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diff --git a/77025-0.txt b/77025-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f1abd76 --- /dev/null +++ b/77025-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3007 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77025 *** + + + + + +This ebook was created in honour of Distributed Proofreaders’ +25th Anniversary. + + + + +By Eva March Tappan + + THE HOUSE WITH THE SILVER DOOR. + WHEN KNIGHTS WERE BOLD. + DIXIE KITTEN. + AN OLD, OLD STORY-BOOK. + THE CHAUCER STORY BOOK. + LETTERS FROM COLONIAL CHILDREN. + AMERICAN HERO STORIES. + THE STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE. + THE STORY OF THE GREEK PEOPLE. + THE GOLDEN GOOSE AND OTHER FAIRY TALES. + THE CHRIST STORY. + OLD BALLADS IN PROSE. + +All of the above are illustrated. + + +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK + + + + +THE HOUSE WITH THE SILVER DOOR + + + [Illustration: (p. 30) + THE CHILDREN TOLD THE MOON LADY] + + + + + THE HOUSE WITH THE + SILVER DOOR + + BY + EVA MARCH TAPPAN + + WITH ILLUSTRATIONS + + [Illustration] + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + The Riverside Press Cambridge + 1913 + + + + +COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY EVA MARCH TAPPAN + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +_Published September 1913_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + I. THE HOUSE WITH THE SILVER DOOR 1 + + II. KING HANSEL THE FIRST 67 + + III. THE STAR PRINCESS 129 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + THE CHILDREN TOLD THE MOON LADY _Frontispiece_ + + SILVERBOY CALLED, “WHO’S THERE?” 52 + + A GREAT COARSE HAND PULLED HIM IN 94 + + “SHE IS FAIRER THAN ANY OF MY MAIDENS” 158 + + _From drawings by Emily Hall Chamberlain._ + + + + +THE HOUSE WITH THE SILVER DOOR + + + + +THE HOUSE WITH THE SILVER DOOR + + +Once upon a time a man and his wife lived in a cottage in the forest, +so far away that no one could think how far it was even if he tried for +a month. They had two children, a boy and a girl. There was only one +thing more that they wanted, and that was a silver door to the cottage. + +“How I should like to have a silver door,” said the goodman, “so I +could see the sun shine upon it at sunset when I came in from my work!” + +“How I should like to have a silver door,” said the goodwife. “I should +draw in the latchstring at night, and go to sleep thinking, ‘My door is +made of silver, and how it will shine when the sun strikes it in the +morning.’” + +The children had heard this every day since they could remember, and +when they had grown older, they determined to go away and see if they +could not find a silver door for their father and mother. + +Very early one morning, long before their parents were awake, Silverboy +and Silvergirl, for those were their names, took hold of each other’s +hand and went softly out of the cottage and far away. They climbed over +fallen trees, they waded through brooks and mossy pools, they were +caught in the briers, and they scrambled down breakneck cliffs. After +a long time they came to the edge of the forest, but nowhere had they +seen what they were looking for. + +“What shall we do?” cried Silvergirl, sobbing. “I’m afraid we shall +never find a silver door.” + +Silverboy might have cried, too, if he had been alone, but now he +plucked up his courage and answered bravely:-- + +“Oh, we’ll find it yet.” + +“But we don’t even know where to look for it.” + +“Do you see that great oak tree, the one with so many knots? I saw a +squirrel run into a hole in the trunk just now. Maybe he’s the Wizard +Squirrel himself, and I mean to ask him if he will tell us where to go.” + +“Oh, don’t,” pleaded Silvergirl. “I am afraid he might hurt you.” + +“Some wizards are bad,” declared Silverboy as wisely as if he had gone +fishing with wizards every day of his life, “but some are good, and I’m +almost sure that this is a good one.” Then he went under the tree and +called softly:-- + +“Squirrel, squirrel, are you the Wizard Squirrel?” + +“Wizard yourself!” scolded the squirrel, making up a comical face at +him. “I wish you’d keep quiet; I want to eat my supper.” + +“But won’t you please tell us where to look for a silver door?” begged +Silverboy. + +“In the place where they keep them, of course,” retorted the Wizard +Squirrel, for it was really he himself. + +“Won’t you please tell us where that is?” Silverboy persisted. + +“Perhaps it is in the moon,” declared the Wizard Squirrel meditatively. +“It looks as if there was a good deal of silver up there. Why don’t you +ask the Moon King?” he added, dropping a bit of nutshell directly upon +Silverboy’s nose. “Now, run away; you ask too many questions. Squirrels +never ask questions at suppertime.” + +“But we can’t get to the moon,” said Silverboy sadly. + +“No more can you get to me,” retorted the Wizard Squirrel, “but you +won’t stop talking to me.” And with a whisk of his bushy tail he +slipped out of sight into his hole. + +“He means that we shall call to the moon,” said Silvergirl. + +They went out from the forest to an open field to watch for the moon, +and soon it shone down clear and bright, and they cried:-- + +“O moon, moon, won’t you please help us and tell us where to find a +silver door?” + +But the moon sailed on among the little clouds and answered never a +word. Right behind the children, however, they heard a funny little +chattering. It was the Wizard Squirrel, and he called:-- + +“You are real moon calves! I never told you to call out in that +fashion. I’ve thought of something. What will you do for me if I tell +you which way to go to find a silver door?” + +“I’ll give you a great pile of nuts,” said Silverboy. + +“Ho, nuts, indeed!” declared the Wizard Squirrel. “I can get nuts +myself, and I can go to the very tops of trees that you wouldn’t think +of climbing.” + +“I’ll do anything you say,” promised Silverboy eagerly. + +“There’s just one thing that you can do for me,” said the Wizard +Squirrel. “I don’t want the All-Alone Axe to cut down the Ancient Oak, +and if you will go to the mountain over there and get him to promise to +let it alone, you will be started on the right way to find the silver +door. If he won’t do it, you may as well go home, for you’ll never find +your door if you hunt till the skies fall. I can’t stop to talk with +moon calves any longer,” and in a flash he was gone. + +“Shall we do it?” asked Silvergirl; and her brother replied stoutly, +“Yes, come on, and let us climb the mountain.” + +So on they went, across the meadow and over the swamp and through the +thicket and up the side of the mountain. When they were halfway to the +top, they heard the sound of chopping. Then they heard the fall of a +tree. + +“That must be the All-Alone Axe,” said Silverboy. “It sounds as if +it was over there, just behind the cliff. Come, and we will find the +woodchopper and ask him not to cut down the Ancient Oak.” + +They hurried around the cliff, but no woodchopper was there. Nothing at +all was to be seen but a great axe chopping away all by its lone self. + +“Please, Mr. All-Alone Axe,” said Silverboy, rather timidly, for he had +never before seen an axe chopping away alone. “Please, Mr. All-Alone +Axe, will you tell us where the woodchopper is?” + +“Can’t you see?” demanded the All-Alone Axe sharply. “I’m chopping, and +I’m chopping wood. What more woodchopper do you want?” And he cut away +faster than ever. + +The trees began to fall on the right and on the left, and Silvergirl +was badly frightened. “Oh, if we only could get away!” she thought; but +she called up all her courage and asked very politely:-- + +“Is there anything we can do for you, Mr. All-Alone Axe?” + +“There’s a girl who knows an axe from a hatchet!” cried the All-Alone +Axe; and he was so pleased that he actually stopped cutting for at +least two minutes. “Yes,” he added; “over on that mountain the Gentle +Giant lives, and after I have cut down some trees, he often comes and +drags them away. If you’ll make him promise to let my trees alone, I’ll +do whatever you want.” + +“Will you let the Ancient Oak stand?” asked Silvergirl. + +“I will,” replied the All-Alone Axe; so the children said good-bye and +started for the mountain where the Gentle Giant lived. + +It was a long, long way. They had to make a little raft before they +could cross the river. They had to climb steep cliffs, to scramble down +into deep gullies, and to creep over slippery rocks. At last they were +well up the side of the Gentle Giant’s mountain; and now they began to +hear a loud rustling as if all the winds of the heavens were blowing +all the branches of all the trees. They caught hold of each other’s +hand and stood listening. Pretty soon they heard, “Ho-ho! Ho-ho!” It +sounded like some one taking a deep breath, but it was almost if not +quite as loud as thunder. Silverboy and Silvergirl were so frightened +that they would surely have run off down the mountain had not the +Gentle Giant just then caught sight of them and roared out:-- + +“Ho, there! Stop, I say. I’m lonesome, I want to see you. Come here and +talk to me.” + +It was not of the least use to try to run away, for he had stretched +out two hands as big as pine trees, and in a moment he had Silverboy in +his right hand and Silvergirl in his left hand and was holding them up +before his eyes to get a better view of them. + +“Who are you?” he roared as softly as he could, for he was not one of +the hateful giants, but one of the good-natured sort. “Where are you +going?” + +“We’re going to find a silver door for the cottage,” shouted Silverboy +as loud as ever he could. + +“Eh?” roared the Gentle Giant. “What’s that? Talk a little louder, +can’t you?” And he held the children up to his ear. + +Then Silvergirl screamed with all her might:-- + +“We’re going to find a silver door for the cottage.” + +“That’s all right,” said the Gentle Giant, with a laugh that shook the +trees like a tempest. “I wonder if _she’d_ like a silver door,” he +added, trying to look through the trees to another mountain even higher +than his. “When you find your silver door, you might come up here and +tell me about it,” he said with a chuckle. “If you are going up on +_that_ mountain, I’ll carry you over the swamp and halfway up the hill. +I don’t dare to go any farther.” + +“Why, how could any one hurt _you_?” cried Silverboy, taking hold of +the Gentle Giant’s ear with both hands and shouting into it. + +The Gentle Giant seemed so good-natured that the children did not feel +one bit afraid; but now something happened that did frighten them, for +the giant began to cry, and he cried such floods of tears that they had +to cling to his fingers with all their might to keep from being washed +off and down the side of the mountain. + +“I’m sorry as I can be,” said Silvergirl. “Don’t cry, Mr. Gentle +Giant.” And Silverboy called, “We’ll help you, and there shan’t anybody +hurt you.” + +The Gentle Giant laughed till he was almost crying again, and he shook +so that the children had to hold on harder than ever. Then he said:-- + +“Come up on the mountain and see my house and eat dinner with me, will +you? I’m lonesome up there, and it isn’t often that I get any children +to come and play with me.” + +Of course they said yes, and he carried them carefully up the mountain +to the biggest house that they ever saw. It was built of logs, bigger +than any trees that grew in their own forest. The door was so high that +the clouds could have floated in as easy as anything. In one corner was +the bed. To make it, the giant had driven into the floor a stake, or +rather the trunk of a great pine tree. He had laid long rails from this +stake to the two walls, shutting in the corner. On top of the rails +were stout boughs, and on top of the boughs were whole barnfuls of soft +spruce and fir and hemlock branches, until there was as comfortable a +bed as was ever seen. For a table he had driven another tree trunk into +the middle of the floor. Then he had split in two the biggest tree on +the mountain and had fastened it to the top of the trunk, the flat side +up. At one end of the room was the chimney, and that was large enough +to roast at least ten oxen, eleven deer, and fifteen bears, with plenty +of room between them for pigs and partridges. + +“I don’t feel hungry to-day,” said the Gentle Giant, “so I put on +only five oxen, four deer, and three bears to roast, with perhaps +half a dozen little pigs; but now I have company, I’ll hang up a few +partridges, too, just for a relish.” + +He hung a score or two of partridges in front of the fire, and when +they were done, he called the children to sit down and eat with him, +though at first it was rather hard to see how they could do it. He +put them on two of his wooden stools, but, stretch their necks as they +might, they could not see over the edge of the table. + +“We’ll soon fix that,” declared the Gentle Giant. + +He went to the end of the room, not more than a quarter of a mile away, +and brought back his tallest churn. He set it on the stool bottomside +up, and put Silvergirl on top of it. + +“I haven’t any other churn that is tall enough for you,” said the +giant, “but I’ll just bring in a pebble and put a cushion on it.” + +So out of the door he went and soon came back with a stone in his hand +big enough for a doorstep. He set that up on the stool and laid a +cushion on top of it, and then they were ready for dinner. + +“Which will you have first,” he asked, “an ox or a bear?” + +“Could I have a partridge?” asked Silvergirl. + +“Just as many of them as you want,” replied the giant. “In my country +we always ate the oxen and bears first; but you shall do as you like.” + +So he gave each of the children some partridges, and then he himself +began on the oxen. One by one they disappeared, and the pile of bones +beside his plate grew higher and higher, till at last the children +could not see his face at all. Through the bones, however, his great +voice came rumbling as he called: “Aren’t you ready for your oxen yet, +or will you have a deer or two and a few little pigs?” + +He did not wait for an answer, but piled up oxen and bears and deer and +pigs on the table before them. + +“Truly, Mr. Gentle Giant,” declared Silverboy, “we can’t eat any more. +Couldn’t you eat these?” + +“Perhaps,” replied the giant, “though I don’t seem to have so much +appetite as usual. I’ll take just a bite or two more and then we’ll all +sit down under the trees and you can tell me where you are going and +what you know about silver doors. I know a lady who--I mean I might +want to find one myself some day.” + +The Gentle Giant had already eaten the five oxen and the four deer, and +now he ate the three bears and the little pigs. “Just one mouthful more +to leave a good taste,” he said, and in two minutes the rest of the +partridges were gone. + +“Now come out of doors,” he called, and led the way to the great door, +but the children did not follow him. “What’s the matter?” he asked. + +“We can’t get down,” they replied. + +The Gentle Giant laughed until the stars would have rattled in the sky +if it had been night. “I don’t have company of your size very often,” +he said, “and I forget my manners.” Then he took Silvergirl in one +great hand and Silverboy in the other and carried them out under the +trees. “I’ll lie down on the moss,” he said, “and you can talk right +into my ear. Tell me who you are and where you are going.” + +So the Gentle Giant stretched himself out on the ground and Silverboy +called into his ear:-- + +“We live in a cottage in our own forest, far as far away from here. Our +father and our mother want a silver door, and we are going to find one +for them.” + +“How do you know where to look?” asked the Gentle Giant, rather +drowsily, for he was getting sleepy. + +“We asked the Wizard Squirrel, and he told us to go to the All-Alone +Axe. The All-Alone Axe told us to come here. We thought at first that +the Wizard Squirrel meant us to call out to the Moon King, but he +didn’t.” + +“Eh!” shouted the Gentle Giant, starting up. “What’s that?” + +“We thought he meant that we should call out to the Moon King, but he +didn’t,” repeated Silverboy. + +“Are you sure as sure that he didn’t say ‘the Moon Lady’?” demanded the +Gentle Giant eagerly. + +“No, he didn’t,” Silverboy answered, “but he said we must get the +All-Alone Axe to promise not to cut down the Ancient Oak.” + +“Did he promise?” the Gentle Giant asked. + +“He said he would not touch the Ancient Oak if we could get you to +promise not to drag away his trees after he has cut them down.” + +“But I have to,” declared the Gentle Giant earnestly. “You see, I must +build a big house to bring her to if she should ever marry me.” + +“It seems to me that your house is pretty big now,” said Silvergirl. + +But the Gentle Giant shook his great head. + +“No,” he said. “I wanted it as big as all outdoors, but it isn’t more +than half as big.” + +“When is she coming?” asked Silverboy. + +“I don’t know,” replied the Gentle Giant sadly. “When I asked her to +marry me, she only laughed; but maybe she’ll change her mind some day, +and I should be so ashamed if I hadn’t a house big enough for her.” + +And the Gentle Giant dropped a tear as big as a waterpail. It fell upon +Silvergirl and wet her from head to foot, but the Gentle Giant was so +busy thinking that he did not notice the mischief he had done. + +“I hope she’ll come,” declared Silverboy warmly. + +“So do I,” said Silvergirl. + +The Gentle Giant sat for a long while gazing on a mountain that could +just be seen through the trees. He seemed to be hard at work thinking. +At last he turned to Silvergirl and asked:-- + +“So you really think this house is big enough, do you?” + +“Indeed I do,” declared Silvergirl. + +“I suppose you ought to know what a lady would like better than a great +clumsy fellow like me,” the Gentle Giant mused. Then he said suddenly, +“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. If