OWARD PYLE
NY PUBLIC LIBRARY THE BRANCH LIBRARIES
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BY
HOWARD PVLE
AUTHOR OF
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*THE WONDER CLOCK "PEPPER AND SALT
"MEN OF IRON" ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
1 ' . ' *
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
I ,- 1
TWILIGHT LAND
Copyright. 1894, by Harper & Brothers
Copyright, 1922. by Mrs. Anne Poole Pyle
Printed in the United States of America
F-F
.
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBAI|Y
DfePARTMfiMT
Table of Contents,
PAGE
I
INTRODUCTION
THE STOOL OF FORTUNE 5
THE TALISMAN OF SOLOMON 2Q
ILL-LUCK AND THE FIDDLER 77
EMPTY BOTTLES 95
GOOD GIFTS AND A FOOL'S FOLLY 113
THE GOOD OF A FEW WORDS 135
WOMAN'S WIT 169
A PIECE OF GOOD LUCK 195
THE FRUIT OF HAPPINESS 235
NOT A PIN TO CHOOSE 259
MUCH SHALL HAVE MORE AND LITTLE SHALL HAVE
LESS 299
PAGE
WISDOM'S WAGES AND FOLLY'S PAY 313
THE ENCHANTED ISLAND 337
ALL THINGS ARE AS FATE WILLS 365
WHERE TO LAY THE BLAME 387
THE SALT OF LIFE 405
/^ ^Introduction^
Ly
FOUND myself in Twilight Land.
How I ever got there I cannot tell,
but there I was in Twilight Land.
What is Twilight Land? It is a
wonderful, wonderful place where no sun shines
to scorch your back as you jog along the way,
where no rain falls to make the road muddy and
hard to travel, where no wind blows the dust into
your eyes or the chill into your marrow. Where
all is sweet and quiet and ready to go to bed.
Where is Twilight Land? Ah! that I can-
not tell you. YOIL will either have to ask your
mother or find it for yourself .
There I was in Twilight Land. The birds
were singing their good-night song, and the little
frogs were piping " peet, peet? The sky overhead
was full of still brightness, and the moon in the
east hung in the purple gray hke a great bubble
as yellow as gold. All the air was full of the
smell of growing things. The high-road was
gray, and the trees were dark.
I drifted along the road as a soap-b2ibble floats
before the wind, or as a body floats in a dream. I
floated along and I floated along past the trees,
past the bushes, past the mill-pond, past the mill
where the old miller stood at the door looking
at me.
I floated on, and there was the Inn, and it was
the Sign of Mother Goose.
The sign hung on a pole, and on it was painted
a picture of Mother Goose with her gray gander.
It was to the Inn I wished to come.
I floated on, and I would have floated past the
Inn, and perhaps have gotten into the Land of
Never -Come- Back- Again, only I caught at the
branch of an apple-tree, and so I stopped myself,
though the apple-blossoms came falling down like
pink and white snowflakes.
The earth and the air and the sky were all still,
just as it is at twilight, and I heard them laugh-
ing and talking in the tap-room of the Inn of the
Sign of Mother Goose the clinking of glasses, and
the rattling and clatter of knives and forks and
plates and dishes. That was where I wished to go.
So in I went. Mother Goose herself opened the
door, and there I was.
The room was all full of twilight ; but there
they sat, every one of them. I did not count them,
but there were ever so many : Aladdin, and Ali
Baba, and Fortunatis, and Jack-the-Giant-Killer,
and Doctor Faustus, and Bidpai, and Cinderella,
and Patient Grizzle, and the Soldier who cheated
the Devil, and St. George, and Hans in Luck, who
traded and traded his lump of gold until he had
only an empty churn to show for it ; and there
was Sindbad the Sailor, and the Tailor who killed
seven flies at a blow, and the Fisherman who
fished up the Genie, and the Lad who fiddled for
the Jew in the bramble-bush, and the Blacksmith
who made Death sit in his apple-tree, and Boots,
who always marries the Princess, whether he
wants to or not a rag-tag lot as ever you saw in
your life, gathered from every place, and brought
together in Twilight Land.
Each one of them was telling a story, and now
it was the turn of the Soldier who cheated the
Devil.
" / WILL tell you" said the Soldier who cheat-
ed the Devil, " a story of a friend of miner
" Take a fresh pipe of tobacco" said St. George.
" Thank you, I will" said the Soldier who cheat-
ed the Devil.
He Ji lied his long pipe full of tobacco, and then
he tilted it upside down and sucked in the light of
the candle.
Puff! puff ! puff ! and a cloud of smoke went
up about his head, so that you could just see his
red nose shining through it, and his bright eyes
twinkling in the midst of the smoke-wreath, like
two stars through a thin cloud on a summer night.
" /'// tell you" said the Soldier who cheated the
Devil, " the story of a friend of mine. ' Tis every
word of it just as true as that I myself cheated the
Devil"
He took a drink from his mug of beer, and then
he began.
" ' Tis called" said he
PROPERTY OF THE
CITY OF NEW YORK
he Stool of Fortune
ONCE upon a time
there came a soldier
marching along the road,
kicking up a little cloud
of dust at each step as
strapping and merry and
bright-eyed a fellow as you
would wish to see in a sum-
mer day. Tramp ! tramp !
tramp ! he marched, whist-
ling as he jogged along,
though he carried a heavy
musket over his shoulder
and though the sun shone
hot and strong and there
was never a tree in sight to
give him a bit of shelter.
At last he came in sight
of the King's Town and to a great field of stocks
and stones, and there sat a little old man as
5
withered and brown as a dead leaf, and clad all
in scarlet from head to foot.
" Ho! soldier," said he, " are you a good shot ?"
" Aye," said the soldier, " that is my trade."
" Would you like to earn a dollar by shooting
off your musket for me ?"
" Aye," said the soldier, " that is my trade
also."
" Very well, then," said the little man in red,
" here is a silver button to drop into your gun in-
stead of a bullet. Wait you here, and about sun-
set there will come a great black bird flying. In
one claw it carries a feather cap and in the other
a round stone. Shoot me the silver button at
that bird, and if your aim is good it will drop the
feather cap and the pebble. Bring them to me
to the great town-gate and I will pay you a dol-
lar for your trouble."
" Very well," said the soldier, " shooting my gun
is a job that fits me like an old coat." So, down
he sat and the old man went his way.
Well, there he sat and sat and sat and sat until
the sun touched the rim of the ground, and then,
just as the old man said, there came flying a great
black bird as silent as night. The soldier did not
tarry to look or to think. As the bird flew by up
came the gun to his shoulder, squint went his eye
along the barrel Puff! Bang!
I vow and declare that if the shot he fired had
cracked the sky he could not have been more
frightened. The great black bird gave a yell so
terrible that it curdled the very blood in his veins
and made his hair stand upon end. Away it flew
like a flash- a bird no longer, but a great, black
demon, smoking and smelling most horribly of
brimstone, and when the soldier gathered his wits,
there lay the feather cap and a little, round, black
stone upon the ground.
" Well," said the soldier, " it is little wonder that
the old man had no liking to shoot at such game
as that." And thereupon he popped the feather
cap into one pocket and the round stone into an-
other, and shouldering his musket marched away
until he reached the town-gate, and there was the
old man waiting for him.
" Did you shoot the bird ?" said he.
" I did," said the soldier.
" And did you get the cap and the round
stone ?"
" I did."
" Then here is your dollar."
" Wait a bit," said the soldier, " I shot greater
game that time than I bargained for, and so it's
ten dollars and not one you shall pay me before
you lay finger upon the feather cap and the
little stone."
" Very well," said the old man, " here are ten
dollars."
" Ho ! ho !" thought the soldier, " is that the
way the wind blows ?" " Did I say ten dollars ?"
said he ; " 'twas a hundred dollars I meant."
At that the old man frowned until his eyes
shone green. " Very well," said he, " if it is a
hundred dollars you want, you will have to come
home with me, for I have not so much with me.
Thereupon he entered the town with the soldier
at his heels.
Up one street he went and down another, un-
til at last he came to a great, black, ancient, ram-
shackle house ; and that was where he lived. In
he walked without so much as a rap at the door,
and so led the way to a great room with furnaces
and books and bottles and jars and dust and cob-
webs, and three grinning skulls upon the mantel-
piece, each with a candle stuck atop of it, and
there he left the soldier while he went to get the
hundred dollars.
The soldier sat him down upon a three-legged
stool in the corner and began staring about him ;
and he liked the looks of the place as little as any
he had seen in all of his life, for it smelled musty
and dusty, it did : the three skulls grinned at him,
and he began to think that the little old man
was no better than he should be. " I wish," says
he, at last, " that in-
stead of being here
I might be well out
of my scrape and in
a safe place."
Now the little old
man in scarlet was a
great magician, and
there was little or
nothing in that
house that had not
some magic about
it, and of all things
the three-legged
stool had been con-
jured the most.
" I wish that instead of being
here I might be well out of my
scrape, and in a safe place."
That was what the soldier said ;
and hardly had the words left
his lips when whisk! whir!
-away flew the stool through the window, so sud-
denly that the soldier had only just time enough
to gripe it tight by the legs to save himself from
falling. Whir! whiz! away it flew like a bullet.
Up and up it went so high in the air that the
earth below looked like a black blanket spread
out in the night ; and then down it came again,
with the soldier still griping tight to the legs,
until at last it settled as light as a feather upon a
balcony of the king's palace; and when the soldier
caught his wind again he found himself without
a hat, and with hardly any wits in his head.
There he sat upon the stool for a long time
without daring to move, for he did not know what
might happen to him next. There he sat and sat,
and by-and-by his ears got cold in the night air,
and then he noticed for the first time that he had
lost his head gear, and bethought himself of the
feather cap in his pocket. So out he drew it and
clapped it upon his head, and then lo and be-
hold ! he found he had become as invisible as
thin air not a shred or a hair of him could be
seen. "Well!" said he, "here is another wonder,
but I am safe now at any rate." And up he got
to find some place not so cool as where he sat.
He stepped in at an open window, and there
he found himself in a beautiful room, hung with
cloth of silver and blue, and with chairs and
tables of white and gold ; dozens and scores of
waxlights shone like so many stars, and lit every
crack and cranny as bright as day, and there at
one end of the room upon a couch, with her eye-
lids closed and fast asleep, lay the prettiest prin-
cess that ever the sun shone upon. The soldier
stood and looked and looked at her, and looked
and looked at her, until his heart melted within
him like soft butter, and then he kissed her.
" Who is that ?" said the princess, starting up,
wide-awake, but not a soul could she see, because
the soldier had the feather cap upon his head.
" Who is that ?" said she again ; and then the
soldier answered, but without taking the feather
cap from his head.
" It is I," said he, " and I am King of the
Wind, and ten times greater than the greatest of
kings here below. One day I saw you walking
in your garden and fell in love with you, and
now I have come to ask you if you will marry
me and be my wife ?"
" But how can I marry you ?" said the princess,
" without seeing you ?"
" You shall see me," said the soldier, " all in
good time. Three days from now I will come
again, and will show myself to you, but just now
it cannot be. But if I come, will you marry me?"
" Yes I will," said the princess, " for I like the
way you talk that I do !"
Thereupon the soldier kissed her and said
good-bye, and then stepped out of the window as
he had stepped in. He sat him down upon his
three-legged stool. " I wish," said he, " to be car-
ried to such and such a tavern." For he had
12
been in that town before, and knew the places
where good living was to be had.
Whir! whiz! Away flew the stool as high
and higher than it had flown before, and then
down it came again, and down and down until it
lit as light as a feather in the street before the
tavern door. The soldier tucked his feather cap
in his pocket, and the three-legged stool under
his arm, and in he went and ordered a pot of
beer and some white bread and cheese.
Meantime, at the king's palace was such a
gossiping and such a hubbub as had not been
heard there for many a day ; for the pretty prin-
cess was not slow in telling how the invisible
King of the Wind had come and asked her to
marry him ; and some said it was true and some
said it was not true, and everybody wondered
and talked, and told their own notions of the
matter. But all agreed that three days would
show whether what had been told was true or no.
As for the soldier, he knew no more how to do
what he had promised to do than my grand-
mother's cat ; for where was he to get clothes
fine enough for the King of the Wind to wear?
So there he sat on his three-legged stool think-
ing and thinking, and if he had known all that I
know he would not have given two turns of his
wit upon it. " I wish," says he, at last " I wish
that this stool could help me now as well as it
can carry me through the sky. I wish," says he,
" that I had a suit of clothes such as the King of
the Wind might really wear."
The wonders of the three-legged stool were
wonders indeed !
Hardly had the words left the soldier's lips
when down came something tumbling about his
ears from up in the air ; and what should it be
but just such a suit of clothes as he had in his
mind all crusted over with gold and silver and
jewels.
" Well," says the soldier, as soon as he had got
over his wonder again, " I would rather sit upon
this stool than any I ever saw." And so would
I, if I had been in his place, and had a few
minutes to think of all that I wanted.
So he found out the trick of the stool, and
after that wishing and having were easy enough,
and by the time the three days were ended the
real King of the Wind himself could not have
cut a finer figure. Then down sat the soldier
upon his stool, and wished himself at the king's
palace. Away he flew through the air, and by-and-
by there he was, just where he had been before.
He put his feather cap upon his head, and
stepped in through the window, and there he
found the princess with her father, the king, and
15
her mother, the queen, and all the great lords and
nobles waiting for his coming ; but never a stitch
nor a hair did they see of him until he stood in
the very midst of them all. Then he whipped the
feather cap off of his head, and there he was, shin
ing with silver and gold and glistening with jew-
els such a sight as man's eyes never saw before.
" Take her," said the king, "she is yours." And
the soldier looked so handsome in his fine clothes
that the princess was as glad to hear those words
as any she had ever listened to in all of her life.
" You shall," said the king, " be married to-mor-
row."
" Very well," said the soldier. " Only give me
a plot of ground to build a palace upon that shall
be fit for the wife of the King of the Wind to
live in."
" You shall have it," said the king, " and it shall
be the great parade ground back of the palace,
which is so wide and long that all my army can
march round and round in it without getting into
its own way ; and that ought to be big enough."
" Yes," said the soldier, " it is." Thereupon he
put on his feather cap and disappeared from the
sight of all as quickly as one might snuff out a
candle.
He mounted his three-legged stool and away
he flew through the air until he had come again
16
to the tavern where he was lodging. There he
sat him down and began to churn his thoughts,
and the butter he made was worth the having, I
can tell you. He wished for a grand palace of
white marble, and then he wished for all sorts of
things to fill it the finest that could be had.
Then he wished for servants in clothes of gold
and silver, and then he wished for fine horses and
gilded coaches. Then he wished for gardens and
orchards and lawns and flower- plats and foun-
tains, and all kinds and sorts of things, until the
sweat ran down his face from hard thinking and
wishing. And as he thought and wished, all the
things he thought and wished for grew up like
soap-bubbles from nothing at all.
Then, when day began to break, he wished him-
self with his fine clothes to be in the palace that
his own wits had made, and away he flew through
the air until he had come there safe and sound.
But when the sun rose and shone down upon
the beautiful palace and all the gardens and or-
chards around it, the king and queen and all the
court stood dumb with wonder at the sight.
Then, as they stood staring, the gates opened and
out came the soldier riding in his gilded coach
with his servants in silver and gold marching be-
side him, and such a sight the daylight never
looked upon before that day.
B 17
Well, the princess and the soldier were married,
and if no couple had ever been happy in the
world before, they were then. Nothing was heard
but feasting and merrymaking, and at night all
the sky was lit with fireworks. Such a wedding
had never been before, and all the world was glad
that it had happened.
That is, all the world but one ; that one was
the old man dressed in scarlet that the soldier
had met when he first came to town. While all
the rest were in the hubbub of rejoicing, he put
on his thinking-cap, and by-and-by began to see
pretty well how things lay, and that, as they say in
our town, there was a fly in the milk-jug. " Ho,
ho !" thought he, " so the soldier has found out
all about the three-legged stool, has he ? Well, I
will just put a spoke into his wheel for him." And
so he began to watch for his chance to do the
soldier an ill turn.
Now, a week or two after the wedding, and after
all the gay doings had ended, a grand hunt was
declared, and the king and his new son-in-law
and all the court went to it. That was just
such a chance as the old magician had been
waiting for; so the night before the hunting-
party returned he climbed the walls of the gar-
den, and so came to the wonderful palace that
the soldier had built out of nothing at all, and
18
there stood three men keeping guard so that no
one might enter.
But little that troubled the magician. He be-
gan to mutter spells and strange words, and all
of a sudden he was gone, and in his place was a
great black ant, for he had changed himself into
an ant. In he ran through a crack of the door
(and mischief has got into many a man's house
through a smaller hole for the matter of that).
In and out ran the ant through one room and an-
other, and up and down and here and there, until
at last in a far-away part of the magic palace he
found the three-legged stool, and if I had been in
the soldier's place I would have chopped it up
into kindling-wood after I had gotten all that I
wanted. But there it was, and in an instant the
magician resumed his own shape. Down he sat
him upon the stool. " I wish," said he, "that this
palace and the princess and all who are within it,
together with its orchards and its lawns and its
gardens and everything, may be removed to such
and such a country, upon the other side of the
earth."
And as the stool had obeyed the soldier, so
everything was done now just as the magician
said.
The next morning back came the hunting-
party, and as they rode over the hill lo and be-
20
hold ! - - there lay stretched out the great parade
ground in which the king's armies used to march
around and around, and the land was as bare as
the palm of my hand. Not a stick or a stone of
the palace was left; not a leaf or a blade of the
orchards or gardens was to be seen.
The soldier sat as dumb as a fish, and the
king stared with eyes and mouth wide open.
" Where is the palace, and where is my daugh-
ter?" said he, at last, finding words and wit.
" I do not know," said the soldier.
The king's face grew as black as thunder.
" You do not know ?" he said, " then you must
find out. Seize the traitor !" he cried.
But that was easier said than done, for, quick
as a wink, as they came to lay hold of him, the
soldier whisked the feather cap from his pocket
and clapped it upon his head, and then they
might as well have hoped to find the south wind
in winter as to find him.
But though he got safe away from that trouble
he was deep enough in the dumps, you may be
sure of that. Away he went, out into the wide
world, leaving that town behind him. Away he
went, until by-and-by he came to a great forest,
and for three days he travelled on and on he
knew not whither. On the third night, as he sat
beside a fire which he had built to keep him
21
warm, he suddenly bethought himself of the little
round stone which had dropped from the bird's
claw, and which he still had in his pocket. "Why
should it not also help me," said he, " for there
must be some wonder about it." So he brought
it out, and sat looking at it and looking at it, but
he could make nothing of it for the life of him.
Nevertheless, it might have some wishing power
about it, like the magic stool. " I wish," said the
soldier, " that I might get out of this scrape."
That is what we have all wished many and many
a time in a like case; but just now it did the
soldier no more good to wish than it does good
for the rest of us. " Bah !" said he, " it is noth-
ing but a black stone after all." And then he
threw it into the fire.
Puff! Bang! Away flew the embers upon
every side, and back tumbled the soldier, and
there in the middle of the flame stood just such
a grim, black being as he had one time shot at
with the silver button.
As for the poor soldier, he just lay flat on his
back and stared with eyes like saucers, for he
thought that his end had come for sure.
" What are my lord's commands ?" said the
being, in a voice that shook the marrow of the
soldier's bones.
" Who are you ?" said the soldier.
22
" I am the spirit of the stone," said the being.
*' You have heated it in the flame, and I am here.
Whatever you command I must obey."
" Say you so ?" cried the soldier, scrambling to
his feet. " Very well, then, just carry me to where
I may find my wife and my palace again."
Without a word the spirit of the stone snatch-
ed the soldier up, and flew away with him swifter
than the wind. Over forest, over field, over
mountain and over valley he flew, until at last,
just at the crack of day, he set him down in
front of his own palace gate in the far country
where the magician had transported it.
After that the soldier knew his way quickly
enough. He clapped his feather cap upon his
head and into the palace he went, and from one
room to another, until at last he came to where
the princess sat weeping and wailing, with her
pretty eyes red from long crying.
Then the soldier took off his cap again, and
you may guess what sounds of rejoicing followed.
They sat down beside one another, and after the
soldier had eaten, the princess told him all that
had happened to her; how the magician had
found the stool, and how he had transported the
palace to this far-away land ; how he came every
day and begged her to marry him which she
would rather die than do.
To all this the soldier listened, and when she
had ended her story he bade her to dry her tears,
for, after all, the jug was only cracked, and not
past mending. Then he told her that when the
sorcerer came again that day she should say so
and so and so and so, and that he would be by to
help her with his feather cap upon his head.
After that they sat talking together as happy
as two turtle-doves, until the magician's foot
was heard on the stairs. And then the soldier
clapped his feather cap upon his head just as the
door opened.
" Snuff, snuff !" said the magician, sniffing the
air, " here is a smell of Christian blood."
" Yes," said the princess, " that is so ; there
came a peddler to-day, but after all he did not
stay long."
" He'd better not come again," said the magi-
cian, " or it will be the worse for him. But tell
me, will you marry me ?"
" No," said the princess, " I shall not marry
you until you can prove yourself to be a greater
man than my husband."
" Pooh !" said the magician, " that will be easy
enough to prove ; tell me how you would have
me do so and I will do it."
" Very well," said the princess, " then let me
see you change yourself into a lion. If you can
25
do that I may perhaps believe you to be as great
as my husband."
" It shall," said the magician, " be as you say.
He began to mutter spells and strange words,
and then all of a sudden he was gone, and in his
place there stood a lion with bristling mane and
flaming eyes a sight fit of itself to kill a body
with terror.
" That will do !" cried the princess, quaking
and trembling at the sight, and thereupon the
magician took his own shape again.
" Now," said he, " do you believe that I am as
great as the poor soldier ?"
" Not yet," said the princess ; " I have seen
how big you can make yourself, now I wish to
see how little you can become. Let me see you
change yourself into a mouse."
" So be it," said the magician, and began again
to mutter his spells. Then all of a sudden he
was gone just as he was gone before, and in his
place was a little mouse sitting up and looking
at the princess with a pair of eyes like glass
beads.
But he did not sit there long. This was what
the soldier had planned for, and all the while he
had been standing by with his feather hat upon
his head. Up he raised his foot, and down he
set it upon the mouse.
26
Crunch ! that was an end of the magician.
After that all was clear sailing; the soldier
hunted up the three-legged stool and down he
sat upon it, and by dint of no more than just a
little wishing, back flew palace and garden and
all through the air again to the place whence it
came.
I do not know whether the old king ever be-
lieved again that his son-in-law was the King of
the Wind ; anyhow, all was peace and friend-
liness thereafter, for when a body can sit upon a
three-legged stool and wish to such good pur-
pose as the soldier wished, a body is just as
good as a king, and a good deal better, to my
mind.
THE Soldier who cheated the Devil looked
into his pipe; it was nearly out. He puffed
and puffed and the coal glowed brighter, and
fresh clouds of smoke rolled up into the air.
Little Brown Betty came and refilled, from a
crock of brown foaming ale, the mug which he
had emptied. The Soldier who had cheated the
Devil looked up at her and winked one eye.
"Now" said St. George, "it is the turn of yon-
der old man" and he pointed, as he spoke, with
the stem of his pipe towards old Bidpai, who sat
with closed eyes meditating inside of himself.
The old man opened his eyes, the whites of which
were as yellow as saffron, and wrinkled his face
into innumerable cracks and lines. Then he closed
his eyes again ; then he opened them again ; then
he cleared his throat and began : " There was
once upon a time a man whom other men called
Aben Hassen the Wise "
" One moment" said Ali Bab a; " will you not
tell us what the story is about ?"
Old Bidpai looked at him and stroked his long
white beard. " It is" said he, " about
he Talisman Solomon.
THERE was once
upon a time a man
whom other men called
Aben Hassen the Wise.
He had read a thou-
sand books of magic,
and knew all that the
ancients or moderns
had to tell of the hid-
den arts.
The King of the De-
mons of the Earth, a
great and hideous mon-
ster, named Zadok, was
his servant, and came
and went as Aben Has-
sen the Wise ordered,
and did as he bade.
After Aben Hassen
learned all that it was
possible for man to know, he said to himself,
"Now I will take my ease and enjoy my life."
So he called the Demon Zadok to him, and said
to the monster, " I have read in my books that
there is a treasure that was one time hidden by
the ancient kings of Egypt a treasure such as
the eyes of man never saw before or since their
day. Is that true ?"
" It is true," said the Demon.
" Then I command thee to take me to that
treasure and to show it to me," said Aben Hassen
the Wise.
" It shall be done," said the Demon; and there,
upon he caught up the Wise Man and transport-
ed him across mountain and valley, across land
and sea, until he brought him to a country known
as the " Land of the Black Isles," where the treas-
ure of the ancient kings was hidden. The Demon
showed the Magician the treasure, and it was a
sight such as man had never looked upon before
or since the days that the dark, ancient ones hid
it. With his treasure Aben Hassen built himself
palaces and gardens and paradises such as the
world never saw before. He lived like an em-
peror, and the fame of his doings rang through
all the four corners of the earth.
Now the queen of the Black Isles was the
most beautiful woman in the world, but she was
30
as cruel and wicked and cunning as she was
beautiful. No man that looked upon her could
help loving her ; for not only was she as beauti-
ful as a dream, but her beauty was of that sort
that it bewitched a man in spite of himself.
One day the queen sent for Aben Hassen the
Wise. " Tell me," said she, " is it true that men
say of you that you have discovered a hidden
treasure such as the world never saw before ?"
And she looked at Aben Hassen so that his wis-
dom all crumbled away like sand, and he became
just as foolish as other men.
" Yes," said he, " it is true."
Aben Hassen the Wise spent all that day with
the queen, and when he left the palace he was
like a man drunk and dizzy with love. More-
over, he had promised to show the queen the hid-
den treasure the next day.
As Aben Hassen, like a man in a dream, walked
towards his own house, he met an old man stand-
ing at the corner of the street. The old man had
a talisman that hung dangling from a chain, and
which he offered for sale. When Aben Hassen
saw the talisman he knew very well what it was
that it was the famous talisman of King Solomon
the Wise. If he who possessed the talisman
asked it to speak, it would tell that man both
what to do and what not to do.
31
The Wise Man bought the talisman for three
pieces of silver (and wisdom has been sold for less
than that many a time), and as soon as he had
the talisman in his hands he hurried home with
it and locked himself in a room.
" Tell me," said the Wise Man to the Talisman,
" shall I marry the beautiful queen of the Black
Isles ?"
" Fly, while there is yet time to escape !" said
the Talisman ; " but go not near the queen again,
for she seeks to destroy thy life."
" But tell me, O Talisman P'said the Wise Man,
"what then shall I do with all that vast treasure
of the kings of Egypt ?"
" Fly from it while there is yet chance to es-
cape !" said the Talisman ; " but go not into the
treasure - house again, for in the farther door,
where thou hast not yet looked, is that which
will destroy him who possesses the treasure."
"But Zadok," said Aben Hassen; "what of
Zadok ?"
" Fly from the monster while there is yet time
to escape," said the Talisman, " and have no more
to do with thy Demon slave, for already he is
weaving a net of death and destruction about
thy feet."
The Wise Man sat all that night pondering
and thinking upon what the Talisman had said-
32
r
When morning came he washed and dressed him-
self, and called the Demon Zadok to him. " Za.
dok," said he, " carry me to the palace of the
queen." In the twinkling of an eye the Demon
transported him to the steps of the palace.
" Zadok, :: said the Wise Man, " give me the staff
of life and death;" and the Demon brought from
under his clothes a wand, one-half of which was
of silver and one-half of which was of gold. The
Wise Man touched the steps of the palace with
the silver end of the staff. Instantly all the sound
and hum of life was hushed. The thread of life
was cut by the knife of silence, and in a moment
all was as still as death.
" Zadok," said the Wise Man, " transport me to
the treasure-house of the king of Egypt." And
instantly the Demon had transported him thither.
The Wise Man drew a circle upon the earth.
" No one," said he, " shall have power to enter
here but the master of Zadok, the King of the
Demons of the Earth."
" And now, Zadok," said he, " I command thee
to transport me to India, and as far from here as
thou canst." Instantly the Demon did as he
was commanded; and of all the treasure that he
had, the Wise Man took nothing with him but a
jar of golden money and a jar of silver money.
As soon as the Wise Man stood upon the ground
34
of India, he drew from beneath his robe a little
jar of glass.
" Zadok," said he, " I command thee to enter
this jar."
Then the Demon knew that now his turn had
come. He besought and implored the Wise Man
to have mercy upon him ; but it was all in vain.
Then the Demon roared and bellowed till the
earth shook and the sky grew dark overhead.
But all was of no avail ; into the jar he must go,
and into the jar he went. Then the Wise Man
stoppered the jar and sealed it. He wrote an in-
scription of warning upon it, and then he buried
it in the ground.
" Now," said Aben Hassen the Wise to the Tal-
isman of Solomon, " have I done everything that
I should ?"
"No," said the Talisman, "thou shouldst not
have brought the jar of golden money and the
jar of silver money with thee ; for that which is
evil in the greatest is evil in the least. Thou
fool ! The treasure is cursed ! cast it all from
thee while there is yet time."
" Yes, I will do that, too," said the Wise Man.
So he buried in the earth the jar of gold and the
jar of silver that he had brought with him, and
then he stamped the mould down upon it. After
that the Wise Man began his life all over again.
35
He bought, and he sold, and he traded, and by-
and-by he became rich. Then he built himself a
great house, and in the foundation he laid the
jar in which the Demon was bottled.
Then he married a young and handsome wife.
By-and-by the wife bore him a son, and then she
died.
This son was the pride of his father's heart ;
but he was as vain and foolish as his father was
wise, so that all men called him Aben Hassen
the Fool, as they called the father Aben Hassen
the Wise.
Then one day death came and called the old
man, and he left his son all that belonged to him
even the Talisman of Solomon.
Young Aben Hassen the Fool had never
seen so much money as now belonged to him.
It seemed to him that there was nothing in the
world he could not enjoy. He found friends by
the dozens and scores, and everybody seemed to
be very fond of him.
He asked no questions of the Talisman of Sol-
omon, for to his mind there was no need of be-
ing both wise and rich. So he began enjoying
himself with his new friends. Day and night
there was feasting and drinking and singing
36
and dancing and merrymaking and carousing;
and the money that the old man had made by
trading and wise living poured out like water
through a sieve.
Then, one day came an end to all this junket-
ing, and nothing remained to the young spend-
thrift of all the wealth that his father had left
him. Then the officers of the law came down
upon him and seized all that was left of the
fine things, and his fair-weather friends flew
away from his troubles like flies from vinegar.
Then the young man began to think of the
Talisman of Wisdom. For it was with him
as it is with so many of us: When folly has
emptied the platter, wisdom is called in to pick
the bones.
" Tell me," said the young man to the Talis-
man of Solomon, " what shall I do, now that
everything is gone ?"
" Go," said the Talisman of Solomon, " and
work as thy father has worked before thee. Ad-
vise with me and become prosperous and con-
tented, but do not go dig under the cherry-tree
in the garden."
" Why should I not dig under the cherry-tree
in the garden ?" says the young man; " I will see
what is there, at any rate."
So he straightway took a spade and went out
37
into the garden, where the Talisman had told
him not to go. He dug and dug under the
cherry-tree, and by-and-by his spade struck some-
thing hard. It was a vessel of brass, and it was
full of silver money. Upon the lid of the vessel
were these words, engraved in the handwriting
of the old man who had died :
" My son, this vessel full of silver has been
brought from the treasure - house of the ancient
kings of Egypt. Take this, then, that thou find-
est; advise with the Talisman ; be wise and pros-
per."
" And they call that the Talisman of Wisdom,"
said the young man. " If I had listened to it I
never would have found this treasure."
The next day he began to spend the money he
had found, and his friends soon gathered around
him again.
The vessel of silver money lasted a week, and
then it was all gone ; not a single piece was left.
Then the young man bethought himself again
of the Talisman of Solomon. " What shall I do
now," said he, " to save myself from ruin ?"
" Earn thy bread with honest labor," said the
Talisman, "and I will teach thee how to prosper;
but do not dig beneath the fig-tree that stands
by the fountain in the garden."
The young man did not tarry long after he
38
heard what the Talisman had said. He seized a
spade and hurried away to the fig-tree in the
garden as fast as he could run. He dug and dug,
and by-and-by his spade struck something hard.
It was a copper vessel, and it was filled with gold
money. Upon the lid of the vessel was engraved
these words in the handwriting of the old man
who had gone : " My son, my son," they said,
" thou hast been warned once ; be warned again.
39
The gold money in this vessel has been brought
from the treasure-house of the ancient kings of
Egypt. Take it ; be advised by the Talisman of
Solomon ; be wise and prosper."
"And to think that if I had listened to the
Talisman, I would never have found this," said
the young man.
The gold in the vessel lasted maybe for a
month of jollity and merrymaking, but at the
end of that time there was nothing left not a
copper farthing.
" Tell me," said the young man to the Talis-
man, " what shall I do now ?"
" Thou fool," said the Talisman, " go sweat
and toil, but do not go down into the vault be-
neath this house. There in the vault is a red
stone built into the wall. The red stone turns
upon a pivot. Behind the stone is a hollow
space. As thou wouldst save thy life from peril,
go not near it !"
" Hear that now," says the young man, " first,
this Talisman told me not to go, and I found sil-
ver. Then it told me not to go, and I found
gold ; now it tells me not to go perhaps I shall
find precious stones enough for a king's ran-
som."
He lit a lantern and went down into the vault
beneath the house. There, as the Talisman had
40
said, was the red stone built into the wall. He
pressed the stone, and it turned upon its pivot as
the Talisman had said it would turn. Within
was a hollow space, as the Talisman said there
would be. In the hollow space there was a cas-
ket of silver. The young man snatched it up,
and his hands trembled for joy.
Upon the lid of the box were these words in
the father's handwriting, written in letters as red
as blood : " Fool, fool ! Thou hast been a fool
once, thou hast been a fool twice ; be not a fool
for a third time. Restore this casket whence it
was taken, and depart."
" I will see what is in the box, at any rate,"
said the young man.
He opened it. There was nothing in it but a
hollow glass jar the size of an egg. The young
man took the jar from the box ; it was as hot as
fire. He cried out and let it fall. The jar burst
upon the floor with a crack of thunder; the
house shook and rocked, and the dust flew about
in clouds. Then all was still ; and when Aben
Hassen the Fool could see through the cloud of
terror that enveloped him he beheld a great, tall,
hideous being as black as ink, and with eyes that
shone like coals of fire.
When the young man saw that terrible creat-
ure his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth,
and his knees smote together with fear, for he
thought that his end had now certainly come.
" Who are you ?" he croaked, as soon as he
could find his voice.
" I am the King of the Demons of the Earth,
and my name is Zadok," answered the being. " I
was once thy father's slave, and now I am thine,
thou being his son. When thou speakest I must
obey, and whatever thou commandest me to do
that I must do."
" For instance, what can you do for me ?" said
the young man.
" I can do whatsoever you ask me ; I can make
you rich."
" You can make me rich ?"
" Yes, I can make you richer than a king."
" Then make me rich as soon as you can," said
Aben Hassen the Fool, " and that is all that I
shall ask of you now."
" It shall be done," said the Demon ; " spend
all that thou canst spend, and thou shalt always
have more. Has my lord any further commands
for his slave ?"
" No," said the young man, " there is nothing
more ; you may go now."
And thereupon the Demon vanished like a
flash.
" And to think," said the young man, as he
42
came up out of the vault " and to think that all
this I should never have found if I had obeyed
the Talisman."
Such riches were never seen in that land as
the young man now possessed. There was no
end to the treasure that poured in upon him.
He lived like an emperor. He built a palace
more splendid than the palace of the king.
He laid out vast gardens of the most exquisite
beauty, in which there were fountains as white
as snow, trees of rare fruit and flowers that filled
all the air with their perfume, summer-houses of
alabaster and ebony.
Every one who visited him was received like a
prince, entertained like a king, given a present fit
for an emperor, and sent away happy. The fame
of all these things went out through all the land,
and every one talked of him and the magnifi-
cence that surrounded him.
It came at last to the ears of the king himself,
and one day he said to his minister, " Let us go
and see with our own eyes if all the things re-
ported of this merchant's son are true."
So the king and his minister disguised them-
selves as foreign merchants, and went that even-
ing to the palace where the young man lived. A
servant dressed in clothes of gold and silver cloth
stood at the door, and called to them to come in
44
and be made welcome. He led them in, and to
a chamber lit with perfumed lamps of gold.
Then six black slaves took them in charge and
led them to a bath of white marble. They were
bathed in perfumed water and dried with towels
of fine linen. When they came forth they were
clad in clothes of cloth of silver, stiff with gold
and jewels. Then twelve handsome white slaves
led them through a vast and splendid hall to a
banqueting-room.
When they entered they were deafened with
the noise of carousing and merrymaking.
Aben Hassen the Fool sat at the head of the
table upon a throne of gold, with a canopy of gold
above his head. When he saw the king and the
minister enter, he beckoned to them to come and
sit beside him. He showed them special favor be-
cause they were strangers, and special servants
waited upon them.
The king and his minister had never seen any-
thing like what they then saw. They could hard-
ly believe it was not all magic and enchantment.
At the end of the feast each of the guests was
given a present of great value, and was sent
away rejoicing. The king received a pearl as
big as a marble ; the minister a cup of wrought
gold.
The next morning the king and the prime-
45
minister were talking over what they had seen.
" Sire," said the prime-minister, " I have no doubt
but that the young man has discovered some vast
hidden treasure. Now, according to the laws of
this kingdom, the half of any treasure that is dis-
covered shall belong to the king's treasury. If I
were in your place I would send for this young
man and compel him to tell me whence comes all
this vast wealth."
" That is true," said the king ; " I had not
thought of that before. The young man shall
tell me all about it."
So they sent a royal guard and brought the
young man to the king's palace. When the
young man saw in the king and the prime-min-
ister his guests of the night before, whom he had
thought to be only foreign merchants, he fell on
his face and kissed the ground before the throne.
But the king spoke to him kindly, and raised him
up and sat him on the seat beside him. They
talked for a while concerning different things,
and then the king said at last, " Tell me, my
friend, whence comes all the inestimable wealth
that you must possess to allow you to live as
you do ?"
" Sire," said the young man, " I cannot tell you
whence it comes. I can only tell you that it is
given to me."
46
-.-g - .
/<
e 9 i S ^ ^
-
The king frowned. "You cannot tell," said
he ; " you must tell. It is for that that I have
sent for you, and you must tell me."
Then the young man began to be frightened.
" I beseech you," said he, " do not ask me whence
it comes. I cannot tell you."
Then the king's brows grew as black as thun-
der. " What !" cried he, " do you dare to bandy
words with me ? I know that you have discov-
ered some treasure. Tell me upon the instant
where it is ; for the half of it, by the laws of the
land, belongs to me, and I will have it."
At the king's words Aben Hassen the Fool
fell on his knees. " Sire," said he, " I will tell
you all the truth. There is a demon named Za-
dok a monster as black as a coal. He is my
slave, and it is he that brings me all the treasure
that I enjoy." The king thought nothing else
than that Aben Hassen the Fool was trying to
deceive him. He laughed ; he was very angry.
11 What," cried he, " do you amuse me by such an
absurd and unbelievable tale? Now I am more
than ever sure that you have discovered a treas-
ure and that you wish to keep the knowledge of
it from me, knowing, as you do, that the one-half
of it by law belongs to me. Take him away !"
cried he to his attendants. " Give him fifty lashes,
and throw him into prison. He shall stay there
and have fifty lashes every day until he tells me
where his wealth is hidden."
It was done as the king said, and by-and-by
Aben Hassen the Fool lay in the prison, smart-
ing and sore with the whipping he had had.
Then he began again to think of the Talis-
man of Solomon.
" Tell me," said he to the Talisman, " what
shall I do now to help myself in this trouble ?"
" Bear thy punishment, thou fool," said the
Talisman. " Know that the king will by-and-by
pardon thee and will let thee go. In the mean-
time bear thy punishment ; perhaps it will cure
thee of thy folly. Only do not call upon Zadok,
the King of the Demons, in this thy trouble."
The young man smote his hand upon his head.
" What a fool I am," said he, " not to have thought
to call upon Zadok before this !" Then he called
aloud, " Zadok, Zadok ! If thou art indeed my
slave, come hither at my bidding."
