The heart of oak books

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BOSTON
PUBLIC
LIBRARY

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS

A COLLECTION OF TRADITIONAL RHYMES AND STORIES FOR CHILDREN,

AND OF MASTERPIECES OF POETRY AND PROSE FOR USE AT

HOME AND AT SCHOOL, CHOSEN WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE

TO THE CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGINATION AND THE

DEVELOPMENT OF A TASTE FOR GOOD READING

En J5?ti Uolunus
Volume III

THE

HEART OF OAK BOOKS

EDITED BY

CHARLES ELIOT NORTON

£btrt> ISook

FAIRY STORIES AND CLASSIC TALES OF ADVENTURE

BOSTON, U.SA.
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS

1895

PE )ir-f
. A/ H

bk 3

Copyright, 1895,
By CHARLES ELIOT NORTON.

Noriuooti iPtcss

J. S. dishing & Co. — Berwick & Smith
Norwood Mass. U.S.A.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

-»<>•-

In the preparation of the Heart of Oak Books, I have been

'greatly assisted by Miss Kate Stephens and Mr. G-eorge H.

Browne. Without their help the books would not have been

made. An accurate text of the pieces of which the volumes

are made up has been secured by the careful and scholarly

revision of Mr. Browne. Most of the notes are from the

hand of Miss Stephens.

C. E. NORTON.

The selections from Longfellow, Lowell, Hawthorne, Whit-
tier, and Emerson in these books are used by permission of
the publishers of the works of these authors, Houghton,
Mifflin, & Co., and by special arrangement with them.

D. C. HEATH & CO.

PEEFACE.

A taste for good reading is an acquisition the worth of
which is hardly to be overestimated ; and yet a majority of
children, even of those favored by circumstance, grow up
without it. This defect is due partly to the fault or ignorance
of parents and teachers ; partly, also, to the want, in many
cases, of the proper means of cultivation. For this taste, like
most others, is usually not so much a gift of nature as a
product of cultivation. A wide difference exists, indeed, in
children in respect to their natural inclination for reading,
but there are few in whom it cannot be more or less developed
by careful and judicious training.

This training should begin very early. Even before the
child has learned the alphabet, his mother's lullaby or his
nurse's song may have begun the attuning of his ear to the
melodies of verse, and the quickening of his mind with pleas-
ant fancies. As he grows older, his first reading should be
made attractive to him by its ease and entertainment.

The reading lesson should never be hard or dull ; nor.
should it be made the occasion for instruction in any specific
branch of knowledge. The essential thing is that in beginning
to learn to read the child should like what he reads or hears
read, and that the matter should be of a sort to fix itself in
his mind without wearisome effort. He should be led on by
pleasure from step to step.

vn

Vin PREFACE.

His very first reading should mainly consist in what may
cultivate his ear for the music of verse, and may rouse his
fancy. And to this end nothing is better than the rhymes and
jingles which have sung themselves, generation after genera-
tion, in the nursery or on the playground. " Mother Goose "
is the best primer. No matter if the rhymes be nonsense
verses ; many a poet might learn the lesson of good versifica-
tion from them, and the child in repeating them is acquiring
the accent of emphasis and of rhythmical form. Moreover,
the mere art of reading is the more readily learned, if the
words first presented to the eye of the child are those which
are already familiar to his ear.

The next step is easy, to the short stories which have been
told since the world was young ; old fables in which the teach-
ings of long experience are embodied, legends, fairy tales,
which form the traditional common stock of the fancies and
sentiment of the race.

These naturally serve as the gate of entrance into the wide
open fields of literature, especially into those of poetry.
Poetry is one of the most efficient means of education of the
moral sentiment, as well as of the intelligence. It is the
source of the best culture. A man may know all science and
yet remain uneducated. But let him truly possess himself
of the work of any one of the great poets, and no matter what
else he may fail to know, he is not without education.

The field of good literature is so vast that there is some-
thing in it for every intelligence. But the field of bad litera-
ture is not less broad, and is likely to be preferred by the
common, uncultivated taste. To make good reading more
attractive than bad, to give right direction to the choice, the
growing intelligence of the child should be nourished with

PREFACE. IX

selected portions of the best literature, the virtue of which
has been approved by long consent. These selections, besides
merit in point of literary form, should possess as general
human interest as possible, and should be specially chosen
with reference to the culture of the imagination.

The imagination is the supreme intellectual faculty, and
yet it is of all the one which receives least attention in our
common systems of education. The reason is not far to seek.
The imagination is of all the faculties the most difficult to
control, it is the most elusive of all, the most far-reaching
in its relations, the rarest in its full power. But upon its
healthy development depend not only the sound exercise of
the faculties of observation and judgment, but also the com-
mand of the reason, the control of the will, and the quicken-
ing and growth of the moral sympathies. The means for its
culture which good reading affords is the most generally avail-
able and one of the most efficient.

To provide this means is the chief end of the Heart of
Oak series of Reading Books. The selections which it con-
tains form a body of reading, adapted to the progressive
needs of childhood and youth, chosen from the masterpieces
of the literature of the English-speaking race. For the most
part they are pieces already familiar and long accepted as
among the best, wherever the English language is spoken.
The youth who shall become acquainted with the contents of
these volumes will share in the common stock of the intel-
lectual life of the race to which he .belongs ; and will have
the door opened to him of all the vast and noble resources
of that life.

The books are meant alike for the family and the school.
The teacher who may use them in the schoolroom will find in

X PREFACE.

them a variety large enough for the different eapacities and
interests of his pupils, and will find nothing in them but what
may be of service to himself also. Every competent teacher
will already be possessed of much which they contain ; but
the worth of the masterpieces of any art increases with use
and familiarity of association. They grow fresher by custom ;
and the love of them deepens in proportion to the time Ave
have known them, and to the memories with which they have
become invested.

In the use of these books in the education of children, it
is desirable that much of the poetry which they contain should
be committed to memory. To learn by heart the best poems
is one of the best parts of the school education of the child.
But it must be learning by heart; that is, not merely by rote
as a task, but by heart as a pleasure. The exercise, however
difficult at first, becomes easy with continual practice. At
first the teacher must guard against exacting too much ; weari-
ness quickly leads to disgust ; and the young scholar should
be helped to find delight in work itself.

It will be plain to every teacher, after brief inspection, that
these books differ widely from common School Headers. Their
object is largely different. They are, in brief, meant not only
as manuals for learning to read, but as helps to the cultivation
of the taste, and to the healthy development of the imagina-
tion of those who use them, and thus to the formation and

invigoration of the best elements of character.

C. E. N.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

Book III.

PAGE

Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way William Shakespeare 1

The Bird Henry Vaughan 1

The Story of the Argonauts B. G. Niebuhr ' 2

The Fairy Folk William Allingham 10

The Frog-Prince J. and W. Grimm 12

The Brave Tin Soldier Hans Christian Andersen 16

The Golden Goose J. and W. Grimm 21

Robert of Lincoln William Cullen Bryant 25

The Blue Light J. and W. Grimm 27

The Walrus and the Carpenter Lewis Carroll 32

The Ugly Duckling Hans Christian Andersen 30

The Brook „ Alfred, Lord Tennyson 40

Rumpel-Stilts-Kin ., . . . .J. and W. Grimm 48

The Bee and the Flower Alfred, Lord Tennyson 51

The Nose . . , , J. and W. Grimm 52

Lord Lovel 60

The Fives and the Shoemaker J. and W. Grimm 61

The Four Clever Brothers J. and W. Grimm 64

Hans in Luck J. and W. Grimm 69

The Children in the Wood 74

The History of Jack, the Giant-Killer 80

Casabianca Felicia Browne Hemans 100

xi

xii TABLE OF CONTENTS.

PAGE

Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves 102

The Mountain and the Squirrel Ralph Waldo Emerson 116

Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp 117

Piping down the Valleys Wild William Blake 135

Written in March William Wordsworth 130

The Shepherd William Blake 137

Ariel's Song William Shakespeare 137

Lucy Gray William Wordsworth 138

Over hill, over dale William Shakespeare 140

The Fly William Blake 141

A Visit from St. Nicholas Clement C. Moore 142

A Christmas Carol 144

The Adventures of Ulysses Charles Lamb 145

Notes 253

Index of Writers 201

Pronouncing Vocabulary 263

THE

HEART OF OAK BOOKS.

THIRD BOOK.

JOG ON, JOG ON, THE FOOT-PATH WAY.

William Shakespeare.

Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
And merrily hent1 the stile-a:

A merry heart goes all the da}r,
Your sad tires in a mile-a.

THE BIRD.

Henry Vaughan.

Hither thou com'st. The busy wind all night
Blew through thy lodging, where thy own warm wing

Thy pillow was. Many a sullen storm,
For which coarse man seems much the fitter born,

Rain'd on thy bed
And harmless head;

1 hent, to take hold of, to clear, to pass beyond.

1

TILE STORY OF TEE ARGONAUTS.

And now as fresh and cheerful as the light
Thy little heart in early hymns doth sing
Unto that Providence, whose unseen arm
Curb'd them, and cloth 'tl thee well and warm.
All things that be praise Him ; and had
Their lesson taught them when first made.

THE STORY OF THE ARGONAUTS.1

B. G. Niebuhr.

There was a King in Greece whose name was Atharaas,
and whose wife's name was Nephele. They had two chil-
dren, a son and a daughter, who were very good, and loved
each other very much. The son's name was Phrixus,
and the daughter's Helle. But the father was wicked
and put away his wife, the mother of the good chil-
dren, and married another wife whose name was Ino, and
who was very wicked. She treated the poor children very
badly, gave them bad things to eat, and bad clothes, and
beat them, although they were good, because they wept
after their mother. Ino was a very bad step-mother. At
last both Athamas and Ino sought to kill Phrixus and to
offer him as a sacrifice.

But when he was brought to the altar, the God Hermes

brought a fine large Ram which had wool of gold and

could walk on the clouds. On this Ram with the golden

fleece, Hermes placed Phrixus and also his sister Helle,

and told them to go through the air to the country of

Colchis.

1 See the pronouncing vocabulary on p. 263.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 3

The Ram knew his way. The children were told to
cling with one hand to one of the horns, and they ben
their other arms about each other's waists : but Helle let
go her hold, and fell down into the sea. Phrixus wept
very much because his good sister was dead, but went on
riding until he came to Colchis. There he sacrificed his
Ram, and nailed the fleece against an oak-tree.

Some time after, there was a king in Greece whose
name was Pelias. He had a brother whose name was
iEson, and jEson had a son whose name was Jason.
Jason lived with his father in the country. Now it had
been told to King Pelias, that if a man with only one shoe
should come to him, he would take away his kingdom.
Then it happened that King Pelias gave a great feast, to
which he invited Jason. Jason had to wade through a
brook on his way, for there was no bridge over the brook.
There had been in the night a heavy storm, and much rain
had fallen, and the brook Avas swollen. Then the ties of
one of Jason's shoes were loosened, so that he lost it in
the water, and he came with only one shoe into the King's
house. When King Pelias saw this, he was afraid, be-
cause of what had been told him, and he bade Jason to
depart nut of the land, and not to come back unless he
brought him the golden fleece from ^Colchis.

Now he who would get this fleece must make a long
voyage and go through many perils. Jason was not at all
afraid, and invited many brave warriors to go with him.

Jason built a large ship for himself and for his com-
rades. Then the Goddess Athene, who loved him, gave
him a magic tree for his mast, which, if Jason questioned
it, would tell him what he was to do.

4 THE STORY OF THE ARGONAUTS.

The ship's name was Argo, and they who went in her
were called Argonauts. Amongst the Argonauts, there
were Hercules, the strongest of men, and two brothers, the
sons of the North Wind, who had wings and could fly
through the air, and another hero named Pollux, the best
man in the world Avith his fists.

Then the Argonauts came with their ship to a country
where there was a wicked king whose name was Amycus ;
when strangers came to his country, he made them fight
with him, and he was very strong and killed them. But
Pollux knocked him down and struck him dead.

After that, the Argonauts came to a town where there
lived a king whose name was Phineus. He had once
made Zeus, king of the gods, angry, and Zeus, to punish
him, had made him blind. Whenever Phineus sat down
to eat, there came great foul birds, called Harpies, which
had a skin as hard as iron, and long sharp claws, with
which they tore the people to pieces who wished to drive
them away. As soon as the food was served, they would
come and carry it away, and if they could not carry away
all, they dirtied the dishes and the table, so that it was
all filthy. So Phineus was near starving.

When the heroes came, he told them of his troubles,
and begged them to help him. The heroes sat down with
him at the table, and, as soon as the food was brought,
the Harpies came flying in. Jason and his comrades drew
their swords and struck at them, but it was of no use.
Then the two sons of Boreas, the North Wind, who had
wings, flew into the air; and the Harpies, being fright-
ened, flew away, and the two heroes flew after them.
The Harpies at last were tired out, and fell into the

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 5

sea and were drowned. So Phineus had rest and could
eat.

When the wind was fair, the heroes went on board their
ship Argo, to sail towards Colchis, and when they bade
farewell to Phineus, he thanked them for the help they
had given him, and gave them good counsel. In the
wide sea over which they were to sail, two great rocks
were floating, as icebergs float in the sea, and whenever
they struck against each other, they crushed everything
to pieces that had got between them. If a bird flew
through the air when the rocks dashed together, they
crushed it to death; and if a ship was about to sail
through, they rushed together when the ship was in the
middle, and crushed it into bits, and all that were in it
died. Zeus had placed these rocks in the sea to prevent
any ship from reaching Colchis. Phineus, however, knew
that the rocks always parted very widely from each other
after having struck each other. He gave advice to the
Argonauts, how they might get safely through.

When they came near the place where the rocks were
floating, the Argonauts sailed straight toward the passage ;
and when they were near, one of the heroes stood up,
holding a dove in his hand, and let it fly. It went be-
tween the rocks, and they came swiftly together to crush
it. But the dove flew so fast that the rocks caught only
her tail, which was torn out, but the feathers soon grew
again. Then the rocks again parted widely asunder, and
then the heroes rowed with all their might and got safely
through: so that when the rocks struck together again,
they caught only a small bit of the ship's stern, which
they knocked off.

6 THE STORY OF THE ARGONAUTS.

When the Argonauts had passed happily through the
Symplegades (as these rocks were called), they came at
last to the river Phasis, which flows through Colchis.
Some of them stayed in the ship ; but Jason and Pollux
and many other heroes went into the town where the king
dwelt. The king's name was iEetes, and he had a daugh-
ter whose name was Medea. Jason told Kino- iLCetes
that Pelias had sent him to fetch the golden fleece, and
asked him to give it to him. JEetes did not like to
lose the fleece, but he was afraid to refuse it; so he
told Jason that he should have it: but first he must yoke
certain brazen bulls to a plow, and plow up a great tract
of land, and then sow the teeth of a dragon. The brazen
bulls had been made by the god Hephaistos, who was
a cunning smith. They walked and moved and were
living like real bulls, and they belched out fire from
their nostrils and mouths, and were far more fierce and
strong than real bulls. Therefore, they were kept in a
stable built of stone and iron, and were bound with strong
iron chains. And when the dragon's teeth were sown in
the earth, iron men would spring up with lances and
swords, to kill him who had sown the teeth. Thus the
king hoped that the bulls would kill Jason; and if the
bulls should not kill him, then he thought that the iron
men would do it.

Medea, the daughter of the king, saw Jason at her
father's and loved him, and was sorry that he should
perish. She knew how to brew magic liquors; she had a
chariot drawn by flying serpents, and on this chariot she
was carried where she wished; she gathered herbs pn
many mountains and in many vales on the brinks of

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 7

i

t

brooks, and from these herbs she pressed out the juice and
prepared it. She went to Jason and brought him the
juice, and told him to rub his face and his hands, and
arms and legs, and also his armor, his sword and lance,
with the juice ; whereby he Avould become for a whole day
stronger than all the other heroes together, and fire Avould
not burn him, and steel would not wound him, but his
sword and his lance would pierce steel as if it were butter.

Then a day Avas set Avhen Jason should yoke the bulls
and soav the teeth; and early in the morning, before the
sun rose, King iEetes and his daughter and all his people
came to see. The king sat doAvn on a throne near the place
Avhere Jason Avas to ploAv, and the people sat around him.

Jason rubbed himself and his Aveapons Avith the juice,
as Medea had told him, and came to the place. He opened
the doors, and loosened the bulls from their chains, and
seized each Avith one hand by its horn, and dragged them
out. The bulls bellowed most horribly, and all that time
fire came out from their nostrils and mouths. Then King
iEetes felt glad; but Avhen the people saAV what a beauti-
ful man and hoAV brave Jason was, they Avere sorry that
he should die; for they did not know that Medea was
helping him. Jason pressed the heads of both bulls cIoavii
to the ground ; then they kicked Avith their hind legs, but
Jason held them down so strongly that they fell on their
knees.

The ploAv to which they Avere to be yoked Avas all of
iron; Pollux brought it near and threAV the }^oke over
their necks and the chain around their horns, Avhilst Jason
kept their mouths and noses so close to the ground that
they could not belch out fire. When Pollux had done

8 THE STORY OF THE ARGONAUTS.

and the bulls were yoked, he leapt quickly away, and
Jason seized the chain in one hand and the handle of the
plow in the other, and let loose his grasp of the horns;
the bulls strove to run away, but Jason held the chain so
fast that they were obliged to Avalk slowly, and to plow
the field. It was sunrise when they Avere }roked, and by
noon, Jason had plowed up the whole field. Then lie
unyoked the bulls and let them loose ; and they ran with-
out looking behind them to the mountains. There they
would have set all the woods on fire if Hephaistos had
not come and caught them and led them away.

When Jason had done plowing, he went to King ^Eetes
to get the dragon's teeth, and iEetes gave to Jason a
helmet full of teeth. Jason took them out and went up
and down the field and threw them into the furrows ; and
then with his large spear he beat the clods into small
pieces, and smoothed the soil as a gardener does after
having sowed. And then he went away and lay down to
rest until evening, for he was very weary.

Towards sunset he returned to the field, and iron men
were everywhere growing out of the soil. Some had
grown out to the feet, others to the knees, others to the
hips, others to the under part of the shoulders; of some
only the helmet or forehead could be seen, whilst the rest
of their bodies stuck in the ground. Those Avho had their
arms already out of the earth and could move them, shook
their lances and brandished their swords. Some were
just freeing their feet and preparing to come against
Jason.

Then Jason did what Medea had told him, and taking
a big stone, he threw it upon the field just in the midst of

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 9

them. When the iron men saw the stone, each sprang
quickly to seize it. Then they began to bicker amongst
each other, because each wished to have it, and to cut and
thrust at each other ; and as soon as one got his feet out of
the soil, he ran to join the others, and all of them fought
together, until every one of them was killed. Meanwhile
Jason walked leisurely over the field and cut off the heads
of those that were about to grow up. In this way, all the
iron men perished, and King iEetes became like a mad-
man ; but Medea and the heroes and the people were well
pleased.

The next morning, Jason went to King iEetes and
asked him now to give him the fleece; but the king did
not give it to him, and said that he must come at another
time ; for he meant to have Jason murdered. Medea told
this to Jason, and told him also that he must fetch the
fleece himself, or else he would never get it. The fleece
was nailed to an oak, and at the foot of the oak lay a
dragon that never slept, and devoured all men that might
touch the fleece. As the dragon was immortal, Medea
could not help Jason to kill him. But the dragon ate
sweet cakes with delight, and Medea gave to Jason honey-
cakes, in which she had mixed a juice which would make
the dragon go fast asleep. So Jason took the cakes and
threw them before him ; the dragon ate all of them, and
at once fell asleep. Then Jason stepped over him, and
drew out the nails with which the fleece was fastened to
the oak; and taking down the fleece, he wrapped it in
his cloak and carried it off to the ship. Medea came
also, and became Jason's wife, and went with him to
Greece.

10 THE FAIRY FOLK.

JEetes, thinking the Argonauts would go back in the
Argo, the same way they had come, sent a great many
vessels to attack them ; but they took another way, carried
the Argo into the Ocean (which goes all around the earth),
and so they came safe back to Iolcos. Jason gave the
fleece to Pelias ; Pelias soon after was put to death, and
.yEsou became king.

THE FAIRY FOLK.
William Allingham.

Up the airy mountain,

Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting

For fear of little men ;
Wee folk, good folk,

Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,

And white owl's feather!

Down along the rocky shore

Some make their home :
They live on crispy pancakes

Of yellow tide-foam ;
Some in the reeds

Of the black mountain-lake,
With frogs for their watch-doers,

All nierht awake.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 11

High on the hill-top

The old King sits ;
He is now so old and gray,

He's nigh lost his wits.
With a bridge of white mist

Colnmbkill he crosses,
On his stately journeys

From Slieveleague to Rosses ;
Or going up with music

On cold starry nights,
To sup with the Queen

Of the gay Northern Lights.

They .stole little Bridget

For seven years long ;
When she came down again,

Her friends were all gone.
They took her lightly back,

Between the night and morrow;
They thought that she was fast asleep,

But she was dead with sorrow.
They have kept her ever since

Deep within the lakes,
On a bed of flag-leaves,

Watching till she wakes.

By the craggy hill-side,

Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn-trees

For pleasure here and there.

12 THE FROG-PRINCE.

Is any man so daring

As dig them up in spite ?

He shall find their sharpest thorns
In his bed at night.

Up the airy mountain,

Down the rushy glen,
We daren't g;o a-huntiner

For fear of little men ;
Wee folk, good folk,

Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,

And white owl's feather!

THE FROG-PRINCE.

One fine evening a young princess went into a wood
and sat down by the side of a cool spring of water. She
had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favorite
plaything, and she amused herself with tossing it into the
air and catching it again as it fell. After a time she
threw it up so high that when she stretched out her hand
to catch it, the ball bounded away and rolled along upon
the ground, till at last it fell into the spring. The prin-
cess looked into the spring after her ball ; but it was very
deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it.
Then she began to lament her loss, and said, "Alas! if I
could onl}- get my ball again, I would give all my fine
clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the
wyld."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 13

While she was speaking a frog put its head out of the
water and said, " Princess, why do you weep so bitterly ? '
"Alas!" said she, "what can you do for me, you nasty
frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring." The
frog said, "I want not your pearls and jewels and fine
clothes ; but if you will love me and let me live with you,
and eat from your little golden plate, and sleep upon your
little bed, I will bring you your ball again." "What
nonsense," thought the princess, "this silly frog is talk-
ing! He can never get out of the well: however, he may
be able to get my ball for me ; and therefore I will promise
him what he asks." So she said to the frog, "Well, if
you will bring me my ball, I promise to do all you re-
quire."

Then the frog put his head down, and dived deep under
the water; and after a little while he came up again with
the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the ground. As
^oon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it
up, and was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again,
that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it
as fast as she could. The frog called after her, " Stay,
princess, and take me with you as you promised;' but
she did not stop to hear a word.

The next day, just as the princess had sat down to
dinner, she heard a strange noise, tap-tap, as if somebody
was coming up the marble staircase; and soon afterwards
something knocked gently at the door, and said :

" Open the door, my princess dear,
Open the door to thy true love here !
And mind the words that thou and I said,
By the fountain cool in the greenwood shade."

14 THE FROG-PRINCE.

Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and
there she saw the frog, whom she had quite forgotten; she
was terribly frightened, and shutting the door as fast as
she could, came back to her seat. The king her father
asked her what had frightened her. " There is a nasty
frog," said she, "at the door, who lifted my ball out of
the spring last evening: I promised him that he should
live with me here, thinking that he could never get out
of the spring; but there he is at the door and wants to
come in ! ' AVhile she was speaking, the frog knocked
again at the door, and said:

" Open the door, my princess dear,
Open the door to thy true love here !
And mind the words that thou and I said,
By the fountain cool in the greenwood shade."

The king said to the young princess, " As you have
made a promise, you must keep it; so go and let him in."
She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and came
up close to the table. "Pray lift me upon a chair," said
he to the princess, "and let me sit next to you." As
soon as she had done this, the frog said, " Put your plate
closer to me that I may eat out of it." This she did, and
when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, "Now
I am tired; carry me upstairs and put me into your little
bed." And the princess took him up in her hand and put
him upon the pillow of her own little bed, where he slept
all night long. As soon as it was light, he jumped up,
hopped downstairs, and went out of the house. "Now,"
thought the princess, "lie is gone, and I shall be troubled
with him no more."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 15

But she was mistaken; for when night came again,
she heard the same tapping at the door, and when she
opened it, the frog came in and slept upon her pillow as
before till the morning broke : and the third night he did
the same ; but when the princess awoke on the following
morning, she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a
handsome prince standing at the head of her bed, and
gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes that ever
were seen.

He told her that he had been enchanted by a malicious
fairy, who had changed him into the form of a frog, in
which he was fated to remain till some princess should
take him out of the spring and let him sleep upon her bed
for three nights. "You," said the prince, "have broken
this cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but
that you should go with me into my father's kingdom,
where I will marry you, and love you as long as you
live."

The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in
giving her consent; and as they spoke, a splendid carriage
drove up with eight beautiful horses decked with plumes
of feathers and golden harness, and behind rode the
prince's servant, the faithful Henry, who had bewailed
the misfortune of his dear master so long and bitterly that
his heart had well-nigh burst. Then all set out full of
joy for the prince's kingdom, where they arrived safely,
and lived happily a great many years.

16 THE BRAVE TIN SOLDIER.

THE BRAVE TIN SOLDIER.

Hans Christian Andersen.

There were once five-and-twenty tin soldiers, who
were all brothers, for they had been made out of the same
old tin spoon. They shouldered arms and looked straight
before them. They wore splendid red and blue uniforms.
The first thing in the world they ever heard were the
words, " Tin soldiers ! " uttered by a little boy, who clapped
his hands with delight when the lid of the box in which
they lay was taken off. They were given him for a birth-
day present, and he stood at the table to set them up. The
soldiers were all exactly alike, except one, who had only
one leg ; he had been left till the last, and then there was
not enough of the melted tin to finish him ; but he stood
just as firmly on one leg as the others did on two, and on
that account he was very noticeable.

The table on which the tin soldiers stood was covered
with other playthings, but the most attractive one was a
pretty little paper castle. Through the small windows,
the rooms could be seen. In front of the castle, a number
of little trees surrounded a piece of looking-glass, which
was intended to represent a transparent lake. Swans,
made of wax, swam on the lake, and were reflected in it.
All this was very pretty, but the prettiest of all was a
tiny little lad}', who stood at the open door of the castle.
She, also, was made of paper, and she wore a dress of the
thinnest muslin, with a narrow blue ribbon over her
shoulders just like a scarf. In the middle of this was
fixed a glittering tinsel rose, as large as her whole face.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 17

The little lady was a dancer, and she stretched out both
her arms, and raised one of her legs so high that the tin
soldier could not see it at all, and he thought that she,
like himself, had only one leg. " That is the wife for
me," he thought; "yet she is too grand, and lives in a
castle, while I have only a box to live in, five-and-twenty
of us all together; that is no place for her. Still I must
try to make her acquaintance." Then he laid himself at
full length on the table behind a snuff-box that stood
upon it, so that he could peep at the delicate little lady
who continued to stand on one leg without losing her
balance.

When evening came, the other tin soldiers were all
placed in the box, and the people of the house went to
bed. Then the playthings began to have their own
games together, to pay visits, to have sham-fights, and to
give balls. The tin soldiers rattled in their box; they
wanted to get out and join the amusements, but they
could not open the lid. The nut-crackers played at leap-
frog, and the pencil jumped about the table. There was
such a noise that the canary woke up and began to talk,
and in poetry too. Only the tin soldier and the dancer
remained in their places. She stood on the tip of one
toe, with her arms stretched out," as firmly as he did on
his one leg. He never took his eyes from her even for a
moment. The clock struck twelve, and, with a bounce,
up sprang the lid of the snuff-box ; but, instead of snuff,
there jumped up a little black goblin; for the snuff-box
Avas a toy puzzle.

"Tin soldier," said the goblin, "don't wish for what
does not belong to you."

18 THE BE AVE TIN SOLDIER.

But the tin soldier pretended not to hear. " Very well ;
wait till to-morrow, then," said the goblin.

When the children came in the next morning, they
placed the tin soldier in the window. Now, whether it
was the goblin that did it, or the draught, at all events
the window flew open, and out fell the tin soldier, heels
over head, from the third story, into the street beneath.
It was a terrible fall; for he came head downwards, his
helmet and his bayonet stuck in between the flagstones,
and his one leg up in the air. The servant-maid and
the little boy went downstairs directly to look for him ;
but, although once they nearly trod upon him, they did
not see him. If he had called out, "Here I am," it would
have been all right; but he was too proud to cry out for
help while he wore a uniform.

Presently it began to rain, and the drops fell faster and
faster, till there was a heavy shower. When it was over,
two boys happened to pass by, and one of them said, " Look,
there is a tin soldier! He ought to have a boat to sail in."

So they made a boat out of a newspaper, and placed the
tin soldier in it, and sent him sailing down the gutter,
while the two boys ran by the side of it, and clapped their
hands. Good gracious, what large waves arose in that
gutter ! and how fast the stream rolled on ! The rain had
been very heavy.

The paper boat rocked up and down, and turned itself
round sometimes so quickly that the tin soldier trembled ;
yet he remained firm; his countenance did not change ; he
looked straight before him, and shouldered his musket.
Suddenly the boat shot under a bridge which crossed the
drain, and then it was as dark as the tin soldier's box.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 19

" Where am I going now ? " thought he. " This is the
black goblin's fault, I am sure. Ah, well, if the little
lady were only here with me in the boat, I should not care
for any darkness."

Suddenly there appeared a great water-rat, which lived
in the drain.

" Have you a passport ? ' asked the rat ; " give it to me
at once.-" But the tin soldier remained silent, and held
his musket tighter than ever.

The boat sailed on, and the rat followed it. How he
did gnash his teeth and cry out to the bits of wood and
straw, " Stop him, stop him ; he has not paid toll, and has
not shown his pass."

But the stream rushed on stronger and stronger. The
tin soldier could already see daylight where the arch
ended. Then he heard a roaring sound quite terrible
enough to frighten the bravest man. It was only that, at
the end of the tunnel, the gutter emptied into a large
drain ; but that was as dangerous to him as a high water-
fall would be to us.

He was too close to it to stop. The boat rushed on,
and the poor tin soldier could only hold himself as stiffly
as possible, without moving an eyelid, to show that he
was not afraid. The boat whirled round three or four
times, and then filled with water to the very edge ; noth-
ing could save it from sinking. He now stood up to his
neck in water, while deeper and deeper sank the boat,
and the paper became soft and loose with the wet. At
last the water closed over the soldier's head. He thought
of the pretty little dancer whom he should never see again,
and the words of the song sounded in his ears —

20 THE BRAVE TIN SOLDIER.

" Farewell warrior ! ever brave,
Drifting onward to thy grave."

Then the paper boat fell to pieces, and the soldier sank
into the water, and immediately afterwards was swallowed
up by a great fish.

Oh, how dark it was inside the fish! a great deal darker
than in the drain, and narrower too, but the tin soldier
continued firm, and lay at full length, shouldering his
musket. The fish swam to and fro, making the most fear-
ful movements, but at last he became quite still. After
a while, a flash of lightning seemed to pass through him,
and then the daylight appeared, and a voice cried out, 4 1
declare, here is the tin soldier ! " The fish had been
caught, taken to the market and sold to the cook, who
took him into the kitchen and cut him open with a large
knife. She picked up the soldier and held him by the
waist between her finger and thumb, and carried him into
another room, where the people were all anxious to see
this wonderful soldier who had travelled about inside a
fish; but he was not at all proud. They placed him on
the table, and — how many curious things do happen in
the world ! — there he was in the very same room from the
window of which he had fallen; there were the same chil-
dren, the same playthings standing on the table, and the
fine castle with the pretty little dancer at the door. She
still balanced herself on one leg and held up the other:
she was as firm as himself. It touched the tin soldier so
much to see her that he almost wept tin tears, but he kept
them back. He looked at her, but she said nothing.

Presently one of the little boys took up the tin soldier,
and threw him into the stove. He had no reason for

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 21

doing so, therefore it must have been the fault of the black
goblin who lived in the snuff-box. The flames lighted
up the tin soldier as he stood; the heat was very ter-
rible, but whether it proceeded from the real fire or
from the fire of love he could not tell. The bright
colors of his uniform were faded, but whether they had
been washed off during his journey, or from the effects
of his sorrow, no one could say. He looked at the little
lady, and she looked at him. He felt himself melting
away, but he still remained firm with the gun on his
shoulder. Suddenly the door of the room flew open, and
the draught of air caught up the little dancer. She flut-
tered like a sylph right into the stove by the side of the
tin soldier, was instantly in flames and was gone. The
tin soldier melted down into a lump, and the next morn-
ing-, when the servant took the ashes out of the stove,
she found him in the shape of a little tin heart. Of the
little dancer nothing remained but the tinsel rose, which
was burnt black as a cinder.

THE GOLDEN GOOSE.

There was a man who had three sons. The youngest
was called Dummling, and was on all occasions despised
and ill-treated by the whole family. It happened that
the eldest took it into his head one day to go into the
wood to cut fuel; and his mother gave him a delicious
pasty and a bottle of wine to take with him, that he might
refresh himself at his work.

22 THE GOLDEN GOOSE.

As he went into the wood, a little old man bade him
good-day, and said, " Give me a little piece of meat from
your plate, and a little wine out of your bottle; J am very
hungry and thirsty." But this clever young man said,
" Give you my meat and wine ! No, I thank you ; I
should not have enough left for myself:' and away he
went. He soon began to cut down a tree ; but he had not
worked long before he missed his stroke, and cut himself,
and was obliged to go home to have the wound dressed.
Now it was the little old man that caused him this mis-
chief.

Next went out the second son to work; and his mother
gave him too a pasty and a bottle of wine. And the
same little old man met him also, and asked him for some-
thing to eat and drink. But he too thought himself
vastly clever, and said, "Whatever you get, I shall lose;
so go your way ! ' The little man took care that he should
have his reward; and the second stroke that he aimed
against a tree, hit him on the leg; so that he too was
forced to go home.

Then Dummling said, "Father, I should like to go and
cut wood too." But his father answered, "Your brothers
have both lamed themselves; you had better stay at home,
for 3^011 know nothing of the business." But Dummling
was very pressing ; and at last his father said, "Go your
way; you will be wiser when you have suffered for your
folly." And his mother gave him only some dry bread,
and a bottle of sour beer; but when lie went into the
wood, he met the little old man, who said, "Give me
some meat and drink, for I am very hungry and thirsty."
Dummling said, "I have only dry bread and sour beer; if

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 23

that will suit you, we will sit down and eat it together."
So they sat down, and when the lad pulled out his bread,
behold it was turned into a capital pasty, and his sour beer
became delightful wine. They ate and drank heartily;
and when they had done, the little man said, " As you
have a kind heart, and have been willing to share every-
thing with me, I will send a blessing upon you. There
stands an old tree ; cut it down and you will find something
at the root." Then he took his leave and went his way.

Dummling set to work, and cut down the tree; and
when it fell, he found in a hollow under the roots a goose
with feathers of pure gold. He took it up, and went on
to an inn, where be proposed to sleep for the night. The
landlord had three daughters ; and when they saw the
goose, they were very curious to examine what this won-
derful bird could be, and wished very much to pluck one
of the feathers out of its tail. At last the eldest said, "I
must and will have a feather." So she waited till his
back was turned, and then seized the goose by the wing;
but to her great surprise there she stuck, for neither hand
nor finger could she get away again.

Presently in came the second sister, and thought to
have a feather too; but the moment she touched her sis-
ter, there she too hung fast. At last came the third,
and wanted a feather ; but the other two cried out, " Keep
away! for heaven's sake, keep away!' However, she
did not understand what they meant. "If they are
there," thought she, "I may as well be there too." So
she went up to them; but the moment she touched her
sisters she stuck fast, and hung to the goose as they did.
And so they kept company with the goose all night.

24 THE GOLDEN GOOSE.

The next morning, Dummling carried oft' the goose
under his arm, and took no notice of the three girls, but
went out with them sticking fast behind; and wherever
he travelled, they too were obliged to follow, whether
they would or no, as fast as their legs could carry them.

In the middle of a field the parson met them ; and when
he saw the train, he said, "Are you not ashamed of your-
selves, you bold girls, to run after the young man in that
way over the fields? Is that proper behavior?' Then he
took the youngest by the hand to lead her away ; but the
moment he touched her he too hung fast, and followed
in the train. Presently, up came the clerk; and when
he saw his master the parson running after the three
girls, he wondered greatly, and said, "Hollo! hollo! }^our
reverence! whither so fast? there is a christening to-day."
Then he ran up, and took him by the gown, and in a
moment he was fast too. As the five were thus trudging
along, one behind another, they met two laborers with
their mattocks, coining from work; and the parson cried
out to them to set him free. But scarcely had they
touched him, when they too fell into the ranks, and so
made seven, all running after Dummling and his goose.

At last they arrived at a city, Avhere reigned a king
who had an only daughter. The princess was of so
thoughtful and serious a turn of mind that no one could
make her laugh; and the king had proclaimed to all the
world, that whoever could make her laugh should have
her for his wife. When the young man heard this, he
went to her with his goose and all its train; and as soon
as she saw the seven all hanging together, and running
about, treading on each other's heels, she could not

THE HEABT OF OAK BOOKS. 25

help bursting into a long and loud laugh. Then Dumm-
ling claimed her for his wife ; the wedding was celebrated,
and he was heir to the kingdom, and lived long and hap-
pily with his wife.

ROBERT OF LINCOLN.

William Gullen Bryant.

Merrily swinging on brier and weed,

Near to the nest of his little dame,
Over the mountain-side or mead,

Robert of Lincoln is telling his name :
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink;
Snug and safe is that nest of ours,
Hidden among the summer flowers.
Chee, chee, chee.

Robert of Lincoln is gayly drest,

Wearing a bright black wedding-coat;
White are his shoulders and white his crest.
Hear him call in his merry note :
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink;
Look, what a nice new coat is mine,
Sure there was never a bird so fine.
Chee, chee, chee.

Robert of Lincoln's Quaker wife,

Pretty and quiet, with plain brown wings,

26 ROBERT OF LINCOLN,

Passing at home a patient life,

Broods in the grass while her husband sings

Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;
Brood, kind creatures ; you need not fear
Thieves and robbers while I am here.

Chee, chee, chee.

Modest and shy as a nun is she ;

One weak chirp is her only note.
Braggart and prince of braggarts is he,
Pouring boasts from his little throat:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink;
Never was I afraid of man;
Catch me, cowardly knaves, if you can !

Chee, chee, chee.

Six white eggs on a bed of hay,

Flecked with purple, a pretty sight!
There as the mother sits all day,

Robert is singing with all his might:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink ;
Nice good wife, that never goes out,
Keeping house while I frolic about.

Chee, chee, chee.

Soon as the little ones chip the shell,
Six wide mouths are open for food;

Robert of Lincoln bestirs him well,
Gathering seeds for the hungry brood.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 27

Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,

Spink, spank, spink;
This new life is likely to be
Hard for a gay young fellow like me.

Chee, chee, chee.

Robert of Lincoln at length is made

Sober with work, and silent with care;
Off is his holiday garment laid,
Half forgotten that merry air:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink ;
Nobody knows but my mate and I
Where our nest and our nestling's lie.

Chee, chee, chee.

Summer wanes ; the children are grown

Fun and frolic no more he knows;
Robert of Lincoln's a humdrum crone;
Off he flies, and we sing as he goes:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink;
When you can pipe that merry old strain,
Robert of Lincoln, come back again.

Chee, chee, chee.

THE BLUE LIGHT.

A soldier had served a king his master many years,
till at last he was turned off without pay or reward.
How he should get his living he did not know: so he set

28 THE BLUE LIGHT.

out and journeyed homeward all day, in a very downcast
mood, until in the evening he came to the edge of a deep
wood. The road leading that way, he pushed forward,
but had not gone far before he saw a light glimmering
through the trees, towards which he bent his Aveary steps ;
and soon came to a hut where no one lived but an old
witch.

The poor fellow begged for a night's lodging and some-
thing to eat and drink; but she would listen to nothing:
however, he was not easily got rid of; and at last she
said, "I think I will take pity on you this once; but if
I do, you must dig over all my garden for me in the
morning." The soldier agreed very willingly to any-
thing she asked, and he became her guest.

The next day, he kept his word and dug the garden
very neatly. The job lasted all day ; and in the evening,
when his mistress would have sent him away, he said, " I
am so tired from my work that I must beg you to let me
stay over the night." The old lady vowed at first she
would not do any such thing; but after a great deal of
talk, he carried his point, agreeing to chop up a whole
cart-load of wood for her the next day.

This task too was duly ended; but not till towards
night; and then the soldier found himself so tired, that
he begged a third night's rest: and this too was given,
but only on his pledging his Avord that next day he would
fetch the witch the blue liedit that burnt at the bottom of
the well.

When morning came, she led him to the well's mouth,
tied him to a long rope, and let him down. At the bot-
tonit sure enough, he found the blue light as the witch

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 29

had said, and at once made the signal for her to draw him
np again. But when she had pulled him up so near to
the top that she could reach him with her hands, she said,
"Give me the light, I will take care of it," — meaning to
play him a trick, by taking it for herself, and letting him
fall again to the bottom of the well. But the soldier saw
through her wicked thoughts, and said, " No, I shall not
give you the light till I find myself safe and sound out of
the well." At this she became very angry, and dashed
him, with the light she had longed for, many a year, down
to the bottom. And there lay the poor soldier for a while
in despair, on the damp mud below, and feared that his
end was nigh. But his pipe happened to be in his pocket
still half full, and he thought to himself, " I may as well
make an end of smoking you out; it is the last pleasure I
shall have in this world." So he lit it at the blue light,
and began to smoke.

Up rose a cloud of smoke, and on a sudden a little black
dwarf was seen making his way through the midst of it.
"What do you want with me, soldier? " said he. "I have
no business with you," answered the soldier. But the
dwarf said, " I am bound to serve you in everything, as lord
and master of the blue light." "Then first of all be so
good as to help me out of this well." No sooner said than
done : the dwarf took him by the hand and drew him up,
and the blue light of course with him. "Now do me
another piece of kindness," said the soldier: "Pray let
that old lady take my place in the well." When the
dwarf had done this and lodged the witch safely at the
bottom, they began to ransack her treasures ; and the sol-
dier made bold to carry off as much of her gold and silver

30 THE BLUE LIGHT.

as he well could. Then the dwarf said, "If you should
chance at any time to want me, you have nothing to do
but to light your pipe at the blue light, and I will soon
be with you."

The soldier was not a little pleased at his good luck,
and went into the best inn in the first town he came to,
and ordered some line clothes to be made and a handsome
room to be got ready for him. When all was ready, he
called his little man to him, and said, " The king sent me
away penniless, and left me to hunger and want: I have
a mind to show him that it is my turn to be master now;
so bring me his daughter here this evening, that she may
wait upon me, and do what I bid her." "That is rather
a dangerous task," said the dwarf. But away he went,
took the princess out of her bed, fast asleep as she was,
and brought her to the soldier.

Very early in the morning, he carried her hack; and as
soon as she saAV her father, she said, "I had a strange
dream last night: I thought I was carried away through
the air to a soldier's house, and there I waited upon him
as his servant." Then the king wondered greatly at such
a story; but told her to make a hole in her pocket and fill
the pocket with peas, so that if it were really as she said,
and the whole was not a dream, the peas might fall out in
the streets as she passed through, and leave a clue to tell
whither she had been taken. She did so; but the dwarf
had heard the king's plot; and when evening came, and
the soldier said he must bring him the princess again, he
strewed peas over several of the streets, so that the few
that fell from her pocket were not known from the
others ; and the people amused themselves all the next

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 31

day picking up peas, and wondering where so many
came from.

When the princess told her father what had happened
to her the second time, he said, " Take one of your shoes
with you and hide it in the room you are taken to." The
dwarf heard this also ; and when the soldier told him to
bring the king's daughter again, he said, "I cannot save
you this time ; it will be an unlucky thing for you if you
are found out, — as I think you will be." But the soldier
would have his own way. "Then you must take care,
and make the best of your way out of the city gate very
early in the morning," said the dwarf.

The princess kept one shoe on, as her father bade her,
and hid it in the soldier's room : and when she got back
to her father, he ordered it to be sought for all over the
town; and at last it was found where she had hid it.
The soldier had run away, it is true ! But he had been
too slow, and was soon caught and thrown into a strong
prison, and loaded with chains : — what was worse, in the
hurry of his flight, he had left behind him his great treas-
ure, the blue light, and all his gold, and had nothing left
in his pocket but one poor ducat.

As he Avas standing very sorrowfully at the prison
grating, he saw one of his comrades, and calling out to
him said, "If you will bring me a little bundle I left in
the inn, I will give you a ducat." His comrade thought
this very good pay for such a job; so he went away, and
soon came back bringing the blue light and the gold.
Then the soldier soon lit his pipe; up rose the smoke,
and with it came his old friend the little dwarf. "Do
not fear, master," said he, "keep up your heart at your

32 THE WALBUS AND THE CARPENTER.

trial and leave everything to take its course; — only mind
to take the blue light with you." The trial soon came
on; the matter was sifted to the bottom; the prisoner
found guilty, and his doom passed: he was ordered to be
hanged forthwith on the gallows tree.

But as he was led out, he said he had one favor to beg
of the king. "What is it?' said his majesty. "That
you will deign to let me smoke one pipe on the road."
"Two, if you like," said the king. Then he lit his pipe
at the blue light, and the black dwarf was before him in a
moment. "Be so good as to kill, slay, or put to flight
all these people," said the soldier; "and as for the king,
you may cut him into three pieces." Then the dwarf
began to lay about him, and soon got rid of the crowd
around: but the king begged hard for mercy; and to save
his life, agreed to let the soldier have the princess for his
wife, and to leave the kingdom to him when he died.

THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER.

From Through the Lookixg-Glass.
Leiois Carroll.

The sun was shining on the sea,

Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make

The billows smooth and bright —
And this was odd, because it was

The middle of the night.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 33

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was clone —
It's very rude of him," she said,
To come and spoil the fun! "

u

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry,

You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky :

No birds were flying overhead — •
There were no birds to fly.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;

They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:

" If this were only cleared away,
They said, " it would be grand !

>>

5?

" If seven maids with seven mops

Swept it for half a year,
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,

" That they could get it clear ? '
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,

And shed a bitter tear.

" O Oysters, come and walk with us ! '

The Walrus did beseech.
" A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,

Along the briny beach:

34 THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER.

We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."

The eldest Ctyster looked at him,

But never a word he said :
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,

And shook his heavy head —
Meaning to say he did not choose

To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,

All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,

Their shoes were clean and neat —
And this was odd, because, you know,

They hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,

And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,

And more, and more, and more —
All hopping through the frothy waves,

And scrambling to the shore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock

Conveniently low :
And all the little Oysters stood

And waited in a row.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS, 35

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things:
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —

Of cabbages — and kings —
And why the sea is boiling hot —

And whether pigs have wings."

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,

"Before Ave have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,

And some of us arc fat! "
" No hurry! " said the Carpenter.

They thanked him much for that.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said,

" Is what we chiefly need :
Pepper and vinegar besides

Are very good indeed —
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,

We can begin to feed."

"But not on us! ' the Oysters cried,

Turning a little blue.
" After such kindness, that would be

A dismal thing to do! ""
"The night is fine! ' the Walrus said,

"Do you admire the vieAv?