you will get the Moon Lady to say +she’ll marry me, I’ll not drag away any more trees from the All-Alone +Axe, and I’ll carry you both halfway up her mountain besides.” + +“We’ll try our very best,” said the children. + +Then the Gentle Giant set Silverboy on his right shoulder and +Silvergirl on his left, and away they went to the Moon Lady’s mountain. +When you ride on the shoulder of a giant who can take a quarter of a +mile at a stride, even a long journey is soon done, and before they +had any idea that they were halfway up the mountain, the Gentle Giant +whispered as softly as he could:-- + +“Here you are, little folk. Just go up the mountain, and you’ll be at +her house in no time.” + +“Come with us,” the children pleaded, for it seemed very lonesome to be +left in the forest without the good-natured giant. + +But he shook his head and whispered so gently that it was not much +louder than a waterfall:-- + +“I don’t dare. She might look right at me and laugh and ask what I had +come for, and then I should feel so ashamed. You go on, and if she only +says she will marry me, tie a burning torch to the pine tree at the top +of the mountain, and I’ll come and get you all and carry you wherever +you wish.” And before the children could say another word, they heard +his steps crashing down through the trees. + +They went on and on toward the top of the mountain, and just as the sun +was setting, they began to see something shining through the trees. +It looked like glass and cream candy and rainbows, like brooks in the +sunshine and quiet pools in the moonlight. It flashed and glowed and +gleamed and sparkled. When they came nearer, they saw that it was a +splendid palace, and looking out of one of the windows was the most +beautiful lady that they had ever seen. She was laughing more musically +than they had ever heard any one laugh before. The sound was like that +made by little brooks rippling over stones, or little waves running up +on the shore. When she caught sight of the children, she called:-- + +“Come in, you little dears. I’ll meet you at the door.” + +She disappeared from the window, but they could hear her laughing +happily as she tripped though the halls. In a minute she stood in the +doorway, holding out her hands to them. She wore a silken gown almost +as yellow as the sunshine. Her hair, too, was yellow and hung down to +the ground in long ripples that gleamed and shimmered as the sunbeams +touched them. On her head was a golden crescent, and above it was just +one golden star. The children stood gazing at her, for in all their +lives they had never seen any one half so lovely. + +“Well, what is it?” she called lightly. “Am I so ugly? You stand there +gazing at me as if I were a monster.” + +“I did not know anybody could be so beautiful,” cried Silverboy +honestly. Silvergirl slipped up beside her, and the Moon Lady took her +little brown hand in her own and began to laugh from pure pleasure and +merriment. + +“Come in,” she cried, “come in. I’ve been waiting for you. I knew you +were coming. It’s hard to keep secrets from the Moon Lady. Secrets +are such nice things to laugh at, don’t you think so?” she called to +Silverboy; and in a minute she had his hand, too, and was leading both +the children into the palace and up the broad marble stairs. “Now,” she +said, “I have one room full of candy, and another full of toys, and +another full of brooks to sail boats in, and another full of ponies for +children to ride, and another full of pretty gardens to play in, and--” + +“But how can there be gardens and brooks in a room in a house?” asked +Silvergirl, gazing at her with great wondering eyes. + +The Moon Lady looked amused. “Because this is a Wonder Palace,” she +said at last. “Don’t you know that in a Wonder Palace one can have +whatever she likes? You like gardens to play in, I am sure of that, +and so there are gardens in one of my rooms. You like ponies, and so +there are ponies here. I don’t see anything strange about it,” and she +laughed so merrily that the children could not help laughing with her. +They went to the candy room and the toy room and the brook room and the +pony room and the others. These were all so delightful that when the +Moon Lady asked which they liked best, they could not choose. + +“That is no matter,” she declared, “for you must stay here with me +forever and always, and there will be new rooms for you every day, and +each one will be full of finer things than you ever saw before.” + +“Oh!” cried the children, “but we must not. We must go on and find a +silver door for the father and the mother.” + +“What’s that about a silver door?” asked the Moon Lady. “A wizard told +me something about a silver door once, but I don’t know what he meant. +He said:-- + + When the silver door flies open, + Then the iron door shuts tight. + Silver cheats you in the moonbeams, + Iron is honest in the light.” + +“Was the wizard a squirrel, dear Moon Lady?” the children asked. + +“I forget,” she replied, “it was so long ago; but it was a good thing +to laugh at,” and again she laughed so lightly and musically that the +children fancied they heard a summer shower falling upon the leaves. +“Have you seen a wizard, too?” she asked; “and has he told you about a +silver door? Come into the room that is full of all the music of all +the world and tell me about it.” + +So they went into the room, and while all the music of all the world +was playing softly around them, the children told the Moon Lady about +their little home in the far-away forest. They told her how much the +father and the mother wanted a silver door, and how they had come out +into the world to try to find one. They told her about the Wizard +Squirrel who would help them if the All-Alone Axe would agree to spare +the Ancient Oak; about the All-Alone Axe who would spare the Ancient +Oak if the Gentle Giant would stop dragging away his trees; and then +about the Gentle Giant who would stop dragging away the trees if only-- + +“What next?” the Moon Lady interrupted; “the Gentle Giant would stop +dragging away the trees if what?” + +“If you would only marry him,” said Silverboy boldly. “Won’t you please +marry him, for we do want to find a silver door so very, very much?” + +“What kind of giant is he?” the Moon Lady asked, trying to look very +serious. + +“He’s the best giant in all the world, I just know he is,” declared +Silverboy; and Silvergirl added, “He was so good to us. I’m sure you +would love him. He said you told him you wouldn’t marry him, but you +will, won’t you?” + +“Certainly,” replied the Moon Lady, “I’d just as soon as not. I meant +to all the time, but I wanted to see whether he would come back and ask +me again.” + +“Then I’ll go to the very top of the mountain and tie a lighted torch +to the topmost bough of the tall pine tree, so he will know that you +are willing to marry him,” cried Silverboy, and in a moment he would +have been away had not the Moon Lady stopped him. + +“If the Gentle Giant wants me very much, he will come and get me,” she +said. + +“But he’s afraid,” cried Silvergirl; “he said he was.” + +“Then he can’t have me,” declared the Moon Lady. + +“Then we can’t get the silver door,” said Silverboy soberly. + +“Why not?” asked the Moon Lady lightly. “Wandering about the world to +find silver doors is not the thing for a girl, of course, but you can +do it if you like. Silvergirl must stay here with me, but you may go +out and search. There’s nothing to hinder your going straight up to the +moon and choosing one for yourself. I’ve been there many a time. My +brother is the King of the Moon.” + +“But how can I get there?” cried Silverboy. “Can I go to the top of a +high, high mountain and leap upon the moon when it passes by?” + +“If that isn’t just like a boy!” cried the Moon Lady, with another of +her merry laughs. “Silvergirl wouldn’t try to get there in any such +foolish way, I know. Would you, Silvergirl?” + +“I believe I should try to go to the top of the tallest tree in the +world,” replied Silvergirl, “and then, when the moonbeams touched it, I +would beg them to carry me home with them.” + +“That’s much more sensible,” said the Moon Lady gravely; and she added +with a little twinkle in her bright eyes, “If there wasn’t any other +way, yours would be the best, but there’s one way that is better.” + +“What is it?” cried the children together. + +“You must go to the Slippery Spider and ask him for web enough to build +a ladder,” she replied; “that is, you may go, Silverboy; and when you +come back, we’ll talk about All-Alone Axes and Wizard Squirrels, and +maybe about Gentle Giants. There’s one thing you must remember; so long +as you are on the face of the earth you are safe, but if you go into +the earth you will never come here again. Will you promise not to go +into the earth?” + +Silverboy promised. Then he said good-bye and set out in search of the +Slippery Spider. He went down the mountain and over the fields, asking +every bird and every bee that he met if they knew where to find the +Slippery Spider, but not one of them could tell him. At length he asked +a little fly that was sitting on a green leaf in the sunshine. + +“Yes, I know,” said the fly, “but it makes me flutter to think of him.” + +“How do you find his home?” asked Silverboy. + +“You have to go into the Valley of Twilight, past nine gray rocks and +three dead trees. By and by, you come to a great mass of briers, and +under the briers is where the Slippery Spider lives; but don’t go +there. He is--” But Silverboy was already on his way to the Valley of +Twilight. He went past the nine gray rocks and the three dead trees and +came to the great mass of briers; but no Slippery Spider was to be seen. + +“Slippery Spider, O Slippery Spider,” he called, “won’t you please give +me a little web to make a ladder to go to the moon?” + +He heard a rustling in the leaves, and in a moment there stood beside +him the queerest, most dried-up little old man that he had ever seen. +The little old man made a bow and in a thin, squeaky voice he replied:-- + +“Certainly, my good sir. I shall be glad to give you web enough to go +to the moon or seven times as far, if you wish. Will you kindly walk +into my underground house. It is cool and comfortable there, and we +will talk this matter over together.” + +Silverboy was about to follow the Slippery Spider when he remembered +what the Moon Lady said, that he must not go into the earth, and he +asked:-- + +“Couldn’t we sit down here and talk about it?” He fancied that the +Slippery Spider’s eyes flashed red for a moment, but the little old man +said quietly:-- + +“I see. Some one has been telling you stories about my home. If you +prefer, we will sit down under these beautiful brier bushes. Here is my +favorite lane, between the Tumbling Rock and the Withering Grass. Will +you come?” + +“I’m too big. I can’t get in there,” replied Silverboy. + +“Oh, we can manage all that,” said the Slippery Spider, in an offhand +way. “Just step in and there will be no trouble.” + +Silverboy thought he heard the buzzing of a fly, but he said to +himself, “Surely, there’s no harm in just stepping toward the briers,” +and he said to the Slippery Spider:-- + +“Certainly I will if you wish.” + +He took one step into the narrow passageway; and he was surprised +enough to find that he could walk in it without the least difficulty. +“I wonder how he has done that,” he thought. “Somehow he has made the +grass as tall as I am, and the brier bushes are as big as any tree in +the forest. I wonder what strange thing that is a way up above my head. +It looks like a mushroom, but it is as high as the roof of a house.” +Suddenly it burst upon him that this really was a mushroom and that, +instead of making the passage big, the Slippery Spider had made him so +little that when the dreadful creature caught hold of him and dragged +him down into a cavern, he could not do anything to save himself. + +The cavern was dark as dark, but after his eyes were a little used to +the darkness, he could see that a strong spider-web had been drawn +across the opening. He felt in his tiny pocket for his tiny knife and +began to cut away at the stout cords of the web; but he could not make +even the smallest break. + +“That’s right,” called the thin, squeaky voice, “you are a good jailer; +I shan’t have to watch you.” + +Silverboy looked up, and there was the Slippery Spider peering through +the web, twice as tall as his prisoner. It did not seem quite so dark +as at first, and Silverboy could see what an ugly grin was on his face. + +“I suppose you don’t know,” said the Slippery Spider, with a hateful +chuckle, “that this is a magic web, and that every time you cut a +thread, you make it exactly seven times as strong as it was before. +Oh, you’re a good jailer, you are!” and again he laughed, the most +sneering, malicious laugh that can be imagined. At last he went away, +leaving Silverboy in the darkness. He came back once more for a moment +and called:-- + +“I say, you’re not fat enough yet. When you get fatter, I shall eat +you. You won’t have long to wait.” + +Poor Silverboy, there he sat and wondered if there was any way to +escape. He thought of his father and mother and sister. “I shall never, +never see them again,” he sobbed; and he threw himself on the cold +floor of the cave and cried and cried. + +Suddenly he felt a little hand wiping away his tears with the softest +and daintiest of handkerchiefs. The hand was so smooth and gentle that +at first he pretended not to know that it was there for fear it would +go away. Then a sweet little voice said softly:-- + +“Boy, poor boy, don’t cry.” + +“Who are you?” asked Silverboy. “How did you come here? Did the +Slippery Spider bring you, too?” + +“I was walking alone,” said the sweet voice, “and I saw the lane. It +looked pretty, for the briers were in bloom, and I started to come into +it; but before I knew it, I was in this dreadful den.” + +“And did he make you small as he made me?” asked Silverboy. + +“Oh, no, I am just as tall as ever.” + +“Let’s stand up back to back,” said Silverboy, “and I will put my hand +on my head and then on yours, for I don’t see how any one could get +in here and not be made little.” So they stood up back to back, and +Silverboy put his hand on his own head and then on hers, and he found, +as he had expected, that she was no taller than he. Indeed, she was +not quite so tall. + +“But what is this on your head?” he asked. “It feels pointed and queer. +What is it?” + +“That’s my pearl coronet,” the little girl replied. “I wear it because +my father is a king. They call me the Pearl Princess. What is your +name?” + +“I am Silverboy. I wish it was light so I could see your face.” + +“So do I,” said the Pearl Princess; “I mean, so I could see yours. +Don’t you suppose we can ever, ever get out of this horrible place?” + +“We’ll find a way somehow,” declared Silverboy; for now that he was not +alone, he felt much more courageous and hopeful. He pulled and tugged +at the bars with all his might and main; but, try his best, he could +not stir them one bit. Indeed, they only grew stronger and firmer +whenever he touched them; and even after a long, long time had passed +away, Silverboy and the Pearl Princess were still prisoners in the den +of the Slippery Spider. + +All this while Silvergirl was living in the Wonder Palace with the +Moon Lady. As time passed, she was no more a child, but a tall young +girl who grew prettier every day until she had become the fairest +little maiden in all the land. She would have been the happiest if her +brother had only come back; but the brother did not come, and she began +to grow sad and pale. The Moon Lady sent her servants to scour the +country roundabout. They peered into the valleys, they looked through +and through every little corner of the forest; they asked all the brook +fairies and all the flower fairies and all the grass fairies, but none +of them had seen anything of Silverboy. Every night when they came +in from their search, Silvergirl asked, “Have you found my brother?” +When they answered, “No, but perhaps we shall find him to-morrow,” she +looked sadder than ever. + +The Moon Lady was very much troubled. + +“Oh, I wish the Moon King would come!” she often said. “He would know +what to do to help us.” + +One night, just as it was growing dark, the Moon Lady and Silvergirl +saw a bright light shining in the east. It grew larger and brighter +and came nearer every minute. The palace glowed and gleamed with the +reflection as if there were blazing torches in every corner of it. + +“That’s my brother,” cried the Moon Lady joyfully. “He is the Moon +King, and he will know how to help us find Silverboy.” + +By and by the Moon King came driving straight up the side of the +mountain with his six shining white horses. The Moon Lady threw her +arms about his neck and kissed him. Then she made a great feast for +him. On the table were the most delicious things of all the countries. +The air was full of all the music of all the world, and it was a very +happy time. + +But after a little while the Moon King did not even look at the +dainties or listen to the music. He looked at pretty Silvergirl and he +listened to nothing but her voice. + +“I saw your face in a dream last night,” he said, “and I want you for +my Moon Queen. Will you marry me?” + +“But my brother has not come back,” she answered, “and I haven’t yet +found the silver door for my father and mother.” + +“I’ll give you silver doors for all the cottages in the forest,” cried +the Moon King, “and I’ll find your brother if he is aboveground.” + +“But the Moon Lady’s servants have looked everywhere aboveground,” said +Silvergirl sadly, “and they could not find him.” + +“Then I’ll look underground,” declared the Moon King. “I know all the +gnomes and dwarfs and pixies and underworld fairies and crickets and +field mice; and there isn’t one of them