+little door at the back of the Court, and presently came back
+clasping something closely wrapped up in a cloth under his robe,
+slipped it into the little box, locked the box, and set it up
+where all might see.
+
+'Now,' said the king to Moti, 'guess!'
+
+It happened that when the king had opened the door behind him,
+Moti noticed that there was a garden outside: without waiting for
+the king's return he began to think what could be got out of the
+garden small enough to be shut in the box. 'Is it likely to be a
+fruit or a flower? No, not a flower this time, for he clasped it
+too tight. Then it must be a fruit or a stone. Yet not a stone,
+because he wouldn't wrap a dirty stone in his nice clean cloth.
+Then it is a fruit! And a fruit without much scent, or else he
+would be afraid that I might smell it. Now what fruit without
+much scent is in season just now? When I know that I shall have
+guessed the riddle!'
+
+As has been said before, Moti was a country lad, and was
+accustomed to work in his father's garden. He knew all the common
+fruits, so he thought he ought to be able to guess right; but so
+as not to let it seem too easy, he gazed up at the ceiling with a
+puzzled expression, and looked down at the floor with an air or
+wisdom and his fingers pressed against his forehead, and then he
+said, slowly, with his eyes on the king,--
+
+'It is freshly plucked! It is round and it is red! It is a
+pomegranate!'
+
+Now the king knew nothing about fruits except that they were good
+to eat; and, as for seasons, he asked for whatever fruit he
+wanted whenever he wanted it, and saw that he got it; so to him
+Moti's guess was like a miracle, and clear proof not only of his
+wisdom but of his innocence, for it was a pomegranate that he had
+put into the box. Of course when the king marvelled and praised
+Moti's wisdom, everybody else did so too; and, whilst the Afghans
+went off crestfallen, Moti took the horse and entered the king's
+service.
+
+Very soon after this, Moti, who continued to live in the serai,
+came back one wet and stormy evening to find that his precious
+horse had strayed. Nothing remained of him but a broken halter
+cord, and no one knew what had become of him. After inquiring of
+everyone who was likely to know, Moti seized the cord and his big
+staff and sallied out to look for him. Away and away he tramped
+out of the city and into the neighbouring forest, tracking hoof-
+marks in the mud. Presently it grew late, but still Moti wandered
+on until suddenly in the gathering darkness he came right upon a
+tiger who was contentedly eating his horse.
+
+'You thief!' shrieked Moti, and ran up and, just as the tiger, in
+astonishment, dropped a bone--whack! came Moti's staff on his
+head with such good will that the beast was half stunned and
+could hardly breathe or see. Then Moti continued to shower upon
+him blows and abuse until the poor tiger could hardly stand,
+whereupon his tormentor tied the end of the broken halter round
+his neck and dragged him back to the serai.
+
+'If you had my horse,' he said, 'I will at least have you, that's
+fair enough!' And he tied him up securely by the head and heels,
+much as he used to tie the horse; then, the night being far gone,
+he flung himself beside him and slept soundly.
+
+You cannot imagine anything like the fright of the people in the
+serai, when they woke up and found a tiger--very battered but
+still a tiger--securely tethered amongst themselves and their
+beasts! Men gathered in groups talking and exclaiming, and
+finding fault with the innkeeper for allowing such a dangerous
+beast into the serai, and all the while the innkeeper was just as
+troubled as the rest, and none dared go near the place where the
+tiger stood blinking miserably on everyone, and where Moti lay
+stretched out snoring like thunder.
+
+At last news reached the king that Moti had exchanged his horse
+for a live tiger; and the monarch himself came down, half
+disbelieving the tale, to see if it were really true. Someone at
+last awaked Moti with the news that his royal master was come;
+and he arose yawning, and was soon delightedly explaining and
+showing off his new possession. The king, however, did not share
+his pleasure at all, but called up a soldier to shoot the tiger,
+much to the relief of all the inmates of the serai except Moti.
+If the king, however, was before convinced that Moti was one of
+the wisest of men, he was now still more convinced that he was
+the bravest, and he increased his pay a hundredfold, so that our
+hero thought that he was the luckiest of men.
+
+A week or two after this incident the king sent for Moti, who on
+arrival found his master in despair. A neighbouring monarch, he
+explained, who had many more soldiers than he, had declared war
+against him, and he was at his wits' end, for he had neither
+money to buy him off nor soldiers enough to fight him--what was
+he to do?
+
+'If that is all, don't you trouble,' said Moti. 'Turn out your
+men, and I'll go with them, and we'll soon bring this robber to
+reason.'
+
+The king began to revive at these hopeful words, and took Moti
+off to his stable where he bade him choose for himself any horse
+he liked. There were plenty of fine horses in the stalls, but to
+the king's astonishment Moti chose a poor little rat of a pony
+that was used to carry grass and water for the rest of the
+stable.
+
+'But why do you choose that beast?' said the king.
+
+'Well, you see, your majesty,' replied Moti, 'there are so many
+chances that I may fall off, and if I choose one of your fine big
+horses I shall have so far to fall that I shall probably break my
+leg or my arm, if not my neck, but if I fall off this little
+beast I can't hurt myself much.'
+
+A very comical sight was Moti when he rode out to the war. The
+only weapon he carried was his staff, and to help him to keep his
+balance on horseback he had tied to each of his ankles a big
+stone that nearly touched the ground as he sat astride the little
+pony. The rest of the king's cavalry were not very numerous, but
+they pranced along in armour on fine horses. Behind them came a
+great rabble of men on foot armed with all sorts of weapons, and
+last of all was the king with his attendants, very nervous and
+ill at ease. So the army started.
+
+They had not very far to go, but Moti's little pony, weighted
+with a heavy man and two big rocks, soon began to lag behind the
+cavalry, and would have lagged behind the infantry too, only they
+were not very anxious to be too early in the fight, and hung back
+so as to give Moti plenty of time. The young man jogged along
+more and more slowly for some time, until at last, getting
+impatient at the slowness of the pony, he gave him such a
+tremendous thwack with his staff that the pony completely lost
+his temper and bolted. First one stone became untied and rolled
+away in a cloud of dust to one side of the road, whilst Moti
+nearly rolled off too, but clasped his steed valiantly by its
+ragged mane, and, dropping his staff, held on for dear life.
+Then, fortunately the other rock broke away from his other leg
+and rolled thunderously down a neighbouring ravine. Meanwhile the
+advanced cavalry had barely time to draw to one side when Moti
+came dashing by, yelling bloodthirsty threats to his pony:
+
+'You wait till I get hold of you! I'll skin you alive! I'll wring
+your neck! I'll break every bone in your body!' The cavalry
+thought that this dreadful language was meant for the enemy, and
+were filled with admiration of his courage. Many of their horses
+too were quite upset by this whirlwind that galloped howling
+through their midst, and in a few minutes, after a little
+plunging and rearing and kicking, the whole troop were following
+on Moti's heels.
+
+Far in advance, Moti continued his wild career. Presently in his
+course he came to a great field of castor-oil plants, ten or
+twelve feet high, big and bushy, but quite green and soft. Hoping
+to escape from the back of his fiery steed Moti grasped one in
+passing, but its roots gave way, and he dashed on, with the whole
+plant looking like a young tree flourishing in his grip.
+
+The enemy were in battle array, advancing over the plain, their
+king with them confident and cheerful, when suddenly from the
+front came a desperate rider at a furious gallop.
+
+'Sire!' he cried, 'save yourself! the enemy are coming!'
+
+'What do you mean?' said the king.
+
+'Oh, sire!' panted the messenger, 'fly at once, there is no time
+to lose. Foremost of the enemy rides a mad giant at a furious
+gallop. He flourishes a tree for a club and is wild with anger,
+for as he goes he cries, "You wait till I get hold of you! I'll
+skin you alive! I'll wring your neck! I'll break every bone in
+your body!" Others ride behind, and you will do well to retire
+before this whirlwind of destruction comes upon you.'
+
+Just then out of a cloud of dust in the distance the king saw
+Moti approaching at a hard gallop, looking indeed like a giant
+compared with the little beast he rode, whirling his castor-oil
+plant, which in the distance might have been an oak tree, and the
+sound of his revilings and shoutings came down upon the breeze!
+Behind him the dust cloud moved to the sound of the thunder of
+hoofs, whilst here and there flashed the glitter of steel. The
+sight and the sound struck terror into the king, and, turning his
+horse, he fled at top speed, thinking that a regiment of yelling
+giants was upon him; and all his force followed him as fast as
+they might go. One fat officer alone could not keep up on foot
+with that mad rush, and as Moti came galloping up he flung
+himself on the ground in abject fear. This was too much for
+Moti's excited pony, who shied so suddenly that Moti went flying
+over his head like a sky rocket, and alighted right on the top of
+his fat foe.
+
+Quickly regaining his feet Moti began to swing his plant round
+his head and to shout:
+
+'Where are your men? Bring them up and I'll kill them. My
+regiments! Come on, the whole lot of you! Where's your king?
+Bring him to me. Here are all my fine fellows coming up and we'll
+each pull up a tree by the roots and lay you all flat and your
+houses and towns and everything else! Come on!'
+
+But the poor fat officer could do nothing but squat on his knees
+with his hands together, gasping. At last, when he got his
+breath, Moti sent him off to bring his king, and to tell him that
+if he was reasonable his life should be spared. Off the poor man
+went, and by the time the troops of Moti's side had come up and
+arranged themselves to look as formidable as possible, he
+returned with his king. The latter was very humble and
+apologetic, and promised never to make war any more, to pay a
+large sum of money, and altogether do whatever his conqueror
+wished.
+
+So the armies on both sides went rejoicing home, and this was
+really the making of the fortune of clumsy Moti, who lived long
+and contrived always to be looked up to as a fountain of wisdom,
+valour, and discretion by all except his relations, who could
+never understand what he had done to be considered so much wiser
+than anyone else.
+
+A Pushto Story.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       The Enchanted Deer
+
+
+
+
+A young man was out walking one day in Erin, leading a stout
+cart-horse by the bridle. He was thinking of his mother and how
+poor they were since his father, who was a fisherman, had been
+drowned at sea, and wondering what he should do to earn a living
+for both of them. Suddenly a hand was laid on his shoulder, and a
+voice said to him:
+
+'Will you sell me your horse, son of the fisherman?' and looking
+up he beheld a man standing in the road with a gun in his hand, a
+falcon on his shoulder, and a dog by his side.
+
+'What will you give me for my horse?' asked the youth. 'Will you
+give me your gun, and your dog, and your falcon?'
+
+'I will give them,' answered the man, and he took the horse, and
+the youth took the gun and the dog and the falcon, and went home
+with them. But when his mother heard what he had done she was
+very angry, and beat him with a stick which she had in her hand.
+
+'That will teach you to sell my property,' said she, when her arm
+was quite tired, but Ian her son answered her nothing, and went
+off to his bed, for he was very sore.
+
+That night he rose softly, and left the house carrying the gun
+with him. 'I will not stay here to be beaten,' thought he, and he
+walked and he walked and he walked, till it was day again, and he
+was hungry and looked about him to see if he could get anything
+to eat. Not very far off was a farm-house, so he went there, and
+knocked at the door, and the farmer and his wife begged him to
+come in, and share their breakfast.
+
+'Ah, you have a gun,' said the farmer as the young man placed it
+in a corner. 'That is well, for a deer comes every evening to eat
+my corn, and I cannot catch it. It is fortune that has sent you
+to me.'
+
+'I will gladly remain and shoot the deer for you,' replied the
+youth, and that night he hid himself and watched till the deer
+came to the cornfield; then he lifted his gun to his shoulder and
+was just going to pull the trigger, when, behold! instead of a
+deer, a woman with long black hair was standing there. At this
+sight his gun almost dropped from his hand in surprise, but as he
+looked, there was the deer eating the corn again. And thrice this
+happened, till the deer ran away over the moor, and the young man
+after her.
+
+On they went, on and on and one, till they reached a cottage
+which was thatched with heather. With a bound the deer sprang on
+the roof, and lay down where none could see her, but as she did
+so she called out, 'Go in, fisher's son, and eat and drink while
+you may.' So he entered and found food and wine on the table, but
+no man, for the house belonged to some robbers, who were still
+away at their wicked business.
+
+After Ian, the fisher's son, had eaten all he wanted, he hid
+himself behind a great cask, and very soon he heard a noise, as
+of men coming through the heather, and the small twigs snapping
+under their feet. From his dark corner he could see into the
+room, and he counted four and twenty of them, all big, cross-
+looking men.
+
+'Some one has been eating our dinner,' cried they, 'and there was
+hardly enough for ourselves.'
+
+'It is the man who is lying under the cask,' answered the leader.
+'Go and kill him, and then come and eat your food and sleep, for
+we must be off betimes in the morning.'
+
+So four of them killed the fisher's son and left him, and then
+went to bed.
+
+By sunrise they were all out of the house, for they had far to
+go. And when they had disappeared the deer came off the roof, to
+where the dead man lay, and she shook her head over him, and wax
+fell from her ear, and he jumped up as well as ever.
+
+'Trust me and eat as you did before, and no harm shall happen to
+you,' said she. So Ian ate and drank, and fell sound asleep under
+the cask. In the evening the robbers arrived very tired, and
+crosser than they had been yesterday, for their luck had turned
+and they had brought back scarcely anything.
+
+'Someone has eaten our dinner again,' cried they.
+
+'It is the man under the barrel,' answered the captain. 'Let four
+of you go and kill him, but first slay the other four who
+pretended to kill him last night and didn't because he is still
+alive.'
+
+Then Ian was killed a second time, and after the rest of the
+robbers had eaten, they lay down and slept till morning.
+
+No sooner were their faces touched with the sun's rays than they
+were up and off. Then the deer entered and dropped the healing
+wax on the dead man, and he was as well as ever. By this time he
+did not mind what befell him, so sure was he that the deer would
+take care of him, and in the evening that which had happened
+before happened again--the four robbers were put to death and the
+fisher's son also, but because there was no food left for them to
+eat, they were nearly mad with rage, and began to quarrel. From
+quarrelling they went on to fighting, and fought so hard that by
+and bye they were all stretched dead on the floor.
+
+Then the deer entered, and the fisher's son was restored to life,
+and bidding him follow her, she ran on to a little white cottage
+where dwelt an old woman and her son, who was thin and dark.
+
+'Here I must leave you,' said the deer, 'but to-morrow meet me at
+midday in the church that is yonder.' And jumping across the
+stream, she vanished into a wood.
+
+Next day he set out for the church, but the old woman of the
+cottage had gone before him, and had stuck an enchanted stick
+called 'the spike of hurt' in a crack of the door, so that he
+would brush against it as he stepped across the threshold.
+Suddenly he felt so sleepy that he could not stand up, and
+throwing himself on the ground he sank into a deep slumber, not
+knowing that the dark lad was watching him. Nothing could waken
+him, not even the sound of sweetest music, nor the touch of a
+lady who bent over him. A sad look came on her face, as she saw
+it was no use, and at last she gave it up, and lifting his arm,
+wrote her name across the side-- 'the daughter of the king of the
+town under the waves.'
+
+'I will come to-morrow,' she whispered, though he could not hear
+her, and she went sorrowfully away.
+
+Then he awoke, and the dark lad told him what had befallen him,
+and he was very grieved. But the dark lad did not tell him of the
+name that was written underneath his arm.
+
+On the following morning the fisher's son again went to the
+church, determined that he would not go to sleep, whatever
+happened. But in his hurry to enter he touched with his hand the
+spike of hurt, and sank down where he stood, wrapped in slumber.
+A second time the air was filled with music, and the lady came
+in, stepping softly, but though she laid his head on her knee,
+and combed his hair with a golden comb, his eyes opened not. Then
+she burst into tears, and placing a beautifully wrought box in
+his pocket she went her way.
+
+The next day the same thing befell the fisher's son, and this
+time the lady wept more bitterly than before, for she said it was
+the last chance, and she would never be allowed to come any more,
+for home she must go.
+
+As soon as the lady had departed the fisher's son awoke, and the
+dark lad told him of her visit, and how he would never see her as
+long as he lived. At this the fisher's son felt the cold creeping
+up to his heart, yet he knew the fault had not been his that
+sleep had overtaken him.
+
+'I will search the whole world through till I find her,' cried
+he, and the dark lad laughed as he heard him. But the fisher's
+son took no heed, and off he went, following the sun day after
+day, till his shoes were in holes and his feet were sore from the
+journey. Nought did he see but the birds that made their nests in
+the trees, not so much as a goat or a rabbit. On and on and on he
+went, till suddenly he came upon a little house, with a woman
+standing outside it.
+
+'All hail, fisher's son!' said she. 'I know what you are seeking;
+enter in and rest and eat, and to-morrow I will give you what
+help I can, and send you on your way.'
+
+Gladly did Ian the fisher's son accept her offer, and all that
+day he rested, and the woman gave him ointment to put on his
+feet, which healed his sores. At daybreak he got up, ready to be
+gone, and the woman bade him farewell, saying:
+
+'I have a sister who dwells on the road which you must travel. It
+is a long road, and it would take you a year and a day to reach
+it, but put on these old brown shoes with holes all over them,
+and you will be there before you know it. Then shake them off,
+and turn their toes to the known, and their heels to the unknown,
+and they will come home of themselves.'
+
+The fisher's son did as the woman told him, and everything
+happened just as she had said. But at parting the second sister
+said to him, as she gave him another pair of shoes:
+
+'Go to my third sister, for she has a son who is keeper of the
+birds of the air, and sends them to sleep when night comes. He is
+very wise, and perhaps he can help you.'
+
+Then the young man thanked her, and went to the third sister.
+
+The third sister was very kind, but had no counsel to give him,
+so he ate and drank and waited till her son came home, after he
+had sent all the birds to sleep. He thought a long while after
+his mother had told him the young man's story, and at last he
+said that he was hungry, and the cow must be killed, as he wanted
+some supper. So the cow was killed and the meat cooked, and a bag
+made of its red skin.
+
+'Now get into the bag,' bade the son, and the young man got in
+and took his gun with him, but the dog and the falcon he left
+outside. The keeper of the birds drew the string at the top of
+the bag, and left it to finish his supper, when in flew an eagle
+through the open door, and picked the bag up in her claws and
+carried it through the air to an island. There was nothing to eat
+on the island, and the fisher's son thought he would die of food,
+when he remembered the box that the lady had put in his pocket.
+He opened the lid, and three tiny little birds flew out, and
+flapping their wings they asked,
+
+'Good master, is there anything we can do for thee?'
+
+'Bear me to the kingdom of the king under the waves,' he
+answered, and one little bird flew on to his head, and the others
+perched on each of his shoulders, and he shut his eyes, and in a
+moment there he was in the country under the sea. Then the birds
+flew away, and the young man looked about him, his heart beating
+fast at the thought that here dwelt the lady whom he had sought
+all the world over.
+
+He walked on through the streets, and presently he reached the
+house of a weaver who was standing at his door, resting from his
+work.
+
+'You are a stranger here, that is plain,' said the weaver, 'but
+come in, and I will give you food and drink.' And the young man
+was glad, for he knew not where to go, and they sat and talked
+till it grew late.
+
+'Stay with me, I pray, for I love company and am lonely,'
+observed the weaver at last, and he pointed to a bed in a corner,
+where the fisher's son threw himself, and slept till dawn.
+
+'There is to be a horse-race in the town to-day,' remarked the
+weaver, 'and the winner is to have the king's daughter to wife.'
+The young man trembled with excitement at the news, and his voice
+shook as he answered:
+
+'That will be a prize indeed, I should like to see the race.'
+
+'Oh, that is quite easy--anyone can go,' replied the weaver. 'I
+would take you myself, but I have promised to weave this cloth
+for the king.'
+
+'That is a pity,' returned the young man politely, but in his
+heart he rejoiced, for he wished to be alone.
+
+Leaving the house, he entered a grove of trees which stood
+behind, and took the box from his pocket. He raised the lid, and
+out flew the three little birds.
+
+'Good master, what shall we do for thee?' asked they, and he
+answered, 'Bring me the finest horse that ever was seen, and the
+grandest dress, and glass shoes.'
+
+'They are here, master,' said the birds, and so they were, and
+never had the young man seen anything so splendid.
+
+Mounting the horse he rode into the ground where the horses were
+assembling for the great race, and took his place among them.
+Many good beasts were there which had won many races, but the
+horse of the fisher's son left them all behind, and he was first
+at the winning post. The king's daughter waited for him in vain
+to claim his prize, for he went back to the wood, and got off his
+horse, and put on his old clothes, and bade the box place some
+gold in his pockets. After that he went back to the weaver's
+house, and told him that the gold had been given him by the man
+who had won the race, and that the weaver might have it for his
+kindness to him.
+
+Now as nobody had appeared to demand the hand of the princess,
+the king ordered another race to be run, and the fisher's son
+rode into the field still more splendidly dressed than he was
+before, and easily distanced everybody else. But again he left
+the prize unclaimed, and so it happened on the third day, when it
+seemed as if all the people in the kingdom were gathered to see
+the race, for they were filled with curiosity to know who the
+winner could be.
+
+'If he will not come of his own free will, he must be brought,'
+said the king, and the messengers who had seen the face of the
+victor were sent to seek him in every street of the town. This
+took many days, and when at last they found the young man in the
+weaver's cottage, he was so dirty and ugly and had such a strange
+appearance, that they declared he could not be the winner they
+had been searching for, but a wicked robber who had murdered ever
+so many people, but had always managed to escape.
+
+'Yes, it must be the robber,' said the king, when the fisher's
+son was led into his presence; 'build a gallows at once and hang
+him in the sight of all my subjects, that they may behold him
+suffer the punishment of his crimes.'
+
+So the gallows was built upon a high platform, and the fisher's
+son mounted the steps up to it, and turned at the top to make the
+speech that was expected from every doomed man, innocent or
+guilt. As he spoke he happened to raise his arm, and the king's
+daughter, who was there at her father's side, saw the name which
+she had written under it. With a shriek she sprang from her seat,
+and the eyes of the spectators were turned towards her.
+
+'Stop! stop!' she cried, hardly knowing what she said. 'If that
+man is hanged there is not a soul in the kingdom but shall die
+also.' And running up to where the fisher's son was standing, she
+took him by the hand, saying,
+
+'Father, this is no robber or murderer, but the victor in the
+three races, and he loosed the spells that were laid upon me.'
+
+Then, without waiting for a reply, she conducted him into the
+palace, and he bathed in a marble bath, and all the dirt that the
+fairies had put upon him disappeared like magic, and when he had
+dressed himself in the fine garments the princess had sent to
+him, he looked a match for any king's daughter in Erin. He went
+down into the great hall where she was awaiting him, and they had
+much to tell each other but little time to tell it in, for the
+king her father, and the princes who were visiting him, and all
+the people of the kingdom were still in their places expecting
+her return.
+
+'How did you find me out?' she whispered as they went down the
+passage.
+
+'The birds in the box told me,' answered he, but he could say no
+more, as they stepped out into the open space that was crowded
+with people. There the princes stopped.
+
+'O kings!' she said, turning towards them, 'if one of you were
+killed to-day, the rest would fly; but this man put his trust in
+me, and had his head cut off three times. Because he has done
+this, I will marry him rather than one of you, who have come
+hither to wed me, for many kings here sought to free me from the
+spells, but none could do it save Ian the fisher's son.'
+
+From 'Popular Tales of the West Highlands.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                          A Fish Story
+
+
+
+
+Perhaps you think that fishes were always fishes, and never lived
+anywhere except in the water, but if you went to Australia and
+talked to the black people in the sandy desert in the centre of
+the country, you would learn something quite different. They
+would tell you that long, long ago you would have met fishes on
+the land, wandering from place to place, and hunting all sorts of
+animals, and if you consider how fishes are made, you will
+understand how difficult this must have been and how clever they
+were to do it. Indeed, so clever were they that they might have
+been hunting still if a terrible thing had not happened.
+
+One day the whole fish tribe came back very tired from a hunting
+expedition, and looked about for a nice, cool spot in which to
+pitch their camp. It was very hot, and they thought that they
+could not find a more comfortable place than under the branches
+of a large tree which grew by the bank of a river. So they made
+their fire to cook some food, right on the edge of a steep bank,
+which had a deep pool of water lying beneath it at the bottom.
+While the food was cooking they all stretched themselves lazily
+out under the tree, and were just dropping off to sleep when a
+big black cloud which they had never noticed spread over the sun,
+and heavy drops of rain began to fall, so that the fire was
+almost put out, and that, you know, is a very serious thing in
+savage countries where they have no matches, for it is very hard
+to light it again. To make matters worse, an icy wind began to
+blow, and the poor fishes were chilled right through their
+bodies.
+
+'This will never do,' said Thuggai, the oldest of the fish tribe.
+'We shall die of cold unless we can light the fire again,' and he
+bade his sons rub two sticks together in the hope of kindling a
+flame, but though they rubbed till they were tired, not a spark
+could they produce.
+
+'Let me try,' cried Biernuga, the bony fish, but he had no better
+luck, and no more had Kumbal, the bream, nor any of the rest.
+
+'It is no use,' exclaimed Thuggai, at last. 'The wood is too wet.
+We must just sit and wait till the sun comes out again and dries
+it.' Then a very little fish indeed, not more than four inches
+long and the youngest of the tribe, bowed himself before Thuggai,
+saying, 'Ask my father, Guddhu the cod, to light the fire. He is
+skilled in magic more than most fishes.' So Thuggai asked him,
+and Guddhu stripped some pieces of bark off a tree, and placed
+them on top of the smouldering ashes. Then he knelt by the side
+of the fire and blew at it for a long while, till slowly the
+feeble red glow became a little stronger and the edges of the
+bark showed signs of curling up. When the rest of the tribe saw
+this they pressed close, keeping their backs towards the piercing
+wind, but Guddhu told them they must go to the other side, as he
+wanted the wind to fan his fire. By and by the spark grew into a
+flame, and a merry crackling was heard.
+
+'More wood,' cried Guddhi, and they all ran and gathered wood and
+heaped it on the flames, which leaped and roared and sputtered.
+
+'We shall soon be warm now,' said the people one to another.
+'Truly Guddhu is great'; and they crowded round again, closer and
+closer. Suddenly, with a shriek, a blast of wind swept down from
+the hills and blew the fire out towards them. They sprang back
+hurriedly, quite forgetting where they stood, and all fell down
+the bank, each tumbling over the other, till they rolled into the
+pool that lay below. Oh, how cold it was in that dark water on
+which the sun never shone! Then in an instant they felt warm
+again, for the fire, driven by the strong wind, had followed them
+right down to the bottom of the pool, where it burned as brightly
+as ever. And the fishes gathered round it as they had done on the
+top of the cliff, and found the flames as hot as before, and that
+fire never went out, like those upon land, but kept burning for
+ever. So now you know why, if you dive deep down below the cold
+surface of the water on a frosty day, you will find it
+comfortable and pleasant underneath, and be quite sorry that you
+cannot stay there.
+
+Australian Folk Tale.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      The Wonderful Tune.
+
+
+
+
+Maurice Connor was the king, and that's no small word, of all the
+pipers in Munster. He could play jig and reel without end, and
+Ollistrum's March, and the Eagle's Whistle, and the Hen's
+Concert, and odd tunes of every sort and kind. But he knew one
+far more surprising than the rest, which had in it the power to
+set everything dead or alive dancing.
+
+In what way he learned it is beyond my knowledge for he was
+mighty cautious about telling how he came by so wonderful a tune.
+At the very first note of that tune the shoes began shaking upon
+the feet of all how heard it--old or young, it mattered not--just
+as if the shoes had the ague; then the feet began going, going,
+going from under them, and at last up and away with them, dancing
+like mad, whisking here, there, and everywhere, like a straw in a
+storm-- there was no halting while the music lasted.
+
+Not a fair, nor a wedding, nor a feast in the seven parishes
+round, was counted worth the speaking of without 'blind Maurice
+and his pipes.' His mother, poor woman, used to lead him about
+from one place to another just like a dog.
+
+Down through Iveragh, Maurice Connor and his mother were taking
+their rounds. Beyond all other places Iveragh is the place for
+stormy coasts and steep mountains, as proper a spot it is as any
+in Ireland to get yourself drowned, or your neck broken on the
+land, should you prefer that. But, notwithstanding, in
+Ballinskellig Bay there is a neat bit of ground, well fitted for
+diversion, and down from it, towards the water, is a clean smooth
+piece of strand, the dead image of a calm summer's sea on a
+moonlight night, with just the curl of the small waves upon it.
+
+Here is was that Maurice's music had brought from all parts a
+great gathering of the young men and the young women; for 'twas
+not every day the strand of Trafraska was stirred up by the voice
+of a bagpipe. The dance began; and as pretty a dance it was as
+ever was danced. 'Brave music,' said everybody, 'and well done,'
+when Maurice stopped.
+
+'More power to your elbow, Maurice, and a fair wind in the
+bellows,' cried Paddy Dorman, a hump-backed dancing master, who
+was there to keep order. ''Tis a pity,' said he, 'if we'd let the
+piper run dry after such music; 'twould be a disgrace to Iveragh,
+that didn't come on it since the week of the three Sundays.' So,
+as well became him, for he was always a decent man, says he, 'Did
+you drink, piper?'
+
+'I will, sir,' said Maurice, answering the question on the safe
+side, for you never yet knew piper or schoolmaster who refused
+his drink.
+
+'What will you drink, Maurice?' says Paddy.
+
+'I'm no ways particular,' says Maurice; 'I drink anything,
+barring raw water; but if it's all the same to you, Mister
+Dorman, may be you wouldn't lend me the loan of a glass of
+whisky.'
+
+'I've no glass, Maurice,' said Paddy; 'I've only the bottle.'
+
+'Let that be no hindrance,' answered Maurice; 'my mouth just
+holds a glass to the drop; often I've tried it sure.'
+
+So Paddy Dorman trusted him with the bottle--more fool was he;
+and, to his cost, he found that though Maurice's mouth might not
+hold more than the glass at one time, yet, owing to the hole in
+his throat, it took many a filling.
+
+'That was no bad whisky neither,' says Maurice, handing back the
+empty bottle.
+
+'By the holy frost, then!' says Paddy, ''tis but cold comfort
+there's in that bottle now; and 'tis your word we must take for
+the strength of the whisky, for you've left us no sample to judge
+by'; and to be sure Maurice had not.
+
+Now I need not tell any gentleman or lady that if he or she was
+to drink an honest bottle of whisky at one pull, it is not at all
+the same thing as drinking a bottle of water; and in the whole
+course of my life I never knew more than five men who could do so
+without being the worse. Of these Maurice Connor was not one,
+though he had a stiff head enough of his own. Don't think I blame
+him for it; but true is the word that says, 'When liquor's in
+sense is out'; and puff, at a breath, out he blasted his
+wonderful tune.
+
+'Twas really then beyond all belief or telling the dancing.
+Maurice himself could not keep quiet; staggering now on one leg,
+now on the other, and rolling about like a ship in a cross sea,
+trying to humour the tune. There was his mother, too, moving her
+old bones as light as the youngest girl of them all; but her
+dancing, no, nor the dancing of all the rest, is not worthy the
+speaking about to the work that was going on down upon the
+strand. Every inch of it covered with all manner of fish jumping
+and plunging about to the music, and every moment more and more
+would tumble in and out of the water, charmed by the wonderful
+tune. Crabs of monstrous size spun round and round on one claw
+with the nimbleness of a dancing master, and twirled and tossed
+their other claws about like limbs that did not belong to them.
+It was a sight surprising to behold. But perhaps you may have
+heard of Father Florence Conry, as pleasant a man as one would
+wish to drink with of a hot summer's day; and he had rhymed out
+all about the dancing fishes so neatly that it would be a
+thousand pities not to give you his verses; so here they are in
+English:
+
+          The big seals in motion,
+          Like waves of the ocean,
+               Or gouty feet prancing,
+          Came heading the gay fish,
+          Crabs, lobsters, and cray-fish,
+               Determined on dancing.
+
+          The sweet sounds they followed,
+          The gasping cod swallow'd-- 
+               'Twas wonderful, really;
+          And turbot and flounder,
+          'Mid fish that were rounder,
+               Just caper'd as gaily.
+
+          John-dories came tripping;
+          Dull hake, by their skipping,
+               To frisk it seem'd given;
+          Bright mackrel went springing,
+          Like small rainbows winging
+               Their flight up to heaven.
+
+          The whiting and haddock
+          Left salt water paddock
+               This dance to be put in;
+          Where skate with flat faces
+          Edged out some old plaices;
+               But soles kept their footing.
+
+          Sprats and herrings in powers
+          Of silvery showers
+               All number out-numbered;
+          And great ling so lengthy
+          Was there in such plenty
+               The shore was encumber'd.
+
+          The scallop and oyster
+          Their two shells did roister,
+               Like castanets flitting;
+          While limpets moved clearly,
+          And rocks very nearly
+               With laughter were splitting.
+
+Never was such a hullabaloo in this world, before or since; 'twas
+as if heaven and earth were coming together; and all out of
+Maurice Connor's wonderful tune!
+
+In the height of all these doings, what should there be dancing
+among the outlandish set of fishes but a beautiful young woman--
+as beautiful as the dawn of day! She had a cocked hat upon her
+head; from under it her long green hair--just the colour of the
+sea-- fell down behind, without hindrance to her dancing. Her
+teeth were like rows of pearls; her lips for all the world looked
+like red coral; and she had a shining gown pale green as the
+hollow of the wave, with little rows of purple and red seaweeds
+settled out upon it; for you never yet saw a lady, under the
+water or over the water, who had not a good notion of dressing
+herself out.
+
+Up she danced at last to Maurice, who was flinging his feet from
+under him as fast as hops--for nothing in this world could keep
+still while that tune of his was going on--and says she to him,
+chanting it out with a voice as sweet as honey:
+
+          I'm a lady of honour
+               Who live in the sea;
+          Come down, Maurice Connor,
+               And be married to me.
+          Silver plates and gold dishes
+               You shall have, and shall be
+          The king of the fishes,
+               When you're married to me.
+
+Drink was strong in Maurice's head, and out he chanted in return
+for her great civility. It is not every lady, may be, that would
+be after making such an offer to a blind piper; therefore 'twas
+only right in him to give her as good as she gave herself, so
+says Maurice:
+
+          I'm obliged to you, madam:
+               Off a gold dish or plate,
+          If a king, and I had 'em,
+               I could dine in great state.
+          With your own father's daughter
+               I'd be sure to agree,
+          But to drink the salt water
+               Wouldn't do so with me!
+
+The lady looked at him quite amazed, and swinging her head from
+side to side like a great scholar, 'Well,' says she, 'Maurice, if
+you're not a poet, where is poetry to be found?'
+
+In this way they kept on at it, framing high compliments; one
+answering the other, and their feet going with the music as fast
+as their tongues. All the fish kept dancing, too; Maurice heard
+the clatter and was afraid to stop playing lest it might be
+displeasing to the fish, and not knowing what so many of them may
+take it into their heads to do to him if they got vexed.
+
+Well, the lady with the green hair kept on coaxing Maurice with
+soft speeches, till at last she over persuaded him to promise to
+marry her, and be king over the fishes, great and small. Maurice
+was well fitted to be their king, if they wanted one that could
+make them dance; and he surely would drink, barring the salt
+water, with any fish of them all.
+
+When Maurice's mother saw him with that unnatural thing in the
+form of a green-haired lady as his guide, and he and she dancing
+down together so lovingly to the water's edge, through the thick
+of the fishes, she called out after him to stop and come back.
+'Oh, then,' says she, 'as if I was not widow enough before, there
+he is going away from me to be married to that scaly woman. And
+who knows but 'tis grandmother I may be to a hake or a cod--Lord
+help and pity me, but 'tis a mighty unnatural thing! And my be
+'tis boiling and eating my own grandchild I'll be, with a bit of
+salt butter, and I not knowing it! Oh, Maurice, Maurice, if
+there's any love or nature left in you, come back to your own
+ould mother, who reared you like a decent Christian!' Then the
+poor woman began to cry and sob so finely that it would do anyone
+good to hear her.
+
+Maurice was not long getting to the rim of the water. There he
+kept playing and dancing on as if nothing was the matter, and a
+great thundering wave coming in towards him ready to swallow him
+up alive; but as he could not see it, he did not fear it. His
+mother it was who saw it plainly through the big tears that were
+rolling down her cheeks; and though she saw it, and her heart was
+aching as much as ever mother's heart ached for a son, she kept
+dancing, dancing all the time for the bare life of her. Certain
+it was she could not help it, for Maurice never stopped playing
+that wonderful tune of his.