In an instant there sounded a rumble as of
thunder. The floor swayed and rocked beneath
the young man's feet. The dust flew in clouds,
and there stood Zadok as black as ink, and with
eyes that shone like coals of fire.
" I have come," said Zadok, " and first let me
cure thy smarts, O master."
He removed the cloths from the young man's
D 49
back, and rubbed the places that smarted with a
cooling unguent. Instantly the pain and smarting
ceased, and the merchant's son had perfect ease.
" Now," said Zadok, " what is thy bidding?"
" Tell me," said Aben Hassen the Fool,
" whence comes all the wealth that you have
brought me? The king has commanded me to
tell him and I could not, and so he has had me
beaten with fifty lashes."
" I bring the treasure," said Zadok, " from the
treasure-house of the ancient kings of Egypt.
That treasure I at one time discovered to your
father, and he, not desiring it himself, hid it in
the earth so that no one might find it."
" And where is this treasure-house, O Zadok ?"
said the young man.
" It is in the city of the queen of the Black
Isles," said the King of the Demons ; " there thy
father lived in a palace of such magnificence
as thou hast never dreamed of. It was I that
brought him thence to this place with one vessel
of gold money and one vessel of silver money."
" It was you who brought him here, did you
say, Zadok ? Then, tell me, can you take me
from here to the city of the queen of the Black
Isles, whence you brought him ?"
" Yes," said Zadok, " with ease."
" Then," said the young man, " I command you
to take me thither instantly, and to show me the
treasure."
" I obey," said Zadok.
He stamped his foot upon the ground. In an
instant the walls of the prison split asunder, and
the sky was above them. The Demon leaped
from the earth, carrying the young man by the
girdle, and flew through the air so swiftly that
the stars appeared to slide away behind them.
51
In a moment he set the young man again upon
the ground, and Aben Hassen the Fool found
himself at the end of what appeared to be a vast
and splendid garden.
" We are now," said Zadok, " above the treas-
ure-house of which I spoke. It was here that I
saw thy father seal it so that no one but the mas-
ter of Zadok may enter. Thou mayst go in any
time it may please thee, for it is thine."
" I would enter into it now," said Aben Hassen
the Fool.
" Thou shalt enter," said Zadok. He stooped,
and with his finger-point he drew a circle upon
the ground where they stood ; then he stamped
with his heel upon the circle. Instantly the earth
opened, and there appeared a flight of marble
steps leading downward into the earth. Zadok
led the way down the steps and the young man
followed. At the bottom of the steps was a door
of adamant. Upon the door were these words in
letters as black as ink, in the handwriting of the
old man who had gone :
" Oh, fool ! fool ! Beware what thou doest.
Within here shalt thou find death !"
There was a key of brass in the door. The
King of the Demons turned the key and opened
the door. The young man entered after him.
Aben Hassen the Fool found himself in a vast
52
vaulted room, lit by the light of a single car-
buncle set in the centre of the dome above. In
the middle of the marble floor was a great basin
twenty paces broad, and filled to the brim with
money such as he had found in the brazen vessel
in the garden.
The young man could not believe what he
saw with his own eyes. " Oh, marvel of mar-
vels!" he cried; "little wonder you could give me
boundless wealth from such a storehouse as this."
Zadok laughed. " This," said he, " is nothing ;
come with me."
He led him from this room to another like it
vaulted, and like it lit by a carbuncle set in the
dome of the roof above. In the middle of the
floor was a basin such as Aben Hassen the Fool
had seen in the other room beyond ; only this
was filled with gold as that had been filled with
silver, and the gold was like that he had found in
the garden. When the young man saw this vast
and amazing wealth he stood speechless and
breathless with wonder. The Demon Zadok
laughed. " This," said he, " is great, but it is lit-
tle. Come and I will show thee a marvel indeed."
He took the young man by the hand and led
him into a third room vaulted as the other two
had been, lit as they had been by a carbuncle in
the roof above. But when the young man's eyes
53
saw what was in this third room, he was like
a man turned drunk with wonder. He had to
lean against the wall behind him, for the sight
made him dizzy.
In the middle of the room was such a basin as
he had seen in the two other rooms, only it was
filled with jewels diamonds and rubies and em-
eralds and sapphires and precious stones of all
kinds that sparkled and blazed and flamed like
a million stars. Around the wall, and facing the
basin from all sides, stood six golden statues.
Three of them were statues of the kings and
three of them were statues of the queens who had
gathered together all this vast and measureless
wealth of ancient Egypt.
There was space for a seventh statue, but
where it should have stood was a great arched
door of adamant. The door was tight shut, and
there was neither lock nor key to it. Upon the
door were written these words in letters of flame :
" Behold ! beyond this door is that alone which
shall satisfy all thy desires."
" Tell me, Zadok," said the young man, after
he had filled his soul with all the other wonders
that surrounded him " tell me what is there that
lies beyond that door ?"
" That I am forbidden to tell thee, O master !"
said the King of the Demons of the Earth.
54
" Then open the door for me," said the young
man ; "for I cannot open it for myself, as there
is neither lock nor key to it."
" That also I am forbidden to do," said Za-
dok.
" I wish that I knew what was there," said the
young man.
The Demon laughed. " Some time," said he,
" thou mayest find for thyself. Come, let us
leave here and go to the palace which thy father
built years ago, and which he left behind him
when he quitted this place for the place in which
thou knewest him."
He led the way and the young man followed ;
they passed through the vaulted rooms and out
through the door of adamant, and Zadok locked
it behind them and gave the key to the young
man.
" All this is thine now," he said ; " I give it to
thee as I gave it to thy father. I have shown
thee how to enter, and thou mayst go in when-
ever it pleases thee to do so."
They ascended the steps, and so reached the
garden above. Then Zadok struck his heel upon
the ground, and the earth closed as it had opened.
He led the young man from the spot until they
had come to a wide avenue that led to the palace
beyond. " Here I leave thee," said the Demon,
56
" but if ever thou hast need of me, call and I will
come."
Thereupon he vanished like a flash, leaving the
young man standing like one in a dream.
He saw before him a garden of such splendor
and magrnificence as he had never dreamed of
O
even in his wildest fancy. There were seven foun-
tains as clear as crystal that shot high into the
air and fell back into basins of alabaster. There
was a broad avenue as white as snow, and thou-
sands of lights lit up everything as light as day.
Upon either side of the avenue stood a row of
black slaves, clad in garments of white silk, and
with jewelled turbans upon their heads. Each
held a flaming torch of sandal-wood. Behind the
O
slaves stood a double row of armed men, and
behind them a great crowd of other slaves and
attendants, dressed each as magnificently as a
prince, blazing and flaming with innumerable
jewels and ornaments of gold.
But of all these things the young man thought
nothing and saw nothing ; for at the end of the
marble avenue there arose a palace, the like of
which was not in the four quarters of the earth
a palace of marble and gold and carmine and
ultramarine rising into the purple starry sky,
and shining in the moonlight like a vision of
Paradise. The palace was illuminated from top
57
to bottom and from end to end ; the windows
shone like crystal, and from it came sounds of
music and rejoicing.
When the crowd that stood waiting saw the
young man appear, they shouted : " Welcome !
welcome ! to the master who has come again !
To Aben Hassen the Fool !"
The young man walked up the avenue of mar-
ble to the palace, surrounded by the armed at-
tendants in their dresses of jewels and gold, and
preceded by dancing-girls as beautiful as houris,
who danced and sung before him. He was dizzy
with joy. " All all this," he exulted, " belongs
to me. And to think that if I had listened to the
Talisman of Solomon I would have had none
of it."
That was the way he came back to the treasure
of the ancient kings of Egypt, and to the palace
of enchantment that his father had quitted.
For seven months he lived a life of joy and de-
light, surrounded by crowds of courtiers as though
he were a king, and going from pleasure to pleas-
ure without end. Nor had he any fear of an end
coming to it, for he knew that his treasure was
inexhaustible. He made friends with the princes
and nobles of the land. From far and wide peo-
ple came to visit him, and the renown of his mag-
nificence filled all the world. When men would
58
' ^ Ji^ira^jftli'jte
^EBW?8*^^
P?A *
'* - ,^4
wsft
praise any one they would say, " He is as rich,"
or as " magnificent," or as " generous, as Aben
Hassen the Fool."
So for seven months he lived a life of joy and
delight ; then one morning he awakened and
found everything changed to grief and mourn-
ing. Where the day before had been laughter,
to-day was crying. Where the day before had
been mirth, to day was lamentation. All the city
was shrouded in gloom, and everywhere was
weeping and crying.
Seven black slaves stood on guard near
Aben Hassen the Fool as he lay upon his couch.
" What means all this sorrow ?" said he to one of
the slaves.
Instantly all the slaves began howling and
beating their heads, and he; to whom the young
man had spoken fell down with his face in the
dust, and lay there twisting and writhing like a
worm.
" He has asked the question !" howled the
slaves " he has asked the question !"
" Are you mad ?" cried the young man. " What
is the matter with you ?"
At the doorway of the room stood a beautiful
female slave, bearing in her hands a jewelled basin
of gold, filled with rose-water, and a fine linen
napkin for the young man to wash and dry his
60
hands upon. " Tell me," said the young man,
" what means all this sorrow and lamentation ?"
Instantly the beautiful slave dropped the gold-
en basin upon the stone floor, and began shriek-
ing and tearing her clothes. " He has asked the
question !" she screamed " he has asked the
question !"
The young man began to grow frightened ; he
arose from his couch, and with uneven steps went
out into the anteroom. There he found his
chamberlain waiting for him with a crowd of at-
tendants and courtiers. " Tell me," said Aben
Hassen the Fool, " why are you all so sorrow-
ul ?"
Instantly they who stood waiting began cry-
ing and tearing their clothes and beating their
hands. As for the chamberlain he was a rever-
end old man his eyes sparkled with anger, and
his fingers twitched as though he would have
struck if he had dared. " What," he cried, " art
thou not contented with all thou hast and with
all that we do for thee without asking the forbid-
den question ?"
Thereupon he tore his cap from his head and
flung it upon the ground, and began beating him-
self violently upon the head with great outcrying.
Aben Hassen the Fool, not knowing what to
think or what was to happen, ran back into the
61
bedroom again. " I think everybody in this place
has gone mad," said he. " Nevertheless, if I do
not find out what it all means, I shall go mad
myself."
Then he bethought himself, for the first time
since he came to that land, of the Talisman of
Solomon.
" Tell me, O Talisman," said he, "why all these
people weep and wail so continuously?"
" Rest content," said the Talisman of Solomon,
" with knowing that which concerns thine own
self, and seek not to find an answer that will be
to thine own undoing. Be thou also further ad-
vised : do not question the Demon Zadok."
" Fool that I am," said the young man, stamp-
ing his foot ; " here am I wasting all this time
when, if I had but thought of Zadok at first, he
would have told me all. Then he called aloud,
Zadok i Zadok ; Zadok !"
Instantly the ground shook beneath his feet,
the dust rose in clouds, and there stood Zadok as
black as ink, and with eyes that shone like fire.
" Tell me," said the young man ; " I command
thee to tell me, O Zadok ! why are the people all
gone mad this morning, and why do they weep
and wail, and why do they go crazy when I do
but ask them why they are so afflicted ?"
"I will tell thee," said Zadok. "Seven-and-
62
thirty years ago there was a queen over this land
-the most beautiful that ever was seen. Thy
father, who was the wisest and most cunning ma-
gician in the world, turned her into stone, and
with her all the attendants in her palace. No one
since that time has been permitted to enter the
palace it is forbidden for any one even to ask a
question concerning it; but every year, on the
day on which the queen was turned to stone, the
whole land mourns with weeping and wailing.
And now thou knowest all !"
" What you tell me," said the young man,
"passes wonder. But tell me further, O Zadok,
is it possible for me to see this queen whom my
father turned to stone ?"
" Nothing is easier/ ' said Zadok.
" Then," said the young man, " I command you
to take me to where she is, so that I may see her
with mine own eyes."
" I hear and obey," said the Demon.
He seized the young man by the girdle, and
in an instant flew away with him to a hanging-
garden that lay before the queen's palace.
"Thou art the first man," said Zadok, " who
has seen what thou art about to see for seven-
and-thirty years. Come, I will show thee a queen,
the most beautiful that the eyes of man ever
looked upon."
He led the way, and the young man followed,
filled with wonder and astonishment. Not a
sound was to be heard, not a thing moved, but
silence hung like a veil between the earth and
the sky.
Following the Demon, the young man ascend-
ed a flight of steps, and so entered the vestibule
of the palace. There stood guards in armor of
brass and silver and gold. But they were with-
out life they were all of stone as white as ala-
baster. Thence they passed through room after
room and apartment after apartment crowded
with courtiers and nobles and lords in their robes
of office, magnificent beyond fancying, but each
silent and motionless each a stone as white as
alabaster. At last they entered an apartment in
the very centre of the palace. There sat seven-
and-forty female attendants around a couch of
purple and gold. Each of the seven-and -forty
was beautiful beyond what the young man could
have believed possible, and each was clad in a
garment of silk as white as snow, embroidered
with threads of silver and studded with glistening
diamonds. But each sat silent and motionless
each was a stone as white as alabaster.
Upon the couch in the centre of the apartment
reclined a queen with a crown of gold upon her
head. She lay there motionless, still. She was
66
cold and dead of stone as white as marble.
The young man approached and looked into her
face, and when he looked his breath became faint
and his heart grew soft within him like wax in
a flame of fire.
He sighed ; he melted ; the tears burst from
his eyes and ran down his cheeks. "Zadok!" he
cried " Zadok ! Zadok! What have you done to
show me this wonder of beauty and love ! Alas !
that I have seen her; for the world is nothing
to me now. O Zadok ! that she were flesh and
blood, instead of cold stone ! Tell me, Zadok, I
command you to tell me, was she once really
alive as I am alive, and did my father truly turn
her to stone as she lies here?"
" She was really alive as thou art alive, and
he did truly transform her to this stone," said
Zadok.
" And tell me," said the young man, " can she
never become alive again ?"
" She can become alive, and it lies with you
lo make her alive," said the Demon. " Listen,
O master. Thy father possessed a wand, half of
bilver and half of gold. Whatsoever he touched
with silver became converted to stone, such as
thou seest all around thee here ; but whatso-
ever, O master, he touched with the gold, it be-
came alive, even if it were a dead stone."
67
" Tell me, Zadok," cried the young man ; " I
command you to tell me, where is that wand of
silver and gold ?"
" I have it with me," said Zadok.
"Then give it to me; I command you to give
it to me."
" I hear and obey," said Zadok. He drew
from his girdle a wand, half of gold and half of
silver, as he spoke, and gave it to the young
man.
" Thou mayst go now, Zadok," said the young
man, trembling with eagerness.
Zadok laughed and vanished. The young man
stood for a while looking down at the beautiful
figure of alabaster. Then he touched the lips
with the golden tip of the wand. In an instant
there came a marvellous change. He saw the
stone melt, and begin to grow flexible and soft.
He saw it become warm, and the cheeks and lips
grow red with life. Meantime a murmur had
begun to rise all through the palace. It grew
louder and louder it became a shout. The fig-
ure of the queen that had been stone opened its
eyes.
" Who are you ?" it said.
Aben Hassen the Fool fell upon his knees. "I
am he who was sent to bring you to life," he
said. " My father turned you to cold stone, and
68
I I have brought you back to warm life
again."
The queen smiled her teeth sparkled like
pearls. " If you have brought me to life, then I
am yours," she said, and she kissed him upon
the lips.
He grew suddenly dizzy ; the world swam be-
fore his eyes.
For seven days nothing was heard in the town
but rejoicing and joy. The young man lived in
a golden cloud of delight. " And to think," said
he, "if I had listened to that accursed Talisman
of Solomon, called ' The Wise,' all this happiness,
this ecstasy that is now mine, would have been
lost to me."
" Tell me, beloved," said the queen, upon the
morning of the seventh day "thy father once
possessed all the hidden treasure of the ancient
kings of Egypt tell me, is it now thine as it
was once his?"
" Yes," said the young man, " it is now all mine
as it was once all his."
" And do you really love me as you say ?"
" Yes," said the young man, " and ten thousand
times more than I say."
" Then, as you love me, I beg one boon of you.
10
It is that you show me this treasure of which I
have heard so much, and which we are to enjoy
together."
The young man was drunk with happiness.
" Thou shalt see it all," said he.
Then, for the first time, the Talisman spoke
without being questioned. " Fool !" it cried ; " wilt
thou not be advised ?"
" Be silent," said the young man. u Six times,
vile thing, you would have betrayed me. Six
times you would have deprived me of joys that
should have been mine, and each was greater
than that which went before. Shall I now listen
the seventh time ? Now," said he to the queen,
" I will show you our treasure." He called aloud,
"Zadok, Zadok, Zadok!"
Instantly the ground shook beneath their feet,
the dust rose in clouds, and Zadok appeared, as
black as ink, and with eyes that shone like coals
of fire.
" I command you," said the young man, " to
carry the queen and myself to the garden where
my treasure lies hidden."
Zadok laughed aloud. " I hear thee and obey
thee, master," said he.
He seized the queen and the young man by
the girdle, and in an instant transported them to
the garden and to the treasure-house.
71
" Thou art where thou commandest to be," said
the Demon.
The young man immediately drew a circle upon
the ground with his finger-tip. He struck his heel
upon the circle. The ground opened, disclosing
the steps leading downward. The young man
descended the steps with the queen behind him,
and behind them both came the Demon Zadok.
The young man opened the door of adamant
and entered the first of the vaulted rooms.
When the queen saw the huge basin full of
silver treasure, her cheeks and her forehead
flushed as red as fire.
They went into the next room, and when the
queen saw the basin of gold her face turned as
white as ashes.
They went into the third room, and when the
queen saw the basin of jewels and the six golden
statues her face turned as blue as lead, and her
eyes shone green like a snake's.
"Are you content?" asked the young man.
The queen looked about her. " No!" cried she,
hoarsely, pointing to the closed door that had
never been opened, and whereon were engraved
these words:
"Behold ! Beyond this door is that alone which
shall satisfy all thy desires?
" No !" cried she. " What is it that lies behind
yon door?"
" I do not know," said the young man.
" Then open the door, and let me see what lies
within."
" I cannot open the door," said he. " How can
I open the door, seeing that there is no lock nor
key to it ?"
" If thou dost not open the door," said the
queen, " all is over between thee and me. So
do as I bid thee, or leave me forever."
They had both forgotten that the Demon Za-
dok was there. Then the young man bethought
himself of the Talisman of Solomon. " Tell me,
O Talisman," said he, " how shall I open yonder
door ?"
" Oh, wretched one !" cried the Talisman, " oh,
wretched one ! fly while there is yet time fly, for
thy doom is near ! Do not push the door open,
for it is not locked !"
The young man struck his head with his
clinched fist. " What a fool am I !" he cried.
" Will I never learn wisdom ? Here have I been
coming to this place seven months, and have
never yet thought to try whether yonder door
was locked or not !"
" Open the door!" cried the queen.
They went forward together. The young man
74
pushed the door with his hand. It opened swiftly
and silently, and they entered.
Within was a narrow room as red as blood.
A flaming lamp hung from the ceiling above.
The young man stood as though turned to stone,
for there stood a gigantic Black Demon with a
napkin wrapped around his loins and a scimitar
in his right hand, the blade of which gleamed like
lightning in the flame of the lamp. Before him
lay a basket filled with sawdust.
When the queen saw what she saw she
screamed in a loud voice, " Thou hast found it !
thou hast found it ! Thou hast found what alone
can satisfy all thy desires! Strike, O slave!"
The young man heard the Demon Zadok give
a yell of laughter. He saw a whirl and a flash,
and then he knew nothing.
The Black had struck the blade had fallen,
and the head of Aben Hassen the Fool rolled into
the basket of sawdust that stood waiting for it.
"A YE, aye," said St. George, " and so it should
end. For what was your A ben Hassen the Fool
but a heathen Panicm? Thus should the heads
of all the like be chopped off from their shoulders.
Is there not some one here to tell us a fair story
about a saint ?"
" For the matter of that" said the Lad who fid-
dled when the Jew was in the bramble-bush "for
the matter of that I know a very good story that
begins about a saint and a hazel-nut.
" Say you so?" said St. George. " Well, let us
have it. But stay, friend, thou hast no ale in thy
pot. Wilt thou not let me pay for having it
filled '?"
" That" said the Lad who fiddled when the
Jew was in the bramble - bush, " may be as you
please, Sir Knight ; and, to tell the truth, I will
be mightily glad for a drop to moisten my throat
withal"
" But" said Fortunatus, "you have not told us
what the story is to be about"
" // is" said the Lad who Jiddlcd for the Jew in
the bramble-bush, " about
^11-Luck and flie Fiddler.
ONCE upon a time St. Nich-
olas came down into the world
to take a peep at the old place
and see how things looked in
the spring-time. On he stepped
along the road to the town
where he used to live, for he
had a notion to find out whether
things were going on nowadays
as they one time did. By-and-
by he came to a cross-road, and
who should he see sitting there
but Ill-Luck himself. Ill-Luck's
face was as gray as ashes, and
his hair as white as snow for he
is as old as Grandfather Adam
and two great wings grew out
of his shoulders for he flies
fast and comes quickly to those
whom he visits, does Ill-Luck.
77
Now, St. Nicholas had a pocketful of hazel
nuts, which he kept cracking and eating as he
trudged along the road, and just then he came
upon one with a worm-hole in it. When he saw
Ill-Luck it came into his head to do a good turn
to poor sorrowful man.
" Good-morning, Ill-Luck," says he.
" Good-morning, St. Nicholas," says Ill-Luck.
" You look as hale and strong as ever," says
St. Nicholas.
" Ah, yes," says Ill-Luck, " I find plenty to do
in this world of woe."
" They tell me," says St. Nicholas, " that you
can go wherever you choose, even if it be through
a key-hole ; now, is that so ?"
" Yes," says Ill-Luck, " it is."
" Well, look now, friend," says St. Nicholas,
" could you go into this hazel-nut if you chose
to ?"
" Yes," says Ill-Luck, " I could indeed."
"I should like to see you," says St. Nicholas;
" for then I should be of a mind to believe what
people say of you."
"Well," says Ill-Luck, " I have not much time
to be pottering and playing upon Jack's fiddle ;
but to oblige an old friend" - thereupon he made
himself small and smaller, and phst! he was in
the nut before you could wink.
78
Then what do you think St. Nicholas did ? In
his hand he held a little plug of wood, and no
sooner had Ill-Luck entered the nut than he
stuck the plug in the hole, and there was man's
enemy as tight as a fly in a bottle.
" So !" says St. Nicholas, " that's a piece of work
well done." Then he tossed the hazel-nut under
the roots of an oak-tree near by, and went his
way.
And that is how this story begins.
Well, the hazel-nut lay and lay and lay, and all
the time that it lay there nobody met with ill-
luck; but, one day, who should come travelling
that way but a rogue of a Fiddler, with his fiddle
under his arm. The day was warm, and he was
tired ; so down he sat under the shade of the oak-
tree to rest his legs. By-and-by he heard a little
shrill voice piping and crying, " Let me out ! let
me out! let me out!"
The Fiddler looked up and down, but he could
see nobody. " Who are you?" says he.
"I am Ill-Luck! Let me out! let me out!"
" Let you out ?" says the Fiddler. " Not I ; if
you are bottled up here it is the better for all of
us;" and, so saying, he tucked his fiddle under his
arm and off he marched.
79
But before he had gone six steps he stopped.
He was one of your peering, prying sort, and
liked more than a little to know all that was to
be known about this or that or the other thing
that he chanced to see or hear. " I wonder where
Ill-Luck can be, to be in such a tight place as he
seems to be caught in," says he to himself; and
back he came again. " Where are you, Ill-Luck ?"
says he.
"Here I am," says Ill-Luck "here in this
hazel-nut, under the roots of the oak-tre."
Thereupon the Fiddler laid aside his fiddle and
bow, and fell to poking and prying under the
roots until he found the nut. Then he began
twisting and turning it in his fingers, looking
first on one side and then on the other, and all
the while Ill-Luck kept crying, " Let me out! let
me out !"
It was not long before the Fiddler found the
little wooden plug, and then nothing would do
but he must take a peep inside the nut to see if
Ill-Luck was really there. So he picked and
pulled at the wooden plug, until at last out it
came; and phst! pop ! out came Ill-Luck along
with it.
Plague take the Fiddler ! say I.
" Listen," says Ill-Luck. " It has been many a
long day that I have been in that hazel-nut, and
so
you are the man that has let me out ; for once in
n way I will do a good turn to a poor human
body." Therewith, and without giving the Fiddler
time to speak a word, Ill-Luck caught him up by
the belt, and whiz ! away he flew like a bullet,
over hill and over valley, over moor and over
mountain, so fast that not enough wind was left
in the Fiddler's stomach to say " Bo !"
By-and-by he came to a garden, and there he
let the Fiddler drop on the soft grass below.
Then away he flew to attend to other matters
of greater need.
When the Fiddler had gathered his wits to-
gether, and himself to his feet, he saw that he
lay in a beautiful garden of flowers and fruit-
trees and marble walks and what not, and that at
the end of it stood a great, splendid house, all
built of white marble, with a fountain in front,
and peacocks strutting about on the lawn.
Well, the Fiddler smoothed down his hair and
brushed his clothes a bit, and off he went to see
what was to be seen at the grand house at the
end of the garden.
He entered the door, and nobody said no to
him. Then he passed through one room after
another, and each was finer than the one he left
behind. Many servants stood around ; but they
only bowed, and never asked whence he came.
82
At last he came to a room where a little old man
sat at a table. The table was spread with a feast
that smelled so good that it brought tears to the
Fiddler's eyes and water to his mouth, and all the
plates were of pure gold. The little old man sat
alone, but another place was spread, as though he
were expecting some one. As the Fiddler came
in the little old man nodded and smiled. " Wel-
come !" he cried; " and have you come at last?"
" Yes," said the Fiddler, " I have. It was 111-
Luck that brought me."
" Nay," said the little old man, " do not say
that. Sit down to the table and eat; and when
I have told you all, you will say it was not Ill-
Luck, but Good-Luck, that brought you."
The Fiddler had his own mind about that ;
83
but, all the same, down he sat at the table, and
fell to with knife and fork at the good things, as
though he had not had a bite to eat for a week
of Sundays.
" I am the richest man in the world," says the
little old man, after a while.
" I am glad to hear it," says the Fiddler.
" You may well be," said the old man, " for I
am all alone in the world, and without wife or
child. And this morning I said to myself that
the first body that came to my house I would
take for a son or a daughter, as the case might
be. You are the first, and so you shall live with
me as long as I live, and after I am gone every-
thing that I have shall be yours."
The Fiddler did nothing but stare with open
eyes and mouth, as though he would never shut
either again.
Well, the Fiddler lived with the old man for
maybe three or four days as snug and happy a
life as ever a mouse passed in a green cheese.
As for the gold and silver and jewels why, they
were as plentiful in that house as dust in a mill !
Everything the Fiddler wanted came to his hand.
He lived high, and slept soft and warm, and
never knew what it was to want either more or
less, or great or small. In all of those three or
8 4
four days he did nothing but enjoy himself with
might and main.
But by-and-by he began to wonder where all
the good things came from. Then, before long,
he fell to pestering the old man with questions
about the matter.
At first the old man put him off with short an-
swers, but the Fiddler was a master-hand at find-
ing out anything that he wanted to know. He
dinned and drummed and worried until flesh and
blood could stand it no longer. So at last the
old man said that he would show him the treas-
ure-house where all his wealth came from, and at
that the Fiddler was tickled beyond measure.
The old man took a key from behind the door
and led him out into the garden. There in a
corner by the wall was a great trap-door of iron.
The old man fitted the key to the lock and
turned it. He lifted the door, and then went
down a steep flight of stone steps, and the Fiddler
followed close at his heels. Down below it was
as light as day, for in the centre of the room
hung a great lamp that shone with a bright light
and lit up all the place as bright as day. In the
floor were set three great basins of marble : one
was nearly full of silver, one of gold, and one of
gems of all sorts.
" All this is mine," said the old man, " and
86
after I am gone it shall be yours. It was left to
me as I will leave it to you, and in the meantime
you may come and go as you choose and fill
your pockets whenever you wish to. But there
is one thing you must not do: you must never
open that door yonder at the back of the room.
Should you do so, 111 - Luck will be sure to over-
take you."
Oh no ! The Fiddler would never think of do-
ing such a thing as opening the door. The silver
and gold and jewels were enough for him. But
since the old man had given him leave, he would
just help himself to a few of the fine things. So
he stuffed his pockets full, and then he followed
the old man up the steps and out into the sun-
light again.
It took him maybe an hour to count all the
money and jewels he had brought up with him.
After he had done that, he began to wonder what
was inside of the little door at the back of the
room. First he wondered ; then he began to
grow curious ; then he began to itch and tingle
and burn as though fifty thousand I-want-to-know
nettles were sticking into him from top to toe.
At last he could stand it no longer. " I'll just
go down yonder," says he, " and peep through
the key - hole ; perhaps I can see what is there
without opening the door."
87
So down he took the key.
and off he marched to the
garden. He opened the
trap-door, and went down the
steep steps to the room be-
low. There was the door at
the end of the room, but
when he came to look there
was no key - hole to it.
" Pshaw !" said he, " here is
a pretty state of affairs.
Tut! tut! tut! Well, since I
have come so far, it would be
a pity to turn back without
seeing more." So he opened
the door and peeped in.
" Pooh !" said the Fiddler,
" there's nothing there, after
all," and he opened the door wide.
Before him was a great long passageway, and
at the far end of it he could see a spark of light
as though the sun were shining there. He lis-
tened, and after a while he heard a sound like
the waves beating on the shore. " Well," says
he, " this is the most curious thing I have seen
for a long time. Since I have come so far, I
may as well see the end of it." So he entered
the passageway, and closed the door behind him.
He went on and on, and the spark of light
kept growing larger and larger, and by-and-by
pop ! out he came at the other end of the pas-
sage.
Sure enough, there he stood on the sea-shore,
with the waves beating and dashing on the rocks.
He stood looking and wondering to find himself
in such a place, when all of a sudden something
came with a whiz and a rush and caught him by
the belt, and away he flew like a bullet.
By-and-by he managed to screw his head
around and look up, and there it was Ill-Luck
that had him. " I thought so," said the Fiddler;
and then he gave over kicking.
Well ; on and on they flew, over hill and valley,
over moor and mountain, until they came to
another garden, and there Ill-Luck let the Fiddler
drop.
Swash ! Down he fell into the top of an
apple-tree, and there he hung in the branches.
It was the garden of a royal castle, and all had
been weeping and woe (though they were begin-
ning now to pick up their smiles again), and this
was the reason why :
The king of that country had died, and no one
was left behind him but the queen. But she was
a prize, for not only was the kingdom hers, but
she was as young as a spring apple and as pretty
39
as a picture ; so that there was no end of those
who would have liked to have had her, each man
for his own. Even that day there were three
princes at the castle, each one wanting the queen
to marry him ; and the wrangling and bickering
and squabbling that was going on was enough to
deafen a body. The poor young queen was tired
to death with it all, and so she had come out into
the garden for a bit of rest; and there she sat
under the shade of an apple-tree, fanning herself
and crying, when
Swash ! Down fell the Fiddler into the apple-
tree and down fell a dozen apples, popping and
tumbling about the queen's ears.
The queen looked up and screamed, and the
Fiddler climbed down.
" Where did you come from ?" said she.
" Oh, Ill-Luck brought me," said the Fiddler.
" Nay," said the queen, " do not say so. You
fell from heaven, for I saw it with my eyes and
heard it with my ears. I see how it is now. You
were sent hither from heaven to be my husband,
and my husband you shall be. You shall be king
of this country, half-and-half with me as queen,
and shall sit on a throne beside me."
You can guess whether or not that was music
to the Fiddler's ears.
So the princes were sent packing, and the Fid-
go
dler was married to the
queen, and reigned in that
country.
Well, three or four days
passed, and all was as
sweet and happy as a
spring day. But at the
end of that time the Fid-
dler began to wonder what
was to be seen in the cas-
tle. The queen was very
fond of him, and was glad
enough to show him all
the fine things that were
to be seen ; so hand in
hand they went every-
where, from garret to
cellar.
But you should
have seen how splen-
did it all was! The
Fiddler felt more cer-
tain than ever that it
was better to be a
king than to be the
richest man in the
world, and he was
as glad as glad
91
could be that Ill-Luck had brought him from the
rich little old man over yonder to this.
So he saw everything in the castle but one
thing. " What is behind that door?" said he.
" Ah ! that," said the queen, " you must not ask
or wish to know. Should you open that door
Ill-Luck will be sure to overtake you."
" Pooh !" said the Fiddler, " I don't care to know,
anyhow," and off they went, hand in hand.
Yes, that was a very fine thing to say ; but be-
fore an hour had gone by the Fiddler's head be-
gan to hum and buzz like a beehive. " I don't
believe," said he, " there would be a grain of harm
in my peeping inside that door; all the same, I
will not do it. I will just go down and peep
through the key-hole." So off he went to do as
he said ; but there was no key hole to that door,
either. " Why, look !" says he, " it is just like the
door at the rich man's house over yonder; I
wonder if it is the same inside as outside," and
he opened the door and peeped in. Yes ; there
was the long passage and the spark of light at
the far end, as though the sun were shining. He
cocked his head to one side and listened. " Yes,"
said he, " I think I hear the water rushing, but I
am not sure; I will just go a little farther in and
listen," and so he entered and closed the door
behind him. Well, he went on and on until
pop ! there he was out at the farther end, and be-
fore he knew what he was about he had stepped
out upon the sea-shore, just as he had done before.
Whiz ! whirr ! Away flew the Fiddler like a
bullet, and there was 111 Luck carrying him by
the belt again. Away they sped, over hill and
valley, over moor and mountain, until the Fid-
dler's head grew so dizzy that he had to shut his
eyes. Suddenly Ill-Luck let him drop, and down
he fell thump ! bump ! on the hard ground.
Then he opened his eyes and sat up, and, lo and
behold ! there he was, under the oak-tree whence
he had started in the first place. There lay his fid-
dle, just as he had left it. He picked it up and
ran his fingers over the strings trum, twang !
Then he got to his feet and brushed the dirt
and grass from his knees. He tucked his fiddle
under his arm, and off he stepped upon the way
he had been going at first.
"Just to think!" said he, " I would either have
been the richest man in the world, or else I would
have been a king, if it had not been for Ill-
Luck."
And that is the way we all of us talk.
DR. FA USTUS had sat all the while neither
drinking ale nor smoking tobacco, but with his
hands folded, and in silence. " I know not why it
is" said he, " but that story of yours, my friend,
brings to my mind a story of a man whom I once
knew a great magician in his time, and a necro-
mancer and a chemist and an alchemist and math-
ematician and a rhetorician, an astronomer, an
astrologer, and a philosopher as well"
" 'Tis a long list of excellency" said old Bidpai.
"'Tzs not as long as was his head" said Dr
Faustus.
" // would be good for us all to hear a story of
such a man" said old Bidpai.
" Nay" said Dr. Faustus, " the story is not al-
together of the man himself, but rather of a pupil
who came to learn wisdom of him"
"And the name of your story is what?" said
Fortunatus.
" // hath no name" said Dr. Faustus.
" Nay" said St. George, " everything must have
a name''
"It hath no name" said Dr. Faustus. " But I
shall give it a name, and it shall be
mpty Bottles.
IN the old, old days
when men were wiser
than they are in these
times, there lived a great
philosopher and magician,
by name Nicholas Flamel.
Not only did he know all
the actual sciences, but
the black arts as well, and
magic, and what not. He
conjured demons so that
when a body passed the
house of a moonlight
night a body might see
imps, great and small, lit-
95
tie and big, sitting on the chimney stacks and
the ridge-pole, clattering their heels on the tiles
and chatting together.
He could change iron and lead into silver and
gold; he discovered the elixir of life, and might
have been living even to- this day had he thought
it worth while to do so.
There was a student at the university whose
name was Gebhart, who was so well acquainted
with algebra and geometry that he could tell at a
single glance how many drops of water there
were in a bottle of wine. As for Latin and Greek
he could patter them off like his A B C's.
Nevertheless, he was not satisfied with the things
he knew, but was for learning the things that
no schools could teach him. So one day he
came knocking at Nicholas Flamel's door.
" Come in," said the wise man, and there Geb-
hart found him sitting in the midst of his books
and bottles and diagrams and dust and chemicals
and cobwebs, making strange figures upon the
table with jackstraws and a piece of chalk for
your true wise man can squeeze more learning
out of jackstraws and a piece of chalk than we
common folk can get out of all the books in the
world.
No one else was in the room but the wise
n rv/
man's servant, whose name was Babette.
" What is it you want ?" said the wise man,
looking at Gebhart over the rim of his spec-
tacles.
" Master," said Gebhart, " I have studied day
after day at the university, and from early in
the morning until late at night, so that my
head has hummed and my eyes were sore, yet I
have not learned those things that I wish most of
all to know the arts that no one but you can
teach. Will you take me as your pupil ?"
The wise man shook his head.
" Many would like to be as wise as that," said
he, " and few there be who can become so. Now
tell me. Suppose all the riches of the world were
offered to you, would you rather be wise ?"
" Yes."
" Suppose you might have all the rank and
power of a king or of an emperor, would you
rather be wise ?"
" Yes."
" Suppose I undertook to teach you, would you
give up everything of joy and of pleasure to fol-
low me?"
" Yes."
" Perhaps you are hungry," said the master.
" Yes," said the student, " I am."
" Then, Babette, you may bring some bread
and cheese."
It seemed to Gebhart that he had learned all
that Nicholas Flamel had to teach him.
It was in the gray of the dawning, and the
master took the pupil by the hand and led him
up the rickety stairs to the roof of the house,
where nothing was to be seen but gray sky, high
roofs, and chimney stacks from which the smoke
rose straight into the still air.
" Now," said the master, " I have taught you
nearly all of the science that I know, and the
time has come to show you the wonderful thing
that has been waiting for us from the beginning
when time was. You have given up wealth and
the world and pleasure and joy and love for the
sake of wisdom. Now, then, comes the last test
whether you can remain faithful to me to the
end ; if you fail in it, all is lost that you have
gained."
After he had said that he stripped his cloak
away from his shoulders and laid bare the skin.
Then he took a bottle of red liquor and began
bathing his shoulder-blades with it; and as Geb-
hart, squatting upon the ridge-pole, looked, he
saw two little lumps bud out upon the smooth
skin, and then grow and grow and grow until
they became two great wings as white as snow.
" Now then," said the master, " take me by
the belt and grip fast, for there is a long, long
99
journey before us, and if you should lose your
head and let go your hold you will fall and be
dashed to pieces."
Then he spread the two great wings, and away
he flew as fast as the wind, with Gebhart hang-
ing to his belt.
Over hills, over dales, over mountains, over
moors he flew, with the brown earth lying so far
below that horses and cows looked like pismires
and men like fleas.
Then, by-and-by, it was over the ocean they
were crossing, with the great ships that pitched
and tossed below looking like chips in a puddle
in rainy weather.
At last they came to a strange land, far, far
away, and there the master lit upon a sea-shore
where the sand was as white as silver. As soon
as his feet touched the hard ground the great
wings were gone like a puff of smoke, and the
wise man walked like any other body.
At the edge of the sandy beach was a great,
high, naked cliff; and the only way of reaching
the top was by a flight of stone steps, as slippery
as glass, cut in the solid rock.
The wise man led the way, and the student fol-
lowed close at his heels, every now and then slip-
ping and stumbling so that, had it not been for
the help that the master gave him, he would have
100
fallen more than once and have been dashed to
pieces upon the rocks below.
At last they reached the top, and there found
themselves in a desert, without stick of wood or
blade of grass, but only gray stones and skulls
and bones bleaching in the sun.
In the middle of the plain was a castle such as
the eyes of man never saw before, for it was built
all of crystal from roof to cellar. Around it was
a high wall of steel, and in the wall were seven
gates of polished brass.
The wise man led the way straight to the mid-
dle gate of the seven, where there hung a horn of
pure silver, which he set to his lips. He blew a
blast so loud and shrill that it made Gebhart's
ears tingle. In an instant there sounded a great
rumble and grumble like the noise of loud thun-
der, and the gates of brass swung slowly back, as
though of themselves.