that wouldn’t be gladder than +glad to do me a favor. Will you marry me when I have found Silverboy?” + +Even the little bird at the window could not hear her answer; but it +seemed to please the Moon King, for he cried joyfully to his sister, +“Take good care of my bride, and I’ll be here with Silverboy in the +twinkling of a star.” And before she could say good-bye, his white +horses with their golden harness were tearing down the mountain as if +they were trying to catch up with the swiftest river that ever flowed. + +Finding Silverboy was not quite so easy as the Moon King had expected, +for no one but the Slippery Spider knew that he had become so tiny. The +gnomes and the dwarfs and the pixies and the underworld fairies and +all the rest looked in vain for a tall boy in search of a silver door. +The crickets and the field mice looked, but Silverboy was nowhere to +be found. Silvergirl grew paler and paler, and the Moon Lady began to +feel anxious, not only lest some wild beast or some fierce bird of prey +should have devoured Silverboy, but also lest Silvergirl should grieve +herself to death for the loss of her brother. + +All the little folk of the forest and field, those that wore feathers +or furs or hair or just plain skin, were talking about the lost +Silverboy, and at last the news came to the Thoughtful Snail. No one +had dreamed of his joining in the search because he was so slow and had +to carry his house about with him; but the Thoughtful Snail went to his +neighbor, the Friendly Glowworm, and said:-- + +“I’ve been thinking.” + +“Well?” said the Friendly Glowworm. + +“I’ve been thinking.” + +“Well?” + +“I’ve been thinking,” declared the Thoughtful Snail for the third time, +and then he told what he thought. “The Moon King has been good to me,” +he said slowly, “and I’ve been thinking that I should like to find the +brother of his bride.” + +“Is that all?” exclaimed the Friendly Glowworm. “We’d every one of us +like to find him.” + +“But I’ve been thinking,” said the Thoughtful Snail again, and then he +stopped to think a little more. The Friendly Glowworm waited patiently, +and at last the Thoughtful Snail continued:-- + +“If they can’t find a tall young man aboveground, then there isn’t any +tall young man, and he must be short.” + +“Is that all?” exclaimed the Friendly Glowworm again. + +“No,” replied the Thoughtful Snail slowly. “I’ve thought of something +else. All the real wizards are good friends of the Moon King, and +there’s only one of the creatures of the forest that can change the +shape of a man.” + +“You mean the Slippery Spider?” asked his friend. + +“Yes,” replied the Thoughtful Snail; “and I’ve been thinking that if +the Slippery Spider has changed his shape, he has made him smaller than +himself, of course, or else he would have got away long before this.” + +“That’s so,” exclaimed the Friendly Glowworm, beginning to be +interested. + +“I think he is smaller than a spider and that the Slippery Spider has +fastened him into some den. You know that he can spin a magic web. It +can be cut from the outside, but if any one tries to cut it from the +inside, it grows stronger.” + +“Then you think--” + +“I’ve been thinking,” the Thoughtful Snail interrupted; “and I think +that if you will go with me to carry the torch, we will go to the +Slippery Spider’s hole to-night when he is away watching his nets, and +perhaps we shall find Silverboy.” + +That night the Thoughtful Snail and the Friendly Glowworm made their +way to the lane of the Slippery Spider. The Friendly Glowworm crept +under a dry leaf, and the Thoughtful Snail crouched in front of him so +that the keen eyes of the Slippery Spider should see no ray of light. +They watched him come out of his little lane and go away to look at his +nets to see if some unwary traveler had not been caught in them; then +they crept boldly in toward the den in the rock. The lane was so rough +that more than once the Friendly Glowworm was tumbled from one side +to the other, and so briery that the delicate horns of the Thoughtful +Snail were scratched and torn; but on they went until at last they were +in front of the Slippery Spider’s den. Behold, there was the magic web +stretched across the opening, and thicker and stronger than was ever +the web of a spider before. + +The Friendly Glowworm was so excited that he quivered like a jelly; +and as for the Thoughtful Snail, his shell fairly rattled against the +rock. It made such a noise that Silverboy called:-- + +“Who’s there?” + +“Who’s _there_?” cried the Thoughtful Snail gladly. “Are you Silverboy?” + +“Yes, who are you?” + +For answer the Thoughtful Snail pushed his whole weight against the +web, while the Friendly Glowworm caught hold of it and pulled and +tugged with all his might. It fell on the ground, and Silverboy stepped +out, pale as pale, and so small that his new friends could hardly see +him; but it was the real Silverboy himself. + +“Come quick,” said they, “before the Slippery Spider comes home.” + +[Illustration: SILVERBOY CALLED, “WHO’S THERE?”] + +“But I must go back for the Pearl Princess,” he declared. And although +the Thoughtful Snail grumbled that he had not come to get any sort of +princess, Silverboy would not think of going without her. He took +her by the hand and led her out; and when the Thoughtful Snail and the +Friendly Glowworm saw how beautiful she was, they were glad, indeed, +that she had not been left in the den to be devoured by the Slippery +Spider. + +Down the little lane they all went, and at every step Silverboy and the +Pearl Princess grew larger, until when they were near the opening, they +had to crouch and creep to get through it at all. Silverboy was so glad +to find himself growing taller again that he did not care a straw for +that, and he only laughed when the briers tore his hands and his face +as he tried his best to keep their sharp points from the Pearl Princess. + +At last they were out of the lane, and the Thoughtful Snail cried:-- + +“Come, Silverboy, come. Don’t wait. The Slippery Spider may be here at +any moment”; for he had forgotten that Silverboy was large enough now +to kill a hundred Slippery Spiders. + +But Silverboy stood gazing into the face of the Pearl Princess as if he +was bewitched. + +“I never, never saw any one so beautiful,” he cried. “Dear Pearl +Princess, I’m a man now. Won’t you marry me?” + +“Yes,” replied the Pearl Princess, “I will; that is,” she added, “I +will, if you will promise never to tell any one that once I was smaller +than a spider.” + +Silverboy was now a tall young man. He led the Pearl Princess with one +hand and carried the Thoughtful Snail and the Friendly Glowworm in the +other, and they all went across fields and meadows and brooks, through +forests and forests, and up the highest of all mountains to the Wonder +Palace of the Moon Lady. + +Then there was rejoicing that _was_ rejoicing from the very bottom of +the palace to the top. The candy room threw its door open and begged to +be eaten. The toys set to playing all of their own accord. The brooks +ran faster than brooks ever ran before and made prettier little dimples +and ripples than any other brooks ever made. The ponies began to trot +and prance and canter. The gardens became more beautiful than any one +ever dreamed that even a garden could be. The Moon King and Silvergirl +were married, and Silverboy and the Pearl Princess were married, and +the Thoughtful Snail and the Friendly Glowworm danced at the weddings. + +The air was full of all the music that ever was in all the world; but +from another mountain a sound came across the valley, and up, up, to +the Wonder Palace, that was not music, but a most mournful sighing. +When the Moon Lady heard it, her face grew pink, and she turned away +and looked out of the window on the farther side of the palace. + +“Heigh, there!” cried the Moon King. “Who is that sighing on the night +of my wedding? Find him and give him whatever he wants. Do you know +him, sister? What does he want?” + +“I think it must be that he wants me,” replied the Moon Lady demurely. + +“That’s--that’s--why, that’s--” stammered the Moon King, and stood +staring straight at his sister, too much surprised to say another word. + +“It’s the Gentle Giant over on the other mountain,” Silverboy +explained. “He said he would not drag away the trees of the All-Alone +Axe if the Moon Lady would marry him.” + +“And so, my Moon Lady sister, you’re going to marry the Gentle Giant +to save the trees of the All-Alone Axe, are you?” exclaimed the Moon +King in amazement. + +“I think perhaps I will,” replied the Moon Lady, with one of her little +rippling laughs. “I don’t see any other way to keep him from sighing, +and you don’t like to hear sighing.” + +“Well, I never thought of such a thing!” declared the Moon King. + +And the Moon Lady retorted gayly, “I did, then. I’ve thought of it as +many times as three, and I’m going to do it. He’s the best giant in all +the world, and I’m going to marry him whenever he--” + +Just then there was a commotion outside, as if some one was crashing +through the forest in a great hurry. There was a tramping and a +stamping, and the face of the Gentle Giant appeared at the door, all +ashine with pleasure. + +“I heard you, I heard you,” he cried. “I heard you down the mountain, +and I’ve come to get you. We’ll be married this very night, we will.” +And the Gentle Giant clapped his hands and danced and sang and laughed +out of pure happiness. + +So there was another wedding in the palace, and then they all set off +to carry the Moon Lady to the home of the Gentle Giant. The Thoughtful +Snail and the Friendly Glowworm went, too, for Silverboy carried one, +and the Pearl Princess carried the other. The Friendly Glowworm shone +so bright that no one noticed a strange thing that was happening. +Something else had joined the wedding procession. It was the Wonder +Palace itself. After a little while it disappeared. It went up the +mountain a shorter way, and when they came to the great door of the +house of the Gentle Giant and looked in, behold, it was all aglow with +light; and no wonder, for there were sunbeams and rainbows and dewdrop +sparkles and waterfall gleams and fireplace sparks and Northern light +glimmerings, all in one brilliant and glorious tangle. In the midst of +it and round about it was all the music of all the world, for the whole +Wonder Palace had slipped in through the farther door. + +“The Thoughtful Snail and I have brought our houses with us,” said +the bride as quietly as if she always traveled with a palace for a +companion. “But, truly,” she whispered to the Gentle Giant, “I did not +know it was coming.” + +“Everything bright and beautiful is where you are,” he whispered back. + +So it was that the Gentle Giant won his beautiful bride; that the trees +of the All-Alone Axe were never again dragged away; and that the Wizard +Squirrel was never driven from his home in the Ancient Oak. + +But all this time the father and the mother were in their cottage far +away in the depths of the forest. At twilight the two often sat in the +doorway and talked about their children. + +“They will come home some day,” declared the mother bravely. + +“We shall never see them again,” said the father. + +One night as they were saying this, they heard from far away a tramping +of many horses. Up the forest road they came, their hoofs beating +softly on the mossy ground. When they were in full sight, the father +and the mother saw, first, a long line of knights in red armor, riding +on milk-white horses; then a line of knights in blue armor, riding on +horses black as the darkness itself. So they came. There were knights +in green and knights in yellow; and last of all, there were three +chariots abreast and an empty one behind them. The chariot on the left +was made of steel that flashed in the light of the torches. In it sat +a handsome young man. Beside him was his princess, and she was all +aglow with softly gleaming pearls. On the right was an immense chariot +of silver, and in this was a giant with so gentle a face that no one +could ever be afraid of him, even though he was so large. He, too, had +a bride sitting beside him. She had strings and strings of opals about +her throat. Over them and over her face played a soft clear light that +was almost like the moonbeams on the water. Between these two chariots +was a third. It was all ablaze with diamonds, and in it sat one that +every one who looked upon him would have known to be a king. The +shadows were growing deeper, but a brilliant light that did not come +from the torches was all about him and his beautiful bride. Whenever +they spoke or looked at each other, the light flashed joyfully and made +all around them as bright as day. + +The father and the mother sat in the door, saying never a word, but +looking and looking and looking. The wonderful procession swept past +their humble little cottage, until the three chariots were in front of +the door. Then they stopped. The father and the mother rose quickly and +bowed themselves before the king. + +“It is ordered that you shall no longer dwell in this cottage,” he said +gravely. + +At first the father and the mother were too grieved and alarmed to +speak, but finally the mother plucked up courage to plead:-- + +“O king, if you will only let us stay here till the children come home! +We will do never a bit of harm. We won’t even pick up the dead sticks +for firewood, or the dry grass to make our bed. If we go away, the +children will not know where to find us, and we shall never see them +again. Please, please let us stay till we have seen them just once +more.” + +The king shook his head sternly and said:-- + +“You are to live here no longer.” + +Then the father hid his face in his hands and the mother threw her +apron over her head; but in a moment the young man had sprung down +from the chariot of steel and was crying, “Father, father, don’t you +know your own boy?” And the beautiful young woman who had been in the +chariot that was all a-glitter with diamonds had pulled the apron away +from the face of the mother and was crying, “Mother, mother, have you +forgotten your own daughter?” + +The Moon King sent away the knights, and then he and Silvergirl, the +Pearl Princess and Silverboy, and the Moon Lady and the Gentle Giant +sat down together on the soft grass just outside the cottage. Such +stories as they had to tell of the search for the silver door! They +told about the Wizard Squirrel, the All-Alone Axe, the Wonder Palace, +the Slippery Spider, and no one can say how many other folk. They +talked and talked and talked; and while they were talking, they heard a +funny little chattering over their heads. They all looked up, and there +on the bough of a pine tree sat the Wizard Squirrel and the All-Alone +Axe, hobnobbing in the most sociable way, while the Friendly Glowworm +and the Thoughtful Snail, who had come, of course, with the rest of the +company and were now sitting on the moss at the foot of the tree, were +staring at them with all their eyes, for they had never before seen an +axe and a squirrel dancing together on a branch. + +For three days and three nights the happy people talked of the +wonderful things that had happened. Then Silvergirl said:-- + +“But, father and mother, you haven’t asked for the silver door.” + +“Little we care for silver doors,” they cried, “now that we have our +children back again.” + +“But we have one for you. It is in the country of the Moon King; and +when you go through the silver door, you come into a golden palace. +Will you come with us and stay all your lives long?” + +“Yes, we will come,” said the father and the mother, and they stepped +joyfully into the golden chariot that had been empty before. + +Then the knights came back and lifted their plumed hats and bowed +before the father and the mother. They all rode away and away and away +from the gloomy forest to the happy country of the Moon King; and when +a messenger last came from that country, they were all living together +in the greatest peace and happiness in the beautiful golden palace with +the silver door. + + + + +KING HANSEL THE FIRST + + + + +KING HANSEL THE FIRST + + +There was once a boy named Hansel who had lost his father, mother, and +sister. Some people thought that they had been stolen by trolls, but +no one knew certainly. Everybody’s house was full, and there was no +room for the lonely little boy. “There is nothing for you to do but to +go out into the world and seek your fortune,” people said to him; so +Hansel put on his little cap and started out. + +He walked along the highway until he came to a place where four roads +met. The first went through a forest; the second went down a steep +hill; the third led over a sunny plain; and the fourth wound up a +bleak, rocky mountainside. “When one has nowhere to go, one road is +as good as another,” said Hansel to himself, and he looked at each +in turn. The sun was warm and the forest looked cool and shady, so he +decided to go through the forest. + +The road was soft and mossy. There were many flowers along the way. +Every little while there were open glades that were red with sweet wild +strawberries. He often stopped to pick them, and as he went along, he +said to himself, “It isn’t so bad a thing, after all, to have to seek +one’s fortune--if I only had a father and mother to go back to after I +have found it. Such a pleasant road as this must lead to some beautiful +place. Maybe I shall come to a palace. It will be made of gold, of +course, and the windows will sparkle like diamonds. I will go around to +the smallest back door and ask, ‘Do you want a boy to herd the sheep or +the cattle?’ The king’s man will answer, ‘Yes, we do. Come in and we +will pay you a silver penny every month.’ I can grow up fast, and some +day, when the king’s daughter is crossing the river, she will fall in +and I--” + +These thoughts were broken in upon by a pitiful noise of a sort that +the boy had never heard before. It sounded a little like the crowing +of a cock, but it was hoarse and half-stifled. “Some creature is in +trouble,” said Hans to himself. “I’ll hurry on and see what it is.” He +ran down the road, and every minute the crying sounded louder and more +distressed. At last he came to a tiny clearing where a little hut was +standing. The door was closed and the owner had evidently gone from +home. Not far from the house was a coop, and in the coop was one lone +cock. + +“Please give me some water,” he begged; “I am dying of thirst.” + +“Where shall I find it?” Hansel asked. + +“Indeed, I don’t know,” the cock gasped. “The brook said it was tired +of having creatures drink it. ‘I don’t drink them,’ it said, ‘and why +should I let them drink me?’ and then it ran off downhill as fast as it +could go. But do find me some water. I am choking.” + +Hansel began to search for water, but not a pool or a pond or a river +or a brook or a spring or a swamp could be found. There was not even a +drop of dew to carry to the suffering cock, for the sun was warm and +even the dew had vanished. Then Hansel went back and said:-- + +“I have searched the country through, and not a drop of water can I +find.” + +“Then I shall die,” the cock groaned. + +“No, you won’t,” said the boy cheerily, “for I’m going to dig a well +for you.” + +Hansel looked all around the little place and at last he found a spade. +Then he pulled off his jacket and began to dig. The sun grew hotter +and hotter, but still he kept at it. + +“Have you found water yet?” cried the cock, after a little while. + +“Not yet,” answered Hansel, “but the farther I dig, the nearer I am to +it,” and he dug faster than ever. + +“Have you found it yet?” asked the cock again, a little later. + +“The earth is moist,” Hansel answered; but he was now so deep down in +the hole that his voice could hardly be heard. + +“Have you found it yet?” the cock gasped faintly, after a few minutes. +“I can’t stand up any longer. I think I am dying.” + +Hansel was now so deep down that he could not hear the cock’s question; +but he gave it a good answer, nevertheless, for he climbed out of the +well as fast as ever he could. The water was coming in by pailfuls, +and he carried his cap all full and dripping to the thirsty cock. + +It was not long before the cock was as well as ever. Hansel made a +little trench from the well to the coop so that the poor thing should +not suffer from thirst again. Then he said:-- + +“Good-bye, Friend Cock. I must go on my way now, for I am seeking my +fortune.” + +“But I haven’t thanked you yet,” said the cock. “How shall I pay you +for what you have done for me?” + +“Oh, I don’t want any pay,” called Hansel over his shoulder, for he was +already on his way. + +“But I have a gift for you,” cried the cock, and Hansel went back. The +cock stretched his neck through the bars of the coop. Something was in +his bill. + +“This is for you,” he said, and he dropped a little black seed into +the boy’s hand. “When you are in trouble, plant that seed.” + +“Thank you very much,” said Hansel. “I’ll keep it to remember you by,” +and he dropped it into his pocket. “Good-bye again,” he called. + +“Oh, but wait a minute,” pleaded the cock. “I have some advice for you.” + +“All right,” replied the boy good-naturedly. “What is it? Advice isn’t +heavy, and I can carry it in the same pocket with the seed.” + +“The first time that a giant asks you a question, be sure to answer +‘Yes.’” + +“I hope I’ll not meet any giants, but if I do, I’ll not forget,” Hansel +promised. “All good things are three, so good-bye again.” + +“Then gifts should be three,” declared the cock, “and the third is yet +to come. This is a bit of advice, too. There’s no good fortune down +this road. Whoever walks beyond this house comes to trouble. Turn back +and choose another way.” + +Hansel hesitated, for he remembered how hot and sandy or rocky the +other roads looked; but he remembered, too, what his old nurse used +to say, “There’s many and many a thing that the beasts and birds know +which men and women have yet to learn.” + +“I’ll go back,” he said; “and now good-bye for the last time.” + +“Good-bye,” called the cock, with a cheery crow. “Don’t lose the seed +and don’t forget to say ‘Yes’ to the first question that a giant asks +you.” + +Then Hansel went back through the forest, and it was not long before +he came to the place where the four roads met. “One is as good as +another,” he said to himself again, “and I may as well take the +second.” + +At first it was not an easy road, for it went down a steep hill covered +with round stones. The boy had to pick his way among them as gingerly +as if they had been eggs. But when he was once at the foot of the hill, +it became a very pleasant road, for it went along beside the shore of +a pretty lake. The tiny waves rippled up against the yellow sand as +if they thought the little lake was a real ocean and themselves real +breakers. Pearly shells lay on the shore. Hansel picked up a handful +and walked along tossing them up in the air and catching them. Then he +began to talk to himself. He said:-- + +“Nurse used to tell me about the King of the Water World. He lives in +a cave far down in the ocean. He wears a crown of pearls and he sits +on a throne. The sun never shines there, but the walls of the cave +are covered with rubies and emeralds, and they sparkle so that it is +as light as day. When I come near his palace, I will ask if he has any +work that a boy can do. He will say, ‘Yes, one of my mermaids has been +stolen away from me, and I will give you half of my kingdom if you will +bring her back.’ Then I will go far and far and farther than far. I +will go through groves of coral, over beds of green and blue and yellow +sea-mosses. I shall see shells of crimson and silver and gold; but I +won’t stop for one of them. I’ll go on and on and on till I come to the +den of the sea-monster that stole the mermaid. There’ll be a little +hole in her dungeon, and she will stretch out her white hand and beckon +me. I’ll kill the dragon and--” + +“Meow, meow!” came to his ears; “help me, help me!” + +“I know what that is, anyhow,” said the boy to himself; and he called, +“Pussy, pussy, what’s the matter? I’m coming to help you. But where are +you?” he cried, for no cat was in sight. + +“Meow, meow!” wailed the cat, and Hansel began to search for her. Far +out in the lake was a tiny green island, and the cries seemed to come +from that, though nothing was to be seen on it but a sandy beach, a +rock, and a tall tree. Hansel waded out into the lake, but the water +grew deep so fast that he had to go back to the shore. Still the +pitiful cries continued. The boy threw off his clothes and swam out to +the island. Behind the rock lay a heavy bag, tied with seven knots; and +it was from the bag that the cries were coming. + +“Hold on, pussy, I’ll get you out,” he said, and he set to work to +untie the seven knots. Each one was more difficult than the ones +before it, but at last the seventh had been untied, and a poor, +forlorn, yellow-and-black cat crept out. Hansel stroked her wet fur and +rubbed it dry with some bits of dead grass. The cat purred and arched +her back and rubbed her head against his hand. + +“How did you happen to be in that bag?” he asked. + +“Some one gave my master a pretty gray cat,” she replied. “He said he +did not want two, and so he tied me up in the bag and threw me into the +lake.” + +“I’m glad I came along in time to get you out,” said Hansel heartily. +“If you will sit on my shoulder, I will swim ashore and carry you.” + +The cat sprang eagerly to his shoulder, and he started to swim ashore. +At first she was as light as a feather, but before they had gone +far from the island, she began to grow heavy. She grew heavier and +heavier, but the boy would not throw her off to drown. He struggled on +and came at last to the shore, but he was so tired that he could hardly +stand. As he lay on the shore resting, the cat scrambled about among +the bushes, and seemed to be searching for something. + +After a little, the boy cried:-- + +“Good-bye, pussy, good-bye. When a boy is seeking his fortune, he must +seek it,” and he started to go on farther. + +“But I haven’t thanked you yet,” cried the cat, running out of the +bushes. “What shall I give you for what you have done for me?” + +“Oh, I don’t want any reward,” cried Hansel. “I’m glad I got you out.” + +“But I have a gift for you,” called the cat, and Hansel went back. The +cat dropped a tiny white seed into his hand. “When you are in trouble, +plant that,” she said. + +“Thank you, thank you,” said Hansel. “I’ll keep it to remember you by,” +and he put it into his pocket to lie beside the little black seed. +“Good-bye again,” he cried. + +“Ah, but wait a minute,” pleaded the cat. “I have some advice for you.” + +“I am getting so much advice,” thought Hansel, “that I am afraid I +shall be a wise man before I have made my fortune”; but he said aloud, +“All right, what is it? I can carry it in another pocket.” + +“The second time that a giant asks you a question, be sure to answer, +‘With salt.’” + +“With salt, with salt,” repeated the boy. “To the first question I am +to answer ‘Yes,’ and to the second I must say, ‘With salt.’ I certainly +hope I shan’t meet any giants, but if there’s nothing harder to do than +to answer a few questions, I can surely do that. Good-bye again, I’m +going on till I find my fortune.” + +“But there’s no good fortune down this road,” said the cat. “Whoever +passes this lake comes to trouble. Turn back and choose another road.” + +The thought of that long, long hill with the rolling stones was not +very pleasant, and Hansel hesitated; but the cat looked at him so +earnestly that at last he answered:-- + +“All right, pussy, I’ll go back and I won’t lose the little white seed.” + +“And don’t forget to say ‘With salt’ to the second question,” cried the +cat. + +“No, I won’t. Good-bye, pussy, good-bye.” + +Climbing the long hill was not nearly so hard as he had expected, for +he had rolled so many of the round stones from the path as he went +down. Then, too, the sun was no longer directly overhead. Indeed, the +air grew cooler and cooler, and when he came to where the four roads +met, it was so cold that he had to blow on his fingers to keep them +from being stiff and numb. + +“I suppose a boy can seek his fortune whether it is hot or cold,” +thought Hansel, and he set off bravely to walk in the third road. +This seemed to lead directly across a vast plain; but he could not +see very far, for there were thick clouds of dust blowing in little +whirlwinds. “All this dust must come from some great city,” thought the +boy. “Perhaps I shall come to it before long. I will go straight to +the Lord Mayor, and say, ‘Sir Lord Mayor, is there anything for a boy +to do to make his fortune?’ He will answer, ‘Yes, one of my ships is +all ready to sail. You may sail with her, and if you have anything to +venture, perhaps you will make your fortune in one voyage. What have +you to send?’ Then I’ll say, ‘Sir Lord Mayor, I have a black seed and +a white one.’ No, I forget, if he happens to be a giant, I must say +‘Yes’ to the first question. That will be such nonsense that he will +think I am a philosopher, and he will say, ‘I need another counselor, +and I’ll take you. You shall have a long red gown and a white wig, and +every morning before breakfast you shall have a great piece of red, red +gold.’ I will say ‘Thank you, I--’” + +Without thinking what he was about, Hansel had been talking aloud; and +now the words were fairly blown from his lips, for a great storm had +suddenly arisen. Big hailstones beat upon him. He was thrown into the +brambles and against the stones. His cap was lost, his clothes were +torn, and he was almost exhausted when at last he managed to get into +the shelter of a high rock that kept the biting wind from him. + +It seemed to him that he had hardly taken three long breaths before he +heard a loud buzzing. “Come and help us,” it said; “come and help us.” + +“I knew cocks could talk,” thought Hansel in surprise, “and cats can, +of course, but I never heard bees talk before. They must be in some +great trouble. I can’t do anything to help them, that’s sure, for it is +all I can do to get my breath.” + +“Come and help us,” buzzed the bees, until Hansel could not bear to +hear their pleading any longer and he asked:-- + +“What is the matter?” + +“Our hive is blown over,” they replied. “The storm came up so suddenly +that many bees are away, and when they come back, they will not know +where to go if the hive is not in its place. Do put it back for us.” + +“Surely, I can do so much for them if I am tired,” thought Hansel; and +he asked, “Where does your hive belong?” + +“On top of this high rock,” they replied. + +“I shouldn’t think it would stay there in this wind,” said Hansel to +himself, “but I suppose they know best. People say that bees are wise, +and maybe they know some way of making it firm.”--“I don’t know whether +I can climb the rock in this storm,” he said aloud, “but at least I can +try.” + +So Hansel took up the beehive carefully and began to climb. It seemed +at every step as if the wind would surely blow him away; but he kept on +and on, and at last he was at the top of the rock and had put the hive +into the place that the bees pointed out. The storm grew worse and +worse until it almost seemed as if the rock itself would be blown over. + +“I don’t see how your hive is going to stay there,” said Hansel. “The +moment I let go, it will fall down and be blown to nobody knows where.” + +“Please stay and hold it for us,” the bees pleaded anxiously. + +“It’s all I can do to hold my head on my shoulders,” replied Hansel. + +But the bees still begged, “Do stay and help us, do help us.” + +“All right, I’ll try it,” said Hansel, “but it looks as if the hive and +the rock and myself would all blow away together.” + +The wind blew as if it feared it would never have another chance and +meant to make the best of this one. The rain fell, not in drops, it +seemed to Hansel, or in pailfuls, but in whole pondfuls, in oceanfuls. +He threw one arm around the hive and the other around a jagged point +of rock, and there he clung for dear life. It was a hard pull for the +tired boy, but after a while the storm cleared as suddenly as it had +arisen. Many of the wandering bees returned and made their way into the +hive and were safe. The other bees buzzed a welcome to them, and Hansel +could not help being glad that he had saved their home. They clustered +around Hansel and buzzed their thanks into his ear. They gave him all +the honey he could eat and a fine large piece of comb to carry away +with him. + +“But where are you going?” they asked. + +“Everywhere and nowhere,” answered Hansel. “I haven’t any father or any +mother or any place to stay in, and I am going out into the world to +seek my fortune.” + +“There’s no good fortune to be found on this road,” declared the bees. +“You must go back to where the four roads meet and choose another.” + +“There are roads enough in the world,” said Hansel with a laugh, “but +somehow none of them seem to be the right ones.” + +“Every one has his own road,” said the bees. “Some find it in one day, +some in two days, and some in three days, but there is surely a road.” + +“All right, I’ll go back and try the road uphill,” Hansel said. “Bees +are wise, I know. Can you tell me whether I shall find my fortune on +that road? The mountain is so steep that I am sure I should break my +neck if I had to come down it by night; and then, too, there are no +more roads to try.” + +“We must not say any more,” buzzed the bees, “but we can make you a +gift that will be of help in time of need”; and they brought out from +the farthest corner of the hive a tiny seed as yellow as their own +honey. “Take good care of this,” they said, “for the time will come +when you will have need of it. And there is one thing more; we have +some advice for you.” + +“I’ve had two pieces already,” rejoined Hansel, laughing, “and yet I +don’t seem to be wise enough to find the right road.” + +“At least, we can tell you something that will keep you from going +where you do not wish to go,” buzzed the bees. + +“Thank you kindly,” said Hansel. “I will put it into my jacket pocket +with the other pieces. When one has not much else to carry, he can +surely carry a piece of advice. What is it, then?” + +“To the third question that a giant asks you, be sure to answer, ‘In +the land and in the sea,’” replied the bees earnestly. “Do not forget.” + +“No, I’ll remember,” Hansel promised. “To the first question I am to +say ‘Yes’; to the second, ‘With salt’; and to the third, ‘In the land +and in the sea.’ I hope no one will ask me a fourth question, for I’d +have to answer that all out of my own wit. Now good-bye. Thank you +kindly for the honey and the seed and the bit of advice. I’ll turn back +and go up the mountain if I can see to find the road.” He waved his +hand in farewell, turned back, and crossed the plain once more. + +Before long he was at the place where the four roads met. He could +not exactly “choose” which one to take, for there was only one left +that he had not tried; but he gazed for at least three minutes at the +long, winding way that disappeared in the shadows. He fancied that +there was a heavy stone castle at the top of the mountain, but it was +fast growing dusky and he could not be sure whether what he saw was +not a gray cloud. It was a lonely road to follow in the twilight, and +Hansel could not help thinking of the other boys who were safe in their +own homes; but he was a stout-hearted little fellow, and he said to +himself, “I suppose that if a boy is seeking his fortune, he must seek +it; and since the end of the road won’t come to me, why, then, I’ll go +to the end of the road.” And he set off bravely to climb the mountain. + +The road wound about and went in many zigzags, but at last Hansel was +at the top of the mountain. Sure enough, there was a great stone castle +that towered up till the battlements really seemed to reach the clouds. +Hansel walked timidly up to the gate and knocked. No one answered. He +knocked again, for it was so dark and wild on the hill that he began +to feel afraid. “If they will only let me come in,” he thought, “and +give me a bit of straw to lie on, I don’t care for any grand fortune”; +and he knocked a third time. + +Then the gate was opened a little way, and a great coarse hand as large +as Hansel’s whole body was stretched out and pulled him in through the +opening. Of course, the hand belonged to a giant, who was almost as +tall as the walls of the castle. The boy ventured to put his head back +and take one look at the giant’s face. It would have been frightful +enough in any case, for it looked so hateful; but it was especially +startling because it had three eyes, one above each ear and one on +the top of the head. The giant could see best with that, and now he +bent his head over and glared at Hansel with it. This eye was red and +fiery, and at its flashing the boy felt as though the lightning was +about to strike him. The giant gazed a minute or two and then called:-- + +[Illustration: A GREAT COARSE HAND PULLED HIM IN] + +“Brothers Humpkin and Lumpkin, here’s a boy.” + +“Let’s eat him, Brother Mumpkin,” cried two harsh voices, and +immediately two more dreadful giants came shambling out of the castle +keep. One had three ears, and the other had three mouths. This third +giant was Lumpkin, and he was the most horrible of the three, for he +was continually grating his teeth and mumbling his heavy lips. + +“We’ll eat him, well eat him,” they cried; but when they caught sight +of the boy and saw how small and thin he was, they laughed scornfully. + +“He’ll be only a mouthful apiece for us,” said Humpkin. Lumpkin, +however, began to feel the boy’s ribs and thighs, pinching him now and +then to see if the flesh was firm and solid. + +“Maybe he’ll not be so bad,” said Lumpkin. “Well put him into one of +the dungeons, and in a day or two we’ll have a feast. These little +creatures are small, but they are tender.” + +Now one giant would have been enough to frighten anybody, but with +three such monsters before him it is no wonder that Hansel was white +with terror. Mumpkin held him up by the back of the neck as if he was a +kitten and demanded:-- + +“Do they eat boys in the land of the Pogglywogs?” + +If Hansel had answered, “I don’t know,” the giant would probably have +retorted, “You’ll find out that we do here,” and perhaps have taken a +bite on the instant, but Hansel in all his terror had not forgotten +his promise to the cock, and he faltered, “Yes.” + +“Listen to that!” cried Humpkin. “Now we’ll know how the Pogglywogs do +it, for we must do like them if we want to grow any taller.” + +Then Mumpkin gave the boy a pinch to make sure that he was attending +and asked in a voice that sounded like distant thunder:-- + +“How do they eat them?” + +“With salt,” answered the boy faintly. + +“He says, ‘With salt,’” repeated Mumpkin. “What’s salt? I never saw +any. You boy, where do they find salt?” + +“In the sea and in the land,” answered the boy. + +“‘In the sea and in the land,’” repeated Mumpkin. “There’s one thing +sure, we must have some salt, whatever it may be. Humpkin, if you will +take the boy to the dungeon, I’ll go out and look the land through for +some salt.” + +So poor Hansel was taken to the dungeon and left there. Giants are +usually dull, and although these monsters wanted him to grow fat, it +never entered their stupid heads that they must give him anything to +eat. They shut the door, locked and bolted it, and went away, thinking +what a dainty morsel would be ready for them when Mumpkin came back +with the salt. + +“It won’t take him long to find it,” said Humpkin. “That third eye of +his can see all there is to see.” + +“I wonder where he will go,” said Lumpkin. + +“Oh, not farther than the foot of the hill,” declared Humpkin. “There +isn’t much land beyond.” + +While they were talking, Mumpkin was plunging down the hill. He kicked +the great stones from his path as if they were only so many pebbles, +and he tore up the bushes and little trees along his way. It was night, +of course, but that made no difference, for, as any three-eyed person +knows, one who has three eyes can see as well in the night as in the +daytime. When he came to the foot of the hill, he looked around at the +different roads. He did not know anything about salt and thought it +was as likely to grow on trees as anywhere else, so he started to go +through the forest. With two eyes he looked at the trees on either side +of the way and with the third, the one on the top of his head, he kept +close watch of the moon. “I heard once that the moon was made of green +cheese,” he said to himself, “and maybe salt is a kind of cheese.” + +Now Mumpkin was not at all used to thinking, and he was so tired by +this effort that he had to sit down to rest. He fell asleep and slept +a long while. He was awakened by a loud “Cock-a-doodle-doo!” directly +in front of him. The giant rubbed his three eyes and looked around. A +big handsome cock was strutting up and down in the path, looking at the +monster as if he were a new kind of worm that might or might not be +good to eat. + +“Get out of the road!” roared the giant. + +“With pleasure,” replied the cock. It gave a little flutter with its +wings and in a moment it was resting comfortably on the giant’s left +shoulder. + +“Yah! Get off!” the giant growled. + +“Certainly,” the cock replied, “but if you knew how much I know, you +would be glad to have me whisper in your ear.” + +“I’ll wring your neck,” roared the giant, and put up his hand to catch +the cock; but in a twinkling the bird was on the limb of a tree higher +than even a giant could well reach. + +“Are you going farther down this road?” the cock asked. + +“Yes, I am,” said the giant. “I am going to find salt; but it’s no +business of yours.” + +“May I give you a bit of advice?” asked the cock politely. + +“Keep your advice to yourself,” the giant growled. + +“But I have to give it,” said the cock. “That is what I am put here +for. It is this: Do not go down this road any farther. There is no salt +here, and if you go, something will surely happen to you.” + +“Something might happen to you, you stupid little bunch of bill and +feathers,” shouted the giant angrily, “but things don’t happen to folk +as big as I am, I’ll have you know.” And he started off down the road +faster than he had ever walked before in all his life. + +For a long while nothing happened except that the trees grew taller and +taller; but suddenly the giant heard a growling which sounded louder +than any growling that he had ever heard before, and in a moment a +dreadful creature came out of the woods. It was a thousand times as big +as the giant. Its enormous tail switched from side to side. It walked +on four legs, and when it stretched one of them out, the giant saw +that it was armed with sharp claws almost as long as his whole body. +The creature was covered with a thick growth of yellow-and-black hair +which stood on end at the sight of the strange object in the road. It +glared at him with horrible great yellow eyes, and then put out one big +paw to touch him and rolled him over and over in the dust. Never was a +giant so terribly frightened before. The monster tumbled him about and +played with him awhile, then gave a great yawn which revealed a vast +cavern of a mouth as red as a fiery furnace, and walked away. + +The giant lay trembling, but after a time he shook himself and turned +toward home. “Salt or no salt, I’ll go no farther,” he declared. “I’ll +go home, and I’ll run faster than any giant ever ran before.” + +He ran as fast as he could, but somehow he did not get over the ground +at all rapidly. It seemed a long way from one tree to another. He was +tired and he was thirsty. He stopped at a clear, quiet little pool to +get a drink. A beetle sat in the bottom of the pool, looking straight +at him. “I never saw a beetle like that in the water before,” growled +the giant, and he made an ugly face at it. The beetle did the same, but +made no reply. The giant drank what he wanted and went on. It was a +long, long way. The sun rose and the sun set many and many a time, but +at last the giant was at the gate of the castle. + +“Let me in,” he cried. “I tell you, let me in.” He pounded on the gate +with all his might, and at last he heard his brothers coming. “I’ll +kill them,” he growled, “for keeping me out here,” and he thumped +louder than ever. At last Lumpkin opened the gate. + +“It is strange, isn’t it,” he said, “that Mumpkin does not come. I +suppose he’s found something good to eat, another boy, maybe, and he +means to keep it all for himself. I don’t care whether he comes or +not, but I want that salt. Ugh! what a horrid beetle that is,” and he +crushed it with his foot. This was the end of Mumpkin. The forest was +no ordinary forest, of course, but an enchanted wilderness; and whoever +went too far in it turned into some wild creature. The giant had not +found it out, but he had really been a beetle for a long, long time, +and the monster that had given him such a fright was only a playful cat. + +The brothers shut the gate and went into the castle again. They were +tired of waiting for a mouthful of roasted boy, but they were always +afraid that the other race of giants, the Pogglywogs, would become +larger than they; and now that they had heard that the Pogglywogs ate +salt with their boys, they did not want to taste this one without it. + +“I won’t wait any longer,” declared Lumpkin. “I’m going to find some +salt, and what’s more, I won’t be so long about it as that stupid +lubber.” So the second giant set out to search for salt. When he +came to the foot of the mountain, he looked at the three roads and +concluded to go on the one that went still farther down. The rolling +stones gave him considerable trouble, and more than once he had rather +a hard fall because of them. He was half-stunned by the last tumble, +and he lay on the ground a minute or two before he tried to get up. +When he rose again and looked around him, there stood a cock quietly +watching him. + +“May I ask,” said the cock politely, “if you intend to go much farther +on this road?” + +“What’s that to you?” growled Lumpkin, rubbing his bruised elbow and +grating his teeth horribly. “I’ll eat you, I will. I always eat cocks.” + +“May I give you a bit of advice?” asked the cock. + +“No,” the giant thundered. “I can make advice for myself. Get out.” + +“But I have to give it,” said the cock quietly. “That is what I am put +here for. This is it: Do not go down this road any farther. There is no +salt here, and if you go, something will surely happen to you.” + +“Something will happen to _you_!” shouted the giant, and with all three +mouths at once he tried to bite the cock’s head off. The cock flew up +on the limb of a great tree, far above the head of the giant, and sat +there watching as the giant strode off down the hill. + +It was not long before he came to a lake. Now the giant had never seen +water in that form before. This looked smooth and easy to walk on, so +he set out to walk on it instead of on the road. Even near the shore +the water was deep, and in a little less than no time the giant was +down on his knees in the lake, spluttering and storming and snarling +and growling and grating his teeth together as if he meant to eat even +the rocks and the sand. + +“There are better ways of getting over the water than trying to walk on +it,” said a voice pleasantly. + +The giant staggered to his feet and looked around. + +“Eh?” said he. + +“There are better ways of getting over the water than trying to walk +on it,” the voice repeated; and now the giant saw that it proceeded +from a boat that was coming nearer and nearer. In the boat was a +yellow-and-black cat, who bowed politely and sat waiting for him to +speak. + +“What’s that thing you’re in?” demanded the giant. + +“This is a boat,” the cat replied. “With it one can easily go on the +water.” + +“Get out, I want it,” the giant growled. + +The cat’s yellow eyes began to look fiery, but she asked very quietly:-- + +“Are you sure that you can manage it?” + +“Of course I can; I am a hundred times as big as you.” + +“But I have a collar around my neck, and you have none.” + +“I’ll have one, too,” the giant cried. “Where’s the stuff you make it +of?” + +“There’s some stuff you might use on the ground on the farther side of +that big rock,” said the cat. “See that you make it thick enough.” + +The giant picked up a great mass of the stuff. It was lead and it was +exceedingly heavy, but he bent it and squeezed it and pulled it and +punched it and jammed it and pounded it until he had made a collar big +enough to go over his head with only the least bit of crowding. It +would have taken at least ten common men to lift it, but the giant put +it on without any trouble. + +“Bring that boat to me,” he called in a voice that would have +frightened most cats out of a year’s growth; but this one only looked +at him and slowly rowed the boat up to the shore. Then she sprang out +lightly and curled herself up on a warm rock. The giant stepped on the +gunwale of the boat with one of his enormous feet. Then he lifted the +other foot, and, of course, the boat tipped over just as any other boat +would have done, and in a moment the giant lay on the bottom of the +lake. His head with the leaden collar was down and his heels were up; +and up they stayed, for this was the end of the three-mouthed giant +Lumpkin. + +“Folk that never use their heads ought not to mind losing them,” said +the cat, as she yawned comfortably and stretched herself out to take a +nap. + +Meanwhile, several events had taken place in the castle of the three +giants. Humpkin had more than once gone to the top of the tower and +listened first with one ear, then with another, and then with all +three; but not a sound could he hear of either Mumpkin or Lumpkin. “I +rather think they are killed,” he said, “and I’m glad of it, for now +I’ll eat that boy all by myself. I don’t care anything about salt, +whatever it may be, and I’ll go straight to the dungeon and get him.” + +Now several events had been happening in the dungeon also. At first it +was a very white-faced and badly frightened boy who lay there on the +damp floor; but as hour after hour passed and no one came to harm him, +he began to recover from his fright a little and to look about him +to see if there was any way of making his escape. The walls were of +stone, the window was far above his head, and the door was evidently +locked and bolted. What could he do? + +While he sat pondering, he thought he heard a sound on the other side +of the wall as if some one was speaking. He could see a tiny crack in +the wall, so he lay down on the floor and put his ear to the crack. +Then he heard a voice that asked:-- + +“Who are you?” + +“I’m a boy, and my name is Hansel. I came out to seek my fortune. The +cock and the cat and the bees wouldn’t let me go on the other roads, +and so I came here, and the giants caught me. They say they mean to eat +me. Who are you?” + +“I am a magician,” the voice replied. + +“Then why don’t you tear the castle down or kill the giants or call +up an earthquake or do something?” the boy cried. “I always thought +magicians could do anything they chose.” + +“So they can if they choose something that they can do,” declared the +voice. “But even magicians,” he added, “cannot do everything without +anything.” + +“Can’t you draw a magic circle so the giants can’t touch you?” asked +Hansel. + +“I could if I had anything to draw it with,” said the magician, “but I +haven’t.” + +“I haven’t even a crumb of anything to eat,” said Hansel, “and I am +hungry as hungry.” + +“Haven’t you a bit of bread or a kernel of corn or a grain of wheat +about you?” + +“Not one. I have only three little seeds of nobody knows what; a black +one that a cock gave me; a yellow one that some bees gave me; and a +white one that a cat gave me. They’re of no use; they wouldn’t make a +mouthful for a sparrow.” + +“Maybe they will for a boy, though,” said the magician thoughtfully. “I +shouldn’t be in the least surprised if they were magic seeds. At any +rate, they are of no use as they are, and you may as well plant them +and see what will come up.” + +“There’s no earth to plant them in,” said Hansel. + +“That’s no matter,” replied the magician. “Magic seeds do not need +earth. Just lay one of them down in a corner and say over it:-- + + I plant thee, seed, + Now in my need. + Be not afraid + To lend thy aid.” + +So many strange things had come to pass that Hansel was almost afraid +to have anything to do with the seeds; but he finally decided to plant +the yellow one, and then, if nothing dreadful happened, to plant +the black one, and after that, the white. He laid the yellow one +down gently, repeated the magician’s spell over it, and turned away. +Before he could get across the little room, he felt something touch +his shoulder. It was a branch of a tree, and was loaded with bright +red apples; another was full of thick slices of bread and butter well +sprinkled with sugar; from another hung many little buckets of creamy +milk; another was weighted down with cake and gingerbread; another with +sugar cookies; and yet another with tender, juicy roast beef and roast +chicken. While he stood gazing at all these things, the tree kept on +growing; and even before the hungry boy could put out his hand for a +single mouthful, it had almost reached the top of the room, and every +branch had something good on it. + +Hansel threw himself on the floor beside the crack in the wall and +told the magician of the amazing thing