+
+He only turned his ear to the sound of his mother's voice,
+fearing it might put him out in his steps, and all the answer he
+made back was, 'Whisht with you mother--sure I'm going to be king
+over the fishes down in the sea, and for a token of luck, and a
+sign that I'm alive and well, I'll send you in, every twelvemonth
+on this day, a piece of burned wood to Trafraska.' Maurice had
+not the power to say a word more, for the strange lady with the
+green hair, seeing the wave just upon them, covered him up with
+herself in a thing like a cloak with a big hood to it, and the
+wave curling over twice as high as their heads, burst upon the
+strand, with a rush and a roar that might be heard as far as Cape
+Clear.
+
+That day twelvemonth the piece of burned wood came ashore in
+Trafraska. It was a queer thing for Maurice to think of sending
+all the way from the bottom of the sea. A gown or a pair of shoes
+would have been something like a present for his poor mother; but
+he had said it, and he kept his word. The bit of burned wood
+regularly came ashore on the appointed day for as good, ay, and
+better than a hundred years. The day is now forgotten, and may be
+that is the reason why people say how Maurice Connor has stopped
+sending the luck-token to his mother. Poor woman, she did not
+live to get as much as one of them; for what through the loss of
+Maurice, and the fear of eating her own grandchildren, she died
+in three weeks after the dance. Some say it was the fatigue that
+killed her, but whichever it was, Mrs. Connor was decently buried
+with her own people.
+
+Seafaring people have often heard, off the coast of Kerry, on a
+still night, the sound of music coming up from the water; and
+some, who have had good ears, could plainly distinguish Maurice
+Connor's voice singing these words to his pipes--
+
+          Beautiful shore, with thy spreading strand,
+          Thy crystal water, and diamond sand;
+          Never would I have parted from thee,
+          But for the sake of my fair ladie.
+
+From 'Fairy Tales and Traditions of the South of Ireland.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+             The Rich Brother and the Poor Brother
+
+
+
+
+There was once a rich old man who had two sons, and as his wife
+was dead, the elder lived with him, and helped him to look after
+his property. For a long time all went well; the young man got up
+very early in the morning, and worked hard all day, and at the
+end of every week his father counted up the money they had made,
+and rubbed his hands with delight, as he saw how big the pile of
+gold in the strong iron chest was becoming. 'It will soon be full
+now, and I shall have to buy a larger one,' he said to himself,
+and so busy was he with the thought of his money, that he did not
+notice how bright his son's face had grown, nor how he sometimes
+started when he was spoken to, as if his mind was far away.
+
+One day, however, the old man went to the city on business, which
+he had not done for three years at least. It was market day, and
+he met with many people he knew, and it was getting quite late
+when he turned into the inn yard, and bade an ostler saddle his
+horse, and bring it round directly. While he was waiting in the
+hall, the landlady came up for a gossip, and after a few remarks
+about the weather and the vineyards she asked him how he liked
+his new daughter-in-law, and whether he had been surprised at the
+marriage.
+
+The old man stared as he listened to her. 'Daughter-in-law?
+Marriage?' said he. 'I don't know what you are talking about!
+I've got no daughter-in-law, and nobody has been married lately,
+that I ever heard of.'
+
+Now this was exactly what the landlady, who was very curious,
+wanted to find out; but she put on a look of great alarm, and
+exclaimed:
+
+'Oh, dear! I hope I have not made mischief. I had no idea--or, of
+course, I would not have spoken--but'--and here she stopped and
+fumbled with her apron, as if she was greatly embarrassed.
+
+'As you have said so much you will have to say a little more,'
+retorted the old man, a suspicion of what she meant darting
+across him; and the woman, nothing loth, answered as before.
+
+'Ah, it was not all for buying or selling that your handsome son
+has been coming to town every week these many months past. And
+not by the shortest way, either! No, it was over the river he
+rode, and across the hill and past the cottage of Miguel the
+vine-keeper, whose daughter, they say, is the prettiest girl in
+the whole country side, though she is too white for my taste,'
+and then the landlady paused again, and glanced up at the farmer,
+to see how he was taking it. She did not learn much. He was
+looking straight before him, his teeth set. But as she ceased to
+talk, he said quietly, 'Go on.'
+
+'There is not much more to tell,' replied the landlady, for she
+suddenly remembered that she must prepare supper for the hungry
+men who always stopped at the inn on market days, before starting
+for home, 'but one fine morning they both went to the little
+church on top of the hill, and were married. My cousin is servant
+to the priest, and she found out about it and told me. But good-
+day to you, sir; here is your horse, and I must hurry off to the
+kitchen.'
+
+It was lucky that the horse was sure-footed and knew the road,
+for his bridle hung loose on his neck, and his master took no
+heed of the way he was going. When the farm-house was reached,
+the man led the animal to the stable, and then went to look for
+his son.
+
+'I know everything--you have deceived me. Get out of my sight at
+once--I have done with you,' he stammered, choking with passion
+as he came up to the young man, who was cutting a stick in front
+of the door, whistling gaily the while.
+
+'But, father--'
+
+'You are no son of mine; I have only one now. Begone, or it will
+be the worse for you,' and as he spoke he lifted up his whip.
+
+The young man shrank back. He feared lest his father should fall
+down in a fit, his face was so red and his eyes seemed bursting
+from his head. But it was no use staying: perhaps next morning
+the old man might listen to reason, though in his heart the son
+felt that he would never take back his words. So he turned slowly
+away, and walked heavily along a path which ended in a cave on
+the side of his hill, and there he sat through the night,
+thinking of what had happened.
+
+Yes, he had been wrong, there was no doubt of that, and he did
+not quite know how it had come about. He had meant to have told
+his father all about it, and he was sure, quite sure, that if
+once the old man had seen his wife, he would have forgiven her
+poverty on account of her great beauty and goodness. But he had
+put it off from day to day, hoping always for a better
+opportunity, and now this was the end!
+
+If the son had no sleep that night, no more had the father, and
+as soon as the sun rose, he sent a messenger into the great city
+with orders to bring back the younger brother. When he arrived
+the farmer did not waste words, but informed him that he was now
+his only heir, and would inherit all his lands and money, and
+that he was to come and live at home, and to help manage the
+property.
+
+Though very pleased at the thought of becoming such a rich man--
+for the brothers had never cared much for each other--the younger
+would rather have stayed where he was, for he soon got tired of
+the country, and longed for a town life. However, this he kept to
+himself, and made the best of things, working hard like his
+brother before him.
+
+In this way the years went on, but the crops were not so good as
+they had been, and the old man gave orders that some fine houses
+he was building in the city should be left unfinished, for it
+would take all the savings to complete them. As to the elder son,
+he would never even hear his name mentioned, and died at last
+without ever seeing his face, leaving to the younger, as he had
+promised, all his lands, as well as his money.
+
+Meanwhile, the son whom he had disinherited had grown poorer and
+poorer. He and his wife were always looking out for something to
+do, and never spent a penny that they could help, but luck was
+against them, and at the time of his father's death they had
+hardly bread to eat or clothes to cover them. If there had been
+only himself, he would have managed to get on somehow, but he
+could not bear to watch his children becoming weaker day by day,
+and swallowing his pride, at length he crossed the mountains to
+his old home where his brother was living.
+
+It was the first time for long that the two men had come face to
+face, and they looked at each other in silence. Then tears rose
+in the eyes of the elder, but winking them hastily away, he said:
+
+'Brother, it is not needful that I should tell you how poor I am;
+you can see that for yourself. I have not come to beg for money,
+but only to ask if you will give me those unfinished houses of
+yours in the city, and I will make them watertight, so that my
+wife and children can live in them, and that will save our rent.
+For as they are, they profit you nothing.'
+
+And the younger brother listened and pitied him, and gave him the
+houses that he asked for, and the elder went away happy.
+
+For some years things went on as they were, and then the rich
+brother began to feel lonely, and thought to himself that he was
+getting older, and it was time for him to be married. The wife he
+chose was very wealthy, but she was also very greedy, and however
+much she had, she always wanted more. She was, besides, one of
+those unfortunate people who invariably fancy that the
+possessions of other people must be better than their own. Many a
+time her poor husband regretted the day that he had first seen
+her, and often her meanness and shabby ways put him to shame. But
+he had not the courage to rule her, and she only got worse and
+worse.
+
+After she had been married a few months the bride wanted to go
+into the city and buy herself some new dresses. She had never
+been there before, and when she had finished her shopping, she
+thought she would pay a visit to her unknown sister-in-law, and
+rest for a bit. The house she was seeking was in a broad street,
+and ought to have been very magnificent, but the carved stone
+portico enclosed a mean little door of rough wood, while a row of
+beautiful pillars led to nothing. The dwelling on each side were
+in the same unfinished condition, and water trickled down the
+walls. Most people would have considered it a wretched place, and
+turned their backs on it as soon as they could, but this lady saw
+that by spending some money the houses could be made as splendid
+as they were originally intended to be, and she instantly
+resolved to get them for herself.
+
+Full of this idea she walked up the marble staircase, and entered
+the little room where her sister-in-law sat, making clothes for
+her children. The bride seemed full of interest in the houses,
+and asked a great many questions about them, so that her new
+relations liked her much better than they expected, and hoped
+they might be good friends. However, as soon as she reached home,
+she went straight to her husband, and told him that he must get
+back those houses from his brother, as they would exactly suit
+her, and she could easily make them into a palace as fine as the
+king's. But her husband only told her that she might buy houses
+in some other part of the town, for she could not have those, as
+he had long since made a gift of them to his brother, who had
+lived there for many years past.
+
+At this answer the wife grew very angry. She began to cry, and
+made such a noise that all the neighbours heard her and put their
+heads out of the windows, to see what was the matter. 'It was
+absurd,' she sobbed out, 'quite unjust. Indeed, if you came to
+think of it, the gift was worth nothing, as when her husband made
+it he was a bachelor, and since then he had been married, and she
+had never given her consent to any such thing.' And so she
+lamented all day and all night, till the poor man was nearly
+worried to death; and at last he did what she wished, and
+summoned his brother in a court of law to give up the houses
+which, he said, had only been lent to him. But when the evidence
+on both sides had been heard, the judge decided in favour of the
+poor man, which made the rich lady more furious than ever, and
+she determined not to rest until she had gained the day. If one
+judge would not give her the houses another should, and so time
+after time the case was tried over again, till at last it came
+before the highest judge of all, in the city of Evora. Her
+husband was heartily tired and ashamed of the whole affair, but
+his weakness in not putting a stop to it in the beginning had got
+him into this difficulty, and now he was forced to go on.
+
+On the same day the two brothers set out on their journey to the
+city, the rich one on horseback, with plenty of food in his
+knapsack, the poor one on foot with nothing but a piece of bread
+and four onions to eat on the way. The road was hilly and neither
+could go very fast, and when night fell, they were both glad to
+see some lights in a window a little distance in front of them.
+
+The lights turned out to have been placed there by a farmer, who
+had planned to have a particularly good supper as it was his
+wife's birthday, and bade the rich man enter and sit down, while
+he himself took the horse to the stable. The poor man asked
+timidly if he might spend the night in a corner, adding that he
+had brought his own supper with him. Another time permission
+might have been refused him, for the farmer was no lover of
+humble folk, but now he gave the elder brother leave to come in,
+pointing out a wooden chair where he could sit.
+
+Supper was soon served, and very glad the younger brother was to
+eat it, for his long ride had made him very hungry. The farmer's
+wife, however, would touch nothing, and at last declared that the
+only supper she wanted was one of the onions the poor man was
+cooking at the fire. Of course he gave it to her, though he would
+gladly have eaten it himself, as three onions are not much at the
+end of a long day's walk, and soon after they all went to sleep,
+the poor man making himself as comfortable as he could in his
+corner.
+
+A few hours later the farmer was aroused by the cries and groans
+of his wife.
+
+'Oh, I feel so ill, I'm sure I'm going to die,' wept she. 'It was
+that onion, I know it was. I wish I had never eaten it. It must
+have been poisoned.'
+
+'If the man has poisoned you he shall pay for it,' said her
+husband, and seizing a thick stick he ran downstairs and began to
+beat the poor man, who had been sound asleep, and had nothing to
+defend himself with. Luckily, the noise aroused the younger
+brother, who jumped up and snatched the stick from the farmer's
+hand, saying:
+
+'We are both going to Evora to try a law-suit. Come too, and
+accuse him there if he has attempted to rob you or murder you,
+but don't kill him now, or you will get yourself into trouble.'
+
+'Well, perhaps you are right,' answered the farmer, 'but the
+sooner that fellow has his deserts, the better I shall be
+pleased,' and without more words he went to the stables and
+brought out a horse for himself and also the black Andalusian
+mare ridden by the rich man, while the poor brother, fearing more
+ill-treatment, started at once on foot.
+
+Now all that night it had rained heavily, and did not seem likely
+to stop, and in some places the road was so thick with mud that
+it was almost impossible to get across it. In one spot it was so
+very bad that a mule laden with baggage had got stuck in it, and
+tug as he might, his master was quite unable to pull him out. The
+muleteer in despair appealed to the two horseman, who were
+carefully skirting the swamp at some distance off, but they paid
+no heed to his cries, and he began to talk cheerfully to his
+mule, hoping to keep up his spirits, declaring that if the poor
+beast would only have a little patience help was sure to come.
+
+And so it did, for very soon the poor brother reached the place,
+bespattered with mud from head to foot, but ready to do all he
+could to help with the mule and his master. First they set about
+finding some stout logs of wood to lay down on the marsh so that
+they could reach the mule, for by this time his frantic struggles
+had broken his bridle, and he was deeper in than ever. Stepping
+cautiously along the wood, the poor man contrived to lay hold of
+the animal's tale, and with a desperate effort the mule managed
+to regain his footing on dry ground, but at the cost of leaving
+his tail in the poor man's hand. When he saw this the muleteer's
+anger knew no bounds, and forgetting that without the help given
+him he would have lost his mule altogether, he began to abuse the
+poor man, declaring that he had ruined his beast, and the law
+would make him pay for it. Then, jumping on the back of the mule,
+which was so glad to be out of the choking mud that he did not
+seem to mind the loss of his tail, the ungrateful wretch rode on,
+and that evening reached the inn at Evora, where the rich man and
+the farmer had already arrived for the night.
+
+Meanwhile the poor brother walked wearily along, wondering what
+other dreadful adventures were in store for him.
+
+'I shall certainly be condemned for one or other of them,'
+thought he sadly; 'and after all, if I have to die, I would
+rather choose my own death than leave it to my enemies,' and as
+soon as he entered Evora he looked about for a place suitable for
+carrying out the plan he had made. At length he found what he
+sought, but as it was too late and too dark for him to make sure
+of success, he curled himself up under a doorway, and slept till
+morning.
+
+Although it was winter, the sun rose in a clear sky, and its rays
+felt almost warm when the poor man got up and shook himself. He
+intended it to be the day of his death, but in spite of that, and
+of the fact that he was leaving his wife and children behind him,
+he felt almost cheerful. He had struggled so long, and was so
+very, very tired; but he would not have minded that if he could
+have proved his innocence, and triumphed over his enemies.
+However, they had all been too clever for him, and he had no
+strength to fight any more. So he mounted the stone steps that
+led to the battlements of the city, and stopped for a moment to
+gaze about him.
+
+It happened that an old sick man who lived near by had begged to
+be carried out and to be laid at the foot of the wall so that the
+beams of the rising sun might fall upon him, and he would be able
+to talk with his friends as they passed by to their work. Little
+did he guess that on top of the battlements, exactly over his
+head, stood a man who was taking his last look at the same sun,
+before going to his death that awaited him. But so it was; and as
+the steeple opposite was touched by the golden light, the poor
+man shut his eyes and sprang forward. The wall was high, and he
+flew rapidly through the air, but it was not the ground he
+touched, only the body of the sick man, who rolled over and died
+without a groan. As for the other, he was quite unhurt, and was
+slowly rising to his feet when his arms were suddenly seized and
+held.
+
+'You have killed our father, do you see? do you see?' cried two
+young men, 'and you will come with us this instant before the
+judge, and answer for it.'
+
+'Your father? but I don't know him. What do you mean?' asked the
+poor man, who was quite bewildered with his sudden rush through
+the air, and could not think why he should be accused of this
+fresh crime. But he got no reply, and was only hurried through
+the streets to the court-house, where his brother, the muleteer,
+and the farmer had just arrived, all as angry as ever, all
+talking at once, till the judge entered and ordered them to be
+silent.
+
+'I will hear you one by one,' he said, and motioned the younger
+brother to begin.
+
+He did not take long to state his case. The unfinished houses
+were his, left him with the rest of the property by his father,
+and his brother refused to give them up. In answer, the poor man
+told, in a few words, how he had begged the houses from his
+brother, and produced the deed of gift which made him their
+owner.
+
+The judge listened quietly and asked a few questions; then he
+gave his verdict.
+
+'The houses shall remain the property of the man to whom they
+were given, and to whom they belong. And as you,' he added,
+turning to the younger brother, 'brought this accusation knowing
+full well it was wicked and unjust, I order you, besides losing
+the houses, to pay a thousand pounds damages to your brother.'
+
+The rich man heard the judge with rage in his heart, the poor man
+with surprise and gratitude. But he was not safe yet, for now it
+was the turn of the farmer. The judge could hardly conceal a
+smile at the story, and inquired if the wife was dead before the
+farmer left the house, and received for answer that he was in
+such a hurry for justice to be done that he had not waited to
+see. Then the poor man told his tale, and once more judgment was
+given in his favour, while twelve hundred pounds was ordered to
+be paid him. As for the muleteer, he was informed very plainly
+that he had proved himself mean and ungrateful for the help that
+had been given him, and as a punishment he must pay to the poor
+man a fine of fifty pounds, and hand him over the mule till his
+tail had grown again.
+
+Lastly, there came the two sons of the sick man.
+
+'This is the wretch who killed our father,' they said, 'and we
+demand that he should die also.'
+
+'How did you kill him?' asked the judge, turning to the accused,
+and the poor man told how he had leaped from the wall, not
+knowing that anyone was beneath.
+
+'Well, this is my judgment,' replied the judge, when they had all
+spoken: 'Let the accused sit under the wall, and let the sons of
+the dead man jump from the top and fall on him and kill him, and
+if they will not to this, then they are condemned to pay eight
+hundred pounds for their false accusation.'
+
+The young men looked at each other, and slowly shook their heads.
+
+'We will pay the fine,' said they, and the judge nodded.
+
+So the poor man rode the mule home, and brought back to his
+family enough money to keep them in comfort to the end of their
+days.
+
+Adapted from the Portuguese.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      The One-Handed Girl
+
+
+
+
+An old couple once lived in a hut under a grove of palm trees,
+and they had one son and one daughter. They were all very happy
+together for many years, and then the father became very ill, and
+felt he was going to die. He called his children to the place
+where he lay on the floor--for no one had any beds in that
+country-- and said to his son, 'I have no herds of cattle to
+leave you--only the few things there are in the house--for I am a
+poor man, as you know. But choose: will you have my blessing or
+my property?'
+
+'Your property, certainly,' answered the son, and his father
+nodded.
+
+'And you?' asked the old man of the girl, who stood by her
+brother.
+
+'I will have blessing,' she answered, and her father gave her
+much blessing.
+
+That night he died, and his wife and son and daughter mourned for
+him seven days, and gave him a burial according to the custom of
+his people. But hardly was the time of mourning over, than the
+mother was attacked by a disease which was common in that
+country.
+
+'I am going away from you,' she said to her children, in a faint
+voice; 'but first, my son, choose which you will have: blessing
+or property.'
+
+'Property, certainly,' answered the son.
+
+'And you, my daughter?'
+
+'I will have blessing,' said the girl; and her mother gave her
+much blessing, and that night she died.
+
+When the days of mourning were ended, the brother bade his sister
+put outside the hut all that belonged to his father and his
+mother. So the girl put them out, and he took them away, save
+only a small pot and a vessel in which she could clean her corn.
+But she had no corn to clean.
+
+She sat at home, sad and hungry, when a neighbour knocked at the
+door.
+
+'My pot has cracked in the fire, lend me yours to cook my supper
+in, and I will give you a handful of corn in return.'
+
+And the girl was glad, and that night she was able to have supper
+herself, and next day another woman borrowed her pot, and then
+another and another, for never were known so many accidents as
+befell the village pots at that time. She soon grew quite fat
+with all the corn she earned with the help of her pot, and then
+one evening she picked up a pumpkin seed in a corner, and planted
+it near her well, and it sprang up, and gave her many pumpkins.
+
+At last it happened that a youth from her village passed through
+the place where the girl's brother was, and the two met and
+talked.
+
+'What news is there of my sister?' asked the young man, with whom
+things had gone badly, for he was idle.
+
+'She is fat and well-liking,' replied the youth, 'for the women
+borrow her mortar to clean their corn, and borrow her pot to cook
+it in, and for al this they give her more food than she can eat.'
+And he went his way.
+
+Now the brother was filled with envy at the words of the man, and
+he set out at once, and before dawn he had reached the hut, and
+saw the pot and the mortar were standing outside. He slung them
+over his shoulders and departed, pleased with his own cleverness;
+but when his sister awoke and sought for the pot to cook her corn
+for breakfast, she could find it nowhere. At length she said to
+herself,
+
+'Well, some thief must have stolen them while I slept. I will go
+and see if any of my pumpkins are ripe.' And indeed they were,
+and so many that the tree was almost broken by the weight of
+them. So she ate what she wanted and took the others to the
+village, and gave them in exchange for corn, and the women said
+that no pumpkins were as sweet as these, and that she was to
+bring every day all that she had. In this way she earned more
+than she needed for herself, and soon was able to get another
+mortar and cooking pot in exchange for her corn. Then she thought
+she was quite rich.
+
+Unluckily someone else thought so too, and this was her brother's
+wife, who had heard all about the pumpkin tree, and sent her
+slave with a handful of grain to buy her a pumpkin. At first the
+girl told him that so few were left that she could not spare any;
+but when she found that he belonged to her brother, she changed
+her mind, and went out to the tree and gathered the largest and
+the ripest that was there.
+
+'Take this one,' she said to the slave, 'and carry it back to
+your mistress, but tell her to keep the corn, as the pumpkin is a
+gift.'
+
+The brother's wife was overjoyed at the sight of the fruit, and
+when she tasted it, she declared it was the nicest she had ever
+eaten. Indeed, all night she thought of nothing else, and early
+in the morning she called another slave (for she was a rich
+woman) and bade him go and ask for another pumpkin. But the girl,
+who had just been out to look at her tree, told him that they
+were all eaten, so he went back empty-handed to his mistress.
+
+In the evening her husband returned from hunting a long way off,
+and found his wife in tears.
+
+'What is the matter?' asked he.
+
+'I sent a slave with some grain to your sister to buy some
+pumpkins, but she would not sell me any, and told me there were
+none, though I know she lets other people buy them.'
+
+'Well, never mind now--go to sleep,' said he, 'and to-morrow I
+will go and pull up the pumpkin tree, and that will punish her
+for treating you so badly.'
+
+So before sunrise he got up and set out for his sister's house,
+and found her cleaning some corn.
+
+'Why did you refuse to sell my wife a pumpkin yesterday when she
+wanted one?' he asked.
+
+'The old ones are finished, and the new ones are not yet come,'
+answered the girl. 'When her slave arrived two days ago, there
+were only four left; but I gave him one, and would take no corn
+for it.'
+
+'I do not believe you; you have sold them all to other people. I
+shall go and cut down the pumpkin,' cried her brother in a rage.
+
+'If you cut down the pumpkin you shall cut off my hand with it,'
+exclaimed the girl, running up to her tree and catching hold of
+it. But her brother followed, and with one blow cut off the
+pumpkin and her hand too.
+
+Then he went into the house and took away everything he could
+find, and sold the house to a friend of his who had long wished
+to have it, and his sister had no home to go to.
+
+Meanwhile she had bathed her arm carefully, and bound on it some
+healing leaves that grew near by, and wrapped a cloth round the
+leaves, and went to hide in the forest, that her brother might
+not find her again.
+
+For seven days she wandered about, eating only the fruit that
+hung from the trees above her, and every night she climbed up and
+tucked herself safely among the creepers which bound together the
+big branches, so that neither lions nor tigers nor panthers might
+get at her.
+
+When she woke up on the seventh morning she saw from her perch
+smoke coming up from a little town on the edge of the forest. The
+sight of the huts made her feel more lonely and helpless than
+before. She longed desperately for a draught of milk from a
+gourd, for there were no streams in that part, and she was very
+thirsty, but how was she to earn anything with only one hand? And
+at this thought her courage failed, and she began to cry
+bitterly.
+
+It happened that the king's son had come out from the town very
+early to shoot birds, and when the sun grew hot he left tired.
+
+'I will lie here and rest under this tree,' he said to his
+attendants. 'You can go and shoot instead, and I will just have
+this slave to stay with me!' Away they went, and the young man
+fell asleep, and slept long. Suddenly he was awakened by
+something wet and salt falling on his face.
+
+'What is that? Is it raining?' he said to his slave. 'Go and
+look.'
+
+'No, master, it is not raining,' answered the slave.
+
+'Then climb up the tree and see what it is,' and the slave
+climbed up, and came back and told his master that a beautiful
+girl was sitting up there, and that it must have been her tears
+which had fallen on the face of the king's son.
+
+'Why was she crying?' inquired the prince.
+
+'I cannot tell--I did not dare to ask her; but perhaps she would
+tell you.' And the master, greatly wondering, climbed up the
+tree.
+
+'What is the matter with you?' said he gently, and, as she only
+sobbed louder, he continued:
+
+'Are you a woman, or a spirit of the woods?'
+
+'I am a woman,' she answered slowly, wiping her eyes with a leaf
+of the creeper that hung about her.
+
+'Then why do you cry?' he persisted.
+
+'I have many things to cry for,' she replied, 'more than you
+could ever guess.'
+
+'Come home with me,' said the prince; 'it is not very far. Come
+home to my father and mother. I am a king's son.'
+
+'Then why are you here?' she said, opening her eyes and staring
+at him.
+
+'Once every month I and my friends shoot birds in the forest,' he
+answered, 'but I was tired and bade them leave me to rest. And
+you--what are you doing up in this tree?'
+
+At that she began to cry again, and told the king's son all that
+had befallen her since the death of her mother.
+
+'I cannot come down with you, for I do not like anyone to see
+me,' she ended with a sob.
+
+'Oh! I will manage all that,' said the king's son, and swinging
+himself to a lower branch, he bade his slave go quickly into the
+town, and bring back with him four strong men and a curtained
+litter. When the man was gone, the girl climbed down, and hid
+herself on the ground in some bushes. Very soon the slave
+returned with the litter, which was placed on the ground close to
+the bushes where the girl lay.
+
+'Now go, all of you, and call my attendants, for I do not wish to
+say here any longer,' he said to the men, and as soon as they
+were out of sight he bade the girl get into the litter, and
+fasten the curtains tightly. Then he got in on the other side,
+and waited till his attendants came up.
+
+'What is the matter, O son of a king?' asked they, breathless
+with running.
+
+'I think I am ill; I am cold,' he said, and signing to the
+bearers, he drew the curtains, and was carried through the forest
+right inside his own house.
+
+'Tell my father and mother that I have a fever, and want some
+gruel,' said he, 'and bid them send it quickly.'
+
+So the slave hastened to the king's palace and gave his message,
+which troubled both the king and the queen greatly. A pot of hot
+gruel was instantly prepared, and carried over to the sick man,
+and as soon as the council which was sitting was over, the king
+and his ministers went to pay him a visit, bearing a message from
+the queen that she would follow a little later.
+
+Now the prince had pretended to be ill in order to soften his
+parent's hearts, and the next day he declared he felt better,
+and, getting into his litter, was carried to the palace in state,
+drums being beaten all along the road.
+
+He dismounted at the foot of the steps and walked up, a great
+parasol being held over his head by a slave. Then he entered the
+cool, dark room where his father and mother were sitting, and
+said to them:
+
+'I saw a girl yesterday in the forest whom I wish to marry, and,
+unknown to my attendants, I brought her back to my house in a
+litter. Give me your consent, I beg, for no other woman pleases
+me as well, even though she has but one hand!'
+
+Of course the king and queen would have preferred a daughter-in-
+law with two hands, and one who could have brought riches with
+her, but they could not bear to say 'No' to their son, so they
+told him it should be as he chose, and that the wedding feast
+should be prepared immediately.
+
+The girl could scarcely believe her good fortune, and, in
+gratitude for all the kindness shown her, was so useful and
+pleasant to her husband's parents that they soon loved her.
+
+By and bye a baby was born to her, and soon after that the prince
+was sent on a journey by his father to visit some of the distant
+towns of the kingdom, and to set right things that had gone
+wrong.
+
+No sooner had he started than the girl's brother, who had wasted
+all the riches his wife had brought him in recklessness and
+folly, and was now very poor, chanced to come into the town, and
+as he passed he heard a man say, 'Do you know that the king's son
+has married a woman who has lost one of her hands?' On hearing
+these words the brother stopped and asked, 'Where did he find
+such a woman?'
+
+'In the forest,' answered the man, and the cruel brother guessed
+at once it must be his sister.
+
+A great rage took possession of his soul as he thought of the
+girl whom he had tried to ruin being after all so much better off
+than himself, and he vowed that he would work her ill. Therefore
+that very afternoon he made his way to the palace and asked to
+see the king.
+
+When he was admitted to his presence, he knelt down and touched
+the ground with his forehead, and the king bade him stand up and
+tell wherefore he had come.
+
+'By the kindness of your heart have you been deceived, O king,'
+said he. 'Your son has married a girl who has lost a hand. Do you
+know why she had lost it? She was a witch, and has wedded three
+husbands, and each husband she has put to death with her arts.
+Then the people of the town cut off her hand, and turned her into
+the forest. And what I say is true, for her town is my town
+also.'
+
+The king listened, and his face grew dark. Unluckily he had a
+hasty temper, and did not stop to reason, and, instead of sending
+to the town, and discovering people who knew his daughter-in-law
+and could have told him how hard she had worked and how poor she
+had been, he believed all the brother's lying words, and made the
+queen believe them too. Together they took counsel what they
+should do, and in the end they decided that they also would put
+her out of the town. But this did not content the brother.
+
+'Kill her,' he said. 'It is no more than she deserves for daring
+to marry the king's son. Then she can do no more hurt to anyone.'
+
+'We cannot kill her,' answered they; 'if we did, our son would
+assuredly kill us. Let us do as the others did, and put her out
+of the town. And with this the envious brother was forced to be
+content.
+
+The poor girl loved her husband very much, but just then the baby
+was more to her than all else in the world, and as long as she
+had him with her, she did not very much mind anything. So, taking
+her son on her arm, and hanging a little earthen pot for cooking
+round her neck, she left her house with its great peacock fans
+and slaves and seats of ivory, and plunged into the forest.
+
+For a while she walked, not knowing whither she went, then by and
+bye she grew tired, and sat under a tree to rest and to hush her
+baby to sleep. Suddenly she raised her eyes, and saw a snake
+wriggling from under the bushes towards her.
+
+'I am a dead woman,' she said to herself, and stayed quite still,
+for indeed she was too frightened to move. In another minute the
+snake had reached her side, and to her surprise he spoke.
+
+'Open your earthen pot, and let me go in. Save me from sun, and I
+will save you from rain,' and she opened the pot, and when the
+snake had slipped in, she put on the cover. Soon she beheld
+another snake coming after the other one, and when it had reached
+her it stopped and said, 'Did you see a small grey snake pass
+this way just now?'
+
+'Yes,' she answered, 'it was going very quickly.'
+
+'Ah, I must hurry and catch it up,' replied the second snake, and
+it hastened on.
+
+When it was out of sight, a voice from the pot said:
+
+'Uncover me,' and she lifted the lid, and the little grey snake
+slid rapidly to the ground.
+
+'I am safe now,' he said. 'But tell me, where are you going?'
+
+'I cannot tell you, for I do not know,' she answered. 'I am just
+wandering in the wood.'
+
+'Follow me, and let us go home together,' said the snake, and the
+girl followed his through the forest and along the green paths,
+till they came to a great lake, where they stopped to rest.
+
+'The sun is hot,' said the snake, 'and you have walked far. Take
+your baby and bathe in that cool place where the boughs of the
+tree stretch far over the water.'
+
+'Yes, I will,' answered she, and they went in. The baby splashed
+and crowed with delight, and then he gave a spring and fell right
+in, down, down, down, and his mother could not find him, though
+she searched all among the reeds.
+
+Full of terror, she made her way back to the bank, and called to
+the snake, 'My baby is gone!--he is drowned, and never shall I
+see him again.'
+
+'Go in once more,' said the snake, 'and feel everywhere, even
+among the trees that have their roots in the water, lest perhaps
+he may be held fast there.'
+
+Swiftly she went back and felt everywhere with her whole hand,
+even putting her fingers into the tiniest crannies, where a crab
+could hardly have taken shelter.
+
+'No, he is not here,' she cried. 'How am I to live without him?'
+But the snake took no notice, and only answered, 'Put in your
+other arm too.'
+
+'What is the use of that?' she asked, 'when it has no hand to
+feel with?' but all the same she did as she was bid, and in an
+instant the wounded arm touched something round and soft, lying
+between two stones in a clump of reeds.
+
+'My baby, my baby!' she shouted, and lifted him up, merry and
+laughing, and not a bit hurt or frightened.
+
+'Have you found him this time?' asked the snake.
+
+'Yes, oh, yes!' she answered, 'and, why--why--I have got my hand
+back again!' and from sheer joy she burst into tears.
+
+The snake let her weep for a little while, and then he said--
+
+'Now we will journey on to my family, and we will all repay you
+for the kindness you showed to me.'
+
+'You have done more than enough in giving me back my hand,'
+replied the girl; but the snake only smiled.
+
+'Be quick, lest the sun should set,' he answered, and began to
+wriggle along so fast that the girl could hardly follow him.
+
+By and bye they arrived at the house in a tree where the snake
+lived, when he was not travelling with his father and mother. And
+he told them all his adventures, and how he had escaped from his
+enemy. The father and mother snake could not do enough to show
+their gratitude. They made their guest lie down on a hammock
+woven of the strong creepers which hung from bough to bough, till
+she was quite rested after her wanderings, while they watched the
+baby and gave him milk to drink from the cocoa-nuts which they
+persuaded their friends the monkeys to crack for them. They even
+managed to carry small fruit tied up in their tails for the
+baby's mother, who felt at last that she was safe and at peace.
+Not that she forgot her husband, for she often thought of him and
+longed to show him her son, and in the night she would sometimes
+lie awake and wonder where he was.
+
+
+
+In this manner many weeks passed by.
+
+And what was the prince doing?
+
+Well, he had fallen very ill when he was on the furthest border
+of the kingdom, and he was nursed by some kind people who did not
+know who he was, so that the king and queen heard nothing about
+him. When he was better he made his way home again, and into his
+father's palace, where he found a strange man standing behind the
+throne with the peacock's feathers. This was his wife's brother,
+whom the king had taken into high favour, though, of course, the
+prince was quite ignorant of what had happened.
+
+For a moment the king and queen stared at their son, as if he had
+been unknown to them; he had grown so thin and weak during his
+illness that his shoulders were bowed like those of an old man.
+
+'Have you forgotten me so soon?' he asked.
+
+At the sound of his voice they gave a cry and ran towards him,
+and poured out questions as to what had happened, and why he
+looked like that. But the prince did not answer any of them.
+
+'How is my wife?' he said. There was a pause.
+
+Then the queen replied:
+
+'She is dead.'
+
+'Dead!' he repeated, stepping a little backwards. 'And my child?'
+
+'He is dead too.'
+
+The young man stood silent. Then he said, 'Show me their graves.'
+
+At these words the king, who had been feeling rather
+uncomfortable, took heart again, for had he not prepared two
+beautiful tombs for his son to see, so that he might never, never
+guess what had been done to his wife? All these months the king
+and queen had been telling each other how good and merciful they
+had been not to take her brother's advice and to put her to
+death. But now, this somehow did not seem so certain.
