[Illustration: MERCURY GOD OF MERCHANDISE LOOK ON WITH FAVOURABLEEYES]

[Illustration:

THE FIELD OF CLOVER

By Laurence Housman

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. , NEW YORK

ENGRAVED BY CLEMENCE HOUSMAN

BE KINDLY TO THE WEARY DROVER & PIPE THE SHEEP INTO THE CLOVER]

This Dover edition, first published in 1968, is an unabridged andunaltered republication of the work originally published by KeganPaul, Trench, Trübner & Co. In 1898. 

_Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 68-30802_

Manufactured in the United States of AmericaDover Publications, Inc. 180 Varick StreetNew York, N. Y. 10014

Contents

 THE BOUND PRINCESS (_in six parts_) PAGE I THE FIRE-EATERS 3 II THE GALLOPING PLOUGH 13 III THE THIRSTY WELL 23 IV THE PRINCESS MELILOT 33 V THE BURNING ROSE 45 VI THE CAMPHOR WORM 57 THE CROWN'S WARRANTY 69 THE WISHING-POT 81 THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS 111 THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS 119

TO MY DEAR WOOD-ENGRAVER

THE BOUND PRINCESS

[Illustration]

THE BOUND PRINCESS

I

THE FIRE-EATERS

A long time ago there lived a man who had the biggest head in theworld. Into it he had crammed all the knowledge that might be gatheredfrom the four corners of the earth. Every one said he was the wisestman living. "If I could only find a wife, " said the sage, "as wise fora woman as I am for a man, what a race of head-pieces we could bringinto the world!"

He waited many years before any such mate could be found for him:yet, at last, found she was--one into whose head was bestowed all thewisdom that might be gathered from the four quarters of heaven. 

They were both old, but kings came from all sides to their wedding, and offered themselves as god-parents to the first-born of the newrace that was to be. But, to the grief of his parents, the child, whenhe arrived, proved to be a simpleton; and no second child ever came torepair the mistake of the first. 

That he was a simpleton was evident; his head was small and hislimbs were large, and he could run long before he could talk or doarithmetic. In the bitterness of their hearts his father and mothernamed him Noodle, without the aid of any royal god-parents; and fromthat moment, for any care they took in his bringing-up, they washedtheir wise hands of him. 

Noodle grew and prospered, and enjoyed life in his own foolish way. When his father and mother died within a short time of each other, they left him alone without any friend in the world. 

For a good while Noodle lived on just what he could find in the house, in a hand-to-mouth sort of way, till at last only the furniture andthe four bare walls were left to him. 

One cold winter's night he sat brooding over the fire, wondering wherehe should get food for the morrow, when he heard feet coming up to thedoor, and a knock striking low down upon the panel. Outside there wasa faint chirping and crackling sound, and a whispering as of firelicking against the woodwork without. 

He opened the door and peered forth into the night. There, just beforehim, stood seven little men huddled up together; three feet high theywere, with bright yellow faces all shrivelled and sharp, and eyeswhose light leaped and sank like candle flame before a gust. 

When they saw him, they shut their eyes and opened famished mouths athim, pointing inwards with flickering finger-tips, and shivering fromhead to foot with cold, although it seemed to the youth as if thewarmth of a slow fire came from them. 'Alas!' said Noodle, in reply tothese signs of hunger, 'I have not left even a crust of bread in thehouse to give you! But at least come in and make yourselves warm!' Hetouched the foremost, making signs for them all to enter. 'Ah, ' hecried, 'what is this, and what are you, that the mere touch of youburns my finger?'

Without answer they huddled tremblingly across the threshold; butso soon as they saw the fire burning on the hearth, they yelped alltogether like a pack of hounds, and, throwing themselves face forwardsinto the hot embers, began ravenously to lap up the flames. Theylapped and lapped, and the more they lapped the more the fire sankaway and died. Then with their flickering finger-tips they stirredthe hot logs and coals, burrowing after the thin tapes and swirls ofvanishing flame, and fetching them out like small blue eels stillwriggling for escape. 

After each blue wisp had been gulped down, they sipped and sucked attheir fingers for any least tricklet of flavour that might be left;and at the last seemed more famished than when they began. 

'More, more, O wise Noodle, give us more!' they cried; and Noodlethrew the last of his fuel on the embers. 

They breathed round it, fanning it into a great blaze that leaped anddanced up to the rafters; then they fell on, till not a fleck or aflake of it was left. Noodle, seeing them still famished, broke upa stool and threw that on the hearth. And again they flared it withtheir breath and gobbled off the flame. When the stool was finished hethrew in the table, then the dresser, and after that the oak-chest andthe window-seat. 

Still they feasted and were not fed. Noodle fetched an axe, and brokedown the door; then he wrenched up the boards from the floor, andpulled the beams and rafters out of the ceiling; yet, even so, hisguests were not to be satisfied. 