" It was so kind of you to come !

And you are very nice ! "
The Carpenter said nothing but

" Cut us another slice ;

36 THE UGLY BUCKLING.

I wish you were not quite so deaf —
I've had to ask you twice! '

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said,
" To play them such a trick,

After we've brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick! "

The Carpenter said nothing but
"The butter's spread too thick! "

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:

"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out

Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief

Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
" You've had a pleasant run!

Shall we be trotting home again ? '
But answer came there none —

And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

THE UGLY DUCKLING.

Hans Christian Andersen.

It was lovely summer weather in the country, and the
golden corn, the green oats, and the haystacks in the
meadows looked beautiful. On a sunny slope, stood a
pleasant old farm-house, close by a deep river, Under

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 37

some big burdock leaves on the bank, sat a cluck on her
nest, waiting for her young brood to hatch; she was begin-
ning to get tired of her task, for the little ones were a
long time coming out of their shells.

At length one shell cracked, and then another, and
from each egg came a living creature that lifted its head
and cried, "Peep, peep." "Quack, quack," said the
mother, and then they all quacked as well as they could,
and looked about them on every side at the large green
leaves. Their mother allowed them to look as much as
they liked, because green is good for the eyes. "How
large the world is," said the young ducks, when they
found how much more room they now had than while they
were inside the egg-shell. "Do you imagine this is the
whole world ? ' asked the mother ; " wait till you have
seen the garden ; it stretches far beyond that to the par-
son's field, but I have never ventured so far. Are you
all out ? ' she continued, rising ; " no, I declare, the larg-
est egg lies there still. I wonder how long this is to
last, I am quite tired of it ; ' and she seated herself again
on the nest.

"Well, how are you getting on?" asked an old duck,
who paid her a visit.

"One egg is not hatched yet,"^said the duck, "it will
not break. But just look at all the others, are they not
the prettiest little ducklings you ever saw?"

"Let me see the egg that will not hatch," said the old
duck ; " I have no doubt it is a turkey's egg. I was per-
suaded to hatch some once, and after all my care and
trouble with the young ones, they were afraid of the
water. I quacked and clucked, but all to no purpose. I

38 THE UGLY DUCKLING.

could not get them to venture in. Let me look at the
egg. Yes, that is a turkey's egg-, take my advice, leave
it where it is, and teach the other children to swim."

"I think I will sit on it a little while longer," said the
duck; "I have sat so long already, a few days will be
nothing."

" Please yourself,"- said the old duck, and she went
away.

At last the large egg hatched, and a young one crept
forth, crying, "Peep, peep." It was very large and ugly.
The duck stared at it, and exclaimed, "It is very large,
and not at all like the others. I wonder if it really is a
turkey. AVe shall soon find out when we go to the water.
It must go in, if I have to push it in myself."

On the next day, the weather was delightful, and the
sun shone brightly on the green burdock leaves, so the
mother duck took her young brood down to the water,
and jumped in with a splash. "Quack, quack," cried
she, and one after another the little ducklings jumped in.
The water closed over their heads, but they came up again
in an instant, and swam about quite prettily with their
legs paddling under them as easil}r as possible, and the
ugly duckling swam with them.

"Oh," said the mother, "that is not a turkey; how
well he uses his legs, and how upright he holds himself!
He is my own child, and he is not so very ugly after all
if 3-011 look at him properly. Quack, quack! come with
me now, I will take you to the farmyard, but you must
keep close to me, or you may be trodden upon; and, above
all, beware of the cat."

The ducklings did as they were bid, and, when they

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 39

came to the yard, the other ducks stared, and said, " Look,
here comes another brood, as if there were not enough of
us already! and what a queer-looking object one of them
is; we don't want him here," and then one new at him
and bit him in the neck.

" Let him alone," said his mother; "he is not doing any
harm."

"Yes, but he is too big and ugly," said the spiteful
duck, "and therefore he must be turned out."

They soon got to feel at home in the farmyard; but the
poor duckling that had crept out of his shell last of all
and looked so ugly, was bitten and pushed and made
fun of, not only by the . ducks, but by all the poultry.
"He is too big," they all said, and the turkey cock, who
had been born into the world with spurs, and fancied him-
self really an emperor, puffed himself out and flew at the
duckling, and became quite red in the head with passion,
so that the poor little thing did not know where to go,
and was quite miserable because he wras so ugly and
laughed at by the whole farmyard. So it went on from
day to day, till it got worse and worse. The poor duck-
ling was driven about by every one; even his brothers
and sisters were unkind to him, and would say, " Ah, you
ugly creature, I wish the cat would get you," and his
mother said she wished he had never been born. The
ducks pecked him, the chickens beat him, and the girl
who fed the poultry kicked him. So at last he ran away,
frightening the little birds in the hedge as he flew over
the palings.

"They are afraid of me because I am so ugly," he
said. So he closed his eyes, and flew still farther, until

40 TIIE UGLY BUCKLING.

he came out on a large moor, inhabited by wild ducks.
Here he remained the whole night, feeling very tired and
sorrowful.

In the morning, when the wild ducks rose in the air,
they stared at their new comrade. "What sort of duck
are you ? " they all said, coming round him.

He bowed to them, and was as polite as he could be, but
he did not reply to their question. " You are exceedingly
ugly," said the wild ducks, "but that will not matter if
you do not marry into our family.1' Poor thing! all he
wanted was to stay among the rushes, and find something
to eat and drink.

After he had been on the moor two days, some men
came to shoot the birds there. How they terrified the
poor duckling! He hid himself among the reeds, and lay
quite still, when suddenly a dog came running by him,
and went splash into the water without touching him.
"Oh," sighed the duckling, "how thankful I am for being
so ugly; even a dog will not bite me."

It was late in the day before all became quiet, but even
then the poor young thing did not dare to move. He
waited for several hours, and then, after looking carefully
around him, hastened away from the moor as fast as he
could. He ran over field and meadow till a storm arose,
and he could hardly struggle against it. Towards even-
ing, he reached a poor little cottage. The duckling was
so tired that he could go no farther; he sat down by the
cottage, and then he noticed that there was a hole near the
bottom of the door, large enough for him to slip through,
which lie did very quietly and got a shelter for the night.

A woman, a tom-cat, and a hen lived in this cottage.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 41

The tom-cat, whom his mistress called "My little son,"
was a great favorite; he could raise his back, and purr,
and could even throw out sparks from his fur if it were
stroked the wrong way. The hen had very short legs, so
she was called " Chickie short legs." She laid good eggs,
and her mistress loved her as if she had been her own
child. In the morning, the strange visitor was discovered,
and the tom-cat began to purr, and the hen to cluck.

"What is that noise about?" said the old woman, look-
ing round the room, but her sight was not very good;
therefore, when she saw the duckling, she thought it must
be a fat duck that had strayed from home. " Oh, what a
prize! " she exclaimed, "I hope it is not a drake, for then
I shall have some duck's eggs. I must wait and see."
So the duckling was allowed to remain on trial for three
weeks, but there were no eggs.

Now the tom-cat was the master of the house, and the
hen was the mistress, and they always said, " We and the
world," for they believed themselves to be half the world,
and the better half too. The duckling thought that
others might hold a different opinion on the subject, but
the hen would not listen to such doubts. "Can you lay
eggs?" she asked. "No." "Then have the goodness to
hold your tongue." "Can you raise your back, or purr,
or throw out sparks?" said the tom-cat. "No." "Then
you have no right to express an opinion when sensible
people are speaking." So the duckling sat in a corner,
feeling very low-spirited, till the sunshine and the fresh
air came into the room through the open door, and then
he began to feel such a great longing for a swim on the
water, that he could not help telling the hen.

42 THE UGLY DUCKLING.

"What an absurd idea," said the hen. "You have
nothing else to do, therefore you have foolish fancies. If
you could purr or lay eggs, they would pass away."

"But it is delightful to swim about on the water," said
the duckling, "and so refreshing to feel it close over your
head, while you dive down to the bottom."

"Delightful indeed!" said the lien, "why you must be
crazy! Ask the cat, he is the cleverest animal 1 know, ask
him how he would like to swim about on the water, or to
dive under it, for I will not speak of my own opinion ;
ask our mistress, the old woman — there is no one in the
world more clever than she is. Do you think she would
like to swim, or to let the water close over her head?'

"You don't understand me," said the duckling.

" We don't understand you ? Who can understand you,
I wonder? Do you consider yourself more clever than
the cat, or the old woman ? I will say nothing of myself.
Don't imagine such nonsense, child, and thank your gooct
fortune that you have been received here. Are 3^011 not
in a warm room, and in society from which you may learn
something. But you are a chatterer, and your company
is not very agreeable. Believe me, I speak only for your
good. I may tell you unpleasant truths, but that is a
proof of my friendship. I advise you, therefore, to lay
eggs, and learn to purr as quickly as possible."

"I believe I must go out into the wrorld again," said
the duckling.

"Yes, do," said the hen. So the duckling left the
cottage, and soon found water on which lie could swim
and dive, but he was avoided by all other animals because
he was so ugly.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 43

Autumn came, and the leaves in the forest turned to
orange and gold; then, as winter approached, the wind
caught them as they fell and whirled them in the cold
air. The clouds, heavy with hail and snow-flakes, hung
low in the sky, and the raven stood on the ferns, crying,
"Croak, croak." It made one shiver with cold to look at
him. All this was very sad for the poor little duckling.

One evening, just as the sun set, amid bright clouds,
there came a large flock of beautiful birds out of the
bushes. The duckling had never seen any like them
before. They were swans, and they curved their graceful
necks, while their soft plumage shone with dazzling
whiteness. They uttered a singular cry, as they spread
their glorious wings and flew away from those cold
regions to warmer countries across the sea. As they
mounted higher and higher in the air, the ugly little
duckling felt a strange sensation as he "watched them.
He whirled himself in the water like a wheel, stretched
out his neck towards them, and uttered a cry so strange
that it frightened himself. Could he ever forget those
beautiful happ}T birds ; and when at last the}' were out
of his sight, he dived under the water, and rose again
almost beside himself with, excitement. He knew not
the names of these birds, nor where they had flown, but
he felt towards them as he had never felt for any other
bird in the world. He was not envious of these beauti-
ful creatures, but he wished to be as lovely as they.
Poor ugly creature, how gladly he would have lived even
with the ducks, had they only given him encouragement.
The winter grew colder and colder; he was obliged to
swim about on the water to keep it from freezing, but

44 THE UGLY DUCKLING.

every night the space on which he swam became smaller
and smaller. At length it froze so hard that the ice in
the water crackled as he moved, and the duckling had to
paddle with his legs as well as he could, to keep the space
from closing up. He became exhausted at last, and lay
still and helpless, frozen fast in the ice.

Early in the morning, a peasant, who was passing b}r,
saw what had happened. He broke the ice in pieces with
his wooden shoe, and carried the duckling home to his
wife. The warmth revived the poor little creature ; but
when the children wanted to play with him, the duckling
thought they would do him some harm ; so he started up
in terror, fluttered into the milk-pan, and splashed the
milk about the room. Then the woman clapped her hands,
which frightened him still more. He flew first into
the butter-cask, then into the meal-tub, and out again.
What a condition he was in ! The woman screamed, and
struck at him with the tongs ; the children laughed and
screamed, and tumbled over each other, in their efforts to
catch him ; but luckily he escaped. The door stood open ;
the poor creature could just manage to slip out among
the bushes, and lie down quite exhausted in the newly
fallen snow.

It would be very sad, were I to relate all the misery
and privations which the poor little duckling endured
during the hard winter; but when it had passed, he found
himself lying one morning in a moor, amongst the rushes.
He felt the warm sun shining, and heard the lark sing-
ing, and saw that all around was beautiful spring. Then
the young bird felt that his wings were strong, as he
flapped them against his sides, and rose high into the air.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 45

They bore him onwards, until he found himself in a large
garden, before he well knew how it had happened. The
apple-trees were in full blossom, and the fragrant elders
bent their long green branches down to the stream which
wound round a smooth lawn. Everything looked beau-
tiful, in the freshness of early spring. From a thicket
close b}7, came three beautiful white swans, rustling their
feathers, and swimming lightly over the smooth water.
The duckling remembered the lovely birds, and felt more
strangely unhappy than ever.

"I will fly to these royal birds," he exclaimed, "and
they will kill me, because I am so ugly, and dare to
approach them; but it does not matter: better be killed
by them than pecked by the ducks, beaten by the hens,
pushed about by the girl who feeds the poultry, or starved
with hunger in the winter."

Then he flew to the water, and swam towards the beau-
tiful swans. The moment they espied the stranger, they
rushed to meet him with outstretched wings.

"Kill me," said the poor bird; and he bent his head
down to the surface of the water, and awaited death.

But what did he see in the clear stream below? His
own image; no longer a dark, grey bird, ugly and disa-
greeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan; and
the great swans swam round the new-comer, and stroked
his neck with their beaks, as a welcome.

Into the garden, presently came some little children,
and threw bread and cake into the water.

"See," cried the youngest, "there is a new one;" and
the rest were delighted, and ran to their father and
mother, dancing and clapping their hands, and shout-

46 THE BBOOK.

ing joyously. "There is another swan come, a new

one!

Then they threw more bread and cake into the water,
and said, "The new one is the most beautiful of all; he
is so young and pretty." And the old swans bowed their
heads before him.

Then he felt quite ashamed, and hid his head under his
wing; for he did not know what to do, he was so happy,
and yet not at all proud. He had been persecuted and
despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he
was the most beautiful of all the birds. Even the elder-
tree bent down its boughs into the water before him, and
the sun shone warm and bright. Then he rustled his
feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully,
from the depths of his heart, "I never dreamed of such
happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling."

THE BROOK.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

I COME from haunts of coot and hern,

I make a sudden sally,
And sparkle out among the fern,

To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,
Or slip between the ridges,

By twenty thorps, a little town,
And half a hundred bridges.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 47

Till last by Philip's farm I flow

To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.

I chatter over ston}r ways,

In little sharps and trebles,
I bubble into eddying bays,

I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret

By many a field and fallow,
And many a fairy foreland set

With willow-weed and mallow.

I chatter, chatter, as I flow

To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.

I wind about, and in and out,

With here a blossom sailing,
And here and there a lusty trout,

And here and there a grayling,

And here and there a foamy flake

Upon me, as I travel
With many a silvery waterbreak

Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along, and flow

To join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.

48 B UMPEL-STIL TS-KIN.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,
I slide by hazel covers ;

I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows;

I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;

I linger by my shingly bars ;
I loiter round my cresses ;

And out ag^ain I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,

For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.

RUMPEL-STILTS-KIN.

In a certain kingdom once lived a poor miller who had
a very beautiful daughter. She was moreover exceed-
ingly shrewd and clever; and the miller was so vain and
proud of her, that he one day told the king of the land
that his daughter could spin gold out of straw. Noav
this king was very fond of money ; and when he heard the
miller's boast, his avarice was excited, and he ordered
the girl to be brought before him. Then he led her to a
chamber whore there was a great quantity of straw, gave

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 49

her a spinning-wheel, and said, " All this must be spun

«

into gold before morning, as you value your life." It
was in vain that the poor maiden declared that she could
do no such thing, the chamber was locked and she re-
mained alone.

She sat down in one corner of the room and began to
lament over her hard fate, when on a sudden the door
opened, and a droll-looking little man hobbled in, and
said, " Good morrow to you, my good lass, what are you
weeping for?'' "Alas!" answered she, "I must spin
this straw into gold, and I know not how." "What will
you give me," said the little man, "to do it for you?'
"My necklace," replied the maiden. He took her at her
word, and set himself down to the wheel ; round about it
went merrily, and presently the work was done and the
gold all spun.

When the king came and saw this, he was greatly as-
tonished and pleased ; but his heart grew still more greedy
of gain, and he shut up the poor miller's daughter again
with a fresh task. Then she knew not what to do, and
sat down once more to weep ; but the little man presently
opened the door, and said, " What will you give me to do
your task?' "The ring on my finger, " replied she. So
her little friend took the ring, ancl began to work at the
wheel, and by morning all was finished again.

The king was vastly delighted to see all this glittering
treasure; but still he was not satisfied, and took the
miller's daughter into a yet larger room, and said, "All
this must be spun to-night; and if 3*011 succeed, you shall
be my queen." As soon as she was alone the dwarf came
in, and said, "What will you give me to spin gold for

E

50 R UMPEL-S TIL TS-KIN.

you this third time?" "I have nothing left," said she.
"Then promise me," said the little man, "your first little
child when you are queen." "That may never be,"
thought the miller's daughter; and as she knew no other
way to get her task done, she promised him what he asked,
and he spun once more the whole heap of gold. The king
came in the morning, and finding all he wanted, married
her, and so the miller's daughter really became queen.

At the birth of her first little child, the queen rejoiced
very much, and forgot the little man and her promise;
but one day lie came into her chamber and reminded her
of it. Then she grieved sorely at her misfortune, and
offered him all the treasures of the kingdom in exchange;
but in vain, till at last her tears softened him, and he
said, "I will give you three days' grace, and if during
that time you tell me my name, you shall keep your child."

Now the queen lay awake all night, thinking'of all the
odd names that she had ever heard, and dispatched mes-
sengers all over the land to inquire after new ones. The
next day, the little man came, and she began with Tim-
othy, Benjamin, Jeremiah, and all the names she could
remember; but to all of them he said, "That's not my
name."

The second day, she began with all the comical names
she could hear of, Bandy-legs, Hunch-back, Crook-shanks,
and so on; but the little gentleman still said to everyone
of them, "That's not my name."

The third day, came back one of the messengers, and
said, "I can hear of no one other name; but yesterday,
as I was climbing a high hill among the trees of the forest
Avhere the fox and the hare bid each other good-night, 1

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 51

saw a little hut, and before the hut burnt a fire, and round

about the fire danced a funny little man upon one leg,

and sang:

" Merrily the feast I'll make,

To-day I'll brew, to-morrow bake ;

Merrily I'll dance and sing,

For next day will a stranger bring :

Little does my lady dream

Rumpel-Stilts-Kin is my name ! "

When the queen heard this, she jumped for joy, and as
soon as her little visitor came, and said, "Now, lady,
what is my name ? ' uIs it John?" asked she. "No!'1
" Is it Tom?" "No!" "Can your name be Rumpel-Stilts-
Kin?' "Some witch told you that! Some witch told
you that! " cried the little man, and dashed his right foot
in a rage so deep into the floor, that he was forced to la}'
hold of it with both hands to pull it out. Then he made
the best of his way off, while everybody laughed at him for
having had all his trouble for nothing.

THE BEE AND THE FLOWER.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

The bee buzz'd up in the heat.
"I am faint for your honey, my sweet."
The flower said, " Take it, my dear,
For now is the spring of the year.
So come, come ! "
"Hum!"
And the bee buzz'd down from the heat.

52 THE NOSE.

And the bee buzz'd up in the cold
When the flower was wither'd and old.
"Have you still any honey, my dear?'
She said, " It's the fall of the year,
But come, come! '
" Hum ! "
And the bee buzz'd off in the cold.

THE NOSE.

Did you ever hear the story of the three poor soldiers,
who, after having fought hard in the wars, set out on
their road home, begging their way as they went?

They had journeyed on a long way, sick at heart with
their bad luck at thus being turned loose on the world in
their old age, when one evening they reached a deep
gloomy wood through which they must pass ; night came
fast upon them, and they found that they must, however
unwillingly, sleep in the wood; so to make all as safe as
they could, it was agreed that two should lie down and
sleep, while a third sat up and watched lest wild beasts
should break in and tear them to pieces; when he was
tired, he was to wake one of the others and sleep in his
turn, and so on with the third, so as to share the work
fairly among them.

The two who were to rest first soon lay down and fell
fast asleep, and the other made himself a good fire under
the trees and sat down by the side to keep watch. He
had not sat long before all on a sudden up came a little

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 53

man in a red jacket. "Who's there?' said he. "A
friend," said the soldier. "What sort of a friend?'
"An old broken soldier," said the other, "with his two
comrades who have nothing left to live on; come, sit
down and warm yourself." "Well, my worthy fellow,"
said the little man, "I will do what I can for you; take
this and show it to your comrades in the morning." So
he took out an old cloak and gave it to the soldier, telling
him that whenever he put it over his shoulders anything
that he wished for would be fulfilled ; then the little man
made him a bow and walked away.

The second soldier's turn to watch soon came, and the
first laid himself down to sleep; but the second man
had not sat by himself long before up came the little man
in the red jacket again. The soldier treated him in a
friendly way as his comrade had done, and the little man
gave him a purse, which he told him was always full of
gold, let him draw as much as he would.

Then the third soldier's turn to watch came, and he
also had the little man for his guest, who gave him a
wonderful horn that drew crowds around it whenever it
was played; and made every one forget his business to
come and dance to its beautiful music.

In the morning, each told his story and showed his
treasure ; and as they all liked each other very much and
were old friends, they agreed to travel together to see the
world, and for a while only to make use of the wonderful
purse. And thus they spent their time very joyously,
till at last they began to be tired of this roving life, and
thought they should like to have a home of their own.
So the first soldier put his old cloak on, and wished for a

54 THE NOSE.

fine castle. In a moment it stood before their eyes; fine
gardens and green lawns spread round it, and flocks of
sheep and goats and herds of oxen were grazing about,
and out of the gate came a fine coach with three dappli
gray horses to meet them and bring them home.

All this was veiy well for a time; but it would not do
to stay at home always, so they got together all their rich
clothes and servants, and ordered their coach with three
horses, and set out on a journey to see a neighboring king.

Now this king had an only daughter, and as he took the
three soldiers for kings' sons, he gave them a kind wel-
come. One day, as the second scrldier Avas walking with
the princess, she saw him with the wonderful purse in his
hand. When she asked him what it was, he was foolish
enough to tell her; — though indeed it did not much sig-
nify, for she was a witch and knew all the wonderful
things that the three soldiers brought. Now this prin-
cess was very cunning and artful ; so she set to work and
made a purse so like the soldier's that no one would know
one from the other, and then asked him to come and see
her, and made him drink some wine that she had got
ready for him, till he fell fast asleep. Then she felt in
his pocket, and took away the wonderful purse and left
the one she had made in its place.

The next morning, the soldiers set out home, and soon
after they reached their castle, happening to want some
money, they went to their purse for it, and found some-
thing indeed in it, but to their great sorrow when they
had emptied it, none came in the place of what they took.
Then the cheat was soon found out; for the second sol-
dier knew where he had been, and how he had told the

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 55

story to the princess, and lie guessed that she had betrayed
him. "Alas!' cried he, "poor wretches that Ave are,
what shall we do?' "Oh!' said the first soldier, "let
no gray hairs grow for this mishap ; I will soon get the
purse back."

So he threw his cloak across his shoulders and wished
himself in the princess's chamber. There he found her
sitting alone, telling her gold that fell around her in a
shower from the purse. But the soldier stood looking at
her too long, for the moment she saw him, she started up
and cried out with all her force, "Thieves! Thieves!'
so that the whole court came running in, and tried to seize
him. The poor soldier now began to be dreadfully fright-
ened in his turn, and thought it was high time to make
the best of his way off; so without thinking of the ready
way of travelling that his cloak gave him, he ran to the
Avindow, opened it, and jumped out; and unluckily in his
haste his cloak caught and was left hanging, to the great
joy of the princess who knew its Avorth.

The poor soldier made the best of his Avay home to his
comrades on foot and in a very doAvncast mood; but the
third soldier told him to keep up his heart, and took his
horn and bleAv a merry tune. At the first blast, a count-
less troop of foot and horse came rushing to their aid, and
they set out to make war against their enemy. Then the
king's palace Avas besieged, and he Avas told that he must
give up the purse and cloak, or not one stone avouIcI be
left upon another. And the king went into his daughter's
chamber and talked Avith her ; but she said, " Let me try
first if I cannot beat them some other Avay." So she
thought of a cunning scheme to overreach them, and

56 THE NOSE.

dressed herself out as a poor girl with a basket on her
arm; and set out by night with her maid, and went into
the enemy's camp as if she wanted to sell trinkets.

In the morning, she began to ramble about, singing
ballads so beautifully that all the tents were left empty,
and the soldiers ran round in crowds and thought of noth-
ing but hearing her sing. Amongst the rest, came the
soldier to whom the horn belonged, and as soon as she saw
him she winked to her maid, who slipped slyly through
the crowd and went into his tent, where it hung, and
stole it awa\/. This done, they both got safely back to
the palace ; the besieging army went away, the three won-
derful gifts were all left in the hands of the princess, and
the three soldiers were as penniless and forlorn as when
the little man with the red jacket found them in the
wood.

Poor fellows ! they began to think what was now to be
done. "Comrades," at last said the second soldier, who
had had the purse, "we had better part, Ave cannot live
together, let each seek his bread as well as he can." So
he turned to the right, and the other two to the left; for
they said they would rather travel together. Then on he
strayed till he came to a wood (now this was the same
wood where they had met with so much good luck be-
fore) ; and he walked on a long time, till evening began
to fall, when lie sat down tired beneath a tree, and soon
fell asleep.

Morning dawned, and he Avas greatly delighted, at open-
ing his eyes, to see that the tree was laden with the most
beautiful apples. He was hungry enough, so he soon
plucked and ate first one, then a second, then a third

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 57

apple. A strange feeling came over his nose: when he
put the apple to his mouth something was in the way ; he
felt it; it was his nose, that grew and grew till it hung
down to his breast. It did not stop there, still it grew
and grew ; " Heavens ! ' thought he, " when will it have
done growing?' And well might he ask, for by this
time it reached the ground as he sat on the grass, and
thus it kept creeping on till he could not bear its weight,
or raise himself up; and it seemed as if it would never
end, for already it stretched its enormous length all
through the wood.

Meantime his comrades Avere journeying on, till on a
sudden one of them stumbled against something. " What
can that be?' said the other. They looked, and could
think of nothing that it was like but a nose. " We will
follow it and find its owner, however," said they; so they
traced it up till at last they found their poor comrade
lying stretched along under the apple-tree. What was to
be done? They tried to carry him, but in vain. They
caught an ass that was passing by, and raised him upon
its back ; but it was soon tired of carrying such a load.
So they sat down in despair, when up came the little man
in the red jacket. "Why, how now, friend?' said he,
laughing; "well, I must find a cure for you, I see." So
he told them to gather a pear from a tree that grew close
by, and. the nose would come right again. No time was
lost, and the nose was soon brought to its proper size, to
the poor soldier's joy.

,CI will do something more for you yet," said the little
man; "take some of those pears and apples with you;
whoever eats one of the apples will have his nose grow

58 THE NOSE.

like yours just now; but if you give him a pear, all will
come right again. Go to the princess and get her to eat
some of your apples; her nose will grow twenty times as
long as yours did; then look sharp, and you will get what
you want of her."

Then they thanked their old friend very heartily for all
his kindness, and it was agreed that the poor soldier who
had already tried the power of the apple should undertake
the task. So he dressed himself up as a gardener's boy,
and went to the king's palace, and said he had apples to
sell, such as were never seen there before. Every one
that saw them was delighted and wanted to taste, but he
said they were only for the princess ; and she soon sent
her maid to buy his stock. They were so ripe and rosy
that she soon began eating, and had already eaten three
when she too began to wonder what ailed her nose, for
it grew and grew, down to the ground, out at the win-
dow, and over the garden, nobody knows where.

Then the king made known to all his kingdom, that
whoever would heal her of this dreadful disease should be
richly rewarded. Many tried, but the princess got no
relief. And now the old soldier dressed himself up very
sprucely as a doctor, who said he could cure her; so he
chopped up some of the apple, and to punish her a little
more gave her a dose, saying he would call to-morrow
and see her again. The morrow came and of course,
instead of being better, the nose had been growing fast all
night, and the poor princess was in a dreadful fright. So
the doctor chopped up a very little of the pear and gave
her, and said he was sure that would do good, and he
would call again the next day. Next day came, and

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 59

the nose was, to be sure, a little smaller, but yet it was
bigger than it was when the doctor first began to meddle
with it.

Then he thought to himself, " I must frighten this cun-
ning princess a little more before I shall get what I want
of her;' so he gave her another dose of the apple, and
said he would call on the morrow. The morrow came
and the nose was ten times as bad as before. "My good
lady," said the doctor, "something works against my
medicine, and is too strong for it; but I know by the
force of my art, what it is ; you have stolen goods about
you, I am sure, and if you do not give them back, I can
do nothing for you." But the princess denied very
stoutly that she had anything of the kind. "Very well,"
said the doctor, "you may do as you please, but I am sure
I am right, and you will die if you do not own it." Then
he went to the king and told him how the matter stood.
"Daughter," said the king, "send back the cloak, the
purse, and the horn that you stole from the right owners."

Then she ordered her maid to fetch all three, and gave
them to the doctor, and begged him to give them back to
the soldiers ; and the moment he had them safe, lie gave
her a whole pear to eat, and the nose came right. And
as for the doctor, he put on the cloak, wished the king
and all his court a good day, and was soon with his two
brothers, who lived from that time happily at home in
their palace, except when they took airings in their coach
with the three dapple-gray horses.

60 LORD LOVEL.

LORD LOVEL.

Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate,

Combing his milk-white steed,
When up came Lady Nancy Belle,

To wish her lover good speed, speed,

To wish her lover good speed.

" Where are you going, Lord Lovel?' she said,
" Oh, where are you going ? ' said she ;

"I'm going, my Lady Nancy Belle,
Strange countries for to see."

" When will you be back, Lord Lovel?' she said,
"Oh, when will you come back?" said she;

" In a year or two, or three, at the most,
I'll return to my fair Nancy."

But he had not been gone a year and a day,

Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his head,

Lady Nancy Belle he would go see.

So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed,

Till he came to London toAvn,
And there he heard St. Pancras' bells,

And the people all mourning round.

"Oli, what is the matter?" Lord Lovel he said,
"Oh, what is the matter?" said he;

"A lord's lady is dead," a woman replied,
"And some call her Lady Nancy."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 61

So he ordered the grave to be opened wide,

And the shroud he turned down,
And there he kissed her clay-cold lips,

Till the tears came trickling down.

Lady Nancy she died, as it might be, today,

Lord Lovel he died as tomorrow ;
Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief,

Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow.

Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pandas' church,

Lord Lovel was laid in the choir;
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,

And out of her lover's a brier.

They grew, and they grew, to the church-steeple too,

And then they could grow no higher;
So there they entwined in a true-lover's knot,

For all lovers true to admire.

THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER.

There was once a shoemaker who worked very hard
and was very honest ; but still he could not earn enough
to live upon, and at last all he had in the world was gone,
except just leather enough to make one pair of shoes.
Then he cut them all ready to make up the next day,
meaning to get up earty in the morning to work. His
conscience was clear and his heart light amidst all his

62 THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER.

troubles; so he went peaceably to bed, left all his cares to
heaven, and fell asleep.

In the morning, after he had said his prayers, he set
himself down to his work, when, to his great wonder,
there stood the shoes, already made, upon the table. The
good man knew not what to say or think of this strange
event. He looked at the workmanship ; there was not one
false stitch in the whole job; and all was so neat and true,
that it was a complete masterpiece.

That same day a customer came in, and the shoes pleased
him so well that he willingly paid a price higher than
usual for them ; and the poor shoemaker with the money
bought leather enough to make two pairs more. In the
evening he cut out the work, and went to bed early that
he might get up and begin betimes next day : but he was
saved all the trouble, for when he got up in the morning,
the work was finished ready to his hand. Presently in
came buyers, who paid him handsomely for his goods, so
that he bought leather enough for four pairs more. He
cut out the work again over night, and found it finished
in the morning as before; and so it went on for some
time: what Avas got ready in the evening was always done
by daybreak, and the good man soon became thriving and
prosperous again.

One evening about Christmas time, as he and his wife
were sitting over the fire chatting together, he said to her,
"I should like to sit up and watch to-night, that we may
see who it is that comes and does my work for me." The
wife liked the thought; so they left a light burning, and
hid themselves in the corner of the room behind a cur-
tain that was hung up there, and watched what should
happen.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 63

As soon as it was midnight, there came two little naked
dwarfs; and they set themselves upon the shoemaker's
bench, took up all the work that was cut out, and began
to ply with their little fingers, stitching and rapping and
tapping away at such a rate, that the shoemaker was all
amazement, and could not take his eyes off for a moment.
And on they went till the job was quite finished, and the
shoes stood ready for use upon the table. This was long
before day-break ; and then they bustled away as quick as
liofhtningr.

The next day the wife said to the shoemaker, " These
little wights have made us rich, and we ought to be thank-
ful to them, and do them a good office in return. I am
quite vexed to see them run about as they do ; they have
nothing upon their backs to keep off the cold. I'll tell
you Avhat, I will make each of them a shirt, and a coat
and waistcoat, and a pair of trousers into the bargain;
do you make each of them a little pair of shoes."

The thought pleased the good shoemaker very much;
and, one evening, when all the things were ready, they laid
them on the table instead of the work that they used to
cut out, and then went and hid themselves to watch what
the little elves would do. About midnight they came in,
and were going to sit down to their Avork as usual; but
when they saw the clothes lying for them, they laughed
and were greatly delighted. Then they dressed them-
selves in the twinkling of an eye, and danced and capered
and sprang about as merry as could be, till at last they
danced out of the door over the green ; and the shoemaker
saw them no more: but everything went well with him
from that time forward, as long as he lived.

64 THE FOUR CLEVER BROTHERS.

THE FOUR CLEVER BROTHERS.

" Dear children," said a poor man to his four sons,
" I have nothing to give you ; you must go out into the
world and try your luck. Begin by learning some trade,
and see how you can get on.' So the four brothers took
their walking-sticks in their hands, and their little bundles
on their shoulders, and, after bidding their father good-
bye, all went out at the gate together. When they had
got on some way, they came to four cross-ways, each lead-
ing to a different country. Then the eldest said, " Here
we must part ; but this day four years we will come back
to this spot ; and in the meantime each must try what he
can do for himself." So each brother went his way ; and
as the oldest was hastening on, a man met him, and asked
him where he was going and what he wanted. " I am
going to try my luck in the world, and should like to
begin by learning some trade," answered he. " Then,"
said the man, " go with me, and I will teach you how to
become the cunningest thief that ever was." "No," said
the other, " that is not an honest calling, and what can
one look to earn by it in the end but the gallows ? '
"Oh! " said the man, "you need not fear the gallows; for
I will only teach you to steal what will be fair game; I
meddle with nothing but what no one else can get or care
anything about, and where no one can find yon out." So
the young man agreed to follow his trade, and lie soon
showed himself so clever that nothing could escape him
that he had once set his mind upon.

The second brother also met a man, who, when he found

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 65

out what he was setting out upon, asked him what trade
he meant to learn. " I do not know yet," said he.
" Then come with me, and be a star-gazer. It is a noble
trade, for nothing can be hidden from you when you
understand the stars." The plan pleased him much, and
he soon became such a skilful star-gazer, that when he
had served out his time, and wanted to leave his master,
his master gave him a glass, and said, " With this you can
see all that is passing in the sky and on earth, and nothing
can be hidden from you."

The third brother met a huntsman, who took him with
him, and taught him so well all that belonged to hunting,
that he became very clever in that trade; and when he
left his master, his master gave him a bow, and said,
" Whatever you shoot at with this bow you will be sure
to hit."

The youngest brother likewise met a man who asked
him what he wished to do. " Would not you like," said
he, "to be a tailor?' "Oh, no ! " said the young man;
sitting cross-legged from morning to night, working back-
wards and forwards with a needle and goose, will never
suit me." "Oh!' answered the man, "that is not my
sort of tailoring; come with me, and you will learn quite
another kind of trade from that." Not knowing what
better to do, he entered into the plan, and learnt the trade
from the beginning; and when he left his master, his mas-
ter gave him a needle, and said, " You can sew anything
with this, be it as soft as an egg^ or as hard as steel, and
the joint will be so fine that no seam will be seen."

After the space of four years, at the time agreed upon,
the four brothers met at the four cross-roads, and having

66 THE FOUR CLEVER BROTHERS.

welcomed each other, set off towards their father's home,
where they told him all that had happened to them, and
how each had learned some trade. Then one day, as
they were sitting before the house under a very high tree,
the father said, " I should like to try what each of you
can do in his trade." So he looked up, and said to the
second son, u At the top of this tree there is a chaffinch's
nest ; tell me how many eggs there are in it." The star-
gazer took his glass, looked up, and said, " Five." " Now,"
said the father to the eldest son, "take away the eggs
without the bird that is sitting upon them and hatching
them knowing anything of what you are doing." So the
cunning thief climbed up the tree, and brought away to
his father the five eggs from under the bird, who never
saw or felt what he was doing, but kept sitting on at her
ease. Then the father took the eggs, and put one on each
corner of the table and the fifth in the middle, and said
to the huntsman, " Cut all the eggs in two pieces at one
shot." The huntsman took up his bow, and at one shot
struck all the five eggs as his father wished. "Now
comes your turn," said he to the young tailor ; " sew the
eggs and the young birds in them together again, so neatly
that the shot shall have done them no harm." Then the
tailor took his needle and sewed the eggs as he was told;
and when he had done, the thief was sent to take them
back to the nest, and put them under the bird, without
her knowing it. Then she went on sitting, and hatched
them; and in a few days they crawled out, and had only
a little red streak across their necks where the tailor had
sewed them together.

" Well done, sons ! " said the old man, i4 you have made

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 67

good use of your time, and learnt something worth the
knowing; but I am sure I do not know which ought to
have the prize. Oh ! that the time might soon come for
you to turn your skill to some account ! "

Not long after this there was a great bustle in the
country; for the king's daughter had been carried off by
a mighty dragon, and the king mourned over his loss day
and night, and made it known that whoever brought her
back to him should have her for a wife. Then the four
brothers said to each other, " Here is a chance for us ; let
us try what we can do.' And they agreed to see if they
could not set the princess free. " 1 will soon find out
where she is, however," said the star-gazer as he looked
through his glass, and soon cried out, " I see her afar off,
sitting upon a rock in the sea, and I can spy the dragon
close by, guarding her.'" Then he went to the king, and
asked for a ship for himself and his brothers, and went
with them upon the sea till they came to the right place.
There they found the princess sitting, as the star-gazer had
said, on the rock, and the dragon was lying asleep with his
head upon her lap. " I dare not shoot at him," said the
huntsman, "for I should kill the beautiful young lady also."
"Then I will try my skill," said the thief; and he went
and stole her away from under the dragon so quickly and
gently that the beast did not know it, but went on snoring.

Then away they hastened with her full of joy in their
boat towards the ship; but soon came the dragon roaring
behind them through the air, for he awoke and missed
the princess; but when he got over the boat, and wanted
to pounce upon them and carry off the princess, the
huntsman took up his bow, and shot him straight in the

68 THE FOUR CLEVER BROTHERS.

heart, so that he fell clown dead. They were still not
safe ; for he was such a great beast, that in his fall he
overset the boat, and they had to swim in the open sea
upon a few planks. So the tailor took his needle, and
with a few large stitches put some of the planks together,
and sat down upon them, and sailed about and gathered
up all the pieces of the boat, and tacked them together
so quickly that the boat was soon ready, and then they
reached the ship and got home safe.

When they had brought home the princess to her
father, there was great rejoicing; and he said to the four
brothers, " One of you shall marry her, but you must
settle amongst yourselves which it is to be." Then there
arose a quarrel between them; and the star-gazer said,
" If I had not found the princess out, all your skill would
have been of no use; therefore, she ought to be mine.'
" Your seeing her would have been of no use," said the
thief, "if I had not taken her away from the dragon;
therefore, she ought to be mine." "No, she is mine," said
the huntsman ; " for if I had not killed the dragon, he
would after all have torn you and the princess into pieces."
" And if I had not sewed the boat together again," said the
tailor, "you would all have been drowned; therefore, she
is mine." Then the king put in a word, and said, " Each
of you is right; and as all cannot have the princess, the
best way is for none of you to have her ; and to make up
for the loss, I will give each, as a reward for his skill, half
a kingdom." So the brothers agreed that would be much
better than quarrelling; and the king then gave each half a
kingdom, as he had promised; and they lived very happily
the rest of their days, and took good care of their father.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 69

HANS IN LUCK.

Hans had served his master seven years, and at last
said to him, " Master, my time is up ; I should like to go
home and see my mother; so give me my wages." And
the master said, "You have been a faithful and good
servant, so your pay shall be handsome." Then he gave
him a piece of silver that was as big as his head.

Hans took out his pocket-handkerchief, put the piece
of silver into it, threw it over his shoulder, and jogged off
homewards. As he went lazily on, dragging one foot
after the other, a man came in sight, trotting along gaily
on a capital horse. " Ah ! " cried Hans aloud, " what a
fine thing it is to ride on horseback ! he trips against no
stones, spares his shoes, and yet gets on he hardly knows
how." The horseman heard this, and said, " Well, Hans,
why do you go on foot, then? ' " Ah! ' said he, " I have
this load to carry ; to be sure it is silver, but it is so
heavy that I can't hold up my head, and it hurts my
shoulders sadly." "What do you say to changing?'
said the horseman; "I will give you my horse, and you
shall give me the silver." "With all my heart," said
Hans; "but I tell you one things — you'll have a weary
task to drag it along." The horseman got off, took the
silver, helped Hans up, gave him the bridle into his hand,
and said, " When you want to go very fast, you must
smack your lips loud, and cry ' Jip.' "

Hans was delighted as he sat on the horse, and rode
merrily on. After a time he thought he should like to
go a little faster, so he smacked his lips and cried, "Jip."

70 HANS IN LUCK.

Away went the horse full gallop ; and before Hans knew
what he was about, he was thrown off, and lay in a ditch
by the roadside ; and his horse would have run off, if a
shepherd who was coming by, driving a cow, had not
stopped it. Hans soon came to himself, and got upon his
legs again. He was sadly vexed, and said to the shep-
herd, " This riding is no joke when a man gets on a beast
like this, that stumbles and flings him off as if he would
break his neck. However, 1 am off now once for all : I
like your cow a great deal better ; one can walk along at
one's leisure behind her, and have milk, butter, and cheese
every day into the bargain. What would I give to have
such a cow ! ' " Well," said the shepherd, " if you are
so fond of her, I will change my cow for your horse."
" Done ! ' said Hans merrily. The shepherd jumped
upon the horse, and aAvay he rode.

Hans drove off his cow quietly, and thought his bargain
a very lucky one. " If I have only a piece of bread, I
can, whenever I like, eat my butter and cheese with it;
and when I am thirsty, I can milk my cow and drink the
milk: what can I wish for more?' When he came to
an inn, he halted, ate up all his bread, and gave his last
penny for a glass of beer: then he drove his cow towards
his mother's village; and the heat grew greater as noon
came on, till he began to be so hot and parched that his
tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. " I can find a cure
for this," thought he, "now will I milk my cow and
quench my thirst; ' so he tied her to the stump of a tree,
and held his leathern cap to milk into; but not a drop
was to be had.

While he was trying his luck and managing the matter

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 71

very clumsily, the uneasy beast gave him a kick on the
head that knocked him down, and there he lay a long
while senseless. Luckily a butcher soon came by, wheel-
ing a pig in a wheel-barrow. " What is the matter with
you? " said the butcher, as he helped him up. Flans told
him what had happened, and the butcher gave him a flask,
saying, " There, drink and refresh yourself ; your cow
will give you no milk, she is an old beast good for nothing
but the slaughter-house." "Alas, alas!' said Hans,
" who would have thought it ? If I kill her, what would
she be good for ? I hate cow-beef, it is not tender enough
for me. If it were a pig now, one could do something
with it; it would, at any rate, make some sausages.''
" Well," said the butcher, "to please you I'll change, and
give you the pig for the cow.v " Heaven reAvard you for
your kindness ! " said Hans, as he gave the butcher the
cow, and took the pig off the wheel-barrow, and drove it
off, holding it by the string that was tied to its leg.

So on he jogged, and all seemed now to go right with
him. The next person he met was a countryman, carry-
ing a fine white goose under his arm. The countryman
stopped to ask what o'clock it was; and Hans told him
all his luck, and how he had made so many good bargains.
The countryman said he was going to take the goose to a
christening. "Feel," said he, "how heavy it is, and yet
it is only eight weeks old. Whoever roasts and eats it,
may cut plenty of fat off it, it has lived so well! '
"You're right," said Hans, as he weighed it in his hand;
"but my pig is no trifle." Meantime the countryman
began to look grave, and shook his head. " Hark ye,"
said he, "my good friend; your pig may get you into a

72 HANS IN LUCK.

scrape; in the village I have just come from, the squire
has had a pig stolen out of his sty. I was dreadfully
afraid, when I saw you, that you had got the squire's pig;
it will be a bad job if they catch you; the least they'll do,
will be to throw you into the horse-pond."

Poor Hans was sadly frightened. " Good man," cried
he, " pray get me out of this scrape ; you know this
country better than I; take my pig and give me the
goose." "I ought to have something into the bargain,"
said the countryman ; " however, I will not bear hard
upon you, as you are in trouble." Then he took the
string in his hand, and drove off the pig by a side path;
while Hans went on the way homewards free from care.

As he came to the last village, he saw a scissors-grinder,
with his wheel, working away, and singing. Hans stood
looking for a while, and at last said, " You must be well
off, master-grinder, you seem so happy at your work."
"Yes," said the other, "mine is a golden trade; a good
grinder never puts his hand in his pocket without finding
money in it: — but where did you get that beautiful
goose?" "I did not buy it, but changed a pig for it."
" And where did you get the pig ? " " I gave a cow for
it." "And the cow?" "I gave a horse for it." "And
the horse ? ' "I gave a piece of silver as big as my head
for that." " And the silver ? " " Oh! I worked hard for
that seven long }rears." "You have thriven well in the
world hitherto," said the grinder; "now if you could find
money in your pocket Avhenever you put your hand into
it, your fortune Avould be made." "Very true: but how
is that to be managed ? ' " You must turn grinder like
me," said the other, "you only want a grindstone; the

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 73

rest will come of itself. Here is one that is a little the
worse for wear: I would not ask more than the value of
your goose for it; — will you buy ? ' " How can you ask
such a question?" replied Hans; "1 should be the hap-
piest man in the world if I could have money whenever I
put my hand in my pocket; what could I want more?
there's the goose! ' "Now," said the grinder, as he gave
him a rough stone that lay by his side, "this is a most
capital stone; do but manage it cleverly, and you can
make an old nail cut with it."

Hans took the stone and went off with a light heart;
his eyes sparkled for joy, and he said to himself, " I must
have been born in a lucky hour ; everything that I want
or wish for comes to me of itself."

Meantime he began to be tired, for he had been trav-
elling ever since daybreak ; he was hungry, too, for he
had given away his last penny in his joy at getting the
cow. At last he could go no further, and the stone tired
him terribly; he dragged himself to the side of a pond,
that he might drink some water and rest a while ; so he
laid the stone carefully by his side on the bank : but as
he stooped down to drink, he forgot it, pushed it a little,
and down it went plump into the pond. For a while he
watched it sinking in the deep clear water, then sprang
up for joy, and again fell upon his knees, and thanked
heaven with tears in his eyes for its kindness in taking
away his only plague, the ugly heavy stone. " How
happy am I," cried he : " no mortal was ever so lucky as I
am." Then up he got with a light and merry heart, and
walked on free from all his troubles, till he reached his
mother's house.

74 THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

Now ponder well, you parents dear,
These words which I shall write ;

A doleful story you shall hear,
In time brought forth to light.