+
+Then the king led the way to the courtyard just behind the
+palace, and through the gate into a beautiful garden where stood
+two splendid tombs in a green space under the trees. The prince
+advanced alone, and, resting his head against the stone, he burst
+into tears. His father and mother stood silently behind with a
+curious pang in their souls which they did not quite understand.
+Could it be that they were ashamed of themselves?
+
+But after a while the prince turned round, and walking past them
+in to the palace he bade the slaves bring him mourning. For seven
+days no one saw him, but at the end of them he went out hunting,
+and helped his father rule his people. Only no one dared to speak
+to him of his wife and son.
+
+At last one morning, after the girl had been lying awake all
+night thinking of her husband, she said to her friend the snake:
+
+'You have all shown me much kindness, but now I am well again,
+and want to go home and hear some news of my husband, and if he
+still mourns for me!' Now the heart of the snake was sad at her
+words, but he only said:
+
+'Yes, thus it must be; go and bid farewell to my father and
+mother, but if they offer you a present, see that you take
+nothing but my father's ring and my mother's casket.'
+
+So she went to the parent snakes, who wept bitterly at the
+thought of losing her, and offered her gold and jewels as much as
+she could carry in remembrance of them. But the girl shook her
+head and pushed the shining heap away from her.
+
+'I shall never forget you, never,' she said in a broken voice,
+'but the only tokens I will accept from you are that little ring
+and this old casket.'
+
+The two snakes looked at each other in dismay. The ring and the
+casket were the only things they did not want her to have. Then
+after a short pause they spoke.
+
+'Why do you want the ring and casket so much? Who has told you of
+them?'
+
+'Oh, nobody; it is just my fancy,' answered she. But the old
+snakes shook their heads and replied:
+
+'Not so; it is our son who told you, and, as he said, so it must
+be. If you need food, or clothes, or a house, tell the ring and
+it will find them for you. And if you are unhappy or in danger,
+tell the casket and it will set things right.' Then they both
+gave her their blessing, and she picked up her baby and went her
+way.
+
+She walked for a long time, till at length she came near the town
+where her husband and his father dwelt. Here she stopped under a
+grove of palm trees, and told the ring that she wanted a house.
+
+'It is ready, mistress,' whispered a queer little voice which
+made her jump, and, looking behind her, she saw a lovely palace
+made of the finest woods, and a row of slaves with tall fans
+bowing before the door. Glad indeed was she to enter, for she was
+very tired, and, after eating a good supper of fruit and milk
+which she found in one of the rooms, she flung herself down on a
+pile of cushions and went to sleep with her baby beside her.
+
+Here she stayed quietly, and every day the baby grew taller and
+stronger, and very soon he could run about and even talk. Of
+course the neighbours had a great deal to say about the house
+which had been built so quickly--so very quickly--on the
+outskirts of the town, and invented all kinds of stories about
+the rich lady who lived in it. And by and bye, when the king
+returned with his son from the wars, some of these tales reached
+his ears.
+
+'It is really very odd about that house under the palms,' he said
+to the queen; 'I must find out something of the lady whom no one
+ever sees. I daresay it is not a lady at all, but a gang of
+conspirators who want to get possession of my throne. To-morrow I
+shall take my son and my chief ministers and insist on getting
+inside.'
+
+Soon after sunrise next day the prince's wife was standing on a
+little hill behind the house, when she saw a cloud of dust coming
+through the town. A moment afterwards she heard faintly the roll
+of the drums that announced the king's presence, and saw a crowd
+of people approaching the grove of palms. Her heart beat fast.
+Could her husband be among them? In any case they must not
+discover her there; so just bidding the ring prepare some food
+for them, she ran inside, and bound a veil of golden gauze round
+her head and face. Then, taking the child's hand, she went to the
+door and waited.
+
+In a few minutes the whole procession came up, and she stepped
+forward and begged them to come in and rest.
+
+'Willingly,' answered the king; 'go first, and we will follow
+you.'
+
+They followed her into a long dark room, in which was a table
+covered with gold cups and baskets filled with dates and cocoa-
+nuts and all kinds of ripe yellow fruits, and the king and the
+prince sat upon cushions and were served by slaves, while the
+ministers, among whom she recognised her own brother, stood
+behind.
+
+'Ah, I owe all my misery to him,' she said to herself. 'From the
+first he has hated me,' but outwardly she showed nothing. And
+when the king asked her what news there was in the town she only
+answered:
+
+'You have ridden far; eat first, and drink, for you must be
+hungry and thirsty, and then I will tell you my news.'
+
+'You speak sense,' answered the king, and silence prevailed for
+some time longer. Then he said:
+
+'Now, lady, I have finished, and am refreshed, therefore tell me,
+I pray you, who you are, and whence you come? But, first, be
+seated.'
+
+She bowed her head and sat down on a big scarlet cushion, drawing
+her little boy, who was asleep in a corner, on to her knee, and
+began to tell the story of her life. As her brother listened, he
+would fain have left the house and hidden himself in the forest,
+but it was his duty to wave the fan of peacock's feathers over
+the king's head to keep off the flies, and he knew he would be
+seized by the royal guards if he tried to desert his post. He
+must stay where he was, there was no help for it, and luckily for
+him the king was too much interested in the tale to notice that
+the fan had ceased moving, and that flies were dancing right on
+the top of his thick curly hair.
+
+The story went on, but the story-teller never once looked at the
+prince, even through her veil, though he on his side never moved
+his eyes from her. When she reached the part where she had sat
+weeping in the tree, the king's son could restrain himself no
+longer.
+
+'It is my wife,' he cried, springing to where she sat with the
+sleeping child in her lap. 'They have lied to me, and you are not
+dead after all, nor the boy either.! But what has happened? Why
+did they lie to me? and why did you leave my house where you were
+safe?' And he turned and looked fiercely at his father.
+
+'Let me finish my tale first, and then you will know,' answered
+she, throwing back her veil, and she told how her brother had
+come to the palace and accused her of being a witch, and had
+tried to persuade the king to slay her. 'But he would not do
+that,' she continued softly, 'and after all, if I had stayed on
+in your house, I should never have met the snake, nor have got my
+hand back again. So let us forget all about it, and be happy once
+more, for see! our son is growing quite a big boy.'
+
+'And what shall be done to your brother?' asked the king, who was
+glad to think that someone had acted in this matter worse than
+himself.
+
+'Put him out of the town,' answered she.
+
+From 'Swaheli Tales,' by E. Steere.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      The Bones of Djulung
+
+
+
+
+In a beautiful island that lies in the southern seas, where
+chains of gay orchids bind the trees together, and the days and
+nights are equally long and nearly equally hot, there once lived
+a family of seven sisters. Their father and mother were dead, and
+they had no brothers, so the eldest girl ruled over the rest, and
+they all did as she bade them. One sister had to clean the house,
+a second carried water from the spring in the forest, a third
+cooked their food, while to the youngest fell the hardest task of
+all, for she had to cut and bring home the wood which was to keep
+the fire continually burning. This was very hot and tiring work,
+and when she had fed the fire and heaped up in a corner the
+sticks that were to supply it till the next day, she often threw
+herself down under a tree, and went sound asleep.
+
+One morning, however, as she was staggering along with her bundle
+on her back, she thought that the river which flowed past their
+hut looked so cool and inviting that she determined to bathe in
+it, instead of taking her usual nap. Hastily piling up her load
+by the fire, and thrusting some sticks into the flame, she ran
+down to the river and jumped in. How delicious it was diving and
+swimming and floating in the dark forest, where the trees were so
+thick that you could hardly see the sun! But after a while she
+began to look about her, and her eyes fell on a little fish that
+seemed made out of a rainbow, so brilliant were the colours he
+flashed out.
+
+'I should like him for a pet,' thought the girl, and the next
+time the fish swam by, she put out her hand and caught him. Then
+she ran along the grassy path till she came to a cave in front of
+which a stream fell over some rocks into a basin. Here she put
+her little fish, whose name was Djulung-djulung, and promising to
+return soon and bring him some dinner, she went away.
+
+By the time she got home, the rice for their dinner was ready
+cooked, and the eldest sister gave the other six their portions
+in wooden bowls. But the youngest did not finish hers, and when
+no one was looking, stole off to the fountain in the forest where
+the little fish was swimming about.
+
+'See! I have not forgotten you,' she cried, and one by one she
+let the grains of rice fall into the water, where the fish
+gobbled them up greedily, for he had never tasted anything so
+nice.
+
+'That is all for to-day,' she said at last, 'but I will come
+again to-morrow,' and biding him good-bye she went down the path.
+
+Now the girl did not tell her sisters about the fish, but every
+day she saved half of her rice to give him, and called him softly
+in a little song she had made for herself. If she sometimes felt
+hungry, no one knew of it, and, indeed, she did not mind that
+much, when she saw how the fish enjoyed it. And the fish grew fat
+and big, but the girl grew thin and weak, and the loads of wood
+felt heavier every day, and at last her sisters noticed it.
+
+Then they took counsel together, and watched her to see what she
+did, and one of them followed her to the fountain where Djulung
+lived, and saw her give him all the rice she had saved from her
+breakfast. Hastening home the sister told the others what she had
+witnessed, and that a lovely fat fish might be had for the
+catching. So the eldest sister went and caught him, and he was
+boiled for supper, but the youngest sister was away in the woods,
+and did not know anything about it.
+
+Next morning she went as usual to the cave, and sang her little
+song, but no Djulung came to answer it; twice and thrice she
+sang, then threw herself on her knees by the edge, and peered
+into the dark water, but the trees cast such a deep shadow that
+her eyes could not pierce it.
+
+'Djulung cannot be dead, or his body would be floating on the
+surface,' she said to herself, and rising to her feet she set out
+homewards, feeling all of a sudden strangely tired.
+
+'What is the matter with me?' she thought, but somehow or other
+she managed to reach the hut, and threw herself down in a corner,
+where she slept so soundly that for days no one was able to wake
+her.
+
+At length, one morning early, a cock began to crow so loud that
+she could sleep no longer and as he continued to crow she seemed
+to understand what he was saying, and that he was telling her
+that Djulung was dead, killed and eaten by her sisters, and that
+his bones lay buried under the kitchen fire. Very softly she got
+up, and took up the large stone under the fire, and creeping out
+carried the bones to the cave by the fountain, where she dug a
+hole and buried them anew. And as she scooped out the hole with a
+stick she sang a song, bidding the bones grow till they became a
+tree--a tree that reached up so high into the heavens that its
+leaves would fall across the sea into another island, whose king
+would pick them up.
+
+As there was no Djulung to give her rice to, the girl soon became
+fat again, and as she was able to do her work as of old, her
+sisters did not trouble about her. They never guessed that when
+she went into the forest to gather her sticks, she never failed
+to pay a visit to the tree, which grew taller and more wonderful
+day by day. Never was such a tree seen before. Its trunk was of
+iron, its leaves were of silk, its flowers of gold, and its fruit
+of diamonds, and one evening, though the girl did not know it, a
+soft breeze took one of the leaves, and blew it across the sea to
+the feet of one of the king's attendants.
+
+'What a curious leaf! I have never beheld one like it before. I
+must show it to the king,' he said, and when the king saw it he
+declared he would never rest until he had found the tree which
+bore it, even if he had to spend the rest of his life in visiting
+the islands that lay all round. Happily for him, he began with
+the island that was nearest, and here in the forest he suddenly
+saw standing before him the iron tree, its boughs covered with
+shining leaves like the one he carried about him.
+
+'But what sort of a tree is it, and how did it get here?' he
+asked of the attendants he had with him. No one could answer him,
+but as they were about to pass out of the forest a little boy
+went by, and the king stopped and inquired if there was anyone
+living in the neighbourhood whom he might question.
+
+'Seven girls live in a hut down there,' replied the boy, pointing
+with his finger to where the sun was setting.
+
+'Then go and bring them here, and I will wait,' said the king,
+and the boy ran off and told the sisters that a great chief, with
+strings of jewels round his neck, had sent for them.
+
+Pleased and excited the six elder sisters at once followed the
+boy, but the youngest, who was busy, and who did not care about
+strangers, stayed behind, to finish the work she was doing. The
+king welcomed the girls eagerly, and asked them all manner of
+questions about the tree, but as they had never even heard of its
+existence, they could tell him nothing. 'And if we, who live
+close by the forest, do not know, you may be sure no one does,'
+added the eldest, who was rather cross at finding this was all
+that the king wanted of them.
+
+'But the boy told me there were seven of you, and there are only
+six here,' said the king.
+
+'Oh, the youngest is at home, but she is always half asleep, and
+is of no use except to cut wood for the fire,' replied they in a
+breath.
+
+'That may be, but perhaps she dreams,' answered the king.
+'Anyway, I will speak to her also.' Then he signed to one of his
+attendants, who followed the path that the boy had taken to the
+hut.
+
+Soon the man returned, with the girl walking behind him. And as
+soon as she reached the tree it bowed itself to the earth before
+her, and she stretched out her hand and picked some of its leaves
+and flowers and gave them to the king.
+
+'The maiden who can work such wonders is fitted to be the wife of
+the greatest chief,' he said, and so he married her, and took her
+with him across the sea to his own home, where they lived happily
+for ever after.
+
+From 'Folk Lore,' by A. F. Mackenzie.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      The Sea King's Gift
+
+
+
+
+There was once a fisherman who was called Salmon, and his
+Christian name was Matte. He lived by the shore of the big sea;
+where else could he live? He had a wife called Maie; could you
+find a better name for her? In winter they dwelt in a little
+cottage by the shore, but in spring they flitted to a red rock
+out in the sea and stayed there the whole summer until it was
+autumn. The cottage on the rock was even smaller than the other;
+it had a wooden bolt instead of an iron lock to the door, a stone
+hearth, a flagstaff, and a weather-cock on the roof.
+
+The rock was called Ahtola, and was not larger than the market-
+place of a town. Between the crevices there grew a little rowan
+tree and four alder bushes. Heaven only knows how they ever came
+there; perhaps they were brought by the winter storms. Besides
+that, there flourished some tufts of velvety grass, some
+scattered reeds, two plants of the yellow herb called tansy, four
+of a red flower, and a pretty white one; but the treasures of the
+rock consisted of three roots of garlic, which Maie had put in a
+cleft. Rock walls sheltered them on the north side, and the sun
+shone on them on the south. This does not seem much, but it
+sufficed Maie for a herb plot.
+
+All good things go in threes, so Matte and his wife fished for
+salmon in spring, for herring in summer, and for cod in winter.
+When on Saturdays the weather was fine and the wind favourable,
+they sailed to the nearest town, sold their fish, and went to
+church on Sunday. But it often happened that for weeks at a time
+they were quite alone on the rock Ahtola, and had nothing to look
+at except their little yellow-brown dog, which bore the grand
+name of Prince, their grass tufts, their bushes and blooms, the
+sea bays and fish, a stormy sky and the blue, white-crested
+waves. For the rock lay far away from the land, and there were no
+green islets or human habitations for miles round, only here and
+there appeared a rock of the same red stone as Ahtola,
+besprinkled day and night with the ocean spray.
+
+Matte and Maie were industrious, hard-working folk, happy and
+contented in their poor hut, and they thought themselves rich
+when they were able to salt as many casks of fish as they
+required for winter and yet have some left over with which to buy
+tobacco for the old man, and a pound or two of coffee for his
+wife, with plenty of burned corn and chicory in it to give it a
+flavour. Besides that, they had bread, butter, fish, a beer cask,
+and a buttermilk jar; what more did they require? All would have
+gone well had not Maie been possessed with a secret longing which
+never let her rest; and this was, how she could manage to become
+the owner of a cow.
+
+'What would you do with a cow?' asked Matte. 'She could not swim
+so far, and our boat is not large enough to bring her over here;
+and even if we had her, we have nothing to feed her on.'
+
+'We have four alder bushes and sixteen tufts of grass,' rejoined
+Maie.
+
+'Yes, of course,' laughed Matte, 'and we have also three plants
+of garlic. Garlic would be fine feeding for her.'
+
+'Every cow likes salt herring,' rejoined his wife. 'Even Prince
+is fond of fish.'
+
+'That may be,' said her husband. 'Methinks she would soon be a
+dear cow if we had to feed her on salt herring. All very well for
+Prince, who fights with the gulls over the last morsel. Put the
+cow out of your head, mother, we are very well off as we are.'
+
+Maie sighed. She knew well that her husband was right, but she
+could not give up the idea of a cow. The buttermilk no longer
+tasted as good as usual in the coffee; she thought of sweet cream
+and fresh butter, and of how there was nothing in the world to be
+compared with them.
+
+One day as Matte and his wife were cleaning herring on the shore
+they heard Prince barking, and soon there appeared a gaily
+painted boat with three young men in it, steering towards the
+rock. They were students, on a boating excursion, and wanted to
+get something to eat.
+
+'Bring us a junket, good mother,' cried they to Maie.
+
+'Ah! if only I had such a thing!' sighed Maie.
+
+'A can of fresh milk, then,' said the students; 'but it must not
+be skim.'
+
+'Yes, if only I had it!' sighed the old woman, still more deeply.
+
+'What! haven't you got a cow?'
+
+Maie was silent. This question so struck her to the heart that
+she could not reply.
+
+'We have no cow,' Matte answered; 'but we have good smoked
+herring, and can cook them in a couple of hours.'
+
+'All right, then, that will do,' said the students, as they flung
+themselves down on the rock, while fifty silvery-white herring
+were turning on the spit in front of the fire.
+
+'What's the name of this little stone in the middle of the
+ocean?' asked one of them.
+
+'Ahtola,' answered the old man.
+
+'Well, you should want for nothing when you live in the Sea
+King's dominion.'
+
+Matte did not understand. He had never read Kalevala and knew
+nothing of the sea gods of old, but the students proceeded to
+explain to him.[FN#2: Kalevala is a collection of old Finnish
+songs about gods and heroes.]
+
+'Ahti,' said they, 'is a mighty king who lives in his dominion of
+Ahtola, and has a rock at the bottom of the sea, and possesses
+besides a treasury of good things. He rules over all fish and
+animals of the deep; he has the finest cows and the swiftest
+horses that ever chewed grass at the bottom of the ocean. He who
+stands well with Ahti is soon a rich man, but one must beware in
+dealing with him, for he is very changeful and touchy. Even a
+little stone thrown into the water might offend him, and then as
+he takes back his gift, he stirs up the sea into a storm and
+drags the sailors down into the depths. Ahti owns also the
+fairest maidens, who bear the train of his queen Wellamos, and at
+the sound of music they comb their long, flowing locks, which
+glisten in the water.'
+
+'Oh!' cried Matte, 'have your worships really seen all that?'
+
+'We have as good as seen it,' said the students. 'It is all
+printed in a book, and everything printed is true.'
+
+'I'm not so sure of that,' said Matte, as he shook his head.
+
+But the herring were now ready, and the students ate enough for
+six, and gave Prince some cold meat which they happened to have
+in the boat. Prince sat on his hind legs with delight and mewed
+like a pussy cat. When all was finished, the students handed
+Matte a shining silver coin, and allowed him to fill his pipe
+with a special kind of tobacco. They then thanked him for his
+kind hospitality and went on their journey, much regretted by
+Prince, who sat with a woeful expression and whined on the shore
+as long as he could see a flip of the boat's white sail in the
+distance.
+
+Maie had never uttered a word, but thought the more. She had good
+ears, and had laid to heart the story about Ahti. 'How
+delightful,' thought she to herself, 'to possess a fairy cow! How
+delicious every morning and evening to draw milk from it, and yet
+have no trouble about the feeding, and to keep a shelf near the
+window for dishes of milk and junkets! But this will never be my
+luck.'
+
+'What are you thinking of?' asked Matte.
+
+'Nothing,' said his wife; but all the time she was pondering over
+some magic rhymes she had heard in her childhood from an old lame
+man, which were supposed to bring luck in fishing.
+
+'What if I were to try?' thought she.
+
+Now this was Saturday, and on Saturday evenings Matte never set
+the herring-net, for he did not fish on Sunday. Towards evening,
+however, his wife said:
+
+'Let us set the herring-net just this once.'
+
+'No,' said her husband, 'it is a Saturday night.'
+
+'Last night was so stormy, and we caught so little,' urged his
+wife; 'to-night the sea is like a mirror, and with the wind in
+this direction the herring are drawing towards land.'
+
+'But there are streaks in the north-western sky, and Prince was
+eating grass this evening,' said the old man.
+
+'Surely he has not eaten my garlic,' exclaimed the old woman.
+
+'No; but there will be rough weather by to-morrow at sunset,'
+rejoined Matte.
+
+'Listen to me,' said his wife, 'we will set only one net close to
+the shore, and then we shall be able to finish up our half-filled
+cask, which will spoil if it stands open so long.'
+
+The old man allowed himself to be talked over, and so they rowed
+out with the net. When they reached the deepest part of the
+water, she began to hum the words of the magic rhyme, altering
+the words to suit the longing of her heart:
+
+          Oh, Ahti, with the long, long beard,
+               Who dwellest in the deep blue sea,
+          Finest treasures have I heard,
+               And glittering fish belong to thee.
+          The richest pearls beyond compare
+               Are stored up in thy realm below,
+          And Ocean's cows so sleek and fair
+               Feed on the grass in thy green meadow.
+
+          King of the waters, far and near,
+               I ask not of thy golden store,
+          I wish not jewels of pearl to wear,
+               Nor silver either, ask I for,
+          But one is odd and even is two,
+               So give me a cow, sea-king so bold,
+          And in return I'll give to you
+               A slice of the moon, and the sun's gold.
+
+'What's that you're humming?' asked the old man.
+
+'Oh, only the words of an old rhyme that keeps running in my
+head,' answered the old woman; and she raised her voice and went
+on:
+
+          Oh, Ahti, with the long, long beard,
+               Who dwellest in the deep blue sea,
+          A thousand cows are in thy herd,
+               I pray thee give one onto me.
+
+'That's a stupid sort of song,' said Matte. 'What else should one
+beg of the sea-king but fish? But such songs are not for Sunday.'
+
+His wife pretended not to hear him, and sang and sang the same
+tune all the time they were on the water. Matte heard nothing
+more as he sat and rowed the heavy boat, while thinking of his
+cracked pipe and the fine tobacco. Then they returned to the
+island, and soon after went to bed.
+
+But neither Matte nor Maie could sleep a wink; the one thought of
+how he had profaned Sunday, and the other of Ahti's cow.
+
+About midnight the fisherman sat up, and said to his wife:
+
+'Dost thou hear anything?'
+
+'No,' said she.
+
+'I think the twirling of the weathercock on the roof bodes ill,'
+said he; 'we shall have a storm.'
+
+'Oh, it is nothing but your fancy,' said his wife.
+
+Matte lay down, but soon rose again.
+
+'The weathercock is squeaking now,' said he.
+
+'Just fancy! Go to sleep,' said his wife; and the old man tried
+to.
+
+For the third time he jumped out of bed.
+
+'Ho! how the weather-cock is roaring at the pitch of its voice,
+as if it had a fire inside it! We are going to have a tempest,
+and must bring in the net.'
+
+Both rose. The summer night was as dark as if it had been
+October, the weather-cock creaked, and the storm was raging in
+every direction. As they went out the sea lay around them as
+white as now, and the spray was dashing right over the fisher-
+hut. In all his life Matte had never remembered such a night. To
+launch the boat and put to sea to rescue the net was a thing not
+to be thought of. The fisherman and his wife stood aghast on the
+doorstep, holding on fast by the doorpost, while the foam
+splashed over their faces.
+
+'Did I not tell thee that there is no luck in Sunday fishing?'
+said Matte sulkily; and his wife was so frightened that she never
+even once thought of Ahti's cows.
+
+As there was nothing to be done, they went in. Their eyes were
+heavy for lack of slumber, and they slept as soundly as if there
+had not been such a thing as an angry sea roaring furiously
+around their lonely dwelling. When they awoke, the sun was high
+in the heavens, the tempest had cased, and only the swell of the
+sea rose in silvery heavings against the red rock.
+
+'What can that be?' said the old woman, as she peeped out of the
+door.
+
+'It looks like a big seal,' said Matte.
+
+'As sure as I live, it's a cow!' exclaimed Maie. And certainly it
+was a cow, a fine red cow, fat and flourishing, and looking as if
+it had been fed all its days on spinach. It wandered peacefully
+up and down the shore, and never so much as even looked at the
+poor little tufts of grass, as if it despised such fare.
+
+Matte could not believe his eyes. But a cow she seemed, and a cow
+she was found to be; and when the old woman began to milk her,
+every pitcher and pan, even to the baler, was soon filled with
+the most delicious milk.
+
+The old man troubled his head in vain as to how she came there,
+and sallied forth to seek for his lost net. He had not proceeded
+far when he found it cast up on the shore, and so full of fish
+that not a mesh was visible.
+
+'It is all very fine to possess a cow,' said Matte, as he cleaned
+the fish; 'but what are we going to feed her on?'
+
+'We shall find some means,' said his wife; and the cow found the
+means herself. She went out and cropped the seaweed which grew in
+great abundance near the shore, and always kept in good
+condition. Every one Prince alone excepted, thought she was a
+clever beast; but Prince barked at her, for he had now got a
+rival.
+
+From that day the red rock overflowed with milk and junkets, and
+every net was filled with fish. Matte and Maie grew fat on this
+fine living, and daily became richer. She churned quantities of
+butter, and he hired two men to help him in his fishing. The sea
+lay before him like a big fish tank, out of which he hauled as
+many as he required; and the cow continued to fend for herself.
+In autumn, when Matte and Maie went ashore, the cow went to sea,
+and in spring, when they returned to the rock, there she stood
+awaiting them.
+
+'We shall require a better house,' said Maie the following
+summer; 'the old one is too small for ourselves and the men.'
+
+'Yes,' said Matte. So he built a large cottage, with a real lock
+to the door, and a store-house for fish as well; and he and his
+men caught such quantities of fish that they sent tons of salmon,
+herring, and cod to Russian and Sweden.
+
+'I am quite overworked with so many folk,' said Maie; 'a girl to
+help me would not come amiss.'
+
+'Get one, then,' said her husband; and so they hired a girl.
+
+Then Maie said: 'We have too little milk for all these folk. Now
+that I have a servant, with the same amount of trouble she could
+look after three cows.'
+
+'All right, then,' said her husband, somewhat provoked, 'you can
+sing a song to the fairies.'
+
+This annoyed Maie, but nevertheless she rowed out to sea on
+Sunday night and sang as before:
+
+          Oh, Ahti, with the long, long beard,
+               Who dwellest in the deep blue sea,
+          A thousand cows are in thy herd,
+               I pray thee give three unto me.
+
+The following morning, instead of one, three cows stood on the
+island, and they all ate seaweed and fended for themselves like
+the first one.
+
+'Art thou satisfied now?' said Matte to his wife.
+
+'I should be quite satisfied,' said his wife, 'if only I had two
+servants to help, and if I had some finer clothes. Don't you know
+that I am addressed as Madam?'
+
+'Well, well,' said her husband. So Maie got several servants and
+clothes fit for a great lady.
+
+'Everything would now be perfect if only we had a little better
+dwelling for summer. You might build us a two-storey house, and
+fetch soil to make a garden. Then you might make a little arbour
+up there to let us have a sea-view; and we might have a fiddler
+to fiddle to us of an evening, and a little steamer to take us to
+church in stormy weather.'
+
+'Anything more?' asked Matte; but he did everything that his wife
+wished. The rock Ahtola became so grand and Maie so grand that
+all the sea-urchins and herring were lost in wonderment. Even
+Prince was fed on beefsteaks and cream scones till at last he was
+as round as a butter jar.
+
+'Are you satisfied now?' asked Matte.
+
+'I should be quite satisfied,' said Maie, 'if only I had thirty
+cows. At least that number is required for such a household.'
+
+'Go to the fairies,' said Matte.
+
+His wife set out in the new steamer and sang to the sea-king.
+Next morning thirty cows stood on the shore, all finding food for
+themselves.
+
+'Know'st thou, good man, that we are far too cramped on this
+wretched rock, and where am I to find room for so many cows?'
+
+'There is nothing to be done but to pump out the sea.'
+
+'Rubbish!' said his wife. 'Who can pump out the sea?'
+
+'Try with thy new steamer, there is a pump in it.'
+
+Maie knew well that her husband was only making fun of her, but
+still her mind was set upon the same subject. 'I never could pump
+the sea out,' thought she, 'but perhaps I might fill it up, if I
+were to make a big dam. I might heap up sand and stones, and make
+our island as big again.'
+
+Maie loaded her boat with stones and went out to sea. The fiddler
+was with her, and fiddled so finely that Ahti and Wellamos and
+all the sea's daughters rose to the surface of the water to
+listen to the music.
+
+'What is that shining so brightly in the waves?' asked Maie.
+
+'That is sea foam glinting in the sunshine,' answered the
+fiddler.
+
+'Throw out the stones,' said Maie.
+
+The people in the boat began to throw out the stones, splash,
+splash, right and left, into the foam. One stone hit the nose of
+Wellamos's chief lady-in-waiting, another scratched the sea queen
+herself on the cheek, a third plumped close to Ahti's head and
+tore off half of the sea-king's beard; then there was a commotion
+in the sea, the waves bubbled and bubbled like boiling water in a
+pot.
+
+'Whence comes this gust of wind?' said Maie; and as she spoke the
+sea opened and swallowed up the steamer. Maie sank to the bottom
+like a stone, but, stretching out her arms and legs, she rose to
+the surface, where she found the fiddler's fiddle, and used it as
+a float. At the same moment she saw close beside her the terrible
+head of Ahti, and he had only half a beard!'
+
+'Why did you throw stones at me?' roared the sea-king.
+
+'Oh, your majesty, it was a mistake! Put some bear's grease on
+your beard and that will soon make it grow again.'
+
+'Dame, did I not give you all you asked for--nay, even more?'
+
+'Truly, truly, your majesty. Many thanks for the cows.'
+
+'Well, where is the gold from the sun and the silver from the
+moon that you promised me?'
+
+'Ah, your majesty, they have been scattered day and night upon
+the sea, except when the sky was overcast,' slyly answered Maie.
+
+'I'll teach you!' roared the sea-king; and with that he gave the
+fiddle such a 'puff' that it sent the old woman up like a sky-
+rocket on to her island. There Prince lay, as famished as ever,
+gnawing the carcase of a crow. There sat Matte in his ragged grey
+jacket, quite alone, on the steps of the old hut, mending a net.
+
+'Heavens, mother,' said he, 'where are you coming from at such a
+whirlwind pace, and what makes you in such a dripping condition?'
+
+Maie looked around her amazed, and said, 'Where is our two-storey
+house?'
+
+'What house?' asked her husband.
+
+'Our big house, and the flower garden, and the men and the maids,
+and the thirty beautiful cows, and the steamer, and everything
+else?'
+
+'You are talking nonsense, mother,' said he. 'The students have
+quite turned your head, for you sang silly songs last evening
+while we were rowing, and then you could not sleep till early
+morning. We had stormy weather during the night, and when it was
+past I did not wish to waken you, so rowed out alone to rescue
+the net.'
+
+'But I've seen Ahti,' rejoined Maie.
+
+'You've been lying in bed, dreaming foolish fancies, mother, and
+then in your sleep you walked into the water.'
+
+'But there is the fiddle,' said Maie.
+
+'A fine fiddle! It is only an old stick. No, no, old woman,
+another time we will be more careful. Good luck never attends
+fishing on a Sunday.'
+
+From Z. Topelius.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                       The Raspberry Worm
+
+
+
+
+'Phew!' cried Lisa.
+
+'Ugh!' cried Aina.
+
+'What now?' cried the big sister.
+
+'A worm!' cried Lisa.
+
+'On the raspberry!' cried Aina.
+
+'Kill it!' cried Otto.
+
+'What a fuss over a poor little worm!' said the big sister
+scornfully.
+
+'Yes, when we had cleaned the raspberries so carefully,' said
+Lisa.
+
+'It crept out from that very large one,' put in Aina.
+
+'And supposing someone had eaten the raspberry,' said Lisa.
+
+'Then they would have eaten the worm, too,' said Aina.
+
+'Well, what harm?' said Otto.
+
+'Eat a worm!' cried Lisa.
+
+'And kill him with one bite!' murmured Aina.
+
+'Just think of it!' said Otto laughing.
+
+'Now it is crawling on the table,' cried Aina again.
+
+'Blow it away!' said the big sister.
+
+'Tramp on it!' laughed Otto.
+
+But Lisa took a raspberry leaf, swept the worm carefully on to
+the leaf and carried it out into the yard. Then Aina noticed that
+a sparrow sitting on the fence was just ready to pounce on the
+poor little worm, so she took up the leaf, carried it out into
+the wood and hid it under a raspberry bush where the greedy
+sparrow could not find it. Yes, and what more is there to tell
+about a raspberry worm? Who would give three straws for such a
+miserable little thing? Yes, but who would not like to live in
+such a pretty home as it lives in; in such a fresh fragrant dark-
+red cottage, far away in the quiet wood among flowers and green
+leaves!
+
+Now it was just dinner time, so they all had a dinner of
+raspberries and cream. 'Be careful with the sugar, Otto,' said
+the big sister; but Otto's plate was like a snowdrift in winter,
+with just a little red under the snow.
+
+Soon after dinner the big sister said: 'Now we have eaten up the
+raspberries and we have none left to make preserve for the
+winter; it would be fine if we could get two baskets full of
+berries, then we could clean them this evening, and to-morrow we
+could cook them in the big preserving pan, and then we should
+have raspberry jam to eat on our bread!'
+
+'Come, let us go to the wood and pick,' said Lisa.
+
+'Yes, let us,' said Aina. 'You take the yellow basket and I will
+take the green one.'
+
+'Don't get lost, and come back safely in the evening,' said the
+big sister.
+
+'Greetings to the raspberry worm,' said Otto, mockingly. 'Next
+time I meet him I shall do him the honour of eating him up.'
+
+So Aina and Lisa went off to the wood. Ah! how delightful it was
+there, how beautiful! It was certainly tiresome sometimes
+climbing over the fallen trees, and getting caught in the
+branches, and waging war with the juniper bushes and the midges,
+but what did that matter? The girls climbed well in their short
+dresses, and soon they were deep in the wood.
+
+There were plenty of bilberries and elder berries, but no
+raspberries. They wandered on and on, and at last they came ...
+No, it could not be true! ... they came to a large raspberry
+wood. The wood had been on fire once, and now raspberry bushes
+had grown up, and there were raspberry bushes and raspberry
+bushes as far as the eye could see. Every bush was weighted to
+the ground with the largest, dark red, ripe raspberries, such a
+wealth of berries as two little berry pickers had never found
+before!
+
+Lisa picked, Aina picked. Lisa ate, Aina ate, and in a little
+while their baskets were full.
+
+'Now we shall go home,' said Aina. 'No, let us gather a few
+more,' said Lisa. So they put the baskets down on the ground and
+began to fill their pinafores, and it was not long before their
+pinafores were full, too.
+
+'Now we shall go home,' said Lina. 'Yes, now we shall go home,'
+said Aina. Both girls took a basket in one hand and held up her
+apron in the other and then turned to go home. But that was
+easier said than done. They had never been so far in the great
+wood before, they could not find any road nor path, and soon the
+girls noticed that they had lost their way.
+
+The worst of it was that the shadows of the tress were becoming
+so long in the evening sunlight, the birds were beginning to fly
+home, and the day was closing in. At last the sun went down
+behind the pine tops, and it was cool and dusky in the great
+wood.
+
+The girls became anxious but went steadily on, expecting that the
+wood would soon end, and that they would see the smoke from the
+chimneys of their home.
+
+After they had wandered on for a long time it began to grow dark.
+At last they reached a great plain overgrown with bushes, and
+when they looked around them, they saw, as much as they could in
+the darkness, that they were among the same beautiful raspberry
+bushes from which they had picked their baskets and their aprons
+full. Then they were so tired that they sat down on a stone and
+began to cry.
+
+'I am so hungry,' said Lisa.
+
+'Yes,' said Aina, 'if we had only two good meat sandwiches now.'
+
+As she said that, she felt something in her hand, and when she
+looked down, she saw a large sandwich of bread and chicken, and
+at the same time Lisa said: 'How very queer! I have a sandwich in
+my hand.'