O
But when Gebhart saw what he saw within the
gates his heart crumbled away for fear, and his
knees knocked together ; for there, in the very
middle of the way, stood a monstrous, hideous
dragon, that blew out flames and clouds of
smoke from his gaping mouth like a chimney
a-fire.
But the wise master was as cool as smooth
water ; he thrust his hand into the bosom of his
103
jacket and drew forth a little black box, which he
flung straight into the gaping mouth.
Snap! the dragon swallowed the box.
The next moment it gave a great, loud, terrible
cry, and, clapping and rattling its wings, leaped
into the air and flew away, bellowing like
bull.
If Gebhart had been wonder-struck at seeing
the outside of the castle, he was ten thousand
times more amazed to see the inside thereof. For,
as the master led the way and he followed, he
passed through four-and-twenty rooms, each one
more wonderful than the other. Everywhere
was gold and silver and dazzling jewels that glis-
tened so brightly that one had to shut one's eyes
to their sparkle. Beside all this, there were silks
and satins and velvets and laces and crystal and
ebony and sandal-wood that smelled sweeter than
musk and rose leaves. All the wealth of the
world brought together into one place could not
make such riches as Gebhart saw with his two
eyes in these four-and-twenty rooms. His heart
beat fast within him.
At last they reached a little door of solid iron,
beside which hung a sword with a blade that
shone like lightning. The master took the sword
in one hand and laid the other upon the latch of
the door. Then he turned to Gebhart and spoke
104
for the first time since they had started upon
their long journey.
" In this room," said he, " you will see a strange
thing happen, and in a little while I shall be as
one dead. As soon as that comes to pass, go you
straightway through to the room beyond, where
you will find upon a marble table a goblet of
water and a silver dagger. Touch nothing else,
and look at nothing else, for if you do all will be
lost to both of us. Bring the water straightway,
and sprinkle my face with it, and when that is
done you and I will be the wisest and greatest
men that ever lived, for I will make you equal to
myself in all that I know. So now swear to do
what I have just bid you, and not turn aside a
hair's breadth in the going and the coming.
" I swear," said Gebhart, and crossed his heart.
Then the master opened the door and entered,
with Gebhart close at his heels.
In the centre of the room was a great red
cock, with eyes that shone like sparks of fire.
So soon as he saw the master he flew at him,
screaming fearfully, and spitting out darts of fire
that blazed and sparkled like lightning.
It was a dreadful battle between the master
and the cock. Up and down they fought, and
here and there. Sometimes the student could
see the wise man whirling and striking with his
105
sword ; and then again he would be hidden in a
sheet of flame. But after a while he made a lucky
stroke, and off flew the cock's head. Then, lo
and behold ! instead of a cock it was a great,
hairy, black demon that lay dead on the floor.
But, though the master had conquered, he
looked like one sorely sick. He was just able to
stagger to a couch that stood by the wall, and
there he fell and lay, without breath or motion,
like one dead, and as white as wax.
As soon as Gebhart had gathered his wits to-
gether he remembered what the master had said
about the other room.
The door of it was also of iron. He opened it
and passed within, and there saw two great tables
or blocks of polished marble. Upon one was the
dagger and a goblet of gold brimming with water.
Upon the other lay the figure of a woman, and
as Gebhart looked at her he thought her more
beautiful than any thought or dream could pict-
ure. But her eyes were closed, and she lay like
a lifeless figure of wax.
After Gebhart had gazed at her a long, long
time, he took up the goblet and the dagger from
the table and turned towards the door.
Then, before he left that place, he thought that
he would have just one more look at the beauti-
ful figure. So he did, and gazed and gazed until
106
/i vi
his heart melted away within him like a lump of
butter; and, hardly knowing what he did, he
stooped and kissed the lips.
Instantly he did so a great humming sound
filled the whole castle, so sweet and musical that
it made him tremble to listen. Then suddenly
the figure opened its eyes and looked straight at
him.
" At last !" she said ; " have you come at last ?"
" Yes," said Gebhart, " I have come."
Then the beautiful woman arose and stepped
down from the table to the floor ; and if Gebhart
thought her beautiful before, he thought her a
thousand times more beautiful now that her eyes
looked into his.
" Listen," said she. " I have been asleep for
hundreds upon hundreds of years, for so it was
fated to be until he should come who was to
bring me back to life again. You are he, and
now you shall live with me forever. In this
castle is the wealth gathered by the king of the
genii, and it is greater than all the riches of the
world. It and the castle likewise shall be yours.
I can transport everything into any part of the
world you choose, and can by my arts make you
prince or king or emperor. Come."
" Stop," said Gebhart. " I must first do as my
master bade me."
108
He led the way into the other room, the lady
following him, and so they both stood together
by the couch where the wise man lay. When
the lady saw his face she cried out in a loud voice;
" It is the great master ! What are you going
to do ?"
" I am going to sprinkle his face with this
water," said Gebhart.
" Stop !" said she. " Listen to what I have to
say. In your hand you hold the water of life and
the dagger of death. The master is not dead, but
sleeping ; if you sprinkle that water upon him he
will awaken, young, handsome and more power-
ful than the greatest magician that ever lived.
I myself, this castle, and everything that is in it
will be his, and, instead of your becoming a prince
or a king or an emperor, he will be so in your
place. That, I say, will happen if he wakens.
Now the dagger of death is the only thing in the
world that has power to kill him. You have it in
your hand. You have but to give him one stroke
with it while he sleeps, and he will never waken
again, and then all will be yours your very own."
Gebhart neither spoke nor moved, but stood
looking down upon his master. Then he set
down the goblet very softly on the floor, and,
shutting his eyes that he might not see the blow,
raised the dagger to strike.
" That is all your promises amount to," said
Nicholas Flamel the wise man. " After all, Ba-
bette, you need not bring the bread and cheese,
for he shall be no pupil of mine."
Then Gebhart opened his eyes.
There sat the wise man in the midst of his
books and bottles and diagrams and dust and
chemicals and cobwebs, making strange figures
upon the table with jackstraws and a piece of
chalk.
And Babette, who had just opened the cup-
board door for the loaf of bread and the cheese,
shut it again with a bang, and went back to her
spinning.
So Gebhart had to go back again to his Greek
and Latin and algebra and geometry; for, after all,
one cannot pour a gallon of beer into a quart
pot, or the wisdom of a Nicholas Flamel into
such an one as Gebhart.
As for the name of this story, why, if some
promises are not bottles full of nothing but wind,
there is little need to have a name for anything.
" SINCE we are in the way of talking of fools,"
said the Fisherman who drew the Genie out of the
sea- " since we are in the way of talking of fools,
I can tell you a story of the fool of all fools, and
how, one after the other, he wasted as good gifts as
a mans ears ever heard tell of?
" What was his name /"' said the Lad who fid-
dled for the Jew in the bramble-bush.
" That" said the Fisherman, "I do not know"
"And what is this story about?" asked St.
George.
"Tis" said the Fisherman, "about a hole in the
ground"
" And is that all?" said the Soldier who cheated
the Devil.
"Nay" said the Fisherman, blowing a whiff
from his pipe; " there were some things in the
hole a bowl of treasure, an earthen-ware jar, and
a pair of candlesticks?
"And what do you call your story" said St.
George.
' Why" said the Fisherman, "for lack of a bet-
ter name I will call it
cl Gifts and a Fool's
Folly.
Give a fool heaven
and earth, and all the
stars, and he will make
ducks and drakes of
them.
ONCE upon a time
there was an old man,
who, by thrifty living and
long saving, had laid by
a fortune great enough
to buy ease and comfort
and pleasure for a life-
time.
By-and-by he died, and
the money came to his
son, who was of a differ-
ent sort from the father ;
1/3
for, what that one had gained by the labor of a
whole year, the other spent in riotous living in
one week.
So it came about in a little while that the
young man found himself without so much as a
single penny to bless himself withal. Then his
fair-weather friends left him, and the creditors
came and seized upon his house and his house-
hold goods, and turned him out into the cold
wide world to get along as best he might with
the other fools who lived there.
Now the young spendthrift was a strong, stout
fellow, and, seeing nothing better to do, he sold
his fine clothes and bought him a porter's basket,
and went and sat in the corner of the market-
place to hire himself out to carry this or that for
folk who were better off in the world, and less
foolish than he.
There he sat, all day long, from morning until
evening, but nobody came to hire him. But at
last, as dusk was settling, there came along an old
man with beard as white as snow hanging down
below his waist. He stopped in front of the
foolish spendthrift, and stood looking at him for
a while; then, at last, seeming to be satisfied, he
beckoned with his finger to the young man.
" Come," said he, " I have a task for you to do,
and if you are wise, and keep a still tongue in
114
s*
your head, I will pay you as never a porter was
paid before."
You may depend upon it the young man need-
ed no second bidding to such a matter. Up he
rose, and took his basket, and followed the old
man, who led the way up one street and down
another, until at last they came to a rickety, ram-
shackle house in a part of the town the young
man had never been before. Here the old man
stopped and knocked at the door, which was in-
stantly opened, as though of itself, and then he
entered with the young spendthrift at his heels.
The two passed through a dark passage-way, and
another door, and then, lo and behold ! all was
changed ; for they had come suddenly into such a
place as the young man would not have believed
could be in such a house, had he not seen
it with his own eyes. Thousands of waxen
tapers lit the place as bright as day a great oval
room, floored with mosaic of a thousand bright
colors and strange figures, and hung with tapes-
tries of silks and satins and gold and silver.
The ceiling was painted to represent the sky,
through which flew beautiful birds and winged
figures so life-like that no one could tell that
they were only painted, and not real. At the far-
ther side of the room were two richly cushioned
couches, and thither the old man led the way
116
with the young spendthrift following, wonder-
struck, and there the two sat themselves down.
Then the old man smote his hands together, and,
in answer, ten young men and ten beautiful girls
entered bearing a feast of rare fruits and wines
which they spread before them, and the young
man, who had been fasting since morning, fell to
and ate as he had not eaten for many a day.
The old man, who himself ate but little, waited
patiently for the other to end. " Now," said he,
as soon as the young man could eat no more,
" you have feasted and you have drunk ; it is time
for us to work."
Thereupon he rose from the couch and led the
way, the young man following, through an arch
door-way into a garden, in the centre of which
was an open space paved with white marble,
and in the centre of that again a carpet, ragged
and worn, spread out upon the smooth stones.
Without saying a word, the old man seated him-
self upon one end of this carpet, and motioned to
the spendthrift to seat himself with his basket at
the other end ; then
" Are you ready ?" said the old man.
" Yes," said the young man, " I am."
" Then, by the horn of Jacob," said the old man,
" I command thee, O Carpet ! to bear us over
hill and valley, over lake and river, to that spot
117
whither I wish to go." Hardly had the words
left his mouth when away flew the carpet, swifter
than the swiftest wind, carrying the old man and
the young spendthrift, until at last it brought
them to a rocky desert without leaf or blade of
grass to be seen far or near. Then it descended
to where there was a circle of sand as smooth as
a floor.
The old man rolled up the carpet, and then
drew from a pouch that hung at his side a box,
and from the box some sticks of sandal and spice
woods, with which he built a little fire. Next he
118
drew from the same pouch a brazen jar, from
which he poured a gray powder upon the blaze.
Instantly there leaped up a great flame of white
light and a cloud of smoke, which rose high in
the air, and there spread out until it hid every-
thing from sight. Then the old man began to
mutter spells, and in answer the earth shook and
quaked, and a rumbling as of thunder filled the
air. At last he gave a loud cry, and instantly the
earth split open, and there the young spendthrift
saw a trap-door of iron, in which was an iron ring
to lift it by.
" Look !" said the old man. " Yonder is the
task for which I have brought you ; lift for me
that trap-door of iron, for it is too heavy for me
to raise, and I will pay you well."
And it was no small task, either, for, stout and
strong as the young man was, it was all he could
do to lift up the iron plate. But at last up it
swung, and down below he saw a flight of stone
steps leading into the earth.
The old man drew from his bosom a copper
lamp, which he lit at the fire of the sandal and
spice wood sticks, which had now nearly died
away. Then, leading the way, with the young
man following close at his heels, he descended
the stairway that led down below. At the bottom
the two entered a great vaulted room, carved out
119
of the solid stone, upon the walls of which were
painted strange pictures in bright colors of kings
and queens, genii and dragons. Excepting for
these painted figures, the vaulted room was per-
fectly bare, only that in the centre of the floor
there stood three stone tables. Upon the first
table stood an iron candlestick with three branch-
es ; upon the second stood an earthen jar, empty
of everything but dust; upon the third stood a
brass bowl, a yard wide and a yard deep, and
filled to the brim with shining, gleaming, daz-
zling jewels of all sorts.
" Now," said the old man to the spendthrift, " I
will do to you as I promised : I will pay you as
never man was paid before for such a task.
Yonder upon those three stone tables are three
great treasures: choose whichever one you will,
and it is yours."
" I shall not be long in choosing," cried the
young spendthrift. " I shall choose the brass
bowl of jewels."
The old man laughed. " So be it," said he.
* Fill your basket from the bowl with all you can
carry, and that will be enough, provided you live
wisely, to make you rich for as long as you live."
The young man needed no second bidding,
but began filling his basket with both hands,
until he had in it as much as he could carry.
1 20
Then the old man, taking the iron candlestick
and the earthen jar, led the way up the stairway
again. There the young man lowered the iron
trap-door to its place, and so soon as he had done
so the other stamped his heel upon the ground,
and the earth closed of itself as smooth and level
as it had been before.
The two sat themselves upon the carpet, the
one upon the one end, and the other upon the
other. " By the horn of Jacob," said the old
man, " I command thee, O Carpet ! to fly over
hill and valley, over lake and river, until thou
hast brought us back whence we came."
Away flew the carpet, and in a little time they
were back in the garden from which they had
started upon their journey ; and there they parted
company. " Go thy way, young man," said the
old graybeard, " and henceforth try to live more
wisely than thou hast done heretofore. I know
well who thou art, and how thou hast lived. Shun
thy evil companions, live soberly, and thou hast
enough to make thee rich for as long as thou
livest."
" Have no fear," cried the young man, joyfully.
" I have learned a bitter lesson, and henceforth I
will live wisely and well."
So, filled with good resolves, the young man
went the next day to his creditors and paid his
121
debts; he bought back the house which his fa-
ther had left him, and there began to lead a new
life as he had promised.
But a gray goose does not become white, nor a
foolish man a wise one.
At first he led a life sober enough ; but by little
and little he began to take up with his old-time
friends again, and by-and-by the money went fly-
ing as merrily as ever, only this time he was
twenty times richer than he had been before, and
he spent his money twenty times as fast. Every
day there was feasting and drinking going on in
his house, and roaring and rioting and dancing
and singing. The wealth of a king could not
keep up such a life forever, so by the end of a year
and a half the last of the treasure was gone, and
the young spendthrift was just as poor as ever.
Then once again his friends left him as they had
done before, and all that he could do was to rap
his head and curse his folly.
At last, one morning, he plucked up courage
to go to the old man who had helped him once
before, to see whether he would not help him
again. Rap ! tap ! tap ! he knocked at the door,
and who should open it but the old man him-
self. " Well," said the graybeard, " what do you
want ?"
" I want some help," said the spendthrift ; and
122
then he told him all, and the old man listened
and stroked his beard.
" By rights," said he, when the young man had
ended, " I should leave you alone in your folly ;
for it is plain to see that nothing can cure you of
it. Nevertheless, as you helped me once, and as
I have more than I shall need, I will share what
I have with you. Come in and shut the door."
He led the way, the spendthrift following, to
a little room all of bare stone, and in which were
only three things the magic carpet, the iron
candlestick, and the earthen jar. This last the
old man gave to the foolish spendthrift. " My
friend," said he, " when you chose the money and
jewels that day in the cavern, you chose the less
for the greater. Here is a treasure that an em-
peror might well envy you. Whatever you wish
for you will find by dipping your hand into the
jar. Now go your way, and let what has hap-
pened cure you of your folly."
" It shall," cried the young man ; " never again
will I be so foolish as I have been !" And there-
upon he went his way with another pocketful of
good resolves.
The first thing he did when he reached home
was to try the virtue of his jar. " I should like,"
said he, " to have a handful of just such treasure
as I brought from the cavern over yonder." He
124
dipped his hand into the jar, and when he
brought it out again it was brimful of shining,
gleaming, sparkling jewels. You can guess how
he felt when he saw them.
Well, this time a whole year went by, during
which the young man lived as soberly as a judge.
But at the end of the twelvemonth he was so
sick of wisdom that he loathed it as one loathes
bitter drink. Then by little and little he began
to take up with his old ways again, and to call his
old cronies around, untilat the end of another
twelvemonth things were a hundred times worse
and wilder than ever; for now what he had he
had without end.
One day, when he and a great party of rois-
terers were shouting and making merry, he
brought out his earthen-ware pot to show them
the wonders of it ; and to prove its virtue he gave
to each guest whatever he wanted. " What will
you have ?" " A handful of gold." " Put your
hand in and get it !" " What will you have ?"
" A fistful of pearls." " Put your fist in and get
them !" " What will you have ?" " A necklace
of diamonds." " Dip into the jar and get it."
And so he went from one to another, and each
and every one got what he asked for, and such a
shouting and hubbub those walls had never heard
before.
125
Then the young man, holding the jar in his
hands, began to dance and to sing : " O won-
derful jar! O beautiful jar! O beloved jar!"
and so on, his friends clapping their hands, and
laughing and cheering him. At last, in the height
of his folly, he balanced the earthen jar on his
head, and began dancing around and around with
it to show his dexterity.
Smash ! crash ! The precious jar lay in fifty
pieces on the stone floor, and the young man
stood staring at the result of his folly with bulg-
ing eyes, while his friends roared and laughed and
shouted louder than ever over his mishap. And
again his treasure and his gay life were gone.
But what had been hard for him to do before
was easier now. At the end of a week he was
back at the old man's house, rapping on the door.
This time the old man asked him never a word,
but frowned as black as thunder.
" I know," said he, " what has happened to you.
If I were wise I should let you alone in your
folly ; but once more I will have pity on you and
will help you, only this time it shall be the last.
Once more he led the way to the stone room,
where were the iron candlestick and the magic
carpet, and with him he took a good stout cudgel.
He stood the candlestick in the middle of the
room, and taking three candles from his pouch,
126
I lr>
X- 1 ^ I - ""
.
7
thrust one into each branch. Then he struck a
light, and lit the first candle. Instantly there ap-
peared a little old man, clad in a long white robe,
who began dancing and spinning around and
around like a top. He lit the second candle, and
a second old man appeared, and round and round
he went, spinning like his brother. He lit the
third candle, and a third old man appeared.
Around and around and around they spun and
whirled, until the head spun and whirled to look
at them. Then the old graybeard gripped the
cudgel in his hand. " Are you ready ?" he asked.
" We are ready, and waiting," answered the
three. Thereupon, without another word, the
graybeard fetched each of the dancers a blow
upon the head with might and main One! two!
three ! crack ! crash ! jingle !
Lo and behold! Instead of the three dancing
men, there lay three great heaps of gold upon the
floor, and the spendthrift stood staring like an
owl. " There," said the old man, " take what you
want, and then go your way, and trouble me no
more."
" Well," said the spendthrift, " of all the won-
ders that ever I saw, this is the most wonderful !
But how am I to carry my gold away with me,
seeing I did not fetch my basket ?"
" You shall have a basket," said the old man,
128
"if only you will trouble me no more. Just wait
here a moment until I bring it to you."
The spendthrift was left all alone in the room ;
not a soul was there but himself. He looked up,
and he looked down, and scratched his head.
" Why," he cried aloud, " should I be content to
take a part when I can have the whole ?"
To do was as easy as to say. He snatched up
the iron candlestick, caught up the staff that the
old man had left leaning against the wall, and
seated himself upon the magic carpet. " By the
horn of Jacob," he cried, " I command thee, O
Carpet ! to carry me over hill and valley, over
lake and river, to a place where the old man can
never find me."
Hardly had the words left his mouth than
away flew the carpet through the air, carrying
him along with it ; away and away, higher than
the clouds and swifter than the wind. Then at
last it descended to the earth again, and when
the young spendthrift looked about him, he
found himself in just such a desert place as he
and the old man had come to when they had
found the treasure. But he gave no thought to
that, and hardly looked around him to see where
he was. All that he thought of was to try his
hand at the three dancers that belonged to the
candlestick. He struck a light, and lit the
130
three candles, and instantly the three little old
men appeared for him just as they had for the
old graybeard. And around and around they
spun and whirled, until the sand and dust spun
and whirled along with them. Then the young
man grasped his cudgel tightly.
Now, he had not noticed that when the old
man struck the three dancers he had held the
cudgel in his left hand, for he was not wise
enough to know that great differences come
from little matters. He griped the cudgel in
his right hand, and struck the dancers with
might and main, just as the old man had done.
Crack ! crack ! crack ! One ; two ; three.
Did they change into piles of gold ? Not a bit
of it ! Each of the dancers drew from under his
robe a cudgel as stout and stouter than the one
the young man himself held, and, without a word,
fell upon him and began to beat and drub him
until the dust flew. In vain he hopped and
howled and begged for mercy, in vain he tried to
defend himself; the three never stopped until he
fell to the ground, and laid there panting and
sighing and groaning; and then they left and
flew back with the iron candlestick and the
magic carpet to the old man again. At last,
after a great while, the young spendthrift sat
up, rubbing the sore places ; but when he looked
131
around not a sign was to be seen of anything
but the stony desert, without a house or a man
in sight.
Perhaps, after a long time, he found his way
home again, and perhaps the drubbing he had
had taught him wisdom ; the first is a likely
enough thing to happen, but as for the second,
it would need three strong men to tell it to me a
great many times before I would believe it.
You may smile at this story if you like, but,
all the same, as certainly as there is meat in an
egg-shell, so is there truth in this nonsense. For,
" Give a fool heaven and earth," say I, " and all
the stars, and he will make ducks and drakes
of them."
FOR TUNA TUS lifted his canican to his lips
and took a long, hearty draught of ale. " Me-
thinks" said he, " that all your stories have a
twang of the same sort about them. You all of
you, except my friend the Soldier here, play the
same tune upon a different fiddle. Nobody comes
to any good''
St. George drew a long whiff of his pipe, and
then puffed out a cloud of smoke as big as his head.
" Perhaps',' 1 said he to Fortunatus, "you know of
a story which turns out differently. If you do,
let us have it, for it is your turn now."
" Very well," said Fortunatus, " / will tell yo^t
a story that turns out as it should, where the lad
marries a beautiful princess and becomes a king
into the bargain?
'''And what is your story about?" said the Lad
who fiddled for the Jew in the bramble-bush.
" // is" said Fortunatus, " about
THERE was one Bep-
po the Wise and another
Beppo the Foolish.
The wise one was the
father of the foolish one.
Beppo the Wise was
called Beppo the Wise
because he had laid up a
great treasure after a long
life of hard work.
Beppo the Foolish was
called Beppo the Foolish
because he spent in five
years after his father was
gone from this world of
sorrow all that the old
man had laid together in
his long life of toil.
135
But during that time Beppo lived as a prince,
and the like was never seen in that town before
or since feasting and drinking and junketing
and merrymaking. He had friends by the dozen
and by the scores, and the fame of his doings
went throughout all the land.
While his money lasted he was called Beppo
the Generous. It was only after it was all gone
that they called him Beppo the Foolish.
So by-and-by the money was spent, and there
was an end of it.
Yes ; there was an end of it ; and where were
all of Beppo's fair-weather friends ? Gone like
the wild-geese in frosty weather.
" Don't you remember how I gave you a bag-
ful of gold ?" says Beppo the Foolish. " Won't
you remember me now in my time of need ?"
But the fair-weather friend only laughed in his
face.
" Don't you remember how I gave you a fine
gold chain with a diamond pendant ?" says Beppo
to another. " And won't you lend me a little
money to help me over to-day ?"
But the summer - goose friend only grin-
ned.
" But what shall I do to keep body and soul
together ?" says Beppo to a third.
The man was a wit. " Go to a shoemaker,"
136
said he, " and let him stitch the soul fast " ; and
that was all the good Beppo had of him.
Then poor Beppo saw that there was not place
for him in that town, and so off he went to seek
his fortune elsewhither, for he saw that there was
nothing to be gained in that place.
So he journeyed on for a week and a day, and
then towards evening he came to the king's town.
There it stood on the hill beside the river the
grandest city in the kingdom. There were or-
chards and plantations of trees along the banks
of the stream, and gardens and summer-houses
and pavilions. There were white houses and red
roofs and blue skies. Up above on the hill were
olive orchards and fields, and then blue sky
again.
Beppo went into the town, gazing about him
with admiration. Houses, palaces, gardens. He
had never seen the like. Stores and shops full
of cloths of velvet and silk and satin ; goldsmiths,
silversmiths, jewellers as though all the riches
of the world had been emptied into the city.
Crowds of people lords, noblemen, courtiers,
rich merchants, and tradesmen.
Beppo stared about at the fine sights and ev-
erybody stared at Beppo, for his shoes were dusty,
his clothes were travel-stained, and a razor had not
touched his face for a week.
138
The king of that country was walking in the
garden under the shade of the trees, and the sun-
light slanted down upon him, and sparkled upon
the jewels around his neck and on his fingers.
Two dogs walked alongside of him, and a whole
crowd of lords and nobles and courtiers came
behind him ; first of all the prime-minister with
his long staff.
But for all this fine show this king was not
really the king. When the old king died he left
a daughter, and she should have been queen if
she had had her own rights. But this king, who
was her uncle, had stepped in before her, and so
the poor princess was pushed aside and was no-
body at all but a princess, the king's niece.
She stood on the terrace with her old nurse,
while the king walked in the garden below.
It had been seven years now since the old king
had died, and in that time she had grown up into
a beautiful young woman, as wise as she was
beautiful, and as good as she was wise. Few peo-
ple ever saw her, but everybody talked about her
in whispers and praised her beauty and goodness,
saying that, if the right were done, she would
have her own and be queen.
Sometimes the king heard of this (for a king
hears everything), and he grew to hate the prin-
cess as a man hates bitter drink.
139
The princess looked down from the terrace,
and there she saw Beppo walking along the street,
and his shoes were dusty and his clothes were
travel-stained, and a razor had not touched his
face for a week.
" Look at yonder poor man," she said to her
nurse ; " yet if I were his wife he would be greater
really than my uncle, the king."
The king, walking below in the garden, heard
what she said.
" Say you so !" he called out. " Then we shall
try if what you say is true "; and he turned away,
shaking with anger.
" Alas !" said the princess, " now, indeed, have
I ruined myself for good and all."
Beppo was walking along the street looking
about him hither and thither, and thinking how
fine it all was. He had no more thought that
the king and the princess were talking about
him than the man in the moon.
Suddenly some one clapped him upon the
shoulder.
Beppo turned around.
There stood a great tall man dressed all in
black.
" You must come with me," said he.
" What do you want with me ?" said Beppo.
MO
" That you shall see for yourself," said the
man.
" Very well," said Beppo ; " I'd as lief go along
with you as anywhere else."
So he turned and followed the man whither he
led.
They went along first one street and then an-
other, and by-and-by they came to the river, and
there was a long wall with a gate in it. The
tall man in black knocked upon the gate, and
some one opened it from within. The man in
black entered, and Beppo followed at his heels,
wondering where he was going.
He was in a garden. There were fruit trees
and flowering shrubs and long marble walks, and
away in the distance a great grand palace of
white marble that shone red as fire in the light
of the setting sun, but there was not a soul to
be seen anywhere.
The tall man in black led the way up the long
marble walk, past the fountains and fruit trees
and beds of roses, until he had come to the pal-
ace.
Beppo wondered whether he were dreaming.
The tall man in black led the way into the
palace, but still there was not a soul to be seen.
Beppo gazed about him in wonder. There
were floors of colored marble, and ceilings of blue
142
and gold, and columns of carved marble, and
hangings of silk and velvet and silver.
Suddenly the tall man opened a little door that
led into a dark passage, and Beppo followed him.
They went along the passage, and then the man
opened another door.
Then Beppo found himself in a great vaulted
room. There at one end of the room were three
souls. A man sat on the throne, and he was the
king, for he had a crown on his head and a long
robe over his shoulders. Beside him stood a
priest, and in front of him stood a beautiful young
woman as white as wax and as still as death.
Beppo wondered whether he were awake.
" Come hither," said the king, in a harsh voice,
and Beppo came forward and kneeled before
him. " Take this young woman by the hand,"
said the king.
Beppo did as he was bidden.
Her hand was as cold as ice.
Then, before Beppo knew what was happening,
he found that he was being married.
It was the princess.
" Now," said the king to her when the priest
had ended, and he frowned until his brows were
as black as thunder "now you are married;
tell me, is your husband greater than I ?"
But the princess said never a word, only the
144
tears ran one after another down her white face.
The king sat staring at her and frowning.
Suddenly some one tapped Beppo upon the
shoulder. It was the tall man in black.
Beppo knew that he was to follow him again.
This time the princess was to go along. The
tall man in black led the way, and Beppo and the
princess followed along the secret passage and
up and down the stairs until at last they came
out into the garden again.
And now the evening was beginning to fall.
The man led the way down the garden to the
river, and still Beppo and the princess followed
him.
By-and-by they came to the river-side and to
a flight of steps, and there was a little frail boat
without sail or oars.
The tall man in black beckoned towards the
boat, and Beppo knew that he and the princess
were to enter it.
As soon as Beppo had helped the princess into
the boat the tall man thrust it out into the stream
with his foot, and the boat drifted away from the
shore and out into the river, and then around and
around. Then it floated off down the stream.
It floated on and on, and the sun set and the
moon rose.
Beppo looked at the princess, and he thought
146
he had never seen any one so beautiful in all
his life. It was all like a dream, and he hoped
he might never awaken. But the princess sat
there weeping and weeping, and said nothing.
The night fell darker and darker, but still
Beppo sat looking at the princess. Her face was
as white as silver in the moonlight. The smell
of the flower-gardens came across the river. The
boat floated on and on until by-and-by it drifted
to the shore again and among the river reeds,
and there it stopped, and Beppo carried the prin-
cess ashore.
" Listen," said the princess. " Do you know
who I am ?"
" No," said Beppo, " I do not."
" I am the princess," said she, " the king's
niece ; and by rights I should be queen of this
land."
Beppo could not believe his ears.
" It is true that I am married to you," said she,
" but never shall you be my husband until you
are king."
" King !" said Beppo ; " how can I be king ?"
" You shall be king," said the princess.
" But the king is everything," said Beppo, " and
I am nothing at all."
" Great things come from small beginnings,"
said the princess ; " a big tree from a little seed."
148
Some little distance away from the river was
the twinkle of a light, and thither Beppo led the
princess. When the two came to it, they found
it was a little hut, for there were fish-nets hang-
ing outside in the moonlight.
Beppo knocked.
An old woman opened the door. She stared
and stared, as well she might, to see the fine lady
in silks and satins with a gold ring upon her fin-
ger, and nobody with her but one who looked like
a poor beggar-man.
" Who are you and what do you want ?" said
the old woman.
" Who we are," said the princess, " does not
matter, except that we are honest folk in trouble.
What we want is shelter for the night and food
to eat, and that we will pay for."
" Shelter I can give you," said the old woman,
" but little else but a crust of bread and a cup
of water. One time there was enough and plenty
in the house ; but now, since my husband has
gone and I am left all alone, it is little I have to
eat and drink. But such as I have to give you
are welcome to."
Then Beppo and the princess went into the
house.
The next morning the princess called Beppo
149
to her. " Here," said she, " is a ring and a letter.
Go you into the town and inquire for Sebastian
the Goldsmith. He will know what to do."
Beppo took the ring and the letter and started
off to town, and it was not hard for him to find
the man he sought, for every one knew of Sebas-
tian the Goldsmith. He was an old man, with a
great white beard and a forehead like the dome
of a temple. He looked at Beppo from head to
foot with eyes as bright as those of a snake ; then
he took the ring and the letter. As soon as he
saw the ring he raised it to his lips and kissed
it ; then he kissed the letter also ; then he opened
it and read it.
He turned to Beppo and bowed very low.
" My lord," said he, " I will do as I am command-
ed. Will you be pleased to follow me ?"
He led the way into an inner room. There
were soft rugs upon the floor, and around the
walls were tapestries. There were couches and
silken cushions. Beppo wondered what it all
meant.
Sebastian the Goldsmith clapped his hands to-
gether. A door opened, and there came three
black slaves into the room. The Goldsmith spoke
to them in a strange language, and the chief of
the three black slaves bowed in reply. Then he
and the others led Beppo into another room
150
where there was a marble bath of tepid water.
They bathed him and rubbed him with soft linen
towels ; then they shaved the beard from his
cheeks and chin and trimmed his hair ; then they
clothed him in fine linen and a plain suit of gray
and Beppo looked like a new man.
Then when all this was done the chief of the
blacks conducted Beppo back to Sebastian the
Goldsmith. There was a fine feast spread, with
fruit and wine. Beppo sat down to it, and Sebas-
tian the Goldsmith stood and served him with a
napkin over his arm.
Then Beppo was to return to the princess
again.
A milk-white horse was waiting for him at the
Goldsmith's door, a servant holding the bridle,
and Beppo mounted and rode away.
When he returned to the fisherman's hut the
princess was waiting for him. She had prepared
a tray spread with a napkin, a cup of milk, and
some sweet cakes.
" Listen," said she; " to-day the king hunts in
the forest over yonder. Go you thither with this.
The king will be hot and thirsty, and weary with
the chase. Offer him this refreshment. He will
eat and drink, and in gratitude he will offer you
something in return. Take nothing of him, but
ask him this : that he allow you once every three
152
days to come to the palace, and that he whisper
these words in your ear so that no one else may
hear them ' A word, a word, only a few words ;
spoken ill, they are ill; spoken well, they are more
precious than gold and jewels. '
" Why should I do that ?" said Beppo.
" You will see," said the princess.
Beppo did not understand it at all, but the
princess is a princess and must be obeyed, and
so he rode away on his horse at her bidding.
It was as the princess had said : the king was
hunting in the forest, and when Beppo came there
he could hear the shouts of the men and the wind-
ing of horns and the baying of dogs. He waited
there for maybe an hour or more, and sometimes
the sounds were nearer and sometimes the sounds
were farther away. Presently they came near-
er and nearer, and then all of a sudden the king
came riding out of the forest, the hounds hunting
hither and thither, and the lords and nobles and
courtiers following him.
The king's face was flushed and heated with
the chase, and his forehead was bedewed with
sweat. Beppo came forward and offered the tray.
The king wiped his face with the napkin, and then
drank the milk and ate three of the cakes.
" Who was it ordered you to bring this to me ?"
said he to Beppo.
153
" No one," said Beppo ; " I brought it myself."
The king looked at Beppo and was grateful to
him.
" Thou hast given me pleasure and comfort,"
said he ; ask what thou wilt in return and if it
is in reason thou shalt have it."
" I will have only this," said Beppo : " that
your majesty will allow me once every three days
to come to the palace, and that then you will take
me aside and will whisper these words into my
ear so that no one else may hear them ' A word,
a word, only a few words ; spoken ill, they are
ill; spoken well, they are more precious than
gold and jewels."
The king burst out laughing. " Why," said he,
" what is this foolish thing you ask of me ? If you
had asked for a hundred pieces of gold you should
have had them. Think better, friend, and ask
something of more worth than this foolish thing."
" Please your majesty," said Beppo, " I ask
nothing else."
The king laughed again. " Then you shall have
what you ask," said he, and he rode away.
The next morning the princess said to Beppo :
" This day you shall go and claim the king's
promise of him. Take this ring and this letter
again to Sebastian the Goldsmith. He will fit
154
you with clothes in which to appear before the
king. Then go to the king's palace that he may
whisper those words he has to say into your ear."
Once more Beppo went to Sebastian the Gold-
smith, and the Goldsmith kissed the princess's
ring and letter, and then read what she had
written.
Again the black slaves took Beppo to the bath,
only this time they clad him in a fine suit of vel-
vet and hung a gold chain about his neck. After
that Sebastian the Goldsmith again served a feast
to Beppo, and waited upon him while he ate and
drank.
In front of the house a noble horse, as black as
jet, was waiting to carry Beppo to the palace, and
two servants dressed in velvet livery were waiting
to attend him.
So Beppo rode away, and many people stopped
to look at him.
He came to the palace, and the king was giv-
ing audience. Beppo went into the great audi-
ence-chamber. It was full of people lords and
nobles and rich merchants and lawyers.
Beppo did not know how to come to the king,
so he stood there and waited and waited. The
people looked at him and whispered to one an-
other : " Who is that young man ?" " Whence
comes he ?" Then one said : " Is not he the
156
young man who served the king with cakes and
milk in the forest yesterday ?"
Beppo stood there gazing at the king. By-and-
by the king suddenly looked up and caught sight
of him. He gazed at Beppo for a moment or
two and then he knew him. Then he smiled and
beckoned to him.
" Aye, my foolish benefactor," said he, aloud,
" is it thou, and art thou come so soon to redeem
thy promise ? Very well ; come hither, I have
something to say to thee."
Beppo came forward, and everybody stared.
He came close to the king, and the king laid his
hand upon his shoulder. Then he leaned over
to Beppo and whispered in his ear: "A word,
a word, only a few words ; if they be spoken ill,
they are ill ; if they be spoken well, they are more
precious than gold and jewels." Then he laughed.
" Is that what you would have me say ?" said he.
" Yes, majesty," said Beppo, and he bowed low
and withdrew.
But, lo and behold, what a change !
Suddenly he was transformed in the eyes of
the whole world. The crowd drew back to al-
low him to pass, and everybody bowed low as he
went along.
" Did you not see the king whisper to him,"
said one. " What could it be that the king
158
said ?" said another. " This must be a new fa-
vorite," said a third.
He had come into the palace Beppo the Fool-
ish; he went forth Beppo the Great Man, and all
because of a few words the king had whispered
in his ear.
Three days passed, and then Beppo went again
to the Goldsmith's with the ring and a letter from
the princess. This time Sebastian the Gold-
smith fitted him with a suit of splendid plum-
colored silk and gave him a dappled horse, and
again Beppo and his two attendants rode away to
the palace. And this time every one knew him,
and as he went up the steps into the palace all
present bowed to him. The king saw him as
soon as he appeared, and when he caught sight of
him he burst out laughing.
" Aye," said he, " I was looking for thee to-
day, and wondering how soon thou wouldst come.
Come hither till I whisper something in thine
ear."
Then all the lords and nobles and courtiers
and ministers drew back, and Beppo went up to
the king.
The king laughed and laughed. He laid his
arm over Beppo's shoulder, and again he whis-
pered in his ear : " A word, a word, only a few
159
words ; if they be spoken ill, they are ill ; if they
be spoken well, they are more precious than gold
and jewels."
Then he released Beppo, and Beppo withdrew.
So it continued for three months. Every three
days Beppo went to the palace, and the king
whispered the words in his ear. Beppo said
nothing to any one, and always went away as
soon as the king had whispered to him.
Then at last the princess said to him : " Now
the time is ripe for doing. Listen! To-day
when you go to the palace fix your eyes, when
the king speaks to you, upon the prime-minister,
and shake your head. The prime-minister will
ask you what the king said. Say nothing to him
but this : ' Alas, my poor friend !'
It was all just as the princess had said.
The king was walking in the garden, with his
courtiers and ministers about him. Beppo came
to him, and the king, as he always did, laid his
hand upon Beppo's shoulder and whispered in his
ear: " A word, a word, only a few words ; if they
be spoken ill, they are ill; if they be spoken well,
they are more precious than gold and jewels."
While the king was saying these words to
Beppo, Beppo was looking fixedly at the prime,
minister. While he did so he shook his heacl
160
three times. Then he bowed low and walked
away.
He had not gone twenty paces before some
one tapped him upon the arm ; it was the prime-
minister. Beppo gazed fixedly at him. " Alas,
my poor friend !" said he.
The prime- minister turned' pale. "It was,
then, as I thought," said he. " The king spoke
about me. Will you not tell me what he
said ?"
Beppo shook his head. "Alas, my poor friend!"
said he, and then he walked on.
The prime-minister still followed him.
" My lord," said he, " I have been aware that
his majesty has not been the same to me for
more than a week past. If it was about the
princess, pray tell his majesty that I meant noth-
ing ill when I spoke of her to him."
Beppo shook his head. "Alas, my poor friend!"
he said.