A gentleman of good account

In Norfolk dwelt of late,
Who did in honor far surmount

Most men of his estate.

Sore sick he was, and like to die,
No help his life could save ;

His wife by him as sick did lie,
And both possest one grave.

No love between these two was lost,
Each was to other kind;
In love they lived, in love they died,
And left two babes behind:

The one a line and pretty boy,
Not passing three years old;

The other a girl more }*oung than he,
And framed in beauty's mould.

The father left his little son,

As plainly did appear,
When he to perfect age should come,

Three hundred pounds a }Tear.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 75

And to his little daughter Jane

Five hundred pounds in gold,
To be paid down on marriage-day,

Which might not be controll'd:

But if the children chance to die

Ere they to age should come,
Their uncle should possess their wealth;

For so the will did run.

"Now, brother," said the dying man,

" Look to my children dear ;
Be good unto my boy and girl,

No friends else have they here :

" To God and you I recommend

My children dear this day ;
But little while be sure we have .

Within this world to stay.

" You must be father and mother both,

And uncle, all in one ;
God knows what will become of them,

When I am dead and gone."

With that bespake their mother dear:
"O brother kind," quoth she,

" You are the man must bring our babes
To wealth or misery.

" And if you keep them carefully,
Then God will you reward;

But if you otherwise should deal,
God will your deeds regard."

76 THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

With lips as cold as any stone,
They kissed their children small :

"God bless you both, my children dear! "
With that the tears did fall.

These speeches then their brother spake

To this sick couple there:
"The keeping of your little ones,

Sweet sister, do not fear;

" God never prosper me nor mine,

Nor aught else that I have,
If I do wrong your children dear

When you are laid in grave."

The parents being dead and gone,

The children home he takes,
And brings them straight unto his house,

Where much of them he makes.

He had not kept these pretty babes

A twelvemonth and a day,
But, for their wealth, he did devise

To make them both away.

He bargain 'd with two ruffians strong,
Which were of furious mood,

That they should take these children young,
And slay them in a wood.

He told his wife an artful tale :

He would the children send
To be brought up in London town

With one that was his friend.

THE HEABT OF OAK BOOKS. 77

Away then went those pretty babes,

Rejoicing at that tide,
Rejoicing with a merry mind

They should on cock-horse ride.

They prate and prattle pleasantly,

As they rode on the way,
To those that should their butchers be

And work their lives' decay:

So that the pretty speech they had

Made murder's heart relent;
And they that undertook the deed

Full sore did now repent.

Yet one of them, more hard of heart,

Did vow to do his charge,
Because the wretch that hired him

Had paid him very large.

The other won't agree thereto,

So there they fall to strife ;
With one another they did fight

About the children's life:

And he that was of mildest mood

Did slay the other there,
Within an unfrequented wood ;

The babes did quake for fear !

He took the children by the hand,

Tears standing in their eye,
And bade them straightway follow him,

And look they did not cry ;

78 THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

And two long miles he led them on,
While the}^ for food complain:

"Stay here," quoth he, "I'll bring you bread,
When I come back again."

These pretty babes, with hand in hand,
Went wandering up and down ;

But never more could see the man
Approaching from the town :

Their pretty lips Avith blackberries
Were all besmeared and dyed;

And when they saw the darksome night,
They sat them down and cried.

Thus wandered these poor innocents,
Till death did end their grief;

In one another's arms they died,
As wanting due relief;

No burial this pretty pair

From any man receives,
Till Robin Redbreast piously

Did cover them with leaves.

And now the heavy wrath of God

Upon their uncle fell ;
Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house,

His conscience felt an hell:

His barns were fir'd, his goods consum'd,

His lands were barren made,
His cattle died within the field,

And nothing with him stay'd.

THE HEABT OF OAK BOOKS. 79

And in a voyage to Portugal

Two of his sons did die ;
And, to conclude, himself was brought

To want and misery :

He pawn'd and mortgaged all his land

Ere seven years came about,
And now at length this wicked act

Did by this means come out.

The fellow that did take in hand

These children for to kill,
Was for a robbery judg'd to die,

Such was God's blessed will:

Who did confess the very truth,

As here hath been display'd:
Their uncle having died in jail,

Where he for debt was laid.

You that executors be made,

And overseers eke,1
Of children that be fatherless,

And infants mild and meek,

Take you example by this thing,

And yield to each his right,
Lest God with such like misery

Your wicked minds requite.

1 Eke, also.

80 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

THE HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

In the reign of King Arthur, near the Land's End of
England, in the county of Cornwall, there lived a wealthy
farmer, who had an only son, known by the name of Jack.
He wTas brisk, and of a lively, ready wit; so that what-
ever he could not perform by force and strength he com-
pleted by ingenious wit and policy. Never was any
person heard of that could worst him; nay, the very
learned he many times baffled by his cunning, sharp, and
ready inventions.

In those days the Mount of Cornwall was kept by a
huge and monstrous giant, eighteen feet in height and
about three yards in compass, and of a fierce and grim
countenance, the terror of all the neighboring towns and
villages. He lived in a cave in the midst of the mount,
and he would not suffer any living creature to dwell near
him. His feeding was upon other men's cattle, which
often became his prey; for whenever he had occasion for
food, he would wade over to the main land and seize
whatever he could find. The people at his approach ran
from their houses. Then he would take their cows and
oxen, and make nothing of carrying over on his back half
a dozen at a time; and as for their sheep and hogs, he
would tie them round his waist like a bunch of candles.
This he had practised for many years in Cornwall, which
was much impoverished by him.

But one day Jack came to the town hall, where the
magistrates were sitting in consultation about this giant,
and asked them what reward they would give to any

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 81

person who would destroy him? They answered, "He
should have all the giant's treasure in recompense."
"Then I myself," quoth Jack, " will undertake the work."

He furnished himself with a horn, shovel, and pickaxe,
and went over to the mount in the beginning of a dark
winter's evening, where he fell to work. Before morning
he had digged a pit two and twenty feet deep, and almost
as broad, and had covered it over with long sticks and
straws. Then he strewed a little of the mould upon it,
and made it appear like plain ground.

This done, Jack placed himself on the side of the pit
opposite the giant's house, just about the dawning of the
day, and, putting his horn to his mouth, he blew tantivy,
tantivy. This unexpected noise roused the giant, who came
roaring towards Jack, crying out, " You incorrigible vil-
lain ! are you come here to disturb my rest ? You shall
pay dearly for it. Satisfaction I will have, and it shall
be this : I will take you whole and broil you for my break-
fast." These words were no sooner out of his mouth than
he tumbled headlong into the deep pit. His heavy fall
made the very foundation of the mount to shake.

"Oh, giant, "quoth Jack, "where are you now? Faith,
you are in Lob's pound, where I will plague you for your
threatening words. What do you think now of broiling
me for your breakfast? Will no other diet serve you but
poor Jack?" Thus having tantalized the giant for a
while, he gave him such a weighty knock upon the head
with his pickaxe that he tumbled down, and, giving a
most dreadful groan, died. This done, Jack threw the
earth in upon him, and so buried him. Then he searched
the cave and found a great quantity of treasure.

82 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

Now when the magistrates who employed him heard
the work was over, they sent for him, declaring that he
should henceforth be called, Jack, the Griajit-Killer. And
in honor thereof they presented him with a sword, to-
gether with an embroidered belt, on which these words
were wrought in letters of gold : —

Here 8 the right valiant Cornishman
Who slew the giant Cormoran.

The news of Jack's victory soon spread over all the
western part of the land, so that another huge giant
named Blunderbore, hearing of it, vowed to be revenged
on Jack, if it ever was his fortune to light on him. This
giant kept an enchanted castle in the midst of a lonesome
avoocI. Now Jack, about four months after, walking near
the borders of the said wood, in his journey towards
Wales, grew weary, and therefore sat himself down by the
side of a pleasant fountain where a dead sleep seized him.
At this time the giant came there for water and found
him, and by the lines written on his belt knew him to be
Jack who had killed his brother giant. Therefore with-
out making any words he threw him upon his shoulder to
carry him to his enchanted castle.

Now as they passed through a thicket the rustling of
the boughs awakened poor Jack, who linding himself in
the clutches of the giant was strangely surprised. Yet it
was but the beginning of his terror, for as they came
within the first walls of the castle, lie beheld the ground
all covered with the bones and skulls of dead men. The
giant told Jack that his bones should increase the number

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 83

that he saw. This said, he locked up poor Jack in an
upper room, and left him there while he went to fetch
another giant, living in the same wood, to share his pleas-
ure in the destruction of their enemy.

Now Avhile he was gone, dreadful shrieks and cries
affrighted Jack, especially a voice which continually
cried : —

"Do what you can to get away,
Or you'll become the giant's prey,
He's gone to fetch his brother, who
Will likewise kill and torture you.'''

This dreadful noise so amazed poor Jack that he was
ready to run distracted, when, going to the window, he
saw afar off the giants coming together. "Now," quoth
Jack to himself, "my death or deliverance is at hand."
Saying this, he took two strong cords which chanced to be
in the room, and at one end of them made nooses. While
the giants Avere unlocking the iron gate, he threw the
rope over their heads, and, drawing the other ends across
a beam, pulled with main strength until he had throttled
them. He then tied the ends to the beam, and, sliding
down by the rope, he came close to the heads of the help-
less monsters and slew them with his sword. Thus he
delivered himself from their intended cruelty. After-
wards he took the bunch of keys and unlocked the rooms.
Upon strict search he found three fair ladies tied by the
hair of their heads, and almost starved to death. They
told Jack that their husbands had been slain by the giant,
and they had been kept many days without food. "Sweet
ladies," answered Jack, "I have destroyed this monster

84 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

and his brutish brother, and thus I have obtained your
liberties." This said, he presented them with the keys
of the castle, and went forward on his journey to Wales.

Jack, having but very little money, thought it prudent
to make the best of his way by travelling as fast as lie
could, but losing his road, he was benighted, and could
not get a place of entertainment until, coming to a valley
between two hills, he found a large house, in a lonesome
place; and by reason of his present necessity he took cour-
age to knock at the gate. To his great surprise, there
came forth a monstrous giant, having two heads. Yet he
did not seem so fiery as the others had been, for he was a
Welsh giant, and all he did was by private and secret
malice, under the false show of friendship. Jack telling
his condition, the giant bade him welcome, and showed
him a room with a bed in it, whereon he might take his
night's rest. Therefore Jack undressed himself, but as
the giant walked away to another room, Jack heard him
mutter these words to himself: —

" Though here you lodge zvith me this night,
You shall not see the morning light;
My club shall dash your brains out quite.''''

" Sayest thou so ? ' quoth Jack. "Is this one of your
Welsh tricks? I hope to be cunning enough for you."
Then getting out of bed, he put a billet of wood in his
stead, and hid himself in a dark corner of the room. In
the dead time of the night, the giant came with his great
knotty club, and struck several heavy blows upon the bed
where Jack had laid the billet; and then returned to his

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 85

own chamber, supposing he had broken all the bones in
Jack's skin.

In the morning early Jack gave him hearty thanks for
his lodging. "O," said the giant, "how have you
rested? Did you not feel something in the night?'
"No," quoth Jack, "nothing but a rat that gave me
three or four flaps with his tail."

Soon after, the giant rose, and went to his breakfast of
hasty-pudding, which he ate out of a bowl containing
four gallons. He gave Jack a like quantity. Now Jack,
who was loath to let the giant know he could not eat with
him, got a large leather bag, and put it very artfully under
his loose coat, and into this he secretly conveyed his
pudding. Then, telling the giant he could show him a
trick, he took a large knife and ripped open the bag, and
out came the hasty-pudding. The giant seeing this cried
out, " Odds splutters ! hur can do that hnrself ! ' Then
taking the sharp knife, he ripped open his own body, from
the top to the bottom, and fell down dead. Thus Jack
outwitted the Welsh giant and went forward on his
journey.

Now about this time King Arthur's only son wished
his father to furnish him with a certain sum of money,
that he might go and seek his fortune in the principality
of Wales, where a beautiful lady lived, who he heard was
possessed with seven evil spirits. The king, his father,
advised him utterly against it, yet he would not be
persuaded from it; so that he granted what he asked,
which was one horse loaded with money, and another for
himself to ride on. Thus he went forth without any
attendants.

86 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

After several days' travel, he came to a market-town in
Wales, where he saw a large crowd of people gathered to-
gether. The king's son demanded the reason of it, and
was told that they had arrested a corpse for many large
sums of money which the deceased owed when he died.
"It is a pity," said the king's son, "that creditors should
be so cruel. Go, bury the dead," said he, "and let his
creditors come to my lodging, and their debts shall be
discharged." Accordingly they came, and in such great
numbers, that before night he had almost left himself
moneyless.

Now Jack, the giant-killer, being there and seeing the
generosity of the king's son, he was taken with him, and
asked to be his servant. This was agreed upon, and the
next morning they set out. When they were riding out
at the town's end, an old woman called after them, say-
ing, "The man has owed me two-pence these seven years.
Pray, Sir, pa}>- me as well as the rest." The prince put
his hand in his pocket, and gave her the last penny he had
left. "I cannot tell," said he, turning to Jack, "how we
shall live on our journey." "For that," quoth Jack,
"take you no thought nor care. Let me alone; I warrant
you Ave shall not want."

Now Jack had a small sum in his pocket which served
at noon to give them some bread ; after which, they had
not one penny left between them. The rest of the day
they spent in travel and familiar discourse till the sun
began to grow low, at which time the prince said, " Jack,
since we have no money, where can we think to lodge
this night?' "Master," answered Jack, "we shall do
well enough, for I have an uncle within two miles of this

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 87

place. He is a huge and monstrous giant, with three
heads. He will right five hundred men in armor, and
make them fly before him." "Alas!' cried the king's
son, "what shall we do there? He will certainly chop us
up at a mouthful! Nay, we are scarce enough to fill one
of his hollow teeth." "It is no matter for that," quoth
Jack, " I myself will go before and prepare the way for
you. Tarry here and await my return."

The king's son stayed, and Jack rode forward at full
speed. On coming to the gates of the castle, he knocked
with such force that all the neighboring hills echoed.
The giant, with a voice like thunder, roared out, "Who
is there?' "No one but your poor cousin Jack," piped
the giant-killer. "What news with my poor cousin
Jack?' said the giant. "Dear uncle! heavy news!'
answered Jack. " Prithee, what heavy news can come to
me ? ' asked the giant. " I am a giant, and with three
heads ; and besides thou knowest I can fight five hundred
men in armor, and make them fly like chaff before the
wind." "Oh, but here's the king's son coming with two
thousand men in armor to kill you, and to destroy all that
you have," quoth Jack. "Cousin Jack, this is heavy
news, indeed!' answered the giant. "I have a large
vault under ground, where I will immediately hide my-
self, and thou shalt lock, bolt, and bar me in, and keep
the keys till the king's son is gone."

Now when Jack had locked the giant fast in the vault,
he went back and fetched his master, and they were both
heartily merry with the dainties which were in the house.
So that night they rested in very pleasant lodgings,
whilst the poor uncle lay trembling in the vault under

88 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

ground. Early in the morning Jack furnished his master
with a fresh supply of gold and silver, and set him three
miles forward on his journey; concluding he was, at that
distance, pretty well out of the smell of the giant. He
then returned to let his uncle out of the hole, who asked
him what he should give him as a reward for saving his
castle. "Why," quoth Jack, "I desire nothing hut the
old coat and cap, together with the old rusty sword and
slippers, which are hanging at your bed head." "You
shall have them," said the giant, "and pray keep them for
my sake, for they are things of excellent use. The coat
will keep you invisible; the cap will furnish you with
knowledge ; the sword cut in sunder whatever you strike ;
and the shoes are of extraordinary swiftness. These may
be serviceable to you, and therefore pray take them with
all my heart."

Jack took them, thanked his uncle, and followed his
master. He overtook the prince and they soon after
arrived at the house of the lady held in enchantment by
the evil spirits. Finding the king's son to be a suitor,
she made a noble feast for him. When it was over,
she went to him, and wiping his mouth with her hand-
kerchief said, " You must show me this handkerchief to-
morrow morning, or else lose your head.'-' And with that
she put it in her own pocket.

The king's son went to bed very sorrowful; but Jack's
cap of knowledge instructed him how to obtain it. In
the middle of the night the lady called upon her familiar
spirit to carry her to her friend Lucifer. Jack soon put
on his coat of darkness, and his shoes of swiftness, and
was there before her. By reason of his coat they could

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 89

not see him. When the lady entered the place, she gave
the handkerchief to old Lucifer, who laid it upon a shelf
near by. From this place Jack took it, and brought it to
his master, who showed it to the lady and so saved his
life.

The next day she saluted the king's son, and told him
he must show her on the following morning the lips she
had kissed last that night, or lose his head. "Ah," re-
plied the prince, "if you kiss none but mine, I will."
"That is neither here nor there," said the lady. "If you
cannot do this, death is your portion."

At midnight off she went as before, and spoke angrily
to Lucifer for letting the handkerchief go. "But now,"
she said, "I will be too hard for the king's son, for I
will kiss even thy lips, and thine he will have to show

me."

Jack, who stood near him with his sword of sharpness,
cut off the imp's head, and brought it under his invisible
coat to his master, who was in bed, and laid it at the end
of his bolster. In the morning, when the lady came up,
he pulled it out, and showed the very lips which she
kissed last.

Thus having been answered twice, the enchantment
broke, and the evil spirits left her, and she appeared in
all her goodness and beauty. She married the prince the
next morning, with much pomp and solemnity ; and soon
after they returned, with a great company, to the court of
King Arthur, where they were received with the greatest
joy by the whole court. Jack, for the many and valiant
deeds he had done for the good of his country, was made
one of the knights of the Round Table.

90 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

But Jack, who had done well all he had undertaken,
resolved not to be idle for the future, but to keep doing
what service he could for the honor of his king and
country. After a time, therefore, he humbly begged the
king to fit him with a horse and money to travel in search
of new and strange adventures. "There are," said he,
"many giants yet living in the remote parts of the king-
dom, and in Wales, to the unspeakable harm of your
Majesty's subjects; therefore, if you will give me your
aid, I doubt not but in a short time I shall cut them off,
and so rid your realm of those devouring monsters in
human shape."

Now when the king had heard this noble offer, and
duly considered the mischievous practices of these blood-
thirsty giants, he immediately granted Avhat honest Jack
asked, and gave him all necessaries for his journey. And
on the first day of March, he took his leave of King Arthur
and all the trusty knights of the Round Table ; and set
out, taking with him his cap of knowledge, his sword of
sharpness, the shoes of swiftness, and likewise the in-
visible coat, the better to perform the enterprises that lay
before him.

Jack travelled over vast hills and wonderful mountains,
and at the end of three days he came to a large and spa-
cious wood, through which he must needs pass, when on a
sudden, he heard dreadful shrieks and cries ; and upon cast-
ing his eyes around to observe what might be, he beheld
with wonder a giant rushing along with a worthy knight
and a fair lady, whom he held in his hands by the hair
of their heads, with as much ease as if they had been but
a pair of gloves. The sight melted honest Jack into tears

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 91

of pity and compassion ; wherefore, alighting from his
horse, which he left tied to an oak-tree, and then putting
on his invisible coat, under which he carried his sword
of sharpness, he came up to the giant and made several
passes at him ; yet, though he wounded his thighs in sev-
eral places, he could not reach the trunk of his body by
reason of his height. At length, giving him a swinging
stroke, he cut off both the giant's legs, just below his
knees, so that the trunk of his body made not only the
ground to shake, but likewise the trees to tremble with
the force of his fall; at which, the knight and his lady
escaped his rage. Then had Jack time to talk with him,
and setting his foot upon his neck, said, " You savage
and barbarous wretch, I am come to execute upon you the
just rewards of your own villany ; ' and with that he ran
him through with his sword. The monster sent forth a
horrid groan, and so yielded up his life to the valiant
conqueror, Jack, the giant-killer, while the noble knight
and virtuous lady were both joyful spectators of his
downfall.

They not only returned Jack hearty thanks for their
deliverance, but also invited him to their house to refresh
himself after the dreadful encounter, and to receive some
ample reward for his good service. "No," quoth Jack;
" I cannot be at ease till 1 find out the den which was this
monster's home." The knight, hearing this, waxed sor-
rowful, and replied, " Noble stranger, it is too much to
run a second hazard ; for note, this monster lived in a
den under yonder mountain, with a brother of his more
fierce and fiery than himself ; therefore, if you should go
thither, and perish in the attempt, it would be the heart-

92 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLEB.

breaking of both this lady and me ; so let me persuade you
to go with us, and desist from any further pursuit. " " Nay,"
quoth Jack, " if there be another, even were there twenty,
I would shed the last drop of blood in my body before one
of them should escape my fury ; and when I have finished
this task, I will come and pay my respects to you." So
taking directions to find their dwelling, he mounted his
horse, and left them to return home while he went in
pursuit of the dead giant's brother.

Jack had not ridden more than a mile and a half before
he came in sight of the cave's mouth, near the entrance of
which he saw the other giant sitting upon a huge block of
timber, with a knotted club of iron lying by his side, wait-
ing, as he supposed, for his cruel brother's return with his
prey. His goggle eyes were like terrible flames of fire, his
countenance grim and ugly, and his cheeks looked like a
couple of flitches of bacon ; moreover, the bristles of his
beard seemed like rods of iron, and his locks hung down
upon his broad shoulders like curling snakes or hissing
adders.

Jack got off his horse, and put him in a thicket ; then
with his coat of darkness on, came somewhat nearer to be-
hold this figure, and said softly, ik Oh ! are you there ? It
will not be long before I shall take you fast by the beard.'1
The giant all this time could not see him, by reason of his
invisible coat ; so Jack came up close to him and aimed a
blow at his head with his sword of sharpness. He missed
somewhat of his aim and cut off the giant's nose, the nos-
trils of which were wider than a pair of boots. The giant
put his hands to feel his nose, the pain was so terrible; and
when he could not find it, he roared louder than claps of

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 93

thunder, and though he turned up his large eyes, he could
not see from whence the blow came which had done him
the great disaster. Yet he took up his knotted iron club,
and began to lay about him like one that was< raving mad.
"Nay," quoth Jack, "if you are for that sport, I will dis-
patch you quickly for fear a chance blow should fall upon
me." Then as the giant rose from his block, Jack made
no more to-do, but ran the sword up to the hilt in the
giant's back. He capered and danced, and at last fell
down with a dreadful fall, which would have crushed Jack
had he not nimbly jumped away.

This second deed done, Jack cut off both the giants'
heads, and sent them to King Arthur, by a Avagoner whom
he hired for the purpose, with an account of his prosperous
success in all his undertakings. He then resolved to enter
the cave, in search of their treasure ; and in his way passed
through many turnings and Avindings, Avhich led him at
length to a room paved Avith freestone. At the upper end
of the room Avas a boiling caldron, and on the right hand
stood a large table Avhereon, he supposed, the giants used
to dine. Then he came to a AArindow, secured with bars
of iron, through Avhich he looked, and saw a vast number
of miserable captives. When they beheld Jack at a dis-
tance, they cried out with a loud voice, " Alas ! young
man, are you come to be one among us in this Avretched
den?' "Nay," quoth Jack, "I hope I shall not tarry
long here. But pray tell me what is the meaning of your
captivity ? ' " Why," said one, " I will tell you : We are
persons who have been taken by the giants that keep this
cave, and are kept here until they have occasion for a par-
ticular feast ; then the fattest of us are slaughtered. It

94 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

is not long since they took three for this same purpose."
"Say you so?' quoth Jack; "well, I have given them
such a dinner that it will be long before they have occasion
for any more." The miserable captives were amazed at
his words. " You may believe me," quoth Jack, "for I
have slain them with the point of my sword ; and as for
their heads, 1 have sent them in a wagon to the court of
King Arthur, as trophies of my glorious victory."

To show that what he had said was true he unlocked
the iron gate and set the captives free. He then led them
all together to the room, and placed them round the table,
and set before them two quarters of beef, and also bread
and wine, of which they ate very plentifully. Supper
being ended, they searched the giant's coffers. They
found a vast store of gold and silver, which Jack divided
equally among them. That night they rested in the
cave, and in the morning set out for their own towns and
places of abode ; but Jack turned towards the house of
the knight whom he had saved from the hands of the
giant.

It was about sunrise when Jack mounted his horse for
the journey, and some time before noon he came to the
knight's house, where he was received with every expres-
sion of joy by the knight and his lady, who in honor and
respect of Jack prepared a feast which lasted many days.
They invited all the nobles and gentry in that region ;
and to them the worthy knight was pleased to tell the
manner of his former danger and happy deliverance, by
the undaunted courage of Jack, the giant-killer ; and by
way of gratitude, he presented him with a ring of gold,
on which was engraved by curious art the picture of a

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 95

giant dragging a distressed knight and his lady by the
hair, with this motto round it : —

" We were in sad distress, you see,
Under a giant' 's fierce command;
But gained our lives and liberty
By valiant Jack's victorious hand."

Now, among the many guests there present were five
aged gentlemen, who were fathers to some of those cap-
tives which Jack had lately set at liberty. As soon as
they understood that he was the person who had done these
great wonders, they immediately paid him their venerable
respects. After this, their mirth increased, and they all
drank to the health and success of the hero. But in the
midst of their joy a dark cloud appeared, which daunted
the hearts of the honorable company. For a messenger
came and brought the dismal tidings of the approach of
Thundel, a huge giant with two heads, who, having heard
of the death of his two kinsmen, was come from the
north to be revenged upon Jack for their death ; and he
was within a mile of the house, the country people all
flying before him like chaff before the wind. At this
news Jack, not in the least daunted, said, "Let him come.
I have a tool to pick his teethe I pray you, ladies and
gentlemen, walk but into the garden, and you shall joy-
fully see this monster's end." To this they agreed; and
every one wished him success in his dangerous enterprise.

The knight's house was placed in the midst of a small
island, which was surrounded by a moat, thirty feet deep
and twenty wide, over which lay a draw-bridge. Jack
set two men to cut the bridge on both sides, almost to the

96 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

middle ; and then dressing himself in his coat of darkness,
and putting on his shoes of swiftness, he marched out
against the giant, with his sword of sharpness ready drawn.
When he came close to him, though the giant could not
see him, by reason of his invisible coat, yet he was sensible
of some approaching danger, winch made him cry out : —

"Fe,fi,fo,fum,
I smell the blood of an Englishman ;
Be he alive, or be he dead,
Til grind his bones to make my bread.'

" Say you so ? " quoth Jack, " then you are a monstrous
miller indeed." At these words, the giant spoke out with
a voice as loud as thunder : " Art thou the villain who
destroyed my two kinsmen ? Then will 1 tear thee with
my teeth and grind thy bones to powder." "You will
catch me first," quoth Jack ; • and with that let the giant
see him clearly, and then ran from him as if afraid. The
giant, with foaming mouth and glaring eyes, followed him
like a walking castle, and made the earth to shake at
every step. Jack led him a dance three or four times
round the moat, that the ladies and gentlemen might take
a fullview of this huge monster, who folloAved Jack with
all his might, but could not overtake him by reason of
his shoes of swiftness. At length, Jack, to finish the
work, went over the bridge, the giant at full speed pur-
suing him with his iron club on his shoulder ; but when
the monster had come to the middle, the weight of his
body, and the dreadful steps he took, broke it where it
had been cut, and he tumbled into the water, where he
rolled and wallowed like a whale. Jack stood at the side

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 97

of the moat and laughed at the giant, and said, "You told
me you would grind my bones to powder ; here you have
water enough, pray where is your mill ? ' The giant
fretted to hear him scoff at this rate, and though he
plunged from place to place in the moat, yet he could not
get out to be revenged upon his foe. At last Jack got a
cart rope, with a slip knot,, and, casting it over the giant's
heads, by the help of a team of horses dragged him out,
by the time he was nearly strangled. He cut off both
heads with his sword of sharpness, in sight of all the
company, who gave a joyful shout when they saw the
giant's end ; and before he either ate or drank, he sent
these heads after the others to the court of King Arthur.
After some time spent in mirth and feasting, Jack grew
weary of idle living ; and taking leave of the knights and
ladies, set out in search of new adventures. He passed
through many woods and groves without meeting any,
until he came late one night to the foot of a very high
mountain. Here he knocked at the door of a lonesome
house, and an old man, with a head as white as snow, let
him in. " Good father," asked Jack, " can your house
take in a traveller who has lost his way?' " Yes," said
the old man, "if you can accept what my poor cottage
offers, you shall be welcome." Jack returned him many
thanks for his great civility, and down they sat together
to a morsel of meat, when the old man said: " My son, I
am sensible of your fame as a conqueror of giants ; it is in
your power to rid this country of a burden we all groan
under. Now at the top of this mountain is an enchanted
castle kept by a giant, Galligantus, who by the help of an
old magician, betrays many knights and ladies into his

98 HISTORY OF JACK, THE GIANT-KILLER.

castle, where by magic art he changes them into sundry
shapes and forms. But, above all, 1 lament a duke's
daughter, Avhom they took from her father's garden, and
brought to the castle through the air in a chariot drawn
by fiery dragons. She is now in captivity within the
walls, and, changed to the shape of a white bird, miserably
moans her fate. Many worthy knights have tried to break
the enchantment and work her deliverance, but none have
been able to do so, by reason of two dreadful griffins that
guard the castle gate and destroy any who come nigh.
But you, my son, clad in your invisible coat, may pass
by them undiscovered ; and on the brazen gates you will
find, engraved in large letters, the means by which the
enchantment may be broken."

J ne old man ended his speech, and Jack gave him his
hand, with a promise that in the morning he would risk his
life in breaking the enchantment, and freeing the lady and
her unhappy companions. They lay down to rest ; but
Jack arose early, and put on his invisible coat and cap of
knoAvledge and shoes of swiftness, and so prepared himself
for the dangerous enterprise. Now when he reached the
top of the mountain, he soon saw the two fiery griffins ;
but he passed between them without fear, for they could
not see him by reason of his invisible coat. When he had
got past them, he cast his eye around him, and upon the
gates found a golden trumpet, hanging by a chain of
silver, under which these lines were engraved: —

" Whoever shall this trumpet biota.
Shall soon the giant overthroiv ;
And break the black enchantment straight,
So all shall be in happy state."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 99

Jack had no sooner read this inscription than he blew a
strong blast, at which the vast foundation of the castle
trembled. The giant and the magician were in horrid
confusion, biting their thumbs and tearing their hair,
because they knew their wicked reign was at an end.
Jack came to the giant's elbow, as he was stooping to pick
up his club, and at one blow with his sword of sharpness
cut off his head. The magician saw this, and immediately
mounted into the air and flew away in a whirlwind. Thus
was the whole enchantment broken, and all the knights
and ladies, who had been changed into birds and beasts,
returned to their proper shapes and likenesses. As for
the castle, though it seemed at first to be of vast strength
and bigness, it vanished in a cloud of smoke ; whereupon a
great joy seized the released knights and ladies. Accord-
ing to Ins wont, Jack sent the head of the giant as a pres-
ent to the king. The next day, after they had rested at
the foot of the mountain, in the old man's cottage, they
all set forward for the court of King Arthur.

When they had come to his Majesty, Jack related all
the passages of his fierce encounters. As a reward for his
good services, the king prevailed upon the duke to give
his daughter in marriage to valiant Jack, protesting that
there was no man so worthy of her as he. To this the
duke very honorably consented, and not only the court,
but the whole kingdom, was filled with joy and triumph
at the wedding. After this, the king, as a reward for all
the good service done the nation, gave him a noble dwell-
ing, with a plentiful estate attached thereto, where he and
his wife lived the rest of their days in great happiness
and content.

100 ' GASABIANCA,

CASABIANCA.1

Felicia Browne Hemans.

The boy stood on the burning deck

Whence all but he had fled ;
The flame that lit the battle's wreck

Shone round him o'er the dead.

Yet beautiful and bright he stood,

As born to rule the storm —
A creature of heroic blood,

A proud, though child-like form.

The flames roll'd on — he would not go

Without his father's word ;
That father, faint in death below,

His voice no longer heard.

He call'd aloud : — " Say, father, say

If yet my task is done ! "
He knew not that the chieftain lay

Unconscious of his son.

" Speak, father ! " once again he cried,

" If I may yet be gone ! "
And but the booming shots replied,

And fast the flames roll'd on.

1 Young Casabianca, a boy about thirteen years old, son to the Admiral
of the Orient, remained at his post in the battle of the Nile after the ship
had taken fire, and all the guns had been abandoned ; and perished in the
explosion of the vessel, when the flames had reached the powder.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 101

Upon his brow he felt their breath,

And in his waving hair,
And looked from that lone post of death

In still yet brave despair ;

And shouted bnt once more aloud,

" My father ! must I stay ? "
While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,

The wreathing fires made way.

They wrapped the ship in splendor Avild,

They caught the flag on high,
And stream'd above the gallant child

Like banners in the sky.

There came a burst of thunder-sound —

The boy — oh ! where was he ?
Ask of the winds that far around

With fragments strew'd the sea ! —

With mast, and helm, and pennon fair,

That well had borne their part ;
But the noblest thing that perish'd there

Was that young faithful heart !

102 ALI BAB A, OB THE FOBTY THIEVES.

ALT BABA, OR THE FORTY THIEVES.

In a town in Persia there lived two brothers, the sons
of a poor man; the one was named Cassim, and the other
Ali Baba. Cassim, the elder, married a wife with a
considerable fortune, and lived at his ease, in a handsome
house, with plenty of servants; but the wife of Ali Baba
was as poor as himself; they dwelt in a mean cottage in
the suburbs of the cit}', and he maintained his familj' by
cutting wood in a neighboring forest. One day, when
Ali BabaAvas in the forest, and preparing to load his asses
with the wood he had cut, he saw a troop of horsemen
coming towards him. He had often heard of robbers who
infested that forest, and, in a great fright, he hastily
climbed a large thick tree, which stood near the foot of a
rock, and hid himself among the branches. The horse-
men soon galloped up to the rock, where they all dis-
mounted. Ali Baba counted forty of them, and he could
not doubt but they were thieves, by their ill-looking coun-
tenances. They each took a loaded portmanteau from his
horse; and he who seemed to be their captain, turning to
the rock, said, "Open Sesame," and immediately a door
opened in the rock, and all the robbers passed in, when the
door shut itself. In a short time the door opened again,
and the forty robbers came out, followed ]jy their captain,
who said, "Shut Sesame." The door instantly closed;
and the troop, mounting their horses, were presently out
of sight.

Ali Baba remained in the tree a long time, and seeing
that the robbers did not return, he ventured down, and,

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 103

approaching close to the rock, said, "Open Sesame/'
Immediately the door flew open, and Ali Baba beheld a
spacious cavern, very light, and filled with all sorts of
possessions, — merchandise, rich stuffs, and heaps of gold
and silver coin, which these robbers had taken from mer-
chants and travellers. Ali Baba then went in search of
his asses, and having brought them to the rock, took as
many bags of gold coin as they could carry, and put them
on their backs, covering them with some loose fagots of
wood; and afterwards (not forgetting to say "Shut
Sesame ") he drove the asses back to the city; and having
unloaded them in the stable belonging to his cottage,
carried the bags into the house, and spread the gold coin
out upon the floor before his wife.

His wife, delighted with possessing so much money,
wanted to count it; but finding it would take up too much
time, she was resolved to measure it, and running to the
house of Ali Baba's brother, she entreated them to lend
her a small measure. Cassim's wife was very proud and
envious: "I wonder," she said to herself, "what sort of
grain such poor people can have to measure; but I am
determined I will find out what they are doing.'1 So
before she gave the measure, she artfully rubbed the bot-
tom with some suet.

Away ran Ali Baba's wife, measured her money, and
having helped her husband to bury it in the yard, she
carried back the measure to her brother-in-law's house,
without perceiving that a piece of gold was left sticking
to the bottom of it. " Fine doings, indeed ! ' cried Cas-
sim's wife to her husband, after examining the measure,
" your brother there, who pretends to be so poor, is richer

104 ALI BAB A, OR THE FORTY THIEVES.

than yon are, for he does not count his money, but meas-
ures it."

Cassim, hearing these words, and seeing the piece of
gold, grew as envious as his wife ; and hastening to his
brother, threatened to inform the Cadi of his wealth, if
he did not confess to him how he came by it. Ali Baba
without hesitation told him the history of the robbers, and
the secret of the cave, and offered him half his treasure ;
but the envious Cassim disdained so poor a sum, resolv-
ing to have fifty times more than that out of the robber's
cave. Accordingly, he rose early the next morning, and
set out with ten mules loaded with great chests. He
found the rock easily enough by Ali Baba's description ;
and having said "Open Sesame," he gained admission
into the cave, where he found more treasure than he had
expected to behold even from his brother's account of it.

He immediately began to gather bags of gold and pieces
of rich brocade, all which he piled close to the door ; but
when he had got together as much as his ten mules could
possibly carry, or even more, and wanted to get out to
load them, the thoughts of his wonderful riches had made
him entirely forget the word which caused the door to
open. In vain he tried "Bame," "Fame," "Lame,"
"Tetame," and a thousand others; the door remained as
immovable as the rock itself, notwithstanding Cassim
kicked and screamed till he was ready to drop with fatigue
and vexation. Presently he heard the sound of horses'
feet, which he rightly concluded to be the robbers, and he
trembled lest he should now fall a victim to his thirst for
riches. He resolved, however, to make an effort to escape ;
and when he heard the " Sesame ' pronounced, and saw

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 105

the door open, he sprang out, but was instantly put to
death by the swords of the robbers.

The thieves now held a council, but not one of them
could possibly guess by what means Cassim had got into
the cave. They saw the heaps of treasure he had piled
ready to take away, but they did not miss what Ali Baba
had secured before. At length they agreed to cut Cas-
sim's body into four quarters, and hang the pieces within
the cave, that it might terrify any one from further at-
tempts; and also determined not to return themselves for
some time to the cave, for fear of being watched and dis-
covered.

When Cassim's wife saw night come on, and her
husband not returned, she became greatly terrified; she
watched at her window till daybreak, and then went to
tell Ali Baba of her fears. Cassim had not informed him
of his design of going to the cave; but Ali Baba, now
hearing of his journey thither, went immediately in search
of him. He drove his asses to the forest without delay.
He was alarmed to see blood near the rock ; and on enter-
ing the cave, he found the body of his unfortunate brother
cut to pieces, and hung up within the door. It was now
too late to save him; but he took down the quarters, and
put them upon one of his asses, covering them with fagots
of wood ; and, weeping for the miserable end of his brother,
he regained the city. The door of his brother's house was
opened by Morgiana, an intelligent, faithful female slave,
who, Ali Baba knew, was worthy to be trusted with the
secret.

He therefore delivered the body to Morgiana, and went
himself to impart the sad tidings to the wife of Cassim.

106 ALI BABA, OR THE FORTY THIEVES.

The poor woman was deeply afflicted, and reproached
herself with her foolish envy and curiosity, as being the
cause of her husband's death ; but Ali Baba having con-
vinced her of the necessity of being very discreet, she
checked her lamentations, and resolved to leave every-
thing to the management of Morgiana. Morgiana, having
washed the body, hastened to an apothecaiy's, and asked
for some particular medicine ; saying that it was for her
master Cassim, who Avas dangerously ill. She took care
to spread the report of Cassim's illness throughout the
neighborhood; and as they saw Ali Baba and his wife
going daily to the house of their brother, in great
affliction, they were not surprised to hear shortly that
Cassim had died of his disorder.

The next difficulty was to bury him without discovery;
but Morgiana was ready to contrive a plan for that also.
She put on her veil and went to a distant part of the city
very early in the morning, where she found a poor cobbler
just opening his stall. She put a piece of gold into his
hand, and told him he should have another, if he would
suffer himself to be led blindfolded and go with her, carry-
ing his tools with him. Mustapha, the cobbler, hesitated
at first, but the gold tempted him and he consented;
when Morgiana, carefully covering his eyes, so that he
could not see a step of the way, led him to Cassim's
house ; and taking him into the room where the body was
lying, removed the bandage from his eyes, and bade him
sew the mangled limbs together. Mustapha obeyed her
order; and having received two pieces of gold, was led
blindfold the same way back to his own stall. Morgiana
then covering the body with a winding-sheet, sent for the

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 107

undertaker to make preparations for the funeral; and
Cassim was buried with all due solemnity the same day.
Ali Baba now removed his few goods, and all the gold
coin that he had brought home from the cavern, to the
house of his deceased brother, of which he took posses-
sion; and Cassim's widow received every kind attention
from both Ali Baba and his wife.

After an interval of some months, the troop of robbers
again visited their retreat in the forest, and were com-
pletely astonished to find the body taken away from the
cave, and everything else remaining in its usual order.
"We are discovered," said the captain, "and shall cer-
tainly be undone, if you do not adopt speedy measures to
prevent our ruin. Which of you, my brave comrades,
will undertake to search out the villain who is in posses-
sion of our secret?" One of the boldest of the troop
advanced, and offered himself; and was accepted on the
following conditions : namely, that if he succeeded in his
enterprise, he was to be made second in command of the
troop; but that if he brought false intelligence, he was
immediately to be put to death. The bold robber readily
agreed to the conditions; and having disguised himself,
he proceeded to the city.

He arrived there about daybreak, and found the cobbler
Mustapha in his stall, which was always open before any
other shop in the town. "Good morrow, friend, "said the
robber, as he passed the stall, " you rise betimes ; I should
think old as you are, you could scarcely see to work by
this light." — "Indeed, sir," replied the cobbler, "old as I
am, I do not want for good eyesight ; as you must needs
believe, when I tell you I sewed a dead body together the

108 A LI BAB A, OR THE FORTY THIEVES.

other day, where I had not so good a light as I have now.
— UA dead body!' exclaimed the robber; "you mean, I
suppose, that you sewed up the winding-sheet for a dead
body." — "I mean no such thing," replied Mnstapha; "I
tell }7ou that I sewed the four quarters of a man together."

This was enough to convince the robber lie had luckily
met with the very man who could give him the informa-
tion he was in search of. However, lie did not wish to
appear eager to learn the particulars, lest he should alarm
the cobbler. "Ha! ha! " said he, "I find, good Mr. Cob-
bler, that you perceive I am a stranger here, and you
wish to make me believe that the people of your city do
impossible things." — "I tell you," said Mnstapha, in a
loud and angry tone, " I sewed a dead body together with
my own hands." — "Then I suppose you can tell me also
where you performed this wonderful business." Upon
this, Mustapha related every particular of his being led
blindfold to the house, etc. "Well, my friend," said the
robber, " 't is a fine story, I confess, but not very easy to
believe : however, if you will convince me by showing me
the house you talk of, I will give you four pieces of gold
to make amends for my unbelief." — "I think," said the
cobbler, after considering awhile, "that if you were to
blindfold me, I should remember every turning we made;
but with my eyes open I am sure I should never find it."
Accordingly the robber covered Mustapha's e}^es with his
handkerchief; and the cobbler led him through most of
the principal streets, and stopping by Cassim's door, said,
"Here it is, I went no further than this house."

The robber immediately marked the door with a piece
of chalk; and, giving Mustapha his four jneces of gold,

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 109

dismissed him. Shortly after the thief and Mustapha had
quitted the door, jVtorgiana, coming home from market,
perceived the little mark of white chalk on the door.
Suspecting something was wrong, she directly marked
four doors on one side and five on the other of her mas-
ter's, in exactly the same manner, without saying a word
to any one.

The robber meantime rejoined his troop, and boasted
greatly of his success. His captain and comrades praised
his diligence ; and being well armed, they proceeded to
the town in different disguises, and in separate parties of
three and four together.

It was agreed among them, that they were to meet in
the market-place at the dusk of evening; and that the
captain and the robber who had discovered the house, were
to go there first, to find out to whom it belonged. Accord-
ingly, being arrived in the street, and having a lantern
with them, they began to examine the doors, and found
to their confusion and astonishment, that ten doors were
marked exactly alike. The robber, who was the captain's
guide, could not say a word in explanation of this mys-
tery; and when the disappointed troop got back to the
forest, his enraged companions ordered him to be put to
death.

Another now offered himself upon the same conditions
as the former; and having bribed Mustapha, and discov-
ered the house, he made a mark with the dark red chalk
upon the door, in a part that was not in the least conspic-
uous ; and carefully examined the surrounding doors, to be
certain that no such marks were upon them. But noth-
ing could escape the prying eyes of Morgiana; scarcely

110 ALT BAB A, OR THE FORTY THIEVES.

had the robber departed, when she discovered the red mark ;
and getting some red chalk, she marked seven doors on
each side, precisely in the same place and in the same
manner. The robber, valuing himself highly upon the
precautions he had taken, triumphantly conducted his cap-
tain to the spot; but great indeed was his confusion and
dismay, when he found it impossible to say which, among
fifteen houses marked exactly alike, was the right one.
The captain, furious with his disappointment, returned
again with the troop to the forest; and the second robber
was also condemned to death.

The captain having lost two of his troop, judged that
their hands were more active than their heads in such
services ; and he resolved to employ no other of them, but
go himself upon the business. Accordingly he repaired
to the city and addressed himself to the cobbler Mustapha,
who, for six pieces of gold, readily performed the services
for him he had done for the other two strangers ; and the
captain much wiser than his men, did not amuse himself
with setting a mark upon the door, but attentively con-
sidered the house, counted the number of windows, and
passed by it very often, to be certain that he should know
it again.

He then returned to the forest, and ordered his troop to
go into the town, and buy nineteen mules and thirty-eight
large jars, one full of oil and the rest empty. Id two or
three days the jars were bought, and all things in readi-
ness; and the captain having put a man into each jar,
properly armed, the jars being rubbed on the outside with
oil, and the covers having holes bored in them for the men
to breathe through, loaded his mules, and in the habit of

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. Ill

an oil-merchant, entered the town in the dusk of the even-
ing. He proceeded to the street where Ali Baba dwelt,
and found him sitting in the porch of his house. "Sir,"
said he to Ali Baba, " I have brought this oil a great way
to sell, and am too late for this day's market. As I am
quite a stranger in this town, will you do me the favor
to let me put my mules into your court-yard, and direct
me where I may lodge to-night?"

Ali Baba, who was a very good-natured man, welcomed
the pretended oil-merchant very kindly, and offered him a
bed in his own house ; and having ordered the mules to
be unloaded in the yard, and properly fed, he invited his
guest in to supper. The captain, having seen the jars
placed ready in the yard, followed Ali Baba into the
house, and after supper was shown to the chamber where
he was to sleep. It happened that Morgiana was obliged
to sit up later that night than usual, to get ready her
master's bathing linen for the following morning; and
while she Avas busy about the fire, her lamp went out,
and there was no more oil in the house. After consider-
ing what she could possibly do for a light, she recollected
the thirty-eight oil jars in the yard, and determined to
take a little oil out of one of them for her lamp. She
took her oil pot in her hand, and approached the first jar ;
the robber within said, " Is it time, captain ? ' Any other
slave, on hearing a man in an oil jar, would have screamed
out; but the prudent Morgiana instantly recollected her-
self, and replied softly, "No, not yet; lie still till I call
you." She passed on to every jar, receiving the same
question and making the same answer, till she came to
the last, which was really filled with oil.