+
+'And I, too,' said Aina. 'Will you dare to eat it?'
+
+'Of course I will,' said Lisa. 'Ah, if we only had a good glass
+of milk now!'
+
+Just as she said that she felt a large glass of milk between her
+fingers, and at the same time Aina cried out, 'Lisa! Lisa! I have
+a glass of milk in my hand! Isn't it queer?'
+
+The girls, however, were very hungry, so they ate and drank with
+a good appetite. When they had finished Aina yawned, stretched
+out her arms and said: 'Oh, if only we had a nice soft bed to
+sleep on now!'
+
+Scarcely had she spoken before she felt a nice soft bed by her
+side, and there beside Lisa was one too. This seemed to the girls
+more and more wonderful, but tired and sleepy as they were, they
+thought no more about it, but crept into the little beds, drew
+the coverlets over their heads and were soon asleep.
+
+When they awoke the sun was high in the heavens, the wood was
+beautiful in the summer morning, and the birds were flying about
+in the branches and the tree tops.
+
+At first the girls were filled with wonder when they saw that
+they had slept in the wood among the raspberry bushes. They
+looked at each other, they looked at their beds, which were of
+the finest flax covered over with leaves and moss. At last Lisa
+said: 'Are you awake, Aina?'
+
+'Yes,' said Aina.
+
+'But I am still dreaming,' said Lisa.
+
+'No,' said Aina, 'but there is certainly some good fairy living
+among these raspberry bushes. Ah, if we had only a hot cup of
+coffee now, and a nice piece of white bread to dip into it!'
+
+Scarcely had she finished speaking when she saw beside her a
+little silver tray with a gilt coffee-pot, two cups of rare
+porcelain, a sugar basin of fine crystal, silver sugar tongs, and
+some good fresh white bread. The girls poured out the beautiful
+coffee, put in the cream and sugar, and tasted it; never in their
+lives had they drunk such beautiful coffee.
+
+'Now I should like to know very much who has given us all this,'
+said Lisa gratefully.
+
+'I have, my little girls,' said a voice just then from the
+bushes.
+
+The children looked round wonderingly, and saw a little kind-
+looking old man, in a white coat and a red cap, limping out from
+among the bushes, for he was lame in his left foot; neither Lisa
+nor Aina could utter a word, they were so filled with surprise.
+
+'Don't be afraid, little girls,' he said smiling kindly at them;
+he could not laugh properly because his mouth was crooked.
+'Welcome to my kingdom! Have you slept well and eaten well and
+drunk well?' he asked.
+
+'Yes, indeed we have,' said both the girls, 'but tell us ...' and
+they wanted to ask who the old man was, but were afraid to.
+
+'I will tell you who I am,' said the old man; 'I am the raspberry
+king, who reigns over all this kingdom of raspberry bushes, and I
+have lived here for more than a thousand years. But the great
+spirit who rules over the woods, and the sea, and the sky, did
+not want me to become proud of my royal power and my long life.
+Therefore he decreed that one day in every hundred years I should
+change into a little raspberry worm, and live in that weak and
+helpless form from sunrise to sunset. During that time my life is
+dependent on the little worm's life, so that a bird can eat me, a
+child can pick me with the berries and trample under foot my
+thousand years of life. Now yesterday was just my transformation
+day, and I was taken with the raspberry and would have been
+trampled to death if you had not saved my life. Until sunset I
+lay helpless in the grass, and when I was swept away from your
+table I twisted one of my feet, and my mouth became crooked with
+terror; but when evening came and I could take my own form again,
+I looked for you to thank you and reward you. Then I found you
+both here in my kingdom, and tried to meet you both as well as I
+could without frightening you. Now I will send a bird from my
+wood to show you the way home. Good-bye, little children, thank
+you for your kind hearts; the raspberry king can show that he is
+not ungrateful.' The children shook hands with the old man and
+thanked him, feeling very glad that they had saved the little
+raspberry worm. They were just going when the old man turned
+round, smiled mischievously with his crooked mouth, and said:
+'Greetings to Otto from me, and tell him when I meet him again I
+shall do him the honour of eating him up.'
+
+'Oh, please don't do that,' cried both the girls, very
+frightened.
+
+'Well, for your sake I will forgive him,' said the old man, 'I am
+not revengeful. Greetings to Otto and tell him that he may expect
+a gift from me, too. Good-bye.'
+
+The two girls, light of heart, now took their berries and ran off
+through the wood after the bird; and soon it began to get lighter
+in the wood and they wondered how they could have lost their way
+yesterday, it seemed so easy and plain now.
+
+One can imagine what joy there was when the two reached home.
+Everyone had been looking for them, and the big sister had not
+been able to sleep, for she thought the wolves had eaten them up.
+
+Otto met them; he had a basket in his hand and said: 'Look, here
+is something that an old man has just left for you.'
+
+When the girls looked into the basket they saw a pair of most
+beautiful bracelets of precious stones, dark red, and made in the
+shape of a ripe raspberry and with an inscription: 'To Lisa and
+Aina'; beside them there was a diamond breast pin in the shape of
+a raspberry worm: on it was inscribed 'Otto, never destroy the
+helpless!'
+
+Otto felt rather ashamed: he quite understood what it meant, but
+he thought that the old man's revenge was a noble one.
+
+The raspberry king had also remembered the big sister, for when
+she went in to set the table for dinner, she found eleven big
+baskets of most beautiful raspberries, and no one knew how they
+had come there, but everyone guessed.
+
+And so there was such a jam-making as had never been seen before,
+and if you like to go and help in it, you might perhaps get a
+little, for they must surely be making jam still to this very
+day.
+
+From Z. Topelius.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                    The Stones of Plouhinec
+
+
+
+
+Perhaps some of you may have read a book called 'Kenneth; or the
+Rear-Guard of the Grand Army' of Napoleon. If so, you will
+remember how the two Scotch children found in Russia were taken
+care of by the French soldiers and prevented as far as possible
+from suffering from the horrors of the terrible Retreat. One of
+the soldiers, a Breton, often tried to make them forget how cold
+and hungry they were by telling them tales of his native country,
+Brittany, which is full of wonderful things. The best and warmest
+place round the camp fire was always given to the children, but
+even so the bitter frost would cause them to shiver. It was then
+that the Breton would begin: 'Plouhinec is a small town near
+Hennebonne by the sea,' and would continue until Kenneth or Effie
+would interrupt him with an eager question. Then he forgot how
+his mother had told him the tale, and was obliged to begin all
+over again, so the story lasted a long while, and by the time it
+was ended the children were ready to be rolled up in what ever
+coverings could be found, and go to sleep. It is this story that
+I am going to tell to you.
+
+Plouhinec is a small town near Hennebonne by the sea. Around it
+stretches a desolate moor, where no corn can be grown, and the
+grass is so coarse that no beast grows fat on it. Here and there
+are scattered groves of fir trees, and small pebbles are so thick
+on the ground that you might almost take it for a beach. On the
+further side, the fairies, or korigans, as the people called
+them, had set up long long ago two rows of huge stones; indeed,
+so tall and heavy were they, that it seemed as if all the fairies
+in the world could not have placed them upright.
+
+Not far off them this great stone avenue, and on the banks of the
+little river Intel, there lived a man named Marzinne and his
+sister Rozennik. They always had enough black bread to eat, and
+wooden shoes or sabots to wear, and a pig to fatten, so the
+neighbours thought them quite rich; and what was still better,
+they thought themselves rich also.
+
+Rozennik was a pretty girl, who knew how to make the best of
+everything, and she could, if she wished, have chosen a husband
+from the young men of Plouhinec, but she cared for none of them
+except Bernez, whom she had played with all her life, and Bernez,
+though he worked hard, was so very very poor that Marzinne told
+him roughly he must look elsewhere for a wife. But whatever
+Marzinne might say Rozennik smiled and nodded to him as before,
+and would often turn her head as she passed, and sing snatches of
+old songs over her shoulder.
+
+Christmas Eve had come, and all the men who worked under Marzinne
+or on the farms round about were gathered in the large kitchen to
+eat the soup flavoured with honey followed by rich puddings, to
+which they were always invited on this particular night. In the
+middle of the table was a large wooden bowl, with wooden spoons
+placed in a circle round it, so that each might dip in his turn.
+The benches were filled, and Marzinne was about to give the
+signal, when the door was suddenly thrown open, and an old man
+came in, wishing the guests a good appetite for their supper.
+There was a pause, and some of the faces looked a little
+frightened; for the new comer was well known to them as a beggar,
+who was also said to be a wizard who cast spells over the cattle,
+and caused the corn to grow black, and old people to die, of
+what, nobody knew. Still, it was Christmas Eve, and besides it
+was as well not to offend him, so the farmer invited him in, and
+gave him a seat at the table and a wooden spoon like the rest.
+
+There was not much talk after the beggar's entrance, and everyone
+was glad when the meal came to an end, and the beggar asked if he
+might sleep in the stable, as he should die of cold if he were
+left outside. Rather unwillingly Marzinne gave him leave, and
+bade Bernez take the key and unlock the door. There was certainly
+plenty of room for a dozen beggars, for the only occupants of the
+stable were an old donkey and a thin ox; and as the night was
+bitter, the wizard lay down between them for warmth, with a sack
+of reeds for a pillow.
+
+He had walked far that day, and even wizards get tired sometimes,
+so in spite of the hard floor he was just dropping off to sleep,
+when midnight struck from the church tower of Plouhinec. At this
+sound the donkey raised her head and shook her ears, and turned
+towards the ox.
+
+'Well, my dear cousin,' said she, 'and how have you fared since
+last Christmas Eve, when we had a conversation together?'
+
+Instead of answering at once, the ox eyed the beggar with a long
+look of disgust.
+
+'What is the use of talking,' he replied roughly, 'when a good-
+for-nothing creature like that can hear all we say?'
+
+'Oh, you mustn't lose time in grumbling,' rejoined the donkey
+gaily, 'and don't you see that the wizard is asleep?'
+
+'His wicked pranks do not make him rich, certainly,' said the ox,
+'and he isn't even clever enough to have found out what a piece
+of luck might befall him a week hence.'
+
+'What piece of luck?' asked the donkey.
+
+'Why, don't you know,' inquired the ox, 'that once very hundred
+years the stones on Plouhinec heath go down to drink at the
+river, and that while they are away the treasures underneath them
+are uncovered?'
+
+'Ah, I remember now,' replied the donkey, 'but the stones return
+so quickly to their places, that you certainly would be crushed
+to death unless you have in your hands a bunch of crowsfoot and
+of five-leaved trefoil.'
+
+'Yes, but that is not enough,' said the ox; 'even supposing you
+get safely by, the treasure you have brought with you will
+crumble into dust if you do not give in exchange a baptised soul.
+It is needful that a Christian should die before you can enjoy
+the wealth of Plouhinec.'
+
+The donkey was about to ask some further questions, when she
+suddenly found herself unable to speak: the time allowed them for
+conversation was over.
+
+'Ah, my dear creatures,' thought the beggar, who had of course
+heard everything, 'you are going to make me richer than the
+richest men of Vannes or Lorient. But I have no time to lose; to-
+morrow I must begin to hunt for the precious plants.'
+
+He did not dare to seek too near Plouhinec, lest somebody who
+knew the story might guess what he was doing, so he went away
+further towards the south, where the air was softer and the
+plants are always green. From the instant it was light, till the
+last rays had faded out of the sky, he searched every inch of
+ground where the magic plants might grow; he scarcely gave
+himself a minute to eat and drink, but at length he found the
+crowsfoot in a little hollow! Well, that was certainly a great
+deal, but after all, the crowsfoot was of no use without the
+trefoil, and there was so little time left.
+
+He had almost give up hope, when on the very last day before it
+was necessary that he should start of Plouhinec, he came upon a
+little clump of trefoil, half hidden under a rock. Hardly able to
+breathe from excitement, he sat down and hunted eagerly through
+the plant which he had torn up. Leaf after leaf he threw aside in
+disgust, and he had nearly reached the end when he gave a cry of
+joy-- the five-leaved trefoil was in his hand.
+
+The beggar scrambled to his feet, and without a pause walked
+quickly down the road that led northwards. The moon was bright,
+and for some hours he kept steadily on, not knowing how many
+miles he had gone, nor even feeling tired. By and bye the sun
+rose, and the world began to stir, and stopping at a farmhouse
+door, he asked for a cup of milk and slice of bread and
+permission to rest for a while in the porch. Then he continued
+his journey, and so, towards sunset on New Year's Eve, he came
+back to Plouhinec.
+
+As he was passing the long line of stones, he saw Bernez working
+with a chisel on the tallest of them all.
+
+'What are you doing there?' called the wizard, 'do you mean to
+hollow out for yourself a bed in that huge column?'
+
+'No,' replied Bernez quietly, 'but as I happened to have no work
+to do to-day, I thought I would just carve a cross on this stone.
+The holy sign can never come amiss.'
+
+'I believe you think it will help you to win Rozennik,' laughed
+the old man.
+
+Bernez ceased his task for a moment to look at him.
+
+'Ah, so you know about that,' replied he; 'unluckily Marzinne
+wants a brother-in-law who has more pounds than I have pence.'
+
+'And suppose I were to give you more pounds than Marzinne ever
+dreamed of?' whispered the sorcerer glancing round to make sure
+that no one overheard him.
+
+'You?'
+
+'Yes, I.'
+
+'And what am I to do to gain the money,' inquired Bernez, who
+knew quite well that the Breton peasant gives nothing for
+nothing.
+
+'What I want of you only needs a little courage,' answered the
+old man.
+
+'If that is all, tell me what I have got to do, and I will do
+it,' cried Bernez, letting fall his chisel. 'If I have to risk
+thirty deaths, I am ready.'
+
+When the beggar knew that Bernez would give him no trouble, he
+told him how, during that very night, the treasures under the
+stones would be uncovered, and how in a very few minutes they
+could take enough to make them both rich for life. But he kept
+silence as to the fate that awaited the man who was without the
+crowsfoot and the trefoil, and Bernez thought that nothing but
+boldness and quickness were necessary. So he said:
+
+'Old man, I am grateful, indeed, for the chance you have given
+me, and there will always be a pint of my blood at your service.
+Just let me finish carving this cross. It is nearly done, and I
+will join you in the fir wood at whatever hour you please.'
+
+'You must be there without fail an hour before midnight,'
+answered the wizard, and went on his way.
+
+As the hour struck from the great church at Plouhinec, Bernez
+entered the wood. He found the beggar already there with a bag in
+each hand, and a third slung round his neck.
+
+'You are punctual,' said the old man, 'but we need not start just
+yet. You had better sit down and think what you will do when your
+pockets are filled with gold and silver and jewels.'
+
+'Oh, it won't take me long to plan out that,' returned Bernez
+with a laugh. 'I shall give Rozennik everything she can desire,
+dresses of all sorts, from cotton to silk, and good things of all
+kinds to eat, from white bread to oranges.'
+
+'The silver you find will pay for all that, and what about the
+gold?'
+
+'With the gold I shall make rich Rozennik's relations and every
+friend of hers in the parish,' replied he.
+
+'So much for the gold; and the jewels?'
+
+'Then,' cried Bernez, 'I will divide the jewels amongst everybody
+in the world, so that they may be wealthy and happy; and I will
+tell them that it is Rozennik who would have it so.'
+
+'Hush! it is close on midnight--we must go,' whispered the
+wizard, and together they crept to the edge of the wood.
+
+With the first stroke of twelve a great noise arose over the
+silent heath, and the earth seemed to rock under the feet of the
+two watchers. The next moment by the light of the moon they
+beheld the huge stones near them leave their places and go down
+the slope leading to the river, knocking against each other in
+their haste. Passing the spot where stood Bernez and the beggar,
+they were lost in the darkness. It seemed as if a procession of
+giants had gone by.
+
+'Quick,' said the wizard, in a low voice, and he rushed towards
+the empty holes, which even in the night shone brightly from the
+treasures within them. Flinging himself on his knees, the old man
+began filling the wallets he had brought, listening intently all
+the time for the return of the stones up the hill, while Bernez
+more slowly put handfuls of all he could see into his pockets.
+
+The sorcerer had just closed his third wallet, and was beginning
+to wonder if he could carry away any more treasures when a low
+murmur as of a distant storm broke upon his ears.
+
+The stones had finished drinking, and were hastening back to
+their places.
+
+On they came, bent a little forward, the tallest of them all at
+their head, breaking everything that stood in their way. At the
+sight Bernez stood transfixed with horror, and said,
+
+'We are lost! They will crush us to death.'
+
+'Not me!' answered the sorcerer, holding up the crowsfoot and the
+five-leaved trefoil, 'for these will preserve me. But in order to
+keep my riches, I was obliged to sacrifice a Christian to the
+stones, and an evil fate threw you in my way.' And as he spoke he
+stretched out the magic herbs to the stones, which were advancing
+rapidly. As if acknowledging a power greater than theirs, the
+monstrous things instantly parted to the right and left of the
+wizard, but closed their ranks again as they approached Bernez.
+
+The young man did not try to escape, he knew it was useless, and
+sank on his knees and closed his eyes. But suddenly the tall
+stone that was leading stopped straight in front of Bernez, so
+that no other could get past.
+
+It was the stone on which Bernez had carved the cross, and it was
+now a baptized stone, and had power to save him.
+
+So the stone remained before the young man till the rest had
+taken their places, and then, darting like a bird to its own
+hole, came upon the beggar, who, thinking himself quite safe, was
+staggering along under the weight of his treasures.
+
+Seeing the stone approaching, he held out the magic herbs which
+he carried, but the baptized stone was no longer subject to the
+spells that bound the rest, and passed straight on its way,
+leaving the wizard crushed into powder in the heather.
+
+Then Bernez went home, and showed his wealth to Marzinne, who
+this time did not refuse him as a brother-in-law, and he and
+Rozennik were married, and lived happy for ever after.
+
+From 'Le Royer Breton,' par Emile Souvestre.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     The Castle of Kerglas
+
+
+
+
+Peronnik was a poor idiot who belonged to nobody, and he would
+have died of starvation if it had not been for the kindness of
+the village people, who gave him food whenever he chose to ask
+for it. And as for a bed, when night came, and he grew sleepy, he
+looked about for a heap of straw, and making a hole in it, crept
+in, like a lizard. Idiot though he was, he was never unhappy, but
+always thanked gratefully those who fed him, and sometimes would
+stop for a little and sing to them. For he could imitate a lark
+so well, that no one knew which was Peronnik and which was the
+bird.
+
+He had been wandering in a forest one day for several hours, and
+when evening approached, he suddenly felt very hungry. Luckily,
+just at that place the trees grew thinner, and he could see a
+small farmhouse a little way off. Peronnik went straight towards
+it, and found the farmer's wife standing at the door holding in
+her hands the large bowl out of which her children had eaten
+their supper.
+
+'I am hungry, will you give me something to eat?' asked the boy.
+
+'If you can find anything here, you are welcome to it,' answered
+she, and, indeed, there was not much left, as everybody's spoon
+had dipped in. But Peronnik ate what was there with a hearty
+appetite, and thought that he had never tasted better food.
+
+'It is made of the finest flour and mixed with the richest milk
+and stirred by the best cook in all the countryside,' and though
+he said it to himself, the woman heard him.
+
+'Poor innocent,' she murmured, 'he does not know what he is
+saying, but I will cut him a slice of that new wheaten loaf,' and
+so she did, and Peronnik ate up every crumb, and declared that
+nobody less than the bishop's baker could have baked it. This
+flattered the farmer's wife so much that she gave him some butter
+to spread on it, and Peronnik was still eating it on the doorstep
+when an armed knight rode up.
+
+'Can you tell me the way to the castle of Kerglas?' asked he.
+
+'To Kerglas? are you really going to Kerglas?' cried the woman,
+turning pale.
+
+'Yes; and in order to get there I have come from a country so far
+off that it has taken me three months' hard riding to travel as
+far as this.'
+
+'And why do you want to go to Kerglas?' said she.
+
+'I am seeking the basin of gold and the lance of diamonds which
+are in the castle,' he answered. Then Peronnik looked up.
+
+'The basin and the lance are very costly things,' he said
+suddenly.
+
+'More costly and precious than all the crowns in the world,'
+replied the stranger, 'for not only will the basin furnish you
+with the best food that you can dream of, but if you drink of it,
+it will cure you of any illness however dangerous, and will even
+bring the dead back to life, if it touches their mouths. As to
+the diamond lance, that will cut through any stone or metal.'
+
+'And to whom do these wonders belong?' asked Peronnik in
+amazement.
+
+'To a magician named Rogear who lives in the castle,' answered
+the woman. 'Every day he passes along here, mounted on a black
+mare, with a colt thirteen months old trotting behind. But no one
+dares to attack him, as he always carries his lance.'
+
+'That is true,' said the knight, 'but there is a spell laid upon
+him which forbids his using it within the castle of Kerglas. The
+moment he enters, the basin and lance are put away in a dark
+cellar which no key but one can open. And that is the place where
+I wish to fight the magician.'
+
+'You will never overcome him, Sir Knight,' replied the woman,
+shaking her head. 'More than a hundred gentlemen have ridden past
+this house bent on the same errand, and not one has ever come
+back.'
+
+'I know that, good woman,' returned the knight, 'but then they
+did not have, like me, instructions from the hermit of Blavet.'
+
+'And what did the hermit tell you?' asked Peronnik.
+
+'He told me that I should have to pass through a wood full of all
+sorts of enchantments and voices, which would try to frighten me
+and make me lose my way. Most of those who have gone before me
+have wandered they know not where, and perished from cold,
+hunger, or fatigue.'
+
+'Well, suppose you get through safely?' said the idiot.
+
+'If I do,' continued the knight, 'I shall then meet a sort of
+fairy armed with a needle of fire which burns to ashes all it
+touches. This dwarf stands guarding an apple-tree, from which I
+am bound to pluck an apple.'
+
+'And next?' inquired Peronnik.
+
+'Next I shall find the flower that laughs, protected by a lion
+whose mane is formed of vipers. I must pluck that flower, and go
+on to the lake of the dragons and fight the black man who holds
+in his hand the iron ball which never misses its mark and returns
+of its own accord to its master. After that, I enter the valley
+of pleasure, where some who conquered all the other obstacles
+have left their bones. If I can win through this, I shall reach a
+river with only one ford, where a lady in black will be seated.
+She will mount my horse behind me, and tell me what I am to do
+next.'
+
+He paused, and the woman shook her head.
+
+'You will never be able to do all that,' said she, but he bade
+her remembered that these were only matters for men, and galloped
+away down the path she pointed out.
+
+The farmer's wife sighed and, giving Peronnik some more food,
+bade him good-night. The idiot rose and was opening the gate
+which led into the forest when the farmer himself came up.
+
+'I want a boy to tend my cattle,' he said abruptly, 'as the one I
+had has run away. Will you stay and do it?' and Peronnik, though
+he loved his liberty and hated work, recollected the good food he
+had eaten, and agreed to stop.
+
+At sunrise he collected his herd carefully and led them to the
+rich pasture which lay along the borders of the forest, cutting
+himself a hazel wand with which to keep them in order.
+
+His task was not quite so easy as it looked, for the cows had a
+way of straying into the wood, and by the time he had brought one
+back another was off. He had gone some distance into the trees,
+after a naughty black cow which gave him more trouble than all
+the rest, when he heard the noise of horse's feet, and peeping
+through the leaves he beheld the giant Rogear seated on his mare,
+with the colt trotting behind. Round the giant's neck hung the
+golden bowl suspended from a chain, and in his hand he grasped
+the diamond lance, which gleamed like fire. But as soon as he was
+out of sight the idiot sought in vain for traces of the path he
+had taken.
+
+This happened not only once but many times, till Peronnik grew so
+used to him that he never troubled to hide. But on each occasion
+he saw him the desire to possess the bowl and the lance became
+stronger.
+
+One evening the boy was sitting alone on the edge of the forest,
+when a man with a white beard stopped beside him. 'Do you want to
+know the way to Kerglas?' asked the idiot, and the man answered
+'I know it well.'
+
+'You have been there without being killed by the magician?' cried
+Peronnik.
+
+'Oh! he had nothing to fear from me,' replied the white-bearded
+man, 'I am Rogear's elder brother, the wizard Bryak. When I wish
+to visit him I always pass this way, and as even I cannot go
+through the enchanted wood without losing myself, I call the colt
+to guide me.' Stooping down as he spoke he traced three circles
+on the ground and murmured some words very low, which Peronnik
+could not hear. Then he added aloud:
+
+         Colt, free to run and free to eat.
+         Colt, gallop fast until we meet,
+
+and instantly the colt appeared, frisking and jumping to the
+wizard, who threw a halter over his neck and leapt on his back.
+
+Peronnik kept silence at the farm about this adventure, but he
+understood very well that if he was ever to get to Kerglas he
+must first catch the colt which knew the way. Unhappily he had
+not heard the magic words uttered by the wizard, and he could not
+manage to draw the three circles, so if he was to summon the colt
+at all he must invent some other means of doing it.
+
+All day long, while he was herding the cows, he thought and
+thought how he was to call the colt, for he felt sure that once
+on its back he could overcome the other dangers. Meantime he must
+be ready in case a chance should come, and he made his
+preparations at night, when everyone was asleep. Remembering what
+he had seen the wizard do, he patched up an old halter that was
+hanging in a corner of the stable, twisted a rope of hemp to
+catch the colt's feet, and a net such as is used for snaring
+birds. Next he sewed roughly together some bits of cloth to serve
+as a pocket, and this he filled with glue and lark's feathers, a
+string of beads, a whistle of elder wood, and a slice of bread
+rubbed over with bacon fat. Then he went out to the path down
+which Rogear, his mare, and the colt always rode, and crumbled
+the bread on one side of it.
+
+Punctual to their hour all three appeared, eagerly watched by
+Peronnik, who lay hid in the bushes close by. Suppose it was
+useless; suppose the mare, and not the colt, ate the crumbs?
+Suppose--but no! the mare and her rider went safely by, vanishing
+round a corner, while the colt, trotting along with its head on
+the ground, smelt the bread, and began greedily to lick up the
+pieces. Oh, how good it was! Why had no one ever given it that
+before, and so absorbed was the little beast, sniffing about
+after a few more crumbs, that it never heard Peronnik creep up
+till it felt the halter on its neck and the rope round its feet,
+and--in another moment--some one on its back.
+
+Going as fast as the hobbles would allow, the colt turned into
+one of the wildest parts of the forest, while its rider sat
+trembling at the strange sights he saw. Sometimes the earth
+seemed to open in front of them and he was looking into a
+bottomless pit; sometimes the trees burst into flames and he
+found himself in the midst of a fire; often in the act of
+crossing a stream the water rose and threatened to sweep him
+away; and again, at the foot of a mountain, great rocks would
+roll towards him, as if they would crush him and his colt beneath
+their weight. To his dying day Peronnik never knew whether these
+things were real or if he only imagined them, but he pulled down
+his knitted cap so as to cover his eyes, and trusted the colt to
+carry him down the right road.
+
+At last the forest was left behind, and they came out on a wide
+plain where the air blew fresh and strong. The idiot ventured to
+peep out, and found to his relief that the enchantments seemed to
+have ended, though a thrill of horror shot through him as he
+noticed the skeletons of men scattered over the plain, beside the
+skeletons of their horses. And what were those grey forms
+trotting away in the distance? Were they--could they be--wolves?
+
+But vast through the plain seemed, it did not take long to cross,
+and very soon the colt entered a sort of shady park in which was
+standing a single apple-tree, its branches bowed down to the
+ground with the weight of its fruit. In front was the korigan--
+the little fairy man--holding in his hand the fiery sword, which
+reduced to ashes everything it touched. At the sight of Peronnik
+he uttered a piercing scream, and raised his sword, but without
+appearing surprised the youth only lifted his cap, though he took
+care to remain at a little distance.
+
+'Do not be alarmed, my prince,' said Peronnik, 'I am just on my
+way to Kerglas, as the noble Rogear has begged me to come to him
+on business.'
+
+'Begged you to come!' repeated the dwarf, 'and who, then, are
+you?'
+
+'I am the new servant he has engaged, as you know very well,'
+answered Peronnik.
+
+'I do not know at all,' rejoined the korigan sulkily, 'and you
+may be a robber for all I can tell.'
+
+'I am so sorry,' replied Peronnik, 'but I may be wrong in calling
+myself a servant, for I am only a bird-catcher. But do not delay
+me, I pray, for his highness the magician expects me, and, as you
+see, has lent me his colt so that I may reach the castle all the
+quicker.'
+
+At these words the korigan cast his eyes for the first time on
+the colt, which he knew to be the one belonging to the magician,
+and began to think that the young man was speaking the truth.
+After examining the horse, he studied the rider, who had such an
+innocent, and indeed vacant, air that he appeared incapable of
+inventing a story. Still, the dwarf did not feel quite sure that
+all was right, and asked what the magician wanted with a bird-
+catcher.
+
+'From what he says, he wants one very badly,' replied Peronnik,
+'as he declares that all his grain and all the fruit in his
+garden at Kerglas are eaten up by the birds.'
+
+'And how are you going to stop that, my fine fellow?' inquired
+the korigan; and Peronnik showed him the snare he had prepared,
+and remarked that no bird could possible escape from it.
+
+'That is just what I should like to be sure of,' answered the
+korigan. 'My apples are completely eaten up by blackbirds and
+thrushes. Lay your snare, and if you can manage to catch them, I
+will let you pass.'
+
+'That is a fair bargain,' and as he spoke Peronnik jumped down
+and fastened his colt to a tree; then, stopping, he fixed one end
+of the net to the trunk of the apple tree, and called to the
+korigan to hold the other while he took out the pegs. The dwarf
+did as he was bid, when suddenly Peronnik threw the noose over
+his neck and drew it close, and the korigan was held as fast as
+any of the birds he wished to snare.
+
+Shrieking with rage, he tried to undo the cord, but he only
+pulled the knot tighter. He had put down the sword on the grass,
+and Peronnik had been careful to fix the net on the other side of
+the tree, so that it was now easy for him to pluck an apple and
+to mount his horse, without being hindered by the dwarf, whom he
+left to his fate.
+
+When they had left the plain behind them, Peronnik and his steed
+found themselves in a narrow valley in which was a grove of
+trees, full of all sorts of sweet-smelling things--roses of every
+colour, yellow broom, pink honeysuckle--while above them all
+towered a wonderful scarlet pansy whose face bore a strange
+expression. This was the flower that laughs, and no one who
+looked at it could help laughing too. Peronnik's heart beat high
+at the thought that he had reached safely the second trial, and
+he gazed quite calmly at the lion with the mane of vipers
+twisting and twirling, who walked up and down in front of the
+grove.
+
+The young man pulled up and removed his cap, for, idiot though he
+was, he knew that when you have to do with people greater than
+yourself, a cap is more useful in the hand than on the head.
+Then, after wishing all kinds of good fortune to the lion and his
+family, he inquired if he was on the right road to Kerglas.
+
+'And what is your business at Kerglas?' asked the lion with a
+growl, and showing his teeth.
+
+'With all respect,' answered Peronnik, pretending to be very
+frightened, 'I am the servant of a lady who is a friend of the
+noble Rogear and sends him some larks for a pasty.'
+
+'Larks?' cried the lion, licking his long whiskers. 'Why, it must
+be a century since I have had any! Have you a large quantity with
+you?'
+
+'As many as this bag will hold,' replied Peronnik, opening, as he
+spoke, the bag which he had filled with feathers and glue; and to
+prove what he said, he turned his back on the lion and began to
+imitate the song of a lark.
+
+'Come,' exclaimed the lion, whose mouth watered, 'show me the
+birds! I should like to see if they are fat enough for my
+master.'
+
+'I would do it with pleasure,' answered the idiot, 'but if I once
+open the bag they will all fly away.'
+
+'Well, open it wide enough for me to look in,' said the lion,
+drawing a little nearer.
+
+Now this was just what Peronnik had been hoping for, so he held
+the bag while the lion opened it carefully and put his head right
+inside, so that he might get a good mouthful of larks. But the
+mass of feathers and glue stuck to him, and before he could pull
+his head out again Peronnik had drawn tight the cord, and tied it
+in a knot that no man could untie. Then, quickly gathering the
+flower that laughs, he rode off as fast as the colt could take
+him.
+
+The path soon led to the lake of the dragons, which he had to
+swim across. The colt, who was accustomed to it, plunged into the
+water without hesitation; but as soon as the dragons caught sight
+of Peronnik they approached from all parts of the lake in order
+to devour him.
+
+This time Peronnik did not trouble to take off his cap, but he
+threw the beads he carried with him into the water, as you throw
+black corn to a duck, and with each bead that he swallowed a
+dragon turned on his back and died, so that the idiot reached the
+other side without further trouble.
+
+The valley guarded by the black man now lay before him, and from
+afar Peronnik beheld him, chained by one foot to a rock at the
+entrance, and holding the iron ball which never missed its mark
+and always returned to its master's hand. In his head the black
+man had six eyes that were never all shut at once, but kept watch
+one after the other. At this moment they were all open, and
+Peronnik knew well that if the black man caught a glimpse of him
+he would cast his ball. So, hiding the colt behind a thicket of
+bushes, he crawled along a ditch and crouched close to the very
+rock to which the black man was chained.
+
+The day was hot, and after a while the man began to grow sleepy.
+Two of his eyes closed, and Peronnik sang gently. In a moment a
+third eye shut, and Peronnik sang on. The lid of a fourth eye
+dropped heavily, and then those of the fifth and the sixth. The
+black man was asleep altogether.
+
+Then, on tiptoe, the idiot crept back to the colt which he led
+over soft moss past the black man into the vale of pleasure, a
+delicious garden full of fruits that dangled before your mouth,
+fountains running with wine, and flowers chanting in soft little
+voices. Further on, tables were spread with food, and girls
+dancing on the grass called to him to join them.
+
+Peronnik heard, and, scarcely knowing what he did drew the colt
+into a slower pace. He sniffed greedily the smell of the dishes,
+and raised his head the better to see the dancers. Another
+instant and he would have stopped altogether and been lost, like
+others before him, when suddenly there came to him like a vision
+the golden bowl and the diamond lance. Drawing his whistle from
+his pocket, he blew it loudly, so as to drown the sweet sounds
+about him, and ate what was left of his bread and bacon to still
+the craving of the magic fruits. His eyes he fixed steadily on
+the ears of the colt, that he might not see the dancers.
+
+In this way he was able to reach the end of the garden, and at
+length perceived the castle of Kerglas, with the river between
+them which had only one ford. Would the lady be there, as the old
+man had told him? Yes, surely that was she, sitting on a rock, in
+a black satin dress, and her face the colour of a Moorish
+woman's. The idiot rode up, and took off his cap more politely
+than ever, and asked if she did not wish to cross the river.
+
+'I was waiting for you to help me do so,' answered she. 'Come
+near, that I may get up behind you.'
+
+Peronnik did as she bade him, and by the help of his arm she
+jumped nimbly on to the back of the colt.
+
+'Do you know how to kill the magician?' asked the lady, as they
+were crossing the ford.
+
+'I thought that, being a magician, he was immortal, and that no
+one could kill him,' replied Peronnik.
+
+'Persuade him to taste that apple, and he will die, and if that
+is not enough I will touch him with my finger, for I am the
+plague,' answered she.
+
+'But if I kill him, how am I to get the golden bowl and the
+diamond lance that are hidden in the cellar without a key?'
+rejoined Peronnik.
+
+'The flower that laughs opens all doors and lightens all
+darkness,' said the lady; and as she spoke, they reached the
+further bank, and advanced towards the castle.
+
+In front of the entrance was a sort of tent supported on poles,
+and under it the giant was sitting, basking in the sun. As soon
+as he noticed the colt bearing Peronnik and the lady, he lifted
+his head, and cried in a voice of thunder:
+
+'Why, it is surely the idiot, riding my colt thirteen months
+old!'
+
+'Greatest of magicians, you are right,' answered Peronnik.
+
+'And how did you manage to catch him?' asked the giant.
+
+'By repeating what I learnt from your brother Bryak on the edge
+of the forest,' replied the idiot. 'I just said--
+
+          Colt, free to run and free to eat,
+          Colt, gallop fast until we meet,
+
+and it came directly.'
+
+'You know my brother, then?' inquired the giant. 'Tell me why he
+sent you here.'