The prime-minister's lips trembled. " My lord,"
said he, " I have always had the kindest regard
for you, and if there is anything in my power that
I can do for you I hope you will command me.
I know how much you are in his majesty's confi-
dence. Will you not speak a few words to set
the matter straight ?"
Beppo again shook his head. " Alas, my poor
162
friend !" said he, and then he got upon his horse
and rode away.
Three days passed.
" This morning," said the princess, " when you
go to the king, look at the prime-minister when
the king speaks to you, and smile. The prime-
minister will again speak to you, and this time
say, ' It is well, and I wish you joy.' Take what
he gives you, for it will be of use."
Again all happened just as the princess said.
Beppo came to the palace, and again the king
whispered in his ear. As he did so Beppo looked
at the prime-minister and smiled, and then he
withdrew.
The prime-minister followed him. He trem-
bled. "It is well," said Beppo, "and I wish you
joy."
The prime- minister grasped his hand and
wrung it. " My lord," said he, " how can I ex-
press my gratitude ! The palace of my son that
stands by the river I would that you would use
it for your own, if I may be so bold as to offer it
to you."
" I will," said Beppo, " use it as my own."
The prime-minister wrung his hand again, and
then Beppo rode away.
The next time that Beppo spoke to the king,
at the princess's bidding, he looked at the lord-
163
treasurer, and said, as he had said to the prime-
minister, " Alas, my poor friend !"
When he rode away he left the lord-treasurer
as white as ashes to the very lips.
Three days passed, and then, while the king
talked to Beppo, Beppo looked at the lord-treas-
urer and smiled.
The lord-treasurer followed him to the door of
the palace.
" It is well, and I wish you joy," said Beppo.
The treasurer offered him a fortune.
The next time it was the same with the cap-
tain of the guards. First Beppo pitied him, and
then he wished him joy.
" My lord," said the captain of the guards, " my
services are yours at any time."
Then the same thing happened to the gov-
ernor of the city, then to this lord, and then to
that lord.
Beppo grew rich and powerful beyond measure.
Then one day the princess said : " Now we
will go into the town, and to the palace of the
prime-minister's son, which the prime- minister
gave you, for the time is ripe for the end."
In a few days all the court knew that Beppo
was living like a prince in the prime-minister's
palace. The king began to wonder what it all
164
meant, and how all such good-fortune had come
to Beppo. He had grown very tired of always
speaking to Beppo the same words.
But Beppo was now great among the great;
all the world paid court to him, and bowed
down to him, almost as they did before the
king.
" Now," said the princess, " the time has come
to strike. Bid all the councillors, and all the
lords, and all the nobles to meet here three days
hence, for it is now or never that you shall win
all and become king."
Beppo did as she bade. He asked all of the
great people of the kingdom to come to him, and
they came. When they were all gathered togeth-
er at Beppo's house, they found two thrones set as
though for a king and a queen, but there was no
sign of Beppo, and everybody wondered what it
all meant.
Suddenly the door opened and Beppo came
into the room, leading by the hand a lady covered
with a veil from head to foot.
Everybody stopped speaking and stood staring
while Beppo led the veiled lady up to one of the
thrones. He seated himself upon the other.
The lady stood up and dropped her veil, and
then every one knew her.
It was the princess.
1 66
"Do you not know me?" said she; "I am the
queen, and this is my husband. He is your king."
All stood silent for a moment, and then a great
shout went up. " Long live the queen ! Long
live the king!"
The princess turned to the captain of the
guards. " You have offered your services to my
husband," said she; "his commands and my com-
mands are that you march to the palace and cast
out him who hath no right there."
" It shall be done," said the captain of the
guards.
All the troops were up in arms, and the town
was full of tumult and confusion. About mid-
night they brought the false king before King
Beppo and the queen. The false king stood
there trembling like a leaf. The queen stood
gazing at him steadily. " Behold, this is the hus-
band that thou gavest me," said she. " It is as I
said; he is greater than thou. For, lo, he is king !
What art thou?"
The false king was banished out of the coun-
try, and the poor fisherman's wife, who had en-
tertained the princess for all this time, came to
live at the palace, where all was joy and happi-
ness.
167
"FRIEND" said St. George, " / like your story.
Ne'tJiless, 'tis like a strolling pedler, in that it car-
ries a great pack of ills to begin with, to get rid
of 'em all before it gets to the end of its journey.
However, 'tis as you say it ends with everybody
merry and feasting, and so I like it. But now
methinks our little friend yonder is big with a
story of his own " ; and he pointed, as he spoke,
with the stem of his pipe to a little man whom I
knew was the brave Tailor who had killed seven
Jlies at a blow, for he still had around his waist
the belt with the legend that he himself had worked
upon it.
" Aye" piped the Tailor in a keen, high voice,
" 'tis true I have a story inside of me. 'Tis about
another tailor who had a great, big, black, ugly de-
mon to wait upon him and to sew his clothes for
him''
" And the name of that story, my friend" said
the Soldier who had cheated the Devil, " is what ?"
" // hath no name" piped the little Tailor, " but
I will give it one, and it shall be
Oman's Wit .
When mavis strength fails^
woman s wit prevails.
IN the days when the
great and wise King Solo-
mon lived and ruled, evil
spirits and demons were as
plentiful in the world as
wasps in summer.
So King Solomon, who
was so wise and knew so
many potent spells that he
had power over evil such as
no man has had before or
since, set himself to work to
put those enemies of mankind
160
out of the way. Some he conjured into bottles,
and sank into the depths of the sea; some he
buried in the earth ; some he destroyed alto-
gether, as one burns hair in a candle-flame.
Now, one pleasant day when King Solomon
was walking in his garden with his hands behind
his back, and his thoughts busy as bees with this
or that, he came face to face with a Demon, who
was a prince of his kind. " Ho, little man !"
cried the evil spirit, in a loud voice, " art not
thou the wise King Solomon who conjures my
brethren into brass chests and glass bottles ?
Come, try a fall at wrestling with me, and who-
ever conquers shall be master over the other for
all time. What do you say to such an offer as
that ?"
" I say aye !" said King Solomon, and, without
another word, he stripped off his royal robes and
stood bare breasted, man to man with the other.
The world never saw the like of that wrestling-
match betwixt the king and the Demon, for they
struggled and strove together from the seventh
hour in the morning to the sunset in the even*
ing, and during that time the sky was clouded
over as black as night, and the lightning forked
and shot, and the thunder roared and bellowed,
and the earth shook and quaked.
But at last the king gave the enemy an under
170
twist, and flung him down on the earth so hard
that the apples fell from the trees; and then, pant-
ing and straining, he held the evil one down,
knee on neck. Thereupon the sky presently
cleared again, and all was as pleasant as a spring
day.
King Solomon bound the Demon with spells,
and made him serve him for seven years. First,
he had him build a splendid palace, the like of
which was not to be seen within the bounds
of the seven rivers ; then he made him set
around the palace a garden, such as I for one
wish I may see some time or other. Then, when
the Demon had done all that the king wished,
the king conjured him into a bottle, corked it
tightly, and set the royal seal on the stopper.
Then he took the bottle a thousand miles away
into the wilderness, and, when no man was look-
ing, buried it in the ground, and this is the way
the story begins.
Well, the years came and the years went, and
the world grew older and older, and kept chang-
ing (as all things do but two), so that by-and-by
the wilderness where King Solomon had hid the
bottle became a great town, with people coming
and going, and all as busy as bees about their
own business and other folks' affairs.
Among these towns-people was a little Tailor,
who made clothes for many a worse man to wear,
and who lived all alone in a little house with no
one to darn his stockings for him, and no one to
meddle with his coming and going, for he was
a bachelor.
The little Tailor was a thrifty soul, and by
hook and crook had laid by enough money to fill
a small pot, and then he had to bethink himself
of some safe place to hide it. So one night he
took a spade and a lamp and went out in the
garden to bury his money. He drove his spade
into the ground and click! He struck some-
thing hard that rang under his foot with a sound
as of iron. " Hello !" said he, " what have we
here ?" and if he had known as much as you and
I do, he would have filled in the earth, and
tramped it down, and have left that plate of
broth for somebody else to burn his mouth
with.
As it was, he scraped away the soil, and then
he found a box of adamant, with a ring in the lid
to lift it by. The Tailor clutched the ring and
bent his back, and up came the box with the
damp earth sticking to it. He cleaned the mould
away, and there he saw, written in red letters,
these words:
" Open not"
172
You may be sure that after he had read these
words he was not long in breaking open the lid
of the box with his spade.
Inside the first box he found a second, and
upon it the same words :
" Open not?
Within the second box was another, and
within that still another, until there were seven
in all, and on each was written the same words :
"Open not?
Inside the seventh box was a roll of linen, and
inside that a bottle filled with nothing but blue
smoke ; and I wish that bottle had burned the
Tailor's fingers when he touched it.
" And is this all ?" said the little Tailor, turning
the bottle upside down and shaking it, and peep-
ing at it by the light of the lamp. " Well, since
I have gone so far I might as well open it, as I
have already opened the seven boxes." There-
upon he broke the seal that stoppered it.
Pop! Out flew the cork, and Puff! Out
came the smoke ; not all at once, but in a long
thread that rose up as high as the stars, and then
spread until it hid their light.
174
The Tailor stared and goggled and gaped to
see so much smoke come out of such a little
bottle, and, as he goggled and stared, the smoke
began to gather together again, thicker and
thicker, and darker and darker, until it was as
black as ink. Then out from it there stepped
one with eyes that shone like sparks of fire, and
who had a countenance so terrible that the
Tailor's skin quivered and shrivelled, and his
tongue clove to the roof of his mouth at the
sight of it.
"Who art thou?" said the terrible being, in a
voice that made the very marrow of the poor
Tailor's bones turn soft from terror.
" If you please, sir," said he, " I am only a
little tailor."
The evil being lifted up both hands and eyes.
" How wonderful," he cried, "that one little tailor
can undo in a moment that which took the wise
Solomon a whole day to accomplish, and in the
doing of which he wellnigh broke the sinews
of his heart !" Then, turning to the Tailor, who
stood trembling like a rabbit, " Hark thee !" said
he. " For two thousand years I lay there in that
bottle, and no one came nigh to aid me. Thou
hast liberated me, and thou shalt not go unre-
warded. Every morning at the seventh hour I
will come to thee, and I will perform for thee
175 .
whatever task thou mayest command me. But
there is one condition attached to the agreement,
and woe be to thee if that condition is broken.
If any morning I should come to thee, and thou
hast no task for me to do, I shall wring thy neck
as thou mightest wring the neck of a sparrow."
Thereupon he was gone in an instant, leaving
the little Tailor half dead with terror.
Now it happened that the prime -minister of
that country had left an order with the Tailor for
a suit of clothes, so the next morning, when the
Demon came, the little man set him to work on
the bench, with his legs tucked up like a journey-
man tailor. " I want," said he, " such and such
a suit of clothes."
" You shall have them," said the Demon ; and
thereupon he began snipping in the air, and cut
ting most wonderful patterns of silks and satins
out of nothing at all, and the little Tailor sat
and gaped and stared. Then the Demon began
to drive the needle like a spark of fire the like
was never seen in all the seven kingdoms, for
the clothes seemed to make themselves.
At last, at the end of a little while, the Demon
stood up and brushed his hands. "They are
done," said he, and thereupon he instantly van-
ished. But the Tailor cared little for that, for
upon the bench there lay such a suit of clothes
176
of silk and satin stuff, sewed with threads of gold
and silver and set with jewels, as the eyes of man
never saw before ; and the Tailor packed them up
and marched off with them himself to the prime-
minister.
The prime-minister wore the clothes to court
that very day, and before evening they were the
talk of the town. All the world ran to the Tailor
and ordered clothes of him, and his fortune was
made. Every day the Demon created new suits
of clothes out of nothing at all, so that the Tailor
grew as rich as a Jew, and held his head up in
the world.
As time went along he laid heavier and heav-
ier tasks upon the Demon's back, and demanded
of him more and more; but all the while the
Demon kept his own counsel, and said never a
word.
One morning, as the Tailor sat in his shop win-
dow taking the world easy for he had little or
nothing to do now he heard a great hubbub in
the street below, and when he looked down he
saw that it was the king's daughter passing by.
It was the first time that the Tailor had seen her,
and when he saw her his heart stood still within
him, and then began fluttering like a little bird,
for one so beautiful was not to be met with in the
four corners of the world. Then she was gone.
178
All that day the little Tailor could do nothing
but sit and think of the princess, and the next
morning when the Demon came he was thinking
of her still.
" What hast thou for me to do to-day ?" said
the Demon, as he always said of a morning.
The little Tailor was waiting for the question.
" I would like you," said he, " to send to the
king's palace, and to ask him to let me have his
daughter for my wife."
" Thou shalt have thy desire," said the Demon.
Thereupon he smote his hands together like a
clap of thunder, and instantly the walls of the
room clove asunder, and there came out four-and-
twenty handsome youths, clad in cloth of gold
and silver. After these four -and -twenty there
came another one who was the chief of them all,
and before whom, splendid as they were, the four-
and-twenty paled like stars in daylight. " Go to
the king's palace," said the Demon to that one,
11 and deliver this message : The Tailor of Tail-
ors, the Master of Masters, and One Greater than
a King asks for his daughter to wife."
" To hear is to obey," said the other, and
bowed his forehead to the earth.
Never was there such a hubbub in the town as
when those five - and - twenty, in their clothes of
silver and gold, rode through the streets to the
i so
king's palace. As they came near, the gates of
the palace flew open before them, and the king
himself came out to meet them. The leader of
the five-and-twenty leaped from his horse, and,
kissing the ground before the king, delivered his
message : " The Tailor of Tailors, the Master of
Masters, and One Greater than a King asks for
thy daughter to wife."
When the king heard what the messenger said,
he thought and pondered a long time. At last
he said, " If he who sent you is the Master of
Masters, and greater than a king, let him send me
an asking gift such as no king could send."
" It shall be as you desire," said the messenger,
and thereupon the five-and-twenty rode away as
they had come, followed by crowds of people.
The next morning when the Demon came the
tailor was ready and waiting for him. " What
hast thou for me to do to-day?" said the Evil
One.
" I want," said the tailor, " a gift to send to the
king such as no other king could send him."
" Thou shalt have thy desire," said the Demon.
Thereupon he smote his hands together, and
summoned, not five-and-twenty young men, but
fifty youths, all clad in clothes more splendid
than the others.
All of the fifty sat upon coal-black horses, with
181
saddles of silver and housings of silk and velvet
embroidered with gold. In the midst of all the
five-and-seventy there rode a youth in cloth of
silver embroidered in pearls. In his hand he
bore something wrapped in a white napkin, and
that was the present for the king such as no
other king could give. So said the Demon :
" Take it to the royal palace, and tell his majesty
that it is from the Tailor of Tailors, the Master
of Masters, and One Greater than a King."
" To hear is to obey," said the young man, and
then they all rode away.
When they came to the palace the gates flew
open before them, and the king came out to meet
them. The young man who bore the present dis-
mounted and prostrated himself in the dust, and,
when the king bade him arise, he unwrapped
the napkin, and gave to the king a goblet made
of one single ruby, and filled to the brim with
pieces of gold. Moreover, the cup was of such a
kind that whenever it was emptied of its money
it instantly became full again. " The Tailor of
Tailors, and Master of Masters, and One Greater
than a King sends your majesty this goblet, and
bids me, his ambassador, to ask for your daugh-
ter," said the young man.
When the king saw what had been sent him
he was filled with amazement. " Surely," said he
182
to himself, " there can be no end to the power of
one who can give such a gift as this." Then to
the messenger, " Tell your master that he shall
have my daughter for his wife if he will build
over yonder a palace such as no man ever saw or
no king ever lived in before."
" It shall be done," said the young man, and
then they all went away, as the others had done
the day before.
The next morning when the Demon appeared
the Tailor was ready for him. " Build me," said
he, " such and such a palace in such and such a
place."
183
And the Demon said, " It shall be done."
He smote his hands together, and instantly
there came a cloud of mist that covered and hid
the spot where the palace was to be built. Out
from the cloud there came such a banging and
hammering and clapping and clattering as the
people of that town never heard before. Then
when evening had come the cloud arose, and
there, where the king had pointed out, stood a
splendid palace as white as snow, with roofs and
domes of gold and silver. As the king stood
looking and wondering at this sight, there came
five hundred young men riding, and one in the
midst of all who wore a golden crown on his
head, and upon his body a long robe stiff with
diamonds and pearls. " We come," said he,
" from the Tailor of Tailors, and Master of Mas-
ters, and One Greater than a King, to ask you
to let him have your daughter for his wife."
" Tell him to come !" cried the king, in admi-
ration, " for the princess is his."
The next morning when the Demon came he
found the Tailor dancing and shouting for joy.
"The princess is mine!" he cried, "so make me
ready for her."
" It shall be done," said the Demon, and there-
upon he began to make the Tailor ready for his
wedding. He brought him to a marble bath of
184
water, in which he washed away all that was
coarse and ugly, and from which the little man
came forth as beautiful as the sun. Then the
Demon clad him in the finest linen, and covered
him with clothes such as even the emperor of
India never wore. Then he smote his hands to-
gether, and the wall of the tailor-shop opened as
it had done twice before, and there came forth
forty slaves clad in crimson, and bearing bowls
full of money in their hands. After them came
two leading a horse as white as snow, with a sad-
dle of gold studded with diamonds and rubies
and emeralds and sapphires. After came a body-
guard of twenty warriors clad in gold armor.
Then the Tailor mounted his horse and rode
away to the king's palace, and as he rode the
slaves scattered the money amongst the crowd,
who scrambled for it and cheered the Tailor to
the skies.
That night the princess and the Tailor were
married, and all the town was lit with bonfires
and fireworks. The two rode away in the midst
of a great crowd of nobles and courtiers to the
palace which the Demon had built for the Tailor;
and, as the princess gazed upon him, she thought
that she had never beheld so noble and hand-
185
some a man as her husband. So she and the
Tailor were the happiest couple in the world.
But the next morning the Demon appeared as
he had appeared ever since the Tailor had let him
out of the bottle, only now he grinned till his
teeth shone and his face turned black. " What
hast thou for me to do?" said he, and at the
words the Tailor's heart began to quake, for he
remembered what was to happen to him when he
could find the Demon no more work to do that
his neck was to be wrung and now he began to
see that he had all that he could ask for in the
world. Yes ; what was there to ask for now ?
" I have nothing more for you to do," said he
to the Demon ; " you have done all that man
could ask you may go now."
" Go !" cried the Demon, " I shall not go until I
have done all that I have to do. Give me work,
or I shall wring your neck." And his fingers be-
gan to twitch.
Then the Tailor began to see into what a net
he had fallen. He began to tremble like one in
an ague. He turned his eyes up and down, for
he did not know where to look for aid. Sud-
denly, as he looked out of the window, a thought
struck him. " Maybe," thought he, " I can give,
the Demon such a task that even he cannot do it.
* Yes, yes !" he cried, " I have thought of some
186
thing for you to do. Make me out yonder in
front of my palace a lake of water a mile long
and a mile wide, and let it be lined throughout
with white marble, and filled with water as clear
as crystal."
" It shall be done," said the Demon. As he
spoke he spat in the air, and instantly a thick
fog arose from the earth and hid everything from
sight. Then presently from the midst of the fog
there came a great noise of chipping and ham-
mering, of digging and delving, of rushing and
gurgling. All day the noise and the fog contin-
ued, and then at sunset the one ceased and the
other cleared away. The poor Tailor looked out
the window, and when he saw what he saw his
teeth chattered in his head, for there was a lake
a mile long and a mile broad, lined within with
white marble, and filled with water as clear as
crystal, and he knew that the Demon would come
the next morning for another task to do.
That night he slept little or none, and when
the seventh hour of the morning came the castle
began to rock and tremble, and there stood the
Demon, and his hair bristled and his eyes shone
like sparks of fire. " What hast thou for me to
do ?" said he, and the poor Tailor could do noth-
ing but look at him with a face as white as
dough.
187
" What hast thou for me to do ?" said the De-
mon again, and then at last the Tailor found his
wits and his tongue from sheer terror. " Look !"
said he, " at the great mountain over yonder ;
remove it, and make in its place a level plain
with fields and orchards and gardens." And he
thought to himself when he had spoken, " Surely,
even the Demon cannot do that."
" It shall be done," said the Demon, and, so
saying, he stamped his heel upon the ground.
Instantly the earth began to tremble and quake,
and there came a great rumbling like the sound
of thunder. A cloud of darkness gathered in the
sky, until at last all was as black as the blackest
midnight. Then came a roaring and a cracking
and a crashing, such as man never heard before.
All day it continued, until the time of the setting
of the sun, when suddenly the uproar ceased, and
the darkness cleared away ; and when the Tailor
looked out of the window the mountain was gone,
and in its place were fields and orchards and
gardens.
It was very beautiful to see, but when the Tailor
beheld it his knees began to smite together, and
the sweat ran down his face in streams. All
that night he walked up and down and up and
down, but he could not think of one other task
for the Demon to do.
188
When the next morning came the Demon apx
peared like a whirlwind. His face was as black
as ink and smoke, and sparks of fire flew from
his nostrils.
" What have you for me to do ?" cried he.
" I have nothing for you to do !" piped the poor
Tailor.
" Nothing ?" cried the Demon.
" Nothing."
" Then prepare to die."
" Stop !" said the Tailor, falling on his knees,
" let me first see my wife."
" So be it," said the Demon, and if he had
been wiser he would have said " No."
When the Tailor came to the princess, he flung
himself on his face, and began to weep and wail.
The princess asked him what was the matter,
and at last, by dint of question, got the story from
him, piece by piece. When she had it all she be-
gan laughing. " Why did you not come to me
before ?" said she, " instead of making all this
trouble and uproar for nothing at all ? I will give
the Monster a task to do." She plucked a single
curling hair from her head. " Here," said she,
" let him take this hair and make it straight."
The Tailor was full of doubt; nevertheless, as
there was nothing better to do, he took it to the
Demon.
190
" Hast thou found me a task to do ?" cried the
Demon.
" Yes," said the Tailor. " It is only a little
thing. Here is a hair from my wife's head ; take
it and make it straight."
When the Demon heard what was the task
that the Tailor had set him to do he laughed
aloud ; but that was because he did not know.
He took the hair and stroked it between his
thumb and finger, and, when he had done, it
curled more than ever. Then he looked serious,
and slapped it between his palms, and that did
not better matters, for it curled as much as ever.
Then he frowned, and, began beating the hair
with his palm upon his knees, and that only made
it worse. All that day he labored and strove at
his task trying to make that one little hair straight,
and, when the sun set, there was the hair just as
crooked as ever. Then, as the great round sun
sank red behind the trees, the Demon knew that
he was beaten. " I am conquered ! I am con-
quered !" he howled, and flew away, bellowing so
dreadfully that all the world trembled.
So ends the story, with only this to say :
Where mans strength fails, woman s wit pre-
vails.
191
For, to my mind, the princess not to speak of
her husband the little Tailor - - did more with a
single little hair and her mother wit than King
Solomon with all his wisdom.
" WHOSE turn is it next to tell ^ls a story ?"
said Sindbad the Sailor.
" 'Twas my turn," said St. George; "but here be
two ladies present, and neither hath so much as
spoken a word of a story for all this time. If you,
madam"' said he to Cinderella, "will tell us a tale,
I will gladly give -up my turn to you?
The Soldier who cheated the Devil took the pipe
out of his mouth and puffed away a cloud of smoke.
" Aye" said he, " always remember the ladies, say
I. That is a soldier's trade?
" Very well, then ; if it is your pleasure" said
Cinderella, " / will tell you a story, and it shall be
of a friend of mine and of how she looked after
her husband's luck. She was" said Cinderella,
" a princess, and her father was a king"
"And what is your story about ?" said Sindbad
the Sailor.
" It is" said Cinderella, " about
1
Piece <y Good Luck,
THERE were three stu-
dents who were learning all
that they could. The first
was named Joseph, the second
was named John, and the third
was named Jacob Stuck. They
studied seven long years under
a wise master, and in that time
they learned all that their mas-
ter had to teach them of the
wonderful things he knew.
They learned all about geom-
etry, they learned all about al-
gebra, they learned all about
astronomy, they learned all
195
about the hidden arts, they learned all about ev-
erything, except how to mend their own hose and
where to get cabbage to boil in the pot.
And now they were to go out into the world
to practise what they knew. The master called
the three students to him the one named
Joseph, the second named John, and the third
named Jacob Stuck and said he to them, said
he : " You have studied faithfully and have
learned all that I have been able to teach you,
and now you shall not go out into the world
with nothing at all. See; here are three glass
balls, and that is one for each of you. Their
like is not to be found in the four corners of the
world. Carry the balls wherever you go, and
when one of them drops to the ground, dig, and
there you will certainly find a treasure."
So the three students went out into the wide
world.
Well, they travelled on and on for day after
day, each carrying his glass ball with him wher-
ever he went. They travelled on and on for I
cannot tell how long, until one day the ball that
Joseph carried slipped out of his fingers and fell
to the ground. " I've found a treasure !" cried
Joseph, " I've found a treasure !"
The three students fell to work scratching
and digging where the ball had fallen, and by-
196
and-by they found something. It was a chest
with an iron ring in the lid. It took all three of
them to haul it up out of the ground, and when
they did so they found it was full to the brim of
silver money.
Were they happy ? Well, they were happy !
They danced around and around the chest, for
they had never seen so much money in all their
lives before. " Brothers," said Joseph, in exulta-
tion, " here is enough for all hands, and it shall
be share and share alike with us, for haven't we
studied seven long years together?" And so for
a while they were as happy as happy could be.
But by-and-by a flock of second thoughts began
to buzz in the heads of John and Jacob Stuck.
"Why," said they, "as for that, to be sure, a chest
of silver money is a great thing for three students
to find who had nothing better than book-learning
to help them along ; but who knows but that there
is something better even than silver money out
in the wide world ?" So, after all, and in spite
of the chest of silver money they had found, the
two of them were for going on to try their fort-
unes a little farther. And as for Joseph, why,
after all, when he came to think of it, he was not
sorry to have his chest of silver money all to
himself.
So the two travelled on and on for a while.
here and there and everywhere, until at last it
was John's ball that slipped out of his fingers
and fell to the ground. They digged where it
fell, and this time it was a chest of gold money
they found.
Yes ; a chest of gold money ! A chest of real
gold money ! They just stood and stared and
stared, for if they had not seen it they would
not have believed that such a thing could have
been in the world. " Well, Jacob Stuck," said
John, " it was well to travel a bit farther than
poor Joseph did, was it not? What is a chest of
silver money to such a treasure as this ? Come,
brother, here is enough to make us both rich for
all the rest of our lives. We need look for noth-
ing better than this."
But no; by-and-by Jacob Stuck began to cool
down again, and now that second thoughts were
coming to him he would not even be satisfied
with a half-share of a chest of gold money. No;
maybe there might be something better than even
a chest full of gold money to be found in the world.
As for John, why, after all, he was just as well sat-
isfied to keep his treasure for himself. So the two
shook hands, and then Jacob Stuck jogged away
alone, leaving John stuffing his pockets and his
hat full of gold money, and I should have liked
to have been there, to have had my share.
199 i
Well, Jacob Stuck jogged on and on by him-
self, until after a while he came to a great, wide
desert, where there was not a blade or a stick to
be seen far or near. He jogged on and on, and
he wished he had not come there. He jogged
on and on when all of a sudden the glass ball he
carried slipped out of his fingers and fell to the
ground.
"Aha!" said he to himself, "now maybe I
shall find some great treasure compared to which
even silver and gold are as nothing at all."
He digged down into the barren earth of the
desert ; and he digged and he digged, but neither
silver nor gold did he find. He digged and
digged ; and by-and-by, at last, he did find some-
thing. And what was it? Why, nothing but
something that looked like a piece of blue glass
not a bit bigger than my thumb. " Is that all ?"
said Jacob Stuck. " And have I travelled all this
weary way and into the blinding desert only for
this ? Have I passed by silver and gold enough
to make me rich for all my life, only to find a
little piece of blue glass ?"
Jacob Stuck did not know what he had found.
I shall tell you what it was. It was a solid piece
of good luck without flaw or blemish, and it was
almost the only piece I ever heard tell of. Yes ;
that was what it was a solid piece of good luck ;
200
and as for Jacob Stuck, why, he was not the
first in the world by many and one over who has
failed to know a piece of good luck when they
have found it. Yes ; it looked just like a piece
of blue glass no bigger than my thumb, and
nothing else.
" Is that all ?" said Jacob Stuck. " And have I
travelled all this weary way and into the blind-
ing desert only for this? Have I passed by
silver and gold enough to make me rich for all
my life, only to find a little piece of blue glass?"
He looked at the bit of glass, and he turned it
over and over in his hand. It was covered with
dirt. Jacob Stuck blew his breath upon it, and
rubbed it with his thumb.
Crack ! dong ! bang ! smash !
Upon my word, had a bolt of lightning burst
at Jacob Stuck's feet he could not have been
more struck of a heap. For no sooner had he
rubbed the glass with his thumb than with a
noise like a clap of thunder there instantly stood
before him a great, big man, dressed in clothes
as red as a flame, and with eyes that shone
sparks of fire. It was the Genie of Good Luck.
It nearly knocked Jacob Stuck off his feet to
see him there so suddenly.
" What will you have ?" said the Genie. " I
am the slave of good luck. Whosoever holds
202
that piece of crystal in his hand him must I
obey in whatsoever he may command."
" Do you mean that you are my servant and
that I am your master?" said Jacob Stuck.
" Yes ; command and I obey."
" Why, then," said Jacob Stuck, " I would like
you to help me out of this desert place, if you
can do so, for it is a poor spot for any Christian
soul to be."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie, and, be-
fore Jacob Stuck knew what had happened to
him, the Genie had seized him and was flying
with him through the air swifter than the wind.
On and on he flew, and the earth seemed to slide
away beneath. On and on flew the flame-col-
ored Genie until at last he set Jacob down in a
great meadow where there was a river. Beyond
the river were the white walls and grand houses
of the king's town.
" Hast thou any further commands ?" said the
Genie.
" Tell me what you can do for me ?" said Jacob
Stuck.
" I can do whatsoever thou mayest order me
to do," said the Genie.
" Well, then," said Jacob Stuck, " I think first
of all I would like to have plenty of money to
spend."
203
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie, and, as
he spoke, he reached up into the air and picked
out a purse from nothing at all. " Here," said
he, " is the purse of fortune; take from it all that
thou needest and yet it will always be full. As
long as thou hast it thou shalt never be lacking
riches."
" I am very much obliged to you," said Jacob
Stuck. " I've learned geometry and algebra and
astronomy and the hidden arts, but I never heard
tell of anything like this before."
So Jacob Stuck went into the town with all the
money he could spend, and such a one is wel-
come anywhere. He lacked nothing that money
could buy. He bought himself a fine house ; he
made all the friends he wanted, and more ; he
lived without a care, and with nothing to do
but to enjoy himself. That was what a bit of
good luck did for him.
Now the princess, the daughter of the king
of that town, was the most beautiful in all the
world, but so proud and haughty that her like
was not to be found within the bounds of all the
seven rivers. So proud was she and so haughty
that she would neither look upon a young man
nor allow any young man to look upon her.
She was so particular that whenever she went out
204
to take a ride a herald was sent through the town
with a trumpet ordering that every house should
be closed and that everybody should stay within
doors, so that the princess should run no risk of
seeing a young man, or that no young man by
chance should see her.
One day the herald went through the town
blowing his trumpet and calling in a great, loud
voice : " Close your doors ! Close your windows !
Her highness, the princess, comes to ride ; let no
man look upon her on pain of death !"
Thereupon everybody began closing their
doors and windows, and, as it was with the others,
so it was with Jacob Stuck's house ; it had, like
all the rest, to be shut up as tight as a jug.
But Jacob Stuck was not satisfied with that;
not he. He was for seeing the princess, and he
was bound he would do so. So he bored a hole
through the door, and when the princess came
riding by he peeped out at her.
Jacob Stuck thought he had never seen any-
one so beautiful in all his life. It was like
the sunlight shining in his eyes, and he almost
sneezed. Her cheeks were like milk and rose-
leaves, and her hair like fine threads of gold. She
sat in a golden coach with a golden crown upon
her head, and Jacob Stuck stood looking and
looking until his heart melted within him like
206
wax in the oven. Then the princess was gone,
and Jacob Stuck stood there sighing and
sighing.
" Oh, dear! dear!" said he, " what shall I do?
For, proud as she is, I must see her again or else
I will die of it."
All that day he sat sighing and thinking
about the beautiful princess, until the evening
had come. Then he suddenly thought of his
piece of good luck. He pulled his piece of blue
glass out of his pocket and breathed upon it
and rubbed it with his thumb, and instantly the
Genie was there.
This time Jacob Stuck was not frightened at
all.
" What are thy commands, O master ?" said
the Genie.
" O Genie !" said Jacob Stuck, " I have seen
the princess to-day, and it seems to me that there
is nobody like her in all the world. Tell me,
could you bring her here so that I might see her
again ?"
" Yes," said the Genie, " I could."
" Then do so," said Jacob Stuck, " and I will
have you prepare a grand feast, and have mu-
sicians to play beautiful music, for I would have
the princess sup with me."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie. As he
207
spoke he smote his hands together, and instantly
there appeared twenty musicians, dressed in cloth
of gold and silver. With them they brought
hautboys and fiddles, big and little, and flageo-
lets and drums and horns, and this and that to
make music with. Again the Genie smote his
hands together, and instantly there appeared fifty
servants dressed in silks and satins and spangled
with jewels, who began to spread a table with fine
linen embroidered with gold, and to set plates of
gold and silver upon it. The Genie smote his
hands together a third time, and in answer there
came six servants. They led Jacob Stuck into
another room, where there was a bath of musk
and rose-water. They bathed him in the bath
and dressed him in clothes like an emperor, and
when he came out again his face shone, and he
was as handsome as a picture.
Then by-and-by he knew that the princess was
coming, for suddenly there was the sound of
girls' voices singing and the twanging of stringed
instruments. The door flew open, and in came a
crowd of beautiful girls, singing and playing
music, and after them the princess herself, more
beautiful than ever. But the proud princess was
frightened ! Yes, she was. And well she might
be, for the Genie had flown with her through the
air from the palace, and that is enough to frighten
208
anybody. Jacob Stuck came to her all glittering
and shining with jewels and gold, and took her
by the hand. He led her up the hall, and as he
did so the musicians struck up and began play-
ing the most beautiful music in the world. Then
Jacob Stuck and the princess sat down to sup-
per and began eating and drinking, and Jacob
Stuck talked of all the sweetest things he could
think of. Thousands of wax candles made the
palace bright as day, and as the princess looked
about her she thought she had never seen any-
thing so fine in all the world. After they had
eaten their supper and ended with a dessert of
o 20Q
all kinds of fruits and of sweetmeats, the door
opened and there came a beautiful young serving-
lad, carrying a silver tray, upon which was some-
thing wrapped in a napkin. He kneeled before
Jacob Stuck and held the tray, and from the nap-
kin Jacob Stuck took a necklace of diamonds,
each stone as big as a pigeon's egg.
" This is to remind you of me," said Jacob
Stuck, " when you have gone home again." And
as he spoke he hung it around the princess's
neck.
Just then the clock struck twelve.
Hardly had the last stroke sounded when every
light was snuffed out, and all was instantly dark
and still. Then, before she had time to think,
the Genie of Good Luck snatched the princess
up once more and flew back to the palace more
swiftly than the wind. And, before the princess
knew what had happened to her, there she was.
It was all so strange that the princess might
have thought it was a dream, only for the neck-
lace of diamonds, the like of which was not to be
found in all the world.
The next morning there was a great buzzing
in the palace, you may be sure. The princess
told all about how she had been carried away
during the night, and had supped in such a
splendid palace, and with such a handsome man
210
dressed like an emperor. She showed her neck-
lace of diamonds, and the king and his prime-
minister could not look at it or wonder at it
enough. The prime - minister and the king
talked and talked the matter over together, and
every now and then the proud princess put in a
word of her own.
" Anybody," said the prime-minister, " can see
with half an eye that it is all magic, or else it is
a wonderful piece of good luck. Now, I'll tell
you what shall be done," said he : " the princess
shall keep a piece of chalk by her ; and, if she is
carried away again in such a fashion, she shall
mark a cross with the piece of chalk on the door
of the house to which she is taken. Then we
shall find the rogue that is playing such a trick,
and that quickly enough."
" Yes," said the king ; " that is very good ad-
vice."
" I will do it," said the princess.
All that day Jacob Stuck sat thinking and
thinking about the beautiful princess. He could
not eat a bite, and he could hardly wait for the
night to come. As soon as it had fallen, he
breathed upon his piece of glass and rubbed his
thumb upon it, and there stood the Genie of
Good Luck.
" I'd like the princess here again," said he, " as
211
she was last night, with feasting and drinking,
such as we had before."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie.
And as it had been the night before, so it was
now. The Genie brought the princess, and she
and Jacob Stuck feasted together until nearly
midnight. Then, again, the door opened, and
the beautiful servant-lad came with the tray and
something upon it covered with a napkin. Jacob
Stuck unfolded the napkin, and this time it was
a cup made of a single ruby, and filled to the
brim with gold money. And the wonder of the
cup was this : that no matter how much money
you took out of it, it was always full. " Take
this," said Jacob Stuck, " to remind you of me."
Then the clock struck twelve, and instantly all
was darkness, and the Genie carried the princess
home again.
But the princess had brought her piece of
chalk with her, as the prime -minister had ad-
vised ; and in some way or other she contrived,
either in coming or going, to mark a cross upon
the door of Jacob Stuck's house.
But, clever as she was, the Genie of Good Luck
was more clever still. He saw what the princess
did ; and, as soon as he had carried her home, he
went all through the town and marked a cross
upon every door, great and small, little and big,
212
just as the princess had done upon the door of
Jacob Stuck's house, only upon the prime-minis-
ter's door he put two crosses. The next morn-
ing everybody was wondering what all the cross-
es on the house -doors meant, and the king and
the prime-minister were no wiser than they had
been before.
But the princess had brought her ruby cup
with her, and she and the king could not look at
it and wonder at it enough.
" Pooh !" said the prime-minister; " I tell you it
is nothing else in the world but just a piece of
good luck --that is all it is. As for the rogue
who is playing all these tricks, let the princess
keep a pair of scissors by her, and, if she is car-
ried away again, let her contrive to cut off a lock
of his hair from over the young man's right ear.
Then to-morrow we will find out who has been
trimmed."
Yes, the princess would do that; so, before
evening was come, she tied a pair of scissors to
her belt.
Well, Jacob Stuck could hardly wait for the
night to come to summon the Genie of Good
Luck. " 1 want to sup with the princess again,"
said he.
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie of Good
Luck ; and, as soon as he had made everything
213
ready, away he flew to fetch the princess
again.
Well, they feasted and drank, and the music
played, and the candles were as bright as day,
and beautiful girls sang and danced, and Jacob
Stuck was as happy as a king. But the princess
kept her scissors by her, and, when Jacob Stuck
was not looking, she contrived to snip off a lock
of his hair from over his right ear, and nobody
saw what was done but the Genie of Good
Luck.
So it came towards midnight.
Once more the door opened, and the beautiful
serving-lad came into the room, carrying the tray
of silver with something upon it wrapped in a
napkin. This time Jacob Stuck gave the princess
an emerald ring for a keepsake, and the wonder
of it was that every morning two other rings just
like it would drop from it.
Then twelve o'clock sounded, the lights went
out, and the Genie took the princess home again.
But the Genie had seen what the princess had
done. As soon as he had taken her safe home,
he struck his palms together and summoned all
his companions. " Go," said he, " throughout the
town and trim a lock of hair from over the right
ear of every man in the whole place ;" and so
they did, from the king himself to the beggar-man
214
at the gates. As for the prime-minister, the Ge-
nie himself trimmed two locks of hair from him,
one from over each of his ears, so that the next
morning he looked as shorn as an old sheep. In
the morning all the town was in a hubbub, and
everybody was wondering how all the men came
to have their hair clipped as it was. But the
princess had brought the lock of Jacob Stuck's
hair away with her wrapped up in a piece of pa-
per, and there it was.
As for the ring Jacob Stuck had given to her,
why, the next morning there were three of them,
and the king thought he had never heard tell of
such a wonderful thing.