112 ALI BAB A, OR THE FORTY THIEVES.

Morgiana was now convinced that this was a plot of the
robbers to murder her master, Ali Baba; so she ran back
to the kitchen, and brought out a large kettle, which she
filled with oil, and set it on a great wood fire ; and as
soon as it boiled she went and poured into the jars suffi-
cient of the boiling oil to kill every man within them.
Having done this she put out her fire and her lamp, and
crept softly to her chamber. The captain of the jobbers,
finding everything quiet in the house, and perceiving no
light anywhere, arose and went down into the yard to
assemble his men. Coining to the first jar, he felt the
steam of the boiled oil; he ran hastily to the rest, and
found every one of his troop put to death in the same
manner. Full of rage and despair at having failed in his
design, he forced the lock of a door that led into the gar-
den and made his escape over the walls.

On the following morning, Morgiana related to her
master, Ali Baba, his wonderful deliverance from the
pretended oil-merchant and his gang of robbers. Ali
Baba at first could scarcely credit her tale ; but when he
saw the robbers dead in the jars, he could not sufficiently
praise her courage and sagacity; and without letting any
one else into the secret, he and Morgiana the next night
buried the thirty-seven thieves in a deep trench at the
bottom of the garden. The jars and mules, as he had no
use for them, Avere sent from time to time to the different
markets and sold.

While Ali Baba took these measures to prevent his and
Cassim's adventures in the forest from being known, the
captain returned to his cave, and for some time abandoned
himself to grief and despair. At length, however, he

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 113

determined to adopt a new scheme for the destruction of
Ali Baba. He removed by degrees all the valuable mer-
chandise from the cave to the city, and took a shop exactly
opposite to Ali Baba's house. He furnished this shop
with everything that was rare and costly, and went by the
name of the merchant Cogia Hassan. Many persons made
acquaintance with the stranger; among others, Ali Baba's
son went every day to the shop. The pretended Cogia
Hassan soon appeared to be very fond of Ali Baba's son,
offered him many presents, and often detained him at
dinner, on which occasions he treated him in the hand-
somest manner.

Ali Baba's son thought it was necessary to make some
return to these civilities, and pressed his father to invite
Cogia Hassan to supper. Ali Baba made no objection,
and the invitation was accordingly given. The artful
Cogia Hassan would not too hastily accept this invita-
tion, but pretended he was not fond of going into company,
and that he had business which demanded his presence at
home. These excuses only made Ali Baba's son the more
eager to take him to his father's house ; and after repeated
solicitations, the merchant consented to sup at Ali Baba's
house the next evening.

A most excellent supper was provided, which Morgiana
cooked in the best manner, and as was jier usual custom,
she carried in the first dish herself. The moment she
looked at Cogia Hassan, she knew it was the pretended
oil-merchant. The prudent Morgiana did not say a word
to any one of this discovery, but sent the other slaves into
the kitchen, and waited at table herself ; and while Cogia
Hassan was drinking, she perceived he had a dagger hid

114 ALI BAB A, OR THE FORTY THIEVES.

under his coat. When supper was ended, and the dessert
and wine on the table, Morgiana went away and dressed
herself in the habit of a dancing-girl; she next called
Abdalla, a fellow slave, to play on his tabor while she
danced. As soon as she appeared at the parlor door, her
master, who was very fond of seeing her dance, ordered
her to come in to entertain his guest with some of her
best dancing. Cogia Hassan was not very well satisfied
with this entertainment, yet was compelled, for fear of
discovering himself, to seem pleased with the dancing,
Avhile, in fact, he wished Morgiana a great way off, and
was quite alarmed, lest he should lose his opportunity of
murdering Ali Baba and his son.

Morgiana danced several dances with the utmost grace
and agility; and then drawing a poniard from her girdle,
she performed many surprising things with it, sometimes
presenting the point to one and sometimes to another,
and then seemed to strike it into her own bosom. Sud-
denly she paused, and holding the poniard in the right
hand, presented her left to her master as if begging some
money ; upon which Ali Baba and his son each gave her a
small piece of money. She then turned to the pretended
Cogia Hassan, and while he was putting his hand into
his purse, she plunged the poniard into his heart.

" Wretch ! " criod Ali Baba, " thou hast ruined me and
my family." — "No, sir," replied Morgiana, "I have pre-
served, and not ruined you and your son. Look well at
this traitor, and you will find him to be the pretended oil-
merchant who came once before to rob and murder you."
Ali Baba, having pulled off the turban and the cloak
which the false Cogia Hassan wore, discovered that he

THE HEABT OF OAK BOOKS. 115

was not only the pretended oil-merchant, but the captain
of the fort}' robbers who had slain his brother Cassim; nor
con Id he donbt that his perfidious aim had been to destroy
him, and probably his son, with the concealed dagger.
Ali Baba, who felt the new obligation he owed to Morgi-
ana for thus saving his life a second time, embraced her
and said, "My dear Morgiana, I give you your liberty;
but my gratitude must not stop there : I will also marry
you to my son, who can esteem and admire you no less
than does his father." Then turning to his son, he added,
"You, my son, will not refuse the wife I offer; for, in
marrying Morgiana, you take to wife the preserver and
benefactor of yourself and family." The son, far from
showing any dislike, readily and joyfully accepted his
proposed bride, having long entertained an affection for
the good slave Morgiana.

Having rejoiced in their deliverance, they buried the
captain that night with great privacy, in the trench along
with his troop of robbers ; and a few days afterwards, Ali
Baba celebrated the marriage of his son and Morgiana
with a sumptuous entertainment; and every one who
knew Morgiana said she was worthy of her good fortune,
and highly commended her master's generosity toward
her. During a twelvemonth Ali Baba forbore to go near
the forest, but at length his curiosity incited him to make
another journey.

When he came to the cave he saw no footsteps of either
men or horses; and having said, "Open Sesame," he went
in, and judged by the state of things deposited in the
cavern, that no one had been there since the pretended
Cogia Hassan had removed the merchandise to his shop in

116 THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL.

the city. Ali Baba took as much gold home as his horse
could carry; and afterwards he carried his son to the cave,
and taught him the secret. This secret they handed
down to their posterity; and using their good fortune
with moderation, they lived in honor and splendor, and
served with dignity some of the chief offices in the city.

THE MOUNTAIN AND THE SQUIRREL.

Ralph Waldo Emerson.

The mountain and the squirrel

Had a quarrel,

And the former called the latter "Little Prig.'1

Bun replied:

" You are doubtless very big ;

But all sorts of things and weather

Must be taken in together,

To make up a year,

And a sphere.

And I think it no disgrace

To occupy my place.

If I'm not so large as you

You are not so small as I,

And not half so spry.

I'll not deny you make

A very pretty squirrel track;

Talents differ; all is well and Avisely put;

If I cannot carry forests on my back,

Neither can you crack a nut."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 117

ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

In a town of Tartary there lived a tailor, named Mus-
tapha, who was so poor that he could hardly maintain
himself, his wife, and his son Aladdin. When the boy
was of proper years to serve as an apprentice, his father
took him into his shop, and taught him how to work ; but
all his father could do was in vain, for Aladdin was in-
corrigible.

His father was therefore forced to abandon him to his
evil ways. The thoughts of this brought on a fit of sick-
ness, of which he shortly died; and the mother, finding
that her son would not follow his father's trade, shut up
the shop; and with the money she earned by spinning
cotton, thought to support herself and her son.

Aladdin continued to give himself up to all kinds of
folly, until one day as he was playing in the street, a
stranger passing by stood to observe him.

This stranger was a great magician. Knowing who
Aladdin was, and what were his propensities, he went up
to him, and said, " Child, was not your father called Mus-
tapha? and was he not a tailor?" "Yes, sir," answered
Aladdin; "but he has been dead some time."

The magician threw his arms round Aladdin's neck,
and said, "I am your uncle, I have been many years
abroad; and now, when I have come with the hope of
seeing my brother, you tell me he is dead! '

The magician caressed Aladdin and gave him a very
beautiful ring, which he told the youth was of great value.

118 ALADDIN, OE THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

By these artifices he led Aladdin some distance out of the
town, until they came between two mountains.

He then collected dry sticks and made a fire, into which
he cast a perfume ; and turning himself round, pronounced
some magical words. The earth immediately trembled
and opened, and discovered a stone with a ring, by which
it might be raised up.

The magician said, " Under this stone is a treasure
destined to be yours; take hold of this ring and lift it
up." Aladdin did as he was directed, and raised the
stone with great care.

When it was removed, there appeared a cavern, into
which the magician bade him descend; and told him at
the bottom of the steps was an open door, which led into
a large palace, divided into three great halls ; at the end
of these was a garden, planted with trees, bearing the
most delicious fruit. "Across that garden," said he,
"you will perceive a terrace, and in it a niche, which con-
tains a lighted lamp. Take down the lamp; put out
the light; throw out the wick; pour out the oil; put the
lamp into your bosom, and bring it to me."

Aladdin jumped into the cavern, and found the halls ;
he went through them, crossed the garden, took down
the lamp, and put it into his bosom.

As he returned, he stopped to admire the fine fruit
with which the trees were loaded. Some bore fruit en-
tirely white, others red, green, blue, and yellow. Although
he imagined they were colored glass, he was so pleased
with them, that he filled his pockets, and then returned to
the entrance of the cavern.

When he came thither he said to the magician, " Uncle,
lend me your hand to assist me in getting up."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 119

"Give me the lamp first," said the magician.

"I cannot, till I am up," replied Aladdin.

The magician would have the lamp before he would
help Aladdin to get out; and Aladdin refused to give it
to him, before he was out of the cavern. The magician
became so enraged, that he threw some perfume into the
fire, and, pronouncing a few magical words, the stone
returned to its former place, and thus buried Aladdin,
who in vain called out that he was ready to give up the
lamp.

The magician, by the powers of art, had discovered that
if he could become possessed of a wonderful lamp that was
hidden somewhere in the world, it would render him
greater than any prince. He afterwards discovered that
this lamp was in a subterraneous cavern between two
mountains of Tartary.

He accordingly proceeded to the town which was near-
est to this treasure, and knowing that he must receive it
from the hands of some other person, he thought Aladdin
very suitable to his purpose.

When Aladdin had procured the lamp, the magician
was in such extreme haste to become possessed of this
wonderful acquisition, or was so unwilling that the boy
should reveal the circumstance, that he defeated his own
intention.

In this manner, he forgot also the ring which he had
formerly given to Aladdin ; and which, he had informed
the youth, would always preserve him from harm; but
went away without either.

When Aladdin found that he was immured alive in this
cavern, he sat down on the steps, and remained there two

120 ALADDIN, OE THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

days. On the third clay, he clasped his hands together
in terror and despair at his unfortunate condition.

In joining his hands, he rubbed the ring which the
magician had given him; and immediately a genius of
awful stature stood before him.

"What wouldst thou have with me?" said the terrific
form. " I am ready to obey thee as thy slave, whilst thou
dost possess the ring that is on thy ringer."

Aladdin said, " Whoever thou art, deliver me from this
place, if thou art able." He had no sooner spoken, than
the earth opened, and he found himself at the place where
the magician had performed his incantations.

Aladdin returned home as fast as he could, and related
to his mother all that had happened to him : she naturally
uttered imprecations at the vile magician; and lamented
that she had no food to give her son, who had not tasted
any for three days.

Aladdin then showed her the lamp, and said, " Mother,
I will take this lamp and sell it to buy us food ; but I
think if I were to clean it first, it would fetch a better
price." He therefore sat down, and began to rub it with
sand and water. Immediately an awful genius appeared,
and said, "What wouldst thou have? I am ready to
obey thee as thy slave, and as the slave of all who may
possess the lamp in thy hand." Aladdin said, "I hunger:
bring me food." The genius disappeared; but in an
instant returned with some delicate viands, on twelve
silver plates ; he placed them on the table and vanished.
Aladdin and his mother sat down and ate heartily. The
victuals lasted them until the next night, when Aladdin
took the plates and sold them. As they lived with frugal-
ity the money kept them several years.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 121

One clay Aladdin saw the princess Badroulboudour, as
she was going to the baths. He was so struck with her
beauty, that he ran home and requested his mother to go
to the sultan, and ask for the princess in marriage. His
mother thought he must be mad, and endeavored to dis-
suade him from such a foolish desire ; but he replied that
he could not exist without the princess.

He then brought his mother the fruit which he had gath-
ered in the subterraneous garden, and told her to take it
as a present to the sultan, for it was worthy the greatest
monarch; he having found by frequenting the shops of
jewellers, that, instead of being colored glass, they were
jewels of inestimable value.

His mother being thus persuaded, set off for the sul-
tan's palace,- where, having obtained an audience, she
presented the jewels to the sultan in a china vase.

The sultan graciously received the present; and having
heard her request, he said, " I cannot allow my daughter
to marry until I receive some valuable consideration from
your son ; yet, if at the expiration of three months from
this day, he will send me forty vases like this one, filled
with similar jewels, and borne by forty black slaves, each
of them led by a white slave in magnificent apparel, I
will consent that he shall become my son-in-law."

The sultan, indeed, was unwilling that his daughter
should be married to a stranger; but supposing the de-
mand he made would be greater than Aladdin could
comply with, he considered that this condition would be
as effectual as a refusal ; and that, too, without seeming
to oppose the young man's request. Aladdin's mother
returned home, and told him the stipulations upon which

122 ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

the sultan would consent to his match. His joy was
therefore unbounded, when he found that he was so likely
to espouse the princess. As soon as his mother left him,
he took the lamp and rubbed it; when immediately the
same genius appeared, and asked what he would have.
Aladdin told him what the sultan required, and that the
articles must be provided by the time appointed; which
the genius promised should be done. At the expiration
of three months, the genius brought the fourscore slaves,
and the vessels filled with jewels. Aladdin's mother,
being attired in a superb robe, set out with them to the
palace.

When the sultan beheld the forty vases, full of the
most precious and brilliant jewels ; and the eighty slaves,
the costliness of whose garments was as great as the
dresses of kings ; he was so astonished, that he thought it
unnecessary to inform himself whether Aladdin had all
the other qualifications which ought to be possessed by a
monarch's son-in-law. The sight of such immense riches,
and Aladdin's diligence in complying with his demand,
persuaded the sultan that he could not want any other
accomplishments. He therefore said to the young man's
mother, " Go, tell thy son that I wait to receive him, that
he may espouse the princess, my daughter." When
Aladdin's mother had withdrawn, the sultan rose from
his throne, and ordered that the vases and jewels should
be carried into the princess's apartment.

The mother of Aladdin soon returned to her son. " You
are arrived," said she to him, "at the height of your
desires. The sultan waits to embrace you, and conclude
your marriage." Aladdin, in ecstasies at this intelligence,

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 123

retired to his chamber, and rubbed the lamp. The obedi-
ent genius appeared. "Genius," said Aladdin, "I wish
to bathe immediately; afterwards provide me with a robe
more superb than monarch ever wore." The genius then
rendered him invisible, and transported him to a marble
bath, where he was undressed, without seeing by whom,
and rubbed and washed with waters of the most exquisite
fragrance. His skin became clear and delicate ; he put on
a magnificent garment which he found ready for him ; and
the genius then transported him to his chamber, where
he inquired if Aladdin had further commands for him.
"Yes," answered Aladdin, "bring me a horse, and let it
be furnished with the most costly and magnificent trap-
pings ; let there be a splendid retinue of slaves to attend
me, and let them be attired in the most expensive habili-
ments. For my mother also provide an extensive equi-
page; let six female slaves attend her, each bearing a
different robe, suitable even to the dignity of a sultaness;
let not any tiling be wanting to complete the splendor of
her retinue. But, above all, bring ten thousand pieces of
gold in ten purses."

The genius disappeared, and returned with a horse,
forty slaves, ten purses of gold, and six female slaves,
each bearing a most costly robe for Aladdin's mother.
Aladdin entrusted six of the purses to the slaves, that
they might distribute the money among the people as they
proceeded to the sultan's palace. He then despatched
one of the slaves to the royal mansion, to know when
he might have the honor of prostrating himself at the
sultan's feet.

The slave brought him word that the sultan waited for

124 ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

him with impatience. When he arrived at the gate of
the palace, the grand vizier, the generals of the army, the
governors of the provinces, and all the great officers of
the court, attended him to the council hall; and having
assisted him to dismount, they led him to the sultan's
throne. The sovereign was amazed to see that Aladdin
was more richly apparelled than he was ; he arose, how-
ever, from his throne, and embraced him. He gave a
signal, and the air resounded with trumpets, hautboys,
and other musical instruments. He then conducted Alad-
din into a magnificent saloon, where a sumptuous enter-
tainment had been provided. After this splendid repast,
the sultan sent for the chief law officer of his empire, and
ordered him immediately to prepare the marriage contract
betAveen the princess and Aladdin. The sultan then
asked Aladdin if the marriage should be solemnized that
day. To which he answered, "Sir, I beg your permission
to defer it until I have built a palace, suitable to the dig-
nity of the princess; and I therefore entreat you further
to grant me a convenient spot of ground near your own
palace; and I will take care to have it finished with the
utmost expedition." "Son," said the sultan, "take what
ground you think proper." After which he again em-
braced Aladdin, who respectfully took leave and returned
home.

He retired to his chamber, took his lamp, and summoned
the genius as usual. "Genius," said he, "build me a
palace near the sultan's fit for the reception of my spouse,
the princess ; but instead of stone, let the walls be formed
of massy gold and silver, laid in alternate rows ; and let
the interstices be enriched with diamonds and emeralds.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 125

The palace must have a delightful garden, planted with
aromatic shrubs and plants, bearing the most delicious
fruits and beautiful flowers. But, in particular, let there
be an immense treasure of gold and silver coin. The
palace, moreover, must be well provided with offices, store-
houses, and stables full of the finest horses, and attended
by equerries, grooms, and hunting equipage."

By the dawn of the ensuing morning, the genius pre-
sented himself to Aladdin, and said, "Sir, your palace is
finished; come and see if it accords with }^our wishes."
He had no sooner signified his readiness to behold it, than
the genius instantly conveyed him thither. He found
that it surpassed all his expectations. The officers and
slaves were all dressed according to their rank and ser-
vices. The genius then showed him the treasury, in
which he saw heaps of bags full of money, piled up to the
very ceiling. The genius then conveyed Aladdin home,
before the hour arrived at which the gates of the sultan's
palace were opened.

When the porters arrived at the gates of the royal
mansion, they were amazed to see Aladdin's palace. The
grand vizier, who came afterwards, was no less astonished.
He went to acquaint the sultan of it, and endeavored
to persuade the monarch that it was all enchantment.
"Vizier," replied the sultan, "you know as well as I do,
that it is Aladdin's palace, on the ground which I gave
him." When Aladdin had dismissed the genius, he
requested his mother to go to the royal palace with her
slaves, and tell the sultan she came to have the honor of
attending the princess towards the evening to her son's
palace. Aladdin soon afterwards left his paternal dwell-

126 ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

ing; but he was careful not to forget his wonderful lamp,
by the aid of which he had become so eminently dignified.
Aladdin's mother was received at the royal palace with
great honor, and was introduced to the apartment of the
beautiful princess. The princess received her with great
affection; and while the women were decorating her with
the jewels Aladdin had sent, an elegant collation was laid
before them. In the evening the princess took leave of
the sultan her father, and proceeded to Aladdin's palace.
She was accompanied by his mother, and was followed by
a hundred slaves, magnificently dressed. Bands of music
led the procession, followed by a hundred black slaves,
with appropriate officers. Four hundred of the sultan's
young pages carried torches on each side ; these, with the
radiant illuminations of the sultan's and Aladdin's pal-
aces, rendered it as light as day.

When the princess arrived at the new palace, Aladdin,
filled with delight, hastened to receive her. He ad-
dressed her with that reverence which her dignity exacted ;
but with that ardor which her extreme beauty inspired.
He took her by the hand, and led her into a saloon, where
an entertainment, far beyond description, was served up.

The dishes were of burnished gold, and contained every
kind of rarity and delicacy. Vases, cups, and other ves-
sels, were also of gold, so exquisitely carved, that the
excellency of the workmanship might be said to surpass
the value of the material.

Aladdin conducted the princess and his mother to their
appropriate places in this magnificent apartment; and as
soon as they were seated, a choir of the most melodious
voices, accompanied by a band of the most exquisite per-

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 127

formers, formed the most fascinating concert during the
whole of the repast.

About midnight, Aladdin presented his hand to the
princess to dance with her : and thus concluded the cere-
monies and festivities of the day.

On the next morning, Aladdin, mounted on a horse
richly caparisoned, and attended by a troop of slaves,
proceeded to the sultan's palace. The monarch received
him with parental affection, and placed him beside the
royal throne.

Aladdin did not limit himself to the two palaces, but
went about the city, and attended the different mosques.
He visited also the grand vizier, and other great person-
ages. His manner, which had become extremely pleas-
ing, endeared him to his superiors ; and his affability and
liberality gained him the affection of the people.

He might thus have been happy, had it not been for the
magician, who no sooner understood that Aladdin had
arrived at this eminent good fortune, than he exclaimed,
" This poor tailor's son has discovered the secret virtues
of the lamp! But I will endeavor to prevent him in the
enjoyment of it much longer." The next morning he set
forward, and soon afterwards arrived at the town in Tar-
tary where Aladdin resided.

The first object he had to attain, was a knowledge of
the place in which Aladdin kept the lamp ; he soon found
by his art that this inestimable treasure was in Aladdin's
palace, a discovery which delighted him. He also learned
that Aladdin was gone on a hunting excursion, which
would engage him from home eight days.

The magician then went to a manufacturer of lamps,

128 ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

and purchased a dozen copper ones, which he put into a
basket. He thus proceeded towards Aladdin's palace;
and when he came near it, he cried, "Who'll change old
lamps for new ones ? ' This strange inquiry attracted a
crowd of people and children about him, who thought he
must be mad to give new lamps for old ones ; yet still he
continued to exclaim, " Who'll change old lamps for new
ones t

This he repeated so often near Aladdin's palace, that
the princess sent one of her women slaves to know what
the man cried. "Madam," said the slave, "I cannot
forbear laughing to see a fool, with a basket full of
new lamps on his arm, asking to exchange for old ones."
Another woman slave who was present said, " I know not
whether the princess has observed it, but there is an old
lamp upon the cornice; if the princess pleases, she may
try if this foolish man will give a new one for it."

This was Aladdin's wonderful lamp which he had placed
upon the cornice before he set off on the hunting excur-
sion ; but neither the princess, nor those who were about
her, had observed it. At all other times, but when hunt-
ing, Aladdin carried it about him. The princess, who
knew not the value of the lamp, bade one of the slaves
take it, and make the exchange.

The slave went and called the magician ; and showing
him the old lamp, said, "Will you give me a new one in
exchange?"

The magician, knowing that this was the lamp he
wanted, snatched it from the slave, and thrust it into his
bosom, bidding him take that which he liked best. The
slave. chose one, and carried it to the princess.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 129

As soon as the magician got beyond the gates of the
city, he stopped; and passed the remainder of the day,
until it was night, in an adjoining wood, when he took
the lamp and rubbed it.

The genius instantly appeared. "I command thee,"
said the magician, " to convey me, together with the pal-
ace thou hast built for Aladdin, with all its inhabitants,
to a place in Africa." The genius instantly transported
him, with the palace and everything it contained, to the
place in Africa which the magician had appointed.

The next morning, the sultan went, as usual, to his
closet window to admire Aladdin's palace; but when he
saw an uncovered space of ground, instead of a palace, he
could not restrain his astonishment and indignation. He
went into another apartment, and sent for the grand
vizier, who was no less amazed than the sultan had been.

The sultan exclaimed, "Where is that impostor, that
1 may instantly have his head taken off? Order a detach-
ment of fifty horse-soldiers to bring him before me loaded
with chains." The detachment obeyed the orders; and
about six leagues from the town, they met Aladdin return-
ing home. They told him that the sultan had sent them
to accompany him home.

Aladdin had not the least apprehension, and pursued
his way ; but when they came within half a league of the
city, the detachment surrounded him, and the officer said,
" Prince Aladdin, I am commanded by the sultan to arrest
you, and to carry you before him as a criminal." They
then fastened both his arms, and in this manner the officer
obliged Aladdin to follow him on foot into the town.

When the soldiers came near the town, the people see-

130 ALADDIN, OB THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

ing Aladdin led thus a culprit, doubted not that his head
would be cut off; but as he was generally beloved, some
took sabres and other kind of arms, and those who had
none, gathered stones, and followed the detachment; and
in this manner the}r reached the palace.

Aladdin was carried before the sultan ; who, as soon as
he saw him, ordered that his head should be instantly cut
off, without hearing him, or giving him any opportunity
to explain himself. As soon as the executioner had taken
off the chains, he caused Aladdin to kneel down; then
drawing his sabre, he waited only for the sultan's signal
to separate the head from the body.

At that instant, the populace had forced the guard of
soldiers, and Avere scaling the walls of the palace. The
sultan ordered the executioner to unbind Aladdin, and
desired the grand vizier to tell the people that Aladdin
was pardoned. When Aladdin found himself at liberty,
he turned towards the sultan, and said to him in an
affecting manner, " I beg your majesty to let me know
my crime! ' "Thy crime," answered the sultan, "follow
me ! ' The sultan then took him into his closet. When
he came to the door, he said to him, " You ought to know
where your palace stood; look and tell me what has
become of it."

"I beg your majesty," said Aladdin, "to allow me forty
days to make my inquiries." — "I give you forty days,"
said the sultan. For three days Aladdin rambled about
till he was tired. At the close of the third day he came
to a river's side; there, under the influence of despair,
he determined to cast himself into the water. He thought
it right first to say his prayers, and went to the river

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 131

side to wash his hands and face, according to the law of
Mahomed. The bank of the river was steep and slippery,
and as he stood upon it, he slid down against a little rock.
In falling down the bank, he rubbed his ring so hard,
that the same genius appeared which he had seen in the
cavern.

Aladdin said, "I command thee to convey me to the
place where my palace stands, and set me down under the
princess's window." The genius immediately transported
him into the midst of a large plain, on which his palace
stood, and set him exactly under the window, and left
him there fast asleep. The next morning, one of the
women perceived Aladdin, and told the princess, who
could not believe her; but, nevertheless, she instantly
opened the window, when she saw Aladdin, and said to
him, " I have sent to have one of the private gates opened
for you." Aladdin went into the princess's chamber,
where, after they had affectionately embraced, he said to
her, " What has become of an old lamp, which I left upon
the cornice when I went hunting?' The princess told
him that it had been exchanged for a new one ; and that
the next morning she found herself in an unknown coun-
try, which she had been told was in Africa, by the treach-
erous man himself, who had conveyed her thither by his
magic art. " Princess," said Aladdin, " you have informed
me who the traitor is, by telling me you are in Africa.
He is the most perfidious of all men ; but this is not the
time or place to give you a full account of his iniquity.
Can you tell me what he has done with the lamp, and
where he has placed it?"

"He carries it carefully wrapped up in his bosom, "said

132 ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

the princess ; " and this I know, because he has taken it
out and showed it to me." "Princess," said Aladdin,
"tell me, I conjure thee, how this wicked and treacherous
man treats you." "Since I have been here," replied the
princess, " he comes once every day to see me ; and I am
persuaded that the indifference of my manner towards
him, and the evident reluctance of my conversation, in-
duces him to withhold more frequent visits. All his
endeavors are to persuade me to break that faith I pledged
to you, and to take him for a husband. He frequently
informs me that I have no hopes of seeing you again, for
that you are dead, having had your head struck off by
order of the sultan. He also calls you an ungrateful
wretch; says that your good fortune was owing to him;
beside many other things of a similar kind. He, however,
receives no other answer from me than grief, complaints,
and tears ; and he is, therefore, always obliged to retire
with evident dissatisfaction. I have but little doubt
that his intention is to allow me some time for my sor-
row to subside, in hopes that my sentiments may after-
wards become changed; but that if I persevere in an
obstinate refusal, he will use violence to compel me to
marry him. But your presence, Aladdin, subdues all my
apprehensions."

"I have great confidence," replied Aladdin, "since my
princess's fears are diminished; and I believe that I have
thought of the means to deliver you from our common
enemy. I shall return at noon, and will then communi-
cate my project to you, and tell you what must be done
for its success. But that you may not be surprised, it is
well to inform you, that I shall change my dress; and I

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 133

must beg of you to give orders that I may not wait long
at the private gate, but that it may be opened at the first
knock." Ail which the princess promised to observe.

When Aladdin went out of the palace, he perceived a
countryman before him, and having come up with him,
made a proposal to change clothes, to which the man
agreed. They accordingly went behind a hedge, and
made the exchange. Aladdin afterwards travelled to the
town, and came to that part in which merchants and arti-
sans have their respective streets, according to the articles
which are the subject of their trade. Among these he
found the druggists, and having gone to one of the prin-
cipal shops, he purchased half a drachm of a particular
powder that he named.

Aladdin returned to the palace, and when he saw the
princess, he told her to invite the magician to sup with
her. "Then," said he, "put this powder into one of the
cups of wine ; charge the slave to bring that cup to you,
and then change cups with him. No sooner will he have
drunk off the contents of the cup, but you will see him
fall backwards." The magician came, and at table he and
the princess sat opposite to each other. The princess
presented him with the choicest things that were on the
table, and said to him, " If you please, we will exchange
cups, and drink each other's health." She presented her
cup, and held out her hand to receive the other from him.
He made the exchange with pleasure. The princess put
the cap to her lips, while the African magician drank the
very last drop, and fell backwards lifeless.

No sooner had the magician fallen than Aladdin entered
the hall, and said, "Princess, I must beg you to leave

134 ALADDIN, OE THE WONDERFUL LAMP.

me for a moment.'' When the princess was gone, Alad-
din shut the door, and going to the dead body of the
magician, opened his vest, took out the lamp, and rubbed
it. The genius immediately appeared. "Genius," said
Aladdin, "I command thee to convey this palace to its
former situation in Tartary." The palace was immedi-
ately removed into Tartary, without any sensation to
those who were contained in it. Aladdin went to the
princess's apartment, and embracing her, said, "I can
assure you, princess, that your joy and mine will be com-
plete to-morrow morning."

Aladdin rose at daybreak in the morning, and put on
one of his most splendid habits. At an early hour he
went into the hall from the windows of which he per-
ceived the sultan. They met together at the foot of the
great staircase of Aladdin's palace. The venerable sultan
was some time before he could open his lips, so great was
his joy that he had found his daughter once more. She
soon came to him; he embraced her and made her relate
all that had happened to her. Aladdin ordered the magi-
cian's body to be thrown on the dunghill, as the prey of
birds. Thus Aladdin was delivered from the persecution
of the magician. Within a short time afterwards the
sultan died at a good old age ; and, as he left no sons, the
princess became heiress to the crown ; but Aladdin being
her husband, the sovereignty, it was agreed by the great
officers of the state, should devolve upon him. They
reigned together many years and left a numerous and
illustrious posterity.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 135

PIPING DOWN THE VALLEYS WILD.

William Blake.

Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,

On a clond I saw a child,

And he laughing said to me : —

"Pipe a song about a lamb: "
So I piped with merry cheer.

" Piper, pipe that song again : "
So I piped ; he wept to hear.

" Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe,
Sing thy songs of happy cheer: '

So I sang the same again,

While he wept with joy to hear.

"Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book that all may read —

So he vanish'd from my sight;
And I pluck' d a hollow reed,

■11

And I made a rural pen,

And I stain'd the water clear,

And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.

136 WRITTEN IN MARCH.

WRITTEN IN MARCH.

WHILE RESTING ON THE BRIDGE AT THE FOOT OF

BROTHERS' WATER.

William Wordsworth.

The Cock is crowing,

The stream is flowing,

The small birds twitter,

The lake doth glitter,
The green field sleeps in the sun;

The oldest and youngest

Are at work with the strongest;

The cattle are grazing,

Their heads never raising ;
There are forty feeding like one !

Like an army defeated
The snow hath retreated,
And now doth fare ill
On the top of the bare hill ;
The Ploughboy is whooping — anon — anon
There's joy in the mountains ;
There's life in the fountains;
Small clouds are sailing,
Blue sky prevailing;

*

The rain is over and gone !

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 137

THE SHEPHERD.

William Blake.

How sweet is the shepherd's sweet lot:
From the morn to the evening he strays ;

He shall follow his sheep all the day,

And his tongue shall be rilled with praise.

For he hears the lamb's innocent call,
And he hears the ewe's tender reply;

He is watchful while they are in peace,

For they know when their shepherd is nigh.

ARIEL'S SONG.

From The Tempest.
William Shakespeare.

Where the bee sucks, there suck I :

In a cowslip's bell I lie;

There I crouch when owls do cry.

On the bat's back I do fly

After summer merrily.

Merrily, merrily shall I live now

Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.

138 LUCY GRAY.

LUCY GRAY.

William Wordsworth.

Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray:
And, when I crossed the wild,

I chanced to see at break of day
The solitary child.

No mate, no comrade Lucy knew;

She dwelt on a wide moor,
— The sweetest thing that ever grew

Beside a human door!

You yet may spy the fawn at play,

The hare upon the green;
But the sweet face of Lucy Gray

Will never more be seen.

" To-night will be a stormy night —

You to the town must go;
And take a lantern, Child, to light

Your mother through the snow.

" That, Father ! will T gladly do:

Tis scarcely afternoon —
The minster-clock has just struck two,
And yonder is the moon ! '

At this the father raised his hook,
And snapped a faggot-band;

He plied his work ; — and Lucy took
The lantern in her hand.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 139

Not blither is the mountain roe :

With many a wanton stroke
Her feet disperse the powdery snow,

That rises up like smoke.

The storm came on before its time:

She wandered up and down;
And many a hill did Lucy climb:

But never reached the town.

The wretched parents all that night

Went shouting far and wide;
But there was neither sound nor sight

To serve them for a guide.

At day-break on a hill they stood

That overlooked the moor;
And thence they saw the bridge of wood,

A furlong from their door.

They wept — and, turning homeward, cried,

" In heaven we all shall meet; "
— When in the snow the mother spied

The print of Lucy's feet.

Then downwards from the steep hill's edge
They tracked the footmarks small;

And through the broken hawthorn hedge,
And by the long stone-wall;

And then an open field they crossed:

The marks were still the same;
They tracked them on, nor ever lost;

And to the bridge they came.

140 OVER HILL, OVER DALE.

They followed from the snowy bank
Those footmarks, one by one,

Into the middle of the plank;
And further there were none !

— Yet some maintain that to this day

She is a living child;
That you may see sweet Lucy Gray

Upon the lonesome wild.

O'er rough and smooth she trips along,
And never looks behind;

And sings a solitary song
That whistles in the wind.

OVER HILL, OVER DALE.

fairy's song.

From A Midsummer-Night's Dream.
William Shakespeare.

Over hill, over dale,

Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,

Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander every where,
Swifter than the moon's sphere ;
And I serve the fairy queen,
To dew her orbs upon the green.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be
In their gold coats spots you see :

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 141

Those be rubies, fairy favors —

In those freckles live their savors.
I must go seek some dewdrops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

THE FLY.

William Blake.

Little fly,

Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand

Has brush'd away.

Am not I

A fly like thee ?
Or art not thou

A man like me ?

For I dance,

And drink, and sing,
Till some blind hand

Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life

And strength and breath,
And the want

Of thought is death;

Then am I

A happy fly,
If I live

Or if I die.

142 A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS.

A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS.

Clement C. Moore.

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the

house,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And Mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap; —
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled and shouted, and called them by name:
" Now, Dasher ! now, Dancer ! now, Praneer and Vixen !
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen !
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away ! dash away ! dash away all ! '

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 143

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St. Nicholas too.
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof —
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in furs from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pecller just opening his pack.
His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf;
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings ; "then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose;
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
" Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night ! '

144 A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

As Joseph was a-\valking,

He heard an angel sing,
" This night shall be the birth-time

Of Christ, the heavenly king.

" He neither shall be born

In liousen nor in hall,
Nor in the place of paradise,

But in an ox's stall.

" He neither shall be clothed

In purple nor in pall,
But in the fair white linen

That usen babies all.

" He neither shall be rocked

In silver nor in gold,
But in a wooden manger

That resteth on the mould.

>5

As Joseph was a- walking,
There did an angel sing,

And Mary's child at midnight
Was born to be our king.

Then be ye glad, good people,
This night of all the year,

And light ye up your candles,
For his star it shineth clear.

THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

Charles Lamb.

-»o>@<oo-

CHAPTER I.

The Cicons. — The Fruit of the Lotos-tree. — Polyphemus and
the Cyclops. — The Kingdom of the Winds, and God iEoLus's
Eatal Present. — The L.estrygonian Man-Eaters.

This history tells of the wanderings of Ulysses and his
followers in their return from Troy, after the destruction
of that famous city of Asia by the Grecians. He was
inflamed with a desire of seeing again, after a ten years'
absence, his wife and native country, Ithaca. He was
king of a barren spot, and a poor country in comparison
of the fruitful plains of Asia, which he was leaving,
or the wealthy kingdoms which he touched upon in his
return ; yet, wherever he came, he could never see a soil
which appeared in his eyes half so sweet or desirable
as his countiy earth. This made him refuse the offers
of the goddess Calypso to stay with her, and partake
of her immortality in the delightful island ; and this
gave him strength to break from the enchantments of
Circe, the daughter of the Sun.

From Troy, ill winds cast Ulysses and his fleet upon
the coast of the Cicons, a people hostile to the Grecians.

145

146 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

Landing his forces, he laid siege to their chief city,
Ismarus, which he took, and with it much spoil, and slew
many people. But success proved fatal to him ; for his
soldiers, elated with the spoil, and the good store of
provisions which they found in that place, fell to eating
and drinking, forgetful of their safety, till the Cicons,
who inhabited the coast, had time to assemble their
friends and allies from the interior ; who, mustering in
prodigious force, set upon the Grecians, while they neg-
ligently revelled and feasted, and slew many of them,
and recovered the spoil. They, dispirited and thinned
in their numbers, with difficulty made their retreat good
to the ships.

Thence the}^ set sail, sad at heart, yet something
cheered that with such fearful odds against them they
had not all been utterly destroyed. A dreadful tempest
ensued, which for two nights and two days tossed them
about, but the third day the weather cleared, and they
had hopes of a favorable gale to carry them to Ithaca ;
but, as they doubled the Cape of Malea, suddenly a north
wind arising drove them back as far as C}'thera. After
that, for the space of nine days, contrary winds continued
to drive them in an opposite direction to the point to
which they were bound; and the tenth day they put in
at a shore where a race of men dwell that are sustained
by the fruit of the lotos-tree. Here Ulysses sent some
of his men to land for fresh water, who were met by
certain of the inhabitants, that gave them some of their
country food to eat — not with any ill intention towards
them, though in the event it proved pernicious ; for,
having eaten of this fruit, so pleasant it proved to their

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 147

appetite that they in a minute quite forgot all thoughts
of home, or of their countrymen, or of ever returning
back to the ships to give an account of what sort of
inhabitants dwelt there, but they would needs stay and
live there among them, and eat of that precious food
forever ; and when Ulysses sent other of his men to look
for them, and to bring them back by force, they strove,
and wept, and would not leave their food for heaven
itself, so much the pleasure of that enchanting fruit had
bewitched them. But Ulysses caused them to be bound
hand and foot, and cast under the hatches ; and set sail
with all possible speed from that baneful coast, lest others
after them might taste the lotos, which had such strange
qualities to make men forget their native country and the
thoughts of home.

Coasting on all that night by unknown and out-of-the-
way shores, they came by daybreak to the land where the
Cyclops dwell, a sort of giant shepherds that neither sow
nor plough, but the earth untilled produces for them rich
wheat and barley and grapes; yet they have neither bread
nor wine, nor know the arts of cultivation, nor care to
know them ; for they live each man to himself, without
laws or government, or anything like a state or kingdom ;
but their dwellings are in caves, on the steep heads of
mountains ; every man's household governed by his own
caprice, or not governed at all ; their wives and children
as lawless as themselves, none caring for others, but
each doing as he or she thinks good. Ships or boats they
have none, nor artificers to make them, no trade or com-
merce, or wish to visit other shores; yet they have con-
venient places for harbors and for shipping. Here

148 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

Ulysses with a chosen party of twelve followers landed,
to explore what sort of men dwelt there, whether hospita-
ble and friendly to strangers, or altogether wild and
savage, for as yet no dwellers appeared in sight.

The first sight of habitation which they came to was a
giant's cave rudely fashioned, but of a size which be-
tokened the vast proportions of its owner ; the pillars
which supported it being the bodies of huge oaks or pines,
in the natural state of the tree, and all about showed more
marks of strength than skill in whoever built it. Ulysses,
entering in, admired the savage contrivances and artless
structure of the place, and longed to see the tenant of so
outlandish a mansion ; but well conjecturing that gifts
would have more avail in extracting courtesy than strength
would succeed in forcing it, from such a one as he ex-
pected to find the inhabitant, he resolved to flatter his
hospitality with a present of Greek wine, of which he had
store in twelve great vessels, so strong that no one ever
drank it without an infusion of twenty parts of water to one
of wine, yet the fragrance of it was even then so delicious
that it would have vexed a man who smelled it to abstain
from tasting it; but whoever tasted it, it was able to
raise his courage to the height of heroic deeds. Taking
with them a goat-skin flagon full of this precious liquor,
they ventured into the recesses of the cave. Here they
pleased themselves a whole day with beholding the giant's
kitchen, where the flesh of sheep and goats lay strewed ;
his dairy, where goat-milk stood ranged in troughs and
pails; his pens, where he kept his live animals; but those
he had driven forth to pasture with him when he went out
in the morning. While they were feasting their eyes with

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 149

a sight of these curiosities, their ears were suddenly
deafened with a noise like the falling of a house. It was
the owner of the cave, who had been abroad all day
feeding his flock, as his custom was, in the mountains, and
now drove them home in the evening from pasture. He
threw down a pile of fire-wood, which he had been gather-
ing against supper-time, before the mouth of the cave,
which occasioned the crash they heard. The Grecians
hid themselves in the remote parts of the cave at sight
of the uncouth monster. It was Polyphemus, the largest
and savagest of the Cyclops, who boasted himself to be
the son of Neptune. He looked more like a mountain
crag than a man, and to his brutal body he had a brutish
mind answerable. He drove his flock, all that gave milk,
to the interior of the cave, but left the rams and the he-
goats without. Then, taking up a stone so massy that
twenty oxen could not have drawn it, he placed it at the
mouth of the cave, to defend the entrance, and sat him
down to milk his ewes and his goats ; which done, he
lastly kindled a fire, and throwing his great eye round the
cave (for the Cyclops have no more than one eye, and
that placed in the midst of their forehead), by the glim-
mering light he discerned some of Ulysses's men.

"Ho! guests, what are you? "Merchants or wandering
thieves ? ' he bellowed out in a voice which took from
them all power of reply, it was so astounding.

Only Ulysses summoned resolution to answer, that they
came neither for plunder nor traffic, but were Grecians
who had lost their way, returning from Troy ; which
famous city, under the conduct of Agamemnon, the re-
nowned son of Atreus, they had sacked, and laid level

150 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

with the ground. Yet now they prostrated themselves
humbly before his feet, whom they acknowledged to be
mightier than they, and besought him that he would
bestow the rites of hospitality upon them, for that Jove
was the avenger of wrongs done to strangers, and would
fiercely resent any injury which they might suffer.

" Fool ! " said the Cyclop, " to come so far to preach to
me the fear of the gods. We Cyclops care not for your
Jove, whom you fable to be nursed lyv a goat, nor any
of your blessed ones. We are stronger than they, and dare
bid open battle to Jove himself, though you and all your
fellows of the earth join with him." And he bade them
tell him where their ship Avas in which they came, and
whether they had any companions. But Ulysses, with a
wise caution, made answer that they had no ship or com-
panions, but were unfortunate men, whom the sea, split-
ting their ship in pieces, had dashed upon his coast, and
they alone had escaped. He replied nothing, but gripping
two of the nearest of them, as if they had been no more
than children, he dashed their brains out against the earth,
and, shocking to relate, tore in pieces their limbs, and de-
voured them, yet warm and trembling, making a lion's
meal of them, lapping the blood ; for the Cyclops are
man-eaters, and esteem human flesh to be a delicacy far
above goat's or kid's ; though by reason of their abhorred
customs few men approach their coast, except some strag-
glers, or now and then a shipwrecked mariner. At a sight
so horrid, Ulysses and his men were like distracted people.
He, when he had made an end of his wicked supper,
drained a draught of goat's milk down his prodigious
throat, and lay down and slept among his goats. Then

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 151

•

Ulysses drew his sword, and half resolved to thrust it
with all his might in at the bosom of the sleeping mon-
ster; but wiser thoughts restrained him, else they had
there without help all perished, for none but Polyphemus
himself could have removed that mass of stone which he
had placed to guard the entrance. So they were con-
strained to abide all that night in fear.

When day came, the Cyclop awoke, and kindling a fire,
made his breakfast of two other of his unfortunate pris-
oners; then milked his goats as he was accustomed, and
pushing aside the vast stone, and shutting it again when
he had done, upon the prisoners, with as much ease as a
man opens and shuts a quiver's lid, he let out his flock,
and drove them before him with whistlings (as sharp as
winds in storms) to the mountains.

Then Ulysses, of whose strength or cunning the Cyclop
seems to have had as little heed as of an infant's, being
left alone with the remnant of his men which the Cyclop
had not devoured, gave manifest proof how far manly
wisdom excels brutish force. He chose a stake from
among the wood which the Cyclop had piled up for firing,
in length and thickness like a mast, which he sharpened
and hardened in the fire; and selected four men, and in-
structed them Avhat they should* do with this stake, and
made them perfect in their parts.

When the evening was come, the Cyclop drove home
his sheep ; and as fortune directed it, either of purpose, or
that his memory was overruled by the gods to his hurt (as
in the issue it proved), he drove the males of his flock,
contrary to his custom, along with the dams into the pens.
Then shutting to the stone of the cave, he fell to his hor-

152 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

rible supper. When he had despatched two more of the
Grecians, Ulysses waxed bold Avith the contemplation of
his project, and took a bowl of Greek wine, and merrily
dared the Cyclop to drink.

" Cyclop," he said, " take a bowl of wine from the hand
of your guest : it may serve to digest the man's flesh that
you have eaten, and show what drink our ship held before
it went down. All I ask in recompense, if you find it
good, is to be dismissed in a whole skin. Truly you must
look to have few visitors, if you observe this new custom
of eating your guests."

The brute took and drank, and vehemently enjoyed the
taste of wine, which was new to him, and swilled again at
the flagon, and entreated for more, and prayed Ul}rsses to
tell him his name, that he might bestow a gift upon the
man who had given him such brave liquor. The Cyclops,
he said, had grapes, but this rich juice, he swore, was
simply divine. Again Ulysses plied him with the wine,
and the fool drank it as fast as he poured it out, and again
he asked the name of his benefactor, which Ulysses, cun-
ningly dissembling said, " My name is Noman : my kin-
dred and friends in my own country call me Noman."
" Then," said the Cyclop, " this is the kindness I will
show thee, Noman : I will eat thee last of all thy friends."
He had scarce expressed his savage kindness, when the
fumes of the strong wine overcame him, and he reeled
down upon the floor and sank into a dead sleep.

Ulysses watched his time, while the monster lay insensi-
ble; and, heartening up his men, they placed the sharp end
of the stake in the fire till it was heated red-hot; and some
god gave them a courage beyond that which they were

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 153

used to have, and the four men with difficulty bored the
sharp end of the huge stake, which they had heated red-
hot, right into the eye of the drunken cannibal; and Ulys-
ses helped to thrust it in with all his might still further
and further, with effort, as men bore with an auger, till
the scalded blood gushed out, and the eyeball smoked,
and the strings of the eye cracked as the burning rafter
broke in it, and the eye hissed as hot iron hisses when it
is plunged into water.