+
+'To bring you two gifts which he has just received from the
+country of the Moors,' answered Peronnik: 'the apple of delight
+and the woman of submission. If you eat the apple you will not
+desire anything else, and if you take the woman as your servant
+you will never wish for another.'
+
+'Well, give me the apple, and bid the woman get down,' answered
+Rogear.
+
+The idiot obeyed, but at the first taste of the apple the giant
+staggered, and as the long yellow finger of the woman touched him
+he fell dead.
+
+Leaving the magician where he lay, Peronnik entered the palace,
+bearing with him the flower that laughs. Fifty doors flew open
+before him, and at length he reached a long flight of steps which
+seemed to lead into the bowels of the earth. Down these he went
+till he came to a silver door without a bar or key. Then he held
+up high the flower that laughs, and the door slowly swung back,
+displaying a deep cavern, which was as bright as the day from the
+shining of the golden bowl and the diamond lance. The idiot
+hastily ran forward and hung the bowl round his neck from the
+chain which was attached to it, and took the lance in his hand.
+As he did so, the ground shook beneath him, and with an awful
+rumbling the palace disappeared, and Peronnik found himself
+standing close to the forest where he led the cattle to graze.
+
+Though darkness was coming on, Peronnik never thought of entering
+the farm, but followed the road which led to the court of the
+duke of Brittany. As he passed through the town of Vannes he
+stopped at a tailor's shop, and bought a beautiful costume of
+brown velvet and a white horse, which he paid for with a handful
+of gold that he had picked up in the corridor of the castle of
+Kerglas. Thus he made his way to the city of Nantes, which at
+that moment was besieged by the French.
+
+A little way off, Peronnik stopped and looked about him. For
+miles round the country was bare, for the enemy had cut down
+every tree and burnt every blade of corn; and, idiot though he
+might be, Peronnik was able to grasp that inside the gates men
+were dying of famine. He was still gazing with horror, when a
+trumpeter appeared on the walls, and, after blowing a loud blast,
+announced that the duke would adopt as his heir the man who could
+drive the French out of the country.
+
+On the four sides of the city the trumpeter blew his blast, and
+the last time Peronnik, who had ridden up as close as he might,
+answered him.
+
+'You need blow no more,' said he, 'for I myself will free the
+town from her enemies.' And turning to a soldier who came running
+up, waving his sword, he touched him with the magic lance, and he
+fell dead on the spot. The men who were following stood still,
+amazed. Their comrade's armour had not been pierced, of that they
+were sure, yet he was dead, as if he had been struck to the
+heart. But before they had time to recover from their
+astonishment, Peronnik cried out:
+
+'You see how my foes will fare; now behold what I can do for my
+friends,' and, stooping down, he laid the golden bowl against the
+mouth of the soldier, who sat up as well as ever. Then, jumping
+his horse across the trench, he entered the gate of the city,
+which had opened wide enough to receive him.
+
+The news of these marvels quickly spread through the town, and
+put fresh spirit into the garrison, so that they declared
+themselves able to fight under the command of the young stranger.
+And as the bowl restored all the dead Bretons to life, Peronnik
+soon had an army large enough to drive away the French, and
+fulfilled his promise of delivering his country.
+
+As to the bowl and the lance, no one knows what became of them,
+but some say that Bryak the sorcerer managed to steal them again,
+and that any one who wishes to possess them must seek them as
+Peronnik did.
+
+From 'Le Foyer Breton,' par Emile Souvestre.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                    The Battle of the Birds
+
+
+
+
+There was to be a great battle between all the creatures of the
+earth and the birds of the air. News of it went abroad, and the
+son of the king of Tethertown said that when the battle was
+fought he would be there to see it, and would bring back word who
+was to be king. But in spite of that, he was almost too late, and
+every fight had been fought save the last, which was between a
+snake and a great black raven. Both struck hard, but in the end
+the snake proved the stronger, and would have twisted himself
+round the neck of the raven till he died had not the king's son
+drawn his sword, and cut off the head of the snake at a single
+blow. And when the raven beheld that his enemy was dead, he was
+grateful, and said:
+
+'For thy kindness to me this day, I will show thee a sight. So
+come up now on the root of my two wings.' The king's son did as
+he was bid, and before the raven stopped flying, they had passed
+over seven bens and seven glens and seven mountain moors.
+
+'Do you see that house yonder?' said the raven at last. 'Go
+straight for it, for a sister of mine dwells there, and she will
+make you right welcome. And if she asks, "Wert thou at the battle
+of the birds?" answer that thou wert, and if she asks, "Didst
+thou see my likeness?" answer that thou sawest it, but be sure
+thou meetest me in the morning at this place.'
+
+The king's son followed what the raven told him and that night he
+had meat of each meat, and drink of each drink, warm water for
+his feet, and a soft bed to lie in.
+
+Thus it happened the next day, and the next, but on the fourth
+meeting, instead of meeting the raven, in his place the king's
+son found waiting for him the handsomest youth that ever was
+seen, with a bundle in his hand.
+
+'Is there a raven hereabouts?' asked the king's son, and the
+youth answered:
+
+'I am that raven, and I was delivered by thee from the spells
+that bound me, and in reward thou wilt get this bundle. Go back
+by the road thou camest, and lie as before, a night in each
+house, but be careful not to unloose the bundle till thou art in
+the place wherein thou wouldst most wish to dwell.'
+
+Then the king's son set out, and thus it happened as it had
+happened before, till he entered a thick wood near his father's
+house. He had walked a long way and suddenly the bundle seemed to
+grow heavier; first he put it down under a tree, and next he
+thought he would look at it.
+
+The string was easy to untie, and the king's son soon unfastened
+the bundle. What was it he saw there? Why, a great castle with an
+orchard all about it, and in the orchard fruit and flowers and
+birds of very kind. It was all ready for him to dwell in, but
+instead of being in the midst of the forest, he did wish he had
+left the bundle unloosed till he had reached the green valley
+close to his father's palace. Well, it was no use wishing, and
+with a sigh he glanced up, and beheld a huge giant coming towards
+him.
+
+'Bad is the place where thou hast built thy house, king's son,'
+said the giant.
+
+'True; it is not here that I wish to be,' answered the king's
+son.
+
+'What reward wilt thou give me if I put it back in the bundle?'
+asked the giant.
+
+'What reward dost thou ask?' answered the king's son.
+
+'The first boy thou hast when he is seven years old,' said the
+giant.
+
+'If I have a boy thou shalt get him,' answered the king's son,
+and as he spoke the castle and the orchard were tied up in the
+bundle again.
+
+'Now take thy road, and I will take mine,' said the giant. 'And
+if thou forgettest thy promise, I will remember it.'
+
+Light of heart the king's son went on his road, till he came to
+the green valley near his father's palace. Slowly he unloosed the
+bundle, fearing lest he should find nothing but a heap of stones
+or rags. But no! all was as it had been before, and as he opened
+the castle door there stood within the most beautiful maiden that
+ever was seen.
+
+'Enter, king's son,' said she, 'all is ready, and we will be
+married at once,' and so they were.
+
+The maiden proved a good wife, and the king's son, now himself a
+king, was so happy that he forgot all about the giant. Seven
+years and a day had gone by, when one morning, while standing on
+the ramparts, he beheld the giant striding towards the castle.
+Then he remembered his promise, and remembered, too, that he had
+told the queen nothing about it. Now he must tell her, and
+perhaps she might help him in his trouble.
+
+The queen listened in silence to his tale, and after he had
+finished, she only said:
+
+'Leave thou the matter between me and the giant,' and as she
+spoke, the giant entered the hall and stood before them.
+
+'Bring out your son,' cried he to the king, 'as you promised me
+seven years and a day since.'
+
+The king glanced at his wife, who nodded, so he answered:
+
+'Let his mother first put him in order,' and the queen left the
+hall, and took the cook's son and dressed him in the prince's
+clothes, and led him up to the giant, who held his hand, and
+together they went out along the road. They had not walked far
+when the giant stopped and stretched out a stick to the boy.
+
+'If your father had that stick, what would he do with it?' asked
+he.
+
+'If my father had that stick, he would beat the dogs and cats
+that steal the king's meat,' replied the boy.
+
+'Thou art the cook's son!' cried the giant. 'Go home to thy
+mother'; and turning his back he strode straight to the castle.
+
+'If you seek to trick me this time, the highest stone will soon
+be the lowest,' said he, and the king and queen trembled, but
+they could not bear to give up their boy.
+
+'The butler's son is the same age as ours,' whispered the queen;
+'he will not know the difference,' and she took the child and
+dressed him in the prince's clothes, and the giant let him away
+along the road. Before they had gone far he stopped, and held out
+a stick.
+
+'If thy father had that rod, what would he do with it?' asked the
+giant.
+
+'He would beat the dogs and cats that break the king's glasses,'
+answered the boy.
+
+'Thou art the son of the butler!' cried the giant. 'Go home to
+thy mother'; and turning round he strode back angrily to the
+castle.
+
+'Bring out thy son at once,' roared he, 'or the stone that is
+highest will be lowest,' and this time the real prince was
+brought.
+
+But though his parents wept bitterly and fancied the child was
+suffering all kinds of dreadful things, the giant treated him
+like his own son, though he never allowed him to see his
+daughters. The boy grew to be a big boy, and one day the giant
+told him that he would have to amuse himself alone for many
+hours, as he had a journey to make. So the boy wandered to the
+top of the castle, where he had never been before. There he
+paused, for the sound of music broke upon his ears, and opening a
+door near him, he beheld a girl sitting by the window, holding a
+harp.
+
+'Haste and begone, I see the giant close at hand,' she whispered
+hurriedly, 'but when he is asleep, return hither, for I would
+speak with thee.' And the prince did as he was bid, and when
+midnight struck he crept back to the top of the castle.
+
+'To-morrow,' said the girl, who was the giant's daughter, 'to-
+morrow thou wilt get the choice of my two sisters to marry, but
+thou must answer that thou wilt not take either, but only me.
+This will anger him greatly, for he wishes to betroth me to the
+son of the king of the Green City, whom I like not at all.'
+
+Then they parted, and on the morrow, as the girl had said, the
+giant called his three daughters to him, and likewise the young
+prince to whom he spoke.
+
+'Now, O son of the king of Tethertown, the time has come for us
+to part. Choose one of my two elder daughters to wife, and thou
+shalt take her to your father's house the day after the wedding.'
+
+'Give me the youngest instead,' replied the youth, and the
+giant's face darkened as he heard him.
+
+'Three things must thou do first,' said he.
+
+'Say on, I will do them,' replied the prince, and the giant left
+the house, and bade him follow to the byre, where the cows were
+kept.
+
+'For a hundred years no man has swept this byre,' said the giant,
+'but if by nightfall, when I reach home, thou has not cleaned it
+so that a golden apple can roll through it from end to end, thy
+blood shall pay for it.'
+
+All day long the youth toiled, but he might as well have tried to
+empty the ocean. At length, when he was so tired he could hardly
+move, the giant's youngest daughter stood in the doorway.
+
+'Lay down thy weariness,' said she, and the king's son, thinking
+he could only die once, sank on the floor at her bidding, and
+fell sound asleep. When he woke the girl had disappeared, and the
+byre was so clean that a golden apple could roll from end to end
+of it. He jumped up in surprise, and at that moment in came the
+giant.
+
+'Hast thou cleaned the byre, king's son?' asked he.
+
+'I have cleaned it,' answered he.
+
+'Well, since thou wert so active to-day, to-morrow thou wilt
+thatch this byre with a feather from every different bird, or
+else thy blood shall pay for it,' and he went out.
+
+Before the sun was up, the youth took his bow and his quiver and
+set off to kill the birds. Off to the moor he went, but never a
+bird was to be seen that day. At last he got so tired with
+running to and fro that he gave up heart.
+
+'There is but one death I can die,' thought he. Then at midday
+came the giant's daughter.
+
+'Thou art tired, king's son?' asked she.
+
+'I am,' answered he; 'all these hours have I wandered, and there
+fell but these two blackbirds, both of one colour.'
+
+'Lay down thy weariness on the grass,' said she, and he did as
+she bade him, and fell fast asleep.
+
+When he woke the girl had disappeared, and he got up, and
+returned to the byre. As he drew near, he rubbed his eyes hard,
+thinking he was dreaming, for there it was, beautifully thatched,
+just as the giant had wished. At the door of the house he met the
+giant.
+
+'Hast thou thatched the byre, king's son?'
+
+'I have thatched it.'
+
+'Well, since thou hast been so active to-day, I have something
+else for thee! Beside the loch thou seest over yonder there grows
+a fir tree. On the top of the fir tree is a magpie's nest, and in
+the nest are five eggs. Thou wilt bring me those eggs for
+breakfast, and if one is cracked or broken, thy blood shall pay
+for it.'
+
+Before it was light next day, the king's son jumped out of bed
+and ran down to the loch. The tree was not hard to find, for the
+rising sun shone red on the trunk, which was five hundred feet
+from the ground to its first branch. Time after time he walked
+round it, trying to find some knots, however small, where he
+could put his feet, but the bark was quite smooth, and he soon
+saw that if he was to reach the top at all, it must be by
+climbing up with his knees like a sailor. But then he was a
+king's son and not a sailor, which made all the difference.
+
+However, it was no use standing there staring at the fir, at
+least he must try to do his best, and try he did till his hands
+and knees were sore, for as soon as he had struggled up a few
+feet, he slid back again. Once he climbed a little higher than
+before, and hope rose in his heart, then down he came with such
+force that his hands and knees smarted worse than ever.
+
+'This is no time for stopping,' said the voice of the giant's
+daughter, as he leant against the trunk to recover his breath.
+
+'Alas! I am no sooner up than down,' answered he.
+
+'Try once more,' said she, and she laid a finger against the tree
+and bade him put his foot on it. Then she placed another finger a
+little higher up, and so on till he reached the top, where the
+magpie had built her nest.
+
+'Make haste now with the nest,' she cried, 'for my father's
+breath is burning my back,' and down he scrambled as fast as he
+could, but the girl's little finger had caught in a branch at the
+top, and she was obliged to leave it there. But she was too busy
+to pay heed to this, for the sun was getting high over the hills.
+
+'Listen to me,' she said. 'This night my two sisters and I will
+be dressed in the same garments, and you will not know me. But
+when my father says 'Go to thy wife, king's son,' come to the one
+whose right hand has no little finger.'
+
+So he went and gave the eggs to the giant, who nodded his head.
+
+'Make ready for thy marriage,' cried he, 'for the wedding shall
+take place this very night, and I will summon thy bride to greet
+thee.' Then his three daughters were sent for, and they all
+entered dressed in green silk of the same fashion, and with
+golden circlets round their heads. The king's son looked from one
+to another. Which was the youngest? Suddenly his eyes fell on the
+hand of the middle one, and there was no little finger.
+
+'Thou hast aimed well this time too,' said the giant, as the
+king's son laid his hand on her shoulder, 'but perhaps we may
+meet some other way'; and though he pretended to laugh, the bride
+saw a gleam in his eye which warned her of danger.
+
+The wedding took place that very night, and the hall was filled
+with giants and gentlemen, and they danced till the house shook
+from top to bottom. At last everyone grew tired, and the guests
+went away, and the king's son and his bride were left alone.
+
+'If we stay here till dawn my father will kill thee,' she
+whispered, 'but thou art my husband and I will save thee, as I
+did before,' and she cut an apple into nine pieces, and put two
+pieces at the head of the bed, and two pieces at the foot, and
+two pieces at the door of the kitchen, and two at the big door,
+and one outside the house. And when this was done, and she heard
+the giant snoring, she and the king's son crept out softly and
+stole across to the stable, where she led out the blue-grey mare
+and jumped on its back, and her husband mounted behind her. Not
+long after, the giant awoke.
+
+ 'Are you asleep?' asked he.
+
+'Not yet,' answered the apple at the head of the bed, and the
+giant turned over, and soon was snoring as loudly as before. By
+and bye he called again.
+
+'Are you asleep?'
+
+'Not yet,' said the apple at the foot of the bed, and the giant
+was satisfied. After a while, he called a third time, 'Are you
+asleep?'
+
+'Not yet,' replied the apple in the kitchen, but when in a few
+minutes, he put the question for the fourth time and received an
+answer from the apple outside the house door, he guessed what had
+happened, and ran to the room to look for himself.
+
+The bed was cold and empty!
+
+'My father's breath is burning my back,' cried the girl, 'put thy
+hand into the ear of the mare, and whatever thou findest there,
+throw it behind thee.' And in the mare's ear there was a twig of
+sloe tree, and as he threw it behind him there sprung up twenty
+miles of thornwood so thick that scarce a weasel could go through
+it. And the giant, who was striding headlong forwards, got caught
+in it, and it pulled his hair and beard.
+
+'This is one of my daughter's tricks,' he said to himself, 'but
+if I had my big axe and my wood-knife, I would not be long making
+a way through this,' and off he went home and brought back the
+axe and the wood-knife.
+
+It took him but a short time to cut a road through the
+blackthorn, and then he laid the axe and the knife under a tree.
+
+'I will leave them there till I return,' he murmured to himself,
+but a hoodie crow, which was sitting on a branch above, heard
+him.
+
+'If thou leavest them,' said the hoodie, 'we will steal them.'
+
+'You will,' answered the giant, 'and I must take them home.' So
+he took them home, and started afresh on his journey.
+
+'My father's breath is burning my back,' cried the girl at
+midday. 'Put thy finger in the mare's ear and throw behind thee
+whatever thou findest in it,' and the king's son found a splinter
+of grey stone, and threw it behind him, and in a twinkling twenty
+miles of solid rock lay between them and the giant.
+
+'My daughter's tricks are the hardest things that ever met me,'
+said the giant, 'but if I had my lever and my crowbar, I would
+not be long in making my way through this rock also,' but as he
+had got them, he had to go home and fetch them. Then it took him
+but a short time to hew his way through the rock.
+
+'I will leave the tools here,' he murmured aloud when he had
+finished.
+
+'If thou leavest them, we will steal them,' said a hoodie who was
+perched on a stone above him, and the giant answered:
+
+'Steal them if thou wilt; there is no time to go back.'
+
+'My father's breath is burning my back,' cried the girl; 'look in
+the mare's ear, king's son, or we are lost,' and he looked, and
+found a tiny bladder full of water, which he threw behind him,
+and it became a great lock. And the giant, who was striding on so
+fast, could not stop himself, and he walked right into the middle
+and was drowned.
+
+The blue-grey mare galloped on like the wind, and the next day
+the king's son came in sight of his father's house.
+
+'Get down and go in,' said the bride, 'and tell them that thou
+hast married me. But take heed that neither man nor beast kiss
+thee, for then thou wilt cease to remember me at all.'
+
+'I will do thy bidding,' answered he, and left her at the gate.
+All who met him bade him welcome, and he charged his father and
+mother not to kiss him, but as he greeted them his old greyhound
+leapt on his neck, and kissed him on the mouth. And after that he
+did not remember the giant's daughter.
+
+All that day she sat on a well which was near the gate, waiting,
+waiting, but the king's son never came. In the darkness she
+climbed up into an oak tree that shadowed the well, and there she
+lay all night, waiting, waiting.
+
+On the morrow, at midday, the wife of a shoemaker who dwelt near
+the well went to draw water for her husband to drink, and she saw
+the shadow of the girl in the tree, and thought it was her own
+shadow.
+
+'How handsome I am, to be sure,' said she, gazing into the well,
+and as she stopped to behold herself better, the jug struck
+against the stones and broke in pieces, and she was forced to
+return to her husband without the water, and this angered him.
+
+'Thou hast turned crazy,' said he in wrath. 'Go thou, my
+daughter, and fetch me a drink,' and the girl went, and the same
+thing befell her as had befallen her mother.
+
+'Where is the water?' asked the shoemaker, when she came back,
+and as she held nothing save the handle of the jug he went to the
+well himself. He too saw the reflection of the woman in the tree,
+but looked up to discover whence it came, and there above him sat
+the most beautiful woman in the world.
+
+'Come down,' he said, 'for a while thou canst stay in my house,'
+and glad enough the girl was to come.
+
+Now the king of the country was about to marry, and the young men
+about the court thronged the shoemaker's shop to buy fine shoes
+to wear at the wedding.
+
+'Thou hast a pretty daughter,' said they when they beheld the
+girl sitting at work.
+
+'Pretty she is,' answered the shoemaker, 'but no daughter of
+mine.'
+
+'I would give a hundred pounds to marry her,' said one.
+
+'And I,' 'And I,' cried the others.
+
+'That is no business of mine,' answered the shoemaker, and the
+young men bade him ask her if she would choose one of them for a
+husband, and to tell them on the morrow. Then the shoemaker asked
+her, and the girl said that she would marry the one who would
+bring his purse with him. So the shoemaker hurried to the youth
+who had first spoken, and he came back, and after giving the
+shoemaker a hundred pounds for his news, he sought the girl, who
+was waiting for him.
+
+'Is it thou?' inquired she. 'I am thirsty, give me a drink from
+the well that is yonder.' And he poured out the water, but he
+could not move from the place where he was; and there he stayed
+till many hours had passed by.
+
+'Take away that foolish boy,' cried the girl to the shoemaker at
+last, 'I am tired of him,' and then suddenly he was able to walk,
+and betook himself to his home, but he did not tell the others
+what had happened to him.
+
+Next day there arrived one of the other young men, and in the
+evening, when the shoemaker had gone out and they were alone, she
+said to him, 'See if the latch is on the door.' The young man
+hastened to do her bidding, but as soon as he touched the latch,
+his fingers stuck to it, and there he had to stay for many hours,
+till the shoemaker came back, and the girl let him go. Hanging
+his head, he went home, but he told no one what had befallen him.
+
+Then was the turn of the third man, and his foot remained
+fastened to the floor, till the girl unloosed it. And thankfully,
+he ran off, and was not seen looking behind him.
+
+'Take the purse of gold,' said the girl to the shoemaker, 'I have
+no need of it, and it will better thee.' And the shoemaker took
+it and told the girl he must carry the shoes for the wedding up
+to the castle.
+
+'I would fain get a sight of the king's son before he marries,'
+sighed she.
+
+'Come with me, then,' answered he; 'the servants are all my
+friends, and they will let you stand in the passage down which
+the king's son will pass, and all the company too.'
+
+Up they went to the castle, and when the young men saw the girl
+standing there, they led her into the hall where the banquet was
+laid out and poured her out some wine. She was just raising the
+glass to drink when a flame went up out of it, and out of the
+flame sprang two pigeons, one of gold and one of silver. They
+flew round and round the head of the girl, when three grains of
+barley fell on the floor, and the silver pigeon dived down, and
+swallowed them.
+
+'If thou hadst remembered how I cleaned the byre, thou wouldst
+have given me my share,' cooed the golden pigeon, and as he spoke
+three more grains fell, and the silver pigeon ate them as before.
+
+'If thou hadst remembered how I thatched the byre, thou wouldst
+have given me my share,' cooed the golden pigeon again; and as he
+spoke three more grains fell, and for the third time they were
+eaten by the silver pigeon.
+
+'If thou hadst remembered how I got the magpie's nest, thou
+wouldst have given me my share,' cooed the golden pigeon.
+
+Then the king's son understood that they had come to remind him
+of what he had forgotten, and his lost memory came back, and he
+knew his wife, and kissed her. But as the preparations had been
+made, it seemed a pity to waste them, so they were married a
+second time, and sat down to the wedding feast.
+
+From 'Tales of the West Highlands.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                   The Lady of the Fountain.
+
+
+
+
+In the centre of the great hall in the castle of Caerleon upon
+Usk, king Arthur sat on a seat of green rushes, over which was
+thrown a covering of flame-coloured silk, and a cushion of red
+satin lay under his elbow. With him were his knights Owen and
+Kynon and Kai, while at the far end, close to the window, were
+Guenevere the queen and her maidens embroidering white garments
+with strange devices of gold.
+
+'I am weary,' said Arthur, 'and till my food is prepared I would
+fain sleep. You yourselves can tell each other tales, and Kai
+will fetch you from the kitchen a flagon of mean and some meat.'
+
+And when they had eaten and drunk, Kynon, the oldest among them,
+began his story.
+
+'I was the only son of my father and mother, and much store they
+set by me, but I was not content to stay with them at home, for I
+thought no deed in all the world was too mighty for me. None
+could hold me back, and after I had won many adventures in my own
+land, I bade farewell to my parents and set out to see the world.
+Over mountains, through deserts, across rivers I went, till I
+reached a fair valley full of trees, with a path running by the
+side of a stream. I walked along that path all the day, and in
+the evening I came to a castle in front of which stood two youths
+clothed in yellow, each grasping an ivory bow, with arrows made
+of the bones of the whale, and winged with peacock's feathers. By
+their sides hung golden daggers with hilts of the bones of the
+whale.
+
+'Near these young men was a man richly dressed, who turned and
+went with me towards the castle, where all the dwellers were
+gathered in the hall. In one window I beheld four and twenty
+damsels, and the least fair of them was fairer than Guenevere at
+her fairest. Some took my horse, and others unbuckled my armour,
+and washed it, with my sword and spear, till it all shone like
+silver. Then I washed myself and put on a vest and doublet which
+they brought me, and I and the man that entered with me sat down
+before a table of silver, and a goodlier feast I never had.
+
+'All this time neither the man nor the damsels had spoken one
+word, but when our dinner was half over, and my hunger was
+stilled, the man began to ask who I was. Then I told him my name
+and my father's name, and why I came there, for indeed I had
+grown weary of gaining the mastery over all men at home, and
+sought if perchance there was one who could gain the mastery over
+me. And at this the man smiled and answered:
+
+'"If I did not fear to distress thee too much, I would show thee
+what thou seekest." His words made me sorrowful and fearful of
+myself, which the man perceived, and added, "If thou meanest
+truly what thou sayest, and desirest earnestly to prove thy
+valour, and not to boast vainly that none can overcome thee, I
+have somewhat to show thee. But to-night thou must sleep in the
+this castle, and in the morning see that thou rise early and
+follow the road upwards through the valley, until thou reachest a
+wood. In the wood is a path branching to the right; go along this
+path until thou comest to a space of grass with a mound in the
+middle of it. On the top of the mound stands a black man, larger
+than any two white men; his eye is in the centre of his forehead
+and he has only one foot. He carries a club of iron, and two
+white men could hardly lift it. Around him graze a thousand
+beasts, all of different kinds, for he is the guardian of that
+wood, and it is he who will tell thee which way to go in order to
+find the adventure thou art in quest of."
+
+'So spake the man, and long did that night seem to me, and before
+dawn I rose and put on my armour, and mounted my horse and rode
+on till I reached the grassy space of which he had told me. There
+was the black man on top of the mound, as he had said, and in
+truth he was mightier in all ways than I had thought him to be.
+As for the club, Kai, it would have been a burden for four of our
+warriors. He waited for me to speak, and I asked him what power
+he held over the beasts that thronged so close about him.
+
+'"I will show thee, little man," he answered, and with his club
+he struck a stag on the head till he brayed loudly. And at his
+braying the animals came running, numerous as the stars in the
+sky, so that scarce was I able to stand among them. Serpents were
+there also, and dragons, and beasts of strange shapes, with horns
+in places where never saw I horns before. And the black man only
+looked at them and bade them go and feed. And they bowed
+themselves before him, as vassals before their lord.
+
+'"Now, little man, I have answered thy question and showed thee
+my power," said he. "Is there anything else thou wouldest know?"
+Then I inquired of him my way, but he grew angry, and, as I
+perceived, would fain have hindered me; but at the last, after I
+had told him who I was, his anger passed from him.
+
+'"Take that path," said he, "that leads to the head of this
+grassy glade, and go up the wood till thou reachest the top.
+There thou wilt find an open space, and in the midst of it a tall
+tree. Under the tree is a fountain, and by the fountain a marble
+slab, and on the slab a bowl of silver, with a silver chain. Dip
+the bowl in the fountain, and throw the water on the slab, and
+thou wilt hear a might peal of thunder, till heaven and earth
+seem trembling with the noise. After the thunder will come hail,
+so fierce that scarcely canst thou endure it and live, for the
+hailstones are both large and thick. Then the sun will shine
+again, but every leaf of the tree will by lying on the ground.
+Next a flight of birds will come and alight on the tree, and
+never didst thou hear a strain so sweet as that which they will
+sing. And at the moment in which their song sounds sweetest thou
+wilt hear a murmuring and complaining coming towards thee along
+the valley, and thou wilt see a knight in black velvet bestriding
+a black horse, bearing a lance with a black pennon, and he will
+spur his steed so as to fight thee. If thou turnest to flee, he
+will overtake thee. And if thou abidest were thou art, he will
+unhorse thee. And if thou dost not find trouble in that
+adventure, thou needest not to seek it during the rest of thy
+life."
+
+'So I bade the black man farewell, and took my way to the top of
+the wood, and there I found everything just as I had been told. I
+went up to the tree beneath which stood the fountain, and filling
+the silver bowl with water, emptied it on the marble slab.
+Thereupon the thunder came, louder by far than I had expected to
+hear it, and after the thunder came the shower, but heavier by
+far than I had expected to feel it, for, of a truth I tell thee,
+Kai, not one of those hailstones would be stopped by skin or by
+flesh till it had reached the bone. I turned my horse's flank
+towards the shower, and, bending over his neck, held my shield so
+that it might cover his head and my own. When the hail had
+passed, I looked on the tree and not a single leaf was left on
+it, and the sky was blue and the sun shining, while on the
+branches were perched birds of very kind, who sang a song sweeter
+than any that has come to my ears, either before or since.
+
+'Thus, Kai, I stood listening to the birds, when lo, a murmuring
+voice approached me, saying:
+
+'"O knight, what has brought thee hither? What evil have I done
+to thee, that thou shouldest do so much to me, for in all my
+lands neither man nor beast that met that shower has escaped
+alive." Then from the valley appeared the knight on the black
+horse, grasping the lance with the black pennon. Straightway we
+charged each other, and though I fought my best, he soon overcame
+me, and I was thrown to the ground, while the knight seized the
+bridle of my horse, and rode away with it, leaving me where I
+was, without even despoiling me of my armour.
+
+'Sadly did I go down the hill again, and when I reached the glade
+where the black man was, I confess to thee, Kai, it was a marvel
+that I did not melt into a liquid pool, so great was my shame.
+That night I slept at the castle where I had been before, and I
+was bathed and feasted, and none asked me how I had fared. The
+next morning when I arose I found a bay horse saddled for me,
+and, girdling on my armour, I returned to my own court. The horse
+is still in the stable, and I would not part with it for any in
+Britain.
+
+'But of a truth, Kai, no man ever confessed an adventure so much
+to his own dishonour, and strange indeed it seems that none other
+man have I ever met that knew of the black man, and the knight
+and the shower.'
+
+'Would it not be well,' said Owen, 'to go and discover the
+place?'
+
+'By the hand of my friend,' answered Kai, 'often dost thou utter
+that with thy tongue which thou wouldest not make good with thy
+deeds.'
+
+'In truth,' said Guenevere the queen, who had listened to the
+tale, 'thou wert better hanged, Kai, than use such speech towards
+a man like Owen.'
+
+'I meant nothing, lady,' replied Kai; 'thy praise of Owen is not
+greater than mine.' And as he spoke Arthur awoke, and asked if he
+had not slept for a little.
+
+'Yes, lord,' answered Owen, 'certainly thou hast slept.'
+
+'Is it time for us to go to meat?'
+
+'It is, lord,' answered Owen.
+
+Then the horn for washing themselves was sounded, and after that
+the king and his household sat down to eat. And when they had
+finished, Owen left them, and made ready his horse and his arms.
+
+With the first rays of the sun he set forth, and travelled
+through deserts and over mountains and across rivers, and all
+befell him which had befallen Kynon, till he stood under the
+leafless tree listening to the song of the birds. Then he heard
+the voice, and turning to look found the knight galloping to meet
+him. Fiercely they fought till their lances were broken, and then
+they drew their swords, and a blow from Owen cut through the
+knight's helmet, and pierced his skull.
+
+Feeling himself wounded unto death the knight fled, and Owen
+pursued him till they came to a splendid castle. Here the knight
+dashed across the bridge that spanned the moat, and entered the
+gate, but as soon as he was safe inside, the drawbridge was
+pulled up and caught Owen's horse in the middle, so that half of
+him was inside and half out, and Owen could not dismount and knew
+not what to do.
+
+While he was in this sore plight a little door in the castle gate
+opened, and he could see a street facing him, with tall houses.
+Then a maiden with curling hair of gold looked through the little
+door and bade Owen open the gate.
+
+'By my troth!' cried Owen, 'I can no more open it from here than
+thou art able to set me free.'
+
+'Well,' said she, 'I will do my best to release thee if thou wilt
+do as I tell thee. Take this ring and put it on with the stone
+inside thy hand, and close thy fingers tight, for as long as thou
+dost conceal it, it will conceal thee. When the men inside have
+held counsel together, they will come to fetch thee to thy death,
+and they will be much grieved not to find thee. I will stand on
+the horse block yonder and thou canst see me though I cannot see
+thee. Therefore draw near and place thy hand on my shoulder and
+follow me wheresoever I go.'
+
+Upon that she went away from Owen, and when the men came out from
+the castle to seek him and did not find him they were sorely
+grieved, and they returned to the castle.
+
+Then Owen went to the maiden and placed his hand on her shoulder,
+and she guided him to a large room, painted all over with rich
+colours, and adorned with images of gold. Here she gave him meat
+and drink, and water to wash with and garments to wear, and he
+lay down upon a soft bed, with scarlet and fur to cover him, and
+slept gladly.
+
+In the middle of the night he woke hearing a great outcry, and he
+jumped up and clothed himself and went into the hall, where the
+maiden was standing.
+
+'What is it?' he asked, and she answered that the knight who
+owned the castle was dead, and they were bearing his body to the
+church. Never had Owen beheld such vast crowds, and following the
+dead knight was the most beautiful lady in the world, whose cry
+was louder than the shout of the men, or the braying of the
+trumpets. And Owen looked on her and loved her.
+
+'Who is she?' he asked the damsel. 'That is my mistress, the
+countess of the fountain, and the wife of him whom thou didst
+slay yesterday.'
+
+'Verily,' said Owen, 'she is the woman that I love best.'
+
+'She shall also love thee not a little,' said the maiden.
+
+Then she left Owen, and after a while went into the chamber of
+her mistress, and spoke to her, but the countess answered her
+nothing.
+
+'What aileth thee, mistress?' inquired the maiden.
+
+'Why hast thou kept far from me in my grief, Luned?' answered the
+countess, and in her turn the damsel asked:
+
+'Is it well for thee to mourn so bitterly for the dead, or for
+anything that is gone from thee?'
+
+'There is no man in the world equal to him,' replied the
+countess, her cheeks growing red with anger. 'I would fain banish
+thee for such words.'
+
+'Be not angry, lady,' said Luned, 'but listen to my counsel. Thou
+knowest well that alone thou canst not preserve thy lands,
+therefore seek some one to help thee.'
+
+'And how can I do that?' asked the countess.
+
+'I will tell thee,' answered Luned. 'Unless thou canst defend the
+fountain all will be lost, and none can defend the fountain
+except a knight of Arthur's court. There will I go to seek him,
+and woe betide me if I return without a warrior that can guard
+the fountain, as well as he who kept it before.'
+
+'Go then,' said the countess, 'and make proof of that which thou
+hast promised.'
+
+So Luned set out, riding on a white palfrey, on pretence of
+journeying to King Arthur's court, but instead of doing that she
+hid herself for as many days as it would have taken her to go and
+come, and then she left her hiding-place, and went into the
+countess.
+
+'What news from the court?' asked her mistress, when she had
+given Luned a warm greeting.
+
+'The best of news,' answered the maiden, 'for I have gained the
+object of my mission. When wilt thou that I present to thee the
+knight who has returned with me?'
+
+'To-morrow at midday,' said the countess, 'and I will cause all
+the people in the town to come together.'
+
+Therefore the next day at noon Owen put on his coat of mail, and
+over it he wore a splendid mantle, while on his feet were leather
+shoes fastened with clasps of gold. And he followed Luned to the
+chamber of her mistress.
+
+Right glad was the countess to see them, but she looked closely
+at Owen and said:
+
+'Luned, this knight has scarcely the air of a traveller.'
+
+'What harm is there in that, lady?' answered Luned.