that had happened. “I wish I +could get through this wall,” he said, “so I could give you something +to eat. Can’t you dig through it?” he asked eagerly. “Haven’t you any +knife?” + +“The giants took it away,” replied the magician; “but never mind. Since +your seeds are magic seeds, there is hope for us, and I don’t mind +going hungry for a while. Be quick and plant another and see what will +come of it.” + +Hansel planted the tiny black seed, saying over the same magic spell. +He did not turn his back this time, you may be sure; but now, although +a little shoot came up at once, it grew more slowly, and it was at +least ten minutes before it bore any fruit. Even when the fruit +appeared, it did not look very valuable, for it was only one pod, long +and brown and thick. Hansel told the magician about it, and before +he had fairly finished speaking, he heard something drop heavily on +the floor behind him. The pod had ripened and burst and the fruit had +fallen out--the biggest, sharpest, strongest jackknife that was ever +made in all the world. + +“Oh, oh!” cried Hansel. “Now, Mr. Magician, I can dig through this +wall.” + +That would not have been so easily done with any common knife; but this +one actually seemed to dig of itself, for whether Hansel was holding +it or not, it kept on working and the bits of stone kept on falling. +It was not many minutes before the hole was large enough for a boy to +creep through; and through it Hansel went with his hands full of bread +and butter and gingerbread and roast beef. + +If only there had been no giants to fear, the boy and the magician +would have had a delightful time together. Even as it was, they had so +much to tell that for a little while they forgot all about the third +seed. At last the magician thought of it and he said:-- + +“There is no knowing how soon the giants may come upon us. Hurry back +and plant the third seed and see what help that will give us.” + +Then Hansel crept back and planted the little white seed. That was +even slower than the black one in coming up; but yet it was not many +minutes before it was up to Hansel’s knees and had begun to form its +fruit. Never was there such fruit seen before. It was perfectly white +and round and hard. After a while it fell off, and Hansel in great +disappointment carried it to the magician. + +“Here it is,” he said, “but it is no good at all. It looks just like a +piece of chalk.” + +Much to his surprise, the magician clapped his hands and cried:-- + +“This is best of all. Now we are safe. Come giant or dwarf or troll or +demon, they cannot harm us.” + +Hansel was afraid the magician had gone mad, but in a moment he +understood. The white fruit really was chalk, and in only two or three +seconds longer than no time at all, the magician was down on his knees, +drawing a magic circle about himself and the boy as fast as ever he +could. + +“There!” he said, with a deep sigh of relief. “Nothing can hurt us now. +There’s something else for you to know. The magic seeds were given to +you, and, therefore, you have the right to ask three questions. What is +the first?” + +It did not take Hansel long to think what he wanted to know, and +without a moment’s delay he cried:-- + +“Please tell me where is the terrible giant with three eyes?” + +“He lies dead outside the gate of the castle,” said a voice. + +“Where is the one with the three mouths?” + +“His feet are in the air, his head in the water, and he is drowned as +dead as a stone,” replied the voice. + +“And where is the one with the three ears?” + +“He stands outside the dungeon and is just about to open the door,” was +the reply; and sure enough, the bolts were drawn, the key was turned, +and the giant Humpkin strode into the room. + +“How did you get here, you young rascal, you?” he roared. “I put you +into the other dungeon to wait till I came to eat you. You’ll pay for +this, you will.” Humpkin caught him by the arm, or rather, tried to +catch him, for the instant the giant put one foot within the circle, +something or other struck him a heavy blow. He tried again, and this +time he was struck so terribly that he howled with pain and fright and +ran for his life, leaving all the doors wide open behind him. + +“Come,” cried the magician; “come quick!” He caught the boy by the hand +and half dragged him out of the dungeon. “Stay there,” he said when +they had come to the courtyard, and he himself ran through the gate +of the castle. Then, while Humpkin was half running and half rolling +down the mountain, the magician, too, was running as fast as he could +go, making a wide chalk mark entirely around the castle. When this was +done, he went back into the court, not troubling himself to close the +gate, and called to Hansel. + +“Come, let’s go up into the tower,” he said, “and see what will happen.” + +They climbed to the top of the highest tower and looked around. Pretty +soon they saw Humpkin come stumbling up the hill, snarling and growling +and by turns rubbing his head and shaking his great fist. “I’ll be +there,” he muttered, “and then you’ll pay for this, you will. I’ll eat +you both before you can say--‘Oh! Oh!’” he screeched, for again he had +touched the magic circle, and a third blow, worse than either of the +others, had sent him a quarter of a league from the gate. He tried +again and again, but as he made the third attempt, a swarm of bees flew +into his face, buzzing and stinging so savagely that they drove him +over the cliff. This cliff was so high that he broke into pieces long +before he reached the bottom, such small pieces that as yet no one has +ever found even one of them. + +After the magician and Hansel had seen the last of the giant, they came +down from the tower and began to look through the castle. Of course +there were, as in every giant’s castle, rooms upon rooms filled from +floor to ceiling with silver and gold; there were others fairly crammed +with diamonds and rubies and emeralds and pearls. + +“You will be the richest boy in the whole land,” said the magician. +“You are king, of course.” + +“Why, aren’t you going to be king?” asked the boy, with wide-open eyes. + +“King? No, not I. I am a magician,” was the proud reply. “Only let me +have a quiet tower where no one ever slams the doors or interrupts me +when I am making my calculations, and I would not give a fig for all +the gold and jewels in the castle. But come, now, and let us go down +into the dungeons. There may be some one else shut up there.” + +Down into the dungeons they went. The giant’s keys were sticking in the +door of the dungeon where the magician had been shut up. Room after +room was unlocked, but no one was to be seen. + +“We must have been the only prisoners,” said the magician. “There seem +to be no more rooms.” + +“I thought I saw a little door out of that dark place under the +stairs,” Hansel said. “Maybe that’s a room.” + +“We’ll see,” said the magician, and he tried key after key, but none +of them fitted. “I fancy there’s a touch of magic about this,” he said +thoughtfully. “Some magician must have been here and made this lock. +There’s one thing sure, what magic has done, magic can undo.” + +He drew a circle entirely around the little door and wrote some +mysterious figures and signs within it. He had hardly finished the last +one before the door flung itself open. There stood a tall, stately +man, and by his side was a beautiful woman with her arm thrown closely +around a young girl two or three years older than Hansel. + +Now comes the strangest part of the whole story and the one that is +hardest to believe, for these three people proved to be Hansel’s father +and mother and sister. They had really been stolen away by trolls, as +their friends thought, and had been put into the dungeon of the giants +for safe-keeping. The trolls had been overcome by other trolls who +were stronger than they and put to death. The giants were not used to +remembering things, and they had forgotten all about their prisoners. +Luckily, Hansel’s father had some magic food in his pockets, or else +they would have starved long before. There they were, alive and well; +and now Hansel, the lonely little boy whom nobody wanted, had a father +and mother and sister, a powerful friend, and rooms upon rooms filled +with gold and silver from floor to ceiling. + +The doors of the castle keep were flung wide open. The sun shone in and +the sweet, strong wind blew through and through it until every corner +was fresh and pure. Little flowers began to grow in the courtyard. +They showed their faces timidly at first, but soon there were great +companies of them, bright and cheery and happy as ever flowers could +be. Vines ran up the walls and peered over into the very keep of the +castle. Some even slipped in through the gratings of the dungeons to +see what kind of places they were. Night and day the gates stood +open, for there were no enemies to be afraid of. Hansel grew into a +tall young man, and he ruled the country so kindly and wisely that +the people declared there never was in all the wide world so good a +sovereign as their own King Hansel the First. + + + + +THE STAR PRINCESS + + + + +THE STAR PRINCESS + + +There was great rejoicing at the royal palace. Flags waved from every +tower. Bright-colored silken streamers floated from every window. Each +maidservant had been given a new gown and each servingman a broad +silver piece. Little bells were tinkling joyously. Soft strains of +music came from one corner and another. The rejoicing was not only at +the palace, but throughout the Island Kingdom. Men and women took a +holiday from their work. Children went about the streets singing. When +night came, every window was ablaze with light and every hilltop was +glowing with a bonfire; for the King and Queen had a little daughter. +Her eyes were as blue as the ocean, her skin was as white as its foam, +and her hair was as yellow as the gleam of the sunlight on the sand. + +By and by there was a magnificent christening feast. Kings and nobles +and princes and witches and magicians and fairies were all invited. +Every one came and every one gave the beautiful baby Princess his very +best wishes. + +“The King is a happy man to have a child like that,” said one guest to +another as they were leaving the palace. + +“True,” replied the other, “but he did not look happy. Did not you +notice how troubled his face was and how strangely he acted? When some +one pushed the curtains aside for a bit of air, did you see how quickly +he ran to the window and drew them together again with his own hands, +and looked at the baby as if he was afraid it would disappear at a ray +of daylight? I am sure that he is anxious about something. The Queen +is not. She is as happy as the day is long.” + +“I should think she would be. She has everything in the world that she +wants, and not one thing to trouble her.” + +When all the guests had gone and the candles had burned low, the King +went to the Queen and said:-- + +“My Queen, I have something very sad to tell you. Can you bear it?” + +“I can bear anything with such a child as this,” she replied. + +Then the King said:-- + +“When my father was a young, young man, he was so bewitched by the +spells of a mermaid that he was ready to give up his kingdom and follow +her into the sea. His councillors begged of him to leave her, the court +magicians tried in every way to break her spells, but they could not +succeed. While they were waving their wands and saying over their +charms, she lay on a rock out in the sea and laughed them to scorn. ‘Go +on,’ she said. ‘Keep him if you can. I’ll have his soul yet in spite of +all you can do.’ At last all the priests in the kingdom came together. +Each one took a great vase of holy water, and they walked entirely +around the island, sprinkling the shore as they went. The wicked +mermaid could not cross the ring of holy water. Day after day she lay +on the rock by the shore, calling and calling the Prince to come to +her; but the priests had done their work so thoroughly that he had no +longer any wish to go to the wicked creature. When she found that she +had lost him, she shrieked with rage and anger and pronounced seven +dreadful curses upon him. Six of them the priests could overthrow, but +there was one over which they had no power, because it did not affect +the Prince himself, but his first grandchild.” + +“And that is our baby!” said the Queen, clasping the little Princess +closer in her arms. + +“Yes,” replied the King, “and the curse was this: If she once looks +upon the ocean before the end of her eighteenth year, sorrow shall come +to her and to all who love her.” + +The King and the Queen talked together sadly about what they should do +to save their little daughter. The kingdom was one large island. The +palace was on a high hill in the very middle of the island, and from +every room in the palace the ocean could be seen. + +“Couldn’t we give up the kingdom and go somewhere to live far, far away +from the ocean?” asked the Queen, with tearful eyes. + +“No,” replied the King. “There is no heir to the throne save our little +daughter; and if I should go away, there would be war. I have no right +to bring war upon my people even to save my child.” + +All night long they talked and planned, and when morning came, they +hoped they had found a way to save the Princess. A band of white silk +was bound about the pretty blue eyes, and four of the most trusty women +in the kingdom were chosen to be the child’s nurses. These were the +orders that the King gave them:-- + +“Two of you must be with her by night and two by day. She must never +be left alone for one moment. The band about her eyes must never be +removed except at night, and then it must be replaced before the first +ray of light in the morning.” If the Princess passed her eighteenth +birthday in safety, each one of them was to have ten thousand pieces +of gold. + +Year after year went on, and the Princess still wore the bandage over +her eyes. If she ventured to lay a finger upon it, she was punished as +severely as if she had been the child of a peasant; but in everything +else she did exactly as she liked. Whatever she asked for was always +given her and whatever she wished to have done was done at once. Some +princesses would have become haughty and disagreeable, but this one was +always kind-hearted and unselfish. + +The King had made no secret of the sad story. Indeed, every one in the +kingdom knew it except the Princess herself; and the people loved her +so much that they were almost as eager as her parents for her to pass +her eighteenth birthday in safety. “They say her eyes are like stars,” +whispered the people; and gradually they forgot the many names that +had been given her when she was christened and spoke of her only as the +Star Princess. Wherever she went, she was guarded not only by two of +her nurses, but also by all of her father’s subjects who chanced to be +in sight. She had never seen the ocean or the sun or had even a single +glimpse of daylight, and yet she was the happiest, merriest little +maiden in the world. One reason for this was that she did not know that +she was at all different from other people. When little girls were +brought to play with her, their eyes were always bandaged like her own, +and they played only such games as they could play blindfolded. No one +was allowed even to mention the sun or the daylight or the ocean in her +presence. “Why do people never uncover their eyes until the candles are +lighted for dinner?” she once asked. And the nurses replied, “Because +before that time eyes are so ugly that no one can bear to look at them.” + +One day she asked suddenly, “What is the strange sound that we hear all +the time? It is like murmuring and sighing and sobbing and singing. +Sometimes it groans and sometimes it almost laughs. Nurses, what is it?” + +“It is your greatest enemy,” the nurses replied. + +“It must be a dragon,” thought the Princess, and she asked, “Why +doesn’t my father drive it away?” + +“He would if he could,” the nurses answered, “but it is stronger than +he. It never can come any nearer, however; so all its groaning will not +hurt you.” + +As time passed and the Star Princess grew older, she asked more and +more questions. “She must be amused,” declared the King. He sent out +his orders and one morning a great troop of workmen appeared at the +palace with spades and pickaxes. They were to dig down, down, into the +earth, for there a wonderful ballroom was to be made which the King +meant should be the most beautiful one in all the world. The walls +were of white marble, and over them from floor to ceiling were most +exquisite traceries all made in jewels. There were trees drawn with +emeralds and beryl, beds of scarlet poppies made of the clearest and +most brilliant rubies; there were roses made of pearls and garnets and +topaz stones; there were forget-me-nots of the bluest turquoise; there +were violets of amethyst; and all about and among the trees and flowers +were birds of sapphires and diamonds. In this room the Star Princess +was always safe, for not a ray of sunlight could ever enter it. It was +anything but gloomy, however, for when the hundreds of candles were +lighted, it was such a blaze of brightness and color that one might +almost fancy it was the very home of the rainbows. It was no wonder +that people came from near and far to see the marvelous room, for there +was not another one like it in all the world. Here entertainments of +all sorts were given, for the King was ready to do anything to amuse +the Star Princess and keep her from being lonely or unhappy or from +asking questions that he did not wish to answer. + +At last she came to the end of her eighteenth year. The next day, at +precisely four o’clock in the morning, she would be eighteen years +old, and then there would be no more danger. The King and Queen were +so happy that they hardly knew what to do. There was to be