He, waking, roared with the pain so loud that all the
cavern broke into claps like thunder. They fled, and
dispersed into corners. He plucked the burning stake
from his eye, and hurled the wood madly about the cave.
Then he cried out with a mighty voice for his brethren the
Cyclops, that dwelt hard by in caverns upon hills. They,
hearing the terrible shout, came flocking from all parts to
inquire what ailed Polyphemus, and what cause he had
for making such horrid clamors in the night-time to break
their sleeps; if his fright proceeded from any mortal; if
strength or craft had given him his death-blow. He
made answer from within, that Noman had hurt him,
Noman had killed him, Noman was with him in the
cave. They replied, " If no man has hurt thee, and no
man is with thee, then thou art alone; and the evil that
afflicts thee is from the hand of heaven, which none can
resist or help." So they left him, and went their way,
thinking that some disease troubled him. He, blind, and
ready to split with the anguish of the pain, went groaning
up and down in the dark, to find the door-way; which
when he found, he removed the stone, and sat in the
threshold, feeling if he could lay hold on any man going

154 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

out with the sheep, which (the clay now breaking) were
beginning to issue forth to their accustomed pastures.
But Ulysses, whose first artifice in giving himself that
ambiguous name had succeeded so well with the Cyclop,
was not of a wit so gross to be caught by that palpable
device. But casting about in his mind all the ways which
he could contrive for escape (no less than all their lives
depending on the success), at last he thought of this expe-
dient. He made knots of the osier twigs upon which the
Cyclop commonly slept, with which he tied the fattest
and fleeciest of the rams together, three in a rank; and
under the middle ram he tied a man, and himself last,
wrapping himself fast with both his hands in the rich
wool of one, the fairest of the flock.

And now the sheep began to issue forth very fast ; the
males went first, the females, un milked, stood by, bleating
and requiring the hand of their shepherd in vain to milk
them, their full bags sore with being unemptied, but he
much sorer with the loss of sight. Still, as the males passed,
he felt the backs of those fleecy fools, never dreaming
that they carried his enemies under them; so they passed
on till the last ram came loaded with his wool and Ulysses
together. He stopped that ram and felt him, and had his
hand once in the hair of Ulysses, yet knew it not; and he
chid the ram for being last,- and spoke to it as if it under-
stood him, and asked it whether it did not wish that its
master had his e}re again, which that abominable Noman
with his execrable rout had put out, when they had got him
down with wine ; and he willed the ram to tell him where-
abouts in the cave his enemy lurked, that he might dash
his brains and strew them about, to ease his heart of that

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 155

tormenting revenge which rankled in it. After a deal of
such foolish talk to the beast, he let it go.

When Ulysses found himself free, he let go his hold, and
assisted in disengaging his friends. The rams which had
befriended them they carried off with them to the ships,
where their companions with tears in their eyes received
them, as men escaped from death. They plied their oars,
and set their sails, and when they were got as far off from
shore as a voice could reach, Ulysses cried out to the
Cyclop: "Cyclop, thou shouldst not have so much abused
thy monstrous strength as to devour thy guests. Jove by
my hand sends thee requital to pay thy savage inhu-
manity." The Cyclop heard, and came forth enraged, and
in his anger he plucked a fragment of a rock, and threw
it with blind fury at the ships. It narrowly escaped
lighting upon the bark in which Ulysses sat, but with the
fall it raised so fierce an ebb as bore back the ship till it
almost touched the shore. " Cyclop," said Ulysses, "if
any ask thee who imposed on thee that unsightly blemish
in thine eye, say it was Ulysses, son of Laertes : the king
of Ithaca am I called, the waster of cities." Then they
crowded sail, and beat the old sea, and forth they went
with a forward gale ; sad for fore-past losses, yet glad to
have escaped at any rate ; till they came to the isle where
iEolus reigned, who is god of the winds.

Here Ulysses and his men were courteously received by
the monarch who showed him his twelve children which
have rule over the twelve winds. A month they stayed
and feasted with him, and at the end of the month he dis-
missed them with many presents, and gave to Ulysses at
parting an ox's hide, in which were enclosed all the winds :

156 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

only he left abroad the western wind, to play upon their
sails and waft them gently home to Ithaca. This bag,
bound in a glittering silver band so close that no breath
could escape, Ulysses hung up at the mast. His com-
panions did not know its contents, but guessed that the
monarch had given to him some treasures of gold or
silver.

Nine days they sailed smoothly, favored by the western
wind, and by the tenth they approached so nigh as to
discern lights kindled on the shores of their country earth :
when, by ill-fortune, Ulysses, overcome with fatigue of
watching the helm, fell asleep. The mariners seized the
opportunity, and one of them said to the rest, " A fine time
has this leader of ours ; wherever he goes he is sure of
presents, when we come away empty-handed ; and see what
king iEolus has given him, store no doubt of gold and
silver." A word was enough to those covetous wretches,
who quick as thought untied the bag, and, instead of gold,
out rushed with mighty noise all the winds. Ulysses with
the noise awoke, and saw their mistake, but too late ; for
the ship was driving with all the winds back far from
Ithaca, far as to the island of JEolus from which they had
parted, in one hour measuring back what in nine days
they had scarcely tracked, and in sight of home too ! Up
he flew amazed, and, raving, doubted whether he should
not fling himself into the sea for grief of his bitter disap-
pointment. At last he hid himself under the hatches for
shame. And scarce could he be prevailed upon, when he
was told he was arrived again in the harbor of king ./Eolus,
to go himself or send to that monarch for a second succor ;
so much the disgrace of having misused his royal bounty

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 157

(though it was the crime of his followers, and not his own)
weighed upon him ; and when at last he went, and took a
herald with him, and came where the god sat on his throne,
feasting with his children, he would not thrust in among
them at their meat, but set himself down like one unworthy
in the threshold.

Indignation seized iEolus to behold him in that manner
returned ; and he said, " Ulysses, what has brought you
back ? Are you so soon tired of your country ? or did not
our present please you ? We thought we had given you a
kingly passport." Ulysses made answer : " My men have
done this ill mischief to me ; they did it while I slept."
" Wretch ! " said JEolus, " avaunt, and quit our shores ! it
fits not us to convoy men whom the gods hate, and will
have perish."

Forth they sailed, but with far different hopes than
when they left the same harbor the first time with all the
winds confined, only the west wind suffered to play upon
their sails to waft them in gentle murmurs to Ithaca.
They were now the sport of every gale that blew, and
despaired of ever seeing home more. Now those covetous
mariners were cured of their surfeit for gold, and would
not have touched it if it had lain in untold heaps before
them.

Six days and nights they drove along, and on the
seventh day they put into Lamos, a port of the Lsestry-
gonians. So spacious this harbor was that it held with
ease all their fleet, which rode at anchor, safe from any
storms, all but the ship in which Ulysses was embarked.
He, as if prophetic of the mischance which followed, kept
still without the harbor, making fast his bark to a rock at

158 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

the land's point, which he climbed with purpose to survey
the country. He saw a city with smoke ascending from
the roofs, but neither ploughs going, nor oxen yoked, nor
any sign of agricultural works. Making choice of two
men, lie sent them to the city to explore what sort of
inhabitants dwelt there. His messengers had not gone far
before they met a damsel, of stature surpassing human,
who was coming to draw water from a spring. They
asked her who dwelt in that land. She made no reply,
but led them in silence to her father's palace. He was a
monarch, and named Antiphas. He and all his people
were giants. When they entered the palace, a woman,
the mother of the damsel, but far taller than she, rushed
abroad and called for Antiphas. He came, and snatching
up one of the two men, made as if he would devour
him. The other fled. Antiphas raised a mighty shout,
and instantly, this way and that, multitudes of gigantic
people issued out at the gates, and, making for the harbor,
tore up huge pieces of the rocks and flung them at the
ships which lay there, all which they utterly overwhelmed
and sank ; and the unfortunate bodies of men which
floated, and which the sea did not devour, these cannibals
thrust through witli harpoons, like fishes, and bore them
off to their dire feast. Ulysses, with his single bark that
had never entered the harbor, escaped ; that bark which
was now the only vessel left of all the gallant navy that
had set sail with him from Troy. He pushed off from the
shore, cheering the sad remnant of his men, whom horror
at the sight of their countrymen's fate had almost turiied
to marble.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 159

CHAPTER II.

The House of Circe. — Men changed into Beasts. — The Voyage
to Hell. — The Banquet of the Dead.

On went the single ship till it came to the Island of
iEsea, where Circe, the dreadful daughter of the Sun,
dwelt. She was deeply skilled in magic, a haughty
beauty, and had hair like the Sun. The Sun was her
father, and Perse, daughter to Oceanus, her mother.

Here a dispute arose among Ulysses's men, which of
them should go ashore and explore the country ; for there
was a necessity that some should go to procure water and
provisions, their stock of both being nigh spent ; but their
hearts failed them when they called to mind the shocking
fate of their fellows whom the Lcestrygonians had eaten,
and those which the foul Cyclop Polyphemus had crushed
between his jaws ; which moved them so tenderly in the
recollection that they wept. But tears never yet supplied
any man's wants ; this Ulysses knew full well, and dividing
his men (all that were left) into two companies, at the
head of one of which was himself, and at the head of the
other Eurylochus, a man of tried courage, he cast lots
which of them should go up into the country; and the lot
fell upon Euiylochus and his company, two and twenty
in number, who took their leave, with tears, of Ulysses
and his men that stayed, whose eyes wore the same wet
badges of weak humanity; for they surely thought never
to see these their companions again, but that on every
coast where they should come, they should find nothing
but savages and cannibals.

160 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

Eurylochus and his party proceeded up the country,
till in a dale they descried the house of Circe, built of
bright stone, by the roadside. Before her gate lay many
beasts, as wolves, lions, leopards, which, by her art, of
wild, she had rendered tame. These arose when they
saw strangers, and ramped upon their hinder paws, and
fawned upon Eurylochus and his men, who dreaded the
effects of such monstrous kindness ; and staying at the
gate they heard the enchantress within, sitting at her
loom, singing such strains as suspended all mortal facul-
ties, while she wove a web, subtile and glorious, and of
texture inimitable on earth, as all the housewiferies of
the deities are. Strains so ravishingly sweet provoked
even the sagest and prudentest heads among the party
to knock and call at the gate. The shining gate the
enchantress opened, and bade them come in and feast.
They unwise followed, all but Eurylochus, who stayed
without the gate, suspicious that some train was laid for
them. Being entered, she placed them in chairs of state,
and set before them meal and honey and Smyrna wrine,
but mixed with baneful drugs of powerful enchantment.
When they had eaten of these, and drunk of her cup, she
touched them with her charming-rod, and straight they
were transformed into swine, having the bodies of swine,
the bristles and snout and grunting noise of that animal ;
only they still retained the minds of men, which made
them the more to lament their brutish transformation.
Having changed them, she shut them up in her sty with
many more whom her wicked sorceries had formerly
changed, and gave them swine's food — mast,1 and acorns,
and chestnuts — to eat.

1 mast, beechnuts.

THE HEABT OF OAK BOOKS. 161

Eurylochus, who beheld nothing of these sad changes
from where he was stationed without the gate, only in-
stead of his companions that entered (who he thought had
all vanished by witchcraft) beheld a herd of swine, hurried
back to the ship, to give an account of what he had seen ;
but so frighted and perplexed, that he could give no dis-
tinct report of anything; only he remembered a palace,
and a woman singing at her work, and gates guarded by
lions. But his companions, he said, were all vanished.

Then Ulysses, suspecting some foul witchcraft, snatched
his sword and his bow, and commanded Eurylochus in-
stantly to lead him to the place. But Eurylochus fell
down, and, embracing his knees, besought him by the
name of a man whom the gods had in their protection,
not to expose his safety, and the safety of them all, to cer-
tain destruction.

"Do thou then stay, Eurylochus," answered Ulysses:
" eat thou and drink in the ship in safety, while I go
alone upon this adventure : necessity, from whose law is
no appeal, compels me."

So sa}dng, he quitted the ship and went on shore, ac-
companied by none ; none had the hardihood to offer to
partake that perilous adventure with him, so much they
dreaded the enchantments of the witch. Singly he pur-
sued his journey till he came to the shining gates which
stood before her mansion ; but when he essayed to put his
foot over her threshold, he was suddenly stopped by the
apparition of a young man, bearing a golden rod in his
hand, who was the god Mercury. He held Ulysses by the
wrist, to stay his entrance; and "Whither wouldest thou
go," he said, " O thou most erring of the sons of men ?

162 TILE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

knowest thou not that this is the house of great Circe,
where she keeps thy friends in a loathsome sty, changed
from the fair forms of men into the detestable and ugly
shapes of swine ? Art thou prepared to share their fate, from
which nothing can ransom thee ? " But neither his words
nor his coming from heaven could stop the daring foot
of Ulysses, whom compassion for the misfortune of his
friends had rendered careless of danger : which when the
god perceived, lie had pity to see valor so misplaced, and
gave him the llower of the herb inoly, which is sovereign
against enchantments. The moly is a small unsightly
root, its virtues but little known and in low estimation ;
the dull shepherd treads on it every day with his clouted
shoes ; 1 but it bears a small white flower, which is medici-
nal against charms, blights, mildews, and damps. " Take
this in thy band," said Mercury, " and with it boldly
enter her gates ; when she shall strike thee with her rod,
thinking to change thee, as she lias changed thy friends,
boldly rush in upon her with thy sword, and extort from
her the dreadful oath of the «ods, that she will use no en-
chantments against thee ; then force her to restore thy
abused companions." He gave Ulysses the little white
flower, and, instructing him how to use it, vanished.

When the god was departed, Ulysses with loud knock-
in gs beat at the gate of the palace. The shining gates
were opened, as before, and great Circe with hospitable
cheer invited in her guest. She placed him on a throne
with more distinction than she had used to his fellows ;
she mingled wine in a costly bowl, and he drank of it,
mixed with those poisonous drugs. When he had drunk,

1 clouted shoes, shoes fitted with nails.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 163

she struck him with her charming-rod, and " To your
sty ! ' she cried ; " out, swine ! mingle with your com-
panions ! ' But those powerful words were not proof
against the preservative which Mercury had given to Ulys-
ses ; he remained unchanged, and, as the god had di-
rected him, boldly charged the witch with his sword, as if
he meant to take her life ; which when she saw, and per-
ceived that her charms were weak against the antidote
which Ulysses bore about him, she cried out and bent her
knees beneath his sword, embracing his, and said, " Who
or what manner of man art thou? Never drank any man
before thee of this cup but he repented it in some brute's
form. Thy shape remains unaltered as thy mind. Thou
canst be none other than Ulysses, renowned above all the
world for wisdom, whom the Fates have long since de-
creed that I must love. This haughty bosom bends to
thee. O Ithacan, a goddess woos thee."

" O Circe," he replied, " how canst thou treat of love
or marriage with one whose friends thou hast turned into
beasts ? and now offerest him thy hand in Avedlock, only
that thou mightest have him in thy power, to live the life
of a beast with thee, naked, effeminate, subject to thy will,
perhaps to be advanced in time to the honor of a place in
thy sty. What pleasure canst thou promise which may
tempt the soul of a reasonable man, — thy meats, spiced
with poison ; or thy wines, drugged with death ? Thou
must swear to me that thou wilt never attempt against
me the treasons which thou hast practised upon my
friends." The enchantress, won by the terror of his
threats, or by the violence of that new love which she
felt kindling in her veins for him, swore by Styx, the

164 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

great oath of the gods, that she meditated no injury to
him. Then Ulysses made show of gentler treatment,
which gave her hopes of inspiring him with a passion
equal to that which she felt. She called her handmaids,
four that served her in chief, who were daughters to her
silver fountains, to her sacred rivers, and to her conse-
crated woods, to deck her apartments, to spread rich
carpets, and set out her silver tables with dishes of the
purest gold, and meat as precious as that which the gods
eat, to entertain her guest. One brought water to wash
his feet; and one brought wine to chase away, with a re-
freshing sweetness, the sorrows that had come of late so
thick upon him, and hurt his noble mind. They strewed
perfumes on his head; and, after he had bathed in a bath
of the choicest aromatics, they brought him rich and
costly apparel to put on. Then he was conducted to a
throne of massy silver, and a regale,1 fit for Jove when he
banquets, was placed before him. But the feast which
Ulysses desired was to see his friends (the partners of his
voyage) once more in the shapes of men ; and the food
which could snve him nourishment must be taken in at his
eyes. Because he missed this sight, he sat melancholy
and thoughtful, and would taste of none of the rich deli-
cacies placed before him. Which when Circe noted, she
easily divined the cause of his sadness, and leaving the
seat in which she sat throned, went to her sty, and let
abroad his men, who came in like swine, and filled the
ample hall, where Ulysses sat, with gruntings. Hardly
had he time to let his sad eye run over their altered forms
and brutal metamorphosis, when, with an ointment which

1 regale, repast.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 165

she smeared over them, suddenly their bristles fell off,
and they started up in their own shapes, men as before.
They knew their leader again; and clung about him, with
joy of their late restoration, and some shame for their late
change ; and wept so loud, blubbering out their joy in
broken accents, that the palace was filled with a sound of
pleasing mourning; and the witch herself, great Circe, was
not unmoved at the sight. To make her atonement com-
plete, she sent for the remnant of Ulysses's men who
stayed behind at the ship, giving up their great com-
mander for lost ; who when they came, and saw him
again alive, circled with their -fellows, no expression can
tell what joy they felt ; they even cried out with rapture,
and to have seen their frantic expressions of mirth a man
might have supposed that they were just in sight of their
country earth, the cliffs of rocky Ithaca. Only Eurylochus
would hardly be persuaded to enter that palace of wonders,
for he remembered with a kind of horror how his com-
panions had vanished from his sight.

Then great Circe spake, and gave order that there
should be no more sadness among them, nor remember-
ing of past sufferings. For as yet they fared like men
that are exiles from their country; and if a gleam of
mirth shot among them, it was suddenly quenched with
the thought of their helpless and homeless condition.
Her kind persuasions wrought upon Ulysses and the rest,
that they spent twelve months in all manner of delight
with her in her palace. For Circe was a powerful ma-
gician, and could command the moon from her sphere, or
unroot the solid oak from its place to make it dance for
their diversion ; and by the help of her illusions she could

166 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

vary the taste of pleasures, and contrive delights, recrea-
tions, and jolly pastimes, to "fetch the day about from
sun to sun, and rock the tedious }^ear as in a delightful
dream."

At length Ulysses awoke from the trance of the facul-
ties into which her charms had thrown him, and the
thought of home returned with tenfold vigor to goad
and sting him ; that home where he had left his virtuous
wife Penelope, and his young son Telemachus. Que day
when Circe had been lavish of her caresses, and was in
her kindest humor, he moved to her subtly, and as it
were afar off, the question of his home-return ; to which
she answered firmly, " O Ulysses, it is not in my power
to detain one whom the gods have destined to further
trials. But leaving me, before you pursue your journey
home, you must visit the house of Hades, or Death,
to consult the shade of Tiresias, the Theban prophet;
to whom alone, of all the dead, Proserpine, queen of
hell, has committed the secret of future events : it is lie
that must inform you whether you shall ever see again
your wife and country." "O Circe," he cried, "that is
impossible: who shall steer my course to Pluto's kingdom?
Never ship had strength to make that voyage." " Seek
no guide," she replied; "but raise you your mast, and
hoist your white sails, and sit in your ship in peace : the
north wind shall waft you through the seas, till you shall
cross the expanse of the ocean and come to where grow
the poplar groves and willows pale of Proserpine : where
Pyriphlegethon and Cocytus and Acheron mingle their
waves. Cocytus is an arm of Styx, the forgetful river.
Here dig a pit, and make it a cubit broad and a cubit

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 167

long; and pour in milk and honey and wine, and the
blood of a ram, and the blood of a black ewe; and turn
away thy face while thou pourest in, and the dead shall
come flocking to taste the milk and the blood: but suffer
none to approach thy offering till thou hast inquired of
Tiresias all which thou wishest to know."

He did as great Circe had appointed. He raised his
mast, and hoisted his white sails, and sat in his ship in
peace. The north wind wafted him through the seas till
he crossed the ocean, and came to the sacred woods of
Proserpine. He stood at the confluence of the three
floods, and digged a pit, as she had given directions, and
poured in his offering, — the blood of a ram, and the blood
of a black ewe, milk and honey and wine; and the dead
came to his banquet, — aged men, and women, and youths,
and children who died in infancy. But none of them
Avould he suffer to approach and dip their thin lips in the
offering, till Tiresias was served, — not though his own
mother was among the number, whom now for the first
time he knew to be dead; for he had left her living when
he went to Troy; and she had died since his departure,
and the tidings never reached him. Though it irked his
soul to use constraint upon her, yet, in compliance with
the injunction of great Circe, he forced her to retire along
with the other ghosts. Then Tiresias, who bore a golden
sceptre, came and lapped of the offering; and immediately
he knew Ulysses, and began to prophesy : he denounced woe
to Ulysses, — woe, ivoe, and many sufferings, — through the
anger of Neptune for the putting-out of the eye of the sea-
god's son. Yet there was safety after suffering, if they
could abstain from slaughtering the oxen of the Sun after

168 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

they landed in the Triangular Island. For Ulysses, the gods
had destined him from a king to become a beggar, and to perish
by his otvn guests, unless he slew those who knew him not.

This prophecy, ambiguously delivered, was all that
Tiresias was empowered to unfold, or else there was no
longer place for him ; for now the souls of the other dead
came flocking in such numbers, tumultuously demanding
the blood, that freezing horror seized the limbs of the
living Utysses, to see so many, and all dead, and he the
only one alive in that region. Now his mother came and
lapped the blood, without restraint from her son, and
now she knew him to be her son, and inquired of him
why he had come alive to their comfortless habitations.
And she said that affliction for Ulysses's long absence had
preyed upon her spirits, and brought her to the grave.

Ulysses's soul melted at her moving narration; and for-
getting the state of the dead, and that the airy texture
of disembodied spirits does not admit of the embraces of
flesh and blood, he threw his arms about her to clasp her :
the poor ghost melted from his embrace, and, looking
mournfully upon him, vanished away.

Then saw he other women : Tyro, who when she lived
was wife of Neptune, and mother of Pelias and Neleus;
Antiope, who bore two like sons to Jove, Amphion and
Zethus, founders of Thebes; Alcmena,the mother of Hercu-
les, with her fair daughter, afterwards her daughter-in-law,
Megara. There also Ulysses saw Jocasta, the unfortunate
mother and wife of QEdipus ; who, ignorant of kin, wedded
with her son, and when she had discovered the unnatural
alliance, for shame and grief hanged herself. He con-
tinued to drag a wretched life above the earth, haunted by

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 169

the dreadful Furies. There was Leda, the wife of Tynda-
rus, the mother of the beautiful Helen, and of the two
brave brothers, Castor and Pollux, who obtained this
grace from Jove, that, being dead, they should enjoy life
alternately, living in pleasant places under the earth. For
Pollux had prayed that his brother Castor, who was subject
to death, as the son of Tyndarus, should partake of his
own immortality, which he derived from an immortal, sire.
This the Fates denied ; therefore Pollux was permitted to
divide his immortality with his brother Castor, dying and
living alternately. There was Iphimedeia, who bore two
sons to Neptune that were giants, Otus and Ephialtes :
Earth in her prodigality never nourished bodies to such
portentous size and beauty as these two children were of,
except Orion. At nine years old they had imaginations
of climbing to heaven to see what the gods were doing;
they thought to make stairs of mountains, and were for
piling Ossa upon Olympus, and setting Pelion upon that;
and had perhaps performed it, if they had lived till they
were striplings ; but they were cut off by death in the
infancy of their ambitious project. Phsedra was there, and
Procris, and Ariadne, mournful for Theseus's desertion,
and Msera, and Clymene, and Eryphile, who preferred gold
before wedlock faith.

But now came a mournful ghost, that late was Agamem-
non, son of Atreus, the mighty leader of all the host of
Greece and their confederate kings that warred against
Troy. He came with the rest to sip a little of the blood
at that uncomfortable banquet. Ulysses was moved with
compassion to see him among them, and asked him what
untimely fate had brought him there; if storms had over-

170 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

whelmed him coming from Troy, or if he had perished in
some mutiny by his own soldiers at a division of the prey.

" By none of these," he replied, " did I come to my
death ; but slain at a banquet to which I was invited by
^Egisthus after my return home. He conspiring with my
adulterous wife, they laid a scheme for my destruction,
training me forth to a banquet as an ox goes to the slaugh-
ter; and, there surrounding me, they slew me with all my
friends about me.

" Clytemnestra, my wicked wife, forgetting the vows
which she swore to me in wedlock, would not lend a hand
to close my eyes in death. But nothing is so heaped with
impieties as such a woman, who would kill her spouse that
married her a maid. When I brought her home to my
house a bride, I hoped in my heart that she would be lov-
ing to me and to my children. Now her black treacheries
have cast a foul aspersion on her whole sex. Blessed
husbands will have their loving wives in suspicion for her
bad deeds."

" Alas ! " said Ulysses, " there seems to be a fatality in
your royal house of Atreus, and that they are hated of Jove
for their wives. For Helen's sake, your brother Menelaus's
wife, what multitudes fell in the wars of Troy! '

Agamemnon replied, " For this cause be not thoii more
kind than wise to any woman. Let not thy words express
to her at any time all that is in thy mind, keep still some
secrets to thyself. But thou by any bloody contrivances of
thy wife never neeclst fear to fall. Exceeding wise she is,
and to her wisdom she has a goodness as eminent ; Ica-
rius's daughter, Penelope the chaste : we left her a young
bride when we parted from our wives to go to the wars,

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 171

her first child at her breast, the young Telemachus, whom
you shall see grown up to manhood on your return,
and he shall greet his father with befitting welcomes.
My Orestes, my dear son, 1 shall never see again. His
mother has deprived his father of the sight of him, and
perhaps will slay him as she slew his sire. But what says
fame ? is my son yet alive ? lives he in Orchomen, or in
Pylus, or is he resident in Sparta, in his uncle's court?
As yet, I see, divine Orestes is not here with me."

To this Ulysses replied that he had received no certain
tidings where Orestes abode, only some uncertain rumors
which he could not report for truth.

While they held this sad conference, with kind tears
striving to render unkind fortunes more palatable, the soul
of great Achilles joined them. " What desperate advent-
ure has brought Ulysses to these regions," said Achilles ;
" to see the end of dead men, and their foolish shades ? '

Ulysses answered him that he had come to consult
Tiresias respecting his voyage home. " But thou, O son
of Thetis," said he, " why dost thou disparage the state of
the dead ? seeing that as alive thou didst surpass all men
in glory, thou must needs retain thy pre-eminence here
below : so great Achilles triumphs over death."

But Achilles made reply that he had much rather be a
peasant-slave upon the earth than reign over all the dead.
So much did the inactivity and slothful condition of that
state displease his unquenchable and restless spirit. Only
he inquired of Ulysses if his father Peleus were living, and
how his son Neoptolemus conducted himself.

Of Peleus Ulysses could tell him nothing ; but of Neop-
tolemus he thus bore witness : " From Scyros I convoyed

172 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

your son by sea to the Greeks : where I can speak of him,
for I knew him. He was chief in council, and in the field.
When any question was proposed, so quick was his conceit
in the forward apprehension of any case, that he ever
spoke first, and was heard with more attention than the
older heads. Only myself and aged Nestor could compare
with him in giving advice. In battle I cannot speak his
praise, unless I could count all that fell by his sword. I
will only mention one instance of his manhood. When
we sat hid in the belly of the wooden horse, in the ambush
which deceived the Trojans to their destruction, I, who had
the management of that stratagem, still shifted my place
from side to side to note the behavior of our men. In
some I marked their hearts trembling, through all the pains
which they took to appear valiant; and in others tears, that
in spite of manly courage would gush forth. And to say
truth, it was an adventure of high enterprise, and as peril-
ous a stake as was ever played in war's game. But in
him I could not observe the least sign of weakness; no
tears nor tremblings, but his hand still on his good sword,
and ever urging me to set open the machine and let us out
before the time was come for doing it ; and when we sal-
lied out he was still first in that fierce destruction and
bloody midnight desolation of king Priam's city."

This made the soul of Achilles to tread a swifter pace,
with high-raised feet, as he vanished away, for the joy
which he took in his son being applauded by Ulysses.

A sad shade stalked by, which Ulysses knew to be the
ghost of Ajax, his opponent, when living, in that famous
dispute about the right of succeeding to the arms of the
deceased Achilles. They being adjudged by the Greeks

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 173

to Ulysses, as the prize of wisdom above bodily strength,
the noble Ajax in despite went mad, and slew himself.
The sight of his rival turned to a shade by his dispute so
subdued the passion of emulation in Ulysses that for his
sake he wished that judgment in that controversy had
been given against himself, rather than so illustrious a
chief should have perished for the desire of those arms
which his prowess (second only to Achilles in fight) so
eminently had deserved. "Ajax," he cried, "all the
Greeks mourn for thee as much as they lamented for
Achilles. Let not thy wrath burn forever, great son of
Telamon. Ulysses seeks peace with thee, and will make
any atonement to thee that can appease thy hurt spirit."
But the shade stalked on, and would not exchange a word
with Ulysses, though he prayed it with many tears and
many earnest entreaties. " He might have spoken to me,"
said Ulysses, " since I spoke to him ; but I see the resent-
ments of the dead are eternal."

Then Ulysses saw a throne on which was placed a judge
distributing sentence. He* that sat on the throne was
Minos, and he was dealing out just judgments to the
dead. He it is that assigns them their place in bliss or
woe.

Then came by a thundering - ghost, the large-limbed
Orion, the mighty hunter, who was hunting there the
ghosts of the beasts which he had slaughtered in desert
hills upon the earth. For the dead delight in the occupa-
tions which pleased them in the time of their living upon
the earth.

There was Tityus suffering eternal pains because he
had sought to bring dishonor to Latona, as she passed

174 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

from Pytho into Panopeus. Two vultures sat perpetually
preying upon his liver with their crooked beaks ; which
as fast as they devoured, is forever renewed ; nor can he
fray 1 them away with his great hands.

There was Tantalus, plagued for his great sins, stand-
ing up to the chin in water, which he can never taste,
but still as he bows his head, thinking to quench his burn-
ing thirst, instead of water he licks up unsavory dust.
All fruits pleasant to the sight, and of delicious flavor,
hang in ripe clusters about his head, seeming as though
they offered themselves to be plucked by him ; but when
he reaches out his hand, some wind carries them far out
of his sight into the clouds : so he is starved in the midst
of plenty by the righteous doom of Jove, in memory of
that inhuman banquet at which the sun turned pale, when
the unnatural father served up the limbs of his little son
in a dish, as meat for his divine guests.

There was Sisyphus, that sees no end to his labors.
His punishment is, to be forever rolling up a vast stone to
the top of a mountain; which; when it gets to the top,
falls down with a crushing weight, and all his work is
to be begun again. He was bathed all over in sweat, that
reeked out a smoke which covered his head like a mist.
His crime had been the revealing of state secrets.

There Ulysses saw Hercules — not that Hercules who
enjoys immortal life in heaven among the gods, and is
married to Hebe, or Youth; but his shadow, which re-
mains below. About him the dead flocked as thick as
bats, hovering around, and cuffing at his head : he stands
with his dreadful bow, ever in the act to shoot.

1 frail, frighten.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 175

There also might Ulysses have seen and spoken with
the shades of Theseus, and Pirithous, and the old heroes ;
but he had conversed enough with horrors ; therefore,
covering his face with his hands, that he might see no
more spectres, he resumed his seat in his ship, and pushed
off. The bark moved of itself without the help of any
oar, and soon brought him out of the regions of deatli
into the cheerful quarters of the living, and to the island
of iEsea, whence he had set forth.

CHAPTER III.

The Song op the Sirens. — Scylla and Charybdis. — The Oxen op
the Sun. — The Judgment. — The Crew killed by Lightning.

" Unhappy man, who at thy birth wast appointed twice
to die! Others shall die once ; but thou, besides that death
that remains for thee, common to all men, hast in thy
lifetime visited the shades of death. Thee Scylla, thee
Charybdis, expect. Thee the deathful Sirens lie in wait
for, that taint the minds of whoever listen to them with
their sweet singing. Whosoever shall but hear the call of
any Siren, he will so despise both wife and children through
their sorceries that the stream of- his affection never again
shall set homewards, nor shall he take joy in wife or chil-
dren thereafter, or they in him."

• With these prophetic greetings great Circe met Ulysses
on his return. He besought her to instruct him in the
nature of the Sirens, and by what method their baneful
allurements were to be resisted.

" They are sisters three," she replied, " that sit in a

176 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

mead (by which your ship must needs pass) circled with
dead men's bones. These are the bones of men whom
they have slain, after with fawning invitements they have
enticed them into their fen. Yet such is the celestial har-
mony of their voices accompanying the persuasive magic
of their words, that, knowing this, you shall not be able to
withstand their enticements. Therefore, when you are to
sail by them, you shall stop the ears of your companions
with wax, that they may hear no note of that dangerous
music ; but for yourself, that you may hear, and yet live,
give them strict command to bind you hand and foot to
the mast, and in no case to set you free till you are out
of the danger of the temptation, though you should entreat
it, and implore it ever so much, but to bind you rather
the more for your requesting to be loosed. So shall you
escape that snare."

Ulysses then prayed her that she would inform him
what Scylla and Chary bdis were, which she had taught
him by name to fear. She replied: "Sailing from ^-Erea
to Trinacria, you must pass at an equal distance between
two fatal rocks. Incline never so little either to the one
side or the other, and your ship must meet with certain
destruction. No vessel ever yet tried that pass without
being lost but the Argo, which owed her safety to the
sacred freight she bore, the fleece of the golden-backed
ram, which could not perish. The biggest of these rocks
which you shall come to, Scylla hath in charge. There in
a deep whirlpool at the foot of the rock the abhorred mon-
ster shrouds her face ; who if she were to show her full
form, no eye of man or god could endure the sight:
thence she stretches out all her six long necks, peering

THE HEAET OF OAK BOOKS. 177

and diving to suck up fish, dolphins, dog-fish, and whales,
whole ships and their men, whatever comes within her
raging gulf. The other rock is lesser, and of less ominous
aspect ; but there dreadful Charybdis sits, supping the
black deeps. Thrice a day she drinks her pits dry, and
thrice a day again she belches them all up ; but when she
is drinking, come not nigh; for, being once caught, the
force of Neptune cannot redeem you from her swallow.
Better trust to Scylla, for she will but have for her six
necks six men : Charybdis in her insatiate draught will
ask all."

Then Ulysses inquired, in case he should escape Charyb-
dis, whether he might not assail that other monster with
his sword; to which she replied that he must not think
that he had an enemy subject to death, or wounds, to con-
tend with, for Scylla could never die. Therefore, his best
safety was in flight, and to invoke none of the gods but
Cratis, who is Scylla's mother, and might perhaps forbid
her daughter to devour them. For his conduct after he
arrived at Trinacria she referred him to the admonitions
which had been given him by Tiresias.

Ulysses having communicated her instructions, as far as
related to the Sirens, to his companions, who had not been
present at that interview, but concealing from them the
rest, as he had done the terrible predictions of Tiresias,
that they might not be deterred by fear from pursuing
their voyage — the time for departure being come, they set
their sails, and took a final leave of great Circe ; who by
her art calmed the heavens, and gave them smooth seas,
and a right fore wind (the seaman's friend) to bear them
on their way to Ithaca*

178 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

They had not sailed past a hundred leagues before the
breeze which Circe had lent them suddenly stopped. It
was stricken dead. All the sea lay in prostrate slumber.
Not a gasp of air could be felt. The ship stood still.
Ulysses guessed that the island of the Sirens was not far
off, and that they had charmed the air so with their devil-
ish singing. Therefore he made him cakes of wax, as
Circe had instructed him, and stopped the ears of his men
with them ; then causing himself to be bound hand and
foot, he commanded the rowers to ply their oars and row
as fast as speed could carry them past that fatal shore.
They soon came within sight of the Sirens, who sang in
Ulysses's hearing : —

" Come here, thou, worthy of a world of praise,
That dost so high the Grecian glory raise, —
Ulysses! Stay thy ship, and that song hear
That none pass'd ever, but it bent his ear,
But left him ravish'd, and instructed more
By us than any ever heard before.
For we know all things, — whatsoever were
In wide Troy labor'd ; whatsoever there
The Grecians and the Trojans both sustain'd,
By those high issues that the gods ordain'd :
And whatsoever all the earth can show,
To inform a knowledge of desert, we know."

These were the words, but the celestial harmony of the
voices which sang them no tongue can describe: it took
the ear of Ulysses with ravishment. He would have
broken his bonds to rush after them ; and threatened,
wept, sued, entreated, commanded, crying out with tears
and passionate imprecations, conjuring his men by all the
ties of perils past which they had endured in common, by

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 179

fellowship and love, and the authority which he retained
among them, to let him loose ; but at no rate would they
obey him. And still the Sirens sang. Ulysses made
signs, motions, gestures, promising mountains of gold if
they would set him free ; but their oars. only moved faster.
And still the Sirens sang. And still the more he adjured
them to set him free, the faster with cords and ropes they
bound him ; till they were quite out of hearing of the
Sirens' notes, whose effect great Circe had so truly pre-
dicted. And well she might speak of them, for often she
had joined her own enchanting voice to theirs, while she
has sat in the flowery meads, mingled with the Sirens and
the Water Nymphs, gathering their potent herbs and drugs
of magic quality. Their singing all together has made the
gods stoop, and " heaven drowsy with the harmony."

Escaped that peril, they had not sailed }^et a hundred
leagues farther, when they heard a roar afar off, which
Ulysses knew to be the barking of Scylla's dogs, which
surround her waist, and bark incessantly. Coming nearer
they beheld a smoke ascend, with a horrid murmur, which
rose from that other whirlpool, to which they made nigher
approaches than to Scylla. Through the furious eddy,
which is in that place, the ship stood still as a stone; for
there was no man to lend his hand to an oar: the dismal
roar of Scylla's dogs at a distance, and the nearer clamors
of Charybdis, where everything made an echo, quite taking
from them the power of exertion. Ulysses went up and
down encouraging his men, one by one, giving them good
words; telling them that they were in greater perils when
they were blocked up in the Cyclop's cave, yet, heaven
assisting his counsels, he had delivered them out of that

180 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

extremity; — that he could not believe but they remem-
bered it ; and wished them to give the same trust to the
same care which he had now for their welfare; — that they
must exert all the strength and wit which they had, and try
if Jove would not grant them an escape, even out of this
peril. In particular he cheered up the pilot who sat at
the helm, and told him that he must show more firmness
than other men, as he had more trust committed to him;
and had the sole management, by his skill, of the vessel in
which all their safeties were embarked; — that a rock lay
hid within those boiling whirlpools which he saw, on the
outside of which he must steer, if he would avoid his own
destruction and the destruction of them all.

They heard him, and like men took to the oars ; but
little knew what opposite danger, in shunning that rock,
they must be thrown upon. For Ulysses had concealed
from them the wounds, never to be healed, which Scylla
was to open : their terror would else have robbed them all of
all care to steer or move an oar, and have made them hide
under the hatches, for fear of seeing her, where he and
they must have died an idle death. But even then he
forgot the precautions which Circe had given him to pre-
vent harm to his person, who had willed him not to arm,
or show himself once to Scylla ; but disdaining not to
venture life for his brave companions, he could not con-
tain, but armed in all points, and taking a lance in either
hand, he went up to the fore-deck, and looked when Scylla
would appear.

She did not show herself as yet, and still the vessel
steered closer by her rock, as it sought to shun that other
more dreaded; for they saw how horribly Charybdis's

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 181

black throat drew into her all the whirling deep, which
she disgorged again, that all about her boiled like a kettle,
and the rock roared with troubled waters ; which when
she supped in again, all the bottom turned up, and dis-
closed far under shore the swart1 sands naked, whose whole
stern sight frayed the startled blood from their faces, and
made Ulysses turn his to view the wonder of whirlpools.
Which when Scylla saw from out her black den, she
darted out her six long necks, and swooped up as many of
his friends : whose cries Ulysses heard, and saw them too
late, with their heels turned up, and their hands thrown to
him for succor, who had been their help in all extremities,
but could not deliver them now; and he heard them shriek
out as she tore them, and to the last they continued to
throw their hands out to him for sweet life. In all his
sufferings he never had beheld a sight so full of miseries.

Escaped from Scylla and Charybdis, but with a dimin-
ished crew, Ulysses and the sad remains of his followers
reached the Trinacrian shore. Here landing, he beheld
oxen grazing of such surpassing size and beauty that,
both from them and from the shape of the island (having
three promontories jutting into the sea), he judged rightly
that he was come to the Triangular Island and the oxen
of the Sun, of which Tiresias had? forewarned him.

So great was his terror lest through his own fault, or
that of his men, any violence or profanation should be
offered to the \io\y oxen, that even then, tired as they
were with the perils and fatigues of the day past, and
unable to stir an oar, or use any exertion, and though
night was fast coming on, he would have had them re-em-

1 swart, blaek.

182 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

bark immediately, and make the best of their way from
that dangerous station ; but his men with one voice
resolutely opposed it, and even the too cautious Eury-
lochus himself withstood the proposal ; so much did the
temptation of a little ease and refreshment (ease tenfold
sweet after such labors) prevail over the sagest counsels,
and the apprehension of certain evil outweigh the prospect
of contingent danger. They expostulated that the nerves
of Ulysses seemed to be made of steel, and his limbs not
liable to lassitude like other men's ; that waking or sleep-
ing seemed indifferent to him ; but that they were men,
not gods, and felt the common appetites for food and sleep;
that in the night-time, all the winds most destructive to
ships are generated; that black night still required to be
served with meat and sleep, and quiet havens and ease;
that the best sacrifice to the sea was in the morning.
With such sailor-like sayings and mutinous arguments,
which the majority have always ready to justify disobedi-
ence to their betters, they forced Ulysses to comply with
their requisition, and against his will to take up his night-
quarters on shore. But he first exacted from them an
oath that they would neither maim nor kill any of the
cattle which they saw grazing, but content themselves
with such food as Circe had stowed their vessel with when
they parted from .Epea. This they man by man severally
promised, imprecating the heaviest curses on whoever
should break it ; and mooring their bark within a creek,
they went to supper, contenting themselves that night
with such food as Circe had given them, not without
many sad thoughts of their friends whom Scylla had
devoured, the grief of which kept them great part of the
night* waking.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 183

In the morning, Ulysses urged them again to a religious
observance of the oath that they had sworn, not in any
case to attempt the blood of those fair herds which they
saw grazing, but to content themselves with the ship's
food ; for the god who owned those cattle sees and hears
all.

They faithfully obeyed, and remained in that good mind
for a month: during which they were confined to that
station by contrary Avinds, till all the wine and the bread
were gone which they had brought with them. When
their victuals were gone, necessity compelled them to
stray in quest of whatever fish or fowl they could snare,
which that coast did not yield in any great abundance.
Then Ulysses prayed to all the gods that dwelt in bounti-
ful heaven, that they would be pleased to yield them some
means to stay their hunger, without having recourse to
profane and forbidden violations ; but the ears of heaven
seemed to be shut, or some god incensed plotted his ruin ;
for at mid-day, when he should chiefly have been vigilant
and watchful to prevent mischief, a deep sleep fell upon
the eyes of Ulysses, during which he lay totally insensible
of all that passed in the world, and what his friends or what
his enemies might do for his welfare or destruction. Then
Eurylochus took his advantage. He was the man of most
authority with them after Ulysses. He represented to
them all the misery of their condition ; how that every
death is hateful and grievous to mortality, but that of all
deaths famine is attended with the most painful, loath-
some, and humiliating circumstances ; that the subsistence
which they could hope to draw from fowling or fishing
was too precarious to be depended upon; that there did

184 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

not seem to be any chance of the winds changing to favor
their escape, bnt that they must inevitably stay there and
perish, if they let an irrational superstition deter them
from the means which Nature offered to their hands ; that
Ulysses miffht be deceived in his belief that these oxen
had any sacred qualities above other oxen ; and even
admitting that they were the property of the god of the
Sun, as he said they were, the Sun did neither eat nor
drink, and the gods were best served not by a scrupulous
conscience, but by a thankful heart, which took freely
what they as freely offered. With these and such like
persuasions he prevailed on his half-famished and half-
mutinous companions to begin the impious violation of
their oath by the slaughter of seven of the fairest of these
oxen which were grazing. Part they roasted and ate, and
part they offered in sacrifice to the gods, particularly to
Apollo, god of the Sun, vowing to build a temple to his
godhead when they should arrive in Ithaca, and deck it
with magnificent and numerous gifts. Vain men ! and
superstition worse than that which they had so lately
derided ! to imagine that prospective penitence can excuse
a present violation of duty, and that the pure natures
of the heavenly powers will admit of compromise or dis-
pensation for sin!

But to their feast they fell, dividing the roasted por-
tions of the flesh, savory and pleasant meat to them, but
a sad sight to the eyes, and a savor of death in the nos-
trils, of the Avaking Ulysses, who just woke in time to
witness, but not soon enough to prevent, their rash and
sacrilegious banquet. He had scarce time to ask what
great mischief was this which they had done unto him ;

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 185

when behold, a prodigy ! the ox-hides which they had
stripped began to creep as if they had life ; and the
roasted flesh bellowed as the ox used to do when he was
living. The hair of Ulysses stood up on end with affright
at these omens ; but his companions, like men whom the
gods had infatuated to their destruction, persisted in their
horrible banquet.

The Sun from his burning chariot saw how Ulysses's
men had slain his oxen, and he cried to his father Jove,
" Revenge me upon these impious men who have slain my
oxen, which it did me good to look upon when I walked
my heavenly round. In all my daily course I never saw
such bright and beautiful creatures as those my oxen
were." The father promised that ample retribution
should be taken of those accursed men : which was ful-
filled shortly after, when they took their leaves of the
fatal island.

Six days they feasted in spite of the signs of heaven,
and on the seventh, the wind changing, they set their
sails and left the island ; and their hearts were cheerful
with the banquets they had held ; all but the heart of
Ulysses, which sank within him, as with wet eyes he
beheld his friends, and gave them for lost, as men devoted
to divine vengeance. Which soon overtook them ; for
they had not gone many leagues before a dreadful tem-
pest arose, which burst their cables ; down came their
mast, crushing the skull of the pilot in its fall: off he
fell from the stern into the water; and the bark, wanting
his management, drove along at the wind's mercy. Thun-
ders roared, and terrible lightnings of Jove came down:
first a bolt struck Eurylochus, then another, and then

186 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

another, till all the crew were killed, and their bodies
swam about like sea-mews ; and the ship was split in
pieces. Only Ulysses survived ; and he had no hope of
safety but in tying himself to the mast, where lie sat
riding upon the waves, like one that in no extremity
would yield to fortune. Nine days was he floating about
with all the motions of the sea, with no other support than
the slender mast under him, till the tenth night cast him,
all spent and weary with toil, upon the friendly shores of
the island Ogygia.

CHAPTER IV.

The Island of Calypso. — Immortality Refused.