" I tell you," said the prime-minister, " there is
nothing in it but a piece of good luck, and not a
grain of virtue. It's just a piece of good luck
that's all it is."
" No matter," said the king; " I never saw the
like of it in all my life before. Arid now, what
are we going to do ?"
The prime-minister could think of nothing.
Then the princess spoke up. "Your majesty,"
she said, " I can find the young man for you.
Just let the herald go through the town and pro-
claim that I will marry the young man to whom
this lock of hair belongs, and then we will find
him quickly enough."
216
" What!" cried the prime-minister; " will, then,
the princess marry a man who has nothing better
than a little bit of good luck to help him along
in the world ?"
" Yes," said the princess, " I shall if I can find
him."
So the herald was sent out around the town
proclaiming that the princess would marry the
man to whose head belonged the lock of hair
that she had.
A lock of hair ! Why, every man had lost a
lock of hair! Maybe the princess could fit it on
again, and then the fortune of him to whom it
o
belonged would be made. All the men in the
town crowded up to the king's palace. But all
for no use, for never a one of them was fitted with
his own hair.
As for Jacob Stuck, he too had heard what the
herald had proclaimed. Yes ; he too had heard
it, and his heart jumped and hopped within him
like a young lamb in the spring-time. He knew
whose hair it was the princess had. Away he
went by himself, and rubbed up his piece of blue
glass, and there stood the Genie.
" What are thy commands ? " said he.
"I am," said Jacob Stuck, "going up to the
king's palace to marry the princess, and I would
have a proper escort."
217
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie.
He smote his hands together, and instantly
there appeared a score of attendants who took
Jacob Stuck, and led him into another room, and
began clothing him in a suit so magnificent that
it dazzled the eyes to look at it. He smote his
hands together again, and out in the court-yard
there appeared a troop of horsemen to escort
Jacob Stuck to the palace, and they were all clad
in gold-and-silver armor. He smote his hands
together again, and there appeared twenty-and-
one horses twenty as black as night and one
as white as milk, and it twinkled and sparkled
all over with gold and jewels, and at the head of
each horse of the one-and-twenty horses stood a
slave clad in crimson velvet to hold the bridle.
Again he smote his hands together, and there ap-
peared in the ante-room twenty handsome young
men, each with a marble bowl filled with gold
money, and when Jacob Stuck came out dressed
in his fine clothes there they all were.
Jacob Stuck mounted upon the horse as white
as milk, the young men mounted each upon one
of the black horses, the troopers in the gold-and-
silver armor wheeled their horses, the trumpets
blew, and away they rode such a sight as was
never seen in that town before, when they had
come out into the streets. The young men with
218
the basins scattered the gold money to the peo-
ple, and a great crowd ran scrambling after, and
shouted and cheered.
So Jacob Stuck rode up to the king's palace,
and the king himself came out to meet him with
the princess hanging on his arm.
As for the princess, she knew him the moment
she laid eyes on him. She came down the steps,
and set the lock of hair against his head, where
she had trimmed it off the night before, and it
fitted and matched exactly. " This is the young
man," said she, " and I will marry him, and none
other."
But the prime -minister whispered and whis-
pered in the king's ear : " I tell you this young
man is nobody at all," said he, " but just some
fellow who has had a little bit of good luck."
"Pooh!" said the king, "stuff and nonsense!
Just look at all the gold and jewels and horses
and men. What will you do," said he to Jacob
Stuck, " if I let you marry the princess ?"
" I will," said Jacob Stuck, " build for her the
finest palace that ever was seen in all this
world."
" Very well," said the king, " yonder are those
sand hills over there. You shall remove them
and build your palace there. When it is finished
you shall marry the princess." For if he does
220
that, thought the king to himself, it is something
better than mere good luck.
" It shall," said Jacob Stuck, " be done by to-
morrow morning."
Well, all that day Jacob Stuck feasted and
made merry at the king's palace, and the king
wondered when he was going to begin to build
his palace. But Jacob Stuck said nothing at
all ; he just feasted and drank and made merry.
When night had come, however, it was all differ-
ent. Away he went by himself, and blew his
breath upon his piece of blue glass, and rubbed
it with his thumb. Instantly there stood the
Genie before him. " What wouldst thou have ?"
said he.
" I would like," said Jacob Stuck, " to have the
sand hills over yonder carried away, and a palace
built there of white marble and gold and silver,
such as the world never saw before. And let
there be gardens planted there with flowering
plants and trees, and let there be fountains and
marble walks. And let there be servants and
attendants in the palace of all sorts and kinds
men and women. And let there be a splendid
feast spread for to-morrow morning, for then I
am going to marry the princess."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie, and in-
stantly he was gone.
221
All night there was from the sand hills a cease-
less sound as of thunder a sound of banging
and clapping and hammering and sawing and
calling and shouting. All that night the sounds
continued unceasingly, but at daybreak all was
still, and when the sun arose there stood the
most splendid palace it ever looked down upon ;
shining as white as snow, and blazing with gold
and silver. All around it were gardens and
fountains and orchards. A great highway had
been built between it and the king's palace, and
all along the highway a carpet of cloth of gold
had been spread for the princess to walk upon.
Dear ! dear ! how all the town stared with
wonder when they saw such a splendid palace
standing where the day before had been nothing
but naked sand hills ! The folk flocked in crowds
to see it, and all the country about was alive with
people coming and going. As for the king, he
could not believe his eyes when he saw it. He
stood with the princess and looked and looked.
Then came Jacob Stuck. "And now," said he,
"am I to marry the princess?"
" Yes," cried the king in admiration, " you
are !"
So Jacob Stuck married the princess, and a
splendid wedding it was. That was what a little
bit of good luck did for him.
222
After the wedding was over, it was time to go
home to the grand new palace. Then there came
a great troop of horsemen with shining armor and
with music, sent by the Genie to escort Jacob
Stuck and the princess and the king and the
prime -minister to Jacob Stuck's new palace.
They rode along over the carpet of gold, and
such a fine sight was never seen in that land be-
fore. As they drew near to the palace a great
crowd of servants, clad in silks and satins and
jewels, came out to meet them, singing and
dancing and playing on harps and lutes. The
king and the princess thought that they must
be dreaming.
" All this is yours," said Jacob Stuck to the
princess ; and he was that fond of her, he would
have given her still more if he could have thought
of anything else.
Jacob Stuck and the princess, and the king
and the prime-minister, all went into the palace,
and there was a splendid feast spread in plates
of pure gold and silver, and they all four sat
down together.
But the prime-minister was as sour about it all
as a crab-apple. All the time they were feasting
he kept whispering and whispering in the king's
ear. " It is all stuff and nonsense," said he, "for
such a man as Jacob Stuck to do all this by him-
224
self. I tell you, it is all a piece of good luck,
and not a bit of merit in it."
He whispered and whispered, until at last the
king up and spoke. " Tell me, Jacob Stuck," he
said, " where do you get all these fine things ?"
" It all comes of a piece of good tuck," said
Jacob Stuck.
" That is what I told you," said the prime-min-
ister.
" A piece of good luck !" said the king. " Where
did you come across such a piece of good luck ?"
" I found it," said Jacob Stuck.
" Found it!" said the king; "and have you got
it with you now ?"
u Yes, I have," said Jacob Stuck ; " I always
carry it about with me ;" and he thrust his hand
into his pocket and brought out his piece of blue
crystal.
" That !" said the king. " Why, that is nothing
but a piece of blue glass !"
"That," said Jacob Stuck, "is just what I
thought till I found out better. It is no com-
mon piece of glass, I can tell you. You just
breathe upon it so, and rub your thumb upon it
thus, and instantly a Genie dressed in red comes
to do all that he is bidden. That is how it is."
" I should like to see it," said the king.
"So you shall," said Jacob Stuck; "here it is,"
* 22$
said he ; and he reached it across the table to the
prime-minister to give it to the king.
Yes, that was what he did ; he gave it to the
prime-minister to give it to the king. The prime-
minister had been listening to all that had been
said, and he knew what he was about. He took
what Jacob Stuck gave him, and he had never
had such a piece of luck come to him before.
And did the prime-minister give it to the king,
as Jacob Stuck had intended ? Not a bit of it.
No sooner had he got it safe in his hand, than
he blew his breath upon it and rubbed it with his
thumb.
Crack ! dong ! boom ! crash !
There stood the Genie, like a flash and as red
as fire. The princess screamed out and nearly
fainted at the sight, and the poor king sat trem-
bling like a rabbit.
" Whosoever possesses that piece of blue crys-
tal," said the Genie, in a terrible voice, "him must
I obey. What are thy commands ?"
"Take this king," cried the prime -minister,
" and take Jacob Stuck, and carry them both
away into the farthest part of the desert whence
the fellow came."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie ; and in-
stantly he seized the king in one hand and Jacob
Stuck in the other, and flew away with them
226
swifter than the wind. On and on he flew, and
the earth seemed to slide away beneath them like
a cloud. On and on he flew until he had come
to thi farthest part of the desert. There he sat
them both down, and it was as pretty a pickle as
ever the king or Jacob Stuck had been in, in all
of their lives. Then the Genie flew back again
whence he had come.
There sat the poor princess crying and crying,
and there sat the prime-minister trying to com-
fort her. "Why do you cry?" said he; "why
are you afraid of me ? I will do you no harm.
Listen," said he ; "I will use this piece of good
luck in a way that Jacob Stuck would never
have thought of. I will make myself king. I
will, by means of it, summon a great army. I
will conquer the world, and make myself emperor
over all the earth. Then I will make you my
queen."
But the poor princess cried and cried.
" Hast thou any further commands ?" said the
Genie.
"Not now," said the prime -minister; "you
may go now ;" and the Genie vanished like a
puff of smoke.
But the princess cried and cried.
The prime-minister sat down beside her. " Why
do you cry ?" said he.
228
" Because I am afraid of you," said she.
" And why are you afraid of me ?" said he.
" Because of that piece of blue glass. You will
rub it again, and then that great red monster will
come again to frighten me."
" I will rub it no more," said he.
" Oh, but you will," said she ; " I know you
will."
" I will not," said he.
" But I can't trust you," said she " as long as
you hold it in your hand."
" Then I will lay it aside," said he, and so he
did. Yes, he did ; and he is not the first man
who has thrown aside a piece of good luck for
the sake of a pretty face. " Now are you afraid
of me ?" said he.
" No, I am not," said she ; and she reached
out her hand as though to give it to him. But,
instead of doing so, she snatched up the piece of
blue glass as quick as a flash.
" Now," said she, "it is my turn ;" and then the
prime-minister knew that his end had come.
She blew her breath upon the piece of blue
glass and rubbed her thumb upon it. Instantly,
as with a clap of thunder, the great red Genie
stood before her, and the poor prime-minister sat
shaking and trembling.
" Whosoever hath that piece of blue crystal,"
229
said the Genie, " that one must I obey. What
are your orders, O princess ?"
" Take this man," cried the princess, "and carry
him away into the desert where you took those
other two, and bring my father and Jacob Stuck
back again."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie, and in-
stantly he seized the prime-minister, and, in spite
of the poor man's kicks and struggles, snatched
him up and flew away with him swifter than the
wind. On and on he flew until he had come to
the farthest part of the desert, and there sat the
king and Jacob Stuck still thinking about things.
Down he dropped the prime - minister, up he
picked the king and Jacob Stuck, and away he
flew swifter than the wind. On and on he flew
until he had brought the two back to the palace
again ; and there sat the princess waiting for
them, with the piece of blue crystal in her hand.
" You have saved us !" cried the king.
" You have saved us !" cried Jacob Stuck. " Yes,
you have saved us, and you have my piece of
good luck into the bargain. Give it to me again."
" I will do nothing of the sort," said the prin-
cess. " If the men folk think no more of a piece
of good luck than to hand it round like a bit of
broken glass, it is better for the women folk to
keep it for them."
230
And there, to my mind, she brewed good com.
mon-sense, that needed no skimming to make it
fit for Jacob Stuck, or for any other man, for the
matter of that.
And now for the end of this story. Jacob
Stuck lived with his princess in his fine palace as
grand as a king, and when the old king died he
became the king after him.
One day there came two men travelling along,
and they were footsore and weary. They stopped
at Jacob Stuck's palace and asked for some-
thing to eat. Jacob Stuck did not know them
at first, and then he did. One was Joseph and
the other was John.
This is what had happened to them :
Joseph had sat and sat where John and Jacob
Stuck had left him on his box of silver money,
until a band of thieves had come along and robbed
him of it all. John had carried away his pockets
and his hat full of gold, and had lived like a
prince as long as it had lasted. Then he had
gone back for more, but in the meantime some
rogue had come along and had stolen it all. Yes ;
that was what had happened, and now they were
as poor as ever.
Jacob Stuck welcomed them and brought them
in and made much of them.
232
Well, the truth is truth, and this is it: It is
better to have a little bit of good luck to help
one in what one undertakes than to have a chest
of silver or a chest of gold.
" AND now for your story, holy knight" said
Fortunatus to St. George ; "for ^twas your turn,
only for this fair lady who came in before you"
" Aye, aye" said the saint ; " I suppose it was, in
sooth, my turn. Nettiless, it gives me joy to follow
so close so fair and lovely a lady" And as he spoke
he winked one eye at Cinderella, beckoned towards
her with his cup of ale, and took a deep draught to
her health. " / shall tell you" said he, as soon as
he had caught his breath again, " a story about an
angel and a poor man who travelled with him,
and all the wonderful things the poor man saw
the angel do"
" That" said the Blacksmith who made Death
sit in his pear-tree until the wind whistled through
his ribs " that, methinks, is a better thing to tell
for a sermon than for a story"
'''Whether or no that be so" said St. George,
"you shall presently hear for your selves ?
He took another deep draught of ale, and then
cleared his throat.
'''Stop a bit, my friend" said Alt Baba. "What
is your story about?"
" // is" said St. George, " about
71
he Fruit of Happiness./
>vj
ONCE upon a time
there was a servant who
served a wise man, and
cooked for him his cab-
bage and his onions and
his pot - herbs and his
broth, day after clay, time
in and time out, for seven
years.
In those years the ser-
vant was well enough con-
tented, but no one likes to
abide in the same place
forever, and so one day he
took it into his head that
he would like to go out
into the world to see what
235
kind of a fortune a man might make there for
himself. " Very well," says the wise man, the
servant's master ; " you have served me faithfully
these seven years gone, and now that you ask
."leave to go you shall go. But it is little or noth-
ing in the way of money that I can give you, and
so you will have to be content with what I can
afford. See, here is a little pebble, and its like
is not to be found in the seven kingdoms, for
whoever holds it in his mouth can hear while he
does so all that the birds and the beasts say to
one another. Take it it is yours, and, if you use
it wisely, it may bring you a fortune.
The servant would rather have had the money
in hand than the magic pebble, but, as nothing
better was to be had, he took the little stone, and,
bidding his master good-bye, trudged out into
the world to seek his fortune. Well, he jogged
on and on, paying his way with the few pennies
he had saved in his seven years of service, but
for all of his travelling nothing of good happened
to him until, one morning, he came to a lonely
place where there stood a gallows, and there he
sat him down to rest, and it is just in such an
unlikely place as this that a man's best chance of
fortune comes to him sometimes.
As the servant sat there, there came two
ravens flying, and lit upon the cross-beam over-
236
head. There they began talking to one another,
and the servant popped the pebble into his
mouth to hear what they might say.
" Yonder is a traveller in the world" said the
first raven.
" Yes," said the second, " and if he only knew
how to set about it, his fortune is as good as
made"
" How is that so ?" said the first raven.
" Why, thus" said the second. " If he only knew
enough to follow yonder road over the hill, he
would come by-and-by to a stone cross where two
roads meet, and there he would find a man sitting.
If he would ask it of him, that man would lead
him to the garden where the fruit of happiness
grows."
"The fruit of happiness /" said the first raven,
" and of what use would the fruit of happiness be
to him ?"
" What use ? I tell you, friend, there is no
fruit in the world like that, for one has only to
hold it in ones hand and wish, and whatever one
asks for one shall have""
You may guess that when the servant under-
stood the talk of the ravens he was not slow in
making use of what he heard. Up he scrambled,
and away he went as fast as his legs could carry
him. On and on he travelled, until he came to
237
the cross - roads and the stone cross of which the
raven spoke, and there, sure enough, sat the
traveller. He was clad in a weather-stained coat,
and he wore dusty boots, and the servant bade
him good-morning.
How should the servant know that it was an
angel whom he beheld, and not a common way-
farer ?
" Whither away, comrade," asked the traveller.
" Out in the world," said the servant, " to seek
my fortune. And what I want to know is this
will you guide me to where I can find the fruit
of happiness ?"
" You ask a great thing of me, "said the other;
" nevertheless, since you do ask it, it is not for
me to refuse, though I may tell you that many
a man has sought for that fruit, and few indeed
have found it. But if I guide you to the garden
where the fruit grows, there is one condition you
must fulfil : many strange things will happen
upon our journey between here and there, but
concerning all you see you must ask not a ques-
tion and say not a word. Do you agree to that ?"
" Yes," said the servant, " I do."
" Very well," said his new comrade ; " then let
us be jogging, for I have business in the town
to-night, and the time is none too long to get
there."
238
Y
So all the rest of that day they journeyed on-
ward together, until, towards evening, they came
to a town with high towers and steep roofs and
tall spires. The servant's companion entered
the gate as though he knew the place right well,
and led the way up one street and down another,
until, by-and-by, they came to a noble house that
stood a little apart by itself, with gardens of flow-
ers and fruit-trees all around it. There the
travelling companion stopped, and, drawing out a
little pipe from under his jacket, began playing
so sweetly upon it that it made one's heart stand
still to listen to the music.
Well, he played and played until, by-and-by, the
door opened, and out came a serving-man. " Ho,
piper!" said he, "would you like to earn good
wages for your playing ?"
" Yes," said the travelling companion, " I would,
for that is why I came hither."
" Then follow me," said the servant, and there-
upon the travelling companion tucked away his
pipe and entered, with the other at his heels.
The house-servant led the way from one room
to another, each grander than the one they left
behind, until at last he came to a great hall
where dozens of servants were serving a fine
feast. But only one man sat at table a young
man with a face so sorrowful that it made a
240
body's heart ache to look upon him. " Can you
play good music, piper ?" said he.
" Yes," said the piper, " that I can, for I know
a tune that can cure sorrow. But before I blow
my pipe I and my friend here must have some-
thing to eat and drink, for one cannot play well
with an empty stomach."
" So be it," said the young man ; " sit down
with me and eat and drink."
So the two did without second bidding, and
such food and drink the serving-man had never
tasted in his life before. And while they were
feasting together the young man told them his
story, and why it was he was so sad. A year be-
fore he had married a young lady, the most beau-
tiful in all that kingdom, and had friends and
comrades and all things that a man could desire
in the world. But suddenly everything went
wrong ; his wife and he fell out and quarrelled
until there was no living together, and she had to
go back to her old home. Then his companions
deserted him, and now he lived all alone.
" Yours is a hard case," said the travelling com-
panion, " but it is not past curing." Thereupon
he drew out his pipes and began to play, and it
was such a tune as no man ever listened to before.
He played and he played, and, after a while, one
after another of those who listened to him began
Q 241
to get drowsy. First they winked, then they
shut their eyes, and then they nodded until all
were as dumb as logs, and as sound asleep as
though they would never waken again. Only
the servant and the piper stayed awake, for the
music did not make them drowsy as it did the
rest. Then, when all but they two were tight and
fast asleep, the travelling companion arose, tucked
away his pipe, and, stepping up to the young man,
took from off his finger a splendid ruby ring, as
red as blood and as bright as fire, and popped
the same into his pocket. And all the while the
serving-man stood gaping like a fish to see what
his comrade was about. "Come," said the trav-
elling companion, "it is time we were going," and
off they went, shutting the door behind them.
As for the serving-man, though he remembered
his promise and said nothing concerning what
he had beheld, his wits buzzed in his head like a
hive of bees, for he thought that of all the ugly
tricks he had seen, none was more ugly than this
to bewitch the poor sorrowful young man into
a sleep, and then to rob him of his ruby ring after
he had fed them so well and had treated them so
kindly.
But the next day they jogged on together
again until by-and-by they came to a great forest.
There they wandered up and down till night
242
came upon them and found them still stumbling
onward through the darkness, while the poor serv-
ing - man's flesh quaked to hear the wild beasts
and the wolves growling and howling around
them.
But all the while the angel his travelling com-
panion said never a word ; he seemed to doubt
nothing nor fear nothing, but trudged straight
ahead until, by-and-by, they saw a light twinkling
far away, and, when they came to it, they found a
gloomy stone house, as ugly as eyes ever looked
upon. Up stepped the servant's comrade and
knocked upon the door rap I tap ! tap ! By-and-
by it was opened a crack, and there stood an ugly
old woman, blear-eyed and crooked and gnarled
as a winter twig. But the heart within her was
good for all that. " Alas, poor folk !" she cried,
" why do you come here ? This is a den where
lives a band of wicked thieves. Every day they
go out to rob and murder poor travellers like
yourselves. By-and-by they will come back, and
when they find you here they will certainly kill
you."
" No matter for that," said the travelling com-
panion ; " we can go no farther to-night, so you
must let us in and hide us as best you may."
And in he went, as he said, with the servant
at his heels trembling like a leaf at what he had
244
heard. The old woman gave them some bread
and meat to eat, and then hid them away in the
great empty meal-chest in the corner, and there
they lay as still as mice.
By-and-by in came the gang of thieves with a
great noise and uproar, and down they sat to
their supper. The poor servant lay in the chest
listening to all they said of the dreadful things
they had done that day how they had cruelly
robbed and murdered poor people. Every word
that they said he heard, and he trembled until
his teeth chattered in his head. But all the same
the robbers knew nothing of the two being there,
and there they lay until near the dawning of the
day. Then the travelling companion bade the
servant be stirring, and up they got, and out of
the chest they came, and found all the robbers
sound asleep and snoring so that the dust flew.
"Stop a bit," said the angel the travelling com-
panion "we must pay them for our lodging."
As he spoke he drew from his pocket the
ruby ring which he had stolen from the sorrow-
ful young man's ringer, and dropped it into the
cup from which the robber captain drank. Then
he led the way out of the house, and, if the serv-
ing-man had wondered the day before at that
which his comrade did, he wondered ten times
more to see him give so beautiful a ring to such
wicked and bloody thieves.
The third evening of their journey the two
travellers came to a little hut, neat enough, but as
poor as poverty, and there the comrade knocked
upon the door and asked for lodging. In the
house lived a poor man and his wife ; and, though
the two were as honest as the palm of your hand,
and as good and kind as rain in spring-time, they
could hardly scrape enough of a living to keep
body and soul together. Nevertheless, they made
the travellers welcome, and set before them the
246
very best that was to be had in the house; and,
after both had eaten and drunk, they showed
them to bed in a corner as clean as snow, and
there they slept the night through.
But the next morning, before the dawning of
the day, the travelling companion was stirring
again. "Come," said he; "rouse yourself, for I
have a bit of work to do before I leave this
place."
And strange work it was! When they had
come outside of the house, he gathered together
a great heap of straw and sticks of wood, and
stuffed all under the corner of the house. Then
he struck a light and set fire to it, and, as the
two walked away through the gray dawn, all was
a red blaze behind them.
Still, the servant remembered his promise to
his travelling comrade, and said never a word or
asked never a question, though all that day he
walked on the other side of the road, and would
have nothing to say or to do with the other.
But never a whit did his comrade seem to think
of or to care for that. On they jogged, and, by
the time evening was at hand, they had come to
a neat cottage with apple and pear trees around
it, all as pleasant as the eye could desire to see.
In this cottage lived a widow and her only son,
and they also made the travellers welcome, and
248
set before them a good supper and showed them
to a clean bed.
This time the travelling comrade did neither
good nor ill to those of the house, but in the
morning he told the widow whither they were
going, and asked if she and her son knew the
way to the garden where grew the fruit of happi-
ness.
" Yes," said she, " that we do, for the garden is
not a day's journey from here, and my son him-
self shall go with you to show you the way."
" That is good," said the servant's comrade,
" and if he will do so I will pay him well for his
trouble."
So the young man put on his hat, and took
up his stick, and off went the three, up hill and
down dale, until by-and-by they came over the
top of the last hill, and there below them lay
the garden.
And what a sight it was, with the leaves shin-
ing and glistening like so many jewels in the
sunlight ! I only wish that I could tell you how
beautiful that garden was. And in the middle
of it grew a golden tree, and on it golden fruit.
The servant, who had travelled so long and so
far, could see it plainly from where he stood, and
he did not need to be told that it was the fruit of
happiness. But, after all, all he could do was to
249
stand and look, for in front of them was a great
i aging torrent, without a bridge for a body to
cross over.
" Yonder is what you seek," said the young
man, pointing with his finger, " and there you
can see for yourself the fruit of happiness."
The travelling companion said never a word,
good or bad, but, suddenly catching the widow's
son by the collar, he lifted him and flung him
into the black, rushing water. Splash ! went the
young man, and then away he went whirling over
rocks and water-falls. " There !" cried the com-
rade, " that is your reward for your service !"
When the servant saw this cruel, wicked deed,
he found his tongue at last, and all that he had
bottled up for the seven days came frothing out
of him like hot beer. Such abuse as he showered
upon his travelling companion no man ever lis-
tened to before. But to all the servant said
the other answered never a word until he had
stopped for sheer want of breath. Then
" Poor fool," said the travelling companion,
" if you had only held your tongue a minute
longer, you, too, would have had the fruit of hap-
piness in your hand. Now it will be many a day
before you have a sight of it again."
Thereupon, as he ended speaking, he struck
his staff upon the ground. Instantly the earth
250
trembled, and the sky darkened overhead until it
grew as black as night. Then came a great flash
of fire from up in the sky, which wrapped the
travelling companion about until he was hidden
from sight. Then the flaming fire flew away to
heaven again, carrying him along with it. After
that the sky cleared once more, and, lo and be-
hold ! the garden and the torrent and all were
gone, and nothing was left but a naked plain
covered over with the bones of those who had
come that way before, seeking the fruit which
the travelling servant had sought.
It was a long time before the servant found
his way back into the world again, and the first
house he came to, weak and hungry, was the
widow's.
But what a change he beheld ! It was a poor
cottage no longer, but a splendid palace, fit for a
queen to dwell in. The widow herself met him
at the door, and she was dressed in clothes fit
for a queen to wear, shining with gold and silver
and precious stones.
The servant stood and stared like one bereft
of wits. " How comes all this change ?" said he,
" and how did you get all these grand things ?"
" My son," said the widow woman, " has just
been to the garden, and has brought home from
there the fruit of happiness. Many a day did we
252
search, but never could we find how to enter into
the garden, until, the other day, an angel came
and showed the way to my son, and he was able
not only to gather of the fruit for himself, but to
bring an apple for me also."
Then the poor travelling servant began to
thump his head. He saw well enough through
the millstone now, and that he, too, might have
had one of the fruit if he had but held his tongue
a little longer.
Yes, he saw what a fool he had made of him-
self, when he learned that it was an angel with
whom he had been travelling the five days
gone.
But, then, we are all of us like the servant for
the matter of that; I, too, have travelled with
an angel many a day, I dare say, and never
knew it.
That night the servant lodged with the widow
and her son, and the next day he started back
home again upon the way he had travelled be-
fore. By evening he had reached the place where
the house of the poor couple stood the house
that he had seen the angel set fire to. There he
beheld masons and carpenters hard at work hack-
ing and hewing, and building a fine new house.
And there he saw the poor man himself standing
by giving them orders. " How is this," said the
253
travelling servant ; " I thought that your house
was burned down ?"
" So it was, and that is how I came to be rich
now," said the one-time poor man. " I and my
wife had lived in our old house for many a long
day, and never knew that a great treasure of sil-
ver and gold was hidden beneath it, until a few
days ago there came an angel and burned it down
over our heads, and in the morning we found the
treasure. So now we are rich for as long as we
may live."
The next morning the poor servant jogged
along on his homeward way more sad and down-
cast than ever, and by evening he had come to the
robbers' den in the thick woods, and there the old
woman came running to the door to meet him.
" Come in !" cried she ; " come in and welcome !
The robbers are all dead and gone now, and I use
the treasure that they left behind to entertain poor
travellers like yourself. The other day there came
an angel hither, and with him he brought the ring
of discord that breeds spite and rage and quarrel-
ling. He gave it to the captain of the band, and
after he had gone the robbers fought for it with
one another until they were all killed. So now
the world is rid of them, and travellers can come
and go as they please."
Back jogged the travelling servant, and the
254
next day came to the town and to the house
of the sorrowful young man. There, lo and be-
hold ! instead of being dark and silent, as it was
before, all was ablaze with light and noisy with
the sound of rejoicing and merriment. There
happened to be one of the household standing at
the door, and he knew the servant as the compan-
ion of that one who had stolen the ruby ring. Up
he came and laid hold of the servant by the collar,
calling to his companions that he had caught one
of the thieves. Into the house they hauled the
poor servant, and into the same room where he
had been before, and there sat the young man
at a grand feast, with his wife and all his friends
around him. But when the young man saw the
poor serving-man he came to him and took him
by the hand, and set him beside himself at the
table. " Nobody except your comrade could be
so welcome as you," said he, " and this is why. An
enemy of mine one time gave me a ruby ring, and,
though I knew nothing of it, it was the ring of
discord that bred strife wherever it came. So, as
soon as it was brought into the house, my wife and
all my friends fell out with me, and we quarrelled
so that they all left me. But, though I knew it
not at that time, your comrade was an angel, and
took the ring away with him, and now I am as
happy as I was sorrowful before."
255
By the next night the servant had come back
to his home again. Rap! tap! tap! he knocked
at the door, and the wise man who had been his
master opened to him. " What do you want ?"
said he.
" I want to take service with you again," said
the travelling servant.
"Very well," said the wise man; "come in and
shut the door."
And for all I know the travelling servant is
there to this day. For he is not the only one in
the world who has come in sight of the fruit of
happiness, and then jogged all the way back home
again to cook cabbage and onions and pot-herbs,
and to make broth for wiser men than himself to
sup.
That is the end of this story.
"/ LIKE your story, holy sir" said the
Blacksmith who made Death sit in a pear - tree.
M Nethless, it hath indeed somewhat the smack of a
sermon, after all. Methinks I am like my friend
yonder" and he pointed with his thumb towards
Fortunatus ; " I like to hear a story about treas-
ures of silver and gold, and about kings and princes
a story that turneth out well in the end, with ev-
erybody happy, and the man himself married in
luck, rather than one that turneth out awry, even
if it hath an angel in it"
" Well, well" said St. George, testily, " one can-
not please everybody. But as for being a sermon,
why, certes, my story was not that and even if it
were, it would not have hurt thee, sirrah?
"No offence" said the Blacksmith ; "/ meant not
to speak ill of your story. Come, come, sir, will
you not take a pot of ale with me /"
" Why" said St. George, somewhat mollified,
''''for the matter of that, I would as lief as not"
"/ liked the story well enough" piped up the lit-
R 257
tie Tailor who had killed seven flics at a blow.
" ' Twas a good enough story of its sort, but why
does nobody tell a tale of good big giants, and of
wild boars, and of unicorns, such as I killed in
my adventures you wot of?"
Old Alt Baba had been sitting with his hands
folded and his eyes closed. Now he opened them
and looked at the little Tailor. " / know a story"
said he, " about a Genie who was as big as a giant,
and six times as powerful. Arid besides that" he
added, " the story is all about treasures of gold,
and palaces, and kings, and emperors, and what
not, and about a cave such as that in which I my-
self found the treasure of the forty thieves?
The Blacksmith who made Death sit in the
pear-tree clattered the bottom of his canican
against the table. " Aye, aye" said he, " that is
the sort of story for me. Come, friend, let us have
if."
"Stop a bit" said Fortunatus; "what is this
story mostly about ?"
" // is" said Ali Baba, "about two men betwixt
whom there was
ot a Pinto Choose.
ONCE upon a time,
in a country in the far
East, a merchant was
travelling towards the
city with three horses
loaded with rich goods,
and a purse contain-
ing a hundred pieces
of gold money. The
day was very hot, and
the road dusty and
dry, so that, by-and-by,
when he reached a
spot where a cool,
clear spring of water
came bubbling out
from under a rock be-
neath the shade of a
wide - spreading way-
259
side tree, he was glad enough to stop and refresh
himself with a draught of the clear coolness and
rest awhile. But while he stooped to drink at
the fountain the purse of gold fell from his girdle
into the tall grass, and he, not seeing it, let it lie
there, and went his way.
Now it chanced that two fagot -makers the
elder by name AH, the younger Abdallah who
had been in the woods all day chopping fagots,
came also travelling the same way, and stopped at
the same fountain to drink. There the younger
of the two spied the purse lying in the grass, and
picked it up. But when he opened it and found
it full of gold money, he was like one bereft of
wits ; he flung his arms, he danced, he shouted,
he laughed, he acted like a madman; for never
had he seen so much wealth in all of his life be-
fore a hundred pieces of gold money!
Now the older of the two was by nature a merry
wag, and though he had never had the chance to
taste of pleasure, he thought that nothing in the
world could be better worth spending money for
than wine and music and dancing. So, when the
evening had come, he proposed that they two
should go and squander it all at the Inn. But the
younger fellow Abdallah was by nature just
as thrifty as the other was spendthrift, and would
not consent to waste what he had found. Never.
260
theless, he was generous and open-hearted, and
grudged his friend nothing; so, though he did
not care for a wild life himself, he gave Ali a
piece of gold to spend as he chose.
By morning every copper of what had been
given to the elder fagot-maker was gone, and he
had never had such a good time in his life before.
All that day and for a week the head of Ali was so
full of the memory of the merry night that he had
enjoyed that he could think of nothing else. At
last, one evening, he asked Abdallah for another
piece of gold, and Abdallah gave it to him, and
by the next morning it had vanished in the same
way that the other had flown. By-and-by Ali bor-
rowed a third piece of money, and then a fourth
and then a fifth, so that by the time that six
months had passed and gone he had spent thirty
of the hundred pieces that had been found, and
in all that time Abdallah had used not so much
as a pistareen.
But when Ali came for the thirty- and -first
loan, Abdallah refused to let him have any more
money. It was in vain that the elder begged
and implored the younger abided by what he
had said.
Then Ali began to put on a threatening front.
" You will not let me have the money ?" he said.
" No, I will not."
262
" You will not ?"
"No!"
"Then you shall!" cried AH; and, so saying,
caught the younger fagot-maker by the throat, and
began shaking him and shouting " Help ! Help !
I am robbed ! I am robbed !" He made such an
uproar that half a hundred men, women, and chil-
dren were gathered around them in less than a
minute. " Here is ingratitude for you !" cried AH.
" Here is wickedness and thievery ! Look at this
wretch, all good men, and then turn away your
eyes ! For twelve years have I lived with this
young man as a father might live with a son, and
now how does he repay me ? He has stolen all
that I have in the world a purse of seventy se-
quins of gold."
All this while poor Abdallah had been so
amazed that he could do nothing but stand and
stare like one stricken dumb ; whereupon all the
people, thinking him guilty, dragged him off to
the judge, reviling him and heaping words of
abuse upon him.
Now the judge of that town was known far
and near as the " Wise Judge"; but never had he
had such a knotty question as this brought up
before him, for by this time Abdallah had found
his speech, and swore with a great outcry that
the money belonged to him.
263
But at last a gleam of light came to the Wise
Judge in his perplexity. " Can any one tell me,"
said he, " which of these fellows has had money
of late, and which has had none ?"
His question was one easily enough answered ;
a score of people were there to testify that the
elder of the two had been living well and spend-
ing money freely for six months and more, and a
score were also there to swear that Abdallah had
lived all the while in penury. " Then that decides
the matter," said the Wise Judge. "The money
belongs to the elder fagot-maker."
" But listen, oh my lord judge !" cried Abdal-
lah. " All that this man has spent I have given
to him I, who found the money. Yes, my lord,
I have given it to him, and myself have spent
not so much as a single mite."
All who were present shouted with laughter at
Abdallah 's speech, for who would believe that any
one would be so generous as to spend all upon
another and none upon himself?
So poor Abdallah was beaten with rods until
he confessed where he had hidden his money;
then the Wise Judge handed fifty sequins to AH
and kept twenty himself for his decision, and all
went their way praising his justice and judgment.
That is to say, all but poor Abdallah ; he went
to his home weeping and wailing, and with every
264
&
one pointing the finger of scorn at him. He was
just as poor as ever, and his back was sore with
the beating that he had suffered. All that night
he continued to weep and wail, and when the
morning had come he was weeping and wailing
still.
Now it chanced that a wise man passed that
way, and, hearing his lamentation, stopped to in-
quire the cause of his trouble. Abdallah told
the other of his sorrow, and the wise man listened,
smiling, till he was done, and then he laughed
outright. " My son," said he, " if every one in
your case should shed tears as abundantly as you
have done, the world would have been drowned
in salt water by this time. As for your friend,
think not ill of him; no man loveth another who
is always giving."
" Nay," said the young fagot-maker, " I believe
not a word of what you say. Had I been in his
place I would have been grateful for the benefits,
and not have hated the giver."
But the wise man only laughed louder than
ever. " Maybe you will have the chance to prove
what you say some day," said he, and went his
way, still shaking with his merriment.
"All this" said Alt Baba, " is only the begin-
ning of my story ; and now if the damsel will Jill
up my pot of ale, I will begin in earnest and tell
about the cave of the Genie"
He watched Little Brown Betty until she had
filled his mug, and the froth ran over the top.
Then he took a deep draught and began again.
Though Abdallah had affirmed that he did not
believe what the wise man had said, nevertheless
the words of the other were a comfort, for it makes
one feel easier in trouble to be told that others
have been in a like case with one's self.
So, by-and-by, Abdallah plucked up some spirit,
and, saddling his ass and shouldering his axe,
started off to the woods for a bundle of fagots.
Misfortunes, they say, never come singly, and
so it seemed to be with the fagot-maker that day ;
for that happened that had never happened to
him before he lost his way in the woods. On he
went, deeper and deeper into the thickets, driving
his ass before him, bewailing himself and rapping
his head with his knuckles. But all his sorrowing
helped him nothing, and by the time that night
fell he found himself deep in the midst of a great
forest full of wild beasts, the very thought of
which curdled his blood. He had had nothing
to eat all day long, and now the only resting-place
left him was the branches of some tree. So, un-
367
saddling his ass and leaving it to shift for itself,
he climbed to and roosted himself in the crotch
of a great limb.
In spite of his hunger he presently fell asleep,
for trouble breeds weariness as it breeds grief.
About the dawning of the day he was awak-
ened by the sound of voices and the glaring of
lights. He craned his neck and looked down,
and there he saw a sight that filled him with
amazement : three old men riding each upon a
milk-white horse and each bearing a lighted torch
in his hand, to light the way through the dark
forest.
When they had come just below where AbdaL-
lah sat, they dismounted and fastened their sev-
eral horses to as many trees. Then he who rode
first of the three, and who wore a red cap and
who seemed to be the chief of them, walked sol-
emnly up to a great rock that stood in the hill-
side, and, breaking a switch from a shrub that grew
in a cleft, struck the face of the stone, crying in
a loud voice, " I command thee to open, in the
name of the red Aldebaran !"
Instantly, creaking and groaning, the face of the
rock opened like a door, gaping blackly. Then,
one after another, the three old men entered, and
nothing was left but the dull light of their torches,
shining on the walls of the passage-way.
268
What happened inside the cavern the fagot-
maker could neither see nor hear, but minute
after minute passed while he sat as in a maze at
all that had happened. Then presently he heard
a deep thundering voice and a voice as of one of
the old men in answer. Then there came a sound
swelling louder and louder, as though a great crowd
of people were gathering together, and with the
voices came the noise of the neighing of horses
and the trampling of hoofs. Then at last there
came pouring from out the rock a great crowd
of horses laden with bales and bundles of rich
stuffs and chests and caskets of gold and silver
and jewels, and each horse was led by a slave clad
in a dress of cloth-of-gold, sparkling and glistening
with precious gems. When all these had come
out from the cavern, other horses followed, upon
each of which sat a beautiful damsel, more lovely
than the fancy of man could picture. Beside the
damsels marched a guard, each man clad in sil-
ver armor, and each bearing a drawn sword that
flashed in the brightening day more keenly than
the lightning. So they all came pouring forth
from the cavern until it seemed as though the
whole woods below were filled with the wealth
and the beauty of King Solomon's day and
then, last of all, came the three old men.