a splendid +ball, of course, on the night of her birthday, and they had busied +themselves in planning to make it the most brilliant fête that the +Island Kingdom had ever seen. + +“But I should so like to have her all to ourselves on that day,” the +Queen had said wistfully. “Couldn’t we give the ball on the eve of her +birthday? She will be with us and with the whole roomful of dancers. +Nothing could possibly happen to her then.” + +The King was not quite pleased with the idea, but he had finally +yielded, and the ball had been arranged to come on the eve of her +birthday. + +Invitations were sent to the kings and queens and princes and +princesses of many and many a kingdom, and every one was accepted. For +seven days before the ball, ships whose sails were of cloth of silver +and cloth of gold were continually coming up to the royal wharves. All +day long the King’s golden chariots were going and coming between +the palace and the shore to bring up the guests. There was music and +feasting and merriment of all sorts, and on the evening of the seventh +day came the ball. After all were assembled, the King led in the +Star Princess. She was dressed in a gown of white, of some wonderful +material that glowed like opals in a soft, subdued light and flashed +like diamonds when the light was stronger. Her golden hair almost +touched the floor, and gleamed like sunshine. Around her waist and +her neck were rows and rows of pearls, and above her forehead shone +one diamond star. She was so lovely that more than one noble prince +said to himself, “She is surely a fairy. No mortal maiden was ever so +beautiful.” + +Among the guests there was one who had not been invited, but who was, +nevertheless, the most welcome of all. He was the son of the greatest +king in that part of the world, but in his babyhood he had been stolen +away by trolls. He had just been rescued and was on his way to take +possession of his kingdom. When his ship came near the Island Kingdom, +strains of music floated down from the palace, and there at the wharves +lay the royal vessels of many and many a sovereign with the royal +pennants streaming in the wind. + +“What does that mean?” the Prince asked. + +“It must be a great ball,” replied his attendants. + +“I never went to a ball in my life,” said the Prince; and he added with +a grim smile, “We did not have balls in the palace of the trolls.” + +“Would your Highness wish to attend this one?” suggested his +companions, for they, too, had much curiosity to see what was going +on in the Island Kingdom. “Of course your Highness knows that there is +no court on this side of the world that would not feel honored by your +presence.” + +The end of it was that the Prince, too, moored his vessel at the royal +wharves and rode up to the palace in the royal chariot, and received a +most royal welcome. He was presented to the Star Princess at once, of +course, and from that moment he could not keep his eyes from her. He +danced with her again and again. He seized every opportunity to talk +with her, and she was very willing to listen. He told her about his +having been stolen away by trolls. “But now,” he said, “I have a good +ship. The sea is calm, the sun is bright, there is a fair wind, and +soon I shall be in my own kingdom.” + +The Star Princess looked puzzled. “I think I can guess what a ship is,” +she said. “It must be a little like a palace; but I don’t know what +the sea is or the sun.” + +The Prince stared in amazement. “Why, the sun is above us and it gives +us warmth and light,” he said; “though I am sure it never shone so +bright as your beautiful eyes.” + +“I have never seen this strange sun,” the Star Princess said. “Candles +give light, but how can there be any light without them?” + +“Can she be out of her right mind?” thought the Prince. He said no +more about the sun, but began to talk about the beautiful room and the +jewels that were flashing and gleaming. + +The Star Princess, however, had no idea of dropping the subject. “But +what is the sea?” she asked. “You said you came in your ship on the +sea. What is the sea?” + +When the Prince looked into her clear, calm blue eyes, he could not +believe that she was not in her right mind, and he began in a dazed +fashion to try to tell her about the sea. “It’s water,” he said, “and +it lies all around the island, and ships sail on it.” + +“Does it murmur and sing and sigh and moan and laugh?” asked the Star +Princess eagerly. + +“Why, yes, I suppose it does,” replied the Prince, a little doubtfully. + +“Then it must be the dragon,” declared the Star Princess. “Surely you +have seen the dragon. My nurses say that it lies around the island, but +that it will never hurt me. Is the sea a dragon?” + +“Yes--no--the sea is just the sea,” returned the puzzled young Prince. +“I can’t explain it exactly, but if you should look out of your window, +you would see it, I am sure. It must be in view from every window +in the palace. Look out to-morrow morning at sunrise. The sea is +beautiful. It is dark and blue, it is like your own glorious eyes. I am +so eager to see them in the daylight.” + +“Is daylight before dinner?” the Star Princess asked. “People’s eyes +are very ugly before dinner, you know; and that is why they always +wear bandages over them till the table is spread and the candles are +lighted.” Then the Star Princess was called away to meet some other one +of the great folk who had come to the ball, and she saw no more of the +Prince. + +All night long and until three o’clock in the morning the dancing and +feasting and merriment went on. Soon after three the Star Princess left +the room, and her going was the signal for the breaking-up of the ball. +The Prince lingered, and when he made his farewell to the King and the +Queen, he asked if he might speak with them on a most important matter. +Of course they said yes, for of course they guessed what it was. Then +he told them that the Star Princess had won his heart, and he begged +of them to give her to him to be his bride. “I know well that I am not +worthy of her,” he said humbly, “but I will do everything in my power +to make her happy. At her slightest wish I will give my wealth and +my life as freely as you would pour out this glass of water,” and he +caught up a glass of water that stood on the banquet table and emptied +it. + +The King and the Queen were glad and they were sorry. They liked the +bearing and manner of the young Prince, and they knew that he was the +sovereign of the richest kingdom in that part of the world. They were +glad to have their daughter become his queen, but it did seem hard that +they should not have her to themselves for a while after the time had +come when they could enjoy her without having to guard her and watch +her so carefully. At last the King said:-- + +“If it is the wish of our daughter, we will give her to you for your +bride, but you must first leave her with us for a year and a day that +we may accustom ourselves to the thought of losing her.” + +Of course the Prince could only agree to so moderate a condition as +this. Then they told him the story of the mermaid’s curse, and that on +her first day of freedom no one but her father and her mother were to +see her; and he went away to wait impatiently until her birthday should +have passed. + +Now when the Star Princess left the ballroom and went to her own room, +two of the nurses went with her as usual. She had little to say, for +her thoughts were all on the young Prince and his words to her. “The +sun--the sea,” she said to herself; “what can they mean?” Then she +remembered that he had said, “Look out of your window at sunrise and +you will see it.” Just what “sunrise” meant, she did not know; but +whatever it might be, she meant to look out of the window just once +before the nurses put back the band over her eyes. She said to one of +them:-- + +“Nurse, I am so thirsty. Will you get me some water from the north side +of the well that is on the north side of the palace.” + +For a moment the nurse hesitated. Then she said to herself, “The +servants are not up yet, and it would be a pity to call one just for +this. To-day is her eighteenth birthday, and nothing can harm her +now,” so one nurse started to go down the stairs. The other nurse was +putting away the opal-like gown and the diamond star and the ropes +of pearls. She stepped into another room for a moment, and the Star +Princess quickly pulled the curtains apart and took her first look at +the sunrise and the sea. She gazed and gazed at them. It was all so +beautiful that she could not turn away, and when the nurse came back, +there she stood. + +“O my Princess,” the nurse exclaimed, “what have you done, +what have you done!” Just then the bell on the castle rang, +“One--two--three--four!” It was four o’clock in the morning, and the +Star Princess was full eighteen years of age. Then the nurse thought, +“Ten thousand broad pieces of gold is a great deal to lose. It was only +a moment before the time, and surely no harm is done. Perhaps it will +never be known.” She concluded to say nothing about the matter, and to +the Star Princess she said, “I thought you must have hurt yourself, and +I was frightened. Now go to your bed and rest awhile, for to-day you +are to be happier than ever before.” + +The Star Princess was so used to obeying her nurses that she went +meekly to bed and even allowed them to put the band over her eyes as +usual; but she was puzzled and confused. In that one long look she had +found that no dragon, but a thing more beautiful than anything she had +ever seen before even in her dreams lay around the Island Kingdom. +What could it mean? Why had she never been allowed to see it? What +was that glorious light that came up from the blue and was a thousand +times brighter than the candles? Over and over she said to herself, +“Sun--sea--ship,” but she could not solve the mystery. She lay as if +asleep until the time came to go to her father and her mother. Then she +heard the whole story of the wicked mermaid and the seventh curse. “Now +you are free,” they said joyfully. She took a hand of each parent and +roamed over the palace from garret to cellar, gazing from window after +window upon the glorious ocean and the deep blue sky. They went out of +doors, and she saw the trees, the flowers, and the birds. She watched +the rippling of the waves on the shore. Every hour was more delightful +than those before it. At last came the glory of the sunset, and she +exclaimed, “Oh, this is even more beautiful than the sunrise!” + +“But what do you know of the sunrise?” her father asked gravely, and +she told him of her one look from the window. Both her parents were +troubled, but the Star Princess was so happy that they could not bear +to alarm her. Then, too, they said to themselves, “It was only a +moment before the clock struck, and surely no harm can come of it.” + +So the happy day went on. When evening was fully come, the mother sat +with her arm about her daughter and the father told her very gently +about the love of the Prince and his wish to make her his queen. +“To-morrow you will see him,” said the King, “and if you are willing to +be his wife, he will come for you in a year and a day.” + +It was easy to see from the face of the Star Princess that the Prince +would be welcome when he came. “We will talk more of this in the +morning,” said the King, as he kissed his daughter good-night. + +The Star Princess went to her own rooms, and after her maids had left +her, she was alone for the first time in her life. She drew aside the +curtains and stood gazing upon the ocean in the moonlight. She listened +to its music. At first it seemed to murmur peacefully to itself. +Then she fancied that it sobbed and moaned. Then she heard clearly a +sweet voice that called, “Come to me, come, maiden, come to me!” It +was a richer, more exquisite melody than she had ever heard before; +and as she listened, she found herself answering, “Yes, I will come, +I will come.” She went softly down the stairs and out of the door. +Every one else in the palace was asleep, and no one hindered her. She +slipped down the hillside in the shadows and went nearer and nearer to +the shore. The voice still called. Sometimes it was low and gentle, +sometimes it was loud and strong; but whether low or loud, it drew the +Star Princess toward it as if it were a magic cord. She followed it +along the shore until she found herself on a steep cliff that towered +far above the sea. The waters beat upon the rocks at its base, the +breakers boomed and thundered; but out of all the wild uproar still +came that enchanting voice, calling, “Come to me, come to me, come, +come!” Straight to the very edge of the cliff went the Star Princess. +For a moment she thought of her father and her mother, of the Prince +who was coming in the morning to tell her of his love, and she drew +back; but the voice called with a bewitching sweetness and charm, +“Come, Star Princess, come.” She held out her arms and answered, “Yes, +I come,” and sprang from the edge of the cliff. + +A triumphant howl rang out above all the roaring of the waters:-- + +“I have you now, grandchild of a faithless prince, and you shall pay +the forfeit of his falseness. You did not see the ocean for eighteen +years, but you shall see it now.” And the cruel mermaid, for she it +was who had bewitched the Star Princess and drawn her from her home, +laughed so savagely and unpityingly that the heart of the maiden almost +ceased to beat. + +She was alone and in the hands of the wicked mermaid. “Oh, my father, +my mother!” she cried. “My Prince, my Prince, save me, save me!” But +the mermaid clutched her roughly and dragged her to the palace of her +son, the merking who ruled the waters for leagues around. + +“Here is the grandchild of the man who scorned my love,” she shrieked. +“What shall she suffer? By what death shall she die?” + +The merking looked upon the Star Princess. Her eyes were cast down in +fear, her hair was wild and tangled, her cheeks were pale, and she +trembled with fright, but even then she was beautiful, and the merking +said:-- + +[Illustration: “SHE IS FAIRER THAN ANY OF MY MAIDENS”] + +“She is fairer than any of my maidens. She shall not be put to death +to-day. I will have her for my wife, and when I am tired of her, then +you may torment her and kill her as you will. Come with me, earth +maiden.” + +“Oh, no, no,” cried the Star Princess. “Let me die! I will never be +your wife.” + +“It is far too noble a fate for her,” grumbled the cruel mermaid. “Such +as she should not have honors like that. Will you be my son’s bride or +will you not?” she demanded. + +“Oh, no, never, never!” answered the Star Princess, with a shudder. + +“Then you shall be tormented with such tortures as you never dreamed +of,” cried the mermaid angrily; and she caught hold of the Star +Princess to drag her away. + +“Not yet,” interposed the merking. “You know how to give hard tasks. +Give her a task or two, and she will be glad enough to be free from you +and come to me.” + +“Tasks she shall have,” declared the mermaid, “and such ones that she +will plead and beg to come to you. Come, earth creature,” she called; +and, clutching her prisoner, she dragged her away to a horrible cavern +full of sea-monsters. To one of them she said, “Go with the earth +creature and do not let her out of your sight.” Then she turned to +the Star Princess. “My son’s throne needs jewels,” she said. “Go, and +within three days bring me ten thousand pearls.” + +The Star Princess was in despair; but it was worse, she thought, to be +the bride of the merking than even to have the dreadful sea-monster for +a jailer, and she followed him meekly. + +“Where do you intend to go?” he asked. + +“Indeed, I do not know,” she replied. + +“Then you may as well stay here,” the sea-monster said, with a horrible +grin. + +“Oh, I don’t dare,” moaned the Star Princess. “What shall I do! what +shall I do!” + +Even the sea-monster could not help being just a little sorry for her, +and he said grimly:-- + +“You can come this way if you like. It is better than staying there.” +And she followed him gladly, for anything was better than staying with +the merking and his mother. + +As they went on through the water, she noticed a little sculpin that +seemed determined to go with them. It was ugly, indeed, but it kept +between her and the sea-monster, and she was grateful. Somehow she +felt that the little creature was her friend; and when it came nearer +and even touched her hand, she did not draw back, but was glad of its +company. + +After a long, long while, the sea-monster stopped before a bank of +jagged rocks. + +“There are the pearl oysters,” it said, “thousands of them. Perhaps +you can get them to give up their treasures.” The creature laughed +scornfully and added, “You can’t get away very well, and I shall take a +nap. Wake me when you get your pearls.” + +The Star Princess was in despair, but as soon as the monster was fairly +asleep, the little sculpin had something to say. + +“Star Princess,” he whispered, “I was once stolen by trolls.” The Star +Princess started, for her Prince, too, had met the same fate. “When I +was rescued,” continued the sculpin, “the troll was forced to make me +three gifts. One of them was that I should have the power to persuade +all honest creatures of earth, air, and water to do my will. This ledge +is covered with oysters, and I think they will gladly give you their +pearls.” He swam close to the ledge and spoke softly to the oysters. In +a moment pearls were falling like raindrops. The Star Princess picked +them up, and there were far more than ten thousand. She carried them +back to the mermaid, and the mermaid cried:-- + +“So you got the pearls, did you? That was an easy task. How did you +like your journey? You shall have another to-morrow.” + +When the morning had come, the mermaid said:-- + +“I wish to know how many grains of