Henceforth the adventures of the single Ulysses must
be pursued. Of all those faithful partakers of his toil, who
with him left Asia, laden with the spoils of Troy, now not
one remains, but all a prey to the remorseless waves, and
food for some great fish ; their gallant navy reduced to
one ship, and that finally swallowed up and lost. Where
now are all their anxious thoughts of home ? that perse-
verance with which they went through the severest suffer-
ings and the hardest labors to which poor seafarers were
ever exposed, that their toils at last might be crowned
with the sight of their native shores and wives at Ithaca !
Ulysses is now in the isle Ogygia, called the Delightful
Island. The poor shipwrecked chief, the slave of all the
elements, is once again raised by the caprice of fortune
into a shadow of prosperity. He that was cast naked
upon the shore, bereft of all his companions, has now a

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 187

goddess to attend upon him, and his companions are the
nymphs which never die. Who has not heard of Calypso?
her grove crowned with alders and poplars ; her grotto,
against which the luxuriant vine laid forth his purple
grapes; her ever-new delights, crystal fountains, running
brooks, meadows flowering with sweet balm-gentle and
with violet ; blue violets which like veins enamelled the
smooth breasts of each fragrant mead? It were useless to
describe over a^ain what has been so well told already,
or to relate those soft arts of courtship which the goddess
used to detain Ulysses ; the same in kind which she after-
wards practised upon his less wary son, whom Athene
in the shape of Mentor, hardly preserved from her snares,
when they came to the Delightful Island together in search
of the scarce departed Ulysses.

A memorable example of married love, and a worthy
instance how dear to every good man his country is, was
exhibited by Ulysses. If Circe loved him sincerely,
Calypso loves him with tenfold more warmth and passion :
she can deny him nothing, but his departure ; she offers
him everything, even to a participation of her immortality
— if he will stay and share in her pleasures, he shall never
die. But death with glory has greater charms for a mind
heroic than a life that shall never die with shame ; and
when he pledged his vows to his Penelope, he reserved no
stipulation that he would forsake her whenever a goddess
should think him worthy, but they had sworn to live and
grow old together; and he would not survive her if he
could, nor meanly share in immortality itself, from which
she was excluded.

These thoughts kept him pensive and melancholy in

188 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

the midst of pleasure. His heart was on the seas, making-
voyages to Ithaca. Twelve months had worn away, when
Athene from heaven saw her favorite, how he sat still
pining on the sea-shores (his daily custom), wishing for
a ship to cany him home. She (who is Wisdom herself)
was indignant that so wise and brave a man as Ulysses
should be held in effeminate bondage by an unworthy-
goddess ; and at her request her father Jove ordered Mer-
cury to go down to the earth to command Calypso to dis-
miss her guest. The divine messenger tied fast to his feet
his winged shoes, which bear him over land and seas, and
took in his hand his golden rod, the ensign of his au-
thority. Then wheeling in many an airy round, he stayed
not till he alighted on the firm top of the mountain
Pieria ; thence he fetched a second circuit over the seas,
kissing the waves in his flight with his feet, as light as any
sea-mew fishing dips her wings, till he touched the isle
Ogygia, and soared up from the blue sea to the grotto
of the goddess to whom his errand was ordained.

His message struck a horror, checked by love, through
all the faculties of Calypso. She replied to it, incensed :
" You gods are insatiate, past all that live, in all things
which you affect ; which makes you so envious and grudg-
ing. It afflicts you to the heart when any goddess seeks
the love of a mortal man in marriage, though you your-
selves without scruple link yourselves to women of the
earth. So it fared with you, when the delicious-fingered
Morning shared Orion's love; you could never satisfy
your hate and your jealousy till you had incensed dame
Diana, who leads the precise life, to come upon him by
stealth in Ortygia, and pierce him through with her arrows.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 189

And when rich-haired Ceres gave the reins to her affec-
tions, and took Iasion (well worthy) the secret was not so
cunningly kept but Jove had soon notice of it; and the poor
mortal paid for his felicity with death, struck through with
lightnings. And now you envy me the possession of a
wretched man whom tempests have cast upon my shores,
making him lawfully mine ; whose ship Jove rent in pieces
with his hot thunderbolts, killing all his friends. Him I
have preserved, loved, nourished ; made him mine by pro-
tection, my creature ; by every tie of gratitude, mine ; have
vowed to make him deathless like myself; him you will take
from me. But I know your power, and that it is vain for
me to resist. Tell your king that I obey his mandates."

With an ill grace Calypso promised to fulfil the com-
mands of Jove ; and, Mercury departing, she went to find
Ulysses, where he sat outside the grotto, not knowing of
the heavenly message, drowned in discontent, not seeing
any human probability of his ever returning home.

She said to him : " Unhappy man, no longer afflict
yourself with pining after your country, but build you
a ship, with which you may return home, since it is the
will of the gods ; who, doubtless, as they are greater in
power than I, are greater in skill, and best can tell what
is fittest for man. But I call the gods and my inward
conscience to witness that I had no thought but what
stood with thy safety, nor would have done or counselled
anything against thy good. I persuaded thee to nothing
which I should not have followed myself in thy extremity ;
for my mind is innocent and simple. Oh, if thou knewest
what dreadful sufferings thou must yet endure before ever
thou readiest thy native land, thou wouldest not esteem

190 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

so hardly of a goddess's offer to share her immortality
with thee ; nor for a few years' enjoyment of a perishing
Penelope, refuse an imperishable and never-dying life
with Calypso."

He replied : " Ever-honored, great Calypso, let it not
displease thee, that I a mortal man desire to see and con-
verse again with a wife that is mortal : human objects are
best fitted to human infirmities. I well know how far in
wisdom, in feature, in stature, proportion, beauty, in all
the gifts of the mind, thou exceedest my Penelope : she is
mortal, and subject to decay ; thou immortal, ever grow-
ing, yet never old ; yet in her sight all my desires termi-
nate, all my wishes — in the sight of her, and of my country
earth. If any god, envious of my return, shall lay his
dreadful hand upon me as I pass the seas, I submit ; for
the same powers have given me a mind not to sink under
oppression. In wars and waves my sufferings have not
been small."

She heard his pleaded reasons, and of force she must
assent; so to her nymphs she gave in charge from her
sacred woods to cut down timber, to make Ulysses a ship.
They obeyed, though in a work unsuitable to their soft
fingers ; yet to obedience no sacrifice is hard ; and Ulysses
busily bestirred himself, laboring far more hard than they,
as was fitting, till twenty tall trees, driest and fittest for
timber, were felled. Then, like a skilful shipwright, he
fell to joining the planks, using the plane, the axe, and
the auger with such expedition that in four days' time a
ship was made, complete with all her decks, hatches, side-
boards, yards. Calypso added linen for the sails, and
tackling ; and when she was finished, she was a goodly

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 191

vessel for a man to sail in, alone or in company, over
the wide seas. By the fifth morning she was launched ;
and Ulysses, furnished with store of provisions, rich gar-
ments, and gold and silver, given him by Calypso, took a
last leave of her and of her nymphs, and of the isle Ogygia
which had so befriended him.

CHAPTER V.

The Tempest. — The Sea-Bird's Gift. — The Escape by Swimming.

— The Sleep in the Woods.

At the stern of his solitary ship Ulysses sat, and steered
right artfully. No sleep could seize his eyelids. He be-
held the Pleiads, the Bear, which is by some called the
Wain, that moves round about Orion, and keeps still
above the ocean, and the slow-setting sign Bootes, which
some name the Wagoner. Seventeen days he held his
course, and on the eighteenth the coast of Phseacia was in
sight. The figure of the land, as seen from the sea, was
pretty and circular, and looked something like a shield.

Neptune, returning from visiting his favorite Ethio-
pians, from the mountains of the Solymi descried Ulysses
ploughing the waves, his domain: The sight of the man
he so much hated for Polyphemus's sake, his son, whose
eye Ulysses had put out, set the god's heart on fire ; and
snatching into his hand his horrid sea-sceptre, the trident
of his power, he smote the air and the sea, and conjured
up all his black storms, calling down night from the cope1
of heaven, and taking the earth into the sea, as it seemed,

1 cope, covering, arch.

192 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

with clouds, through the darkness and indistinctness
which prevailed ; the billows rolling up before the fury
of all the winds, that contended together in their mighty
sport.

Then the knees of Ulysses bent with fear, and then all
his spirit was spent, and he wished that he had been
among the number of his countrymen who fell before
Troy, and had their funerals celebrated by all the Greeks,
rather than to perish thus, where no man could mourn him
or know him.

As he thought these melancholy thoughts, a huge wave
took him and washed him overboard, ship and all upset
amidst the billows, he struggling afar off, clinging to her
stern broken off which he yet held, her mast cracking in
two with the fury of that gust of mixed winds that struck
it, sails and sail-yards fell into the deep, and he himself
was long drowned under water, nor could get his head
above, wave so met with wave, as if they strove which
should depress him most ; and the gorgeous garments
given him by Calypso clung about him, and hindered his
swimming ; yet neither for this, nor for the overthrow of
his ship, nor his own perilous condition, would he give up
his drenched vessel ; but, wrestling with Neptune, got at
length hold of her again, and then sat in her hull, insulting
over death, which he had escaped, and the salt waves which
he gave the seas again to give to other men ; his ship,
striving to live, floated at random, cuffed from wave to
wave, hurled to and fro by all the winds: now Boreas
tossed it to Notus, Notus passed it to Eurus, and Eurus
to the West Wind, who kept up the horrid tennis.

Them in their mad sport Ino Leucothea beheld — Ino

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 193

Leucothea, now a sea-goddess, but once a mortal and the
daughter of Cadmus ; she with pity beheld Ulysses the
mark of their fierce contention, and rising from the waves
alighted on the ship, in shape like to the sea-bird which is
called a cormorant ; and in her beak she held a wonderful
girdle made of sea-weeds, which grow at the bottom of the
ocean, which she dropped at his feet; and the bird spake
to Ulysses, and counselled him not to trust any more to
that fatal vessel against which god Neptune had levelled
his furious wrath, nor to those ill-befriending garments
which Calypso had given him, but to quit both it and
them, and trust for his safety to swimming. " And here,"
said the seeming bird, " take this girdle and tie about
your middle, which has virtue to protect the wearer at sea,
and you shall safely reach the shore ; but when you have
landed, cast it far from you back into the sea." He did
as the sea-bird instructed him ; he stripped himself naked,
and, fastening the Avondrous girdle about his middle, cast
himself into the seas to swim. The bird dived past his
sight into the fathomless abyss of the ocean.

Two days and two nights he spent in struggling with
the waves, though sore buffeted, and almost spent, never
giving up himself for lost; such confidence he had in that
charm which lie wore about his middle, and in the words
of that divine bird. But the third morning' the winds
grew calm and all the heavens were clear. Then he saw
himself nigh land, which he knew to be the coast of the
Phseaeians, a people good to strangers and abounding in
ships, by whose favor he doubted not that he should soon
obtain a passage to his own country. And such joy he
conceived in his heart as good sons have that esteem their

194 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

father's life dear, when long sickness has held him down
to his bed and wasted his body, and they see at length
health return to the old man, with restored strength and
spirits, in reward of their many prayers to the gods for
his safety : so precious was the prospect of home-return to
Ulysses, that lie might restore health to his country (his
better parent), that had long languished as full of dis-
tempers in his absence. And then for his own safety's
sake he had joy to see the shores, the woods, so nigh and
within his grasp as they seemed, and he labored with all
the might of hands and feet to reach with swimming that
nigh-seeming land.

But when he approached near, a horrid sound of a huge
sea beating against rocks informed him that here was no
place for landing, nor any harbor for man's resort; but
through the weeds and the foam which the sea belched up
against the land he could dimly discover the rugged shore
all bristled with flints, and all that part of the coast one
impending rock that seemed impossible to climb, and the
water all about so deep that not a sand was there for any
tired foot to rest upon; and every moment he feared lest
some wave more cruel than the rest should crush him
against a cliff, rendering worse than vain all his landing ;
and should he swim to seek a more commodious haven far-
ther on, he was fearful lest, weak and spent as he was, the
winds would force him back a long way off into the main,
where the terrible god Neptune, for wrath that he had so
nearly escaped his power, having gotten him again into
his domain, would send out some great whale (of which
those seas breed a horrid number) to swallow him up
alive ; with such malignity he still pursued him.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 195

While these thoughts distracted him with diversity of
dangers, one bigger wave drove against a sharp rock his
naked body, which it gashed and tore, and wanted little of
breaking all his bones, so rude was the shock. But in this
extremity she prompted him that never failed him at need.
Athene (who is Wisdom itself) put it into his thoughts no
longer to keep swimming off and on, as one dallying with
danger, but boldly to force the shore that threatened him,
and to hug the rock that had torn him so rudely ; which
with both hands he clasped, wrestling with extremity, till
the rage of that billow which had driven him upon it was
passed ; but then again the rock drove back that wave so
furiously that it reft him of his hold, sucking him with it
in its return ; and the sharp rock, his cruel friend, to
which he clung for succor, rent the flesh so sore from his
hands in parting that he fell off, and could sustain no
longer ; quite under water he fell, and, past the help of
fate, there had the hapless Ulysses lost all portion that he
had in this life, if Athene had not prompted his wisdom
in that peril to essay another course, and to explore some
other shelter, ceasing to attempt that landing-place.

She guided his wearied and nigh-exhausted limbs to the
mouth of the fair river Callirhoe, which not far from
thence disbursed its watery tribute to the ocean. Here
the shores were easy and accessible, and the rocks, which
rather adorned than defended its banks, so smooth that
they seemed polished of purpose to invite the landing of
our sea-wanderer, and to atone for the uncourteous treat-
ment which those less hospitable cliffs had afforded him.
And the god of the river, as if in pity, stayed his current,
and smoothed his waters, to make his landing more easy ;

196 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

for sacred to the ever-living deities of the fresh waters, be
they mountain-stream, river, or lake, is the cry of erring
mortals that seek their aid, by reason that, being inland-
bred, they partake more of the gentle humanities of our
nature than those marine deities whom Neptune trains up
in tempests in the unpitying recesses of his salt abyss.

So by the favor of the river's god Ulysses crept to land
half-drowned ; both his knees faltering, his strong hands
falling down through weakness from the excessive toils
he had endured, his cheeks and nostrils flowing with froth
of the sea-brine, much of which he had swallowed in that
conflict, voice and breath spent, down he sank as in death.
Dead weary he was. It seemed that the sea had soaked
through his heart, and the pains he felt in all his veins
were little less than those which one feels that has
endured the torture of the rack. But when his spirits
came a little to themselves, and his recollection by degrees
began to return, he rose up, and unloosing from his waist
the girdle or charm which that divine bird had given him,
and remembering the charge which he had received with
it, he flung it far from him into the river. Back it swam
with the course of the ebbing stream till it reached the
sea, where the fair hands of Ino Leucothea received it to
keep it as a pledge of safety to any future shipwrecked
mariner that, like Ulysses, should wander in those perilous
waves.

Then he kissed the humble earth in token of safety,
and on he went by the side of that pleasant river, till he
came where a thicker shade of rushes that grew on its
banks seemed to point out the place where he might rest
his sea-wearied limbs. And here a fresh perplexity divided

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 197

his mind, whether he should pass the night, which was
coming on, in that place, where, though he feared no other
enemies, the damps and frosts of the chill sea-air in that
exposed situation might be death to him in his weak state ;
or whether he had better climb the next hill, and pierce
the depth of some shady wood, in which he might find a
warm and sheltered though insecure repose, subject to the
approach of any wild beast that roamed that way. Best
did this last course appear to him, though with some
danger, as that which was more honorable and savored
more of strife and self-exertion than to perish without a
struggle the passive victim of cold and the elements.

So he bent his course to the nearest woods, where,
entering in, he found a thicket, mostly of wild olives and
such low trees, yet growing so intertwined and knit
together that the moist wind had not leave to play
through their branches, nor the sun's scorching beams
to pierce their recesses, nor any shower to beat through,
they grew so thick, and as it were folded each in the
other. Here creeping in, he made his bed of the leaves
which were beginning to fall, of which was such abun-
dance that two or three men might have spread them ample
coverings, such as might shield them from the winter's
rage, though the air breathed steel and* blew as it would
burst. Here creeping in, he heaped up store of leaves all
about him as a man would billets upon a winter fire, and
lay down in the midst. Rich seed of virtue lying hid in
poor leaves ! Here Athene soon gave him sound sleep ;
and here all his long toils past seemed to be concluded
and shut up within the little sphere of his refreshed and
closed eyelids.

198 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

CHAPTER VI.

The Princess Nausicaa. — The Washing. — The Game with the
Ball. — The Court of Ph/eacia and King Alcinous.

Meantime Athene, designing an interview between the
king's daughter of that country and Ulysses when lie
should awake, went by night to the palace of king
Alcinous, and stood at the bedside of the princess
Nausicaa in the shape of one of her favorite attendants,
and thus addressed the sleeping princess : —

" Nausicaa, why do you lie sleeping here, and never
bestow a thought upon your bridal ornaments, of which
you have many and beautiful, laid up in your Avardrobe
against the day of your marriage, which cannot be far
distant ; when you shall have need of all, not only to deck
your own person, but to give away in presents to the
virgins that honoring you shall attend you to the temple ?
Your reputation stands much upon the timely care of
these things ; these things are they which fill father and
reverend mother with delight. Let us arise betimes to
wash your fair vestments of linen and silks in the river;
and request your sire to lend you mules and a coach, for
your wardrobe is* heavy, and the place where we must
wash is distant; and besides it tits not a great princess
like you to go so far on foot."

So saying, she went away, and Nausicaa awoke, full
of pleasing thoughts of her marriage, which the dream
had told her was not far distant; and as soon as it was
dawn she arose and dressed herself, and went to find her
parents.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 199

The queen her mother was already up, and seated
among her maids, spinning at her wheel, as the fashion
was in those primitive times, when great ladies did not
disdain housewifery : and the king her father was prepar-
ing to go abroad at that early hour to counsel with his
crave senate.

" My father," she said, " will you not order mules and
a coach to be got ready, that I may go and wash, I and
my maids, at the cisterns that stand without the city?'

"What washing does my daughter speak of?" said
Alcinous.

"Mine and my brothers' garments," she replied, "that
have contracted soil by this time with lying by so long
in the wardrobe. Five sons have you that are my
brothers ; two of them are married, and three are bach-
elors ; these last it concerns to have their garments neat
and unsoiled ; it may advance their fortunes in marriage :
and who but I their sister should have a care of these
things? You yourself, my father, have need of the
whitest apparel when you go, as now, to the council."

She used this plea, modestly dissembling her care of
her own nuptials to her father ; who was not displeased at
this instance of his daughter's discretion ; for a seasonable
care about marriage may be permitted to a young maiden,
provided it be accompanied with modesty and dutiful
submission to her parents in the choice of her future
husband ; and there was no fear of Nausicaa choosing
wrongly or improperly; for she was as wise as she was
beautiful, and the best in all Phseacia were suitors to her
for her love. So Alcinous readily gave consent that she
should go, ordering mules and a coach to be prepared.

200 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

And Nausicaa brought from her chamber all her vest-
ments, and laid them up in the coach; and her mother
placed bread and wine in the coach, and oil in a golden
cruse, to soften the bright skins of Nausicaa and her maids
when they came out of the river.

Nausicaa, making her maids get up into the coach with
her, drove the mules, till they brought her to the cisterns
which stood a little on the outside of the town, and were
supplied with water from the river Callirhoe.

There her attendants unyoked the mules, took out the
clothes, and steeped them in the cisterns, Avashing them
in several waters, and afterwards treading them clean
with their feet; venturing wagers who should have done
soonest and cleanest, and using many pretty pastimes to
beguile their labor as young maids use, while the princess
looked on. When they had laid their clothes to dry, they
fell to playing again; and Nausicaa joined them in a game
with the ball, which is used in that country; which is
performed by tossing the ball from hand to hand with
great expedition, she who begins the pastime singing a
song. It chanced that the princess, whose turn it became
to toss the ball, sent it so far from its mark, that it fell
beyond into one of the cisterns of the river; at which the
whole company, in merry consternation, set up a shriek so
loud that it waked the sleeping Ulysses, who was taking
his rest, after his long toils, in the woods, not far distant
from the place where these young maids had come to
wash.

At the sound of female voices, Ulysses crept forth from
his retirement, making himself a covering with boughs
and leaves as well as he could to shroud his nakedness.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 201

The sudden appearance of his weather-beaten and almost
naked form so frightened the maidens that they scudded
away into the woods and all about to hide themselves,
only Athene (who had brought about this interview
to admirable purposes, by seemingly accidental means)
put courage into the breast of Nausicaa, and she stayed
where she was, and resolved to know what manner of man
he was, and what was the occasion of his strange coming
to them.

He, not venturing (for delicacy) to approach and clasp
her knees, as suppliants should, but standing far off,
addressed this speech to the young princess : —

" Before I presume rudely to press my petitions, I should
first ask whether I am addressing a mortal woman, or one
of the goddesses. If a goddess, you seem to me to be lik-
est to Diana, the chaste huntress, the daughter of Jove.
Like hers are your lineaments, your stature, your features,
and air divine."

She making answer that she was no goddess, but a mor-
tal maid, he continued : —

" If a woman, thrice blessed are both the authors of
your birth; thrice blessed are your brothers, who even to
rapture must have joy in your perfections, to see you
grown so like a young tree, and so graceful. But most
blessed of all that breathe is he that has the gift to engage
your young neck in the yoke of marriage. I never saw
that man that was worthy of you. I never saw man or
woman that at all parts equalled you. Lately at Delos
(where I touched) I saw a young palm which grew beside
Apollo's temple ; it exceeded all the trees which ever I be-
held for straightness and beauty : I can compare you only

202 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

to that. A stupor past admiration strikes me, joined with
fear, wliieh keeps me back from approaching you, to em-
brace your knees. Nor is it strange ; for one of freshest
and firmest spirit would falter, approaching near to so
bright an object: but I am one whom a cruel habit of ca-
lamity has prepared to receive strong impressions. Twenty
days the unrelenting seas have tossed me up and down
coming from Ogygia, and at length cast me ship-wrecked
last night upon your coast. I have seen no man or woman
since I landed but yourself. All that I crave is clothes,
which you may spare me, and to be shown the way to
some neighboring town. The gods, who have care of
strangers, will requite you for these courtesies."

She, admiring to hear such complimentary words pro-
ceed out of the mouth of one whose outside looked so
rough and unpromising, made answer : " Stranger, I dis-
cern neither sloth nor folly in you, and yet I see that you
are poor and wretched : from which I gather that neither
wisdom nor industry can secure felicity ; only Jove bestows
it upon whomsoever he pleases. He perhaps has reduced
you to this plight. However, since your wanderings have
brought you so near to our city, it lies in our duty to sup-
ply your wants. Clothes, and what else a human hand
should give to one so suppliant, and so tamed with calam-
ity, you shall not want. We will show you our city and
tell you the name of our people. This is the land of the
Phseacians, of which my father, Alcinous, is king."

Then calling her attendants, who had dispersed on the
first sight of Ulysses, she rebuked them for their fear, and
said : " This man is no Cyclop, nor monster of sea or land,
that you should fear him ; but lie seems manly, staid, and

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 203

discreet, and though decayed in his outward appearance,
yet he has the mind's riches, wit and fortitude, in abun-
dance. Show him the cisterns, where he may wash him
from the sea-weeds and foam that hang about him, and let
him have garments that fit him out of those which we
have brought with us to the cisterns."

Ulysses, retiring a little out of sight, cleansed him in
the cisterns from the soil and impurities with which the
rocks and waves had covered all his body; and, clothing
himself with befitting raiment, which the princess's atten-
dants had given him, he presented himself in more worthy
shape to Nausicaa. She admired to see what a comely per-
sonage he was, now he was dressed in all parts ; she
thought him some king or hero : and secretly wished that
the gods would be pleased to give her such a husband.

Then causing her attendants to yoke her mules, and lay
up the vestments, which the sun's heat had sufficiently
dried, in the coach, she ascended with her maids, and drove
off to the palace ; bidding Ulysses, as she departed, keep
an eye upon the coach, and to follow it on foot at some
distance : which she did, because if she had suffered him to
have ridden in the coach with her, it might have subjected
her to some misconstructions of the common people, who
are always ready to vilify and -censure their betters, and
to suspect that charity is not always pure charity, but that
love or some sinister intention lies hid under its disguise.
So discreet and attentive to appearance in all her actions
was this admirable princess.

Ulysses, as he entered the city, wondered to see its mag-
nificence, its markets, buildings, temples ; its walls and
rampires,1 its trade, and resort of men ; its harbors for

1 rampires, ramparts.

204 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

shipping, which is the strength of the Ph&eacian state.
But when he approached the palace, and beheld its riches,
the proportion of its architecture, its avenues, gardens,
statues, fountains, he stood rapt in admiration, and almost
forgot his own condition in surveying the flourishing es-
tate of others ; but recollecting himself, he passed on boldly
into the inner apartment, where the king and queen were
sitting at dinner with their peers, Nausicaa having pre-
pared them for his approach.

To them humbly kneeling, he made it his request that,
since fortune had cast him naked upon their shores, they
would take him into their protection, and grant him a con-
veyance by one of the ships of which their great Phreacian
state had such good store, to cany him to his own country.
Having delivered his request, to grace it with more humil-
ity he went and sat himself down upon the hearth among
the ashes, as the custom was in those days when any would
make a petition to the throne.

He seemed a petitioner of so great state and of so supe-
rior a deportment that Alcinous himself arose to do him
honor, and causing him to leave that abject station which
lie had assumed, placed him next to his throne, upon a
chair of state, and thus he spake to his peers : —

" Lords and councillors of Phseacia, ye see this man,
who he is we know not, that is come to us in the guise of
a petitioner : he seems no mean one ; but whoever he is,
it is fit, since the gods have cast him upon our protection,
that we grant him the rites of hospitality while he stays
with us; and at his departure a ship well manned to con-
vey so worthy a personage as lie seems to be, in a manner
suitable to his rank, to his own country."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 205

This counsel the peers with one consent approved ; and
wine and meat being set before Ulysses, he ate and drank,
and gave the gods thanks who had stirred up the royal
bounty of Alcinous to aid him in that extremity. But not
as yet did he reveal to the king and queen who he was, or
whence he had come ; only in brief terms he related his
being cast upon their shores, his sleep in the woods, and
his meeting with the princess Nausicaa, whose generosity,
mingled with discretion, filled her parents with delight, as
Ulysses in eloquent phrases adorned and commended her
virtues. But Alcinous, humanely considering that, in con-
sequence of the troubles which his guest had undergone, he
required rest, as well as refreshment by food, dismissed him
early in the evening to his chamber ; where in a magnificent
apartment Ulysses found a smoother bed, but not a sounder
repose, than he had enjoyed the night before, sleeping upon
leaves which he had scraped together in his necessity.

CHAPTER VII.

The Songs of Demodocus. — The Convoy Home. — The Mariners
transformed to stone. the young shepherd.

When it was daylight, Alcinous caused it to be pro-
claimed by the heralds about the town that there was
come to the palace a stranger, shipwrecked on their coast,
that in mien and person resembled a god ; and he invited all
the chief people of the city to come and do honor to the
stranger.

The palace was quickly filled with guests, old and
young, for whose cheer, and to grace Ulysses more, Alcin-

206 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

ous made a kingly feast, with banque tings and music.
Then, Ulysses being seated at a table next the king and
queen, in all men's view, after they had feasted Alcinous
ordered Demodocus, the court-singer, to be called to sing
some song of the deeds of heroes, to charm the ear of his
guest. Demodocus came and reached his harp, where it
hung between two pillars of silver; and then the blind
singer, to whom, in recompense of his lost sight, the Muses
had given an inward discernment, a soul and a voice to
excite the hearts of men and gods to delight, began in
grave and solemn strains to sing the glories of men high-
liest famed. He chose a poem whose subject was the
stern strife stirred up between Ulysses and great Achilles,
as at a banquet sacred to the gods, in dreadful language,
they expressed their difference ; while Agamemnon sat
rejoiced in soul to hear those Grecians jar ; for the oracle
in Pytho had told him that the period 1 of their wars in
Troy should then be, when the kings of Greece, anxious
to arrive at the wished conclusion, should fall to strife, and
contend which must end the war, force or stratagem.

This brave contention he expressed so to the life, in the
very words which they both used in the quarrel, as brought
tears into the eyes of Ulysses at the remembrance of past
passages of his life; and he held his large purple weed2
before his face to conceal it. Then craving a cup of wine,
he poured it out in secret libation to the gods, who had
put into the mind of Demodocus unknowingly to do him
so much honor. But when the moving poet began to tell
of other occurrences where Ulysses had been present, the
memory of his brave followers who had been with him in

1 period, limit, end. 2 weed, cloak.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 207

all difficulties, now swallowed up and lost in the ocean,
and of those kings that had fought with him at Troy, some
of whom were dead, some exiles like himself, forced itself
so strongly upon his mind that, forgetful where he was, he
sobbed outright with passion : which yet he restrained,
but not so cunningly but Alcinous perceived it, and with-
out taking notice of it to Ulysses, privately gave signs
that Demodocus should cease from his singing.

Next followed dancing in the Phseacian fashion, when
they would show respect to their guests ; which was suc-
ceeded by trials of skill, games of strength, running, racing,
hurling of the quoit, mock fights, hurling of the javelin,
shooting with the bow : in some of which Ulysses modestly
challenging his entertainers, performed such feats of
strength and prowess as gave the admiring Phceacians
fresh reason to imagine that he was either some god, or
hero of the race of the gods.

These solemn shows and pageants in honor of his guest
king Alcinous continued for the space of many days, as if
he could never be weary of showing courtesies to so worthy
a stranger. In all this time he never asked him his name,
nor sought to know more of him than he of his own accord
disclosed ; till on a day as they were seated feasting, after
the feast was ended, Demodocus being called, as was the
custom, to sing some grave matter, sang how Ulysses, on
that night when Troy was fired, made dreadful proof of
his valor, maintaining singly a combat against the whole
household of Deiphobus; to which the divine expresser
gave both act and passion, and breathed such a lire into
Ulysses's deeds, that it inspired old death with life in the
lively expressing of slaughters, and rendered life so sweet

208 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

and passionate in the hearers that all who heard felt it fleet
from them in the narration : which made Ulysses even
pity his own slaughterous deeds, and feel touches of re-
morse, to see how song can revive a dead man from the
grave, yet no way can it defend a living man from death;
and in imagination he underwent some part of death's
horrors, and felt in his living body a taste of those dying
pangs which he had dealt to others, that with the strong
conceit, tears (the true interpreters of unutterable emo-
tion) stood in his eyes.

Which king Alcinous noting, and that this was now the
second time that lie had perceived him to be moved at the
mention of events touching the Trojan wars, he took
occasion to ask whether his guest had lost any friend
or kinsman at Troy, that Demodocus's singing had
brought into his mind. Then Ulysses, drying the tears
with his cloak, and observing that the eyes of all the
company were upon him, desirous to give them satisfac-
tion in what he could, and thinking this a fit time to
reveal his true name and destination, spake as follows : —

"The courtesies which ye all have shown me, and
in particular yourself and princely daughter, O king
Alcinous, demand from me that I should no longer keep
you in ignorance of what or who I am ; for to reserve
any secret from you, who have with such openness
of friendship embraced my love, would argue either
a pusillanimous or an ungrateful mind in me. Know,
then, that I am that Ulysses, of whom I perceive ye have
heard something; who heretofore have filled the world
with the renown of my policies. I am he by whose
counsels, if Fame is to be believed at all, more than

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 209

by the united valor of all the Grecians, Troy fell. I am
that unhappy man whom the heavens and angry gods
have conspired to keep an exile on the seas, wandering
to seek my home, which still flies from me. The land
which I am in quest of is Ithaca ; in whose ports some
ship belonging to your navigation-famed Phseacian state
may haply at some time have found a refuge from tem-
pests. If ever you have experienced such kindness,
requite it now, by granting to me, who am the king
of that land, a passport to that land."

Admiration seized all the court of Alcinous to behold
in their presence one of the number of those heroes who
fought at Troy, whose divine story had been made known
to them by songs and poems, but of the truth they had
little known, or rather they had hitherto accounted those
heroic exploits as fictions and exaggerations of poets ;
but having seen and made proof of the real Ulysses, they
began to take those supposed inventions to be real
verities, and the tale of Troy to be as true as it was
delightful.

Then king Alcinous made answer : " Thrice fortunate
ought we to esteem our lot in having seen and conversed
with a man of whom report hath spoken so loudly, but,
as it seems, nothing beyond the truth. Though we could
desire no felicity greater than to have you always among
us, renowned Ulysses, yet your desire having been
expressed so often and so deeply to return home, we
can deny you nothing, though to our own loss. Our
kingdom of Phseacia, as you know, is chiefly rich in
shipping. In all parts of the world, where there are
navigable seas, or ships can pass, our vessels will be

210 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

found. You cannot name a coast to which they do not
resort. Every rock and every quicksand is known to
them that lurks in the vast deep. They pass a bird in
flight; and with such unerring certainty they make to
their destination that some have said that they have
no need of pilot or rudder, but that they move instinc-
tively, self-directed, and know the minds of their
voyagers. Thus much, that you may not fear to trust
yourself in one of our Phseacian ships. To-morrow, if
you please, you shall launch forth. To-day spend with
us in feasting, who never can do enough when the gods
send such visitors."

Ulysses acknowledged king Alcinous's bounty; and
while these two royal personages stood interchanging
courteous expressions, the heart of the princess Nausicaa
was overcome : she had been gazing attentively upon
her father's guest as he delivered his speech ; but when
he came to that part where he declared himself to be
Ulysses, she blessed herself and her fortune that in
relieving a poor shipwrecked mariner, as he seemed no
better, she had conferred a kindness on so divine a hero
as he proved ; and scarce waiting till her father had done
speaking, with a cheerful countenance she addressed
Ulysses, bidding him be cheerful, and when he returned
home, as by her father's means she trusted he would
shortly, sometimes to remember to whom he owed his
life, and who met him in the woods by the river
Callirhoe.

" Fair flower of Phaaacia," he replied, " so may all the
gods bless me with the strife of joys in that desired day,
whenever I shall see it, as I shall always acknowledge

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 211

to be indebted to your fair hand for the gift of life which
I enjoy, and all the blessings which shall follow upon
my home-return. The gods give thee, Nausicaa, a princely
husband ; and from you two spring blessings to this state."
So prayed Ulysses, his heart overflowing with admiration
and grateful recollections of king Alcinous's daughter.

Then at the king's request he gave them a brief relation
of all the adventures that had befallen him since he
launched forth from Troy ; during which the princess
Nausicaa took great delight (as ladies are commonly
taken with these kind of travellers' stories) to hear of
the monster Polyphemus, of the men that devour each
other in Lsestiygonia, of the enchantress Circe, of Scylla,
and the rest; to which she listened with a breathless
attention, letting fall a shower of tears from her fair eyes
every now and then, when Ulysses told of some more
than usual distressful passage in his travels ; and all the
rest of his auditors, if they had before entertained a high
respect for their guest, now felt their veneration increased
tenfold, when they learned from his own mouth what
perils, what sufferance, what endurance, of evils beyond
man's strength to support, this much-sustaining, almost
heavenly man, by the greatness of his mind and by his
invincible courage, had struggled through.

The night was far spent before Ulysses had ended his
narrative, and with wishful glances he cast his eyes
towards the eastern parts, which the sun had begun to
flecker with his first red ; for on the morrow Alcinous
had promised that a bark should be in readiness to convoy
him to Ithaca.

In the morning a vessel well manned and appointed was

212 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

waiting for him ; into which the king and queen heaped
presents of gold and silver, massy plate, apparel, armor,
and whatsoever things of cost or rarity they judged woidd
he most acceptable to their guest ; and the sails being set,
Ulysses, embarking with expressions of regret, took his
leave of his royal entertainers, of the fair princess (who
had been his first friend), and of the peers of Phaeacia ;
who, crowding down to the beach to have the last sight
of their illustrious visitant, beheld the gallant ship with
all her canvas spread, bounding and curvetting over the
waves, like a horse proud of his rider, or as if she knew
that in her rich freightage she bore Ulysses.

He whose life past had been a series of disquiets, in
seas among rude waves, in battles amongst ruder foes,
now slept securely, forgetting all; his eyelids bound in
such deep sleep as only yielded to death ; and when they
reached the nearest Ithacan port by the next morning, he
was still asleep. The mariners, not willing to awake him,
landed him softly, and laid him in a cave a^ the foot of
an olive tree, which made a shady recess in that narrow
harbor, the haunt of almost none but the sea-nymphs,
which are called Naiads ; few ships before this Phseacian
vessel having put into that haven, by reason of the diffi-
culty and narrowness of the entrance. Here leaving him
asleep, and disposing in safe places near him the presents
with which king Alcinous had dismissed him, they de-
parted for Plneacia, where these wretched mariners never
again set foot ; but just as they arrived, and thought to
salute their country earth, in sight of their city's turrets,
and in open view of their friends who from the harbor
with shouts greeted their return, their vessel and all the

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 213

mariners which were in her were turned to stone, and
stood transformed and fixed in sight of the whole Phsea-
cian city, where it yet stands, by Neptune's vindictive
wrath ; who resented thus highly the contempt which
those Phseacians had shown in convoying home a man
whom the £<xl had destined to destruction. Whence it
comes to pass that the Phseacians at this day will at no
price be induced to lend their ships to strangers, or to
become the carriers for other nations, so highly do they
still dread the displeasure of the sea-god, while they see
that terrible monument ever in sight.

When Ulysses awoke, which was not till some time
after the mariners had departed, he did not at first know
his country again, either that long absence had made it
strange, or that Athene (which was more likely) had
cast a cloud about his eyes, that he should have greater
pleasure hereafter in discovering his mistake ; but like a
man suddenly awaking in some desert isle, to which his
sea-mates have transported him in his sleep, he looked
around, and discerning no known objects, he cast his
hands to heaven for pity, and complained on those ruthless
men who had beguiled him with a promise of conveying him
home to his country, and perfidiously left him to perish in
an unknown land. But then the rich presents of gold and
silver given him by Alcinous, which he saw carefully
laid up in secure places near him, staggered him : which
seemed not like the act of wrongful or unjust men, such
as turn pirates for gain, or land helpless passengers in
remote coasts to possess themselves of their goods.

While he remained in this suspense, there came up to
him a young shepherd, clad in the finer sort of apparel,

214 THE ADVENTURES OE ULYSSES.

such as kings' sons wore in those days when princes did
not disdain to tend sheep; who, accosting him, was saluted
again by Ulysses, who asked him what country that was
on which he had been just landed, and whether it were
part of a continent, or an island. The young shepherd
made show of wonder to hear any one ask the name of
that land ; as country people are apt to esteem those for
mainly ignorant and barbarous who do not know the
names of places which are familiar to them, though per-
haps they who ask have had no opportunities of knowing,
and may have come from far countries.

" I had thought," said he, " that all people knew our
land. It is rocky and barren, to be sure ; but well enough :
it feeds a goat or an ox well ; it is not wanting either in
wine or in wheat ; it has good springs of water, some fair
rivers ; and wood enough, as you may see : it is called
Ithaca."

Ulysses was joyed enough to find himself in his own
country ; but so prudently he carried his joy, that, dis-
sembling his true name and quality, he pretended to the
shepherd that he was only some foreigner who by stress
of weather had put into that port ; and framed on the
sudden a story to make it plausible, how he had come
from Crete in a ship of Phseacia ; when the young shep-
herd, laughing, and taking Ulysses's hand in both his,
said to him : uHe must be cunning, I find, who thinks to
overreach you. What, cannot you quit your wiles and
your subtleties, now that you arc in a state of security ?
must the first word with which you salute your native earth
be an untruth? and think you that you are unknown?'

Ulysses looked again ; and he saw, not a shepherd, but

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 215

a beautiful woman, whom he immediately knew to be the
goddess Athene, that in the wars of Troy had frequently
vouchsafed her sight to him ; and had been with him since
in perils, saving him unseen.

" Let not my ignorance offend thee, great Athene," he
cried, " or move thy displeasure, that in that shape I knew
thee not; since the skill of discerning deities is not
attainable by wit or study, but hard to be hit by the
wisest of mortals. To know thee truly through all thy
changes is only given to those whom thou art pleased to
orace. To all men thou takest all likenesses. All men
in their wits think that they know thee, and that they
have thee. Thou art Wisdom itself. But a semblance of
thee, which is false wisdom, often is taken for thee ; so
thy counterfeit view appears to many, but thy true pres-
ence to few : those are they which, loving thee above all,
are inspired with light from thee to know thee. But this
I surely know, that all the time the sons of Greece waged
war against Troy, I was sundry times graced with thy
appearance ; but since, I have never been able to set eyes
upon thee till now ; but have wandered at my own dis-
cretion, to myself a blind guide, erring up and down the
world, wanting thee."

Then Athene cleared his eyes, and he knew the ground
on which he stood to be Ithaca, and that cave to be the
same which the people of Ithaca had in former times made
sacred to the sea-nymphs, and where he himself had done
sacrifices to them a thousand times ; and full in his view
stood Mount Nerytus with all his woods : so that now he
knew for a certainty that he was arrived in his own
country; and with the delight which he felt, he could not
forbear stooping down and kissing the soil.

216 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

CHAPTER VIII.

The Change from a King to a Beggar. — Eum.hus and the Herds-
men. — Telemachus.

Not long did Athene suffer him to indulge vain trans-
ports ; but briefly recounting to him the events which had
taken place in Ithaca during his absence, she showed him
that his way to his wrife and throne did not lie so open,
but that before he were reinstated in the secure possession
of them lie must encounter many difficulties. His palace,
wanting its king, was become the resort of insolent and im-
perious men, the chief nobility of Ithaca and of the neigh-
boring isles, who, in the confidence of Ulysses being dead,
came as suitors to Penelope. The queen (it was true)
continued single, but was little better than a state-prisoner
in the power of these men, who, under a pretence of wait-
ing her decision, occupied the king's house rather as
owners than guests, lording and domineering at their
pleasure, profaning the palace and wasting the royal sub-
stance with their feasts and mad riots. Moreover, the
goddess told him how, fearing the attempts of these law-
less men upon the person of his young son Telemachus,
she herself had put it into the heart of the prince to go
and seek his father in far countries ; how in the shape of
Mentor she had borne him company in his long search ;
which, though failing, as she meant it should fail, in its
first object, had yet had this effect, that through hardships
he had learned endurance, through experience he had
gathered wisdom, and wherever his footsteps had been he
had left such memorials of his worth, that the fame of Ulys-

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 217

ses's son was already blown throughout the world; that
it was now not many days since Telemachus had arrived
in the island, to the great joy of the queen his mother, who
had thought him dead, by reason of his long absence, and
had begun to mourn for him with a grief equal to that
which she endured for Ulysses : the goddess herself having
so ordered the course of his adventures that the time of
his return should correspond with the return of Ulysses,
that they might together concert measures how to repress
the power and insolence of those wicked suitors. This
the goddess told him ; but of the particulars of his son's
adventures, of his having been detained in the Delightful
Island, which his father had so lately left, of Calypso and
her nymphs, and the many strange occurrences which may
be read with profit and delight in the history of the
prince's adventures, she forbore to tell him as yet, judg-
ing that he would hear them with greater pleasure from
the lips of his son, when he should have him in an hour
of stillness and safety, when their work should be done,
and none of their enemies left alive to trouble them.

Then they sat down, the goddess and Ulysses, at the
foot of a wild olive-tree, consulting how they might with
safety bring about his restoration. And when Ulysses re-
volved in his mind how that his enemies were a multitude,
and he single, he began to despond, and he said, " I shall die
an ill death like Agamemnon ; in the threshold of my own
house I shall perish, like that unfortunate monarch, slain
by some one of my wife's suitors." But then again call-
ing to mind his ancient courage, he secretly wished that
Athene would but breathe such a spirit into his bosom as
she had inflamed him with in the hour of Troy's destruc-

218 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

tion, that he might encounter with three hundred of those
impudent suitors at once, and strew the pavements of his
beautiful palace with their bodies.

And Athene knew his thoughts, and she said, " I will be
strongly with thee, if thou fail not to do thy part. And
for a sign between us that I will perform my promise, and
for a token on thy part of obedience, I must change thee,
that thy person may not be known of men."

Then Ulysses bowed his head to receive the divine
impression, and Athene by her great power changed his
person so that it might not be known. She changed him
to appearance into a very old man, yet such a one as by
his limbs and gait seemed to have been some considerable
person in his time, and to retain yet some remains of his
once prodigious strength. Also, instead of those rich
robes in which king Alcinous had clothed him, she threw
over his limbs such old and tattered rags as wandering
beggars usually wear. A staff supported his steps, and a
scrip hung to his back, such as travelling mendicants use
to hold the scraps which are given to them at rich men's
doors. So from a king he became a beggar, as wise
Tiresias had predicted to him in the shades.

To complete his humiliation, and to prove his obedience
by suffering, she next directed him in this beggarly attire
to go and present himself to his old herdsman, Eumams,
who had the care of his swine and his cattle, and had been
a faithful steward to him all the time of his absence.
Then strictly charging Ulysses that he should reveal him-
self to no man but to his own son, whom she would send
to him when she saw occasion, the goddess went her way.

The transformed Ulysses bent his course to the cottage

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 219

of the herdsman; and, entering in at the front court,
the dogs, of which Eumseus kept many fierce ones for the
protection of the cattle, flew with open mouths upon him,
as those ignoble animals have of ten-times an antipathy
to the sight of anything like a beggar, and would have
rent him in pieces with their teeth, if Ulysses had not
had the prudence to let fall his staff, which had chiefly
provoked their fury, and sat himself down in a careless
fashion upon the ground; but for all that some serious
hurt had certainly been done to him, so raging the dogs
were, had not the herdsman, whom the barking of the
dogs had fetched out of the house, with shouting and with
throwing of stones repressed them.

He said, when he saw Ulysses, " Old father, how near
you were to being torn in pieces by these rude dogs !
I should never have forgiven myself, if through neglect of
mine any hurt had happened to you. But heaven has
given me so many cares to my portion that I might well
be excused for not attending to everything : while here
I lie grieving and mourning for the absence of that
majesty which once ruled here, and am forced to fatten
his swine and his cattle for food to evil men, who hate
him and who wish his death ; when he perhaps strays up
and down the world, and has not wherewith to appease
hunger, if indeed he yet lives (which is a question) and
enjoys the cheerful light of the sun." This he said, little
thinking that he of whom he spoke now stood before him,
and that in that uncouth disguise and beggarly obscurity
was present the hidden majesty of Ulysses.

Then he had his guest into the house, and set meat
and drink before him ; and Ulysses said, " May Jove and

220 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

all the other gods requite you for the kind speeches and
hospitable usage which you have shown me ! '

Eumseus made answer, " My poor guest, if one in much
worse plight than yourself had arrived here, it were a
shame to such scanty means as I have, if I had let him
depart without entertaining him to the best of my ability.
Poor men, and such as have no houses of their own,
are by Jove himself recommended to our care. But
the cheer which we that are servants to other men have
to bestow is but sorry at most, yet freely and lovingly
I give it you. Indeed, there once ruled here a man,
whose return the gods have set their faces against, who,
if he had been suffered to reign in peace and grow old
among us, would have been kind to me and mine. But
he is gone ; and for his sake would to God that the whole
posterity of Helen might perish with her, since in her
quarrel so many worthies have perished! But such as
your fare is, eat it, and be welcome — such lean beasts
as are food for poor herdsmen. The fattest go to feed
the voracious stomachs of the queen's suitors. Shame on
their un worthiness ! There is no day in which two or
three of the noblest of the herd are not slain to support
their feasts and their surfeits."