" In the name of the red Aldebaran," said he
270
who had bidden the rock to open, " I command
thee to become closed." Again, creaking and
groaning, the rock shut as it had opened like a
door and the three old men, mounting their
horses, led the way from the woods, the others
following. The noise and confusion of the many
voices shouting and calling, the trample and
stamp of horses, grew fainter and fainter, until
at last all was once more hushed and still, and
only the fagot maker was left behind, still staring
like one dumb and bereft of wits.
But so soon as he was quite sure that all were
really gone, he clambered down as quickly as
might be. He waited for a while to make doub-
ly sure that no one was left behind, and then he
walked straight up to the rock, just as he had seen
the old man do. He plucked a switch from the
bush, just as he had seen the old man pluck one,
and struck the stone, just as the old man had
struck it. " I command thee to open," said he,
" in the name of the red Aldebaran !"
Instantly, as it had done in answer to the old
man's command, there came a creaking and a
groaning, and the rock slowly opened like a door,
and there was the passageway yawning before
him. For a moment or two the fagot-maker hes-
itated to enter ; but all was as still as death, and
finally he plucked up courage and went within.
272
By this time the day was brightening and the
sun rising, and by the gray light the fagot-maker
could see about him pretty clearly. Not a sign
was to be seen of horses or of treasure or of peo-
ple nothing but a square block of marble, and
upon it a black casket, and upon that again a
gold ring, in which was set a blood-red stone.
Beyond these things there was nothing; the walls
were bare, the roof was bare, the floor was bare
all was bare and naked stone.
"Well," said the wood -chopper, "as the old
men have taken everything else, I might as well
take these things. The ring is certainly worth
something, and maybe I shall be able to sell
the casket for a trifle into the bargain." So he
slipped the ring upon his finger, and, taking up
the casket, left the place. " I command thee to
be closed," said he, "in the name of the red Al-
debaran!" And thereupon the door closed, creak-
ing and groaning.
After a little while he found his ass, saddled
it and bridled it, and loaded it with the bundle
of fagots that he had chopped the day before,
and then set off again to try to find his way
out of the thick woods. But still his luck was
against him, and the farther he wandered the
deeper he found himself in the thickets. In the
meantime he was like to die of hunger, for he
s 273
had not had a bite to eat for more than a whole
day.
" Perhaps," said he to himself, " there may be
something in the casket to stay my stomach;"
and, so saying, he sat him down, unlocked the
casket, and raised the lid.
Such a yell as the poor wretch uttered ears
never heard before. Over he rolled upon his
back and there lay staring with wide eyes, and
away scampered the jackass, kicking up his heels
and braying so that the leaves of the trees trem-
bled and shook. For no sooner had he lifted
the lid than out leaped a great hideous Genie, as
black as a coal, with one fiery-red eye in the mid-
dle of his forehead that glared and rolled most
horribly, and with his hands and feet set with
claws, sharp and hooked like the talons of a hawk.
Poor Abdallah the fagot-maker lay upon his back
staring at the monster with a face as white as wax.
" What are thy commands ?" said the Genie in
a terrible voice, that rumbled like the sound of
thunder.
" I I do not know," said Abdallah, trembling
and shaking as with an ague. " I I have forgot-
ten."
" Ask what thou wilt," said the Genie, " for I
must ever obey whomsoever hast the ring that
274
thou wearest upon thy finger. Hath my lord
nothing to command wherein I may serve him ?"
Abdallah shook his head. " No," said he,
"there is nothing unless unless you will bring
me something to eat."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie. " What
will my lord be pleased to have ?"
" Just a little bread and cheese," said Abdallah.
The Genie waved his hand, and in an instant
a fine damask napkin lay spread upon the ground,
and upon it a loaf of bread as white as snow and
a piece of cheese such as the king would have
been glad to taste. But Abdallah could do noth-
ing but sit staring at the Genie, for the sight of
the monster quite took away his appetite.
" What more can I do to serve thee ?" asked
the Genie.
"I think," said Abdallah, "that I could eat
more comfortably if you were away."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie. "Whither
shall I go ? Shall I enter the casket again ?"
" I do not know," said the fagot-maker; " how
did you come to be there?"
"I am a great Genie," answered the monster,
" and was conjured thither by the great King
Solomon, whose seal it is that thou wearest upon
thy finger. For a certain fault that I committed
I was confined in the box and hidden in the cav-
276
ern where thou didst find me to-day. There I
lay for thousands of years until one day three
old magicians discovered the secret of where I
lay hidden. It was they who only this morning
compelled me to give them that vast treasure
which thou sawest them take away from the cav-
ern not long since."
" But why did they not take you and the box
and the ring away also ?" asked Abdallah.
" Because," answered the Genie, " they are
three brothers, and neither two care to trust the
other one with such power as the ring has to
give, so they made a solemn compact among
themselves that I should remain in the cavern,
and that no one of the three should visit it with-
out the other two in his company. Now, my
lord, if it is thy will that I shall enter the casket
again I must even obey thy command in that
as in all things; but, if it please thee, I would fain
rejoin my own kind again - they from whom I
have been parted for so long. Shouldst thou
permit me to do so I will still be thy slave, for
thou hast only to press the red stone in the ring
and repeat these words : ' By the red Aldebaran,
I command thee to come,' and I will be with
thee instantly. But if I have my freedom I shall
serve thee from gratitude and love, and not from
compulsion and with fear."
" So be it !" said Abdallah. " I have no choice
in the matter, and thou mayest go whither it
pleases thee."
No sooner had the words left his lips than
the Genie gave a great cry of rejoicing, so pierc-
ing that it made Abdallah 's flesh creep, and then,
fetching the black casket a kick that sent it fly-
ing over the tree tops, vanished instantly.
" Well," quoth Abdallah, when he had caught
his breath from his amazement, " these are the
most wonderful things that have happened to
me in all of my life." And thereupon he fell to
at the bread and cheese, and ate as only a hun-
gry man can eat. When he had finished the last
crumb he wiped his mouth with the napkin, and,
stretching his arms, felt within him that he was
like a new man.
Nevertheless, he was still lost in the woods,
and now not even with his ass for comrade-
ship.
He had wandered for quite a little while
before he bethought himself of the Genie.
" What a fool am I," said he, " not to have asked
him to help me while he was here." He pressed
his finger upon the ring, and cried in a loud
voice, " By the red Aldebaran, I command thee
to come !"
Instantly the Genie stood before him big,
278
black, ugly, and grim. " What are my lord's
commands?" said he.
" I command thee," said Abdallah the fagot-
maker, who was not half so frightened at the
sight of the monster this time as he had been
before " I command thee to help me out of
this woods."
Hardly were the words out of his mouth when
the Genie snatched Abdallah up, and, flying
swifter than the lightning, set him down in the
middle of the highway on the outskirts of the
forest before he had fairly caught his breath.
When he did gather his wits and looked about
him, he knew very well where he was, and that
he was upon the road that led to the city. At
the sight his heart grew light within him, and off
he stepped briskly for home again.
But the sun shone hot and the way was warm
and dusty, ana before Abdallah had gone very
far the sweat was running down his face in
streams. After a while he met a rich husband-
man riding easily along on an ambling nag, and
when Abdallah saw him he rapped his head
with his knuckles. " Why did I not think
to ask the Genie for a horse ?" said he. " I
might just as well have ridden as to have
walked, and that upon a horse a hundred times
more beautiful than the one that that fellow
rides."
He stepped into the thicket beside the way,
where he might be out of sight, and there
pressed the stone in his ring, and at his bidding
the Genie stood before him.
" What are my lord's commands ?" said he.
" I would like to have a noble horse to ride
upon," said Abdallah " a horse such as a king
might use."
" To hear is to obey," said the Genie ; and,
stretching out his hand, there stood before Ab-
dallah a magnificent Arab horse, with a saddle
and bridle studded with precious stones, and with
housings of gold. " Can I do aught to serve my
lord further?" said the Genie.
" Not just now," said Abdallah ; "if I have
further use for you I will call you."
The Genie bowed his head and was gone like
a flash, and Abdallah mounted his horse and
rode off upon his way. But he had not gone far
before he drew rein suddenly. " How foolish
must I look," said he, " to be thus riding along
the high-road upon this noble steed, and I my-
self clad in fagot-maker's rags." Thereupon he
turned his horse into the thicket and again
summoned the Genie. " I should like," said he,
" to have a suit of clothes fit for a king to wear."
281
" My lord shall have that which he desires,"
said the Genie. He stretched out his hand, and
in an instant there lay across his arm raiment such
as the eyes of man never saw before stiff with
pearls, and blazing with diamonds and rubies and
emeralds and sapphires. The Genie himself aid-
ed Abdallah to dress, and when he looked down
he felt, for the time, quite satisfied.
He rode a little farther. Then suddenly he be-
thought himself, " What a silly spectacle shall I
cut in the town with no money in my purse and
with such fine clothes upon my back." Once
more the Genie was summoned. " I should like,"
said the fagot-maker, " to have a box full of
money."
The Genie stretched out his hand, and in it
was a casket of mother-of-pearl inlaid with gold
and full of money. " Has my lord any further
commands for his servant ?" asked he.
" No," answered Abdallah. " Stop I have,
too," he added. " Yes ; I would like to have a
young man to carry my money for me."
" He is here," said the Genie. And there stood
a beautiful youth clad in clothes of silver tissue,
and holding a milk-white horse by the bridle.
" Stay, Genie," said Abdallah. " Whilst thou
art here thou mayest as well give me enough at
once to last me a long time to come. Let me
282
have eleven more caskets of money like this one,
and eleven more slaves to carry the same."
" They are here," said the Genie ; and as he
spoke there stood eleven more youths before Ab-
dallah, as like the first as so many pictures of the
same person, and each youth bore in his hands a
box like the one that the monster had given Ab-
dallah. "Will my lord have anything further?"
asked the Genie.
" Let me think," said Abdallah. " Yes ; I know
the town well, and that should one so rich as I
ride into it without guards he would be certain
to be robbed before he had travelled a hundred
paces. Let me have an escort of a hundred
armed men."
" It shall be done," said the Genie, and, wav-
ing his hand, the road where they stood was in-
stantly filled with armed men, with swords and
helmets gleaming and flashing in the sun, and all
seated upon magnificently caparisoned horses.
" Can 1 serve my lord further ?" asked the Genie.
" No," said Abdallah the fagot-maker, in admi-
ration, " I have nothing more to wish for in this
world. Thou mayest go, Genie, and it will be long
ere I will have to call thee again," and thereupon
the Genie was gone like a flash.
The captain of Abdallah's troop a bearded
warrior clad in a superb suit of armor rode up
284
to the fagot-maker, and, leaping from his horse
and bowing before him so that his forehead
touched the dust, said, " Whither shall we ride,
my lord ?"
Abdallah smote his forehead with vexation.
" If I live a thousand years," said he, " I will
never learn wisdom." Thereupon, dismounting
again, he pressed the ring and summoned the
Genie. " I was mistaken," said he, " as to not
wanting thee so soon. I would have thee build
me in the city a magnificent palace, such as man
never looked upon before, and let it be full from
top to bottom with rich stuffs and treasures of
all sorts. And let it have gardens and fountains
and terraces fitting for such a place, and let it be
meetly served with slaves, both men and women,
the most beautiful that are to be found in all of
the world."
" Is there aught else that thou wouldst have ?"
asked the Genie.
The fagot-maker meditated a long time. " I
can bethink myself of nothing more just now,"
said he.
The Genie turned to the captain of the troop
and said some words to him in a strange tongue,
and then in a moment was gone. The captain
gave the order to march, and away they all rode
with Abdallah in the midst. "Who would have
285
thought," said he, looking around him, with the
heart within him swelling with pride as though it
would burst " who would have thought that only
this morning I was a poor fagot-maker, lost in the
woods and half starved to death? Surely there
is nothing left for me to wish for in this world !"
Abdallah was talking of something he knew
nothing of.
Never before was such a sight seen in that
country, as Abdallah and his troop rode through
the gates and into the streets of the city. But
dazzling and beautiful as were those who rode
attendant upon him, Abdallah the fagot-maker
surpassed them all as the moon dims the lustre of
the stars. The people crowded around shouting
with wonder, and Abdallah, in the fulness of his
delight, gave orders to the slaves who bore the
caskets of money to open them and to throw the
gold to the people. So, with those in the streets
scrambling and fighting for the money and
shouting and cheering, and others gazing down at
the spectacle from the windows and the house-
tops, the fagot-maker and his troop rode slowly
along through the town.
Now it chanced that their way led along past
the royal palace, and the princess, hearing all the
shouting and the hubbub, looked over the edge of
286
the balcony and down into the street. At the
same moment Abdallah chanced to look up, and
their eyes met. Thereupon the fagot - maker's
heart crumbled away within him, for she was the
most beautiful princess in all the world. Her
eyes were as black as night, her hair like threads
of fine silk, her neck like alabaster, and her lips
and her cheeks as soft and as red as rose-leaves.
When she saw that Abdallah was looking at her
she dropped the curtain of the balcony and was
gone, and the fagot-maker rode away, sighing like
a furnace.
So, by-and-by, he came to his palace, which was
built all of marble as white as snow, and which
was surrounded with gardens, shaded by flower-
ing trees, and cooled by the plashing of fountains.
From the gateway to the door of the palace a car-
pet of cloth-of-gold had been spread for him to
walk upon, and crowds of slaves stood waiting to
receive him. But for all these glories Abdallah
cared nothing; he hardly looked about him, but,
going straight to his room, pressed his ring and
summoned the Genie.
" What is it that my lord would have ?" asked
the monster.
" Oh, Genie !" said poor Abdallah, " I would
have the princess for my wife, for without her I
am like to die."
288
" My lord's commands," said the Genie,
" shall be executed if I have to tear down the
city to do so. But perhaps this behest is not
so hard to fulfil. First of all, my lord will have
to have an ambassador to send to the king."
" Very well," said Abdallah with a sigh ; " let
me have an ambassador or whatever may be
necessary. Only make haste, Genie, in thy do-
ings."
" I shall lose no time," said the Genie ; and in
a moment was gone.
The king was sitting in council with all of the
greatest lords of the land gathered about him, for
the Emperor of India had declared war against
him, and he and they were in debate, discussing
how the country was to be saved. Just then Ab-
dallah's ambassador arrived, and when he and
his train entered the council-chamber all stood
up to receive him, for the least of those attendant
upon him was more magnificently attired than
the king himself, and was bedecked with such
jewels as the royal treasury could not match.
Kneeling before the king, the ambassador
touched the ground with his forehead. Then,
still kneeling, he unrolled a scroll, written in let-
ters of gold, and from it read the message asking
for the princess to wife for the Lord Abdallah.
(9
When he had ended, the king sat for a while
stroking his beard and meditating. But before
he spoke the oldest lord of the council arose
and said : " O sire ! if this Lord Abdallah who
asks for the princess for his wife can send such
a magnificent company in the train of his am-
bassador, may it not be that he may be able also
to help you in your war against the Emperor of
India?"
" True !" said the king. Then turning to the
290
ambassador : " Tell your master," said he, " that
if he will furnish me with an army of one hun-
dred thousand men, to aid me in the war against
the Emperor of India, he shall have my daughter
for his wife."
" Sire," said the ambassador, " I will answer
now for my master, and the answer shall be this :
That he will help you with an army, not of one
hundred thousand, but of two hundred thousand
men. And if to-morrow you will be pleased to
ride forth to the plain that lieth to the south of
the city, my Lord Abdallah will meet you there
with his army." Then, once more bowing, he
withdrew from the council -chamber, leaving all
them that "vere there amazed at what had passed.
So the next day the king and all his court
rode out to the place appointed. As they drew
near they saw that the whole face of the plain
was covered with a mighty host, drawn up in
troops and squadrons. As the king rode towards
this vast army, Abdallah met him, surrounded by
his generals. He dismounted and would have
kneeled, but the king would not permit him, but,
raising him, kissed him upon the cheek, calling
him son. Then the king and Abdallah rode
down before the ranks and the whole army
waved their swords, and the flashing of the sun-
light on the blades was like lightning, and they
291
shouted, and the noise was like the pealing of
thunder.
Before Abdallah marched off to the wars he
and the princess were married, and for a whole
fortnight nothing was heard but the sound of
rejoicing. The city was illuminated from end to
end, and all of the fountains ran with wine instead
of water. And of all those who rejoiced, none was
so happy as the princess, for never had she seen
one whom she thought so grand and noble and
handsome as her husband. After the fortnight
had passed and gone, the army marched away to
the wars with Abdallah at its head.
Victory after victory followed, for in every en-
gagement the Emperor of India's troops were
driven from the field. In two months' time the
war was over and Abdallah marched back again
the greatest general in the world. But it was
no longer as Abdallah that he was known, but as
the Emperor of India, for the former emperor
had been killed in the war, and Abdallah had set
the crown upon his own head.
The little taste that he had had of conquest
had given him an appetite for more, so that
with the armies the Genie provided him he
conquered all the neighboring countries and
292
brought them under his rule. So he became the
greatest emperor in all of the world ; kings and
princes kneeled before him, and he, Abdallah, the
fagot-maker, looking about him, could say : " No
one in all the world is so great as I !"
Could he desire anything more?
Yes ; he did ! He desired to be rid of the
Genie !
When he thought of how all that he was in
power and might he, the Emperor of the World
-how all his riches and all his glory had come
as gifts from a hideous black monster with only
one eye, his heart was filled with bitterness. " I
cannot forget," said he to himself, " that as he
has given me all these things, he may take them
all away again. Suppose that I should lose my
ring and that some one else should find it ; who
knows but that they might become as great as I,
and strip me of everything, as I have stripped
others. Yes ; I wish he was out of the way !"
Once, when such thoughts as these were pass-
ing through his mind, he was paying a visit to
his father - in - law, the king. He was walking
up and down the terrace of the garden meditat-
ing on these matters, when, leaning over a wall
and looking down into the street, he saw a fagot-
maker just such a fagot-maker as he himself
293
had one time been driving an ass just such an
ass as he had one time driven. The fagot-maker
carried something under his arm, and what
should it be but the very casket in which the
Genie had once been imprisoned, and which he
the one-time fagot-makerhad seen the Genie
kick over the tree-tops.
The sight of the casket put a sudden thought
into his mind. He shouted to his attendants,
and bade them haste and bring the fagot - maker
to him. Off they ran, and in a little while came
dragging the poor wretch, trembling and as white
as death ; for he thought nothing less than that
his end had certainly come. As soon as those
who had seized him had loosened their hold, he
flung himself prostrate at the feet of the Empe-
ror Abdallah, and there lay like one dead.
" Where didst thou get yonder casket ?" asked
the emperor.
" Oh, my lord !" croaked the poor fagot-maker,
" I found it out yonder in the woods."
" Give it to me," said the emperor, " and rny
treasurer shall count thee out a thousand pieces
of gold in exchange."
So soon as he had the casket safe in his hands
he hurried away to his privy chamber, and there
pressed the red stone in his ring. " In the
name of the red Aldebaran, I command thee to
294
appear !" said he, and in a moment the Genie
stood before him.
" What are my lord's commands ?" said he.
" I would have thee enter this casket again,"
said the Emperor Abdallah.
" Enter the casket !" cried the Genie, aghast.
" Enter the casket."
" In what have I done anything to offend my
lord?" said the Genie.
" In nothing," said the emperor ; " only I would
have thee enter the casket again as thou wert
when I first found thee."
It was in vain that the Genie begged and im-
plored for mercy, it was in vain that he reminded
Abdallah of all that he had done to benefit him ;
the great emperor stood as hard as a rock into
the casket the Genie must and should go. So
at last into the casket the monster went, bellow-
ing most lamentably.
The Emperor Abdallah shut the lid of the
casket, and locked it and sealed it with his seal.
Then, hiding it under his cloak, he bore it out
into the garden and to a deep well, and, first mak-
ing sure that nobody was by to see, dropped
casket and Genie and all into the water.
Now had that wise man been by the wise
295
man who had laughed so when the poor young
fagot-maker wept and wailed at the ingratitude
of his friend the wise man who had laughed
still louder when the young fagot-maker vowed
that in another case he would not have been so
ungrateful to one who had benefited him how
that wise man would have roared when he heard
the casket plump into the waters of the well ! For,
upon my word of honor, betwixt Ali the fagot-mak-
er and Abdallah the Emperor of the World there
was not a pin to choose, except in degree.
OLD Ali B abas pipe had nearly gone out, and
he fell a puffing at it until the spark grew to life
again, and until great clouds of smoke rolled out
around his head and up through the rafters above.
"/ liked thy story, friend" said old Bidpai "/
liked it mightily much. I liked more especially the
way in which thy emperor got rid of his demon, or
Genie?
Fortunatus took a long pull at his mug of ale.
" I know not" said he, " about the demon, but there
was one part that I liked much, and that was about
the treasures of silver and gold and the palace that
the Genie built and all the Jine things that the
poor fagot-maker enjoyed." Then he who had once
carried the magic purse in his pocket fell a clatter-
ing with the bottom of his quart cup upon the ta-
ble. " Hey ! my pretty lass" cried he, " come hither
and fetch me another stoup of ale?
Little Brown Betty came at his call, stumbling
and tumbling into the room, just a* she had stum-
bled and tumbled in the Mother Goose book, only
297
this time she did not crack her crown, but gath-
ered herself up laughing.
" You may Jill my canican while you are about
it" said St. George, "for, by my faith, 'tis dry
work telling a story T
"And mine, too" piped the little Tailor who
killed seven flies at a blow.
" And whose turn is it now to tell a story ?"
said Doctor Faustus.
" ' Tis his" said the Lad who fiddled for the Jew,
and he pointed to Hans who traded and traded
until he had traded his lump of gold for an empty
churn.
Hans grinned sheepishly. " Well" said he, "/
never did have luck at anything, and why, then,
d'ye think I should have luck at telling a story ?"
"Nay, never mind that" said Aladdin, "tell thy
story, friend, as best thou mayst"
" Very well" said Hans, " if ye will have it, I
will tell it to you; but, after all, it is no better than
my own story, and the poor man in the end gets no
more than I did in my bargains."
" And what is your story about, my friend?*
said Cinderella.
"'Tis" said Hans, " about how
uch shall have more
and little
shall have less.
ONCE upon a time there
was a king who did the best
he could to rule wisely and
well, and to deal justly by
those under him whom he
had to take care of; and as
he could not trust hearsay, he
used every now and then to
slip away out of his palace
and go among his people to
hear what they had to say for
themselves about him and the
way he ruled the land.
Well, one such day as this,
when he was taking a walk,
he strolled out past the walls
of the town and into the green fields until he came
at last to a fine big house that stood by the banks
299
of a river, wherein lived a man and his wife who
were very well to do in the world. There the
king stopped for a bite of bread and a drink of
fresh milk.
" I would like to ask you a question," said the
king to the rich man; "and the question is this:
Why are some folk rich and some folk poor?"
" That I cannot tell you," said the good man ;
" only I remember my father used to say that
much shall have more and little shall have less."
" Very well," said the king; "the saying has a
good sound, but let us find whether or not it
is really true. See ; here is a purse with three
hundred pieces of golden money in it. Take it
and give it to the poorest man you know ; in a
week's time I will come again, and then you shall
tell me whether it has made you or him the
richer."
Now in the town there lived two beggars who
were as poor as poverty itself, and the poorer of
the twain was one who used to sit in rags and
tatters on the church step to beg charity of the
good folk who came and went. To him went the
rich man, and, without so much as a good-morn-
ing, quoth he : " Here is something for you," and
so saying dropped the purse of gold into the beg-
gar's hat. Then away he went without waiting
for a word of thanks.
300
As for the beggar, he just sat there for a while
goggling and staring like one moon-struck. But
at last his wits came back to him, and then away
he scampered home as fast as his legs could
carry him. Then he spread his money out on the
table and counted it three hundred pieces of
gold money ! He had never seen such great
riches in his life before. There he sat feasting
O
his eyes upon the treasure as though they would
never get their fill. And now what was he to do
with all of it ? Should he share his fortune with
his brother? Not a bit of it. To be sure, until
now they had always shared and shared alike,
but here was the first great lump of good-luck
that had ever fallen in his way, and he was not
for spoiling it by cutting it in two to give half
to a poor beggar-man such as his brother. Not
he ; he would hide it and keep it all for his very
own.
Now, not far from where he lived, and beside
the river, stood a willow-tree, and thither the lucky
beggar took his purse of money and stuffed it
into a knot-hole of a withered branch, then went
his way, certain that nobody would think of look-
ing for money in such a hiding-place. Then all
the rest of the day he sat thinking and thinking
of the ways he would spend what had been given
him, and what he would do to get the most good
302
out of it. At last came evening, and his brother,
who had been begging in another part of the
town, came home again.
" I nearly lost my hat to-day," said the second
beggar so soon as he had come into the house.
" Did you ?" said the first beggar. " How was
that ?"
" Oh ! the wind blew it off into the water, but I
got it again."
" How did you get it ?" said the first beggar.
" I just broke a dead branch off of the willow-
tree and drew my hat ashore," said the second
beggar.
" A dead branch ! !"
" A dead branch."
"Off of the willow tree!!"
"Off of the willow tree."
The first beggar could hardly breathe.
" And what did you do with the dead branch
after that ?"
" I threw it away into the water, and it floated
down the river."
The beggar to whom the money had been
given ran out of the house howling, and down
to the river-side, thumping his head with his
knuckles like one possessed. For he knew that
the branch that his brother had broken off of
the tree and had thrown into the water, was
303
the very one in which he had hidden the bag of
money.
Yes ; and so it was.
The next morning, as the rich man took a walk
down by the river, he saw a dead branch that had
been washed up by the tide. " Halloo !" says he,
" this will do to kindle the fire with."
So he brought it to the house, and, taking
down his axe, began to split it up for kindling.
The very first blow he gave, out tumbled the bag
of money.
But the beggar well, by-and-by his grieving
got better of its first smart, and then he started
off down the river to see if he could not find his
money again. He hunted up and he hunted down,
but never a whit of it did he see, and at last he
stopped at the rich man's house and begged for
a bite to eat and lodgings for the night. There
he told all his story how he had hidden the
money that had been given him from his brother,
how his brother had broken off the branch and
had thrown it away, and how he had spent the
whole live-long day searching for it. And to all
the rich man listened and said never a word.
But though he said nothing, he thought to him-
self, " Maybe, after all, it is not the will of Heaven
3O4
that this man shall have the money. Neverthe-
less, I will give him another trial."
So he told the poor beggar to come in and
stay for the night ; and, whilst the beggar was
snoring away in his bed in the garret, the rich
man had his wife make two great pies, each with
a fine brown crust. In the first pie he put the
little bag of money ; the second he filled full of
rusty nails and scraps of iron.
The next morning he called the beggar to him.
" My friend," said he, " I grieve sadly for the story
you told me last night. But maybe, after all,
your luck is not all gone. And now, if you will
choose as you should choose, you shall not go
away from here comfortless. In the pantry yon-
der are two great pies one is for you, and one for
me. Go in and take whichever one you please."
"A pie!" thought the beggar to himself; "does
the man think that a big pie will comfort me for
the loss of three hundred pieces of money ?"
Nevertheless, as it was the best thing to be had,
into the pantry the beggar went and there be-
gan to feel and weigh the pies, and the one filled
with the rusty nails and scraps of iron was ever
so much the fatter and the heavier.
11 This is the one that I shall take," said he to
the rich man, " and you may have the other."
And, tucking it under his arm, off he tramped.
u 305
Well, before he got back to the town he grew
hungry, and sat down by the roadside to eat his
pie ; and if there was ever an angry man in the
world before, he was one that day for there
was his pie full of nothing but rusty nails and
bits of iron. " This is the way the rich always
treat the poor," said he.
So back he went in a fume. " What did you
give me a pie full of old nails for ?" said he.
" You took the pie of your own choice," said
the rich man ; " nevertheless, I meant you no
harm. Lodge with me here one night, and in
the morning I will give you something better
worth while, maybe."
So that night the rich man had his wife bake
two loaves of bread, in one of which she hid
the bag with the three hundred pieces of gold
money.
" Go to the pantry," said the rich man to the
beggar in the morning, " and there you will find
two loaves of bread one is for you and one for
me ; take whichever one you choose."
So in went the beggar, and the first loaf of
bread he laid his hand upon was the one in
which the money was hidden, and off he march-
ed with it under his arm, without so much as
saying thank you.
" I wonder," said he to himself, after he had
306
jogged along awhile "I wonder whether the
rich man is up to another trick such as he played
upon me yesterday ?" He put the loaf of bread
to his ear and shook it and shook it, and what
should he hear but the chink of the money
within. " Ah ha !" said he, " he has filled it with
rusty nails and bits of iron again, but I will get
the better of him this time."
By-and-by he met a poor woman coming home
from market. " Would you like to buy a fine
fresh loaf of bread ?" said the beggar.
" Yes, I would," said the woman.
" Well, here is one you may have for two pen-
nies," said the beggar.
That was cheap enough, so the woman paid
him his price and off she went with the loaf of
bread under her arm, and never stopped until
she had come to her home.
Now it happened that the day before this very
woman had borrowed just such a loaf of bread
from the rich man's wife ; and so, as there was
plenty in the house without it, she wrapped this
loaf up in a napkin, and sent her husband back
with it to where it had started from first of
all.
" Well," said the rich man to his wife, " the
way of Heaven is not to be changed." And so
he laid the money on the shelf until he who had
308
given it to him should come again, and thought
no more of giving it to the beggar.
At the end of seven days the king called upon
the rich man again, and this time he came in his
own guise as a real king. " Well,' said he, " is
the poor man the richer for his money ?"
" No," said the rich man, " he is not " ; and
then he told the whole story from beginning to
end just as I have told it.
" Your father was right," said the king; "and
what he said was very true ' Much shall have
more and little shall have less.' Keep the bag of
money for yourself, for there Heaven means it to
stay."
And maybe there is as much truth as poetry
in this story.
AND now it was the turn of the Blacksmith
who had made Death sit in his pear-tree until the
cold wind whistled through the ribs of mans en-
emy. He was a big, burly man, with a bullet head,
and a great thick neck, and a voice like a bull's.
"Do you mind," said he, " about how I clapped
a man in the fore and cooked him to a crisp that
day that St. Peter came travelling my way?"
There was a little space of silence, and then the
Soldier who had cheated the Devil spoke up. " Why
yes, friend" said he, " 1 know your story very well"'
" / am not so fortunate" said old Bidpai. "J
do not know your story. Tell me, friend, did you
really bake a man to a crisp ? And how was it
then r
" Why," said the Blacksmith, " / was trying to
do what a better man than I did, and where he hit
the mark I missed it by an ell. 'Twas a pretty
scrape I was in that day"
" But how did it happen ?" said Bidpai.
" It happened" said the Blacksmith, "just as it
is going to happen in the story I am about to tell"
"And what is your story about?" said Fortu-
natus.
" It is" said the Blacksmith, " about
udomsWages and Pollys Pay.
^ ONCE upon a time there
was a wise man of wise men,
and a great magician to
boot, and his name was
Doctor Simon Agricola.
Once upon a time there
was a simpleton of simple-
tons, and a great booby to
boot, and his name was
Babo.
Simon Agricola had read
all the books written by
man, and could do more
magic than any conjurer
that ever lived. But, nev-
ertheless, he was none too well off in the world ;
his clothes were patched, and his shoes gaped,
and that is the way with many another wise man
of whom I have heard tell.
313
Babo gathered rushes for a chair-maker, and
he also had too few of the good things to make
life easy. But it is nothing out of the way for a
simpleton to be in that case.
The two of them lived neighbor to neighbor,
the one in the next house to the other, and so
far as the world could see there was not a pin to
choose between them only that one was called
a wise man and the other a simpleton.
One day the weather was cold, and when Babo
came home from gathering rushes he found no
fire in the house. So off he went to his neigh-
bor the wise man. " Will you give me a live
coal to start my fire ?" said he.
" Yes, I will do that," said Simon Agricola ;
" but how will you carry the coal home ?"
" Oh !" said Babo, " I will just take it in my
hand."
" In your hand ?"
" In my hand."
" Can you carry a live coal in your hand ?"
" Oh yes !" said Babo ; " I can do that easily
enough."
" Well, I should like to see you do it," said
Simon Agricola.
" Then I will show you," said Babo. He spread
a bed of cold, dead ashes upon his palm. " Now,"
said he, " I will take the ember upon that "
314
Agricola rolled up his eyes like a duck in
a thunder-storm. " Well," said he, " I have lived
more than seventy years, and have read all the
books in the world ; I have practised magic and
necromancy, and know all about algebra and
geometry, and yet, wise as I am, I never thought
of this little thing."
That is the way with your wise man.
" Pooh !" said Babo ; " that is nothing. I know
how to do many more tricks than that."
" Do you ?" said Simon Agricola ; " then listen :
to-morrow I am going out into the world to make
my fortune, for little or nothing is to be had in
this town. If you will go along with me I will
make your fortune also."
315
" Very well," said Babo, and the bargain was
struck. So the next morning bright and early
off they started upon their journey, cheek by
jowl, the wise man and the simpleton, to make
their fortunes in the wide world, and the two of
them made a pair. On they jogged and on they
jogged, and the way was none too smooth. By-
and-by they came to a great field covered all over
with round stones.
" Let us each take one of these," said Simon
Agricola ; " they will be of use by-and-by "; and, as
he spoke, he picked up a great stone as big as
his two fists, and dropped it into the pouch that
dangled at his side.
" Not I," said Babo ; " I will carry no stone
with me. It is as much as my two legs can do
to carry my body, let alone lugging a great stone
into the bargain."
" Very well," said Agricola ; " ' born a fool,
live a fool, die a fool.' ' And on he tramped,
with Babo at his heels.
At last they came to a great wide plain, where,
far or near, nothing was to be seen but bare sand,
without so much as a pebble or a single blade of
grass, and there night caught up with them.
" Dear, dear, but I am hungry !" said Babo.
" So am I," said Simon Agricola. " Let's sit
down here and eat."
316
So down they sat, and Simon Agricola opened
his pouch and drew forth the stone.
The stone? It was a stone no longer, but a
fine loaf of white bread as big as your two fists.
You should have seen Babo goggle and stare !
" Give me a piece of your bread, master," said
he.
" Not I," said Agricola. " You might have
had a dozen of the same kind, had you chosen to
do as I bade you and to fetch them along with
you. ' Born a fool, live a fool, die a fool,' ' said
he ; and that was all that Babo got for his sup-
per. As for the wise man, he finished his loaf of
bread to the last crumb, and then went to sleep
with a full stomach and a contented mind.
The next morning off they started again bright
and early, and before long they came to just such
another field of stones as they left behind them
the day before.
" Come, master," said Babo, " let us each take
a stone with us. We may need something more
to eat before the day is over."
" No," said Simon Agricola; "we will need no
stones to-day."
But Babo had no notion to go hungry the sec-
ond time, so he hunted around till he found a
stone as big as his head. All day he carried it,
first under one arm and then under the other.
317
The wise man stepped along briskly enough, but
the sweat ran down Babo's face like drops on the
window in an April shower. At last they came
to a great wide plain, where neither stock nor
stone was to be seen, but only a gallows-tree,
upon which one poor wight hung dancing upon
nothing at all, and there night caught them
again.
" Aha !" said Babo to himself. " This time I
shall have bread and my master none."
But listen to what happened. Up stepped the
wise man to the gallows, and gave it a sharp rap
with his staff. Then, lo and behold ! the gallows
was gone, and in its place stood a fine inn, with
lights in the windows, and a landlord bowing and
smiling in the doorway, and a fire roaring in the
kitchen, and the smell of the good things cook-
ing filling the air all around, so that only to sniff
did one's heart good.
Poor Babo let fall the stone he had carried all
day. A stone it was, and a stone he let it fall.
"'Born a fool, live a fool, die a fool,' ' said
Agricola. " But come in, Babo, come in ; here is
room enough for two." So that night Babo had
a good supper and a sound sleep, and that is a
cure for most of a body's troubles in this world.
The third day of their travelling they came to
farms and villages, and there Simon Agricola be-
318
gan to think of showing some of those tricks of
magic that were to make his fortune and Babo's
into the bargain.
At last they came to a blacksmith's shop, and
there was the smith hard at work, dinging and
donging, and making sweet music with hammer
and anvil. In walked Simon Agricola and gave
him good - day. He put his fingers into his
purse, and brought out all the money he had in
the world ; it was one golden angel. " Look,
friend," said he to the blacksmith ; " if you will let
me have your forge for one hour, I will give you
this money for the use of it."
The blacksmith liked the tune of that song
very well. " You may have it," said he ; and
he took off his leathern apron without another
word, and Simon Agricola put it on in his
stead.
Presently, who should come riding up to the
blacksmith's shop but a rich old nobleman and
three servants. The servants were hale, stout
fellows, but the nobleman was as withered as a
winter leaf. " Can you shoe my horse ?" said he
to Simon Agricola, for he took him to be the
smith because of his leathern apron.
" No," says Simon Agricola ; " that is not my
trade: I only know how to make old people
young."
319
" Old people young !" said the old nobleman ;
" can you make me young again ?"
" Yes," said Simon Agricola, " I can, but I
must have a thousand golden angels for doing it."
" Very well," said the old nobleman ; " make me
young, and you shall have them and welcome."
So Simon Agricola gave the word, and Babo
blew the bellows until the fire blazed and roared.
Then the doctor caught the old nobleman, and
laid him upon the forge. He heaped the coals
over him, and turned him this way and that, un-
til he grew red-hot, like a piece of iron. Then
he drew him forth from the fire and dipped him
in the water-tank. Phizz ! the water hissed, and
the steam rose up in a cloud; and when Simon
Agricola took the old nobleman out, lo and be-
hold ! he was as fresh and blooming and lusty
as a lad of twenty.
But you should have seen how all the people
stared and goggled! Babo and the blacksmith
and the nobleman's servants. The nobleman
strutted up and down for a while, admiring him-
self, and then he got upon his horse again.
" But wait," said Simon Agricola ; " you forgot to
pay me my thousand golden angels."
" Pooh !" said the nobleman, and off he clat-
tered, with his servants at his heels ; and that was
all the good that Simon Agricola had of this trick.
320
But ill-luck was not done with him yet, for when
the smith saw how matters had turned out, he
laid hold of the doctor and would not let him go
until he had paid him the golden angel he had
promised for the use of the forge. The doctor
pulled a sour face, but all the same he had to pay
the angel. Then the smith let him go, and off
he marched in a huff.
Outside of the forge was the smith's mother
a poor old creature, withered and twisted and
bent as a winter twig. Babo had kept his eyes
open, and had not travelled with Simon Agricola
for nothing. He plucked the smith by the sleeve :
"Look'ee, friend," said he, " how would you like me
to make your mother, over yonder, young again ?"
" I should like nothing better," said the smith.
" Very well," said Babo ; " give me the golden
angel that the master gave you, and I'll do the
job for you."
Well, the smith paid the money, and Babo
bade him blow the bellows. When the fire
roared up good and hot, he caught up the old
mother, and, in spite of her scratching and squall-
ing, he laid her upon the embers. By-and-by,
when he thought the right time had come, he
took her out and dipped her in the tank of
water ; but instead of turning young, there she
lay, as dumb as a fish and as black as coal.
322
When the blacksmith saw what Babo had
done to his mother, he caught him by the collar,
and fell to giving him such a dressing down as
never man had before.
" Help !" bawled Babo. " Help ! Murder !"
Such a hubbub had not been heard in that
town for many a day. Back came Simon Agricola
running, and there he saw, and took it all in in
one look.
" Stop, friend," said he to the smith, " let the
simpleton go ; this is not past mending yet."
" Very well," said the smith ; " but he must give
me back my golden angel, and you must cure my
mother, or else I'll have you both up before the
judge."
" It shall be done," said Simon Agricola ; so
Babo paid back the money, and the doctor dipped
the woman in the water. When he brought her
out she was as well and strong as ever but just
as old as she had been before.
" Now be off for a pair of scamps, both of you,"
said the blacksmith ; " and if you ever come this
way again, I'll set all the dogs in the town upon
you."
Simon Agricola said nothing until they had
come out upon the highway again, and left the
town well behind them ; then " ' Born a fool, live
a fool, die a fool !' " says he.
323
Babo said nothing, but he rubbed the places
where the smith had dusted his coat.