+
+'I am persuaded,' said the countess, 'that this man and no other
+chased the soul from the body of my lord.'
+
+'Had he not been stronger than thy lord,' replied the damsel, 'he
+could not have taken his life, and for that, and for all things
+that are past, there is no remedy.'
+
+'Leave me, both of you,' said the countess, 'and I will take
+counsel.'
+
+Then they went out.
+
+The next morning the countess summoned her subjects to meet in
+the courtyard of the castle, and told them that now that her
+husband was dead there was none to defend her lands.
+
+'So choose you which it shall be,' she said. 'Either let one of
+you take me for a wife, or give me your consent to take a new
+lord for myself, that my lands be not without a master.'
+
+At her words the chief men of the city withdrew into one corner
+and took counsel together, and after a while the leader came
+forward and said that they had decided that it was best, for the
+peace and safety of all, that she should choose a husband for
+herself. Thereupon Owen was summoned to her presence, and he
+accepted with joy the hand that she offered him, and they were
+married forthwith, and the men of the earldom did him homage.
+
+From that day Owen defended the fountain as the earl before him
+had done, and every knight that came by was overthrown by him,
+and his ransom divided among his barons. In this way three years
+passed, and no man in the world was more beloved than Owen.
+
+Now at the end of the three years it happened that Gwalchmai the
+knight was with Arthur, and he perceived the king to be very sad.
+
+'My lord, has anything befallen thee?' he asked.
+
+'Oh, Gwalchmai, I am grieved concerning Owen, whom I have lost
+these three years, and if a fourth year passes without him I can
+live no longer. And sure am I that the tale told by Kynon the son
+of Clydno caused me to lose him. I will go myself with the men of
+my household to avenge him if he is dead, to free him if he is in
+prison, to bring him back if he is alive.'
+
+Then Arthur and three thousand men of his household set out in
+quest of Owen, and took Kynon for their guide. When Arthur
+reached the castle, the youths were shooting in the same place,
+and the same yellow man was standing by, and as soon as he beheld
+Arthur he greeted him and invited him in, and they entered
+together. So vast was the castle that the king's three thousand
+men were of no more account than if they had been twenty.
+
+At sunrise Arthur departed thence, with Kynon for his guide, and
+reached the black man first, and afterwards the top of the wooded
+hill, with the fountain and the bowl and the tree.
+
+'My lord,' said Kai, 'let me throw the water on the slab, and
+receive the first adventure that may befall.'
+
+'Thou mayest do so,' answered Arthur, and Kai threw the water.
+
+Immediately all happened as before; the thunder and the shower of
+hail which killed many of Arthur's men; the song of the birds and
+the appearance of the black knight. And Kai met him and fought
+him, and was overthrown by him. Then the knight rode away, and
+Arthur and his men encamped where they stood.
+
+In the morning Kai again asked leave to meet the knight and to
+try to overcome him, which Arthur granted. But once more he was
+unhorsed, and the black knight's lance broke his helmet and
+pierced the skin even to the bone, and humbled in spirit he
+returned to the camp.
+
+After this every one of the knights gave battle, but none came
+out victor, and at length there only remained Arthur himself and
+Gwalchmai.
+
+'Oh, let me fight him, my lord,' cried Gwalchmai, as he saw
+Arthur taking up his arms.
+
+'Well, fight then,' answered Arthur, and Gwalchmai threw a robe
+over himself and his horse, so that none knew him. All that day
+they fought, and neither was able to throw the other, and so it
+was on the next day. On the third day the combat was so fierce
+that they fell both to the ground at once, and fought on their
+feet, and at last the black knight gave his foe such a blow on
+his head that his helmet fell from his face.
+
+'I did not know it was thee, Gwalchmai,' said the black knight.
+'Take my sword and my arms.'
+
+'No,' answered Gwalchmai, 'it is thou, Owen, who art the victor,
+take thou my sword'; but Owen would not.
+
+'Give me your swords,' said Arthur from behind them, 'for neither
+of you has vanquished the other,' and Owen turned and put his
+arms round Arthur's neck.
+
+The next day Arthur would have given orders to his men to make
+ready to go back whence they came, but Owen stopped him.
+
+'My lord,' he said, 'during the three years that I have been
+absent from thee I have been preparing a banquet for thee,
+knowing full well that thou wouldst come to seek me. Tarry with
+me, therefore, for a while, thou and thy men.'
+
+So they rode to the castle of the countess of the fountain, and
+spent three months in resting and feasting. And when it was time
+for them to depart Arthur besought the countess that she would
+allow Owen to go with him to Britain for the space of three
+months. With a sore heart she granted permission, and so content
+was Owen to be once more with his old companions that three years
+instead of three months passed away like a dream.
+
+One day Owen sat at meat in the castle of Caerleon upon Usk, when
+a damsel on a bay horse entered the hall, and riding straight up
+to the place where Owen sat she stooped and drew the ring from
+off his hand.
+
+'Thus shall be treated the traitor and the faithless,' said she,
+and turning her horse's head she rode out of the hall.
+
+At her words Owen remembered all that he had forgotten, and
+sorrowful and ashamed he went to his own chamber and made ready
+to depart. At the dawn he set out, but he did not go back to the
+castle, for his heart was heavy, but he wandered far into wild
+places till his body was weak and thin, and his hair was long.
+The wild beasts were his friends, and he slept by their side, but
+in the end he longed to see the face of a man again, and he came
+down into a valley and fell asleep by a lake in the lands of a
+widowed countess.
+
+Now it was the time when the countess took her walk, attended by
+her maidens, and when they saw a man lying by the lake they
+shrank back in terror, for he lay so still that they thought he
+was dead. But when they had overcome their fright, they drew near
+him, and touched him, and saw that there was life in him. Then
+the countess hastened to the castle, and brought from it a flask
+full of precious ointment and gave it to one of her maidens.
+
+'Take that horse which is grazing yonder,' she said, 'and a suit
+of men's garments, and place them near the man, and pour some of
+this ointment near his heart. If there is any life in him that
+will bring it back. But if he moves, hide thyself in the bushes
+near by, and see what he does.'
+
+The damsel took the flask and did her mistress' bidding. Soon the
+man began to move his arms, and then rose slowly to his feet.
+Creeping forward step by step he took the garments from off the
+saddle and put them on him, and painfully he mounted the horse.
+When he was seated the damsel came forth and greeted him, and
+glad was he when he saw her and inquired what castle that was
+before him.
+
+'It belongs to a widowed countess,' answered the maiden. 'Her
+husband left her two earldoms, but it is all that remains of her
+broad lands, for they have been torn from her by a young earl,
+because she would not marry him.'
+
+'That is a pity,' replied Owen, but he said no more, for he was
+too weak to talk much. Then the maiden guided him to the castle,
+and kindled a fire, and brought him food. And there he stayed and
+was tended for three months, till he was handsomer than ever he
+was.
+
+At noon one day Owen heard a sound of arms outside the castle,
+and he asked of the maiden what it was.
+
+'It is the earl of whom I spoke to thee,' she answered, 'who has
+come with a great host to carry off my mistress.'
+
+'Beg of her to lend me a horse and armour,' said Owen, and the
+maiden did so, but the countess laughed somewhat bitterly as she
+answered:
+
+'Nay, but I will give them to him, and such a horse and armour
+and weapons as he has never had yet, though I know not what use
+they will be to him. Yet mayhap it will save them from falling
+into the hands of my enemies.'
+
+The horse was brought out and Owen rode forth with two pages
+behind him, and they saw the great host encamped before them.
+
+'Where is the earl?' said he, and the pages answered:
+
+'In yonder troop where are four yellow standards.'
+
+'Await me,' said Owen, 'at the gate of the castle, and he cried a
+challenge to the earl, who came to meet him. Hard did they fight,
+but Owen overthrew his enemy and drove him in front to the castle
+gate and into the hall.
+
+'Behold the reward of thy blessed balsam,' said he, as he bade
+the earl kneel down before her, and made him swear that he would
+restore all that he had taken from her.
+
+After that he departed, and went into the deserts, and as he was
+passing through a wood he heard a loud yelling. Pushing aside the
+bushes he beheld a lion standing on a great mound, and by it a
+rock. Near the rock was a lion seeking to reach the mound, and
+each time he moved out darted a serpent from the rock to prevent
+him. Then Owen unsheathed his sword, and cut off the serpent's
+head and went on his way, and the lion followed and played about
+him, as if he had been a greyhound. And much more useful was he
+than a greyhound, for in the evening he brought large logs in his
+mouth to kindle a fire, and killed a fat buck for dinner.
+
+Owen made his fire and skinned the buck, and put some of it to
+roast, and gave the rest to the lion for supper. While he was
+waiting for the meat to cook he heard a sound of deep sighing
+close to him, and he said:
+
+'Who are thou?'
+
+'I am Luned,' replied a voice from a cave so hidden by bushes and
+green hanging plants that Owen had not seen it.
+
+'And what dost thou here?' cried he.
+
+'I am held captive in this cave on account of the knight who
+married the countess and left her, for the pages spoke ill of
+him, and because I told them that no man living was his equal
+they dragged me here and said I should die unless he should come
+to deliver me by a certain day, and that is no further than the
+day after to-morrow. His name is Owen the son of Urien, but I
+have none to send to tell him of my danger, or of a surety he
+would deliver me.'
+
+Owen held his peace, but gave the maiden some of the meat, and
+bade her be of good cheer. Then, followed by the lion, he set out
+for a great castle on the other side of the plain, and men came
+and took his horse and placed it in a manger, and the lion went
+after and lay down on the straw. Hospitable and kind were all
+within the castle, but so full of sorrow that it might have been
+thought death was upon them. At length, when they had eaten and
+drunk, Owen prayed the earl to tell him the reason of their
+grief.
+
+'Yesterday,' answered the earl, 'my two sons were seized, while
+thy were hunting, by a monster who dwells on those mountains
+yonder, and he vows that he will not let them go unless I give
+him my daughter to wife.'
+
+'That shall never be,' said Owen; 'but what form hath this
+monster?'
+
+'In shape he is a man, but in stature he is a giant,' replied the
+earl, 'and it were better by far that he should slay my sons than
+that I should give up my daughter.'
+
+Early next morning the dwellers in the castle were awakened by a
+great clamour, and they found that the giant had arrived with the
+two young men. Swiftly Owen put on his armour and went forth to
+meet the giant, and the lion followed at his heels. And when the
+great beast beheld the hard blows which the giant dealt his
+master he flew at his throat, and much trouble had the monster in
+beating him off.
+
+'Truly,' said the giant, 'I should find no difficulty in fighting
+thee, if it were not for that lion.' When he heard that Owen felt
+shame that he could not overcome the giant with his own sword, so
+he took the lion and shut him up in one of the towers of the
+castle, and returned to the fight. But from the sound of the
+blows the lion knew that the combat was going ill for Owen, so he
+climbed up till he reached the top of the tower, where there was
+a door on to the roof, and from the tower he sprang on to the
+walls, and from the walls to the ground. Then with a loud roar he
+leaped upon the giant, who fell dead under the blow of his paw.
+
+Now the gloom of the castle was turned into rejoicing, and the
+earl begged Owen to stay with him till he could make him a feast,
+but the knight said he had other work to do, and rode back to the
+place where he had left Luned, and the lion followed at his
+heels. When he came there he saw a great fire kindled, and two
+youths leading out the maiden to cast her upon the pile.
+
+'Stop!' he cried, dashing up to them. 'What charge have you
+against her?'
+
+'She boasted that no man in the world was equal to Owen,' said
+they, 'and we shut her in a cave, and agreed that none should
+deliver her but Owen himself, and that if he did not come by a
+certain day she should die. And now the time has past and there
+is no sign of him.'
+
+'In truth he is a good knight, and had he but known that the maid
+was in peril he would have come to save her,' said Owen; 'but
+accept me in his stead, I entreat you.'
+
+'We will,' replied they, and the fight began.
+
+The youths fought well and pressed hard on Owen, and when the
+lion saw that he came to help his master. But the youths made a
+sign for the fight to stop, and said:
+
+'Chieftain, it was agreed we should give battle to thee alone,
+and it is harder for us to contend with yonder beast than with
+thee.'
+
+Then Owen shut up the lion in the cave where the maiden had been
+in prison, and blocked up the front with stones. But the fight
+with the giant had sorely tried him, and the youths fought well,
+and pressed him harder than before. And when the lion saw that he
+gave a loud roar, and burst through the stones, and sprang upon
+the youths and slew them. And so Luned was delivered at the last.
+
+Then the maiden rode back with Owen to the lands of the lady of
+the fountain. And he took the lady with him to Arthur's court,
+where they lived happily till they died.
+
+From the 'Mabinogion.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                         The Four Gifts
+
+
+
+
+In the old land of Brittany, once called Cornwall, there lived a
+woman named Barbaik Bourhis, who spent all her days in looking
+after her farm with the help of her niece Tephany.  Early and
+late the two might be seen in the fields or in the dairy, milking
+cows, making butter, feeding fowls; working hard themselves and
+taking care that others worked too.  Perhaps it might have been
+better for Barbaik if she had left herself a little time to rest
+and to think about other things, for soon she grew to love money
+for its own sake, and only gave herself and Tephany the food and
+clothes they absolutely needed.  And as for poor people she
+positively hated them, and declared that such lazy creatures had
+no business in the world.
+
+Well, this being the sort of person Barbaik was, it is easy to
+guess at her anger when one day she found Tephany talking outside
+the cowhouse to young Denis, who was nothing more than a day
+labourer from the village of Plover.  Seizing her niece by the
+arm, she pulled her sharply away, exclaiming:
+
+'Are you not ashamed, girl, to waste your time over a man who is
+as poor as a rat, when there are a dozen more who would be only
+too happy to buy you rings of silver, if you would let them?'
+
+'Denis is a good workman, as you know very well,' answered
+Tephany, red with anger, 'and he puts by money too, and soon he
+will be able to take a farm for himself.'
+
+'Nonsense,' cried Barbaik, 'he will never save enough for a farm
+till he is a hundred.  I would sooner see you in your grave than
+the wife of a man who carries his whole fortune on his back.'
+
+'What does fortune matter when one is young and strong?' asked
+Tephany, but her aunt, amazed at such words, would hardly let her
+finish.
+
+'What does fortune matter?' repeated Barbaik, in a shocked voice.
+'Is it possible that you are really so foolish as to despise
+money? If this is what you learn from Denis, I forbid you to
+speak to him, and I will have him turned out of the farm if he
+dares to show his face here again.  Now go and wash the clothes
+and spread them out to dry.'
+
+Tephany did not dare to disobey, but with a heavy heart went down
+the path to the river.
+
+'She is harder than these rocks,' said the girl to herself, 'yes,
+a thousand times harder.  For the rain at least can at last wear
+away the stone, but you might cry for ever, and she would never
+care.  Talking to Denis is the only pleasure I have, and if I am
+not to see him I may as well enter a convent.'
+
+Thinking these thoughts she reached the bank, and began to unfold
+the large packet of linen that had to be washed.  The tap of a
+stick made her look up, and standing before her she saw a little
+old woman, whose face was strange to her.
+
+'You would like to sit down and rest, granny?' asked Tephany,
+pushing aside her bundle.
+
+'When the sky is all the roof you have, you rest where you will,'
+replied the old woman in trembling tones.
+
+'Are you so lonely, then?' inquired Tephany, full of pity. 'Have
+you no friends who would welcome you into their houses?'
+
+The old woman shook her head.
+
+'They all died long, long ago,' she answered, 'and the only
+friends I have are strangers with kind hearts.'
+
+The girl did not speak for a moment, then held out the small loaf
+and some bacon intended for her dinner.
+
+'Take this,' she said; 'to-day at any rate you shall dine well,'
+and the old woman took it, gazing at Tephany the while.
+
+'Those who help others deserve to be helped,' she answered; 'your
+eyes are still red because that miser Barbaik has forbidden you
+to speak to the young man from Plover.  But cheer up, you are a
+good girl, and I will give you something that will enable you to
+see him once every day.'
+
+'You?' cried Tephany, stupefied at discovering that the beggar
+knew all about her affairs, but the old woman did not hear her.
+
+'Take this long copper pin,' she went on, 'and every time you
+stick it in your dress Mother Bourhis will be obliged to leave
+the house in order to go and count her cabbages.  As long as the
+pin is in your dress you will be free, and your aunt will not
+come back until you have put it in its case again.'  Then,
+rising, she nodded to Tephany and vanished.
+
+The girl stood where she was, as still as a stone.  If it had not
+been for the pin in her hands she would have thought she was
+dreaming.  But by that token she knew it was no common old woman
+who had given it to her, but a fairy, wise in telling what would
+happen in the days to come.  Then suddenly Tephany's eyes fell on
+the clothes, and to make up for lost time she began to wash them
+with great vigour.
+
+Next evening, at the moment when Denis was accustomed to wait for
+her in the shadow of the cowhouse, Tephany stuck the pin in her
+dress, and at the very same instant Barbaik took up her sabots or
+wooden shoes and went through the orchard and past to the fields,
+to the plot where the cabbages grew.  With a heart as light as
+her footsteps, the girl ran from the house, and spent her evening
+happily with Denis.  And so it was for many days after that.
+Then, at last, Tephany began to notice something, and the
+something made her very sad.
+
+At first, Denis seemed to find the hours that they were together
+fly as quickly as she did, but when he had taught her all the
+songs he knew, and told her all the plans he had made for growing
+rich and a great man, he had nothing more to say to her, for he,
+like a great many other people, was fond of talking himself, but
+not of listening to any one else.  Sometimes, indeed, he never
+came at all, and the next evening he would tell Tephany that he
+had been forced to go into the town on business, but though she
+never reproached him she was not deceived and saw plainly that he
+no longer cared for her as he used to do.
+
+Day by day her heart grew heavier and her cheeks paler, and one
+evening, when she had waited for him in vain, she put her water-
+pot on her shoulder and went slowly down to the spring.  On the
+path in front of her stood the fairy who had given her the pin,
+and as she glanced at Tephany she gave a little mischievous laugh
+and said:
+
+'Why, my pretty maiden hardly looks happier than she did before,
+in spite of meeting her lover whenever she pleases.'
+
+'He has grown tired of me,' answered Tephany in a trembling
+voice, 'and he makes excuses to stay away.  Ah! granny dear, it
+is not enough to be able to see him, I must be able to amuse him
+and to keep him with me.  He is so clever, you know.  Help me to
+be clever too.'
+
+'Is that what you want?' cried the old woman.  'Well, take this
+feather and stick it in your hair, and you will be as wise as
+Solomon himself.'
+
+Blushing with pleasure Tephany went home and stuck the feather
+into the blue ribbon which girls always wear in that part of the
+country. In a moment she heard Denis whistling gaily, and as her
+aunt was safely counting her cabbages, she hurried out to meet
+him. The young man was struck dumb by her talk.  There was
+nothing that she did not seem to know, and as for songs she not
+only could sing those from every part of Brittany, but could
+compose them herself. Was this really the quiet girl who had been
+so anxious to learn all he could teach her, or was it somebody
+else?  Perhaps she had gone suddenly mad, and there was an evil
+spirit inside her.  But in any case, night after night he came
+back, only to find her growing wiser and wiser.  Soon the
+neighbours whispered their surprise among themselves, for Tephany
+had not been able to resist the pleasure of putting the feather
+in her hair for some of the people who despised her for her poor
+clothes, and many were the jokes she made about them.  Of course
+they heard of her jests, and shook their heads saying:
+
+'She is an ill-natured little cat, and the man that marries her
+will find that it is she who will hold the reins and drive the
+horse.'
+
+It was not long before Denis began to agree with them, and as he
+always liked to be master wherever he went, he became afraid of
+Tephany's sharp tongue, and instead of laughing as before when
+she made fun of other people he grew red and uncomfortable,
+thinking that his turn would come next.
+
+So matters went on till one evening Denis told Tephany that he
+really could not stay a moment, as he had promised to go to a
+dance that was to be held in the next village.
+
+Tephany's face fell; she had worked hard all day, and had been
+counting on a quiet hour with Denis.  She did her best to
+persuade him to remain with her, but he would not listen, and at
+last she grew angry.
+
+'Oh, I know why you are so anxious not to miss the dance,' she
+said; 'it is because Aziliez of Pennenru will be there.'
+
+Now Aziliez was the loveliest girl for miles round, and she and
+Denis had known each other from childhood.
+
+'Oh yes, Aziliez will be there,' answered Denis, who was quite
+pleased to see her jealous, 'and naturally one would go a long
+way to watch her dance.'
+
+'Go then!' cried Tephany, and entering the house she slammed the
+door behind her.
+
+Lonely and miserable she sat down by the fire and stared into the
+red embers.  Then, flinging the feather from her hair, she put
+her head on her hands, and sobbed passionately.
+
+'What is the use of being clever when it is beauty that men want?
+That is what I ought to have asked for.  But it is too late,
+Denis will never come back.'
+
+'Since you wish it so much you shall have beauty,' said a voice
+at her side, and looking round she beheld the old woman leaning
+on her stick.
+
+'Fasten this necklace round your neck, and as long as you wear it
+you will be the most beautiful woman in the world,' continued the
+fairy.  With a little shriek of joy Tephany took the necklace,
+and snapping the clasp ran to the mirror which hung in the
+corner. Ah, this time she was not afraid of Aziliez or of any
+other girl, for surely none could be as fair and white as she. 
+And with the sight of her face a thought came to her, and putting
+on hastily her best dress and her buckled shoes she hurried off
+to the dance.
+
+On the way she met a beautiful carriage with a young man seated
+in it.
+
+'What a lovely maiden!' he exclaimed, as Tephany approached. 
+'Why, there is not a girl in my own country that can be compared
+to her. She, and no other, shall be my bride.'
+
+The carriage was large and barred the narrow road, so Tephany was
+forced, much against her will, to remain where she was.  But she
+looked the young man full in the face as she answered:
+
+'Go your way, noble lord, and let me go mine.  I am only a poor
+peasant girl, accustomed to milk, and make hay and spin.'
+
+'Peasant you may be, but I will make you a great lady,' said he,
+taking her hand and trying to lead her to the carriage.
+
+'I don't want to be a great lady, I only want to be the wife of
+Denis,' she replied, throwing off his hand and running to the
+ditch which divided the road from the cornfield, where he hoped
+to hide. Unluckily the young man guessed what she was doing, and
+signed to his attendants, who seized her and put her in the
+coach.  The door was banged, and the horses whipped up into a
+gallop.
+
+At the end of an hour they arrived at a splendid castle, and
+Tephany, who would not move, was lifted out and carried into the
+hall, while a priest was sent for to perform the marriage
+ceremony. The young man tried to win a smile from her by telling
+of all the beautiful things she should have as his wife, but
+Tephany did not listen to him, and looked about to see if there
+was any means by which she could escape.  It did not seem easy. 
+The three great doors were closely barred, and the one through
+which she had entered shut with a spring, but her feather was
+still in her hair, and by its aid she detected a crack in the
+wooden panelling, through which a streak of light could be dimly
+seen. Touching the copper pin which fastened her dress, the girl
+sent every one in the hall to count the cabbages, while she
+herself passed through the little door, not knowing whither she
+was going.
+
+By this time night had fallen, and Tephany was very tired.
+Thankfully she found herself at the gate of a convent, and asked
+if she might stay there till morning.  But the portress answered
+roughly that it was no place for beggars, and bade her begone, so
+the poor girl dragged herself slowly along the road, till a light
+and the bark of a dog told her that she was near a farm.
+
+In front of the house was a group of people; two or three women
+and the sons of the farmer.  When their mother heard Tephany's
+request to be given a bed the good wife's heart softened, and she
+was just going to invite her inside, when the young men, whose
+heads were turned by the girl's beauty, began to quarrel as to
+which should do most for her.  From words they came to blows, and
+the women, frightened at the disturbance, pelted Tephany with
+insulting names. She quickly ran down the nearest path, hoping to
+escape them in the darkness of the trees, but in an instant she
+heard their footsteps behind her.  Wild with fear her legs
+trembled under her, when suddenly she bethought herself of her
+necklace.  With a violent effort she burst the clasp and flung it
+round the neck of a pig which was grunting in a ditch, and as she
+did so she heard the footsteps cease from pursuing her and run
+after the pig, for her charm had vanished.
+
+On she went, scarcely knowing where she was going, till she found
+herself, to her surprise and joy, close to her aunt's house. For
+several days she felt so tired and unhappy that she could hardly
+get through her work, and to make matters worse Denis scarcely
+ever came near her.
+
+'He was too busy,' he said, 'and really it was only rich people
+who could afford to waste time in talking.'
+
+As the days went on Tephany grew paler and paler, till everybody
+noticed it except her aunt.  The water-pot was almost too heavy
+for her now, but morning and evening she carried it to the
+spring, though the effort to lift it to her shoulder was often
+too much for her.
+
+'How could I have been so foolish,' she whispered to herself,
+when she went down as usual at sunset.  'It was not freedom to
+see Denis that I should have asked for, for he was soon weary of
+me, nor a quick tongue, for he was afraid of it, nor beauty, for
+that brought me nothing but trouble, but riches which make life
+easy both for oneself and others.  Ah! if I only dared to beg
+this gift from the fairy, I should be wiser than before and know
+how to choose better.'
+
+'Be satisfied,' said the voice of the old woman, who seemed to be
+standing unseen at Tephany's elbow.  'If you look in your right-
+hand pocket when you go home you will find a small box.  Rub your
+eyes with the ointment it contains, and you will see that you
+yourself contain a priceless treasure.'
+
+Tephany did not in the least understand what she meant, but ran
+back to the farm as fast as she could, and began to fumble
+joyfully in her right-hand pocket.  Sure enough, there was the
+little box with the precious ointment.  She was in the act of
+rubbing her eyes with it when Barbaik Bourhis entered the room. 
+Ever since she had been obliged to leave her work and pass her
+time, she did not know why, in counting cabbages, everything had
+gone wrong, and she could not get a labourer to stay with her
+because of her bad temper.  When, therefore, she saw her niece
+standing quietly before her mirror, Barbaik broke out:
+
+'So this is what you do when I am out in the fields!  Ah! it is
+no wonder if the farm is ruined.  Are you not ashamed, girl, to
+behave so?'
+
+Tephany tried to stammer some excuse, but her aunt was half mad
+with rage, and a box on the ears was her only answer.  At this
+Tephany, hurt, bewildered and excited, could control herself no
+longer, and turning away burst into tears.  But what was her
+surprise when she saw that each tear-drop was a round and shining
+pearl.  Barbaik, who also beheld this marvel, uttered a cry of
+astonishment, and threw herself on her knees to pick them up from
+the floor.
+
+She was still gathering them when the door opened and in came
+Denis.
+
+'Pearls!  Are they really pearls?' he asked, falling on his knees
+also, and looking up at Tephany he perceived others still more
+beautiful rolling down the girl's cheeks.
+
+'Take care not to let any of the neighbours hear of it, Denis,'
+said Barbaik.  'Of course you shall have your share, but nobody
+else shall get a single one.  Cry on, my dear, cry on,' she
+continued to Tephany.  It is for your good as well as ours,' and
+she held out her apron to catch them, and Denis his hat.
+
+But Tephany could hardly bear any more.  She felt half choked at
+the sight of their greediness, and wanted to rush from the hall,
+and though Barbaik caught her arm to prevent this, and said all
+sorts of tender words which she thought would make the girl weep
+the more, Tephany with a violent effort forced back her tears,
+and wiped her eyes.
+
+'Is she finished already?' cried Barbaik, in a tone of
+disappointment.  'Oh, try again, my dear.  Do you think it would
+do any good to beat her a little?' she added to Denis, who shook
+his head.
+
+'That is enough for the first time.  I will go into the town and
+find out the value of each pearl.'
+
+'Then I will go with you,' said Barbaik, who never trusted anyone
+and was afraid of being cheated.  So the two went out, leaving
+Tephany behind them.
+
+She sat quite still on her chair, her hands clasped tightly
+together, as if she was forcing something back.  At last she
+raised her eyes, which had been fixed on the ground, and beheld
+the fairy standing in a dark corner by the hearth, observing her
+with a mocking look.  The girl trembled and jumped up, then,
+taking the feather, the pin, and the box, she held them out to
+the old woman.
+
+'Here they are, all of them,' she cried; 'they belong to you. Let
+me never see them again, but I have learned the lesson that they
+taught me.  Others may have riches, beauty and wit, but as for me
+I desire nothing but to be the poor peasant girl I always was,
+working hard for those she loves.'
+
+'Yes, you have learned your lesson,' answered the fairy, 'and now
+you shall lead a peaceful life and marry the man you love. For
+after all it was not yourself you thought of but him.'
+
+Never again did Tephany see the old woman, but she forgave Denis
+for selling her tears, and in time he grew to be a good husband,
+who did his own share of work.
+
+From 'Le Foyer Breton,' par E. Souvestre.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                 The Groac'h of the Isle of Lok
+
+
+
+
+In old times, when all kinds of wonderful things happened in
+Brittany, there lived in the village of Lanillis, a young man
+named Houarn Pogamm and a girl called Bellah Postik.  They were
+cousins, and as their mothers were great friends, and constantly
+in and out of each other's houses, they had often been laid in
+the same cradle, and had played and fought over their games.
+
+'When they are grown up they will marry,' said the mothers; but
+just as every one was beginning to think of wedding bells, the
+two mothers died, and the cousins, who had no money, went as
+servants in the same house.  This was better than being parted,
+of course, but not so good as having a little cottage of their
+own, where they could do as they liked, and soon they might have
+been heard bewailing to each other the hardness of their lots.
+
+'If we could only manage to buy a cow and get a pig to fatten,'
+grumbled Houarn, 'I would rent a bit of ground from the master,
+and then we could be married.'
+
+'Yes,' answered Bellah, with a deep sigh; 'but we live in such
+hard times, and at the last fair the price of pigs had risen
+again.'
+
+'We shall have long to wait, that is quite clear,' replied
+Houarn, turning away to his work.
+
+Whenever they met they repeated their grievances, and at length
+Houarn's patience was exhausted, and one morning he came to
+Bellah and told her that he was going away to seek his fortune.
+
+The girl was very unhappy as she listened to this, and felt sorry
+that she had not tried to make the best of things.  She implored
+Houarn not to leave her, but he would listen to nothing.
+
+'The birds,' he said, 'continue flying until they reach a field
+of corn, and the bees do not stop unless they find the honey-
+giving flowers, and why should a man have less sense than they? 
+Like them, I shall seek till I get what I want--that is, money to
+buy a cow and a pig to fatten.   And if you love me, Bellah, you
+won't attempt to hinder a plan which will hasten our marriage.'
+
+The girl saw it was useless to say more, so she answered sadly:
+
+'Well, go then, since you must.  But first I will divide with you
+all that my parents left me,' and going to her room, she opened a
+small chest, and took from it a bell, a knife, and a little
+stick.
+
+'This bell,' she said, 'can be heard at any distance, however
+far, but it only rings to warn us that our friends are in great
+danger. The knife frees all it touches from the spells that have
+been laid on them; while the stick will carry you wherever you
+want to go. I will give you the knife to guard you against the
+enchantments of wizards, and the bell to tell me of your perils. 
+The stick I shall keep for myself, so that I can fly to you if
+ever you have need of me.'
+
+Then they cried for a little on each other's necks, and Houarn
+started for the mountains.
+
+But in those days, as in these, beggars abounded, and through
+every village he passed they followed Houarn in crowds, mistaking
+him for a gentleman, because there were no holes in his clothes.
+
+'There is no fortune to be made here,' he thought to himself; 'it
+is a place for spending, and not earning.  I see I must go
+further,' and he walked on to Pont-aven, a pretty little town
+built on the bank of a river.
+
+He was sitting on a bench outside an inn, when he heard two men
+who were loading their mules talking about the Groac'h of the
+island of Lok.
+
+'What is a Groac'h?' asked he.  'I have never come across one.'
+And the men answered that it was the name given to the fairy that
+dwelt in the lake, and that she was rich--oh! richer than all the
+kings in the world put together.  Many had gone to the island to
+try and get possession of her treasures, but no one had ever come
+back.
+
+As he listened Houarn's mind was made up.
+
+'I will go, and return too,' he said to the muleteers.  They
+stared at him in astonishment, and besought him not to be so mad
+and to throw away his life in such a foolish manner; but he only
+laughed, and answered that if they could tell him of any other
+way in which to procure a cow and a pig to fatten, he would think
+no more about it.  But the men did not know how this was to be
+done, and, shaking their heads over his obstinacy, left him to
+his fate.
+
+So Houarn went down to the sea, and found a boatman who engaged
+to take him to the isle of Lok.
+
+The island was large, and lying almost across it was a lake, with
+a narrow opening to the sea.  Houarn paid the boatman and sent
+him away, and then proceeded to walk round the lake.  At one end
+he perceived a small skiff, painted blue and shaped like a swan,
+lying under a clump of yellow broom.  As far as he could see, the
+swan's head was tucked under its wing, and Houarn, who had never
+beheld a boat of the sort, went quickly towards it and stepped
+in, so as to examine it the better.  But no sooner was he on
+board than the swan woke suddenly up; his head emerged from under
+his wing, his feet began to move in the water, and in another
+moment they were in the middle of the lake.
+
+As soon as the young man had recovered from his surprise, he
+prepared to jump into the lake and swim to shore.  But the bird
+had guessed his intentions, and plunged beneath the water,
+carrying Houarn with him to the palace of the Groac'h.
+
+Now, unless you have been under the sea and beheld all the
+wonders that lie there, you can never have an idea what the
+Groac'h's palace was like.  It was all made of shells, blue and
+green and pink and lilac and white, shading into each other till
+you could not tell where one colour ended and the other began. 
+The staircases were of crystal, and every separate stair sang
+like a woodland bird as you put your foot on it.  Round the
+palace were great gardens full of all the plants that grow in the
+sea, with diamonds for flowers.
+
+In a large hall the Groac'h was lying on a couch of gold.  The
+pink and white of her face reminded you of the shells of her
+palace, while her long black hair was intertwined with strings of
+coral, and her dress of green silk seemed formed out of the sea. 
+At the sight of her Houarn stopped, dazzled by her beauty.
+
+'Come in,' said the Groac'h, rising to her feet.  'Strangers and
+handsome youths are always welcome here.  Do not be shy, but tell
+me how you found your way, and what you want.'
+
+'My name is Houarn,' he answered, 'Lanillis is my home, and I am
+trying to earn enough money to buy a little cow and a pig to
+fatten.'
+
+'Well, you can easily get that,' replied she; 'it is nothing to
+worry about.  Come in and enjoy yourself.'  And she beckoned him
+to follow her into a second hall whose floors and walls were
+formed of pearls, while down the sides there were tables laden
+with fruit and wines of all kinds; and as he ate and drank, the
+Groac'h talked to him and told him how the treasures he saw came
+from shipwrecked vessels, and were brought to her palace by a
+magic current of water.
+
+'I do not wonder,' exclaimed Houarn, who now felt quite at home--
+'I do not wonder that the people on the earth have so much to say
+about you.'
+
+'The rich are always envied.'
+
+'For myself,' he added, with a laugh, 'I only ask for the half of
+your wealth.'
+
+'You can have it, if you will, Houarn,' answered the fairy.
+
+'What do you mean?' cried he.
+
+'My husband, Korandon, is dead,' she replied, 'and if you wish
+it, I will marry you.'
+
+The young man gazed at her in surprise.  Could any one so rich
+and so beautiful really wish to be his wife?  He looked at her
+again, and Bellah was forgotten as he answered:
+
+'A man would be mad indeed to refuse such an offer.  I can only
+accept it with joy.'
+
+'Then the sooner it is done the better,' said the Groac'h, and
+gave orders to her servants.  After that was finished, she begged
+Houarn to accompany her to a fish-pond at the bottom of the
+garden.
+
+'Come lawyer, come miller, come tailor, come singer!' cried she,
+holding out a net of steel; and at each summons a fish appeared
+and jumped into the net.  When it was full she went into a large
+kitchen and threw them all into a golden pot; but above the
+bubbling of the water Houarn seemed to hear the whispering of
+little voices.
+
+'Who is it whispering in the golden pot, Groac'h?' he inquired at
+last.
+
+'It is nothing but the noise of the wood sparkling,' she
+answered; but it did not sound the least like that to Houarn.
+
+'There it is again,' he said, after a short pause.