Ulysses gave good ear to his words ; and as he ate
his meat, he even tore it and rent it with his teeth, for
mere vexation that his fat cattle should be slain to glut
the appetites of those godless suitors. And he said,
" What chief or what ruler is this that thou commendesl
so highly, and sayest that he perished at Troy? I am
but a stranger in these parts. It may be I have heard of
some such in my long travels."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 221

Eumseus answered, " Old father, never any one of
all the strangers that have come to our coast with news
of Ulysses being alive could gain credit with the queen
or her son yet. These travellers, to get raiment or a
meal, will not stick to invent any lie. Truth is not the
commodity they deal in. Never did the queen get any-
thing of them but lies. She receives all that come
graciously, hears their stories, inquires all she can, but
all ends in tears and dissatisfaction. But in God's name,
old father, if you have got a tale, make the most on't,
it may gain you a cloak or a coat from somebody to keep
you warm ; but for him who is the subject of it, dogs
and vultures long since have torn him limb from limb,
or some great fish at sea has devoured him, or he lieth
with no better monument upon his bones than the sea-
sand. But for me past all the race of men were tears
created ; for I never shall find so kind a royal master
more ; not if my father or my mother could come again
and visit me from the tomb, would my eyes be so blessed,
as they should be with the sight of him again, coming
as from the dead. In his last rest my soul shall love
him. He is not here, nor do I name him as a flatterer,
but because I am thankful for his love and care which
he had to me a poor man ; ancl^ if I knew surely that
he were past all shores that the sun shines upon, I would
invoke him as a deified thing."

For this saying of Eumseus the waters stood in Ulysses's
eyes, and he said, " My friend, to say and to affirm posi-
tively that he cannot be alive is to give too much license
to incredulity. For, not to speak at random, but with as
much solemnity as an oath comes to, I say to you that

222 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

Ulysses shall return ; and whenever that day shall be,
then shall you give to me a cloak and a coat ; but till
then, I will not receive so much as a thread of a garment,
but rather go naked ; for no less than the gates of hell do
I hate that man whom poverty can force to tell an un-
truth. Be Jove then witness to my words, that this veiy
year, nay, ere this month be fully ended, your eyes shall
behold Ulysses, dealing vengeance in his own palace upon
the wrongers of his wife and his son."

To give the better credence to his words, he amused
Eumseus with a forged story of his life ; feigning of him-
self that he was a Cretan born, and one that went with
Idomeneus to the wars of Troy. Also he said that he
knew Ulysses, and related various passages which he
alleged to have happened betwixt Ulysses and himself;
which were either true in the main, as having really hap-
pened between Ulysses and some other person, or were so
like to truth, as corresponding with the known character
and actions of Ulysses, that Eumreus's incredulity was not
a little shaken. Among other things, he asserted that he
had lately been entertained in the court of Thesprotia,
where the king's son of the country had told him that
Ulysses had been there but just before him, and was gone
upon a voyage to the oracle of Jove in Doclona, whence he
should shortly return, and a ship would be ready by the
bounty of the Thesprotians to convoy him straight to
Ithaca. " And in token that what I tell you is true," said
Ulysses, " if your king come not within the period which I
have named, you shall have leave to give your servants
commandment to take my old carcass, and throw it head-
long from some steep rock into the sea, that poor men,

THE HEAET OF OAK BOOKS. 223

taking example by me, may fear to lie." But Eumaeus
made answer that that should be small satisfaction or
pleasure to him.

So while they sat discoursing in this manner, supper
was served in, and the servants of the herdsman, who had
been out all day in the fields, came in to supper, and took
their seats at the fire, for the night was bitter and frosty.
After supper, Ulysses, who had well eaten and drunken,
and was refreshed with the herdsman's good cheer, was
resolved to try whether his host's hospitality would extend
to the lending him a good warm mantle or rug to cover
him in the night season ; and framing an artful tale for
the purpose, in a merry mood, filling a cup of Greek wine,
he thus began :

" I will tell you a story of your king Ulysses and my-
self. If there is ever a time when a man may have leave
to tell his own stories, it is when he has drunken too
much. Strong liquor driveth the fool, and moves even
the heart of the wise, moves and impels him to sing and
to dance, and break forth in pleasant laughters, and per-
chance to prefer a speech too which were better kept in.
When the heart is open, the tongue will be stirring. But
you shall hear. We led our powers to ambush once under
the walls of Troy."

The herdsmen crowded about him eager to hear any-
thing which related to their king Ulysses and the wars of
Troy, and thus he went on :

" I remember, Ulysses and Menelaus had the direction
of that enterprise, and they were pleased to join me with
them in the command. I was at that time in some repute
among men, though fortune has played me a trick since,

2*24 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

as you may perceive. But I was somebody in those times,
and could do something. Be that as it may, a bitter freez-
ing night it was, such a night as this; the air cut like steel,
and the sleet gathered on our shields like crystal. There
were some twenty of us, that lay close crouched down
among the reeds and bulrushes that grew in the moat
that goes round the city. The rest of us made tolerable
shift, for every man had been careful to bring with him a
good cloak or mantle to wrap over his armor and keep
himself warm ; but I, as it chanced, had left my cloak
behind me, as not expecting that the night would prove
so cold; or rather I believe because I had at that time a
brave suit of new armor on, which, being a soldier, and
having some of the soldier's vice about me — vanity — I
was not willing should be hidden under a cloak ; but I
paid for my indiscretion with my sufferings, for with the
inclement night, and the wet of the ditch in which Ave lay,
I was well-nigh frozen to death ; and when I could endure
no longer, I jogged Ulysses who was next to me, and had
a nimble ear, and made known my case to him, assuring
him that I must inevitably perish. He answered in a low
whisper, ' Hush, lest any Greek should hear you, and take
notice of your softness.' Not a word more he said, but
showed as if he had no pity for the plight I was in. But
he was as considerate as he was brave ; and even then, as
he lay with his head reposing upon his hand, he was medi-
tating how to relieve me, without exposing my weakness
to the soldiers. At last, raising up his head, he made as if
he had been asleep, and said, 4 Friends, I have been warned
in a dream to send to the lleet to king Agamemnon for a
supply, to recruit our numbers, for we are not sufficient

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 225

for this enterprise ' ; and they believing him, one Thoas was
despatched on that errand, who departing, for more speed,
as Ulysses had foreseen, left his upper garment behind
him, a good warm mantle, to which I succeeded, and by
the help of it got through the night with credit. This
shift Ulysses made for one in need, and would to heaven
that I had now that strength in my limbs which made
me in those days to be accounted fit to be a leader under
Ulysses ! I should not then want the loan of a cloak or
a mantle, to wrap about me and shield my old limbs from
the night air."

The tale pleased the herdsmen ; and Eumseus, who
more than all the rest was gratified to hear tales of
Ulysses, true or false, said that for his story he deserved
a mantle, and a night's lodging, which he should have ;
and he spread for him a bed of goat and sheep skins by
the fire ; and the seeming beggar, who was indeed the
true Ulysses, lay down and slept under that poor roof,
in that abject disguise to which the will of Athene had
subjected him.

When morning was come, Ulysses made offer to depart,
as if he were not willing to burden his host's hospitality
any longer, but said that he would go and try the human-
ity of the townsfolk, if any there would bestow upon him
a bit of bread or a cup of drink. Perhaps the queen's
suitors, he said, out of their full feasts, would bestow
a scrap on him ; for he could wait at table, if need were,
and play the nimble serving-man ; he could fetch wood, he
said, or build a fire, prepare roast meat or boiled, mix the
wine with water, or do any of those offices which recom-
mended poor men like him to services in great men's houses.

226 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

" Alas ! poor guest," said Eumasus, " you know not
what you speak. What should so poor and old a man
as you do at the suitors' tables ? Their light minds are
not given to such grave servitors. They must have
youths, richly tricked out in flowing vests, with curled
hair, like so many of Jove's cup-bearers, to fill out the
wine to them as they sit at table, and to shift their
trenchers. Their gorged insolence would but despise
and make a mock at thy age. Stay here. Perhaps the
queen, or Telemachus, hearing of thy arrival, may send
to thee of their bounty."

As he spake these words, the steps of one crossing the
front court were heard, and a noise of the dogs fawning
and leaping about as for joy; by which token Eunneus
guessed that it was the prince, who, hearing of a traveller
being arrived at Eumseus's cottage that brought tidings
of his father, was come to search the truth ; and Eumseus
said, "It is the tread of Telemachus, the son of king
Ulysses." Before he could well speak the words, the
prince was at the door, whom Ulysses rising to receive,
Telemachus would not suffer that so aged a man, as he
appeared, should rise to do respect to him, but he cour-
teously and reverently took him by the hand, and inclined
his head to him, as if he had surely known that it was his
father indeed; but Ulysses covered his eyes with his
hands, that he might not show the waters which stood in
them. And Telemachus said, " Is this the man who can
tell us tidings of the king my father?"

" He brags himself to be a Cretan born," said Eumseus,
" and that he has been a soldier and a traveller, but whether
he speak the truth or not he alone can tell. But what-

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 227

soever he lias been, what he is now is apparent. Such as
he appears, I give him to you ; do what you will with
him ; his boast at present is that he is at the very best a
supplicant."

" Be he what he may," said Telemachus, " I accept him
at your hands. But where I should bestow him I know
not, seeing that in the palace his age would not exempt him
from the scorn and contempt which my mother's suitors in
their light minds would be sure to fling upon him : a mercy
if he escaped without blows ; for they are a company of
evil men, whose profession is wrongs and violence."

Ulysses answered : " Since it is free for any man to
speak in presence of your greatness, I must say that my
heart puts on a wolfish inclination to tear and to devour,
hearing your speech, that these suitors should with such
injustice rage, where you should have the rule solely.
What should the cause be ? Do you wilfully give way to
their ill manners ? Or has your government been such as
has procured ill-will towards you from your people ? Or
do you mistrust your kinsfolk and friends in such sort, as,
without trial, to decline their aid ? A man's kindred are
they that he might trust to when extremities run high."

Telemachus replied, " The kindred of Ulysses are few.
I have no brothers to assist me in the strife; but the
suitors are powerful in kindred and friends. The house
of old Arcesius has had this fate from the heavens, that
from old it still has been supplied with single heirs. To
Arcesius, Laertes only was born; from Laertes descended
only Ulysses ; from Ulysses I alone have sprung, whom he
left so young that from me never comfort arose to him.
But the end of all rests in the hands of the gods."

228 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

Then Eumseus departing to see to some necessary busi-
ness of his herds, Athene took a woman's shape, and
stood in the entry of the door, and was seen to Ulysses,
but by his son she was not seen, for the presences of the
gods are invisible save to those to whom they will to
reveal themselves. Nevertheless, the dogs which were
about the door saw the goddess, and durst not bark, but
went crouching and licking of the dust for fear. And
giving signs to Ulysses that the time was now come in
which he should make himself known to his son, by her
great power she changed back his shape into the same
which it was before she transformed him ; and Telemachus,
who saw the change, but nothing of the manner by which
it was effected, only he saw the appearance of a king in
the vigor of his age where but just now he had seen a
worn and decrepit beggar, was struck with fear, and said,
" Some god has done this house this honor," and he turned
away his eyes, and would have worshipped. But his
father permitted not, but said, "Look better at me. I am
no deity, why put you upon me the reputation of godhead ?
I am no more but thy father : I am even he. I am that
Ulysses by reason of whose absence tlry youth has been
exposed to such wrongs from injurious men/' Then
kissed he his son, nor could any longer refrain those tears
which he had held under such mighty restraint before,
though they would ever be forcing themselves out in spite
of him ; but now, as if their sluices had burst, they came
out like rivers, pouring upon the warm cheeks of his son.
Nor yet by all these violent arguments could Telemachus
be persuaded to believe that it was his father, but he said
some deity had taken that shape to mock him ; for lie

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 229

affirmed that it was not in the power of any man, who is
sustained by mortal food, to change his shape so in a
moment from age to youth : « for but now," said he, " you
were all wrinkles, and were old, and now you look as the
gods are pictured."

His father replied : " Admire, but fear not, and know
me to be at all parts substantially thy father, who in the
inner powers of his mind, and the unseen workings of a
father's love to thee, answers to his outward shape and
pretence ! There shall no more Ulysseses come here. I
am he that after twenty years' absence, and suffering a
world of ill, have recovered at last the sight of my country
earth. It was the will of Athene that I should be
changed as you saw me. She put me thus together; she
puts together or takes to pieces whom she pleases. It is
in the law of her free power to do it : sometimes to show
her favorites under a cloud, and poor, and again to restore
to them their ornaments. The gods raise and throw down
men with ease."

Then Telemachus could hold out no longer, but he gave
way now to a full belief and persuasion of that which for
joy at first he could not credit, that it was indeed his true
and very father that stood before him ; and they embraced,
and mingled their tears.

Then said Ulysses, " Tell me who these suitors are, what
are their numbers, and how stands the queen thy mother
affected to them ? "

" She bears them still in expectation," said Telemachus,
" which she never means to fulfil, that she will accept the
hand of some one of them in second nuptials ; for she
fears to displease them by an absolute refusal. So from

230 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

day to day she lingers them on with hope, which they are
content to bear the deferring of, while they have entertain-
ment at free cost in our palace."

Then said Ulysses, " Reckon up their numbers that we
may know their strength and ours, if we having none but
ourselves may hope to prevail against them."

" O father," he replied, " I have oft-times heard of your
fame for wisdom, and of the great strength of your arm,
but the venturous mind which your speeches now indicate
moves me even to amazement: for in nowise can it consist
with wisdom or a sound mind that two should try their
strengths against a host. Nor five, or ten, or twice ten
strong are these suitors, but many more by much : from
Dulichium came there fifty and two, they and their ser-
vants ; twice twelve crossed the seas hither from Samos ;
from Zacynthus twice ten ; of our native Ithacans, men of
chief note, are twelve who aspire to the crown of Penel-
ope ; and all these under one strong roof — a fearful odds
against two ! My father, there is need of caution, lest the
cup which your great mind so thirsts to taste of vengeance
prove bitter to yourself in the drinking. And therefore it
were well that we should bethink us of some one who
might assist us in this undertaking."

"Thinkest thou," said his father, "if we had Athene
and the king of skies to be our friends, would their suffi-
ciencies make strong our part; or must we look out for
some further aid yet ? "

" They you speak of are above the clouds," said Telem-
achus, "and are sound aids indeed; as powers that not
only exceed human, but bear the chiefest sway among the
gods themselves."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 231

Then Ulysses gave directions to his son to go and
mingle with the suitors, and in nowise to impart his secret
to any, not even to the queen his mother, but to hold him-
self in readiness, and to have his weapons and his good
armor in preparation. And he charged him that when he
himself should come to the palace, as he meant to follow
shortly after, and present himself in his beggar's likeness
to the suitors, that whatever he should see which might
grieve his heart, with what foul usage and contumelious
language soever the suitors should receive his father, com-
ing in that shape, though they should strike and drag him
by the heels along the floors, that he should not stir nor
make offer to oppose them, further than by mild words to
expostulate with them, until Athene from heaven should
give the sign which should be the prelude to their destruc-
tion. And Telemachus, promising to obey his instructions,
departed ; and the shape of Ulysses fell to what it had
been before, and he became to all outward appearance a
beggar, in base and beggarly attire.

CHAPTER IX.

The Queen's Suitors. — The Battle of the Beggars. — The Armor
taken down. tlie meeting avith penelope.

From the house of EumaBus the seeming beggar took
his way, leaning on his staff, till he reached the palace,
entering in at the hall where the suitors sat at meat. They
in the pride of their feasting began to break their jests in
mirthful manner, when they saw one looking so poor and
so aged approach. He, who expected no better entertain-

232 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

ment, was nothing moved at their behavior; but, as became
the character which he had assumed, in a suppliant posture
crept b}r turns to every suitor, and held out his hands for
some charity, with such a natural and beggar-resembling'
grace that he might seem to have practised begging all his
life ; yet there was a sort of dignity in his most abject
stoopings, that whoever had seen him would have said, " If
it had pleased heaven that this poor man had been born a
king, he would gracefully have filled a throne." And some
pitied him, and some gave him alms, as their present
humors inclined them : but the greater part reviled him,
and bade him begone, as one that spoiled their feast; for
the presence of misery lias this power with it, that, while
it stays, it can dash and overturn the mirth even of those
who feel no pity or wish to relieve it : Nature bearing this
witness of herself in the hearts of the most obdurate.

Now Telemachus sat at meat with the suitors, and knew
that it was the king his father who in that shape begged
an alms ; and when his father came and presented himself
before him in turn, as he had done to the suitors one by
one, lie gave him of his own meat which he had in his
dish, and of his own cup to drink. And the suitors were
past measure offended to see a pitiful beggar, as they
esteemed him, to be so choicely regarded by the prince.

Then Antinous, who was a great lord, and of chief note
among the suitors, said, " Prince Telemachus does ill to
encourage these wandering beggars, who go from place to
place, affirming that they have been some considerable
persons in their time, filling the ears of such as hearken
to them with lies, and pressing with their bold feet into
kings' palaces. This is some saucy vagabond, some trav-
elling Egyptian."

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 233

" I see," said Ulysses, " that a poor man should get but
little at your board ; scarce should he get salt from your
hands, if he brought his own meat."

Lord Antinous, indignant to be answered with such
sharpness by a supposed beggar, snatched up a stool, with
which he smote Ulysses where the neck and shoulders join.
This usage moved not Ulysses ; but in his great heart he
meditated deep evils to come upon them all, which for a
time must be kept close, and he went and sat himself down
in the doorway to eat of that which was given him ; and
he said, " For life or possessions a man will fight, but for
his belly this man smites. If a poor man has any god to
take his part, my lord Antinous shall not live to be the
queen's husband."

Then Antinous raged highly, and threatened to drag
him by the heels, and to rend his rags about his ears, if he
spoke another word.

But the other suitors did in nowise approve of the harsh
language, nor of the blow which Antinous had dealt ; and
some of them said, " Who knows but one of the deities
goes about hid under that poor disguise ? for in the like-
ness of poor pilgrims the gods have many times descended
to try the dispositions of men, whether they be humane or
impious." While these things passed, Telemachus sat and
observed all, but held his peace, remembering the instruc-
tions of his father. But secretly he waited for the sign
which Athene was to send from heaven.

That day there followed Ulysses to the court one of the
common sort of beggars, Irus by name, one that had re-
ceived alms beforetime of the suitors, and was their ordi-
nary sport, when they were inclined, as that day, to give

234 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

way to mirth, to see him eat and drink ; for he had the
appetite of six men, and was of huge stature and propor-
tions of body ; yet had in him no spirit nor courage of a
man. This man, thinking to curry favor with the suitors,
and recommend himself especially to such a great lord as
Antinous was, began to revile and scorn Ulysses, putting
foul language upon him, and fairly challenging him to
fight with the fist. But Ulysses, deeming his railings to
be nothing more than jealousy and that envious disposition
which beggars commonly manifest to brothers in their
trade, mildly besought him not to trouble him, but to en-
joy that portion which the liberality of their entertainers
gave him, as he did quietly ; seeing that, of their bounty,
there was sufficient for all.

But Irus, thinking that this forbearance in Ulysses was
nothing more than a sign of fear, so much the more highly
stormed, and bellowed, and provoked him to fight ; and by
this time the quarrel had attracted the notice of the
suitors, who with loud laughters and shouting egged on
the dispute ; and lord Antinous swore by all the gods it
should be a battle, and that in that hall the strife should
be determined. To this the rest of the suitors with violent
clamors acceded, and a circle was made for the comba-
tants, and a fat goat was proposed as the victor's prize, as
at the Olvmpic or the Pythian games. Then Ulysses, see-
ing no remedy, or being not unwilling that the suitors
should behold some proof of that strength which ere long
in their own persons they were to taste of, stripped him-
self, and prepared for the combat. But first he demanded
that he should have fair play shown him; that none in that
assembly should aid his opponent, or take part against

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 235

him, for, being an old man, they might easily crush him
with their strengths. And Telemachus passed his word
that no foul play should be shown him, but that each party
should be left to their own unassisted strengths, and to
this he made Antinous and the rest of the suitors swear.

But when Ulysses had laid aside his garments, and was
bare to the waist, all the beholders admired at the goodly
sight of his large shoulders, being of such exquisite shape
and whiteness, and at his great and brawny bosom, and
the youthful strength which seemed to remain in a man
thought so old ; and they said, " What limbs and what
sinews he has ! " and coward fear seized on the mind of that
vast beggar Irus, and he dropped his threats, and his big
words, and would have fled, but lord Antinous stayed him,
and threatened him that if he declined the combat, he
would put him in a ship, and land him on the shores where
king Echetus reigned, the roughest tyrant which at that
time the world contained, and who had that antipathy to
rascal beggars, such as he, that when any landed on his
coast he would crop their ears and noses and give them to
the dogs to tear. So Irus, in whom fear of king Echetus
prevailed above the fear of Ulysses, addressed himself to the
fight. But Ulysses, provoked to be engaged in so odious
a strife with a fellow of his base conditions, and loathing
longer to be made a spectacle to entertain the eyes of his
foes, with one blow, which he struck him beneath the ear,
so shattered the teeth and jawbone of this soon baffled
coward that he laid him sprawling in the dust, with small
stomach or ability to renew the contest. Then raising
him on his feet, he led him bleeding and sputtering to the
door, and put his staff into his hand, and bade him go use

236 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

his command upon clogs and swine, but not presume himself
to be lord of the guests another time, nor of the beggary !

The suitors applauded in their vain minds the issue of
the contest, and rioted in mirth at the expense of poor
Irus, who they vowed should be forthwith embarked, and
sent to king Echetus ; and they bestowed thanks on
Ulysses for ridding the court of that unsavory morsel, as
they called him ; but in their inward souls they would not
have cared if Irus had been victor, and Ulysses had taken the
foil,1 but it was mirth to them to see the beggars fight. In
such pastimes and light entertainments the day wore away.

When evening was come, the suitors betook themselves
to music and dancing. And Ulysses leaned his back
against a pillar from which certain lamps hung which
gave light to the dancers, and he made show of watching
the dancers, but very different thoughts were in his head.
And as he stood near the lamps, the light fell upon his
head, which was thin of hair and bald, as an old man's.
And Eurymachus, a suitor, taking occasion from some
words which were spoken before, scoffed, and said, " Now
I know for a certainty that some god lurks under the poor
and beggarly appearance of this man; for, as he stands by
the lamps, his sleek head throws beams around it, like as
it were a glory." And another said, " He passes his time,
too, not much unlike the gods, lazily living exempt from
labor, taking offerings of men." " I warrant," said Eurym-
achus again, " he could not raise a fence or dig a ditch for
his livelihood, if a man would hire him to work in a garden."

" I wish," said Ulysses, " that you who speak this and
myself Avere to be tried at any taskwork : that I had a

1 taken the foil, suffered defeat.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 237

good crooked scythe put in my hand, that was sharp
and strong, and you such another, where the grass grew
longest, to be up by daybreak, mowing the meadows till
the sun went down, not tasting of food till we had fin-
ished ; or that we were set to plough four acres in one
day of good glebe 1 land, to see whose furrows were evenest
and cleanest ; or that we might have one wrestling-bout
together ; or that in our right hands a good steel-headed
lance were placed, to try whose blows fell heaviest and
thickest upon the adversary's head-piece. I would cause
you such work as you should have small reason to reproach
me with being slack at work. But you would do well to
spare me this reproach, and to save your strength till the
owner of this house shall return, till the day when Ulys-
ses shall return, when returning he shall enter upon his
birthright."

This was a galling speech to those suitors, to whom
Ulysses's return was indeed the thing which they most
dreaded ; and a sudden fear fell upon their souls, as if
they were sensible of the real presence of that man who
did indeed stand amongst them, but not in that form
as they might know him; and Eurymachus, incensed,
snatched a massy cup which stood on a table near and
hurled it at the head of the supposed beggar, and but nar-
rowly missed the hitting of him ; and all the suitors rose,
as at once, to thrust him out of the hall, which they said
his beggarly presence and his rude speeches had profaned.
But Telemachus cried to them to forbear, and not to pre-
sume to lay hands upon a wretched man to whom he had
promised protection. He asked if they were mad, to mix

1 glebe, turfy soil that is hard to plough.

238 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

such abhorred uproar with his feasts. He hade them take
their food and their wine, to sit up or to go to bed at their
free pleasures, so long as he should give license to that
freedom ; but why should they abuse his banquet, or let
the words which a poor beggar spake have power to move
their spleens so fiercely ?

They bit their lips and frowned for anger to be checked
so by a youth ; nevertheless from that time they had the
grace to abstain, either for shame, or that Athene had in-
fused into them a terror of Ulysses's son.

So that day's feast was concluded without bloodshed,
and the suitors, tired with their sports, departed severally
each man to his apartment. Only Ulysses and Telemachus
remained. And now Telemachus, by his father's direc-
tion, went and brought down into the hall armor and
lances from the armory ; for Ulysses said, " On the mor-
row we shall have need of them." And moreover he said,
"If any one shall ask why you have taken them down,
say it is to clean them and scour them from the rust which.
they have gathered since the owner of this house went for
Troy." And as Telemachus stood by the armor, the lights
were all gone out, and it was pitch dark, and the armor
gave out glistening beams as of fire, and he said to his
father, " The pillars of the house are on fire." And his
father said, "It is the gods who sit above the stars, and
have power to make the night as light as the day." And
he took it for a good omen. And Telemachus fell to
cleaning and sharpening of the lances.

Now Ulysses had not seen his wife Penelope in all the
time since his return ; for the queen did not care to mingle
with the suitors at their banquets, but, as became one that

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 239

had been Ulysses's wife, kept much in private, spinning
and doing her excellent housewiferies among her maids
in the remote apartments of the palace. Only upon
solemn days she would come down and show herself
to the suitors. And Ulysses was filled with a longing
desire to see his wife again, whom for twenty years he
had not beheld, and he softly stole through the known
passages of his beautiful house, till he came where the
maids were lighting the queen through a stately gallery
that led to the chamber where she slept. And when the
maids saw Ulysses, they said, " It is the beggar who came
to the court to-day, about whom all that uproar was stirred
up in the hall : what does he here ? " But Penelope gave
commandment that he should be brought before her, for
she said, " It may be that he has travelled, and has heard
something concerning Ulysses."

Then was Ulysses right glad to hear himself named by
his queen, to find himself in nowise forgotten, nor her
great love towards him decayed in all that time that he
had been away. And he stood before his queen, and she
knew him not to be Ulysses, but supposed that he had
been some poor traveller. And she asked him of what
country he was.

He told her (as he had before told Eumseus) that he
was a Cretan born, and, however poor and cast down he
now seemed, no less a man than brother to Iclomeneus,
who was grandson to king Minos ; and though he now
wanted bread, he had once had it in his power to feast
Ulysses. Then he feigned how Ulysses, sailing for Troy,
was forced by stress of weather to put his fleet in at a
port of Crete, where for twelve days he was his guest, and

240 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

entertained by him with all befitting guest-rites. And he
described the very garments which Ulysses had on, by
which Penelope knew he had seen her lord.

In this manner Ulysses told his wife many tales of
himself, at most but painting, but painting so near to the
life that the feeling of that which she took in at her ears
became so strong that the kindly tears ran down her fair
cheeks, while she thought upon her lord, dead as she
thought him, and heavily mourned the loss of him whom
she missed, whom she could not find, though in very deed
lie stood so near her.

Ulysses was moved to see her weep, but he kept his
own eyes dry as iron or horn in their lids, putting a bridle
upon his strong passion, that it should not issue to sight.

Then told he how he had lately been at the court of
Thesprotia, and what he had learned concerning Ulysses
there, in order as he had delivered to Eumseus ; and
Penelope was wont to believe that there might be a
possibility of Ulysses being alive, and she said, "I dreamed
a dream this morning. Methought I had twenty house-
hold fowl which did eat wheat steeped in water from my
hand, and there came suddenly from the clouds a crook-
beaked hawk, who soused 2 on them and killed them all,
trussing 2 their necks ; then took his flight back up to the
clouds. And in my dream methought that I wept and
made great moan for my fowls, and for the destruction
which the hawk had made ; and my maids came about me
to comfort me. And in the height of my griefs the hawk
came back, and lighting upon the beam of my chamber,
he said to me in a man's voice, which sounded strangely

1 soused, plunged. 2 trussing, seizing firmly.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 241

even in my dream, to hear a hawk to speak : ; Be of good
cheer,' he said, ' 0 daughter of Icarius ! for this is no
dream which thou hast seen, but that which shall hap-
pen to thee indeed. Those household fowl, which thou
lamentest so without reason, are the suitors who devour
thy substance, even as thou sawest the fowl eat from thy
hand ; and the hawk is thy husband, who is coming to
give death to the suitors.' And I awoke, and went to see
to my fowls if they were alive, whom I found eating
wheat from their troughs, all well and safe as before my
dream."

Then said Ulysses, " This dream can endure no other
interpretation than that which the hawk gave to it, who
is your lord, and who is coming quickly to effect all that
his words told you."

" Your words," she said, " my old guest, are so sweet
that would you sit and please me with your speech, my
ears would never let my eyes close their spheres for very
joy of your discourse ; but none that is merely mortal can
live without the death of sleep, so the gods who are
without death themselves have ordained it, to keep the
memory of our mortality in our minds, while we experi-
ence that as much as we live we die every day ; in which
consideration I will ascend my- bed, which I have nightly
watered with my tears since he that was my joy departed
for that bad city " — she so speaking because she could
not bring her lips to name the name of Troy so much
hated. So for that night they parted, Penelope to her
bed and Ulysses to his son, and to the armor and the
lances in the hall, where they sat up all night cleaning
and watching by the armor.

242 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

CHAPTER X.

The Madness from Above. — The Bow of Ulysses. — The Slaugh-
ter.— The Conclusion.

When daylight appeared, a tumultuous concourse of
the suitors again filled the hall ; and some wondered, and
some inquired what meant that glittering store of armor
and lances which lay in heaps by the entry of the door ;
and to all that asked Telemachus made reply that he had
caused them to be taken down to cleanse them of the
rust and of the stain which they had contracted by lying
so long unused, even ever since his father went for Troy ;
and with that answer their minds were easily satisfied.
So to their feasting and vain rioting again they fell.
Ulysses, by Telemachus's order, had a seat and a mess
assigned him in the doorway, and he had his eye ever on
the lances. And it moved gall in some of the great ones
there present to have their feast still dulled with the
society of that wretched beggar, as they deemed him ; and
they reviled and spurned at him with their feet. Only
there was one Philaetius, who had something of a better
nature than the rest, that spake kindly to him, and had his
age in respect. He, coining up to Ulysses, took him by
the hand with a kind of fear, as if touched exceedingly
with imagination of his great worth, and said thus to him:
"Hail, father stranger! my brows have sweat to see the
injuries which you have received; and my eyes have broke
forth in tears when I have only thought, that, such being
of ten-times the lot of worthiest men, to this plight Ulysses
may be reduced, and that he now may wander from place

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 243

to place as you do: for such, who are compelled by need
to range here and there, and have no firm home to fix
their feet upon, God keeps them in this earth, as under
water; so are they kept down and depressed. And a
dark thread is sometimes spun in the fates of kings."

At this bare likening of the beggar to Ulysses, Athene
from heaven made the suitors for foolish joy to go mad,
and roused them to such a laughter as would never stop:
they laughed without power of ceasing; their eyes stood
full of tears for violent joys. But fears and horrible
misgivings succeeded; and one among them stood up and
prophesied: "Ah, wretches!" he said, "what madness
from heaven has seized you, that you can laugh ? see you
not that your meat drops blood ? a night, like the night
of death, wraps you about; you shriek without knowing
it; your eyes thrust forth tears; the fixed walls, and the
beam that bears the whole house up, fall blood; ghosts
choke up the entry; full is the hall with apparitions
of murdered men; under your feet is hell; the sun
falls from heaven, and it is midnight at noon." But,
like men whom the gods had infatuated to their destruc-
tion, they mocked at his fears; and Eurymachus said,
"This man is surely mad: conduct him forth into the
market-place; set him in the light; for he dreams that
'tis night within the house."

But Theoclymenus (for that was the prophet's name),
whom Athene had graced with a prophetic spirit, that
he, foreseeing, might avoid the destruction which awaited
them, answered, and said, " Eurymachus, I will not
require a guide of thee: for I have eyes and ears, the
use of both my feet, and a sane mind within me; and

244 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

with these I will go forth of the doors, because 1 know
the imminent evils which await all you that stay, by
reason of this poor guest who is a favorite with all the
gods." So saying, he turned his back upon those inhos-
pitable men, and went away home, and never returned
to the palace.

These words which he spoke were not unheard by
Telemachus, who kept still his eye upon his father, ex-
pecting fervently when he would give the sign which
was to precede the slaughter of the suitors.

They, dreaming of no such thing, fell sweetly to their
dinner, as joying in the great store of banquet which
was heaped in full tables about them ; but there reigned
not a bitterer banquet planet in all heaven than that
which hung over them this day by secret destination of
Athene.

There was a bow which Ulysses left when he went for
Troy. It had lain by since that time, out of use and
unstrung, for no man had strength to draw that bow, save
Ulysses. So it had remained, as a monument of the great
strength of its master. This bow, with the quiver of
arrows belonging thereto, Telemachus had brought down
from the armory on the last night along with the lances ;
and now Athene, intending to do Ulysses an honor, put
it into the mind of Telemachus to propose to the suitors
to try who was strongest to draw that bow ; and he
promised that to the man who should be able to draw that
bow his mother should be given in marriage — Ulysses's
wife the prize to him who should bend the bow of
Ulysses.

There was great strife and emulation stirred up among

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 245

the suitors at those words of the prince Telemachus. And
to grace her son's words, and to confirm the promise which
he had made, Penelope came and showed herself that day
to the suitors ; and Athene made her that she appeared
never so comely in their sight as on that day, and they were
inflamed with the beholding of so much beauty, proposed
as the price of so great manhood ; and they cried out that
if all those heroes who sailed to Colchis for the rich pur-
chase of the golden-fleeced ram had seen earth's richer
prize, Penelope, they would not have made their voyage,
but would have vowed their valors and their lives to her,
for she was at all parts faultless.

And she said, " The gods have taken my beauty from
me, since my lord went for Troy." But Telemachus
willed his mother to depart and not be present at that con-
test; for he said, "It may be, some rougher strife shall
chance of this than may be expedient for a woman to
witness." And she retired, she and her maids, and left
the hall.

Then the bow was brought into the midst, and a mark
was set up by prince Telemachus ; and lord Antinous, as
the chief among the suitors, had the first offer; and he
took the bow, and, fitting an arrow to the string, he strove
to bend it, but not with all his might and main could he
once draw together the ends of that tough bow ; and when
he found how vain a thing it was to endeavor to draw
Ulysses's bow, he desisted, blushing for shame and for
mere anger. Then Eurymachus adventured, but with no
better success ; but as it had torn the hands of Antinous,
so did the bow tear and strain his hands, and marred his
delicate fingers, yet could he not once stir the string.

246 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

Then called he to the attendants to bring fat and unctuous
matter, which melting at the fire, he dipped the bow
therein, thinking to supple it and make it more pliable ;
but not with all the helps of art could he succeed in
making it to move. After him Liodes, and Amphinomus,
and Polybus, and Eurynomus, and Polyctorides essayed
their strength ; but not any one of them, or of the rest of
those aspiring suitors, had any better luck ; }-et not the
meanest of them there but thought himself well worthy of
Ulysses's wife, though to shoot with Ulysses's bow the
completest champion among them was by proof found too
feeble.

Then Ulysses prayed that he might have leave to try :
and immediately a clamor was raised among the suitors,
because of his petition, and they scorned and swelled with
rage at his presumption, and that a beggar should seek to
contend in a game of such noble mastery. But Telem-
achus ordered that the bow should be given him, and
that he should have leave to try, since they had failed ;
" for," he said, " the bow is mine, to give or to withhold ; '
and none durst gainsay the prince.

Then Ulysses gave a sign to his son, and he commanded
the doors of the hall to be made fast, and all wondered at
his words, but none could divine the cause. And Ulysses
took the bow in his hands, and before he essayed to bend
it, he surveyed it at all parts, to see whether by long lying
by, it had contracted any stiffness which hindered the
drawing: and as he was busied in the curious surveying of
his bow, some of the suitors mocked him, and said, " Past
doubt this man is a right cunning archer, and knows his
craft well. See how he turns it over and over, and looks

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 247

into it, as if he could see through the wood! ' And others
said, "We wish some one would tell out gold into our laps
but for so long a time as he shall be in drawing of that
string." But when he had spent some little time in
making proof of the bow, and had found it to be in good
plight, like as a harper in tuning of his harp draws out a
string, with such ease or much more did Ulysses draw to
the head the string of his own tough bow, and in letting
of it go, it twanged with such a shrill noise as a swallow
makes when it sings through the air; which so much
amazed the suitors that their colors came and went, and
the skies gave out a noise of thunder, which at heart
cheered Ulysses, for he knew that now his long labors by
the disposal of the fates drew to an end. Then fitted he
an arrow to the bow, and drawing it to the head, he sent
it right to the mark which the prince had set up. Which
done, he said to Telemachus, " You have got no disgrace
yet by your guest, for I have struck the mark I shot at,
and gave myself no such trouble in teasing the bow with
fat and fire as these men did, but have made proof that my
strength is not impaired, nor my age so weak and- con-
temptible as these were pleased to think it. But come,
the day going down calls us to supper; after which succeed
poem and harp, and all delights which use to crown
princely banquetings."

So saying, he beckoned to his son, who straight girt his
sword to his side, and took one of the lances (of which
there lay great store from the armory) in his hand, and
armed at all points advanced towards his father.

The upper rags which Ulysses wore fell from his
shoulder, and his own kingly likeness returned, when he

248 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

rushed to the great hall cjpor with bow and quiver full of
shafts, which down at his feet he poured, and in bitter
words presignified 1 his deadly intent to the suitors. " Thus
far," he said, " this contest has been decided harmless :
now for us there rests another mark, harder to hit, but
which my hands shall essay notwithstanding, if Phoebus,
god of archers, be pleased to give me the mastery." With
that he let fly a deadly arrow at Antinous, which pierced
him in the throat, as he was in the act of lifting a cup
of wine to his mouth. Amazement seized the suitors, as
their great champion fell dead, and they raged highly
against Ulysses, and said that it should prove the dearest
shaft which he ever let fly, for he had slain a man whose
like breathed not in any part of the kingdom ; and they
flew to their arms, and would have seized the lances, but
Athene struck them with dimness of sight that they went
erring up and down the hall, not knowing where to find
them. Yet so infatuated were they by the displeasure of
heaven that they did not see the imminent peril which
impended over them ; but every man believed that this
accident had happened beside the intention of the doer.
Fools! to think by shutting their eyes to evade destiny,
or that any other cup remained for them but that which
their great Antinous had tasted !

Then Ulysses revealed himself to all in that presence,
and that he was the man whom they held to be dead at
Troy, whose palace they had usurped, whose wife in his
lifetime they had sought in impious marriage, and that for
this reason destruction was come upon them. And he
dealt his deadly arrows among them, and there was no

1 presignified, showed beforehand.

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 249

avoiding him, nor escaping from his horrid person; and
Telemachns by his side plied them thick with those
murderous lances from which there was no retreat, till
fear itself made them valiant, and danger gave them eyes
to understand the peril. Then they which had swords
drew them, and some with shields, that could find them,
and some with tables and benches snatched up in haste,
rose in a mass to overwhelm and crush those two: yet
they singly bestirred themselves like men, and defended
themselves against that great host; and through tables,
shields, and all, right through, the arrows of Ulysses clove,
and the irresistible lances of Telemachus; and many lay
dead, and all had wounds. And Athene, in the likeness
of a bird, sat upon the beam which went across the hall,
clapping her wings with a fearful noise: and sometimes
the great bird would fly among them, cuffing at the swords
and at the lances, and up and down the hall would go,
beating her Avings, and troubling everything, that it was
frightful to behold; and it frayed the blood from the
cheeks of those heaven-hated suitors. But to Ulysses and
his son she appeared in her own divine similitude, with
her snake-fringed shield, a goddess armed, fighting their
battles. Nor did that dreadful pair desist till they had
laid all their foes at their feet. "At their feet they lay in
shoals : like fishes when the fishermen break up their nets,
so they lay gasping and sprawling at the feet of Ulysses
and his son. And Ulysses remembered the prediction of
Tiresias, which said that he was to perish by his own
guests, unless he slew those who knew him not.

Then certain of the queen's household went up, and
told Penelope what had happened; and how her lord

250 THE ADVENTUBES OF ULYSSES.

Ulysses was come home, and had slain the suitors. But
she gave no heed to their words, but thought that some
frenzy possessed them, or that they mocked her ; for it is
the property of such extremes of sorrow as she had felt
not to believe when any great joy cometh. And she rated
and chid them exceedingly for troubling her. But they
the more persisted in their asseverations of the truth of
what they had affirmed ; and some of them had seen the
slaughtered bodies of the suitors dragged forth of the hall.
And they said, " That poor guest whom you talked with
last night was Ulysses." Then she was yet more fully per-
suaded that they mocked her, and she wept. But they
said, " This thing is true which we have told. We sat
within, in an inner room in the palace, and the doors of
the hall were shut on us, but we heard the cries and the
groans of the men that were killed, but saw nothing, till
at length your son called to us to come in, and entering
we saw Ulysses standing in the midst of the slaughtered."
But she, persisting in her unbelief, said that it was some
god which had deceived them to think it was the person
of Ulysses.

By this time Telemachus and his father had cleansed
their hands from the slaughter, and were come to where
the queen was talking with those of her household ; and
when she saw Ulysses, she stood motionless, and had no
power to speak, sudden surprise and joy and fear and
many passions so strove within her. Sometimes she was
clear that it was her husband that she saw, and sometimes
the alteration which twenty years had made in his person
(yet that was not much) perplexed her that she knew
not what to think, and for joy she could not believe, and

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 251

yet for joy she would not but believe ; and, above all,
that sudden change from a beggar to a king troubled
her, and wrought uneasy scruples in her mind. But
Telemachus, seeing her strangeness, blamed her, and
called her an ungentle and tyrannous mother ; and said
that she showed a too great curiousness of modesty to
abstain from embracing his father, and to have doubts
of his person, when to all present it was evident that
he was the very real and true Ulysses.

Then she mistrusted no longer, but ran and fell upon
Ulysses's neck, and said, " Let not my husband be angry,
that I held off so long with strange delays ; it is the
gods, who severing us for so long time, have caused this
unseemly distance in me. If Menelaus's wife had used
half my caution, she would never have taken so freely
to a stranger; and she might have spared us all these
plagues which have come upon us through her shameless
deed."

These words with which Penelope excused herself
wrought more affection in Ulysses than if upon a first
sight she had given up herself implicitly to his embraces ;
and he wept for joy to possess a wife so discreet, so
answering to his own staid mind, that had a depth of
wit proportioned to his own, and one that held chaste
virtue at so high a price. And he thought the possession
of such a one cheaply purchased with the loss of all
Circe's delights and Calypso's immortality of joys ; and
his long labors and his severe sufferings past seemed
as nothing, now they were crowned with the presence
of his virtuous and true wife Penelope. And as sad
men at sea, whose ship has gone to pieces nigh shore,

252 THE ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES.

swimming for their lives, all drenched in foam and brine,
crawl up to some poor patch of land, which they take
possession of with as great a joy as if they had the world
given them in fee, with such delight did this chaste wife
cling to her lord restored, and once again clasp a living
Ulysses.

So from that time the land had rest from the suitors.
And the happy Ithacans with songs and solemn sacrifices
of praise to the gods celebrated the return of Ulysses ;
for he that had been so long absent was returned to
wreak the evil upon the heads of the doers ; in the place
where thev had done the evil, there wreaked he his
vengeance upon them.

NOTES.

Page 1. — "Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way," is Autolycus's jolly
song at the end of Act. iv, Scene iii, of Winter's Tale.

Page 1. — On Henry Vaughan, Silurist, see the note to page 132 in
Vol. VI of the Heart of Oak Books.

Page 2. — "The Story of the Argonauts" is translated from a collec-
tion of tales told by Berthold George Niebuhr, the celebrated historian of
Rome, to his son Marcus, a child about four years of age. The son says
that during the relation of them, his father connected the various per-
sonages and objects alluded to in the tales with ancient works of art,
which were to be found in the collections at, Rome ; and he speaks of his
recollection of the joy he experienced in believing that he had found the
cavern of Cacus in Mount Aventinus (Tales of Hercules), and of his
endeavors to find out the various adventures of Hercules on the bass-reliefs.
He says that the mere recital of the tales without the father's illustrations
but imperfectly conveys the lively interest which they excited under such
favorable circumstances.

Page 12. — The text of the Grimm Tales in this book is that of the
first selection presented to English readers, by Mr. Edgar Taylor, London,
1823. "The collection from which the Tales are taken," he says in his
Preface, "is one of great extent, obtained for the most part from the
mouths of German peasants by the indefatigable exertions of John
and William Grimm, brothers in kindred and taste. — The result of their
labors ought to be peculiarly interesting to "English readers, inasmuch as
many of their national tales are proved to be of the highest Northern
antiquity. Strange to say, ' Jack, commonly called the Giant-killer, and
Tom Thumb, landed in England from the same hulls and war-ships which
conveyed Hengist and Horsa, and Ebba the Saxon.' Who would have
expected that Whittington and his Cat, whose identity and London citi-
zenship appeared so certain ; — Tom Thumb, whose parentage Hearne
had traced, and whose monumental honors were the boast of Lincoln ; —
or the Giant-destroyer of Tylney, whose bones were supposed to moulder
in his native village in Norfolk, should be equally renowned amongst the
humblest inhabitants of Munster and Paderborn ? "

253

254 NOTES.

In a letter to Mr. Taylor, Jan. 16, 1823, commending his version and
contributing some notes, Sir Walter Scott says, "Independently of the
curious circumstance that such tales should be found existing in very dif-
ferent countries and languages, there is also a sort of wild fairy interest
in them, which makes me think them fully better adapted to awaken the
imagination and soften the heart of childhood than the good-boy stories
which have been in later years composed for them. In the latter case,
their minds are, as it were, put into the stocks, like their feet at the
dancing-school, and the moral always consists in good moral conduct
being crowned with temporal success. Truth is, I would not give one
tear shed over Little lied Riding Hood for all the benefit to be derived
from a hundred histories of Jemmy Goodchild. ... In a word, I think
the selfish tendencies will be soon enough acquired in this arithmetical
age ; and that, to make the higher class of character, our wild fictions —
like our own simple music — will have more effect in awakening the fancy
and elevating the disposition than the colder and more elaborate composi-
tions of modern authors and composers."

A second series of these German Popular Stories was published by
Mr. Taylor in 1826, and both series were reprinted in 1868 with Cruik-
shank's famous etchings, and an Introduction by Mr. Ruskin, from which
the following extracts are taken :

u In the best stories recently written for the young, there is a taint
which it is not easy to define, but which inevitably follows on the author's
addressing himself to children bred in school-rooms and drawing-rooms,
instead of fields and woods — children whose favorite amusements are pre-
mature imitations of the vanities of elder people, and whose conceptions
of beauty are dependent partly on eostlineis of dress. The fairies who
interfere in the fortunes of these little ones are apt to be resplendent
chiefly in millinery and satin slippers, and appalling more by their airs
than their enchantments. . . .