The fourth day of their journey they came to
a town, and here Simon Agricola was for trying
his tricks of magic again. He and Babo took up
their stand in the corner of the market-place, and
began bawling, "Doctor Knowall! Doctor Know-
all! who has come from the other end of Nowhere!
He can cure any sickness or pain! He can bring
you back from the gates of death ! Here is Doc-
tor Knowall ! Here is Doctor Knowall !"
Now there was a very, very rich man in that
town, whose daughter lay sick to death; and when
the news of this great doctor was brought to his
ears, he was for having him try his hand at cur-
ing the girl.
" Very well," said Simon Agricola, " I will do
that, but you must pay me two thousand golden
angels."
" Two thousand golden angels !" said the rich
man ; " that is a great deal of money, but you shall
have it if only you will cure my daughter."
Simon Agricola drew a little vial from his bosom.
From it he poured just six drops of yellow liquor
upon the girl's tongue. Then lo and behold !
up she sat in bed as well and strong as ever, and
asked for a boiled chicken and a dumpling, by
way of something to eat.
324
" Bless you ! Bless you !" said the rich man.
" Yes, yes ; blessings are very good, but I would
like to have my two thousand golden angels,"
said Simon Agricola.
" Two thousand golden angels ! I said nothing
about two thousand golden angels," said the
rich man ; " two thousand fiddlesticks !" said he.
" Pooh ! pooh ! you must have been dreaming !
See, here are two hundred silver pennies, and
that is enough and more than enough for six
drops of medicine."
" I want my two thousand golden angels," said
Simon Agricola.
" You will get nothing but two hundred pen-
nies," said the rich man.
" I won't touch one of them," said Simon Ag-
ricola, and off he marched in a huff.
But Babo had kept his eyes open. Simon
Agricola had laid down the vial upon the table,
and while they were saying this and that back
and forth, thinking of nothing else, Babo quietly
slipped it into his own pocket, without any one
but himself being the wiser.
Down the stairs stumped the doctor with Babo
at his heels. There stood the cook waiting for
them.
" Look," said he, " my wife is sick in there ;
won't you cure her, too ?"
325
" Pooh !" said Simon Agricola ; and out he went,
banging the door behind him.
" Look, friend," said Babo to the cook ; " here
I have some of the same medicine. Give me the
two hundred pennies that the master would not
take, and I'll cure her for you as sound as a bot-
tle."
" Very well," said the cook, and he counted out
the two hundred pennies, and Babo slipped them
into his pocket. He bade the woman open her
mouth, and when she had done so he poured all
the stuff down her throat at once.
" Ugh !" said she, and therewith rolled up her
eyes, and lay as stiff and dumb as a herring in a
box.
When the cook saw what Babo had done, he
snatched up the rolling-pin and made at him to
pound his head to a jelly. But Babo did not
wait for his coming; he jumped out of the win-
dow, and away he scampered with the cook at his
heels.
Well, the upshot of the business was that Simon
Agricola had to go back and bring life to the
woman again, or the cook would thump him and
Babo both with the rolling-pin. And, what was
more, Babo had to pay back the two hundred
pennies that the cook had given him for curing
his wife.
326
The wise man made a cross upon the woman's
forehead, and up she sat, as well but no better
as before.
" And now be off," said the cook, " or I will
call the servants and give you both a drubbing
for a pair of scamps."
Simon Agricola said never a word until they
had gotten out of the town. There his anger
boiled over, like water into the fire. " Look,"
said he to Babo : " ' Born a fool, live a fool,
die a fool.' I want no more of you. Here
are two roads ; you take one, and I will take the
other."
"What !" said Babo, "am I to travel the rest of
the way alone ? And then, besides, how about
the fortune you promised me ?"
" Never mind that," said Simon Agricola ; " I
have not made my own fortune yet."
" Well, at least pay me something for my
wages," said Babo.
" How shall I pay you ?" said Simon Agricola.
*' I have not a single groat in the world."
" What !" said Babo, " have you nothing to
give me?"
" I can give you a piece of advice."
" Well," said Babo, " that is better than noth-
ing, so let me have it."
"Here it is," said Simon Agricola: "'Think
328
well ! think well ! before you do what you are
about to do, think well !'
" Thank you !" said Babo ; and then the one
went one way, and the other the other.
( You may go with the wise man if you choose,
but I shall jog along with the simpleton.}
After Babo had travelled for a while, he knew
not whither, night caught him, and he lay down
under a hedge to sleep. There he lay, and
snored away like a saw-mill, for he was wearied
with his long journeying.
Now it chanced that that same night two
thieves had broken into a miser's house, and had
stolen an iron pot full of gold money. Day
broke before they reached home, so down they
sat to consider the matter ; and the place where
they seated themselves was on the other side of
the hedge where Babo lay. The older thief was
for carrying the money home under his coat ;
the younger was for burying it until night had
come again. They squabbled and bickered and
argued till the noise they made wakened Babo,
and he sat up. The first thing he thought of
was the advice that the doctor had given him the
evening before.
" ' Think well !' " he bawled out ; " ' think well !
329
before you do what you are about to do, think
well !' "
When the two thieves heard Babo's piece of
advice, they thought that the judge's officers were
after them for sure and certain. Down they
dropped the pot of money, and away they scam
pered as fast as their legs could carry them.
Babo heard them running, and poked his head
through the hedge, and there lay the pot of gold.
" Look now," said he : " this has come from the
advice that was given me ; no one ever gave me
advice that was worth so much before." So he
picked up the pot of gold, and off he marched
with it.
He had not gone far before he met two of the
king's officers, and you may guess how they
330
opened their eyes when they saw him travelling
along the highway with a pot full of gold money.
"Where are you going with that money?"
said they.
" I don't know," said Babo.
" How did you get it ?" said they.
" I got it for a piece of advice," said Babo.
For a piece of advice ! No, no the king's
officers knew butter from lard, and truth from
t'other thing. It was just the same in that coun-
try as it is in our town there was nothing in the
world so cheap as advice. Whoever heard of
anybody giving a pot of gold and silver money
for it? Without another word they marched
Babo and his pot of money off to the king.
" Come," said the king, " tell me truly ; where
did you get the pot of money ?"
Poor Babo began to whimper. " I got it for a
piece of advice," said he.
" Really and truly ?" said the king.
" Yes," said Babo ; " really and truly."
" Humph !" said the king. " I should like to
have advice that is worth as much as that. Now,
how much will you sell your advice to me for ?"
" How much will you give ?" said Babo.
" Well," said the king, " let me have it for a
day on trial, and at the end of that time I will
pay you what it is worth."
331
" Very well," said Babo, " that is a bargain " ;
and so he lent the king his piece of advice for
one day on trial.
Now the chief councillor and some others had
laid a plot against the king's life, and that morn-
ing it had been settled that when the barber
shaved him he was to cut his throat with a razor.
So after the barber had lathered his face he be-
gan to whet the razor, and to whet the razor.
Just at that moment the king remembered
Babo's piece of advice. " ' Think well !' said he ;
" ' think well ! before you do what you are about
to do, think well !' "
When the barber heard the words that the
king said, he thought that all had been discov-
ered. Down he fell upon his knees, and con-
fessed everything.
That is how Babo's advice saved the king's
life you can guess whether the king thought it
was worth much or little. When Babo came the
next morning the king gave him ten chests full
of money, and that made the simpleton richer
than anybody in all that land.
He built himself a fine house, and by-and-by
married the daughter of the new councillor that
came after the other one's head had been chopped
off for conspiring against the king's life. Besides
that, he came and went about the king's castle
332
as he pleased, and the king made much of him.
Everybody bowed to him, and all were glad to
stop and chat awhile with him when they met
him in the street.
One morning Babo looked out of the window,
and who should he see come travelling along
the road but Simon Agricola himself, and he was
just as poor and dusty and travel-stained as ever.
" Come in, come in !" said Babo ; and you can
guess how the wise man stared when he saw the
simpleton living in such a fine way. But he
opened his eyes wider than ever when he heard
that all these good things came from the piece
of advice he had given Babo that day they had
parted at the cross roads.
" Aye, aye !" said he, " the luck is with you for
sure and certain. But if you will pay me a thou-
sand golden angels, I will give you something
better than a piece of advice. I will teach you
all the magic that is to be learned from the
books."
" No," said Babo, " I am satisfied with the
advice."
"Very well," said Simon Agricola, '"Born a fool,
live a fool, die a fool ' " ; and off he went in a huff.
That is all of this tale except the tip end of it,
and that I will give you now.
334
I have heard tell that one day the king dropped
in the street the piece of advice that he had
bought from Babo, and that before he found it
again it had been trampled into the mud and
dirt. I cannot say for certain that this is the
truth, but it must have been spoiled in some way
or other, for I have never heard of anybody in
these days who would give even so much as a
bad penny for it ; and yet it is worth just as much
now as it was when Babo sold it to the king.
/ HAD sat listening to these jolly folk for all
this time, and I had not heard old Sindbad say a
word, and yet I knew very well he was full of a
story, for every now and then I could see his lips
move, and he would smile, and anon he would
stroke his long white beard and smile again.
Everybody clapped their hands and rattled their
canicans after the Blacksmith had ended his story,
and mcthought they liked it better than almost any-
thing that had been told. Then there was a pause,
and everybody was still, and as nobody else spoke
I myself ventured to break the silence. " 1 would
like" said I (and my voice sounded thin in my owu
ears, as ones voice always does sound in Twilight
Land], " I would like to hear our friend Sindbad
the Sailor tell a story. Methinks one is ferment-
ing in his mindr
Old Sindbad smiled until his cheeks crinkled
into wrinkles.
" Aye" said every one, " will you not tell a
story?"
"To be sure I will" said Sindbad. " / will
tell you a good story" said he, " and it is about
he Enchanted Island.
B UT it is not always the lucky one that carries
away the plums ; sometimes he only shakes the tree,
and the wise man pockets the fruit.
Once upon a long, long time ago, and in a
country far, far away, there lived two men in the
same town and both were named Selim ; one
was Selim the Baker and one was Selim the
Fisherman.
Selim the Baker was well off in the world, but
Selim the Fisherman was only so-so. Selim the
Baker always had plenty to eat and a warm cor-
ner in cold weather, but many and many a time
Selim the Fisherman's stomach went empty and
his teeth went chattering.
Y 337
Once it happened that for time after time
Selim the Fisherman caught nothing but bad
luck in his nets, and not so much as a single
sprat, and he was very hungry. " Come," said
he to himself, "those who have some should sure-
ly give to those who have none," and so he went
to Selim the Baker. " Let me have a loaf of
bread," said he, " and I will pay you for it to-
morrow."
" Very well," said Selim the Baker ; " I will let
you have a loaf of bread, if you will give me all
that you catch in your nets to-morrow."
" So be it," said Selim the Fisherman, for
need drives one to hard bargains sometimes;
and therewith he got his loaf of bread.
So the next day Selim the Fisherman fished
and fished and fished and fished, and still he
caught no more than the day before; until just
at sunset he cast his net for the last time for the
day, and, lo and behold ! there was something
heavy in it. So he dragged it ashore, and what
should it be but a leaden box, sealed as tight as
wax, and covered with all manner of strange let-
ters and figures. " Here," said he, " is something
to pay for my bread of yesterday, at any rate ";
and as he was an honest man, off he marched
with it to Selim the Baker.
They opened the box in the baker's shop, and
338
within they found two rolls of yellow linen. In
each of the rolls of linen was another little leaden
box: in one was a finger-ring of gold set with a
red stone, in the other was a finger- ring of iron
set with nothing at all.
That was all the box held ; nevertheless, that
was the greatest catch that ever any fisherman
made in the world; for, though Selim the one or
Selim the other knew no more of the matter than
the cat under the stove, the gold ring was the
Ring of Luck and the iron ring was the Ring of
Wisdom.
Inside of the gold ring were carved these let-
ters : " Whosoever wears me, shall have that
which all men seek for so it is with good- luck
in this world."
Inside of the iron ring were written these
words : " Whosoever wears me, shall have that
which few men care for and that is the way it
is with wisdom in our town."
" Well," said Selim the Baker, and he slipped
the gold ring of good-luck on his finger, " I have
driven a good bargain, and you have paid for
your loaf of bread."
" But what will you do with the other ring ?"
said Selim the Fisherman.
" Oh, you may have that," said Selim the
Baker.
340
Well, that evening, as Selim the Baker sat in
front of his shop in the twilight smoking a pipe
of tobacco, the ring he wore began to work. Up
came a little old man with a white beard, and he
was dressed all in gray from top to toe, and he
wore a black velvet cap, and he carried a long
staff in his hand. He stopped in front of Selim
the Baker, and stood looking at him a long, long
time. At last " Is your name Selim ?" said he.
" Yes," said Selim the Baker, " it is."
" And do you wear a gold ring with a red stone
on your finger ?"
" Yes," said Selim, " I do."
" Then come with me," said the little old man,
" and I will show you the wonder of the world."
" Well," said Selim the Baker, " that will be
worth the seeing, at any rate." So he emptied
out his pipe of tobacco, and put on his hat and
followed the way the old man led.
Up one street they went, and down another,
and here and there through alleys and byways
where Selim had never been before. At last
they came to where a high wall ran along the
narrow street, with a garden behind it, and by-
and-by to an iron gate. The old man rapped
upon the gate three times with his knuckles, and
cried in a loud voice, " Open to Selim, who wears
the Ring of Luck !"
341
Then instantly the gate swung open, and Se-
lim the Baker followed the old man into the
garden.
Bang ! shut the gate behind him, and there he
was.
There he was! And such a place he had
never seen before. Such fruit! such flowers!
such fountains ! such summer-houses !
" This is nothing," said the old man ; " this
is only the beginning of wonder. Come with
me."
He led the way down a long pathway between
the trees, and Selim followed. By-and-by, far
away, they saw the light of torches ; and when
they came to what they saw, lo and behold ! there
was the sea-shore, and a boat with four-and-twen-
ty oarsmen, each dressed in cloth of gold and sil-
ver more splendidly than a prince. And there
were four-and-twenty black slaves, carrying each
a torch of spice-wood, so that all the air was filled
with sweet smells. The old man led the way,
and Selim, following, entered the boat ; and there
was a seat for him made soft with satin cushions
embroidered with gold and precious stones and
stuffed with down, and Selim wondered whether
he was not dreaming.
The oarsmen pushed off from the shore and
away they rowed.
342
On they rowed and on they rowed for all that
livelong night.
At last morning broke, and then as the sun
rose Selim saw such a sight as never mortal eyes
beheld before or since. It was the wonder of
wonders a great city built on an island. The
island was all one mountain ; and on it, one above
another and another above that again, stood pal-
aces that glistened like snow, and orchards of
fruit, and gardens of flowers and green trees.
And as the boat came nearer and nearer to
the city, Selim could see that all around on the
house-tops and down to the water's edge were
crowds and crowds of people. All were looking
out towards the sea, and when they saw the boat
and Selim in it, a great shout went up like the
roaring of rushing waters.
" It is the King!" they cried "it is the King!
It is Selim the King!"
Then the boat landed, and there stood dozens
and scores of great princes and nobles to wel-
come Selim when he came ashore. And there
was a white horse waiting for him to ride, and its
saddle and bridle were studded with diamonds
and rubies and emeralds that sparkled and glis-
tened like the stars in heaven, and Selim thought
for sure he must be dreaming with his eyes open.
But he was not dreaming, for it was all as true
344
as that eggs are eggs. So up the hill he rode,
and to the grandest and the most splendid of all
the splendid palaces, the princes and noblemen
riding with him, and the crowd shouting as
though to split their throats.
And what a palace it was! as white as snow
and painted all inside with gold and blue. All
around it were gardens blooming with fruit and
flowers, and the like of it mortal man never saw
in the world before.
There they made a king of Selim, and put a
golden crown on his head ; and that is what the
Ring of Good Luck can do for a baker.
But wait a bit ! There was something queer
about it all, and that is now to be told.
All that day was feasting and drinking and
merry-making, and the twinging and twanging
of music, and dancing of beautiful dancing- girls,
and such things as Selim had never heard tell of
in all his life before. And when night came they
lit thousands and thousands of candles of per-
fumed wax ; so that it was a hard matter to say
when night began and day ended, only that the
one smelled sweeter than the other.
But at last it came midnight, and then sudden-
ly, in an instant, all the lights went out and ev-
erything was as dark as pitch not a spark, not
346
a glimmer anywhere. And, just as suddenly, all
the sound of music and dancing and merrymak-
ing ceased, and everybody began to wail and cry
until it was enough to wring one's heart to hear.
Then, in the midst of all the wailing and crying,
a door was flung open, and in came six tall and
terrible black men, dressed all in black from top
to toe, carrying each a flaming torch; and by the
light of the torches King Selim saw that all the
princes, the noblemen, the dancing-girls all lay
on their faces on the floor.
The six men took King Selim who shuddered
and shook with fear by the arms, and marched
him through dark, gloomy entries and passage-
ways, until they came at last to the very heart of
the palace.
There was a great high -vaulted room all of
black marble, and in the middle of it was a ped-
estal with seven steps, all of black marble ; and
on the pedestal stood a stone statue of a woman
looking as natural as life, only that her eyes were
shut. The statue was dressed like a queen : she
wore a golden crown on her head, and upon her
body hung golden robes, set with diamonds and
emeralds and rubies and sapphires and pearls
and all sorts of precious stones.
As for the face of the statue, white paper and
black ink could not tell you how beautiful it was.
347
When Selim looked at it, it made his heart stand
still in his breast, it was so beautiful.
The six men brought Selim up in front of the
statue, and then a voice came as though from the
vaulted roof: "Selim! Selim! Selim!" it said,
"what art thou doing? To-day is feasting and
drinking and merry-making, but beware of to-
morrow !"
As soon as these words were ended the six
black men marched King Selim back whence
they had brought him ; there they left him and
passed out one by one as they had first come in,
and the door shut to behind them.
Then in an instant the lights flashed out again,
the music began to play and the people began to
talk and laugh, and King Selim thought that
maybe all that had just passed was only a bit of
an ugly dream after all.
So that is the way King Selim the Baker be-
gan to reign, and that is the way he continued to
reign. All day was feasting and drinking and
making merry and music and laughing and talk-
ing. But every night at midnight the same thing
happened : the lights went out, all the people
began wailing and crying, and the six tall, terri-
ble black men came with flashing torches and
marched King Selim away to the beautiful statue.
And every night the same voice said "Selim!
348
Selim ! Selim ! What art thou doing ? To-day
is feasting and drinking and merry-making; but
beware of to-morrow !"
So things went on for a twelvemonth, and at
last came the end of the year. That day and
night the merry-making was merrier and wilder
and madder than it had ever been before, but the
great clock in the tower went on tick, tock! tick,
tock ! and by and by it came midnight. Then,
as it always happened before, the lights went out,
and all was as black as ink. But this time there
was no wailing and crying out, but everything as
silent as death ; the door opened slowly, and in
came, not six black men as before, but nine men
as silent as death, dressed all in flaming red, and
the torches they carried burned as red as blood.
They took King Selim by the arms, just as the
six men had done, and marched him through the
same entries and passageways, and so came at last
to the same vaulted room. There stood the statue,
but now it was turned to flesh and blood, and the
eyes were open and looking straight at Selim the
Baker.
" Art thou Selim ?" said she ; and she pointed
her finger straight at him.
" Yes, I am Selim," said he.
" And dost thou wear the gold ring with the
red stone ?" said she.
350
" Yes," said he ; "I have it on my finger."
" And dost thou wear the iron ring ?"
11 No," said he; " I gave that to Selim the Fish-
erman.'
The words had hardly left his lips when the
statue gave a great cry and clapped her hands
together. In an instant an echoing cry sounded
all over the town a shriek fit to split the ears.
The next moment there came another sound
a sound like thunder above and below and ev-
erywhere. The earth began to shake and to rock,
and the houses began to topple and fall, and the
people began to scream and to yell and to shout,
and the waters of the sea began to lash and to
roar, and the wind began to bellow and howl.
Then it was a good thing for King Selim that
he wore Luck's Ring; for, though all the beauti-
ful snow-white palace about him and above him
began to crumble to pieces like slaked lime, the
sticks and the stones and the beams to fall this
side of him and that, he crawled out from under
it without a scratch or a bruise, like a rat out of
a cellar.
That is what Luck's Ring did for him.
But his troubles were not over yet; for, just as
he came out from under all the ruin, the island
began to sink down into the water, carrying ev-
erything along with it that is, everything but
351
him and one thing else. That one other thing
was an empty boat, and King Selim climbed into
it, and nothing else saved him from drowning.
It was Luck's Ring that did that for him also.
The boat floated on and on until it came to
another island that was just like the island he
had left, only that there was neither tree nor
blade of grass nor hide nor hair nor living thing
of any kind. Nevertheless, it was an island just
like the other: a high mountain and nothing else.
There Selim the Baker went ashore, and there he
would have starved to death only for Luck's Ring;
for one day a boat came sailing by, and when poor
Selim shouted, those aboard heard him and came
and took him off. How they all stared to see
352
his golden crown--for he still wore it and
his robes of silk and satin and the gold and
jewels !
Before they would consent to carry him away,
they made him give up all the fine things he had.
Then they took him home again to the town
whence he had first come, just as poor as when
he had started. Back he went to his bake-shop
and his ovens, and the first thing he did was to
take off his gold ring and put it on the shelf.
" If that is the ring of good luck," said he, " I
do not want to wear the like of it."
That is the way with mortal man : for one has
to have the Ring of Wisdom as well, to turn the
Ring of Luck to good account.
And now for Selim the Fisherman.
Well, thus it happened to him. For a while he
carried the iron ring around in his pocket just
as so many of us do without thinking to put it
on. But one day he slipped it on his finger
and that is what we do not all of us do. After
that he never took it off again, and the world
went smoothly with him. He was not rich, but
then he was not poor ; he was not merry, neither
was he sad. He always had enough and was
thankful for it, for I never yet knew wisdom to
go begging or crying.
So he went his way and he fished his fish, and
z 353
twelve months and a week or more passed by.
Then one day he went past the baker shop and
there sat Selim the Baker smoking his pipe of
tobacco.
" So, friend," said Selim the Fisherman, " you
are back again in the old place, I see."
"Yes," said the other Selim; "awhile ago I was
a king, and now I am nothing but a baker again.
As for that gold ring with the red stone they
may say it is Luck's Ring if they choose, but
when next I wear it may I be hanged."
Thereupon he told Selim the Fisherman the
story of what had happened to him with all its
ins and outs, just as I have told it to you.
" Well !" said Selim the Fisherman, " I should
like to have a sight of that island myself. If you
want the ring no longer, just let me have it ; for
maybe if I wear it something of the kind will
happen to me."
" You may have it," said Selim the Baker.
" Yonder it is, and you are welcome to it."
So Selim the Fisherman put on the ring, and
then went his way about his own business.
That night, as he came home carrying his nets
over his shoulder, whom should he meet but the
little old man in gray, with the white beard and
the black cap on his head and the long staff in
his hand.
354
" Is your name Selim?"said the little man, just
as he had done to Selim the Baker.
" Yes," said Selim ; " it is."
" And do you wear a gold ring with a red
stone ?" said the little old man, just as he had
said before.
" Yes," said Selim ; " I do."
" Then come with me," said the little old man,
" and I will show you the wonder of the world."
Selim the Fisherman remembered all that Se-
lim the Baker had told him, and he took no two
thoughts as to what to do. Down he tumbled
his nets, and away he went after the other as fast
as his legs could carry him. Here they went and
there they went, up crooked streets and lanes and
down by-ways and alley-ways, until at last they
came to the same garden to which Selim the
Baker had been brought. Then the old man
knocked at the gate three times and cried out
in a loud voice, " Open ! Open ! Open to Selim
who wears the Ring of Luck !"
Then the gate opened, and in they went. Fine
as it all was, Selim the Fisherman cared to look
neither to the right nor to the left, but straight
after the old man he went, until at last they
came to the seaside and the boat and the four-
and-twenty oarsmen dressed like princes and the
black slaves with the perfumed torches.
356
Here the old man entered the boat and Selim
after him, and away they sailed.
To make a long story short, everything hap-
pened to Selim the Fisherman just as it had hap-
pened to Selim the Baker. At dawn of day they
came to the island and the city built on the
mountain. And the palaces were just as white
and beautiful, and the gardens and orchards just
as fresh and blooming as though they had not all
tumbled down and sunk under the water a week
before, almost carrying poor Selim the Baker with
them. There were the people dressed in silks and
satins and jewels, just as Selim the Baker had
found them, and they shouted and hurrahed for
Selim the Fisherman just as they had shouted
and hurrahed for the other. There were the
princes and the nobles and the white horse, and
Selim the Fisherman got on his back and rode
up to the dazzling snow-white palace, and they
put a crown on his head and made a king of
him, just as they had made a king of Selim the
Baker.
That night, at midnight, it happened just as
it had happened before. Suddenly, as the hour
struck, the lights all went out, and there was a
moaning and a crying enough to make the heart
curdle. Then the door flew open, and in came
the six terrible black men with torches. They
357
led Selim the Fisherman through damp and dis-
mal entries and passage-ways until they came to
the vaulted room of black marble, and there stood
the beautiful statue on its black pedestal. Then
came the voice from above " Selim ! Selim !
Selim !" it cried, " what art thou doing ? To-day
is feasting and drinking and merry-making, but
beware of to-morrow !"
But Selim the Fisherman did not stand still
and listen, as Selim the Baker had done. He
called out, " I hear the words ! I am listening !
I will beware to-day for the sake of to-morrow !"
I do not know what I should have done had I
been king of that island and had I known that
in a twelve -month it would all come tumbling
down about my ears and sink into the sea, maybe
carry me along with it. This is what Selim the
Fisherman did [but then he wore the iron Ring
of Wisdom on his finger, and I never had that
upon mine] :
First of all, he called the wisest men of the
island to him, and found from them just where
the other desert island lay upon which the boat
with Selim the Baker in it had drifted.
Then, when he had learned where it was to be
found, he sent armies and armies of men and built
on that island palaces and houses, and planted
there orchards and gardens, just like the palaces
358
and the orchards and the gardens about him
only a great deal finer. Then he sent fleets and
fleets of ships, and carried everything away from
the island where he lived to that other island
all the men and the women and the children ;
all the flocks and herds and every living thing ;
all the fowls and the birds and everything that
wore feathers ; all the gold and the silver and the
jewels and the silks and the satins, and whatever
was of any good or of any use ; and when all these
things were done, there were still two days left
till the end of the year.
Upon the first of these two days he sent over
the beautiful statue and had it set up in the very
midst of the splendid new palace he had built.
Upon the second day he went over himself,
leaving behind him nothing but the dead moun-
tain and the rocks and the empty houses.
So came the end of the twelve months.
So came midnight.
Out went all the lights in the new palace, and
everything was as silent as death and as black
as ink. The door opened, and in came the nine
men in red, with torches burning as red as blood.
They took Selim the Fisherman by the arms and
led him to the beautiful statue, and there she was
with her eyes open.
" Are you Selim ?" said she.
360
" Yes, I am Selim," said he.
"And do you wear the iron Ring of Wisdom?"
said she.
14 Yes, I do," said he ; and so he did.
There was no roaring and thundering, there
was no shaking and quaking, there was no top-
pling and tumbling, there was no splashing and
dashing: for this island was solid rock, and was
not all enchantment and hollow inside and un-
derneath like the other which he had left behind.
The beautiful statue smiled until the place lit
up as though the sun shone. Down she came
from the pedestal where she stood and kissed
Selim the Fisherman on the lips.
Then instantly the lights blazed everywhere,
and the people shouted and cheered, and the
music played. But neither Selim the Fisher-
man nor the beautiful statue saw or heard any-
thing.
" I have done all this for you !" said Selim the
Fisherman.
" And I have been waiting for you a thousand
years !" said the beautiful statue only she was
not a statue any longer.
After that they were married, and Selim the
Fisherman and the enchanted statue became king
and queen in real earnest.
362
I think Selim the Fisherman sent for Selim
the Baker and made him rich and happy I hope
he did I am sure he did.
So, after all, it is not always the lucky one who
gathers the plums when wisdom is by to pick up
what the other shakes down.
I could say more ; for, O little children ! little
children ! there is more than meat in many an
egg-shell ; and many a fool tells a story that jog-
gles a wise man's wits, and many a man dances
and junkets in his fool's paradise till it comes
tumbling down about his ears some day ; and
there are few men who are like Selim the Fish-
erman, who wear the Ring of Wisdom on their
finger, and, alack-a-day ! I am not one of them,
and that is the end of this story.
363
OLD Bidpai nodded his head. " Aye, aye"
said he, " there is a very good moral in that story,
my friend. It is, as a certain philosopher said,
very true, that there is more in an egg than the
meat. And truly, me thinks, there is more in thy
story than the story of itself ? He nodded his
head again and stroked his beard slowly, puffing
out as he did so a great reflective cloud of smoke,
through which his eyes shone and twinkled mistily
like stars through a cloud.
"And whose turn is it now?" said Doctor
Faustus.
" Methinks 'tis mine," said Boots he who in
fairy-tale always sat in the ashes at home and yet
married a princess after he had gone out into
the world awhile. " My story" said he, " hath no
moral, but, all the same, it is as true as that eggs
hatch chickens? Then, without waiting for any
one to say another word, he began it in these words.
" I am going to tell you" said he, how
s arc as Fate wills
ONCE upon a time, in
the old, old days, there
lived a king who had a
head upon his shoulders
wiser than other folk, and
this was why : though he
was richer and wiser and
greater than most kings,
and had all that he want-
ed and more into the bar-
gain, he was so afraid of
becoming proud of his
own prosperity that he
had these words written
in letters of gold upon the walls of each and ev-
ery room in his palace :
All Things are as Fate wills.
365
Now, by-and-by and after a while the king died ;
for when his time comes, even the rich and the
wise man must die, as well as the poor and the
simple man. So the king's son came, in turn, to
be king of that land ; and, though he was not so
bad as the world of men goes, he was not the
man that his father was, as this story will show
you.
One day, as he sat with his chief councillor,
his eyes fell upon the words written in letters of
gold upon the wall the words that his father
had written there in time gone by :
All Things are as Fate wills ;
and the young king did not like the taste of
them, for he was very proud of his own great-
ness. " That is not so," said he, pointing to the
words on the wall. " Let them be painted out,
and these words written in their place :
All Things are as Man does''
Now, the chief councillor was a grave old man,
and had been councillor to the young king's fa-
ther. " Do not be too hasty, my lord king," said
he. " Try first the truth of your own words be-
fore you wipe out those that your father has
written."
1366
" Very well," said the young king, " so be it. I
will approve the truth of my words. Bring me
hither some beggar from the town whom Fate
has made poor, and I will make him rich. So I
will show you that his life shall be as I will, and
not as Fate wills."
Now, in that town there was a poor beggar-
man who used to sit every day beside the town
gate, begging for something for charity's sake.
Sometimes people gave him a penny or two, but
it was little or nothing that he got, for Fate was
against him.
The same day that the king and the chief
councillor had had their talk together, as the
beggar sat holding up his wooden bowl and ask-
ing chanty of those who passed by, there sudden-
ly came three men who, without saying a word,
clapped hold of him and marched him off.
It was in vain that the beggar talked and
questioned in vain that he begged and besought
them to let him go. Not a word did they say to
him, either of good or bad. At last they came to
a gate that led through a high wall and into a
garden, and there the three stopped, and one of
them knocked upon the gate. In answer to his
knocking it flew open. He thrust the beggar
into the garden neck and crop, and then the gate
was banged to again.
368
But what a sight it was the beggar saw before
his eyes !-- flowers, and fruit-trees, and marble
walks, and a great fountain that shot up a jet of
water as white as snow. But he had not long to
stand gaping and staring around him, for in the
garden were a great number of people, who came
hurrying to him, and who, without speaking a
word to him or answering a single question, or
as much as giving him time to think, led him to
a marble bath of tepid water. There he was
stripped of his tattered clothes and washed as
clean as snow. Then, as some of the attendants
dried him with fine linen towels, others came
carrying clothes fit for a prince to wear, and clad
the beggar in them from head to foot. After
that, still without saying a word, they let him out
from the bath again, and there he found still oth-
er attendants waiting for him two of them hold-
ing a milk-white horse, saddled and bridled, and
fit for an emperor to ride. These helped him to
mount, and then, leaping into their own saddles,
rode away with the beggar in their midst.
They rode out of the garden and into the
streets, and on and on they went until they came
to the king's palace, and there they stopped.
Courtiers and noblemen and great lords were
waiting for their coming, some of whom helped
him to dismount from the horse, for by this time
2 A 369
the be^aar was so overcome with wonder that he
OO
stared like one moon-struck, and as though his
wits were addled. Then, leading the way up the
palace steps, they conducted him from room to
room, until at last they came to one more grand
and splendid than all the rest, and there sat the
king himself waiting for the beggar's coming.
The beggar would have flung himself at the
king's feet, but the king would not let him ; for
he came down from the throne where he sat, and,
taking the beggar by the hand, led him up and
sat him alongside of him. Then the king gave
orders to the attendants who stood about, and a
feast was served in plates of solid gold upon a
table-cloth of silver a feast such as the beggar
had never dreamed of, and the poor man ate as
he had never eaten in his life before.
All the while that the king and the beggar
were eating, musicians played sweet music and
dancers danced and singers sang.
Then when the feast was over there came ten
young men, bringing flasks and flagons of all
kinds, full of the best wine in the world; and the
beggar drank as he had never drank in his life
before, and until his head spun like a top.
So the king and the beggar feasted and made
merry, until at last the clock struck twelve
and the king arose from his seat. " My friend,"
370
said he to the beggar, "all these things have
been done to show you that Luck and Fate,
which have been against you for all these years,
are now for you. Hereafter, instead of being
poor you shall be the richest of the rich, for I
will give you the greatest thing that I have in
my treasury." Then he called the chief treas-
urer, who came forward with a golden tray in his
hand. Upon the tray was a purse of silk. " See,"
said the king, " here is a purse, and in the purse
are one hundred pieces of gold money. But
though that much may seem great to you, it is
but little of the true value of the purse. Its
virtue lies in this : that however much you may
take from it, there will always be one hundred
pieces of gold money left in it. Now go ; and
while you are enjoying the riches which I give
you, I have only to ask you to remember these
are not the gifts of Fate, but of a mortal man."
But all the while he was talking the beggar's
head was spinning and spinning, and buzzing
and buzzing, so that he hardly heard a word of
what the king said.
Then when the king had ended his speech,
the lords and gentlemen who had brought the
beggar in led him forth again. Out they went
through room after room out through the court-
yard, out through the gate.
373
Bang! it was shut to behind him, and he
found himself standing in the darkness of mid
night, with the splendid clothes upon his back,
and the magic purse with its hundred pieces of
gold money in his pocket.
He stood looking about himself for a while, and
then off he started homeward, staggering and
stumbling and shuffling, for the wine that he had
drank made him so light-headed that all the
world spun topsy-turvy around him.
His way led along by the river, and on he went
stumbling and staggering. All of a sudden
plump ! splash ! he was in the water over head
and ears. Up he came, spitting out the water
and shouting for help, splashing and sputtering,
and kicking and swimming, knowing no more
where he was than the man in the moon. Some-
times his head was under water and sometimes it
was up again.
At last, just as his strength was failing him,
his feet struck the bottom, and he crawled up on
the shore more dead than alive. Then, through
fear and cold and wet, he swooned away, and lay
for a long time for all the world as though he
were dead.
Now, it chanced that two fishermen were out
with their nets that night, and Luck or Fate led
them by the way where the beggar lay on the
373
shore. " Halloa !" said one of the fishermen,
" here is a poor body drowned !" They turned
him over, and then they saw what rich clothes
he wore, and felt that he had a purse in his
pocket.
" Come," said the second fisherman, " he is
dead, whoever he is. His fine clothes and his
purse of money can do him no good now, and we
might as well have them as anybody else." So
between them both they stripped the beggar of
all that the king had given him, and left him ly-
ing on the beach.
At daybreak the beggar awoke from his swoon,
and there he found himself lying without a stitch
to his back, and half dead with the cold and the
water he had swallowed. Then, fearing lest some-
body might see him, he crawled away into the
rushes that grew beside the river, there to hide
himself until night should come again.
But as he went, crawling upon hands and knees,
he suddenly came upon a bundle that had been
washed up by the water, and when he laid eyes
upon it his heart leaped within him, for what
should that bundle be but the patches and tatters
which he had worn the day before, and which the
attendants had thrown over the garden wall and
into the river when they had dressed him in the
fine clothes the king gave him.
374
He spread his clothes out in the sun until they
were dry, and then he put them on and went back
into the town again.
" Well," said the king, that morning, to his
chief councillor, " what do you think now ? Am
I not greater than Fate ? Did I not make the
beggar rich ? and shall I not paint my father's
words out from the wall, and put my own there
instead ?"
" I do not know," said the councillor, shaking
his head. " Let us first see what has become of
the beggar."
" So be it," said the king; and he and the coun-
cillor set off to see whether the beggar had done
as he ought to do with the good things that the
king had given him. So they came to the town-
gate, and there, lo and behold ! the first thing that
they saw was the beggar with his wooden bowl in
his hand asking those who passed by for a stray
penny or two.
When the king saw him he turned without a
word, and rode back home again. " Very well,"
said he to the chief councillor, " I have tried to
make the beggar rich and have failed ; neverthe-
less, if I cannot make him I can ruin him in
spite of Fate, and that I will show you."
375
So all that while the beggar sat at the town-
gate and begged until came noontide, when who
should he see coming but the same three men
who had come for him the day before. " Ah,
ha !" said he to himself, " now the king is going
to give me some more good things." And so
when the three reached him he was willing
enough to go with them, rough as they were.
Off they marched ; but this time they did not
come to any garden with fruits and flowers and
fountains and marble baths. Off they marched,
and when they stopped it was in front of the
king's palace. This time no nobles and great
lords and courtiers were waiting for his coming ;
but instead of that the town hangman a great
ugly fellow, clad in black from head to foot. Up
he came to the beggar, and, catching him by the
scruff of the neck, dragged him up the palace
steps and from room to room until at last he
flung him down at the king's feet.
When the poor beggar gathered wits enough
to look about him he saw there a great chest
standing wide open, and with holes in the lid.
He wondered what it was for, but the king gave
him no chance to ask; for, beckoning with his
hand, the hangman and the others caught the
beggar by arms and legs, thrust him into the
chest, and banged down the lid upon him.
376
The king locked it and double-locked it, and
set his seal upon it; and there was the beggar as
tight as a fly in a bottle.
They carried the chest out and thrust it into
a cart and hauled it away, until at last they came
to the sea-shore. There they flung chest and all
into the water, and it floated away like a cork.
And that is how the king set about to ruin the
poor beggar-man.
Well, the chest floated on and on for three
days, and then at last it came to the shore of a
country far away. There the waves caught it up,
and flung it so hard upon the rocks of the sea-
beach that the chest was burst open by the blow,
and the beggar crawled out with eyes as big as
saucers and face as white as dough. After he
377
had sat for a while, and when his wits came back
to him and he had gathered strength enough, he
stood up and looked around to see where Fate
had cast him ; and far away on the hill-side he
saw the walls and the roofs and the towers of the
great town, shining in the sunlight as white
as snow.
11 Well," said he, " here is something to be
thankful for, at least," and so saying and shaking
the stiffness out of his knees and elbows, he
started off for the white walls and the red roofs
in the distance.
At last he reached the great gate, and through
it he could see the stony streets and multitudes
of people coming and going.
But it was not for him to enter that gate.
Out popped two soldiers with great battle-axes
in their hands and looking as fierce as dragons.
" Are you a stranger in this town ?" said one in
a great, gruff voice.
" Yes," said the beggar, " I am."
" And where are you going ?"
" I am going into the town."
" No, you are not."
" Why not ?"
" Because no stranger enters here. Yonder is
the pathway. You must take that if you would
enter the town."
378
" Very well," said the beggar, " I would just
as lief go into the town that way as another."
So off he marched without another word. On
and on he went along the narrow pathway until
at last he came to a little gate of polished brass.
Over the gate were written these words, in great
letters as red as blood :
" Who Enters here Shall Surely Die?