+
+'The water is getting hot, and it makes the fish jump,' she
+replied; but soon the noise grew louder and like cries.
+
+'What is it?' asked Houarn, beginning to feel uncomfortable.
+
+'Just the crickets on the hearth,' said she, and broke into a
+song which drowned the cries from the pot.
+
+But though Houarn held his peace, he was not as happy as before.
+Something seemed to have gone wrong, and then he suddenly
+remembered Bellah.
+
+'Is it possible I can have forgotten her so soon?  What a wretch
+I am!' he thought to himself; and he remained apart and watched
+the Groac'h while she emptied the fish into a plate, and bade him
+eat his dinner while she fetched wine from her cellar in a cave.
+
+Houarn sat down and took out the knife which Bellah had given
+him, but as soon as the blade touched the fish the enchantment
+ceased, and four men stood before him.
+
+'Houarn, save us, we entreat you, and save yourself too!'
+murmured they, not daring to raise their voices.
+
+'Why, it must have been you who were crying out in the pot just
+now!' exclaimed Houarn.
+
+'Yes, it was us,' they answered.  'Like you, we came to the isle
+of Lok to seek our fortunes, and like you we consented to marry
+the Groac'h, and no sooner was the ceremony over than she turned
+us into fishes, as she had done to all our forerunners, who are
+in the fish-pond still, where you will shortly join them.'
+
+On hearing this Houarn leaped into the air, as if he already felt
+himself frizzling in the golden pot.  He rushed to the door,
+hoping to escape that way; but the Groac'h, who had heard
+everything, met him on the threshold.  Instantly she threw the
+steel net over his head, and the eyes of a little green frog
+peeped through the meshes.
+
+'You shall go and play with the rest,' she said, carrying him off
+to the fish-pond.
+
+It was at this very moment that Bellah, who was skimming the milk
+in the farm dairy, heard the fairy bell tinkle violently.
+
+At the sound she grew pale, for she knew it meant that Houarn was
+in danger; and, hastily, changing the rough dress she wore for
+her work, she left the farm with the magic stick in her hand.
+
+Her knees were trembling under her, but she ran as fast as she
+could to the cross roads, where she drove her stick into the
+ground, murmuring as she did so a verse her mother had taught
+her:
+
+Little staff of apple-tree,    Over the earth and over the sea,   
+Up in the air be guide to me,    Everywhere to wander free,
+
+and immediately the stick became a smart little horse, with a
+rosette at each ear and a feather on his forehead.  He stood
+quite still while Bellah scrambled up, then he started off, his
+pace growing quicker and quicker, till at length the girl could
+hardly see the trees and houses as they flashed past.  But, rapid
+as the pace was, it was not rapid enough for Bellah, who stooped
+and said:
+
+'The swallow is less swift than the wind, the wind is less swift
+than the lightning.  But you, my horse, if you love me, must be
+swifter than them all, for there is a part of my heart that
+suffers --the best part of my heart that is in danger.'
+
+And the horse heard her, and galloped like a straw carried along
+by a tempest till they reached the foot of a rock called the Leap
+of the Deer.  There he stopped, for no horse or mule that ever
+was born could climb that rock, and Bellah knew it, so she began
+to sing again:
+
+Horse of Leon, given to me,    Over the earth and over the sea,   
+Up in the air be guide to me,    Everywhere to wander free,
+
+and when she had finished, the horse's fore legs grew shorter and
+spread into wings, his hind legs became claws, feathers sprouted
+all over his body, and she sat on the back of a great bird, which
+bore her to the summit of the rock.  Here she found a nest made
+of clay and lined with dried moss, and in the centre a tiny man,
+black and wrinkled, who gave a cry of surprise at the sight of
+Bellah.
+
+'Ah! you are the pretty girl who was to come and save me!'
+
+'To save you!' repeated Bellah.  'But who are you, my little
+friend?'
+
+'I am the husband of the Groac'h of the isle of Lok, and it is
+owing to her that I am here.'
+
+'But what are you doing in this nest?'
+
+'I am sitting on six eggs of stone, and I shall not be set free
+till they are hatched.'
+
+On hearing this Bellah began to laugh.
+
+'Poor little cock!' she said, 'and how am I to deliver you?'
+
+'By delivering Houarn, who is in the power of the Groac'h.'
+
+'Ah! tell me how I can manage that, and if I have to walk round
+the whole of Brittany on my bended knees I will do it!'
+
+'Well, first you must dress yourself as a young man, and then go
+and seek the Groac'h.  When you have found her you must contrive
+to get hold of the net of steel that hangs from her waist, and
+shut her up in it for ever.'
+
+'But where am I to find a young man's clothes?' asked she.
+
+'I will show you,' he replied, and as he spoke he pulled out
+three of his red hairs and blew them away, muttering something
+the while. In the twinkling of an eye the four hairs changed into
+four tailors, of whom the first carried a cabbage, the second a
+pair of scissors, the third a needle, and the fourth an iron. 
+Without waiting for orders, they sat down in the nest and,
+crossing their legs comfortably, began to prepare the suit of
+clothes for Bellah.
+
+With one of the leaves of the cabbage they made her a coat, and
+another served for a waistcoat; but it took two for the wide
+breeches which were then in fashion.  The hat was cut from the
+heart of the cabbage, and a pair of shoes from the thick stem. 
+And when Bellah had put them all on you would have taken her for
+a gentleman dressed in green velvet, lined with white satin.
+
+She thanked the little men gratefully, and after a few more
+instructions, jumped on the back of her great bird, and was borne
+away to the isle of Lok.  Once there, she bade him transform
+himself back into a stick, and with it in her hand she stepped
+into the blue boat, which conducted her to the palace of shells.
+
+The Groac'h seemed overjoyed to see her, and told her that never
+before had she beheld such a handsome young man.  Very soon she
+led her visitor into the great hall, where wine and fruit were
+always waiting, and on the table lay the magic knife, left there
+by Houarn. Unseen by the Groac'h, Bellah hid it in a pocket of
+her green coat, and then followed her hostess into the garden,
+and to the pond which contained the fish, their sides shining
+with a thousand different colours.
+
+'Oh! what beautiful, beautiful creatures!' said she.  'I'm sure I
+should never be tired of watching them.'  And she sat down on the
+bank, with her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands, her
+eyes fixed on the fishes as they flashed past.
+
+'Would you not like to stay here always?' asked the Groac'h; and
+Bellah answered that she desired nothing better.
+
+'Then you have only to marry me,' said the Groac'h.  'Oh! don't
+say no, for I have fallen deeply in love with you.'
+
+'Well, I won't say "No,"' replied Bellah, with a laugh, 'but you
+must promise first to let me catch one of those lovely fish in
+your net.'
+
+'It is not so easy as it looks,' rejoined the Groac'h, smiling,
+'but take it, and try your luck.'
+
+Bellah took the net which the Groac'h held out, and, turning
+rapidly, flung it over the witch's head.
+
+'Become in body what you are in soul!' cried she, and in an
+instant the lovely fairy of the sea was a toad, horrible to look
+upon. She struggled hard to tear the net asunder, but it was no
+use. Bellah only drew it the tighter, and, flinging the sorceress
+into a pit, she rolled a great stone across the mouth, and left
+her.
+
+As she drew near the pond she saw a great procession of fishes
+advancing to meet her, crying in hoarse tones:
+
+'This is our lord and master, who has saved us from the net of
+steel and the pot of gold!'
+
+'And who will restore you to your proper shapes,' said Bellah,
+drawing the knife from her pocket.  But just as she was going to
+touch the foremost fish, her eyes fell on a green frog on his
+knees beside her, his little paws crossed over his little heart. 
+Bellah felt as if fingers were tightening round her throat, but
+she managed to cry:
+
+'Is this you, my Houarn?  Is this you?'
+
+'It is I,' croaked the little frog; and as the knife touched him
+he was a man again, and, springing up, he clasped her in his
+arms.
+
+'But we must not forget the others,' she said at last, and began
+to transform the fishes to their proper shapes.  There were so
+many of them that it took quite a long time.  Just as she had
+finished there arrived the little dwarf from the Deer's Leap in a
+car drawn by six cockchafers, which once had been the six stone
+eggs.
+
+'Here I am!' he exclaimed.  'You have broken the spell that held
+me, and now come and get your reward,' and, dismounting from his
+chariot, he led them down into the caves filled with gold and
+jewels, and bade Bellah and Houarn take as much as they wanted.
+
+When their pockets were full, Bellah ordered her stick to become
+a winged carriage, large enough to bear them and the men they had
+rescued back to Lanillis.
+
+There they were married the next day, but instead of setting up
+housekeeping with the little cow and pig to fatten that they had
+so long wished for, they were able to buy lands for miles round
+for themselves, and gave each man who had been delivered from the
+Groac'h a small farm, where he lived happily to the end of his
+days.
+
+From 'Le Foyer Breton,' par E. Souvestre.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                    The Escape of the Mouse
+
+
+
+
+Manawyddan the prince and his friend Pryderi were wanderers, for
+the brother of Manawyddan had been slain, and his throne taken
+from him. Very sorrowful was Manawyddan, but Pryderi was stout of
+heart, and bade him be of good cheer, as he knew a way out of his
+trouble.
+
+'And what may that be?' asked Manawyddan.
+
+'It is that thou marry my mother Rhiannon and become lord of the
+fair lands that I will give her for dowry. Never did any lady
+have more wit than she, and in her youth none was more lovely;
+even yet she is good to look upon.'
+
+'Thou art the best friend that ever a man had,' said Manawyddan.
+'Let us go now to seek Rhiannon, and the lands where she dwells.'
+
+Then they set forth, but the news of their coming ran swifter
+still, and Rhiannon and Kieva, wife of Pryderi, made haste to
+prepare a feast for them. And Manawyddan found that Pryderi had
+spoken the truth concerning his mother, and asked if she would
+take him for her husband. Right gladly did she consent, and
+without delay they were married, and rode away to the hunt,
+Rhiannon and Manawyddan, Kieva and Pryderi, and they would not be
+parted from each other by night or by day, so great was the love
+between them.
+
+One day, when they were returned, they were sitting out in a
+green place, and suddenly the crash of thunder struck loudly on
+their ears, and a wall of mist fell between them, so that they
+were hidden one from the other. Trembling they sat till the
+darkness fled and the light shone again upon them, but in the
+place where they were wont to see cattle, and herds, and
+dwellings, they beheld neither house nor beast, nor man nor
+smoke; neither was any one remaining in the green place save
+these four only.
+
+'Whither have they gone, and my host also?' cried Manawyddan, and
+they searched the hall, and there was no man, and the castle, and
+there was none, and in the dwellings that were left was nothing
+save wild beasts. For a year these four fed on the meat that
+Manawyddan and Pryderi killed out hunting, and the honey of the
+bees that sucked the mountain heather. For a time they desired
+nothing more, but when the next year began they grew weary.
+
+'We cannot spend our lives thus,' said Manawyddan at last, 'let
+us go into England and learn some trade by which we may live.' So
+they left Wales, and went to Hereford, and there they made
+saddles, while Manawyddan fashioned blue enamel ornaments to put
+on their trappings. And so greatly did the townsfolk love these
+saddles, that no others were bought throughout the whole of
+Hereford, till the saddlers banded together and resolved to slay
+Manawyddan and his companions.
+
+When Pryderi heard of it, he was very wroth, and wished to stay
+and fight. But the counsels of Manawyddan prevailed, and they
+moved by night to another city.
+
+'What craft shall we follow?' asked Pryderi.
+
+'We will make shields,' answered Manawyddan.
+
+'But do we know anything of that craft?' answered Pryderi.
+
+'We will try it,' said Manawyddan, and they began to make
+shields, and fashioned them after the shape of the shields they
+had seen; and these likewise they enamelled. And so greatly did
+they prosper that no man in the town bought a shield except they
+had made it, till at length the shield-makers banded together as
+the saddlers had done, and resolved to slay them. But of this
+they had warning, and by night betook themselves to another town.
+
+'Let us take to making shoes,' said Manawyddan, 'for there are
+not any among the shoemakers bold enough to fight us.'
+
+'I know nothing of making shoes,' answered Pryderi, who in truth
+despised so peaceful a craft.
+
+'But I know,' replied Manawyddan, 'and I will teach thee to
+stitch. We will buy the leather ready dressed, and will make the
+shoes from it.
+
+Then straightway he sought the town for the best leather, and for
+a goldsmith to fashion the clasps, and he himself watched till it
+was done, so that he might learn for himself. Soon he became
+known as 'The Maker of Gold Shoes,' and prospered so greatly,
+that as long as one could be bought from him not a shoe was
+purchased from the shoemakers of the town. And the craftsmen were
+wroth, and banded together to slay them.
+
+'Pryderi,' said Manawyddan, when he had received news of it, 'we
+will not remain in England any longer. Let us set forth to
+Dyved.'
+
+So they journeyed until they came to their lands at Narberth.
+There they gathered their dogs round them, and hunted for a year
+as before.
+
+After that a strange thing happened. One morning Pryderi and
+Manawyddan rose up to hunt, and loosened their dogs, which ran
+before them, till they came to a small bush. At the bush, the
+dogs shrank away as if frightened, and returned to their masters,
+their hair brisling on their backs.
+
+'We must see what is in that bush,' said Pryderi, and what was in
+it was a boar, with a skin as white as the snow on the mountains.
+And he came out, and made a stand as the dogs rushed on him,
+driven on by the men. Long he stood at bay; then at last he
+betook himself to flight, and fled to a castle which was newly
+built, in a place where no building had ever been known. Into the
+castle he ran, and the dogs after him, and long though their
+masters looked and listened, they neither saw nor heard aught
+concerning dogs or boar.
+
+'I will go into the castle and get tidings of the dogs,' said
+Pryderi at last.
+
+'Truly,' answered Manawyddan, 'thou wouldst do unwisely, for
+whosoever has cast a spell over this land has set this castle
+here.'
+
+'I cannot give up my dogs,' replied Pryderi, and to the castle he
+went.
+
+But within was neither man nor beast; neither boar nor dogs, but
+only a fountain with marble round it, and on the edge a golden
+bowl, richly wrought, which pleased Pryderi greatly. In a moment
+he forgot about his dogs, and went up to the bowl and took hold
+of it, and his hands stuck to the bowl, and his feet to the
+marble slab, and despair took possession of him.
+
+Till the close of day Manawyddan waited for him, and when the sun
+was fast sinking, he went home, thinking that he had strayed far.
+
+'Where are thy friend and thy dogs?' said Rhiannon, and he told
+her what had befallen Pryderi.
+
+'A good friend hast thou lost,' answered Rhiannon, and she went
+up to the castle and through the gate, which was open. There, in
+the centre of the courtyard, she beheld Pryderi standing, and
+hastened towards him.
+
+'What dost thou here?' she asked, laying her hand on the bowl,
+and as she spoke she too stuck fast, and was not able to utter a
+word. Then thunder was heard and a veil of darkness descended
+upon them, and the castle vanished and they with it.
+
+When Kieva, the wife of Pryderi, found that neither her husband
+nor his mother returned to her, she was in such sorrow that she
+cared not whether she lived or died. Manawyddan was grieved also
+in his heart, and said to her:
+
+'It is not fitting that we should stay here, for he have lost our
+dogs and cannot get food. Let us go into England--it is easier
+for us to live there.' So they set forth.
+
+'What craft wilt thou follow?' asked Kieva as they went along.
+
+'I shall make shoes as once I did,' replied he; and he got all
+the finest leather in the town and caused gilded clasps to be
+made for the shoes, till everyone flocked to buy, and all the
+shoemakers in the town were idle and banded together in anger to
+kill him. But luckily Manawyddan got word of it, and he and Kieva
+left the town one night and proceeded to Narberth, taking with
+him a sheaf of wheat, which he sowed in three plots of ground.
+And while the wheat was growing up, he hunted and fished, and
+they had food enough and to spare. Thus the months passed until
+the harvest; and one evening Manawyddan visited the furthest of
+his fields of wheat; and saw that it was ripe.
+
+'To-morrow I will reap this,' said he; but on the morrow when he
+went to reap the wheat he found nothing but the bare straw.
+
+Filled with dismay he hastened to the second field, and there the
+corn was ripe and golden.
+
+'To-morrow I will reap this,' he said, but on the morrow the ears
+had gone, and there was nothing but the bare straw.
+
+'Well, there is still one field left,' he said, and when he
+looked at it, it was still fairer than the other two. 'To-night I
+will watch here,' thought he, 'for whosoever carried off the
+other corn will in like manner take this, and I will know who it
+is.' So he hid himself and waited.
+
+The hours slid by, and all was still, so still that Manawyddan
+well-nigh dropped asleep. But at midnight there arose the loudest
+tumult in the world, and peeping out he beheld a mighty host of
+mice, which could neither be numbered nor measured. Each mouse
+climbed up a straw till it bent down with its weight, and then it
+bit off one of the ears, and carried it away, and there was not
+one of the straws that had not got a mouse to it.
+
+Full of wrath he rushed at the mice, but he could no more come up
+with them than if they had been gnats, or birds of the air, save
+one only which lingered behind the rest, and this mouse
+Manawyddan came up with. Stooping down he seized it by the tail,
+and put it in his glove, and tied a piece of string across the
+opening of the glove, so that the mouse could not escape. When he
+entered the hall where Kieva was sitting, he lighted a fire, and
+hung the glove up on a peg.
+
+'What hast thou there?' asked she.
+
+'A thief,' he answered, 'that I caught robbing me.'
+
+'What kind of a thief may it be which thou couldst put in thy
+glove?' said Kieva.
+
+'That I will tell thee,' he replied, and then he showed her how
+his fields of corn had been wasted, and how he had watched for
+the mice.
+
+'And one was less nimble than the rest, and is now in my glove.
+To-morrow I will hang it, and I only wish I had them all.'
+
+'It is a marvel, truly,' said she, 'yet it would be unseemly for
+a man of thy dignity to hang a reptile such as this. Do not
+meddle with it, but let it go.'
+
+'Woe betide me,' he cried, 'if I would not hang them all if I
+could catch them, and such as I have I will hang.'
+
+'Verily,' said she, 'there is no reason I should succour this
+reptile, except to prevent discredit unto thee.'
+
+'If I knew any cause that I should succour it, I would take thy
+counsel,' answered Manawyddan, 'but as I know of none, I am
+minded to destroy it.'
+
+'Do so then,' said Kieva.
+
+So he went up a hill and set up two forks on the top, and while
+he was doing this he saw a scholar coming towards him, whose
+clothes were tattered. Now it was seven years since Manawyddan
+had seen man or beast in that place, and the sight amazed him.
+
+'Good day to thee, my lord,' said the scholar.
+
+'Good greeting to thee, scholar. Whence dost thou come?'
+
+'From singing in England; but wherefore dost thou ask?'
+
+'Because for seven years no man hath visited this place.'
+
+'I wander where I will,' answered the scholar. 'And what work art
+thou upon?'
+
+'I am about to hang a thief that I caught robbing me!'
+
+'What manner of thief is that?' inquired the scholar. 'I see a
+creature in thy hand like upon a mouse, and ill does it become a
+man of thy rank to touch a reptile like this. Let it go free.'
+
+'I will not let it go free,' cried Manawyddan. 'I caught it
+robbing me, and it shall suffer the doom of a thief.'
+
+'Lord!' said the scholar, 'sooner than see a man like thee at
+such a work, I would give thee a pound which I have received as
+alms to let it go free.'
+
+'I will not let it go free, neither will I sell it.'
+
+'As thou wilt, lord,' answered the scholar, and he went his way.
+
+Manawyddan was placing the cross-beam on the two forked sticks,
+where the mouse was to hang, when a priest rode past.
+
+'Good-day to thee, lord; and what art thou doing?'
+
+'I am hanging a thief that I caught robbing me.'
+
+'What manner of thief, lord?'
+
+'A creature in the form of a mouse. It has been robbing me, and
+it shall suffer the doom of a thief.'
+
+'Lord,' said the priest, 'sooner than see thee touch this
+reptile, I would purchase its freedom.'
+
+'I will neither sell it nor set it free.'
+
+'It is true that a mouse is worth nothing, but rather than see
+thee defile thyself with touching such a reptile as this, I will
+give thee three pounds for it.'
+
+'I will not take any price for it. It shall be hanged as it
+deserves.'
+
+'Willingly, my lord, if it is thy pleasure.' And the priest went
+his way.
+
+Then Manawyddan noosed the string about the mouse's neck, and was
+about to draw it tight when a bishop, with a great following and
+horses bearing huge packs, came by.
+
+'What work art thou upon?' asked the bishop, drawing rein.
+
+'Hanging a thief that I caught robbing me.'
+
+'But is not that a mouse that I see in thine hand?' asked the
+bishop.
+
+'Yes; that is the thief,' answered Manawyddan.
+
+'Well, since I have come at the doom of this reptile, I will
+ransom it of thee for seven pounds, rather than see a man of thy
+rank touch it. Loose it, and let it go.'
+
+'I will not let it loose.'
+
+'I will give thee four and twenty pounds to set it free,' said
+the bishop.
+
+'I will not set it free for as much again.'
+
+'If thou wilt not set it free for this, I will give thee all the
+horses thou seest and the seven loads of baggage.'
+
+'I will not set it free.'
+
+'Then tell me at what price thou wilt loose it, and I will give
+it.'
+
+'The spell must be taken off Rhiannon and Pryderi,' said
+Manawyddan.
+
+'That shall be done.'
+
+'But not yet will I loose the mouse. The charm that has been cast
+over all my lands must be taken off likewise.'
+
+'This shall be done also.'
+
+'But not yet will I loose the mouse till I know who she is.'
+
+'She is my wife,' answered the bishop.
+
+'And wherefore came she to me?' asked Manawyddan.
+
+'To despoil thee,' replied the bishop, 'for it is I who cast the
+charm over thy lands, to avenge Gwawl the son of Clud my friend.
+And it was I who threw the spell upon Pryderi to avenge Gwawl for
+the trick that had been played on him in the game of Badger in
+the Bag. And not only was I wroth, but my people likewise, and
+when it was known that thou wast come to dwell in the land, they
+besought me much to change them into mice, that they might eat
+thy corn. The first and the second nights it was the men of my
+own house that destroyed thy two fields, but on the third night
+my wife and her ladies came to me and begged me to change them
+also into the shape of mice, that they might take part in
+avenging Gwawl. Therefore I changed them. Yet had she not been
+ill and slow of foot, thou couldst not have overtaken her. Still,
+since she was caught, I will restore thee Pryderi and Rhiannon,
+and will take the charm from off thy lands. I have told thee who
+she is; so now set her free.'
+
+'I will not set her free,' answered Manawyddan, 'till thou swear
+that no vengeance shall be taken for his, either upon Pryderi, or
+upon Rhiannon, or on me.'
+
+'I will grant thee this boon; and thou hast done wisely to ask
+it, for on thy head would have lit all the trouble. Set now my
+wife free.'
+
+'I will not set her free till Pryderi and Rhiannon are with me.'
+
+'Behold, here they come,' said the bishop.
+
+Then Manawyddan held out his hands and greeted Pryderi and
+Rhiannon, and they seated themselves joyfully on the grass.
+
+'Ah, lord, hast thou not received all thou didst ask?' said the
+bishop. 'Set now my wife free!'
+
+'That I will gladly,' answered Manawyddan, unloosing the cord
+from her neck, and as he did so the bishop struck her with his
+staff, and she turned into a young woman, the fairest that ever
+was seen.
+
+'Look around upon thy land,' said he, 'and thou wilt see it all
+tilled and peopled, as it was long ago.' And Manawyddan looked,
+and saw corn growing in the fields, and cows and sheep grazing on
+the hill-side, and huts for the people to dwell in. And he was
+satisfied in his soul, but one more question he put to the
+bishop.
+
+'What spell didst thou lay upon Pryderi and Rhiannon?'
+
+'Pryderi has had the knockers of the gate of my palace hung about
+him, and Rhiannon has carried the collars of my asses around her
+neck,' said the bishop with a smile.
+
+From the 'Mabinogion.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                     The Believing Husbands
+
+
+
+
+Once upon a time there dwelt in the land of Erin a young man who
+was seeking a wife, and of all the maidens round about none
+pleased him as well as the only daughter of a farmer. The girl
+was willing and the father was willing, and very soon they were
+married and went to live at the farm. By and bye the season came
+when they must cut the peats and pile them up to dry, so that
+they might have fires in the winter. So on a fine day the girl
+and her husband, and the father and his wife all went out upon
+the moor.
+
+They worked hard for many hours, and at length grew hungry, so
+the young woman was sent home to bring them food, and also to
+give the horses their dinner. When she went into the stables, she
+suddenly saw the heavy pack-saddle of the speckled mare just over
+her head, and she jumped and said to herself:
+
+'Suppose that pack-saddle were to fall and kill me, how dreadful
+it would be!' and she sat down just under the pack-saddle she was
+so much afraid of, and began to cry.
+
+Now the others out on the moor grew hungrier and hungrier.
+
+'What can have become of her?' asked they, and at length the
+mother declared that she would wait no longer, and must go and
+see what had happened.
+
+As the bride was nowhere in the kitchen or the dairy, the old
+woman went into the stable, where she found her daughter weeping
+bitterly.
+
+'What is the matter, my dove?' and the girl answered, between her
+sobs:
+
+'When I came in and saw the pack-saddle over my head, I thought
+how dreadful it would be if it fell and killed me,' and she cried
+louder than before.
+
+The old woman struck her hands together: 'Ah, to think of it! if
+that were to be, what should I do?' and she sat down by her
+daughter, and they both wrung their hands and let their tears
+flow.
+
+'Something strange must have occurred,' exclaimed the old farmer
+on the moor, who by this time was not only hungry, but cross. 'I
+must go after them.' And he went and found them in the stable.
+
+'What is the matter?' asked he.
+
+'Oh!' replied his wife, 'when our daughter came home, did she not
+see the pack-saddle over her head, and she thought how dreadful
+it would be if it were to fall and kill her.'
+
+'Ah, to think of it!' exclaimed he, striking his hands together,
+and he sat down beside them and wept too.
+
+As soon as night fell the young man returned full of hunger, and
+there they were, all crying together in the stable.
+
+'What is the matter?' asked he.
+
+'When thy wife came home,' answered the farmer, 'she saw the
+pack-saddle over her head, and she thought how dreadful it would
+be if it were to fall and kill her.'
+
+'Well, but it didn't fall,' replied the young man, and he went
+off to the kitchen to get some supper, leaving them to cry as
+long as they liked.
+
+The next morning he got up with the sun, and said to the old man
+and to the old woman and to his wife:
+
+'Farewell: my foot shall not return to the house till I have
+found other three people as silly as you,' and he walked away
+till he came to the town, and seeing the door of a cottage
+standing open wide, he entered. No man was present, but only some
+women spinning at their wheels.
+
+'You do not belong to this town,' said he.
+
+'You speak truth,' they answered, 'nor you either?'
+
+'I do not,' replied he, 'but is it a good place to live in?'
+
+The women looked at each other.
+
+'The men of the town are so silly that we can make them believe
+anything we please,' said they.
+
+'Well, here is a gold ring,' replied he, 'and I will give it to
+the one amongst you who can make her husband believe the most
+impossible thing,' and he left them.
+
+As soon as the first husband came home his wife said to him:
+
+'Thou art sick!'
+
+'Am I?' asked he.
+
+'Yes, thou art,' she answered; 'take off thy clothes and lie
+down.'
+
+So he did, and when he was in his bed his wife went to him and
+said:
+
+'Thou art dead.'
+
+'Oh, am I?' asked he.
+
+'Thou art,' said she; 'shut thine eyes and stir neither hand nor
+foot.'
+
+And dead he felt sure he was.
+
+Soon the second man came home, and his wife said to him:
+
+'You are not my husband!'
+
+'Oh, am I not?' asked he.
+
+'No, it is not you,' answered she, so he went away and slept in
+the wood.
+
+When the third man arrived his wife gave him his supper, and
+after that he went to bed, just as usual. The next morning a boy
+knocked at the door, bidding him attend the burial of the man who
+was dead, and he was just going to get up when his wife stopped
+him.
+
+'Time enough,' said she, and he lay still till he heard the
+funeral passing the window.
+
+'Now rise, and be quick,' called the wife, and the man jumped out
+of bed in a great hurry, and began to look about him.
+
+'Why, where are my clothes?' asked he.
+
+'Silly that you are, they are on your back, of course,' answered
+the woman.
+
+'Are they?' said he.
+
+'They are,' said she, 'and make haste lest the burying be ended
+before you get there.'
+
+Then off he went, running hard, and when the mourners saw a man
+coming towards them with nothing on but his nightshirt, they
+forgot in their fright what they were there for, and fled to hide
+themselves. And the naked man stood alone at the head of the
+coffin.
+
+Very soon a man came out of the wood and spoke to him.
+
+'Do you know me?'
+
+'Not I,' answered the naked man. 'I do not know you.'
+
+'But why are you naked?' asked the first man.
+
+'Am I naked? My wife told me that I had all my clothes on,'
+answered he.
+
+'And my wife told me that I myself was dead,' said the man in the
+coffin.
+
+But at the sound of his voice the two men were so terrified that
+they ran straight home, and the man in the coffin got up and
+followed them, and it was his wife that gained the gold ring, as
+he had been sillier than the other two.
+
+From 'West Highland Tales.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                        The Hoodie-Crow.
+
+
+
+
+Once there lived a farmer who had three daughters, and good
+useful girls they were, up with the sun, and doing all the work
+of the house. One morning they all ran down to the river to wash
+their clothes, when a hoodie came round and sat on a tree close
+by.
+
+'Wilt thou wed me, thou farmer's daughter?' he said to the
+eldest.
+
+'Indeed I won't wed thee,' she answered, 'an ugly brute is the
+hoodie.' And the bird, much offended, spread his wings and flew
+away. But the following day he came back again, and said to the
+second girl:
+
+'Wilt thou wed me, farmer's daughter?'
+
+'Indeed I will not,' answered she, 'an ugly brute is the hoodie.'
+And the hoodie was more angry than before, and went away in a
+rage. However, after a night's rest he was in a better temper,
+and thought that he might be more lucky the third time, so back
+he went to the old place.
+
+'Wilt thou wed me, farmer's daughter?' he said to the youngest.
+
+'Indeed I will wed thee; a pretty creature is the hoodie,'
+answered she, and on the morrow they were married.
+
+'I have something to ask thee,' said the hoodie when they were
+far away in his own house. 'Wouldst thou rather I should be a
+hoodie by day and a man by night, or a man by day and a hoodie by
+night?'
+
+The girl was surprised at his words, for she did not know that he
+could be anything but a hoodie at all times.
+
+Still she said nothing of this, and only replied, 'I would rather
+thou wert a man by day and a hoodie by night,' And so he was; and
+a handsomer man or a more beautiful hoodie never was seen. The
+girl loved them both, and never wished for things to be
+different.
+
+By and bye they had a son, and very pleased they both were. But
+in the night soft music was heard stealing close towards the
+house, and every man slept, and the mother slept also. When they
+woke again it was morning, and the baby was gone. High and low
+they looked for it, but nowhere could they find it, and the
+farmer, who had come to see his daughter, was greatly grieved, as
+he feared it might be thought that he had stolen it, because he
+did not want the hoodie for a son-in-law.
+
+The next year the hoodie's wife had another son, and this time a
+watch was set at every door. But it was no use. In vain they
+determined that, come what might, they would not close their
+eyes; at the first note of music they all fell asleep, and when
+the farmer arrived in the morning to see his grandson, he found
+them all weeping, for while they had slept the baby had vanished.
+
+Well, the next year it all happened again, and the hoodie's wife
+was so unhappy that her husband resolved to take her away to
+another house he had, and her sisters with her for company. So
+they set out in a coach which was big enough to hold them, and
+had not gone very far when the hoodie suddenly said:
+
+'You are sure you have not forgotten anything?'
+
+'I have forgotten my coarse comb,' answered the wife, feeling in
+her pocket, and as she spoke the coach changed into a withered
+faggot, and the man became a hoodie again, and flew away.
+
+The two sisters returned home, but the wife followed the hoodie.
+Sometimes she would see him on a hill-top, and then would hasten
+after him, hoping to catch him. But by the time she had got to
+the top of the hill, he would be in the valley on the other side.
+When night came, and she was tired, she looked about for some
+place to rest, and glad she was to see a little house full of
+light straight in front of her, and she hurried towards it as
+fast as she could.
+
+At the door stood a little boy, and the sight of him filled her
+heart with pleasure, she did not know why. A woman came out, and
+bade her welcome, and set before her food, and gave her a soft
+bed to lie on. And the hoodie's wife lay down, and so tired was
+she, that it seemed to her but a moment before the sun rose, and
+she awoke again. From hill to hill she went after the hoodie, and
+sometimes she saw him on the top; but when she got to the top, he
+had flown into the valley, and when she reached the valley he was
+on the top of another hill--and so it happened till night came
+round again. Then she looked round for some place to rest in, and
+she beheld a little house of light before her, and fast she
+hurried towards it. At the door stood a little boy, and her heart
+was filled with pleasure at the sight of him, she did not know
+why. After that a woman bade her enter, and set food before her,
+and gave her a soft bed to lie in. And when the sun rose she got
+up, and left the house, in search of the hoodie. This day
+everything befell as on the two other days, but when she reached
+the small house, the woman bade her keep awake, and if the hoodie
+flew into the room, to try to seize him.
+
+But the wife had walked far, and was very tired, and strive as
+she would, she fell sound asleep.
+
+Many hours she slept, and the hoodie entered through a window,
+and let fall a ring on her hand. The girl awoke with a start, and
+leant forward to grasp him, but he was already flying off, and
+she only seized a feather from his wing. And when dawn came, she
+got up and told the woman.
+
+'He has gone over the hill of poison,' said she, 'and there you
+cannot follow him without horse-shoes on your hands and feet. But
+I will help you. Put on this suit of men's clothes, and go down
+this road till you come to the smithy, and there you can learn to
+make horse-shoes for yourself.'
+
+The girl thanked her, and put on the cloths and went down the
+road to do her bidding. So hard did she work, that in a few days
+she was able to make the horse-shoes. Early one morning she set
+out for the hill of poison. On her hands and feet she went, but
+even with the horse-shoes on she had to be very careful not to
+stumble, lest some poisoned thorns should enter into her flesh,
+and she should die. But when at last she was over, it was only to
+hear that her husband was to be married that day to the daughter
+of a great lord.
+
+Now there was to be a race in the town, and everyone meant to be
+there, except the stranger who had come over the hill of poison--
+everyone, that is, but the cook, who was to make the bridal
+supper. Greatly he loved races, and sore was his heart to think
+that one should be run without his seeing it, so when he beheld a
+woman whom he did not know coming along the street, hope sprang
+up in him.
+
+'Will you cook the wedding feast in place of me?' he said, 'and I
+will pay you well when I return from the race.'
+
+Gladly she agreed, and cooked the feast in a kitchen that looked
+into the great hall, where the company were to eat it. After that
+she watched the seat where the bridegroom was sitting, and taking
+a plateful of the broth, she dropped the ring and the feather
+into it, and set if herself before him.
+
+With the first spoonful he took up the ring, and a thrill ran
+through him; in the second he beheld the feather and rose from
+his chair.
+
+'Who has cooked this feast?' asked he, and the real cook, who had
+come back from the race, was brought before him.
+
+'He may be the cook, but he did not cook this feast,' said the
+bridegroom, and then inquiry was made, and the girl was summoned
+to the great hall.
+
+'That is my married wife,' he declared, 'and no one else will I
+have,' and at that very moment the spells fell off him, and never
+more would he be a hoodie. Happy indeed were they to be together
+again, and little did they mind that the hill of poison took long
+to cross, for she had to go some way forwards, and then throw the
+horse-shoes back for him to put on. Still, at last they were
+over, and they went back the way she had come, and stopped at the
+three houses in order to take their little sons to their own
+home.
+
+But the story never says who had stolen them, nor what the coarse
+comb had to do with it.