" As the simplicity of the sense of beauty has been lost in recent tales
for children, so also the simplicity of their conception of love. That word
which, in the heart of a child, should represent the most constant and
vital part of its being ; . . . and whose meaning should soften and ani-
mate every emotion through which the inferior things and the feeble
creatures, set beneath it in its narrow world, are revealed to its curiosity
or companionship; — this word, in modern child-story, is too often re-
strained and darkened into the hieroglyph of an evil mystery, troubling
the sweet peace of youth with premature gleams of uncomprehended
passion, and Hitting shadows of unrecognized sin.

" These grave faults in the spirit of recent child-fiction are connected
with a parallel folly of purpose. Parents who are too indolent and self-

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 255

indulgent to form their children's characters by wholesome discipline, or
in their own habits and principles of life are conscious of setting before
them no faultless example, vainly endeavor to substitute the persuasive
influence of moral precept, intruded in the guise of amusement, for the
strength of moral habit, compelled by righteous authority. . . .

"A child should not need to choose between right and wrong. It
should not be capable of wrong ; it should not conceive of wrong. Obe-
dient, as bark to helm, not by sudden strain or effort, but in the freedom
of its bright course of constant life ; true, with an undistinguished, pain-
less, unboastful truth, in a crystalline household world of truth ; gentle,
through daily entreatings of gentleness, and honorable trusts, and pretty
prides of child-fellowship in offices of good ; strong, not in bitter and
doubtful contest with temptation, but in peace of heart, and armor of
habitual right, from which temptation falls like thawing hail ; self-com-
manding, not in sick restraint of mean appetites and covetous thoughts,
but in vital joy of unluxurious life, and contentment in narrow posses-
sion, wisely esteemed.

" Children so trained have no need of moral fairy tales ; but they will
find in the apparently vain and fitful courses of any tradition of old time,
honestly delivered to them, a teaching for which no other can be substi-
tuted, and of which the power cannot be measured ; animating for them
the material world with inextinguishable life, fortifying them against the
glacial cold of selfish science, and preparing them submissively, and with
no bitterness of astonishment, to behold, in later years, the mystery
— divinely appointed to remain such to all human thought — of the fates
that happen alike to the evil and the good.

' ' And the effect of the endeavor to make stories moral upon the literary
merit of the work itself, is as harmful as the motive of the effort is false.
For every fairy tale worth recording at all is the remnant of a tradition
possessing true historical value ; — historical, at least in so far as it has
naturally arisen out of the mind of a people under special circumstances,
and risen not without meaning, nor removed altogether from their sphere
of religious faith. It sustains afterwards natural changes from the sin-
cere action of the fear or fancy of successive generations ; it takes new
color from their manner of life, and new form from their changing
moral tempers. As long as these changes are natural and effortless,
accidental and inevitable, the story remains essentially true, altering
its form, indeed, like a flying cloud, but remaining a sign of the sky ;
a shadowy image, as truly a part of the great firmament of the human
mind as the light of reason which it seems to interrupt. But the fair
deceit and innocent error of it cannot be interpreted nor restrained by
a wilful purpose, and all additions to it by art do but defile, as the shep-

256 NOTES.

herd disturbs the flakes of morning mist with smoke from his fire of dead
leaves.

"There is also a deeper collateral mischief in this indulgence of licen-
tious change and retouching of stories to suit particular tastes, or inculcate
favorite doctrines. It directly destroys the child's power of rendering
any such belief as it would otherwise have been in his nature to give to
an imaginative vision. How far it is expedient to occupy his mind with
ideal forms at all may be questionable to many, though not to me ; but it
is quite beyond question that if we do allow of the fictitious representa-
tion, that representation should be calm and complete, possessed to the
full, and read down its utmost depth. The little reader's attention should
never be confused or disturbed, whether he is possessing himself of fairy
tale or history. Let him know his fairy tale accurately, and have perfect
joy or awe in the conception of it as if it were real ; thus he will always
be exercising his power of grasping realities : but a confused, careless,
and discrediting tenure of the fiction will lead to as confused and careless
reading of fact. Let the circumstances of both be strictly perceived, and
long dwelt upon, and let the child's own mind develop fruit of thought
from both. It is of the greatest importance early to secure this habit of
contemplation, and therefore it is a grave error, either to multiply un-
necessarily, or to illustrate with extravagant richness, the incidents pre-
sented to the imagination. It should multiply and illustrate them for
itself ; and, if the intellect is of any real value, there will be a mystery
and wonderfulness in its own dreams which would only be thwarted by
external illustration. . . .

"In genuine forms of minor tradition, a rude and more or less illiter-
ate tone will always be discernible ; for all the best fairy tales have owed
their birth, and the greater part of their power, to narrowness of social
circumstances ; they belong properly to districts in which walled cities
are surrounded by bright and unblemished country, and in which a healthy
and bustling town life, not highly refined, is relieved by, and contrasted
with, the calm enchantment of pastoral and woodland scenery, either
under humble cultivation by peasant masters, or left in its natural soli-
tude. Under conditions of this kind the imagination is enough excited
to invent instinctively (and rejoice in the invention of) spiritual forms
of wildness and beauty, while yet it is restrained and made cheerful by
the familiar accidents and relations of town life, mingling always in its
fancy humorous and vulgar circumstances with pathetic ones, and never
so much impressed with its supernatural phantasies as to be in danger of
retaining them as any part of its religious faith. The good spirit descends
gradually from an angel into a fairy, and the demon shrinks into a playful
grotesque of diminutive malevolence, while yet both keep an accredited and

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 257

vital influence upon the character and mind. But the language in which
such ideas will be usually clothed must necessarily partake of their narrow-
ness ; and art is systematically incognizant of them, having only strength
under the conditions which awake them to express itself in an irregular
and gross grotesque, fit only for external architectural decoration." •

Page 32. — "The Walrus and the Carpenter." "The pleasance of
this fairy tale" is familiar to all who delight in the delicate fancies and
delicious absurdities of Lewis Carroll's Through a Looking -Glass.

" ' You like poetry ? ' asked Tweedledee.

« i Ye— es, pretty well — some poetry,' Alice said doubtfully.

" ' What shall I repeat ? ' said Tweedledee, looking round at Tweedle-
dum with great solemn eyes.

" ' "The Walrus and the Carpenter " is longest,' Tweedledum replied,
giving his brother an affectionate hug.

"Tweedledee began instantly : ' The sun was shining — '

"Here Alice ventured to interrupt him. 'If it is very long — ' she
said as politely as she could.

"Tweedledee smiled gently and began again.1

11

Page 51. — "The Bee and the Flower." Marian's song in Act IV.,
sc. i. of " The Forresters."

Page 74. — " The Children in the Wood," according to Ritson,
"appears to have been written in 1595, being entered in that year on
the stationers' books."

"It is perhaps the most popular of all English ballads," says Pro-
fessor Child in his English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "and its
merit is attested by the favor it has enjoyed with so many generations."
Addison called it one of the dearest songs of the people, and the delight
of most Englishmen at some time in their life.

Page 80. — "Jack, the Giant-Killer. " The text given herewith is
formed upon two or three old versions in the Boswell collection of chap-
books at Harvard College, vol. 32.

Page 102. — Both " Ali Baba" and "Aladdin" are traditional ver-
sions of marvellous stories in the Arabian Nights'1 Entertainment, from
the " Child's Own Book."

Page 135. — "Piping down the Valleys Wild" is the introduction to
Blake's Songs of Innocence. "The number of engraved pages in the
Songs of Innocence alone was twenty- seven," writes Alexander Gilchrist,
Blake's biographer. "They were done up in boards by Mrs. Blake's
hand, forming a small octavo ; so that the poet and his wife did every-

258 NOTES.

thing in making the book, — writing, designing, printing, engraving, —
everything except manufacturing the paper : the very ink, or color rather,
they did make. Never before, surely, was a man so literally the author
of his own book. ' Songs of Innocence, the author and printer W. Blake,
1789,' is the title." "The Shepherd," on page 137, is from the Songs
of Innocence. The text here given is from a reprint of the original
edition.

Page 136. — "We set forward," wrote Dorothy Wordsworth in her
Diary on the 16th of April (Good Friday), 1802. " The valley is at first
broken by little rocky woody knolls that make retiring places, fairy val-
leys in the vale. The river winds along under these hills, travelling not
in a bustle but not slowly, to the lake. . . . When we came to the foot
of Brother's Water, I left William sitting on the bridge, and went along
the path on the right side of the lake through the wood. I was delighted
with what I saw : the water under the boughs of the bare old trees, the
simplicity of the mountains and the exquisite beauty of the path. There
was one gray cottage. I repeated the ' Glow-worm ' as I walked along.
I hung over the gate and thought I could have staid for ever. When I
returned I found William writing a poem descriptive of the sights and
sounds we saw and heard. There was the gentle flowing of the stream,
the glittering lively lake, green fields without a living creature to be seen
on them ; behind us a flat pasture with forty-two cattle feeding ; to our
left, the road leading to the hamlet. No smoke there ; the sun shone on
the bare roofs. The people were at work ploughing, harrowing, and
sowing ; lasses working ; a dog barking now and then ; cocks crowing ;
birds twittering ; the snow in patches at the top of the highest hills. . . .
William finished his poem before we got to the foot of Kirkstone."

Page 137. — " Where the bee sucks, there suck I." From the Tern--
pest, Act V., sc. i., v. 88.

Page 140. — "Over hill, over dale." From Midsummer Night's
Dream, Act II., sc. i., v. 2.

Page 141. — In 1794 Blake put forth the Songs of Erpprience as com-
plement to the Songs of Innocence, which he had published five years
before. Among them is "The Fly." "As the title fitly shadows,"
writes Gilchrist, the biographer of Blake, " the series is of grander, sterner
calibre, of gloomier wisdom."

Pake 144. — "A Christmas Carol" is the second part of the ballad
known as the "Cherry-Tree Carol," which Bullen pronounces the finest
of all carols. Texts differ, no two being alike. This part is often given
as a separate carol, and " is traditional in Somersetshire," says Professor

THE HEART OF OAK BOOKS. 259

Child, in English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Part III., page 5. The
text here given is from Chappell's Christmas Carols, edited by Dr. E. F.
Rimbault, page 22, without modernizations.

Page 145. — "You like the Odyssey?" wrote Lamb to Bernard
Barton. "Did you ever read my Adventures of Ulysses, founded on
Chapman's old translation — for children or men ? Chapman is divine,
and my abridgement has not quite emptied him of his divinity."

Lamb says in the preface : " This work treats of the conduct and suffer-
ings of Ulysses, the father of Telemachus. The picture which it exhibits
is that of a brave man struggling with adversity ; by a wise use of events,
and with an inimitable presence of mind under difficulties, forcing out a
way for himself through the severest trials to which human life can be
exposed ; with enemies natural and preternatural surrounding him. on
all sides. The agents in this tale, besides men and women, are giants,
enchanters, sirens : things which denote external force or internal temp-
tations, the twofold danger which a wise fortitude must expect to encounter
in its course through this world. The fictions contained in it will be
found to comprehend some of the most admired inventions of Grecian
mythology.

" The groundwork of the story is as old as the Odyssey, but the moral
and the coloring are comparatively modern. By avoiding the prolixity
which marks the speeches and the descriptions in Homer, I have gained
a rapidity to the narration which I hope will make it more attractive and
give it more the air of a romance to young readers."

The text here given is from " The Works of Charles Lamb," edited by
Percy Fitzgerald. London : E. Moxon & Co., 1876.

INDEX OF WRITERS.

WITH DATES OF BIRTH AND DEATH.

-*<>♦-

Allingham, William (1828-1889). PArTE

The Fairy Folk 10

Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875).

The Brave Tin Soldier 16

The Ugly Duckling „,..... 36

Anonymous.

A Christmas Carol 144

Aladdin, or the Wonderful Lamp ; . . . , 117

Ali Baba, or the Forty Thieves 102

Lord Lovel 60

The Children in the Wood 74

The History of Jack, the Giant- Killer 80

Blake, William (1757-1827).

Piping down the Valleys Wild , 135

The Fly 141

The Shepherd 137

Bryant, William Cullen (1794-1878). "

Robert of Lincoln 25

Carroll, Lewis (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, 1832-1890).

The Walrus and the Carpenter 32

Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1832).

The Mountain and the Squirrel 116

Grimm, Jacob (1785-1863) and Wilhelm (1786-1859).

Hans in Luck „ 69

Rumpel-Stilts-Kin 48

V- 261

262 INDEX OF WRITERS.

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm — Continued. PAGB

The Blue Light 27

The Elves and the Shoemaker 61

The Four Clever Brothers G4

The Frog Prince ........ 12

The Golden Goose 21

The Nose 62

Hemans, Felicia Browne (1793-1835).

Casabianca c . . 100

Lamb, Charles (1775-1834).

The Adventures of Ulysses . , - 14">

Moore, Clement C. (1770-1803).

A Visit from St. Nicholas 142

Niebuhr, Berthold Georg (1770-1831).

The Story of the Argonauts , . . . 2

Shakespeare, William (1564-161G).

Ariel's song . „ 137

Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way 1

Over hill, over dale , .. . . 140

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord (1810-1892).

The Bee and the Flower 51

The Brook 46

Vaughan, Henry (1021-1095).

The Bird 1

Wordsworth, William (1770-1850).

Lucy Gray 138

Written in March 130

PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY.

The Key to the Pronunciation will be found at the Bottom of

Each Page.

Acheron, ak'e-ron.
Achilles, a-kil'ez.
iEaea, §-e'a.
iEaetes, e-e'tez.
JEgisthus, e-jis'tlms.
iEolus, e'o-lus.
Jlson, es'-n.

^Ethiopians, e-thi-o'pi-anz.
Agamemnon, a-ga-mera'non.
Ajax, a/jaks.
Aladdin, a-la'din.
Alcinous, al-sin'o-us.
Alcmena, alk-me'na.
Alcmene, alk-me'ne.
Ali Baba, a'li-ba'ba.
Amphinomus, am-fin'o-mus.
Amphion, am-fi'on.
Amyeus, am'i-kus.
Antinons, an-tin'-o-us.
Antiope, an-ti-o-pe\
Antiphns, an'ti-fus.
Apollo, a-pol'5.
Arcesius, ar-se-shi-us.
Argo, ar'go.
Argonauts, ar'go-natz.
Ariadne, a-ri-ad'ne.

Ariel, a'ri-el.

Asia, a/shya (or a'zhya).

Athamas, ath'a-mas (or -mas).

Athena, a-the'-na.

Athene, a-the'ne.

Athens, ath'enz.

Badroulboudour, ba-drol'b6-d6rf.
Bootes, bo-6'tez.
Boreas, bo're-as.

Cadi, ka'de.

Cadmus, kad'mus.

Callirhoe, ka-lir'o-e.

Calypso, ka-lip's5.

Casabianca, ka-za-byan'ka (or ka-

sa-bi-ank'a) .
Cassim, kas'sem.
Castor, kas'tor.
Ceres, ^se'rez.
Charybdis, ka-rib'dis.
Cicons, si'konz.
Circe, ser'se.
Clymene, klim'-e-ne.
Clytenmestra, kli-tem-nes'tra.
Cocytus, ko-si'tus.

fat, met, pin, not, tub; fate, mete, pine, note, mute; far, move; fall, nor; her; oil.

?, o, etc., indicate long vowels shortened in unaccented syllables, without loss of their origi-
nal quality ; a, e, o (lighter face) indicate similar shortening, with the quality approaching
the neutral M-sound in but, republican, prudent, idiot, Persia, the book.

2G8

264

PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY.

Cogia Hassan, ko'gya has'san.

Colchis, kol'kis.

Cratis, kra'tis.

Crete, kret.

Cyclops, si'klops.

Cythera, si-the'ra.

Deiphobus, de-if'o-bus.
Delos, de'los.

Demodocus, de-mod'o-kus.
Diana, di-an'a (or di-a'na).
Dodona, do-do 'na.
Dulichium, db-lik'i-um.

Echetiis, ek'e-tus.
Ephialtes, ef-i-al'tez.
Eryphile, e-rif'i-lS.
Eumaeus, u-me'us.
Eurus, fi'rus.
Eurylochus, u-ril'o-kus.
Eurymachus, fl-rim'a-kus.
Eurynomus, u-rin'o-mus.

Galligantus, gal-i-gan'tus.

Hades, ha'dez.
Hebe, he'be.
Helle, hel e.
Hephaestus, he-fes'tus.
Hephaistos, he-fis'tos.
Hercules, her'kfi-lez.
Hermes, her'mez.

Iasion, T-a/shim.
Icarius, f-ka'ri-us.
Idomeneus, l-dom'e-nus.
Ino, i'no.

I no Leucothea, i'no lu-ko-the'a.
Iolchos, J-ol'kos.
Iphimedia, if-i-me'di-a.
Irus, I'rus.

Ismarus, is'ma-rus.
Ithaca, ith'a-ka.

Jason, jas'-n.
Jocasta, jo-kas'ta.
Jove, jov.

Laertes, la-er'tgz.
Laestrygonians, les-tri-go'ni-anz.
Lamos, la'raos.
Latona, la-t5'na.
Leda, le'da.
Liodes, li-6'dez.

Maera, me'ra.

Malea, nia'18-a.

Medea, me-de'-a.

Megara, meg'-a-ra.

Menelaus, men-e-la'us.

Mentor, men'tor.

Mercury, iner'kfi-ri.

31inos, mi'jios.

Morgiana, mor-gi-a'na.

Mustapha, mos'ta-fa (or mus'ta-f a) .

Naiads, na/yadz.
Nausicaa, na-sik'3,-a.
Neleus, ne'liis.

Neoptolenins, ne-op-tol'§-nms.
Nephele, nef'-e-le1.
Neptune, nep'-tun (or -tshon).
Nerytus, ner'i-tus.
Nestor, nes'tor.
Notus, no'tus.

Oceanus, o-se'a-nus.
OEdipns, ed'i-pus.
Ogygia, o-jij'i-;«.
Olympus, o-lini'pus.
Orchomen, or'ko-men.
Orestes, 5-res'tez.

fat, met, pin, not, tub; fate, mete, pine, note, mute; far, move; fall, nor; her; oil.

PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY.

265

Orion, o-rl'-on.
Ossa, os'sa.
Otus, o'tus.

Panopeus, pan-o'pus.

Peleus, pe'lus.

Pelias, pe'li-as.

Pelion, pe'li-on.

Penelope, p§-nel'o-pe.

Perse, per'sS.

Phaeaeia, fS-a'shi-a.

Phaedra, fe'dra.

Phasis, fa'sis.

Philaetrius, fi-le'tri-us.

Phineus, fin'us.

Phoebus, fe'bus.

Phrixus, frik'sus.

Pieria, pl-e'-ri-a.

Pirithous, pl-ritli'5-us.

Pleiads, pli'adz.

Pluto, plo'to.

Pollux, pol'uks.

Polybus, pol'i-bus.

Polyetonides, pol-ik-ton'i-dez.

Polyphemus, pol-i-fe'mus.

Priam, pri'am.

Procris, pro'kris.

Proserpine, pros'er-pin (or pin).

Pylus, pT'lus.

Pyriphlegethon, pi-ri-fleg'e-thon.

Pythian, pith'i-an.

Pytho, pi'thS.

Rumpel-stilts-kin, rum'pel stilts'
kin.

St. Pancras, sn-pang'kras.
Samos, sa'mos.

Scylla, sil'a.
Scyros, si'ros.

Sesame se'sa-ine1 {perhaps se'sam ;
rhymes with fame, lame, p. 104).
Sirens, si'renz.
Sisyphus, si'-si-fus.
Smyrna, smer'na.
Solymi, sol'i-ml.
Sparta, spar-ta.
Styx, stiks.
Symplegades, sim-pleg'-a-dez.

•

Tantalus, tan'ta-lus.

Tartary, tar'ta-ri.

Telamon, tel'a-mon.

Teleniachus, te-lem'a-kus.

Theban, the'ban.

Thebes, thebz.

Theoclymenus, the-o-klim'e-nus.

Theseus, the-sus.

Thesprotia, thes-pro'shi-a.

Thetis, the'tis.

Thoas, th5'as.

Tiresias, ti-re'si-as.

Tityus, tit'i-us.

Trinacria, tri-na/kri-a.

Trojans, tr5'janz.

Troy, troi.

Tyndarus, tin'da-rus.

Tyro, tl'ro.

Ulysses, u-lis'ez.

Vizier, viz'yer (or viz'yer).

Zacynthus, za-kin'thus.
Zetheus, ze'thus.
Zeus, zus.

?, 5, etc., indicate long vowels shortened in unaccented syllables, without loss of their origi-
nal quality ; a, e, o (lighter face) indicate similar shortening, with the quality approaching
the neutral w-sound in but, republican, prudent, idiot, Persia, the book.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

Hyde's Lessons in Eliglish, BOOk I. For the lower grades. Contains exercises
for reproduction, picture lessons, letter writing, uses of parts of speech, etc. 40 cts.

Hyde's Lessons in English, BOOk II. For Grammar schools. Has enough tech-
nical grammar for correct use of language. 60 cts.

Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II with Supplement. Has, in addition

to the above, 118 pages of technical grammar. 70 cts.
Supplement bound alone, 35 cts.

Hyde's Advanced Lessons in English. For advanced classes in grammar schoob

and high schools. 60 cts.

Hyde's Lessons in English, Book II with Advanced Lessons. The Ad-
vanced Lessons and Book II bound together. 80 cts.

Hyde's Derivation of Words. 15 cts.

Mathews's Outline of English Grammar, with Selections for Practice.

The application of principles is made through composition of original sentences. So cts.
Buckbee's Primary Word BOOk. Embraces thorough drills in articulation and in
the primary difficulties of spelling and sound. 30 cts.

Sever's Progressive Speller. For use in advanced primary, intermediate, and gram-
mar grades. Gives spelling, pronunciation, definition, and use of words. 30 cts.

Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language. Being Part I and Appendix of

Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading. 50 cts.

Smith's Studies in Nature, and Language Lessons. A combination of object

lessons with language work. 50 cts. Part I bound separately, 25 cts.

MeiklejOhn's English Language. Treats salient features with a master's skill and
with the utmost clearness and simplicity. $1.30.

MeiklejOhn's English Grammar. Also composition, versification, paraphrasing, etc.
For high schools and colleges. 90 cts.

MeiklejOhn's History of the English Language. 78 pages. Part III of Eng-
lish Language above, 35 cts.

Williams's Composition and Rhetoric by Practice. For high school and col-
lege. Combines the smallest amount of theory with an abundance of practice. Revised
edition. $1.00.

Strang's Exercises in English. Examples in Syntax, Accidence, and Style for
criticism and correction. 50 cts.

HuffCUtt's English in the Preparatory School. Presents as practically as pos-
sible some of the advanced methods of teaching English grammar and composition in the
secondary schools. 25 cts.

Woodward's Study Of English. Discusses English teaching from primary school tc
high collegiate work. 25 cts.

Genung'S Study Of Rhetoric. Shows the most practical discipline of students for tni

making of literature. 25 cts.

GCOdchild'S BOOk Of Stops. Punctuation in Verse. Illustrated. 10 cts.
See also our list of books for the study of English Literature.

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS,

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

Hawthorne and Lemmon's American Literature. A manual for high schools

and academies. $1.25.

Meiklejohn's History of English Language and Literature. For high schools

and colleges. A compact and reliable statement of the essentials ; also included in
Meiklejohn's English Language (see under English Language). 90 cts.

Meiklejohn's History of English Literature. n6 pages. Part IV of English

Literature, above. 45 cts.

Hodgkins' Studies in English Literature. Gives full lists of aids for laboratory

method. Scott, Lamb, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Macaulay?
Dickens, Thackeray, Robert Browning, Mrs. Browning, Carlyle, George Eliot, Tenny-
son, Rossetti, Arnold, Ruskin, Irving, Bryant, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Emerson,
Whittier, Holmes, and Lowell. A separate pamphlet on each author. Price 5 cts. each,
or per hundred, $3.00; complete in cloth (adjustable file cover, $1.50). #1.00.

Scudder's Shelley's Prometheus Unbound. With introduction and copious

notes. 70 cts.

George's WordsWOrth'S Prelude. Annotated for high school and college. Never
before published alone. 80 cts.

George's Selections from Wordsworth. 16s poems chosen with a view to illustrate

the growth of the poet's mind and art. $1.00.

George's Wordsworth's Prefaces and Essays on Poetry. Contains the best of

Wordsworth's prose. 60 cts.
George's Webster's Speeches. Nine select speeches with notes. $1.50.

George's Burke's American Orations. Cloth. 65 cts.

George's Syllabus of English Literature and History. Shows in parallel

columns, the progress of History and Literature. 20 cts.

Corson's Introduction tO Browning. A guide to the study of Browning's Poetry.

Also has 33 poems with notes. $1.50.

Corson's Introduction to the Study of Shakespeare. A critical study of

Shakespeare's art, with examination questions. $1.50.

Corson's Introduction to the Study of Milton, in press.
Corson's Introduction to the Study of Chaucer, hi press.

Cook's Judith. The Old English epic poem, with introduction, translation, glossary and
fac-simile page. $1.60. Students' edition without translation. 35 cts.

Cook's The Bible and English Prose Style. Approaches the study of the Bible

from the literary side. 60 cts.

Simonds' Sir Thomas Wyatt and his Poems. 16S pages. With biography, and

critical analysis of his poems. 75 cts.

Hall's BeOWUlf. A metrical translation. $1.00. Students' edition. 35 cts.

Norton's Heart Of Oak BOOks. A series of live volumes giving selections from the
choicest English literature.

Phillips's History and Literature in Grammar Grades. An essay showing the

intimate relation of the two subjects. 15 cts.

See also our list 0/ books for the study 0/ the English Language.

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS.

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.

Elementary Science.

Bailey's Grammar School Physics. A series of inductive lessons in the elements
of the science. In press.

Ballard's The World Of Matter. A guide to the study of chemistry and mineralogy;
adapted to the general reader, for use as a text-book or as a guide to the teacher in giving
object-lessons. 264 pages. Illustrated. $1.00.

Clark's Practical Methods in Microscopy. Gives in detail descriptions of methods

that will lead the careful worker to successful results. 233 pages. Illustrated. $1.60.

Clarke's Astronomical Lantern. Intended to familiarize students with the constella-
tions by comparing them with fac-similes on the lantern face. With seventeen slides,
giving twenty-two constellations. $4.50.

Clarke's HOW tO find the Stars. Accompanies the above and helps to an acquaintance
with the constellations. 47 pages. Paper. 15 cts.

Guides for Science Teaching. Teachers' aids in the instruction of Natural History
classes in the lower grades.

I. Hyatt's About Pebbles. 26 pages. Paper. 10 cts.
II. Goodale's A Few Common Plants. 61 pages. Paper. 20 cts.

III. Hyatt's Commercial and other Sponges. Illustrated. 43 pages. Paper. 20 cts.

IV. Agassiz's First Lessons in Natural History. Illustrated. 64 pages. Paper.

25 cts.
V. Hyatt's Corals and Echinoderms. Illustrated. 32 pages. Paper. 30 cts.
VI. Hyatt's Mollusca. Illustrated. 65 pages. Paper. 30 crs.
VII Hvatt's Worms and Crustacea. Illustrated. 68 pages. Paper. 30 cts.
VIII. Hyatt's Insecta. Illustrated. 324 pages. Cloth. $1.25.
XIIo Crosby's Common Minerals and Rocks. Illustrated. 200 pages. Paper, 40
cts. Cloth, 60 cts.

XIII Richard's First Lessons in Minerals. 50 pages. Paper. 10 cts.

XIV Bowditch's Physiology. 58 pages. Paper. 20 cts.

XV Clapp's 36 Observation Lessons in Minerals. 80 pages. Paper. 30 cts.
XVI Phenix's Lessons in Chemistry. In press.
Pupils Note-Book to accompany No. 15. 10 cts.

Rice's Science Teaching in the School. With a course of instruction in science
for the lower grades. 46 pagrs. Paper. 25 cts.

Ricks'S Natural History Object LeSSOns. Supplies information on plants and
their products, on animals and their uses, and gives specimen lessons. Fully illustrated.
332 pages. $1.50.

Ricks' s Object Lessons and How to Give them.

Volume I. Gives lessons for primary grades. 200 pages. 90 cts.

Volume II. Gives lessons tor grammar and intermediate grades. 212 pages. 90 cts.

Shaler's First Book in Geology. For high school, or highest class in grammar school.
■»72 pages. Illustrated. $1.00.

Shaler's Teacher's Methods in Geology. An aid to the teacher of Geology.

74 pages. Paper. 25 cts.

Smith's Studies in Nature. A combination of ratural history lessons and language
work. 48 pages. Paper. 15 cts.

Sent by mail postpaid on receipt of price. See also our list of books in Science,

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS,

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.

SCIENCE.

Shaler's First Book in Geology. For high school, or highest class in grammar

school. #1.10. Bound in boards for supplementary reader. 70 cts.

Ballard'S World Of Matter. A Guide to Mineralogy and Chemistry. $1.00.

Shepard's Inorganic Chemistry. Descriptive and Qualitative experimental and
inductive; leads the student to observe and think. For high schools and colleges. $1.25.

Shepard's Briefer Course in Chemistry ; with Chapter on Organic

Chemistry. Designed for schools giving a half year or less to the subject, and schools
limited in laboratory facilities. 90 cts.

Shepard's Organic Chemistry. The portion on organic chemistry in Shepard's
Briefer Course is bound in paper separately. Paper. 30 cts.

Shepard's Laboratory Note-Book. Blanks for experiments: tables for the re-
actions of metallic salts. Can be used with any chemistry. Boards. 40 cts.

Benton's Guide to General Chemistry, a manual for the laboratory. 4octs.

Remsen's Organic Chemistry. An Introduction to the Study of the Compounds
of Carbon. For students of the pure science, or its application to arts. $1.30.

Orndorff's Laboratory Manual. Containing directions for a course of experiments
in Organic Chemistry, arranged to accompany Remsen's Chemistry. Boards. 40 cts.

Coit's Chemical Arithmetic. With a short system of Elementary Qualitative
Analysis For high schools and colleges. 60 cts.

Grabfield and Burns' Chemical Problems. For preparatory schools. 60 cts.

Chute's Practical PhysiCS. A laboratory book for high schools and colleges study-
ing physics experimentally. Gives free details for laboratory work. $1.25.

ColtOn's Practical Zoology. Gives a clear idea of the subject as a whole, by the
careful study of a few typical animals. 90 cts.

Boyer's Laboratory Manual in Elementary Biology, a guide to the

study of animals and plants, and is so constructed as to be of no help to the pupil unless
he actually studies the specimens.

Clark's Methods in MicrOSCOpy. This book gives in detail descriptions of methods
that will lead any careful worker to successful results in microscopic manipulation. $1.60.

Spalding'3 Introduction tO Botany. Practical Exercises in the Study of Plants

by the laboratory method. 90 cts.

Whiting's Physical Measurement. Intended for students in Civil, Mechani-
cal and Electrical Engineering, Surveying, Astronomical Work, Chemical Analysis, Phys-
ical Investigation, and other branches in which accurate measurements are required.

I. Fifty measurements in Density, Heat, Light, and Sound. $1.30.
II. Fifty measurements in Sound, Dynamics, Magnetism, Electricity. $1.30.
III. Principles and Methods of I hysical Measurement, Physical Laws and Princi-
ples, and Mathematical and Physical Tables. $1.30.
IV. Appendix for the use of Teachers, including examples of observation and re-
duction. Part IV is needed by students only when working without a teacher,
$1.30.

Parts I— I II, in one vol., $3.25. Parts I-IV, in one vol., $4.00.

Williams's Modern Petrography. An account of the application of the micro-
scope to the study of geology. Paper. 25 cts.

For elementary works see our list of books in Elementary Science.

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS.

BOSTON. NEW YORK CHICAGO.

READING.

Badlam's Suggestive Lessons in Language and Reading. A manual for pri-
mary teachers. Plain and practical; being a transcript of work actually done in the
school-room. $1.50.

Badlam's Stepping-Stones to Reading. — A Primer. Supplements the 283-page

book above. Boards. 30 cts.

Badlam's First Reader. New and valuable word-building exercises, designed to follow
the above. Boards. 35 cts.

Bass's Nature Stories for Young Readers : Plant Life. Intended to supple-
ment the first and second reading-books. Boards. 30 cts.

Bass's Nature Stories for Young Readers : Animal Life. Gives lessons on

animals and their habits. To follow second reader. Boards. 40 cts.

Fuller's Illustrated Primer. Presents the word-method in a very attractive form to
the youngest readers. Boards. 30 cts.

Fuller's Charts. Three charts for exercises in the elementary sounds, and for combin-
ing them to form syllables and words. The set for $1.25. Mounted, $2.25.

Hall's HOW tO Teach Reading. Treats the important question: what children should
and should not read. Paper. 25 cts.

Miller's My Saturday Bird Class. Designed for use as a supplementary reader in
lower grades or as a text-book of elementary ornithology. Boards. 30 cts.

Norton's Heart Of Oak Books. This series is of material from the standard imagin-
ative literature of the English language. It draws freely upon the treasury of favorite
stories, poems, and songs with which every child should become familiar, and which
have done most to stimulate the fancy and direct the sentiment of the best men and
women of the English-speaking race. Book I, 96 pages, 25 cts.; Book II, 268 pages,
45 cts.; Book III, 308 pages, 55 cts.; Book IV, 370 pages, 60 cts.; Book V, 378 pages,
65 cts.

Smith's Reading and Speaking. Familiar Talks to those who would speak well in
public. 70 cts.

Spear's Leaves and Flowers. Designed for supplementary reading in lower grades
or as a text-book of elementary botany. Boards. 30 cts.

Ventura's MantegaZZa'S Testa. A book to help boys toward a complete self-develop-
ment. $1.00.

Wright's Nature Reader, NO. I. Describes crabs, wasps, spiders, bees, and somp
univalve mollusks. Boards. 30 cts.

Wright's Nature Reader, NO. II. Describes ants, flies, earth-worms, beetles, bar-
nacles and star-fish. Boards. 40 cts.

Wright's Nature Reader, NO. III. Has lessons in plant-life, grassnoppers, butter

flies, and birds. Boards. 60 cts. '

Wright's Nature Reader, NO. IV. Has lessons in geology, astronomy, world-life

etc. Boards. 70 cts.

For advanced supplementary reading see our list 0/ books in English Literature*

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS,

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.

Arithmetic,

Aids to Plumber.— First Series. Teachers' Edition.

Oral Work — One to ten. 25 cards with concise directions. By Anna B. Badlam,
Principal of Training School, Lewiston, Me., formerly of Rice Training School, Boston.'
Retail price, 40 cents.

zAids to Plumber. — First Series, pupt'is* Edition.

Written work. — One to ten. Leatherette. Introduction price, 25 cents.

Aids to Plumber. — Second Series. Teachers' Edition.

Oral Work. — Ten to One Hundred. With especial reference to multiples of numbers
from 1 to 10. 32 cards with concise directions. Retail price, 40 cents.

Aids to Plumbers. — Second Series. Pupils' Edition.

" ■ - —

Written Work. — Ten to One Hundred. Leatherette. Introduction price, 25 cents.

The Child's Slumber Charts. By anna b. badlam.

Manilla card, 11 x 14 inches. Price, 5 cents each ; $4.00 per hundred.

'Drill Charts. By C. P. Howland, Principal of Tabor Academy, Marion, Mass.

For rapid, middle-grade practice work on the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic. Two
cards, 8x9 inches. Price, 3 cents each ; or #2.40 per hundred.

^View Number CardS. By Ella M. Pierce, of Providence, R. I.

For Second and Third Year Pupils. Cards, 7x9 inches. Price, 3 cents each ; or $2.40
per hundred.

Picture Problems. By miss h. a. luddington,

Principal of Training School, Pawtucket, R. I. ; formerly Teacher of Methods and Train-
ing Teacher in Primary Department of State Normal School, New Britain, Conn.,
and Training Teacher in Cook County Normal School, Normal Park, 111. 70 colored
cards, 4x5 inches, printed on both sides, arranged in 9 sets, 6 to 10 cards in each set,
with card of directions. Retail price, 65 cents.

{Mathematical Teaching and its {Modem {Methods.

By Truman Henry Safford, Ph. D., Professor of Astronomy, Williams College,
Mass. Paper. 47 pages. Retail price, 25 cents.

TJje New Arithmetic.

By 300 authors. Edited by Seymour Eaton, with Preface by T. H. Safford, Pro-
fessor of Astronomy, Williams College, Mass. Introduction price, 75 cents.

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,

BOSTON, NEW YORK, AND CHICAGO.

GEOGRAPHY AND MAPS.

Heath's Practical School Maps. Each 30 x 40 inches. Printed from new plates
and showing latest political changes. The common school set consists of Hemispheres,
No. America, So. America, Europe, Africa, Asia, United States. Eyeletted for hanging
on wall, singly, $1.25 ; per set of seven, $7.00. Mounted on cloth and rollers. Singly,
$2.00. Mounted on cloth per set of seven, $12.00. Sunday School set. Canaan and
. Palestine. Singly, $1.25 ; per set of two, $2.00. Mounted, $2.00 each.

Heath's Outline Map Of the United States. Invaluable for marking territorial
growth and for the graphic representation of all geographical and historical matter. Small
(desk) size, 2 cents each; $1.50 per hundred. Intermediate size, 30 cents each. Large
size, 50 cts.

Historical Outline Map Of Europe. 12 x 18 inches, on bond paper, in black outline.

3 cents each ; per hundred, $2.25.

Jackson's Astronomical Geography. Simple enough for grammar schools. Used
for a brief course in high school. 40 cts.

Map Of Ancient History. Outline for recording historical growth and statistics (14 x
17 in.), 3 cents each; per 100, $2.25.

Nichols' Topics in Geography. A guide for pupils' use from the primary through
the eighth grade. 65 cts.

Picturesque Geography. 12 lithograph plates, 15x20 inches, and pamphlet describing
their use. Per set, $3.00; mounted, $5.00.

Progressive Outline Maps: United States, * World on Mercator's Projection (12 x
20 in.) ; North America, South America, Europe, *Central and Western Europe, Africa,
Asia, Australia, *British Isles, *England, *Greece, *Italy, New England, Middle Atlan-
tic States, Southern States, Southern States — western section, Central Eastern States,
Central Western States, Pacific States, New York, Ohio, The Great Lakes, Washington
(State), *Palestine (each 10 x 12 in.). For the graphic representation by the pupil of
geography, geology, history, meteorology, economics, and statistics of all kinds. 2 cents
each; per hundred, $1.50.

Those marked with Star (*) are also printed in black outline for use in teaching history.

Redway's Manual Of Geography. I. Hints to Teachers; II. Modern Facts and
Ancient Fancies. 65 cts.

Redway's Reproduction of Geographical Forms. I. Sand and Clay-Modelling;

II. Map Drawing and Projection. Paper. 30 cts.^

Roney's Student's Outline Map Of England. For use in English History and
Literature, to be filled in by pupils. 5 cts.

Trotter's Lessons in the New Geography. Treats geography from the human

point of view. Adapted for use as a text-book or as a reader. In press.

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS,

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.

H I STO R Y.

Sheldon's General History. For high school and college. The only history fol-
lowing the "seminary" or laboratory plan, now advocated by all leading teachers.
Price, S1.60.

Sheldon's Greek and Roman History. Contains the first 250 pages of the above
book. Price, £1.00.

Teacher's Manual to Sheldon's History. Puts into the instructo s nand the key
to the above system. Price, 80 cents.

Sheldon's Aids to the Teaching of General History. Gives list of essential
books for reference library. Price, 10 cents.

Bridgman's Ten Years of Massachusetts. Pictures the development of the
Commonwealth as seen in its laws. Price, 75 cents.

Shumway's A Day in Ancient Rome. With 59 illustrations. Should find a place
as a supplementary reader in every high school class studying Cicero, Horace
Tacitus, etc. Price. 75 cents.

Old South Leaflets on TJ. S. History. Reproductions of important political and
historical papers, accompanied by useful notes. Price, 5 cents each. Per hun-
dred, $3 00.

This general series of Old South Leaflets now includes the following subjects :
The Constitution of the United States, The Articles of Confederation, The De-
claration of Independence, Washington's Farewell Address, Magna Charta, Vane's
" Healing Question," Charter of Massachusetts Bay, 1629, Fundamental Orders
of Connecticut, 1638, Franklin's Plan of Union, 1754, Washington's Inaugurals,
Lincoln's Inaugurals and Emancipation Proclamation, The Federalist, Nos. 1
and 2, The Ordinance of 17S7, The Constitution of Ohio, Washington's Letter to
Benjamin Harrison, Washington's Circular Letter to the Governors. (38 Leaflets
now ready.)

Allen's History Topics. Covers Ancient, Modern, and American history, and
gives an excellent list of books of reference. Price, 25 cents.

Fisher's Select Bibliog. of Ecclesiastical History. An annotated list of the
most essential books for a Theological student's library. Price, 15 cents.

Hall's Methods of Teaching History. " Its excellence and helpfulness ought to
secure it many readers." — The Nation. Price, #1.50.

Wilson's The State. Elements of Historical and Practical Politics. A text-book
for advanced classes in high schools and colleges on the organization and func-
tions of governments. Retail price, #2.00.

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,

BOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO-

Music and Drawing.

Whitings Public School Music Coicrse.

Boards. Books I. to V., 112 pages each. Price each, 25 cents. Book VI., 256 pages.
Price, 54 cents. Part-Song and Chorus Book. Boards. 256 pages. Price, 96 cents.

This Course consists of a graded series of six elementary Music Readers (thus giving
new music for each grade) and a High School Reader, with accompanying Charts. Every
device that would make the books useful has been adopted. The exercises and songs are
well adapted to the different grades and are all of a high order. It is believed that this
series is by far the most complete and useful one ever published in this country.

Whiting s Public School Music Charts.

First Series, 30 charts, $6.00; Second Series, 14 charts, $3.00; charts separately (two
charts on a leaf) , 50 cents.

The First Series is designed for the lowest primary grades, which should be taught from
the charts before they read from the First Music Reader. The Second Series is designed for
the lowest Grammar Grades, and should precede the use of the Second Music Reader.

These Charts are well graded, progressive, educative, and interesting.

Whiting s Complete Mtisic Reader.

Boards. 224 pages. Price, 75 cents.

Designed for Mixed, High, and Normal Schools, Academies, and Seminaries. _ A large
variety of exercises and solfeggios are given for practice in connection with the Rudimentary
Department, which is quite complete. Two-, three-, and four-part songs constitute a very
important part of the book.

Supplementary Music for Public Schools.

Eight pages numbers, 3 cents; Twelve pages numbers, 4 cents; Sixteen pages numbers,
3 cents. Send for complete list. New numbers are constantly being added.

Whittlesey and J amies oil s Harmony in Praise.

A collection of Hymns for college and school chapel exercises, and for families. 75 cents.

Thompson s Educational and Industrial Drawing.

As at present proposed the entire system will consist of the following Series of Drawing
Books and Manuals: (1) Manual Training Series ; Two Manuals. {Ready. Price,
25 cents each.) (2) Primary Freehand Series ; Four Books and Manual. {Ready. Price,
$1.00 dozen.) (3) Advanced Freehand ; Four Books and Manual. {Ready. Price, $1.50
dozen.) (4) Model and Object ; Three Books and Manual. {Ready. Price, $1.75 dozen.)
(5) Historical Ornament ; Three Books and Manual. ( In press. ) (6) Decorative
Design ; Three Books and Manual. (7) Geometrical ; Two Books and Manual. (8) Or-
thographic Projection ; Two Books and Manual. (9) Perspective ; Three Books and
Manual.

This System of Drawing is accompanied by an abundant supply of apparatus. The
author has had many years' experience in teaching from the lowest Primary through the
Grammar, High, and Technical Schools, and it is believed that the books are so well thought
out both from a philosophical and from a practical point of view, as to be adapted to all
approved methods and views in the study of drawing.

Send for full descriptive circulars and special introduction prices.

D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers,

Boston, New York, Chicago, and London.

Education.

Compayr£'S History Of Pedagogy. " The best and most comprehensive history of
Education in English." — Dr. G. S. Hall. $1-75.

Compayr£'S Lectures On Teaching. "The best book in existence on the theory and
practice of education." — Supt. MacAlister, Philadelphia. $1.75.

Compayr£'s Psychology Applied to Education. A clear and concise statement

of doctrine and application on the science and art of teaching. 90 cts.

De Garmo's Essentials Of Method. A practical exposition of methods with illustra-
tive outlines of common school studies. 65 cts.

De GarmO's Lindner's Psychology. The best Manual ever prepared from the
Herbartian standpoint. $1.00.

Gill'S Systems Of Education. " It treats ably of the Lancaster and Bell movement
in education, — a very important phase." — Dr. W. T. Harris. $1.25.

Hall's Bibliography of Pedagogical Literature. Covers every department of

education. Interleaved, *$2.oo. $1-50.

Herford's Student's Froebel. The purpose of this little book is to give young people
preparing to teach a brief yet full account of Froebel's Theory of Education. 75 cts.

Mallesons Early Training of Children. "The best book for mothers I ever

read." — Elizabeth P. Peabody. 75 cts.

Marwedel's Conscious Motherhood. The unfolding of the child's mind in the

cradle, nursery and Kindergarten. $2-00.

Newsholme'S SchOOl Hygiene. Already in use in the leading training colleges in
England. 75 cts.

Peabody's Home, Kindergarten, and Primary School. "The best book out-
side of the Bible that I ever read." — A Leading Teacher. $1.00.

Pestal0ZZi'S Leonard and Gertrude. "If we except 'Emile' only, no more im-
portant educational book has appeared for a century and a half than ' Leonard and Ger-
trude.'"— The Nation, go cts.

RadestOCk's Habit in Education. " It will prove a rare ' find' to teachers who are
seeking to ground themselves in the philosophy of their art." — E. H. Russell, Worces-
ter Normal School. 75 cts.

Richter's Levana ; or, The Doctrine of Education. "A spirited and scholarly

book." — Prof. W. H. Payne. $1.40.

Rosmini's Method in Education. " The most important pedagogical work ever
written.'' — Thomas Davidson. $1.50.

Rousseau's Emile. " Perhaps the most influential book ever written on the subject of
Education." — R. H. Quick. 90 cts.

Methods Of Teaching Modern Languages. Papers on the value and on methods
of teaching German and French, by prominent instructors. 90 cts.

Sanford's Laboratory Course in Physiological Psychology. The course

includes experiments upon the Dermal Senses, Static and Kinesthetic Senses, Taste,
Smell, Hearing, Vision, Psychophysic. In Press.

Lange's Apperception : A monograph on Psychology and Pedagogy. Trans-
lated by the members of the Herbart Club, under the direction of President Charles
DeGarmo, of Swarthmore College. $1.00.

Herbart's Science Of Education. Translated by Mr. and Mrs. Felken with a pref-
ace by Oscar Browning. $1.00.

Tracy's Psychology Of Childhood. This is the first general treatise covering in a
scientific manner the whole field of child psychology. Octavo. Paper. 75 cts.

Sent by mat/, postpaid, on receipt of price.

D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS,

BOSTON. NEW YORK. CHICAGO.

*