Many and many a man besides the beggar had
travelled that path and looked up at those let-
ters, and when he had read them had turned and
gone away again. But the beggar neither turned
nor went away; because why, he could neither
read nor write a word, and so the blood-red let-
ters had no fear for him. Up he marched to
the brazen gate, as boldly as though it had been
a kitchen door, and rap ! tap ! tap ! he knocked
upon it. He waited awhile, but nobody came.
Rap! tap! tap! he knocked again; and then,
after a little while, for the third time Rap ! tap !
tap ! Then instantly the gate swung open and
he entered. So soon as he had crossed the
threshold it was banged to behind him again,
just as the garden gate had been when the
king had first sent for him. He found himself
in a long, dark entry, and at the end of it an-
380
other door, and over it the same words, written
in blood-red letters :
"Beware! Beware! Who Enters here Shall
Surely Die T
" Well," said the beggar, " this is the hardest
town for a body to come into that I ever saw."
And then he opened the second door and passed
through.
It was fit to deafen a body ! Such a shout the
beggar's ears had never heard before ; such a
sight the beggar's eyes had never beheld, for
there, before him, was a great splendid hall of
marble as white as snow. All along the hall
stood scores of lords and ladies in silks and satins,
and with jewels on their necks and arms fit to
dazzle a body's eyes. Right up the middle of the
hall stretched a carpet of blue velvet, and at the
farther end, on a throne of gold, sat a lady as
beautiful as the sun and moon and all the stars.
" Welcome ! welcome !" they all shouted, until
the beggar was nearly deafened by the noise
they all made, and the lady herself stood up and
smiled upon him.
Then there came three young men, and led the
beggar up the carpet of velvet to the throne of
gold.
381
" Welcome, my hero !" said the beautiful lady ;
" and have you, then, come at last ?"
" Yes," said the beggar, " I have."
" Long have I waited for you," said the lady;
" long have I waited for the hero who would dare
without fear to come through the two gates of
death to marry me and to rule as king over this
country, and now at last you are here."
" Yes," said the beggar, " I am."
Meanwhile, while all these things were hap-
pening, the king of that other country had paint-
ed out the words his father had written on the
walls, and had had these words painted in in
their stead:
'''All Things are as Man does"
For a while he was very well satisfied with
them, until, a week after, he was bidden to the
wedding of the Queen of the Golden Mountains;
for when he came there who should the bride-
groom be but the beggar whom he had set adrift
in the wooden box a week or so before.
The bridegroom winked at him, but said never
a word, good or ill, for he was willing to let all
that had happened be past and gone. But the
king saw how matters stood as clear as daylight,
382
and when he got back home again he had the
new words that stood on the walls of the room
painted out, and had the old ones painted in in
bigger letters than ever:
"All Things ar as Fate wills?
ALL the good people who were gathered around
the table of the Sign of Mother Goose sat think-
ing for a while over the story. As for Boots, he
buried his face in the quart pot and took a long,
long pitll at the ale.
" Methinks? said the Soldier who cheated the
Devil, presently breaking silence " methinks there
be very few of the women folk who do their share
of this story - telling. So far we have had but one,
and that is Lady Cinderella. I see another one
present, and I drink to her health?
He winked his eye at Patient Grizzle, beckoning
towards her with his quart pot, and took a long and
hearty pull. Then he banged his mug down upon
the table. "Fetch me another glass, lass," said he
to little Brown Betty. " Meantime, fair lady "
this he said to Patient Grizzle " will you not en-
tertain us with some story of your own /"
" / know not" said Patient Grizzle, " that I can
tell you any story worth your hearing?
" Aye, aye, but you can" said the Soldier who
325
cheated the Devil ; " and, moreover, anything com-
ing from betwixt such red lips and such white
teeth will be worth the listening to"
Patient Grizzle smiled, and the brave little
Tailor, and the Lad who fiddled for the Jew, and
Hans and Bidpai and Boots nodded approval.
" Aye" said Ali Baba, " it is trite enough that
there have been but few of the women folk who
have had their say, and methinks that it is very
strange and unaccountable, for nearly always they
have plenty to speak in their own behalf"
All who sat there in Twilight Land laughed^
and even Patient Grizzle smiled.
" Very well" said Patient Grizzle, " if you will
have it, I will tell you a story. It is about a
fisherman who was married and had a wife of his
own, and who made her carry all the load of every,
thing that happened to him. For he, like most
men I wot of, had found out
here to Lay the Blame.
MANY and many a man
has come to trouble so he will
say by following Jiis wifes ad-
vice. This is how it was with
a man of whom I shall tell
you.
There was once upon a
time a fisherman who had
fished all day long and had
caught not so much as a sprat
So at night there he sat by
the fire, rubbing his knees and
warming his shins, and wait-
ing for supper that his wife
was cooking for him, and his
hunger was as sharp as vine-
gar, and his temper hot enough
to fry fat.
387
While he sat there grumbling and growling
and trying to make himself comfortable and
warm, there suddenly came a knock at the door.
The good woman opened it, and there stood an
old man, clad all in red from head to foot, and
with a snowy beard at his chin as white as winter
snow.
The fisherman's wife stood gaping and staring
at the strange figure, but the old man in red
walked straight into the hut. " Bring your nets,
fisherman," said he, " and come with me. There
is something that I want you to catch for me, and
if I have luck I will pay you for your fishing as
never fisherman was paid before."
"Not I," said the fisherman; "I go out no
more this night. I have been fishing all day long
until my back is nearly broken, and have caught
nothing, and now I am not such a fool as to go
out and leave a warm fire and a good supper at
your bidding."
But the fisherman's wife had listened to what
the old man had said about paying for the job,
and she was of a different mind from her hus-
band. "Come," said she, "the old man prom-
ises to pay you well. This is not a chance to be
lost, I can tell you, and my advice to you is that
you go."
The fisherman shook his head. No, he would
388
not go ; he had said he would not, and he would
not. But the wife only smiled and said again,
" My advice to you is that you go."
The fisherman grumbled and grumbled, and
swore that he would not go. The wife said noth-
ing but one thing. She did not argue ; she did
not lose her temper ; she only said to everything
that he said, " My advice to you is that you go."
At last the fisherman's anger boiled over.
"Very well," said he, spitting his words at her;
" if you will drive me out into the night, I sup-
pose I will have to go." And then he spoke the
words that so many men say : " Many a man has
come to trouble by following his wife's advice."
Then down he took his fur cap and up he took
his nets, and off he and the old man marched
through the moonlight, their shadows bobbing
along like black spiders behind them.
Well, on they went, out from the town and
across the fields and through the woods, until at
last they came to a dreary, lonesome desert, where
nothing was to be seen but gray rocks and weeds
and thistles.
" Well," said the fisherman, " I have fished,
man and boy, for forty-seven years, but never did
I see as unlikely a place to catch anything as
this."
389
But the old man said never a word. First of
all he drew a great circle with strange figures,
marking it with his finger upon the ground. Then
out from under his red gown he brought a tin-
der-box and steel, and a little silver casket cov-
ered all over with strange figures of serpents and
dragons and what not. He brought some sticks
of spice-wood from his pouch, and then he struck
a light and made a fire. Out of the box he took
a gray powder, which he flung upon the little
blaze.
Puff ! flash ! A vivid flame went up into the
moonlight, and then a dense smoke as black as
ink, which spread out wider and wider, far and
near, till all below was darker than the darkest
midnight. Then the old man began to utter
strange spells and words. Presently there began
a rumbling that sounded louder and louder and
O
nearer and nearer, until it roared and bellowed
like thunder. The earth rocked and swayed, and
the poor fisherman shook and trembled with fear
till his teeth clattered in his head.
Then suddenly the roaring and bellowing
ceased, and all was as still as death, though the
darkness was as thick and black as ever.
" Now,/' said the old magician for such he was
"now we are about to take a journey such as
no one ever travelled before. Heed well what I
390
tell you. Speak not a single word, for if you do,
misfortune will be sure to happen."
" Ain't I to say anything ?" said the fisherman.
" No."
" Not even ' boo' to a goose ?"
" No."
" Well, that is pretty hard upon a man who likes
to say his say," said the fisherman.
" And moreover," said the old man, " I must
blindfold you as well."
Thereupon he took from his pocket a hand-
kerchief, and made ready to tie it about the fish-
erman's eyes.
" And ain't I to see anything at all?" said the
fisherman.
" No."
" Not even so much as a single feather ?"
" No."
" Well, then," said the fisherman, " I wish I'd
not come."
But the old man tied the handkerchief tightly
around his eyes, and then he was as blind as a
bat.
" Now," said the old man, " throw your leg over
what you feel and hold fast."
The fisherman reached down his hand, and
there felt the back of something rough and hairy.
He flung his leg over it, and whisk ! whizz ! off
392
he shot through the air like a sky-rocket Noth-
ing was left for him to do but grip tightly with
hands and feet and to hold fast. On they went,
and on they went, until, after a great while, what-
ever it was that was carrying him lit upon the
ground, and there the fisherman found himself
standing, for that which had brought him had
gone.
The old man whipped the handkerchief off his
eyes, and there the fisherman found himself on
the shores of the sea, where there was nothing
to be seen but water upon one side and rocks
and naked sand upon the other.
" This is the place for you to cast your nets,"
said the old magician ; " for if we catch nothing
here we catch nothing at all."
The fisherman unrolled his nets and cast them
and dragged them, and then cast them and
dragged them again, but neither time caught so
much as a herring. But the third time that he
cast he found that he had caught something that
weighed as heavy as lead. He pulled and pulled,
until by-and-by he dragged the load ashore, and
what should it be but a great chest of wood, black-
ened by the sea -water, and covered with shells
and green moss.
That was the very thing that the magician had
come to fish for.
394
From his pouch the old man took a little
golden key, which he fitted into a key-hole in the
side of the chest. He threw back the lid ; the
fisherman looked within, and there was the pret-
tiest little palace that man's eye ever beheld,
all made of mother-of-pearl and silver-frosted as
white as snow. The old magician lifted the lit-
tle palace out of the box and set it upon the
ground.
Then, lo and behold ! a marvellous thing hap-
pened ; for the palace instantly began to grow
for all the world like a soap-bubble, until it stood
in the moonlight gleaming and glistening like
snow, the windows bright with the lights of a
thousand wax tapers, and the sound of music and
voices and laughter coming from within.
Hardly could the fisherman catch his breath
from one strange thing when another happened.
The old magician took off his clothes and his
face yes, his face for all the world as though
it had been a mask, and there stood as handsome
and noble a young man as ever the light looked
on. Then, beckoning to the fisherman, dumb
with wonder, he led the way up the great flight
of marble steps to the palace door. As he came
the door swung open with a blaze of light, and
there stood hundreds of noblemen, all clad in
silks and satins and velvets, who, when they saw
395
the magician, bowed low before him, as though
he had been a king. Leading the way, they
brought the two through halls and chambers and
room after room, each more magnificent than the
other, until they came to one that surpassed a
hundredfold any of the others.
At the farther end was a golden throne, and
upon it sat a lady more lovely and beautiful than
a dream, her eyes as bright as diamonds, her
cheeks like rose leaves, and her hair like spun
gold. She came half-way down the steps of the
throne to welcome the magician, and when the
two met they kissed one another before all those
who were looking on. Then she brought him
to the throne and seated him beside her, and
there they talked for a long time very earnestly.
Nobody said a word to the fisherman, who
stood staring about him like an owl. " I won-
der," said he to himself at last, " if they will give
a body a bite to eat by-and-by ?" for, to tell the
truth, the good supper that he had come away
from at home had left a sharp hunger gnawing
at his insides, and he longed for something good
and warm to fill the empty place. But time
passed, and not so much as a crust of bread was
brought to stay his stomach.
By-and-by the clock struck twelve, and then the
two who sat upon the throne arose. The beau-
396
tiful lady took the magician by the hand, and,
turning to those who stood around, said, in a loud
voice, " Behold him who alone is worthy to pos-
sess the jewel of jewels! Unto him do I give it,
and with it all power of powers !" Thereon she
opened a golden casket that stood beside her,
and brought thence a little crystal ball, about as
big as a pigeon's egg, in which was something
that glistened like a spark of fire. The magi-
cian took the crystal ball and thrust it into his
bosom ; but what it was the fisherman could not
guess, and if you do not know I shall not tell
you.
Then for the first time the beautiful lady seem-
ed to notice the fisherman. She beckoned him,
and when he stood beside her two men came
carrying a chest. The chief treasurer opened it,
and it was full of bags of gold money. " How
will you have it ?" said the beautiful lady.
" Have what ?" said the fisherman.
" Have the pay for your labor?" said the beau-
tiful lady.
" I will," said the fisherman, promptly, " take it
in my hat."
" So be it," said the beautiful lady. She waved
her hand, and the chief treasurer took a bag from
the chest, untied it, and emptied a cataract of
gold into the fur cap. The fisherman had never
398
seen so much wealth in all his life before, and he
stood like a man turned to stone.
" Is all this mine ?" said the fisherman.
" It is," said the beautiful lady.
" Then God bless your pretty eyes," said the
fisherman.
Then the magician kissed the beautiful lady,
and, beckoning to the fisherman, left the throne-
room the same way that they had come. The
noblemen, in silks and satins and velvets, march-
ed ahead, and back they went through the other
apartments, until at last they came to the door.
Out they stepped, and then what do you sup-
pose happened ?
If the wonderful palace had grown like a bub-
ble, like a bubble it vanished. There the two
stood on the sea-shore, with nothing to be seen
but rocks and sand and water, and the starry sky
overhead.
The fisherman shook his cap of gold, and it
jingled and tinkled, and was as heavy as lead. If
it was not all a dream, he was rich for life. " But
anyhow," said he, " they might have given a body
a bite to eat."
The magician put on his red clothes and his
face again, making himself as hoary and as old
as before. He took out his flint and steel, and
his sticks of spice-wood and his gray powder, and
400
made a great fire and smoke just as he had done
before. Then again he tied his handkerchief
over the fisherman's eyes. " Remember," said
he, " what I told you when we started upon our
journey. Keep your mouth tight shut, for if you
utter so much as a single word you are a lost
man. Now throw your leg over what you feel
and hold fast."
The fisherman had his net over one arm and
his cap of gold in the other hand ; nevertheless,
there he felt the same hairy thing he had felt
before. He flung his leg over it, and away he
was gone through the air like a sky-rocket.
Now, he had grown somewhat used to strange
things by this time, so he began to think that he
would like to see what sort of a creature it was
upon which he was riding thus through the sky.
So he contrived, in spite of his net and cap, to
push up the handkerchief from over one eye.
Out he peeped, and then he saw as clear as day
what the strange steed was.
He was riding upon a he -goat as black as
night, and in front of him was the magician rid-
ing upon just such another, his great red robe
fluttering out behind him in the moonlight like
huge red wings.
" Great herring and little fishes !" roared the
fisherman ; " it is a billy-goat !"
2C 401
Instantly goats, old man, and all were gone
like a flash. Down fell the fisherman through
the empty sky, whirling over and over and around
and around like a frog. He held tightly to his
net, but away flew his fur cap, the golden money
falling in a shower like sparks of yellow light.
Down he fell and down he fell, until his head
spun like a top.
By good-luck his house was just below, with its
thatch of soft rushes. Into the very middle of
it he tumbled, and right through the thatch
bump! into the room below.
The good wife was in bed, snoring away for
dear life ; but such a noise as the fisherman made
coming into the house was enough to wake the
dead. Up she jumped, and there she sat, staring
and winking with sleep, and with her brains as
addled as a duck's egg in a thunder-storm.
" There !" said the fisherman, as he gathered
himself up and rubbed his shoulder, "that is
what comes of following a woman's advice 1"
ALL the good folk clapped their hands, not so
much because of the story itself, but because it was
a woman who told it.
" Aye, aye" said the brave little Tailor, " there is
truth in what you tell, fair lady, and I like very
well the way in which you have told it."
" Whose turn is it next ?" said Doctor Faustus,
lighting a fresh pipe of tobacco.
"Tis the turn of yonder old gentleman" said the
Soldier who cheated the Devil, and he pointed with
the stem of his pipe to the Fisherman who unbot-
tled the Genie that King Solomon had corked up
and thrown into the sea. " Every one else hath
told a story, and now it is his turn"
" / will not deny, my friend, that what you say
is true, and that it is my turn" said the Fisherman.
" Nor will I deny that I have already a story in
my mind. It is" said he, " about a certain prince,
and of how he went throitgh many and one advent-
ures, and at last discovered that which is
f^^he alt of Lif
ONCE upon a time there
was a king who had three sons,
and by the time that the young-
est prince had down upon his
chin the king had grown so old
that the cares of the kingdom
began to rest over-heavily upon
his shoulders. So he called his
chief councillor and told him
that he was of a mind to let
the princes reign in his stead. To the son who
loved him the best he would give the largest
part of his kingdom, to the son who loved him
the next best the next part, and to the son who
loved him the least the least part. The old coun-
cillor was very wise and shook his head, but the
405
king's mind had long been settled as to what he
was about to do. So he called the princes to
him one by one and asked each as to how much
he loved him.
" I love you as a mountain of gold," said the
oldest prince, and the king was very pleased
that his son should give him such love.
" I love you as a mountain of silver," said the
second prince, and the king was pleased with
that also.
But when the youngest prince was called, he
did not answer at first, but thought and thought.
At last he looked up. " I love you," said he, " as
I love salt."
When the king heard what his youngest son
said he was filled with anger. " What !" he
cried, "do you love me no better than salt a
stuff that is the most bitter of all things to the
taste, and the cheapest and the commonest of all
things in the world ? Away with you, and never
let me see your face again ! Henceforth you are
no son of mine."
The prince would have spoken, but the king
would not allow him, and bade his guards thrust
the young man forth from the room.
Now the queen loved the youngest prince the
best of all her sons, and when she heard how the
king was about to drive him forth into the wide
406
world to shift for himself, she wept and wept.
" Ah, my son !" said she to him, " it is little or
nothing that I have to give you. Nevertheless,
I have one precious thing. Here is a ring; take
it and wear it always, for so long as you have it
upon your finger no magic can have power over
you."
Thus it was that the youngest prince set forth
into the wide world with little or nothing but a
ring upon his finger.
For seven days he travelled on, and knew not
where he was going or whither his footsteps led.
At the end of that time he came to the gates of
a town. The prince entered the gates, and found
himself in a city the like of which he had never
seen in his life before for grandeur and magnifi-
cence beautiful palaces and gardens, stores
and bazaars crowded with rich stuffs of satin and
silk and wrought silver and gold of cunningest
workmanship ; for the land to which he had come
was the richest in all of the world. All that day
he wandered up and down, and thought nothing
of weariness and hunger for wonder of all that
he saw. But at last evening drew down, and he
began to bethink himself of somewhere to lodge
during the night.
Just then he came to a bridge, over the wall of
which leaned an old man with a long white beard,
408
fez
looking down into the water. He was dressed
richly but soberly, and every now and then he
sighed and groaned, and as the prince drew near
he saw the tears falling drip, drip from the old
man's eyes.
The prince had a kind heart, and could not
bear to see one in distress ; so he spoke to the
old man, and asked him his trouble.
" Ah, me !" said the other, " only yesterday I
had a son, tall and handsome like yourself. But
the queen took him to sup with her, and I am
left all alone in my old age, like a tree stripped
of leaves and fruit."
" But surely," said the prince, " it can be no
such sad matter to sup with a queen. That is
an honor that most men covet."
" Ah !" said the old man, "you are a stranger
in this place, or else you would know that no
youth so chosen to sup with the queen ever re-
turns to his home again."
" Yes," said the prince, " I am a stranger and
have only come hither this day, and so do not
understand these things. Even when I found
you I was about to ask the way to some inn
where folk of good condition lodge."
" Then come home with me to-night," said the
old man. " I live all alone, and I will tell you
the trouble that lies upon this country." There-
410
upon, taking the prince by the arm, he led him
across the bridge and to another quarter of the
town where he dwelt. He bade the servants
prepare a fine supper, and he and the prince sat
down to the table together. After they had
made an end of eating and drinking, the old man
told the prince all concerning those things of
which he had spoken, and thus it was :
" When the king of this land died he left be-
hind him three daughters the most beautiful
princesses in all of the world.
" Folk hardly dared speak of the eldest of
them, but whisperings said that she was a sor-
ceress, and that strange and gruesome things
were done by her. The second princess was
also a witch, though it was not said that she was
evil, like the other. As for the youngest of the
three, she was as beautiful as the morning and
as gentle as a dove. When she was born a
golden thread was about her neck, and it was
foretold of her that she was to be the queen of
that land.
" But not long after the old king died the
youngest princess vanished no one could tell
whither, and no one dared to ask and the eldest
princess had herself crowned as queen, and no
one dared gainsay her. For a while everything
411
went well enough, but by-and-by evil days came
upon the land. Once every seven days the
queen would bid some youth, young and strong,
to sup with her, and from that time no one ever
heard of him again, and no one dared ask what
had become of him. At first it was the great
folk at the queen's palace officers and courtiers
who suffered; but by-and-by the sons of the
merchants and the chief men of the city began to
be taken. One time," said the old man, " I my-
self had three sons as noble young men as could
be found in the wide world. One day the chief
of the queen's officers came to my house and
asked me concerning how many sons I had. I
was forced to tell him, and in a little while they
were taken one by one to the queen's palace,
and I never saw them again.
" But misfortune, like death, comes upon the
young as well as the old. You yourself have
had trouble, or else I am mistaken. Tell me
what lies upon your heart, my son, for the talk-
ing of it makes the burthen lighter."
O <^
The prince did as the old man bade him, and
told all of his story ; and so they sat talking and
talking until far into the night, and the old man
grew fonder and fonder of the prince the more
he saw of him. So the end of the matter was
that he asked the prince to live with him as his
412
son, seeing that the young man had now no-
father and he no children, and the prince con-
sented gladly enough.
So the two lived together like father and son,
and the good old man began to take some joy in
life once more.
But one day who should come riding up to
the door but the chief of the queen's officers.
" How is this ?" said he to the old man, when he
saw the prince. " Did you not tell me that you
had but three sons, and is this not a fourth ?"
It was of no use for the old man to tell the
officer that the youth was not his son, but was a
prince who had come to visit that country. The
officer drew forth his tablets and wrote something
upon them, and then went his way, leaving the
old man sighing and groaning. " Ah, me !" said
he, " my heart sadly forebodes trouble."
Sure enough, before three days had passed a
bidding came to the prince to make ready to sup
with the queen that night.
When evening drew near a troop of horsemen
came, bringing a white horse with a saddle and
bridle of gold studded with precious stones, to
take the prince to the queen's palace.
As soon as they had brought him thither they
led the prince to a room where was a golden table
spread with a snow-white cloth and set with dishes
413
of gold. At the end of the table the queen sat
waiting for him, and her face was hidden by a veil
of silver gauze. She raised the veil and looked at
the prince, and when he saw her face he stood as
one wonder-struck, for not only was she so beauti-
ful, but she set a spell upon him with the evil charm
of her eyes. No one sat at the table but the
queen and the prince, and a score of young pages
served them, and sweet music sounded from a
curtained gallery.
At last came midnight, and suddenly a great
414
gong sounded from the court-yard outside. Then
in an instant the music was stopped, the pages
that served them hurried from the room, and
presently all was as still as death.
Then, when all were gone, the queen arose and
beckoned the prince, and he had no choice but
to arise also and follow whither she led. She
took him through the palace, where all was as
still as the grave, and so came out by a postern
door into a garden. Beside the postern a torch
burned in a bracket. The queen took it down,
and then led the prince up a path and under the
silent trees until they came to a great wall of
rough stone. She pressed her hand upon one
of the great stones, and it opened like a door,
and there was a flight of steps that led down-
ward. The queen descended these steps, and the
prince followed closely behind her. At the bot-
tom was a long passage-way, and at the farther
end the prince saw what looked like a bright
spark of light, as though the sun were shining.
She thrust the torch into another bracket in the
wall of the passage, and then led the way tow-
ards the light. It grew larger and larger as they
went forward, until at last they came out at the
farther end, and there the prince found himself
standing in the sunlight and not far from the sea-
shore. The queen led the way towards the shore,
when suddenly a great number of black dogs
came running towards them, barking and snarl-
ing, and showing their teeth as though they
would tear the two in pieces. But the queen
drew from her bosom a whip with a steel-pointed
lash, and as the dogs came springing towards
them she laid about her right and left, till the
skin flew and the blood ran, and the dogs leaped
away howling and yelping.
At the edge of the water was a great stone
mill, and the queen pointed towards it and bade
the prince turn it. Strong as he was, it was as
much as he could do to work it; but grind it he
did, though the sweat ran down his face in
streams. By- and -by a speck appeared far away
upon the water; and as the prince ground and
ground at the mill the speck grew larger and
larger. It was something upon the water, and it
came nearer and nearer as swiftly as the wind.
At last it came close enough for him to see that
it was a little boat all of brass. By-and-by the
boat struck upon the beach, and as soon as it did
so the queen entered it, bidding the prince do the
same.
No sooner were they seated than away the
boat went, still as swiftly as the wind. On it
flew and on it flew, until at last they came to
another shore, the like of which the prince had
416
never seen in his life before. Down to the edge
of the water ran a garden but such a garden !
The leaves of the trees were all of silver and the
fruit of gold, and instead of flowers were precious
stones white, red, yellow, blue, and green that
flashed like sparks of sunlight as the breeze
moved them this way and that way. Beyond
the silver trees, with their golden fruit, was a
great palace as white as snow, and so bright that
one had to shut one's eyes as one looked upon it.
The boat ran up on the beach close to just
such a stone mill as the prince had seen upon
the other side of the water, and then he and the
queen stepped ashore- As soon as they had done
so the brazen boat floated swiftly away, and in a
little while was gone.
41 Here our journey ends," said the queen. " Is
it not a wonderful land, and well worth the see-
ing ? Look at all these jewels and this gold, as
plenty as fruits and flowers at home. You may
take what you please; but while you are gath-
ering them I have another matter after which I
must look. Wait for me here, and by-and-by I
will be back again."
So saying, she turned and left the prince, go-
ing towards the castle back of the trees.
But the prince was a prince, and not a com-
mon man ; he cared nothing for gold and jewels.
418
What he did care for was to see where the queen
went, and why she had brought him to this
strange land. So, as soon as she had fairly gone,
he followed after.
He went along under the gold and silver trees,
in the direction she had taken, until at last he
came to a tall flight of steps that led up to the
doorway of the snow-white palace. The door
stood open, and into it the prince went. He saw
not a soul, but he heard a noise as of blows and
the sound as of some one weeping. He followed
the sound, until by- and -by he came to a great
vaulted room in the very centre of the palace.
A curtain hung at the doorway. The prince
lifted it and peeped within, and this was what he
saw:
In the middle of the room was a marble basin
of water as clear as crystal, and around the sides
of the basin were these words, written in letters of
gold:
" Whatsoever is False, that I make True?
Beside the fountain upon a marble stand stood
a statue of a beautiful woman made of alabaster,
and around the neck of the statue was a thread of
gold. The queen stood beside the statue, and
beat and beat it with her steel-tipped whip. And
419
all the while she lashed it the statue sighed and
groaned like a living being, and the tears ran
down its stone cheeks as though it were a suffer-
ing Christian. By-and-by the queen rested for a
moment, and said, panting, " Will you give me the
thread of gold ?" and the statue answered " No."
Whereupon she fell to raining blows upon it as
she had done before.
So she continued, now beating the statue and
now asking it whether it would give her the
thread of gold, to which the statue always an-
swered " No," and all the while the prince stood
gazing and wondering. By-and-by the queen
wearied of what she was doing, and thrust the
steel-tipped lash back into her bosom again, upon
which the prince, seeing that she was done, hur-
ried back to the garden where she had left him
and pretended to be gathering the golden fruit
and jewel flowers.
The queen said nothing to him good or bad,
except to command him to grind at the great
stone mill as he had done on the other side of
the water. Thereupon the prince did as she
bade, and presently the brazen boat came skim-
ming over the water more swiftly than the
wind. Again the queen and the prince entered
it, and again it carried them to the other side
whence they had come.
420
No sooner had the queen set foot upon the
shore than she stooped and gathered up a hand-
ful of sand. Then, turning as quick as lightning,
she flung it into the prince's face. " Be a black
dog," she cried in a loud voice, " and join your
comrades !"
And now it was that the ring that the prince's
mother had given him stood him in good stead.
But for it he would have become a black dog like
those others, for thus it had happened to all
before him who had ferried the witch queen over
the water. So she expected to see him run away
yelping, as those others had done ; but the prince
remained a prince, and stood looking her in the
face.
When the queen saw that her magic had
failed her she grew as pale as death, and fell to
trembling in every limb. She turned and has-
tened quickly away, and the prince followed her
wondering, for he neither knew the mischief she
had intended doing him, nor how his ring had
saved him from the fate of those others.
So they came back up the stairs and out
through the stone wall into the palace garden.
The queen pressed her hand against the stone
and it turned back into its place again. Then,
beckoning to the prince, she hurried away down
the garden. Before he followed he picked up a
422
coal that lay near by, and put a cross upon the
stone; then he hurried after her, and so came to
the palace once more.
By this time the cocks were crowing, and the
dawn of day was just beginning to show over the
roof-tops and the chimney-stacks of the town.
As for the queen, she had regained her com-
posure, and, bidding the prince wait for her a
moment, she hastened to her chamber. There
she opened her book of magic, and in it she soon
found who the prince was and how the ring had
saved him.
When she had learned all that she wanted to
know she put on a smiling face and came back to
him. " Ah, prince," said she, " I well know who
you are, for your coming to my country is no
secret to me. I have shown you strange things
to-night. I will unfold all the wonder to you
another time. Will you not come back and sup
with me again ?"
" Yes," said the prince, " I will come whenso-
ever you bid me ;" for he was curious to know
the secret of the statue and the strange things
he had seen.
" And will you not give me a pledge of your
coming?" said the queen, still smiling.
" What pledge shall I give you," said the
prince.
423,
" Give me the ring that is upon your finger,*
said the queen ; and she smiled so bewitchingly
that the prince could not have refused her had
he desired to do so.
Alas for him ! He thought no evil, but, with-
out a word, drew off the ring and gave it to the
queen, and she slipped it upon her finger.
"O fool!" she cried, laughing a wicked laugh,
" O fool ! to give away that in which your safety
lay !" As she spoke she dipped her fingers into
a basin of water that stood near by and dashed
the drops into the prince's face. " Be a raven,"
she cried, " and a raven remain !"
In an instant the prince was a prince no longer,
but a coal-black raven. The queen snatched up
a sword that lay near by and struck at him to
kill him. But the raven-prince leaped aside and
the blow missed its aim.
By good luck a window stood open, and before
the queen could strike again he spread his wings
and flew out of the open casement and over the
house-tops, and was gone.
On he flew and on he flew until he came to
the old man's house, and so to the room where
his foster-father himself was sitting. He lit upon
the ground at the old man's feet and tried to tell
O
him what had befallen, but all that he coald say
was " Croak ! croak !"
424
" What brings this bird of ill omen ?" said the
old man, and he drew his sword to kill it. He
raised his hand to strike, but the raven did not
try to fly away as he had expected, but bowed
his neck to receive the stroke. Then the old
man saw that the tears were running down from
the raven s eyes, and he held his hand. " What
strange thing is this ?" he said. "Surely nothing
but the living soul weeps ; and how, then, can
this bird shed tears ?" So he took the raven up
and looked into his eyes, and in them he saw the
prince's soul. " Alas !" he cried, " my heart mis-
gives me that something strange has happened.
Tell me, is this not my foster-son, the prince ?"
The raven answered " Croak !" and nothing
else ; but the good old man understood it all, and
the tears ran down his cheeks and trickled over
his beard. " Whether man or raven, you shall
still be my son," said he, and he held the raven
close in his arms and caressed it.
He had a golden cage made for the bird, and
every day he would walk with it in the garden,
talking to it as a father talks to his son.
One day when they were thus in the garden
together a strange lady came towards them down
the pathway. Over her head and face was
drawn a thick veil, so that the two could not tell
who she was. When she came close to them she
426
raised the veil, and the raven-prince saw that her
face was the living likeness of the queen's; and
yet there was something in it that was different.
It was the second sister of the queen, and the old
man knew her and bowed before her.
" Listen," said she. " I know what the raven is,
and that it is the prince, whom the queen has be-
witched. I also know nearly as much of magic
as she, and it is that alone that has saved me so
long from ill. But danger hangs close over me ;
the queen only waits for the chance to bewitch
me; and some day she will overpower me, for she
is stronger than I. With the prince's aid I can
overcome her and make myself forever safe, and
it is this that has brought me here to-day. My
magic is powerful enough to change the prince
back into his true shape again, and I will do so
if he will aid me in what follows, and this is it:
I will conjure the queen, and by-and-by a great
eagle will come flying, and its plumage will be as
black as night. Then I myself will become an
eagle, with black-and-white plumage, and we two
will fight in the air. After a while we will both
fall to the ground, and then the prince must cut
off the head of the black eagle with a knife I
shall give him. Will you do this," said she,
turning to the raven, " if I transform you to your
true shape ?"
427
The raven bowed his head and said " Croak !"
And the sister of the queen knew that he meant
yes.
Therewith she drew a great, long, keen knife
from her bosom, and thrust it into the ground.
" It is with this knife of magic," said she, " that
you must cut off the black eagle's head." Then
the witch-princess gathered up some sand in her
hand, and flung it into the raven's face. " Re-
sume," cried she, " your own shape !" And in an
instant the prince was himself again. The next
thing the sister of the queen did was to draw a
circle upon the ground around the prince, the
old man, and herself. On the circle she marked
strange figures here and there. Then, all three
standing close together, she began her conjura-
tions, uttering strange words now under her
breath, and now clear and loud.
Presently the sky darkened, and it began to
thunder and rumble. Darker it grew and darker,
and the thunder crashed and roared. The earth
trembled under their feet, and the trees swayed
hither and thither as though tossed by a tempest.
Then suddenly the uproar ceased and all grew as
still as death, the clouds rolled away, and in a
moment the sun shone out once more, and all
was calm and serene as it had been before. But
still the princess muttered her conjurations, and
428
as the prince and the old man looked they be-
held a speck that grew larger and larger, until
they saw that it was an eagle as black as night
that was coming swiftly flying through the sky.
Then the queen's sister also saw it and ceased
from her spells. She drew a little cap of feath-
ers from her bosom with trembling hands.
"Remember," said she to the prince; and, so say-
ing, clapped the feather cap upon her head. In
an instant she herself became an eagle pied,
black and white and, spreading her wings,
leaped into the air.
For a while the two eagles circled around and
around ; but at last they dashed against one an-
other, and, grappling with their talons, tumbled
over and over until they struck the ground close
to the two who stood looking.
Then the prince snatched the knife from the
ground and ran to where they lay struggling.
" Which was I to kill ?" said he to the old man.
" Are they not birds of a feather ?" cried the
foster-father. " Kill them both, for then only shall
we all be safe."
The prince needed no second telling to see the
wisdom of what the old man said. In an instant
he struck off the heads of both the eagles, and
thus put an end to both sorceresses, the lesser as
well as the greater. They buried both of the
430
eagles in the garden without telling any one of
what had happened. So soon as that was done
the old man bade the prince tell him all that
had befallen him, and the prince did so.
" Aye ! aye !" said the old man, " I see it all
as clear as day. The black dogs are the young
men who have supped with the queen ; the statue
is the good princess; and the basin of water is the
water of life, which has the power of taking away
magic. Come ; let us make haste to bring help
to all those poor unfortunates who have been ly-
ing under the queen's spells."
The prince needed no urging to do that. They
hurried to the palace; they crossed the garden
to the stone wall. There they found the stone
upon which the prince had set the black cross.
He pressed his hand upon it, and it opened to
him like a door. They descended the steps, and
went through the passageway, until they came
out upon the sea-shore. The black dogs came
leaping towards them ; but this time it was to fawn
upon them, and to lick their hands and faces.
The prince turned the great stone mill till the
brazen boat came flying towards the shore. They
entered it, and so crossed the water and came to
the other side. They did not tarry in the gar-
den, but went straight to the snow-white palace
and to the great vaulted chamber where was the
43*
statue. " Yes," said the old man, " it is the young-
est princess, sure enough."
The prince said nothing, but he dipped up
some of the water in his palm and dashed it upon
the statue. " If you are the princess, take your
true shape again," said he. Before the words had
left his lips the statue became flesh and blood,
and the princess stepped down from where she
stood, and the prince thought that he had never
seen any one so beautiful as she. " You have
brought me back to life," said she, " and what-
ever I shall have shall be yours as well as mine."
Then they all set their faces homeward again,
and the prince took with him a cupful of the
water of life.
When they reached the farther shore the black
dogs came running to meet them. The prince
sprinkled the water he carried upon them, and
as soon as it touched them that instant they were
black dogs no longer, but the tall, noble young
men that the sorceress queen had bewitched.
There, as the old man had hoped, he found his
own three sons, and kissed them with the tears
running down his face.
But when the people of that land learned that
their youngest princess, and the one whom they
loved, had come back again, and that the two sor-
ceresses would trouble them no longer, they
432
shouted and shouted for joy. All the town was
hung with flags and illuminated, the fountains
ran with wine, and nothing was heard but sounds
of rejoicing. In the midst of it all the prince
married the princess, and so became the king of
that country.
And now to go back again to the beginning.
After the youngest prince had been driven
away from home, and the old king had divided
the kingdom betwixt the other two, things went
for a while smoothly and joyfully. But by little
and little the king was put to one side until he
became as nothing in his own land. At last hot
words passed between the father and the two
sons, and the end of the matter was that the king
was driven from the land to shift for himself.
Now, after the youngest prince had married
and had become king of that other land, he be-
thought himself of his father and his mother, and
longed to see them again. So he set forth and
travelled towards his old home. In his journey,
ing he came to a lonely house at the edge of a
great forest, and there night came upon him.
He sent one of the many of those who rode with
him to ask whether he could not find lodging
there for the time, and who should answer the
summons but the king, his father, dressed in the
434
J
coarse clothing of a forester. The old king did
not know his own son in the kingly young king
who sat upon his snow-white horse. He bade the
visitor to enter, and he and the old queen served
their son and bowed before him.
The next morning the young king rode back
to his own land, and then sent attendants with
horses and splendid clothes, and bade them bring
his father and mother to his own home.
He had a noble feast set for them, with every-
thing befitting the entertainment of a king, but
435
he ordered that not a grain of salt should sea-
son it.
So the father and the mother sat down to the
feast with their son and his queen, but all the
time they did not know him. The old king
tasted the food and tasted the food, but he could
not eat of it.
" Do you not feel hungry ?" said the young
king.
"Alas," said his father," I crave your majesty's
pardon, but there is no salt in the food."
"And so is life lacking of savor without love,"
said the young king ; " and yet because I loved
you as salt you disowned me and cast me out
into the world."
Therewith he could contain himself no longer,
but with the tears running down his cheeks
kissed his father and his mother ; and they knew
him, and kissed him again.
Afterwards the young king went with a great
army into the country of his elder brothers, and,
overcoming them, set his father upon his throne
again. If ever the two got back their crowns
you may be sure that they wore them more mod-
estly than they did the first time.
i rtfc. NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBBAHY
CALCULATION DEPARTMENT
ST. GABfllEi'S PARK BflAHCM 303 EAST 36tb 8T,
SO the Fisherman who had one time unbottled
the Genie whom Solomon rhe Wise had stoppered
up concluded his story, and all of the good folk
who w&re there began clapping their shadowy
hands.
''"Aye, aye," said old Bidpai, ""there is much
truth in what you say, for it is verily so that that
which men call love is the*aitof- *
His voice had been fading away thinner ana
thinner and smaller and smaller now it was like
the shadow of a voice; now it trembled and quiv-
ered out into silence and was gone.
And with the voice of old Bidpai the pleasant
Land of Twilight was also gone. As a breath
fades away from a mirror, so had it faded and
vanished into nothingness.
I opened my eyes.
There was a yellow light it came from the
evening lamp. There were people of flesh and
437
blood around my own dear people and they were
talking together. There was the library with the
rows of books looking silently out from their shelves.
There was the Jire of hickory logs crackling and
snapping in the fireplace, and throwing a waver-
ing, yellow light on the wall.
Had I been asleep ? No; I had been in Twi-
light Land.
And now the pleasant Twilight Land had gone.
It had faded out, and I was back again in the
work-a-day world.
There I was sitting in my chair; and, what was
more, it was time for the children to go to bed.
THE END
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY 1
CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
ATNAN STMVS BftACN itf UflT SB