'I have nothing left, ' he said, 'but the house itself; but since youare still hungry you shall be welcome to it!'

He scattered the fire that remained upon the hearth, and threw it outand about the room; and as he ran forth to escape, up against allthe walls and right through the roof rose a great crackling sheaf offlame. In the midst of the fire, Noodle could see his seven guestslying along on their bellies, slopping their hands in the heat, andlapping up the flames with their tongues. 'Surely, ' he thought, 'Ihave given them enough to eat at last!'

After a while all the fire was eaten away, and only the black andsmouldering ruins were left. Day came coldly to light, and there satNoodle, without a home in the world, watching with considerate eye hisseven guests finishing their inordinate repast. 

They all rose to their feet together, and came towards him bowing; asthey approached he felt the heat of their bodies as it had been sevenfurnaces. 

'Enough, O wise Noodle!' said they, 'we have had enough!' 'That, 'answered Noodle, 'is the least thing left me to wonder at. Go yourways in peace; but first tell me, who are you?' They replied, 'We arethe Fire-eaters: far from our own land, and strangers, you have doneus this service; what, now, can we do to serve you?' 'Put me in theway of a living, ' said Noodle, 'and you will do me the greatestservice of all. '

Then the one of them who seemed to be chief took from his finger aring having for its centre a great firestone, and threw it into thesnow, saying, 'Wait for three hours till the ring shall have had timeto cool, then take it, and wear it; and whatever fortune you deserveit shall bring you. For this ring is the sweetener of everything thatit touches: bread it turns into rich meats, water into strong wine, grief into virtue, and labour into strength. Also, if you ever needour help, you have but to brandish the ring, and the gleam of it willreach us, and we will be with you wherever you may be. '

With that they bowed their top-knots to the ground and departed, inverting themselves swiftly till only the shining print of sevenpairs of feet remained, red-hot, over the place where they had beenstanding. 

Noodle waited for three hours; then he took up the firestone ring, andputting it on his finger set out into the world. 

At the first door he came to, he begged a crust of bread, and touchingit with the ring found it tasted like rich meats, well cooked anddelicately flavoured. Also, the water which he drew in the hollow ofhis hand from a brook by the roadside tasted to him like strong wine. 

[Illustration]

II

THE GALLOPING PLOUGH

Noodle went on many miles till he came near to a rich man's farm. Though it was the middle of winter, all the fields showed crops ofcorn in progress; here it was in thin blade, and here green, but infull ear; and here it was ripe and ready for harvest. 'How is this, 'he said to the first man he met, 'that you have corn here in themiddle of winter?' 'Ah!' said the man, 'you have not heard of theGalloping Plough; you too have to fall under bondage to my master. ''What is your master?' inquired Noodle, 'and in what bondage does hebind man?'

'My master, and your master that shall soon be, ' answered the old man, 'is the owner of all this land and the farmer of it. He is rich andsleek and fat like his own furrows, for he has the Galloping Plough ashis possession. Ah, that! 't is a very miracle, a wonder, a thing tocatch at the heartstrings of all beholders; it shines like a moonbeam, and is better than an Arab mare for swiftness; it warms the veryground that it enters, so that seeds take root and spring, though itbe the middle of winter. No man sees it but what he loses his heart toit, and sells his freedom for the possession of it. All here are menlike myself who have become slaves because of that desire. You also, when you see it, will become slave to it. '

Noodle went on through the summer and the spring corn, till he cameto bare fields. Ahead of him on a hill-top he saw the farmer himself, sleek and rosy, and of full paunch, lolling like a lord at his ease;yet with a working eye in the midst of his leisure. 

To and fro, up to him and back, shot a silver gleam over the purplebrown of the fields; and Noodle's heart gave a thump at the sight, forthe spell of the Galloping Plough was on him. 

Now and then he heard a clear sound that startled him with its note. It was like the sweet whistling cry of a bird many times multiplied. Ever when the silver gleam of the Plough had run its farthest from thefarmer, the cry sounded; and at the sound the gleam wavered and stayedand flew back dartingly to the farmer's side. So Noodle understood howthis was the farmer's signal for the Plough to return; and the Ploughknew it as a horse its master's voice, and came so fast that the windwhistled against its silver side. 

As he watched, Noodle's heart went down into the valley and up thehillside, following in the track of the Galloping Plough. 'I can neverbe happy again, ' thought he; 'either I must possess it, or must die. '

He came to the farmer where he sat calling his Plough to him andletting it go; and the farmer smiled, the wide indulgent smile of aman who knows that a bargain is about to fall his way. 

'What is the price, ' asked Noodle, 'of yonder Galloping Plough, thatruns like an Arab mare, and returns to you at your call?'