sand there are on the beach that +lies to the north of my son’s kingdom. One of my creatures shall take +you there, and if you do not count aright, then at the end of three +days you shall lose one of those blue eyes that you are so proud of. A +wooden one is good enough for a girl who cannot use what she has.” + +The Star Princess was put in the charge of a sea-monster far more +horrible than the one that had gone with her before. “I shall have to +show you the way to the beach,” he said, “but you’ll get no other help +from me, understand that.” + +The Star Princess was in despair, for the friendly sculpin was nowhere +to be seen, and how could she ever count all the grains of sand on a +beach. When they had come to the shore, she took up a handful of sand +and tried to count the grains, but of course it was hopeless. + +“You may as well kill me,” she cried to the sea-monster, “for I cannot +do this.” + +“Oh, the mermaid will kill you in her own way. You need not fear that +she will leave you alive,” retorted the sea-monster, and grinned at her +most horribly. “Go to work. For three days you are to count grains of +sand; but be quiet about it and don’t disturb me.” In two minutes the +creature was fast asleep. + +Suddenly the Star Princess heard all around her a gentle rustling, as +if the softest of the breezes were touching lightly the tiniest leaves +of the forest. In a moment she found that it was made by thousands +upon thousands of little sand fleas hopping toward her. “Our friend, +the sculpin, has asked us to help you,” they said, “and we have been +counting as fast as ever we could. Lie down and rest, and in one hour +longer, the task will be done.” + +When the third day had come, the sea-monster took the maiden back to +the mermaid. + +“How many grains of sand are on the beach?” the mermaid demanded. + +The Star Princess told her, and she had to admit that it was the right +number. She was very angry to find that the task had been done, and she +actually shrieked with rage. Then she cried, “Will you marry my son, +you wretch, or will you go on another journey? You need not think that +you will get off from this one so easily. Will you marry him?” + +“No, I will not,” declared the Star Princess; and she would not yield +even when the mermaid gnashed her teeth in a fury and screamed, “You +shall have a task to-morrow that is a task. This is only child’s play.” + +When morning had come, the mermaid said:-- + +“The sharks once rebelled against my son, and he has never punished +their leader as he deserved. Go you to the Waters of the Sharks, take +their king prisoner, and bring him to me to pay the penalty of his +rebellion. One of my people will show you the way.” And she pointed out +a sea-monster more dreadful than both the others put together. + +The monster led the way, and the Star Princess followed. “Oh, if I +could only see my father and my mother once more,” she thought. “How +could I think the voice of the mermaid was sweet! I should be so +happy if I were only the lowest servant in my father’s house. And the +Prince--I wonder--” + +“Here you are,” said the monster; “that is, you are as near as I intend +to go. I’m not going to risk my head and fins in the Waters of the +Sharks. I’ll wait here till the third day, but I rather think the +sharks will save me the trouble of carrying you home.” + + * * * * * + +Now while all this was going on in the Water World, there was the +deepest amazement and sorrow in the Island Kingdom, for the Star +Princess had disappeared. In the morning of the second day of her +nineteenth year, her maids waited and waited for her call. At last +they went to her door. It stood ajar, and they could see that she was +not in the room. “She is so happy in being free,” they said, “that she +has slipped out into the palace gardens to see the world in the early +morning.” So they searched the gardens through and through. They ran +hither and yon, and looked into every corner of the palace; but no +Star Princess was to be seen. Then they went to the King, weeping and +wailing and wringing their hands, and cried:-- + +“O your Majesty, the Star Princess has disappeared! Oh, oh, what shall +we do! what shall we do!” + +The royal guests were still at the palace, and in three minutes every +one of them had heard the distressing news. Then began a search that +was a search. Every corner, every crack of the great palace was looked +into, not only once but over and over, for each one thought that he +might perhaps see something that the others had passed by. Then the +gardens were searched and the forests and the fields. All the subjects +of the kingdom gave up their work and joined in the hunt. Every inch of +the seashore was gone over and over, until it seemed as if some one had +looked under every blade of grass and into every mouse-hole. They went +to the cliff, of course, but the light steps of the Princess had left +no trace, and they could not even guess what had become of her. + +The King was heartbroken, and the Queen lay on her bed, moaning her +life away; but the young Prince was even more wretched than they. “Her +father and mother have had her all those eighteen years,” he said to +himself, “but I have found her only to lose her again.” + +After the Island Kingdom had been searched through and through, the +King sent out every ship in the navy to look for his child, and all the +stranger kings and princes whose ships lay at the royal wharves put out +to sea to try to find the Star Princess. They sailed north and south +and east and west, but they all came back with lowered flags and the +same report, “We cannot find her.” + +The days passed. The royal guests bade farewell to the sorrowing King +and Queen and sailed away to their own kingdoms, all but one, the +faithful young Prince. “I cannot leave the place where I first met +her,” he said to her parents. “Will you let me stay with you for a +time?” Of course they were only too glad to have him; but one morning +the young Prince, too, was missing. He had vanished from the Island +Kingdom as suddenly as the Star Princess. It was known that he had left +his rooms in the palace late in the evening; but this was a thing that +he often did, especially on such moonlight nights as the one on which +the Princess had vanished. So many times he had been seen pacing to and +fro on the sand that no one thought of watching him or of noticing when +he returned to the palace. + +After he, too, disappeared, the beach was searched as closely as it had +been for the Star Princess. The print of his footsteps was seen and +they were traced up and down the sand, then to one side toward a high +hill. On the path up the hill, little twigs had been broken, and here +and there a leaf had been bruised and crushed; and so it was known that +he had climbed to the top of the hill. He was traced still farther, to +the very edge of a cliff that overhung sharp rocks and a wild commotion +of breakers. The people looked upon them sadly and shook their heads. +“Poor Prince,” they said, “his love for the Star Princess has made him +mad and he has flung himself over the cliff.” But one sage old man, +who had seen many strange things in his long life, shook his head and +muttered, “Not madness but magic.” + +If the breakers that beat on the base of the cliff had chosen to speak, +they, too, would have said, “Not madness but magic.” The Prince had +gone out on the shore, as he so often went, and that night he heard the +same sweet voice that had called the Star Princess into the sea. “Come +to me, come to me,” it cried, now low and sweet, now loud and strong, +but ever so powerful that even the Prince could hardly resist it. +Suddenly, in the midst of the strength and the sweetness, there came a +wail that tore his very heart. “My Prince, my Prince,” it said, “save +me, save me!” And without a glance behind him he sprang straight off +the cliff and into the raging sea. + +“Aha, now I have two of you!” shrieked the mermaid with fiendish +delight. Then, when she looked upon him more closely and saw how tall +and noble and beautiful he was, she hesitated. “I will not tear you +limb from limb,” she said. “I have a daughter who will soon take a +husband, and if she chooses you, you may live.” + +“I will have no false mermaid for a wife,” declared the young Prince, +as boldly as if he had still been in the palace of the Island Kingdom. + +“You will not?” shrieked the mermaid. “How dare you insult my daughter, +you earthborn creature!” She waved her hands to and fro before his +face. His eyes closed, and for a moment he was in a deep slumber. When +he awoke, the mermaid had gone. He was alone, but he was no longer a +handsome young prince; she had put upon him the form of a sculpin. + +Prince or sculpin, he had but one thought, to find the Star Princess; +and he swam as rapidly as he could, first in one direction, then in +another, until he came in sight of the Waterworld den where the mermaid +and her monsters dwelt. It was just at the moment when the mermaid was +sending out the Star Princess and the sea-monster to find the ten +thousand pearls. + +“I cannot rescue her yet,” said the Prince to himself, “but at least +I can save her from the torments of the mermaid.” So he kept out of +sight until the mermaid had gone back into her den. Then he hastened +after the Star Princess, and it was he who had kept between her and the +monster and who had persuaded the pearl oysters to give her of their +pearls. It was he, too, who had induced the sand fleas to count the +grains of sand for her. She did not know this, and she had seen no more +of him after her first journey. Now she stood in terror, gazing into +the Waters of the Sharks. The horrible creatures swam about and dived +and rolled over and showed their sharp, white teeth. The Star Princess +was in an agony of terror. She could not run away, for the sea-monster +was behind her, and he was almost as dreadful as the sharks. + +“Go on,” he cried mockingly. “Tell them you want their king. The +earth-girl who will not marry our merking is only fit for sharks’ food.” + +The Star Princess looked so pitiful and so beautiful that even the +sea-monster was as nearly touched as a monster could be. He muttered, +“It _is_ rather a pity to have her eaten up.” + +Then he called to her:-- + +“Girl, earth-girl, if you will agree to marry our king, I will take you +back without the shark, and if she is angry, I think I know a way to +save you.” + +“Oh, no, no,” she replied, shuddering. “I can never marry the merking.” + +“Then go on and be devoured by the sharks,” growled the monster, “but +you may as well be about it. If you keep me waiting much longer, I +will eat you myself.” + +The Star Princess turned toward the Waters of the Sharks. As she gazed +in terror, she saw the ugly little sculpin coming toward her, and +behind him swam the whole company of sharks. + +“Don’t be afraid,” the sculpin called as they swept by. “Only wait. You +are safe.” + +The Star Princess waited. She was all alone in the vast ocean, for +at the coming of the sharks, the sea-monster had fled for his life. +She covered her eyes with her hands for fear she should see something +dreadful; but it was not long before she felt a soft touch. It was the +friendly sculpin. “Come quick,” he said. “There is not a moment to +lose. The sharks are fighting the merking and his monsters. Follow me. +Do not be afraid, I can find the way, for the second gift of my troll +jailer was that I should never fail to find the place that I sought.” + +The little sculpin swam to the land faster than ever sculpin had swum +before, and the Princess ran after him faster than ever princess had +run before. She dared not glance behind her for fear of seeing some of +the horrible creatures. At last they were so far away that the sculpin +knew there was no more danger of pursuit. They had come to the shore. +There he stopped and said:-- + +“Star Princess, now you are safe. Rest for a little and then you shall +go home to the palace of the Island Kingdom.” + +The Star Princess burst into tears of joy. “You have saved me,” she +cried. “What shall I do for you? My father is a king and he will give +you whatever you ask. He will build a wall around an ocean for you if +you wish and drive away from it every creature that would trouble you. +He will--” and there she stopped, for, try her best, she could not +think of anything else that would be at all likely to please a sculpin. + +The ugly little fish replied:-- + +“Star Princess, my rightful home is not in the sea, but on the land. +I was born in a palace larger and more beautiful than that of your +father. I fell into the hands of the wicked mermaid, and she threw over +me the sculpin form that I now wear.” + +“My father has wizards and magicians at his court,” cried the Star +Princess eagerly, “and surely some one among them can free you from the +mermaid’s power.” + +“I am under a power that you alone can free me from,” declared the +sculpin. “I am the sovereign of a kingdom larger and richer than your +father’s. I am but a little older than yourself. They tell me I am +handsome. You can free me if you will stroke my head three times and +say--” + +“And say what?” cried the Star Princess. + +“And say, ‘I promise to marry you as soon as we have come to my +father’s palace,’” the sculpin answered. + +“Oh, no, no,” cried the Star Princess. “I will do anything but that. +I will give you everything I have, and when the kingdom is mine, you +shall have that, too, and I will go out into the world and beg my +bread, but I cannot marry any one except my own Prince.” + +“And are you so sure that he will care to take a portionless bride?” +asked the sculpin. + +The maiden looked down upon the sand, then out upon the water, then she +answered softly:-- + +“Even if he refused me, I could never marry any one else; but,” she +added, “I am sure that he will want me.” + +“So am I,” said a manly voice behind her, and, behold, there stood +the Prince himself, for the third gift of the troll was that no magic +should have power to change his form against his will. He had kept +the form of a sculpin for a while because he knew he could be of more +service to the Princess in that shape. They sat down on the yellow +sand, and he told her the long, long story of his love and his sorrow, +of his remaining in her father’s kingdom that he might at least be near +the place where he had first seen her, of his pacing up and down the +shore and thinking of her, and at last of his springing from the cliff +because he was sure that he heard her voice crying, “My Prince, save +me, save me!” + +“But look about you, my Star Princess,” he said. “Do you not know this +shore and this cliff towering over our heads? These waves beat upon +the coast of your father’s kingdom. Come, let us go to the palace.” + +He took hold of her hand and led her across the sandy shore, up the +little hill, over a grassy meadow where flowers sprang up wherever they +stepped. Then they went through the woods, where the pathway was soft +with pine needles and the air was rich with fragrance, and so on to the +palace of the King. + +At one of the upper windows stood the Queen, gazing sadly over the +water. The King was by her side. His arm was thrown around her, and he +seemed to be trying to comfort her. The Prince and the Star Princess +waved their hands to them; but they were looking far out to the +horizon, and the wanderers were up the hill and into the palace and +close beside them before they had any idea that their loneliness was +at an end. + +Such a welcoming as there was! The Queen wept for the suffering that +they had all been through, and she laughed for joy that they were +together again. Everybody in the kingdom had a whole year of holidays. +The prisoners were set free. There were feasts upon feasts for all +who chose to partake of them. The grass was greener, the flowers were +brighter. There were such blue skies and such soft little clouds as had +never been seen over the land before. The birds no longer stayed in the +forest, but came freely into the city. They perched upon windows and +fences and balconies and sang more sweetly than ever birds sang before. + +After a year and a day of this rejoicing came the wedding of the Prince +and the Star Princess. Just as the wedding procession was setting off +for the church, some one noticed a great sea-turtle toiling up the hill +to the palace. + +“I want to see the King,” he called, waving a flipper to call his +attention. + +The procession waited till the turtle had come up the hill. Then the +King went forward cordially, and said:-- + +“You are welcome, Friend Turtle. Have you come to the wedding?” + +“Yes,” the turtle gasped, for he was not used to climbing such high +hills, and he had not yet fully caught his breath; “but I have +something to say to you. I have just come from the Waterworld, and I +have brought you some news.” + +“And what is that?” cried the King anxiously, for even now he was +afraid of the power of the cruel mermaid. + +“The war is ended,” said the turtle. “The merking, the mermaid, and all +their monsters are killed and devoured. Neither you nor your Queen nor +the Prince nor the Star Princess has an enemy on the land or in the +sea.” + +Then the bells throughout the whole kingdom rang for joy, the drums +beat, the trumpets blew, and the banners waved, all of their own accord. + +“Bring another chariot,” ordered the King. Another chariot was brought, +and the turtle was helped into it. It took its place just behind the +bridal party, and they all rode away to the wedding. + + +THE END + + + + + The Riverside Press + CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS + U . S . A + + + + +TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: + + + Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. + + Perceived typographical errors have been corrected. + + Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77025 *** |