+
+From 'West Highland Tales.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                    The Brownie of the Lake
+
+
+
+
+Once upon a time there lived in France a man whose name was Jalm
+Riou. You might have walked a whole day without meeting anyone
+happier or more contented, for he had a large farm, plenty of
+money, and above all, a daughter called Barbaik, the most
+graceful dancer and the best-dressed girl in the whole country
+side. When she appeared on holidays in her embroidered cap, five
+petticoats, each one a little shorter than the other, and shoes
+with silver buckles, the women were all filled with envy, but
+little cared Barbaik what they might whisper behind her back as
+long as she knew that her clothes were finer than anyone else's
+and that she had more partners than any other girl.
+
+Now amongst all the young men who wanted to marry Barbaik, the
+one whose heart was most set on her was her father's head man,
+but as his manners were rough and he was exceedingly ugly she
+would have nothing to say to him, and, what was worse, often made
+fun of him with the rest.
+
+Jegu, for that was his name, of course heard of this, and it made
+him very unhappy. Still he would not leave the farm, and look for
+work elsewhere, as he might have done, for then he would never
+see Barbaik at all, and what was life worth to him without that?
+
+One evening he was bringing back his horses from the fields, and
+stopped at a little lake on the way home to let them drink. He
+was tired with a long day's work, and stood with his hand on the
+mane of one of the animals, waiting till they had done, and
+thinking all the while of Barbaik, when a voice came out of the
+gorse close by.
+
+'What is the matter, Jegu? You mustn't despair yet.'
+
+The young man glanced up in surprise, and asked who was there.
+
+'It is I, the brownie of the lake,' replied the voice.
+
+'But where are you?' inquired Jegu.
+
+'Look close, and you will see me among the reeds in the form of a
+little green frog. I can take,' he added proudly, 'any shape I
+choose, and even, which is much harder, be invisible if I want
+to.'
+
+'Then show yourself to me in the shape in which your family
+generally appear,' replied Jegu.
+
+'Certainly, if you wish,' and the frog jumped on the back of one
+of the horses, and changed into a little dwarf, all dressed in
+green.
+
+This transformation rather frightened Jegu, but the brownie bade
+him have no fears, for he would not do him any harm; indeed, he
+hoped that Jegu might find him of some use.
+
+'But why should you take all this interest in me?' asked the
+peasant suspiciously.
+
+'Because of a service you did me last winter, which I have never
+forgotten,' answered the little fellow. 'You know, I am sure,
+that the korigans[FN#3: The spiteful fairies.] who dwell in the
+White Corn country have declared war on my people, because they
+say that they are the friends of man. We were therefore obliged
+to take refuge in distant lands, and to hide ourselves at first
+under different animal shapes. Since that time, partly from habit
+and partly to amuse ourselves, we have continued to transform
+ourselves, and it was in this way that I got to know you.'
+
+'How?' exclaimed Jegu, filled with astonishment.
+
+'Do you remember when you were digging in the field near the
+river, three months ago, you found a robin redbreast caught in a
+net?
+
+'Yes,' answered Jegu, 'I remember it very well, and I opened the
+net and let him go.'
+
+'Well, I was that robin redbreast, and ever since I have vowed to
+be your friend, and as you want to marry Barbaik, I will prove
+the truth of what I say by helping you to do so.'
+
+'Ah! my little brownie, if you can do that, there is nothing I
+won't give you, except my soul.'
+
+'Then let me alone,' rejoined the dwarf, 'and I promise you that
+in a very few months you shall be master of the farm and of
+Barbaik.'
+
+'But how are you going to do it?' exclaimed Jegu wonderingly.
+
+'That is my affair. Perhaps I may tell you later. Meanwhile you
+just eat and sleep, and don't worry yourself about anything.'
+
+Jegu declared that nothing could be easier, and then taking off
+his hat, he thanked the dwarf heartily, and led his horses back
+to the farm.
+
+Next morning was a holiday, and Barbaik was awake earlier than
+usual, as she wished to get through her work as soon as possible,
+and be ready to start for a dance which was to be held some
+distance off. She went first to the cow-house, which it was her
+duty to keep clean, but to her amazement she found fresh straw
+put down, the racks filled with hay, the cows milked, and the
+pails standing neatly in a row.
+
+'Of course, Jegu must have done this in the hope of my giving him
+a dance,' she thought to herself, and when she met him outside
+the door she stopped and thanked him for his help. To be sure,
+Jegu only replied roughly that he didn't know what she was
+talking about, but this answer made her feel all the more certain
+that it was he and nobody else.
+
+The same thing took place every day, and never had the cow-house
+been so clean nor the cows so fat. Morning and evening Barbaik
+found her earthen pots full of milk and a pound of butter freshly
+churned, ornamented with leaves. At the end of a few weeks she
+grew so used to this state of affairs that she only got up just
+in time to prepare breakfast.
+
+Soon even this grew to be unnecessary, for a day arrived when,
+coming downstairs, she discovered that the house was swept, the
+furniture polished, the fire lit, and the food ready, so that she
+had nothing to do except to ring the great bell which summoned
+the labourers from the fields to come and eat it. This, also, she
+thought was the work of Jegu, and she could not help feeling that
+a husband of this sort would be very useful to a girl who liked
+to lie in bed and to amuse herself.
+
+Indeed, Barbaik had only to express a wish for it to be
+satisfied. If the wind was cold or the sun was hot and she was
+afraid to go out lest her complexion should be spoilt, she need
+only to run down to the spring close by and say softly, 'I should
+like my churns to be full, and my wet linen to be stretched on
+the hedge to dry,' and she need never give another thought to the
+matter.
+
+If she found the rye bread too hard to bake, or the oven taking
+too long to heat, she just murmured, 'I should like to see my six
+loaves on the shelf above the bread box,' and two hours after
+there they were.
+
+If she was too lazy to walk all the way to market along a dirty
+road, she would say out loud the night before, 'Why am I not
+already back from Morlaix with my milk pot empty, my butter bowl
+inside it, a pound of wild cherries on my wooden plate, and the
+money I have gained in my apron pocket?' and in the morning when
+she got up, lo and behold! there were standing at the foot of her
+bed the empty milk pot with the butter bowl inside, the black
+cherries on the wooden plate, and six new pieces of silver in the
+pocket of her apron. And she believed that all this was owing to
+Jegu, and she could no longer do without him, even in her
+thoughts.
+
+When things had reached this pass, the brownie told the young man
+that he had better ask Barbaik to marry him, and this time the
+girl did not turn rudely away, but listened patiently to the end.
+In her eyes he was as ugly and awkward as ever, but he would
+certainly make a most useful husband, and she could sleep every
+morning till breakfast time, just like a young lady, and as for
+the rest of the day, it would not be half long enough for all she
+meant to do. She would wear the beautiful dresses that came when
+she wished for them, and visit her neighbours, who would be dying
+of envy all the while, and she would be able to dance as much as
+she wished. Jegu would always be there to work for her and save
+for her, and watch over her. So, like a well-brought-up girl,
+Barbaik answered that it should be as her father pleased, knowing
+quite well that old Riou had often said that after he was dead
+there was no one so capable of carrying on the farm.
+
+The marriage took place the following month, and a few days later
+the old man died quite suddenly. Now Jegu had everything to see
+to himself, and somehow it did not seem so easy as when the
+farmer was alive. But once more the brownie stepped in, and was
+better than ten labourers. It was he who ploughed and sowed and
+reaped, and if, as happened, occasionally, it was needful to get
+the work done quickly, the brownie called in some of his friends,
+and as soon as it was light a host of little dwarfs might have
+been seen in the fields, busy with hoe, fork or sickle. But by
+the time the people were about all was finished, and the little
+fellows had disappeared.
+
+And all the payment the brownie ever asked for was a bowl of
+broth.
+From the very day of her marriage Barbaik had noted with surprise
+and rage that things ceased to be done for her as they had been
+done all the weeks and months before. She complained to Jegu of
+his laziness, and he only stared at her, not understanding what
+she was talking about. But the brownie, who was standing by,
+burst out laughing, and confessed that all the good offices she
+spoke of had been performed by him, for the sake of Jegu, but
+that now he had other business to do, and it was high time that
+she looked after her house herself.
+
+Barbaik was furious. Each morning when she was obliged to get up
+before dawn to milk the cows and go to market, and each evening
+when she had to sit up till midnight in order to churn the
+butter, her heart was filled with rage against the brownie who
+had caused her to expect a life of ease and pleasure. But when
+she looked at Jegu and beheld his red face, squinting eyes, and
+untidy hair, her anger was doubled.
+
+'If it had not been for you, you miserable dwarf!' she would say
+between her teeth, 'if it had not been for you I should never
+have married that man, and I should still have been going to
+dances, where the young men would have brought me present of nuts
+and cherries, and told me that I was the prettiest girl in the
+parish. While now I can receive no presents except from my
+husband. I can never dance, except with my husband. Oh, you
+wretched dwarf, I will never, never forgive you!'
+
+In spite of her fierce words, no one knew better than Barbaik how
+to put her pride in her pocket when it suited her, and after
+receiving an invitation to a wedding, she begged the brownie to
+get her a horse to ride there. To her great joy he consented,
+bidding her set out for the city of the dwarfs and to tell them
+exactly what she wanted. Full of excitement, Barbaik started on
+her journey. It was not long, and when she reached the town she
+went straight to the dwarfs, who were holding counsel in a wide
+green place, and said to them, 'Listen, my friends! I have come
+to beg you to lend me a black horse, with eyes, a mouth, ears,
+bridle and saddle.'
+
+She had hardly spoken when the horse appeared, and mounting on
+his back she started for the village where the wedding was to be
+held.
+
+At first she was so delighted with the chance of a holiday from
+the work which she hated, that she noticed nothing, but very soon
+it struck her as odd that as she passed along the roads full of
+people they all laughed as they looked at her horse. At length
+she caught some words uttered by one man to another. 'Why, the
+farmer's wife has sold her horse's tail!' and turned in her
+saddle. Yes; it was true. Her horse had no tail! She had
+forgotten to ask for one, and the wicked dwarfs had carried out
+her orders to the letter!
+
+'Well, at any rate, I shall soon be there,' she thought, and
+shaking the reins, tried to urge the horse to a gallop. But it
+was of no use; he declined to move out of a walk; and she was
+forced to hear all the jokes that were made upon her.
+
+In the evening she returned to the farm more angry than ever, and
+quite determined to revenge herself on the brownie whenever she
+had the chance, which happened to be very soon.
+
+It was the spring, and just the time of year when the dwarfs held
+their fete, so one day the brownie asked Jegu if he might bring
+his friends to have supper in the great barn, and whether he
+would allow them to dance there. Of course, Jegu was only too
+pleased to be able to do anything for the brownie, and he ordered
+Barbaik to spread her best table-cloths in the barn, and to make
+a quantity of little loaves and pancakes, and, besides, to keep
+all the milk given by the cows that morning. He expected she
+would refuse, as he knew she hated the dwarfs, but she said
+nothing, and prepared the supper as he had bidden her.
+
+When all was ready, the dwarfs, in new green suits, came bustling
+in, very happy and merry, and took their seats at the table. But
+in a moment they all sprang up with a cry, and ran away
+screaming, for Barbaik had placed pans of hot coals under their
+feet, and all their poor little toes were burnt.
+
+'You won't forget that in a hurry,' she said, smiling grimly to
+herself, but in a moment they were back again with large pots of
+water, which they poured on the fire. Then they joined hands and
+danced round it, singing:
+
+          Wicked traitress, Barne Riou,
+          Our poor toes are burned by you;
+          Now we hurry from your hall--
+          Bad luck light upon you all.
+
+That evening they left the country for ever, and Jegu, without
+their help, grew poorer and poorer, and at last died of misery,
+while Barbaik was glad to find work in the market of Morlaix.
+
+From 'Le Foyer Breton,' par E. Souvestre.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                      The Winning of Olwen
+
+
+
+
+There was once a king and queen who had a little boy, and they
+called his name Kilweh. The queen, his mother, fell ill soon
+after his birth, and as she could not take care of him herself
+she sent him to a woman she knew up in the mountains, so that he
+might learn to go out in all weathers, and bear heat and cold,
+and grow tall and strong. Kilweh was quite happy with his nurse,
+and ran races and climbed hills with the children who were his
+playfellows, and in the winter, when the snow lay on the ground,
+sometimes a man with a harp would stop and beg for shelter, and
+in return would sing them songs of strange things that had
+happened in the years gone by.
+
+But long before this changes had taken place in the court of
+Kilweh's father. Soon after she had sent her baby away the queen
+became much worse, and at length, seeing that she was going to
+die, she called her husband to her and said:
+
+'Never again shall I rise from this bed, and by and bye thou wilt
+take another wife. But lest she should make thee forget thy son,
+I charge thee that thou take not a wife until thou see a briar
+with two blossoms upon my grave.' And this he promised her. Then
+she further bade him to see to her grave that nothing might grow
+thereon. This likewise he promised her, and soon she died, and
+for seven years the king sent a man every morning to see that
+nothing was growing on the queen's grave, but at the end of seven
+years he forgot.
+
+One day when the king was out hunting he rode past the place
+where the queen lay buried, and there he saw a briar growing with
+two blossoms on it.
+
+'It is time that I took a wife,' said he, and after long looking
+he found one. But he did not tell her about his son; indeed he
+hardly remembered that he had one till she heard it at last from
+an old woman whom she had gone to visit. And the new queen was
+very pleased, and sent messengers to fetch the boy, and in his
+father's court he stayed, while the years went by till one day
+the queen told him that a prophecy had foretold that he was to
+win for his wife Olwen the daughter of Yspaddaden Penkawr.
+
+When he heard this Kilweh felt proud and happy. Surely he must be
+a man now, he thought, or there would be no talk of a wife for
+him, and his mind dwelt all day upon his promised bride, and what
+she would be like when he beheld her.
+
+'What aileth thee, my son?' asked his father at last, when Kilweh
+had forgotten something he had been bidden to do, and Kilweh
+blushed red as he answered:
+
+'My stepmother says that none but Olwen, the daughter of
+Yspaddaden Penkawr, shall be my wife.'
+
+'That will be easily fulfilled,' replied his father. 'Arthur the
+king is thy cousin. Go therefore unto him and beg him to cut thy
+hair, and to grant thee this boon.'
+
+Then the youth pricked forth upon a dapple grey horse of four
+years old, with a bridle of linked gold, and gold upon his
+saddle. In his hand he bore two spears of silver with heads of
+steel; a war-horn of ivory was slung round his shoulder, and by
+his side hung a golden sword. Before him were two brindled white-
+breasted greyhounds with collars of rubies round their necks, and
+the one that was on the left side bounded across to the right
+side, and the one on the right to the left, and like two sea-
+swallows sported round him. And his horse cast up four sods with
+his four hoofs, like four swallows in the air about his head, now
+above, now below. About him was a robe of purple, and an apple of
+gold was at each corner, and every one of the apples was of the
+value of a hundred cows. And the blades of grass bent not beneath
+him, so light were his horse's feet as he journeyed toward the
+gate of Arthur's palace.
+
+'Is there a porter?' cried Kilweh, looking round for someone to
+open the gate.
+
+'There is; and I am Arthur's porter every first day of January,'
+answered a man coming out to him. 'The rest of the year there are
+other porters, and among them Pennpingyon, who goes upon his head
+to save his feet.'
+
+'Well, open the portal, I say.'
+
+'No, that I may not do, for none can enter save the son of a king
+or a pedlar who has goods to sell. But elsewhere there will be
+food for thy dogs and hay for thy horse, and for thee collops
+cooked and peppered, and sweet wine shall be served in the guest
+chamber.'
+
+'That will not do for me,' answered Kilweh. 'If thou wilt not
+open the gate I will send up three shouts that shall be heard
+from Cornwall unto the north, and yet again to Ireland.'
+
+'Whatsoever clamour thou mayest make,' spake Glewlwyd the porter,
+'thou shalt not enter until I first go and speak with Arthur.'
+
+Then Glewlwyd went into the hall, and Arthur said to him:
+
+'Hast thou news from the gate?' and the porter answered:
+
+'Far have I travelled, both in this island and elsewhere, and
+many kingly men have I seen; but never yet have I beheld one
+equal in majesty to him who now stands at the door.'
+
+'If walking thou didst enter here, return thou running,' replied
+Arthur, 'and let everyone that opens and shuts the eye show him
+respect and serve him, for it is not meet to keep such a man in
+the wind and rain.' So Glewlwyd unbarred the gate and Kilweh rode
+in upon his charger.
+
+'Greeting unto thee, O ruler of this land,' cried he, 'and
+greeting no less to the lowest than to the highest.'
+
+'Greeting to thee also,' answered Arthur. 'Sit thou between two
+of my warriors, and thou shalt have minstrels before thee and all
+that belongs to one born to be a king, while thou remainest in my
+palace.'
+
+'I am not come,' replied Kilweh, 'for meat and drink, but to
+obtain a boon, and if thou grant it me I will pay it back, and
+will carry thy praise to the four winds of heaven. But if thou
+wilt not grant it to me, then I will proclaim thy discourtesy
+wherever thy name is known.'
+
+'What thou askest that shalt thou receive,' said Arthur, 'as far
+as the wind dries and the rain moistens, and the sun revolves and
+the sea encircles and the earth extends. Save only my ship and my
+mantle, my word and my lance, my shield and my dagger, and
+Guinevere my wife.'
+
+'I would that thou bless my hair,' spake Kilweh, and Arthur
+answered:
+
+'That shall be granted thee.'
+
+Forthwith he bade his men fetch him a comb of gold and a scissors
+with loops of silver, and he combed the hair of Kilweh his guest.
+
+'Tell me who thou art,' he said, 'for my heart warms to thee, and
+I feel thou art come of my blood.'
+
+'I am Kilweh, son of Kilydd,' replied the youth.
+
+'Then my cousin thou art in truth,' replied Arthur, 'and
+whatsoever boon thou mayest ask thou shalt receive.'
+
+'The boon I crave is that thou mayest win for me Olwen, the
+daughter of Yspaddaden Penkawr, and this boon I seek likewise at
+the hands of thy warriors. From Sol, who can stand all day upon
+one foot; from Ossol, who, if he were to find himself on the top
+of the highest mountain in the world, could make it into a level
+plain in the beat of a bird's wing; from Cluse, who, though he
+were buried under the earth, could yet hear the ant leave her
+nest fifty miles away: from these and from Kai and from Bedwyr
+and from all thy mighty men I crave this boon.'
+
+'O Kilweh,' said Arthur, 'never have I heard of the maiden of
+whom thou speakest, nor of her kindred, but I will send
+messengers to seek her if thou wilt give me time.'
+
+'From this night to the end of the year right willingly will I
+grant thee,' replied Kilweh; but when the end of the year came
+and the messengers returned Kilweh was wroth, and spoke rough
+words to Arthur.
+
+It was Kai, the boldest of the warriors and the swiftest of foot-
+- he would could pass nine nights without sleep, and nine days
+beneath the water--that answered him:
+
+'Rash youth that thou art, darest thou speak thus to Arthur? Come
+with us, and we will not part company till we have won that
+maiden, or till thou confess that there is none such in the
+world.'
+
+Then Arthur summoned his five best men and bade them go with
+Kilweh. There was Bedwyr the one-handed, Kai's comrade and
+brother in arms, the swiftest man in Britain save Arthur; there
+was Kynddelig, who knew the paths in a land where he had never
+been as surely as he did those of his own country; there was
+Gwrhyr, that could speak all tongues; and Gwalchmai the son of
+Gwyar, who never returned till he had gained what he sought; and
+last of all there was Menw, who could weave a spell over them so
+that none might see them, while they could see everyone.
+
+So these seven journeyed together till they reached a vast open
+plain in which was a fair castle. But though it seemed so close
+it was not until the evening of the third day that they really
+drew near to it, and in front of it a flock of sheep was spread,
+so many in number that there seemed no end to them. A shepherd
+stood on a mound watching over them, and by his side was a dog,
+as large as a horse nine winters old.
+
+'Whose is this castle, O herdsmen?' asked the knights.
+
+'Stupid are ye truly,' answered the herdsman. 'All the world
+knows that this is the castle of Yspaddaden Penkawr.'
+
+'And who art thou?'
+
+'I am called Custennin, brother of Yspaddaden, and ill has he
+treated me. And who are you, and what do you here?'
+
+'We come from Arthur the king, to seek Olwen the daughter of
+Yspaddaden,' but at this news the shepherd gave a cry:
+
+'O men, be warned and turn back while there is yet time. Others
+have gone on that quest, but none have escaped to tell the tale,'
+and he rose to his feet as if to leave them. Then Kilweh held out
+to him a ring of gold, and he tried to put it on his finger, but
+it was too small, so he placed it in his glove, and went home and
+gave it to his wife.
+
+'Whence came this ring?' asked she, 'for such good luck is not
+wont to befall thee.'
+
+'The man to whom this ring belonged thou shalt see here in the
+evening,' answered the shepherd; 'he is Kilweh, son of Kilydd,
+cousin to king Arthur, and he has come to seek Olwen.' And when
+the wife heard that she knew that Kilweh was her nephew, and her
+heart yearned after him, half with joy at the thought of seeing
+him, and half with sorrow for the doom she feared.
+
+Soon they heard steps approaching, and Kai and the rest entered
+into the house and ate and drank. After that the woman opened a
+chest, and out of it came a youth with curling yellow hair.
+
+'It is a pity to hid him thus,' said Gwrhyr, 'for well I know
+that he has done no evil.'
+
+'Three and twenty of my sons has Yspaddaden slain, and I have no
+more hope of saving this one,' replied she, and Kai was full of
+sorrow and answered:
+
+'Let him come with me and be my comrade, and he shall never be
+slain unless I am slain also.' And so it was agreed.
+
+'What is your errand here?' asked the woman.
+
+'We seek Olwen the maiden for this youth,' answered Kai; 'does
+she ever come hither so that she may be seen?'
+
+'She comes every Saturday to wash her hair, and in the vessel
+where she washes she leaves all her rings, and never does she so
+much as send a messenger to fetch them.'
+
+'Will she come if she is bidden?' asked Kai, pondering.
+
+'She will come; but unless you pledge me your faith that you will
+not harm her I will not fetch her.'
+
+'We pledge it,' said they, and the maiden came.
+
+A fair sight was she in a robe of flame-coloured silk, with a
+collar of ruddy gold about her neck, bright with emeralds and
+rubies. More yellow was her head than the flower of the broom,
+and her skin was whiter than the foam of the wave, and fairer
+were her hands than the blossoms of the wood anemone. Four white
+trefoils sprang up where she trod, and therefore was she called
+Olwen.
+
+She entered, and sat down on a bench beside Kilweh, and he spake
+to her:
+
+'Ah, maiden, since first I heard thy name I have loved thee--wilt
+thou not come away with me from this evil place?'
+
+'That I cannot do,' answered she, 'for I have given my word to my
+father not to go without his knowledge, for his life will only
+last till I am betrothed. Whatever is, must be, but this counsel
+I will give you. Go, and ask me of my father, and whatsoever he
+shall required of thee grant it, and thou shalt win me; but if
+thou deny him anything thou wilt not obtain me, and it will be
+well for thee if thou escape with thy life.'
+
+'All this I promise,' said he.
+
+So she returned to the castle, and all Arthur's men went after
+her, and entered the hall.
+
+'Greeting to thee, Yspaddaden Penkawr,' said they. 'We come to
+ask thy daughter Olwen for Kilweh, son of Kilydd.'
+
+'Come hither to-morrow and I will answer you,' replied Yspaddaden
+Penkawr, and as they rose to leave the hall he caught up one of
+the three poisoned darts that lay beside him and flung it in
+their midst. But Bedwyr saw and caught it, and flung it back so
+hard that it pierced the knee of Yspaddaden.
+
+'A gentle son-in-law, truly!' he cried, writhing with pain. 'I
+shall ever walk the worse for this rudeness. Cursed be the smith
+who forged it, and the anvil on which it was wrought!'
+
+That night the men slept in the house of Custennin the herdsman,
+and the next day they proceeded to the castle, and entered the
+hall, and said:
+
+'Yspaddaden Penkawr, give us thy daughter and thou shalt keep her
+dower. And unless thou wilt do this we will slay thee.'
+
+'Her four great grandmothers and her four great grandfathers yet
+live,' answered Yspaddaden Penkawr; 'it is needful that I take
+counsel with them.'
+
+'Be it so; we will go to meat,' but as they turned he took up the
+second dart that lay by his side and cast it after them. And Menw
+caught it, and flung it at him, and wounded him in the chest, so
+that it came out at his back.
+
+'A gentle son-in-law, truly!' cried Yspaddaden, 'the iron pains
+me like the bite of a horse-leech. Cursed be the hearth whereon
+it was heated, and the smith who formed it!'
+The third day Arthur's men returned to the palace into the
+presence of Yspaddaden.
+
+'Shoot not at me again,' said he, 'unless you desire death. But
+lift up my eyebrows, which have fallen over my eyes, that I may
+see my son-in-law.' Then they arose, and as they did so
+Yspaddaden Penkawr took the third poisoned dart and cast it at
+them. And Kilweh caught it, and flung it back, and it passed
+through his eyeball, and came out on the other side of his head.
+
+'A gentle son-in-law, truly! Cursed be the fire in which it was
+forged and the man who fashioned it!'
+
+The next day Arthur's men came again to the palace and said:
+
+'Shoot not at us any more unless thou desirest more pain than
+even now thou hast, but give us thy daughter without more words.'
+
+'Where is he that seeks my daughter? Let him come hither so that
+I may see him.' And Kilweh sat himself in a chair and spoke face
+to face with him.
+
+'Is it thou that seekest my daughter?'
+
+'It is I,' answered Kilweh.
+
+'First give me thy word that thou wilt do nothing towards me that
+is not just, and when thou hast won for me that which I shall
+ask, then thou shalt wed my daughter.'
+
+'I promise right willingly,' said Kilweh. 'Name what thou wilt.'
+
+'Seest thou yonder hill? Well, in one day it shall be rooted up
+and ploughed and sown, and the grain shall ripen, and of that
+wheat I will bake the cakes for my daughter's wedding.'
+
+'It will be easy for me to compass this, although thou mayest
+deem it will not be easy,' answered Kilweh, thinking of Ossol,
+under whose feet the highest mountain became straightway a plain,
+but Yspaddaden paid no heed, and continued:
+
+'Seest thou that field yonder? When my daughter was born nine
+bushels of flax were sown therein, and not one blade has sprung
+up. I require thee to sow fresh flax in the ground that my
+daughter may wear a veil spun from it on the day of her wedding.'
+
+'It will be easy for me to compass this.'
+
+'Though thou compass this there is that which thou wilt not
+compass. For thou must bring me the basket of Gwyddneu Garanhir
+which will give meat to the whole world. It is for thy wedding
+feast. Thou must also fetch me the drinking-horn that is never
+empty, and the harp that never ceases to play until it is bidden.
+Also the comb and scissors and razor that lie between the two
+ears of Trwyth the boar, so that I may arrange my hair for the
+wedding. And though thou get this yet there is that which thou
+wilt not get, for Trwyth the boar will not let any man take from
+him the comb and the scissors, unless Drudwyn the whelp hunt him.
+But no leash in the world can hold Drudwyn save the leash of Cant
+Ewin, and no collar will hold the leash except the collar of
+Canhastyr.'
+
+'It will be easy for me to compass this, though thou mayest think
+it will not be easy,' Kilweh answered him.
+
+'Though thou get all these things yet there is that which thou
+wilt not get. Throughout the world there is none that can hunt
+with this dog save Mabon the son of Modron. He was taken from his
+mother when three nights old, and it is not know where he now is,
+nor whether he is living or dead, and though thou find him yet
+the boar will never be slain save only with the sword of Gwrnach
+the giant, and if thou obtain it not neither shalt thou obtain my
+daughter.'
+
+'Horses shall I have, and knights from my lord Arthur. And I
+shall gain thy daughter, and thou shalt lose thy life.'
+
+The speech of Kilweh the son of Kilydd with Yspaddaden Penkawr
+was ended.
+
+Then Arthur's men set forth, and Kilweh with them, and journeyed
+till they reached the largest castle in the world, and a black
+man came out to meet them.
+
+'Whence comest thou, O man?' asked they, 'and whose is that
+castle?'
+
+'That is the castle of Gwrnach the giant, as all the world
+knows,' answered the man, 'but no guest ever returned thence
+alive, and none may enter the gate except a craftsman, who brings
+his trade.' But little did Arthur's men heed his warning, and
+they went straight to the gate.
+
+'Open!' cried Gwrhyr.
+
+'I will not open,' replied the porter.
+
+'And wherefore?' asked Kai.
+
+'The knife is in the meat, and the drink is in the horn, and
+there is revelry in the hall of Gwrnach the giant, and save for a
+craftsman who brings his trade the gate will not be opened to-
+night.'
+
+'Verily, then, I may enter,' said Kai, 'for there is no better
+burnisher of swords than I.'
+
+'This will I tell Gwrnach the giant, and I will bring thee his
+answer.'
+
+'Bid the man come before me,' cried Gwrnach, when the porter had
+told his tale, 'for my sword stands much in need of polishing,'
+so Kai passed in and saluted Gwrnach the giant.
+
+'Is it true what I hear of thee, that thou canst burnish swords?'
+
+'It is true,' answered Kai. Then was the sword of Gwrnach brought
+to him.
+
+'Shall it be burnished white or blue?' said Kai, taking a
+whetstone from under his arm.
+
+'As thou wilt,' answered the giant, and speedily did Kai polish
+half the sword. The giant marvelled at his skill, and said:
+
+'It is a wonder that such a man as thou shouldst be without a
+companion.'
+
+'I have a companion, noble sir, but he has no skill in this art.'
+
+'What is his name?' asked the giant.
+
+'Let the porter go forth, and I will tell him how he may know
+him. The head of his lance will leave its shaft, and draw blood
+from the wind, and descend upon its shaft again.' So the porter
+opened the gate and Bedwyr entered.
+
+Now there was much talk amongst those who remained without when
+the gate closed upon Bedwyr, and Goreu, son of Custennin,
+prevailed with the porter, and he and his companions got in also
+and hid themselves.
+
+By this time the whole of the sword was polished, and Kai gave it
+into the hand of Gwrnach the giant, who felt it and said:
+
+'Thy work is good; I am content.'
+
+Then said Kai:
+
+'It is thy scabbard that hath rusted thy sword; give it to me
+that I may take out the wooden sides of it and put in new ones.'
+And he took the scabbard in one hand and the sword in the other,
+and came and stood behind the giant, as if he would have sheathed
+the sword in the scabbard. But with it he struck a blow at the
+head of the giant, and it rolled from his body. After that they
+despoiled the castle of its gold and jewels, and returned,
+bearing the sword of the giant, to Arthur's court.
+
+They told Arthur how they had sped, and they all took counsel
+together, and agreed that they must set out on the quest for
+Mabon the son of Modron, and Gwrhyr, who knew the languages of
+beasts and of birds, went with them. SO they journeyed until they
+came to the nest of an ousel, and Gwrhyr spoke to her.
+
+'Tell me if thou knowest aught of Mabon the son of Modron, who
+was taken when three nights old from between his mother and the
+wall.'
+
+And the ousel answered:
+
+'When I first came here I was a young bird, and there was a
+smith's anvil in this place. But from that time no work has been
+done upon it, save that every evening I have pecked at it, till
+now there is not so much as the size of a nut remaining thereof.
+Yet all that time I have never once heard of the man you name.
+Still, there is a race of beasts older than I, and I will guide
+you to them.'
+
+So the ousel flew before them, till she reached the stag of
+Redynvre; but when they inquired of the stag whether he knew
+aught of Mabon he shook his head.
+
+'When first I came hither,' said he, 'the plain was bare save for
+one oak sapling, which grew up to be an oak with a hundred
+branches. All that is left of that oak is a withered stump, but
+never once have I heard of the man you name. Nevertheless, as you
+are Arthur's men, I will guide you to the place where there is an
+animal older than I'; and the stag ran before them till he
+reached the owl of Cwm Cawlwyd. But when they inquired of the owl
+if he knew aught of Mabon he shook his head.
+
+'When first I came hither,' said he, 'the valley was a wooded
+glen; then a race of men came and rooted it up. After that there
+grew a second wood, and then a third, which you see. Look at my
+wings also--are they not withered stumps? Yet until to-day I have
+never heard of the man you name. Still, I will guide you to the
+oldest animal in the world, and the one that has travelled most,
+the eagle of Gwern Abbey.' And he flew before them, as fast as
+his old wings would carry him, till he reached the eagle of Gwern
+Abbey, but when they inquired of the eagle whether he knew aught
+of Mabon he shook his head.
+
+'When I first came hither,' said the eagle, 'there was a rock
+here, and every evening I pecked at the stars from the top of it.
+Now, behold, it is not even a span high! But only once have I
+heard of the man you name, and that was when I went in search of
+food as far as Llyn Llyw. I swooped down upon a salmon, and
+struck my claws into him, but he drew me down under water till
+scarcely could I escape him. Then I summoned all my kindred to
+destroy him, but he made peace with me, and I took fifty fish
+spears from his back. Unless he may know something of the man
+whom you seek I cannot tell who may. But I will guide you to the
+place where he is.'
+
+So they followed the eagle, who flew before them, though so high
+was he in the sky, it was often hard to mark his flight. At
+length he stopped above a deep pool in a river.
+
+'Salmon of Llyn Llyw,' he called, 'I have come to thee with an
+embassy from Arthur to inquire if thou knowest aught concerning
+Mabon the son of Modron.' And the salmon answered:
+
+'As much as I know I will tell thee. With every tide I go up the
+river, till I reach the walls of Gloucester, and there have I
+found such wrong as I never found elsewhere. And that you may see
+that what I say is true let two of you go thither on my
+shoulders.' So Kai and Gwrhyr went upon the shoulders of the
+salmon, and were carried under the walls of the prison, from
+which proceeded the sound of great weeping.
+
+'Who is it that thus laments in this house of stone?'
+
+'It is I, Mabon the son of Modron.'
+
+'Will silver or gold bring thy freedom, or only battle and
+fighting?' asked Gwrhyr again.
+
+'By fighting alone shall I be set free,' said Mabon.
+
+Then they sent a messenger to Arthur to tell him that Mabon was
+found, and he brought all his warriors to the castle of
+Gloucester and fell fiercely upon it; while Kai and Bedwyr went
+on the shoulders of the salmon to the gate of the dungeon, and
+broke it down and carried away Mabon. And he now being free
+returned home with Arthur.
+
+After this, on a certain day, as Gwythyr was walking across a
+mountain he heard a grievous cry, and he hastened towards it. In
+a little valley he saw the heather burning and the fire spreading
+fast towards the anthill, and all the ants were hurrying to and
+fro, not knowing whither to go. Gwythyr had pity on them, and put
+out the fire, and in gratitude the ants brought him the nine
+bushels of flax seed which Yspaddaden Penkawr required of Kilweh.
+And many of the other marvels were done likewise by Arthur and
+his knights, and at last it came to the fight with Trwyth the
+board, to obtain the comb and the scissors and the razor that lay
+between his ears. But hard was the boar to catch, and fiercely
+did he fight when Arthur's men gave him battle, so that many of
+them were slain.
+
+Up and down the country went Trwyth the boar, and Arthur followed
+after him, till they came to the Severn sea. There three knights
+caught his feet unawares and plunged him into the water, while
+one snatched the razor from him, and another seized the scissors.
+But before they laid hold of the comb he had shaken them all off,
+and neither man nor horse nor dog could reach him till he came to
+Cornwall, whither Arthur had sworn he should not go. Thither
+Arthur followed after him with his knights, and if it had been
+hard to win the razor and the scissors, the struggle for the comb
+was fiercer still, but at length Arthur prevailed, and the boar
+was driven into the sea. And whether he was drowned or where he
+went no man knows to this day.
+
+In the end all the marvels were done, and Kilweh set forward, and
+with him Goreu, the son of Custennin, to Yspaddaden Penkawr,
+bearing in their hands the razor, the scissors and the comb, and
+Yspaddaden Penkawr was shaved by Kaw.
+
+'Is thy daughter mine now?' asked Kilweh.
+
+'She is thine,' answered Yspaddaden, 'but it is Arthur and none
+other who has won her for thee. Of my own free will thou shouldst
+never have had her, for now I must lose my life.' And as he spake
+Goreu the son of Custennin cut off his head, as if had been ordained,
+and Arthur's hosts returned each man to his own country.
+
+
+
+From the 'Mabinogion.'
+
+
+
+
+
+End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Lilac Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang
+
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