Said the farmer, 'A year's service; and if the Plough will follow you, it is yours; if not, then you must be my bondman until you die!'

Noodle looked once the way of the Galloping Plough, and his heartflapped at his side like a sail which the wind drops and lets go; andhe had no thought or will left in him but to be where the GallopingPlough was. So he closed hands on the bargain, to be the farmer'sservant either for a year, or for his whole life. 

For a year he worked upon the farm, and all the while plotted how hemight win the Galloping Plough to himself. The farmer kept no watchupon it, nor put it under lock and key, for the Plough recognised novoice but his own, nor went nor came save at his bidding. In the nightNoodle would go down to the shed or field where it lay, and whistle toit, trying to put forth notes of the same magical power as those whichcame through the farmer's lips. 

But no sound that came from his lips ever stroked life into its silversides. The year was nearly run out, and Noodle was in despair. 

Then he remembered the firestone ring, the Sweetener. 'May be, ' saidhe, 'since it changes to sweetness whatever I eat and drink, it willsweeten my voice also, so that the Plough will obey. ' So he put thering between his lips and whistled; and at the sound his heart turneda somersault for joy, for he felt that out of his mouth the farmer'smagic had been over-topped and conquered. 

The Galloping Plough stirred faintly from the furrow where it lay, breaking the ground and marring its smooth course. Then it shook itshead slowly, and returned impassively to rest. 

In the morning the farmer came and saw the broken earth close underthe Plough's nose. Noodle, hiding among the corn hard by, heard himsay, 'What hast thou heard in the night, O my moonbeam, my miracle, that thy lily-foot has trodden up the ground? Hast thou forgottenwhose hand feeds thee, whose corn it is thou lovest, whose heart'scare also cherishes thee?'

The farmer went away, and presently came back bearing a bowl of corn;and Noodle saw the Plough lift its head to its master's palm, and feedlike a horse on the grain. 

Then Noodle, gay of heart, waited till it was night, and surely histime was short, for on the morrow his wages were to be paid, and thePlough was to be his, or else he was to be the farmer's bondservantfor the rest of his life. He took with him three handfuls of corn, andwent down to where the Plough stood waiting by the furrow. Shaping hislips to the ring, he whistled gently like a lover, and immediately thePlough stirred, and lifted up its head as if to look at him. 

'O my moonbeam, my miracle, ' whispered Noodle, 'wilt thou not come tothe one that feeds thee?' and he held out a handful of corn. But thePlough gave no regard to him or his grain: slowly it moved away fromhim back into the furrow. 

Then Noodle laughed softly and dropped his ring, the Sweetener, intothe hand that held the grain; and barely had he offered the cornbefore he felt the silver Plough nozzling at his palm, and eating as ahorse eats from the hand of its master. 

Then he whistled again, placing the Sweetener back between his lips;and the Galloping Plough sprang after him, and followed at his heelslike a dog. 

So, finding himself its master, he bid it stay for the night; and inthe morning he said to the farmer, 'Give me my wages, and let me go!'And the farmer laughed, saying, 'Take your wages, and go!'

Then Noodle took off his ring, the Sweetener, and laid it between hislips and blew through it; and up like a moonbeam, and like an Arabmare, sprang the Galloping Plough at his call. So he leaped upon itsback, crying, 'Carry me away out of this land, O thou moonbeam, andmiracle of beauty, and never slacken nor stay except I bid thee!'

Vainly the farmer, borne down on a torrent of rage and amazement, whistled his best, and threw corn and rice from the rear; for thewhistling of Noodle was sweeter to the ear, and his corn sweeter tothe taste, and he nearer to the heart of the Galloping Plough than wasthe old master whom it left behind. 

[Illustration]

III

THE THIRSTY WELL

So they escaped, slitting the swift hours with ungovernable speed. Thefurrow they two made in the world that day, as they went shooting overthe round of it, was called in after times the Equator, and men stillknow it by the heat of it, though it has since been covered over bythe dust of ages. 

To Noodle, as he went careering round it, the whole world's circuitran in a line across his brain, entering his vision and passingthrough it as a thread through the needle's eye. Nor would he of hisown will ever have stopped his galloping, but that at the completionof the first round a mighty thirst took hold of him. 'O my moonbeam, 'he said, choking behind parched lips, and sick at heart, 'check me, or I faint!' And the Galloping Plough stopped at once, and set him toearth in a green space under the shadow of overhanging boughs. 

He found himself in a richly grown garden, a cool paradise for atraveller to rest in. Close at hand and inviting to the eye was a wellwith a bucket slung ready to be let down. Noodle had little thought ofseeking for the owner of the garden to beg for a drink, since water isan equal gift to all and the right of any man; but as he drew near hefound the means to it withheld from him, the lid being fast locked. Hewent on in search of the owner, till at length he came upon the samelying half asleep under a thorn-bush with the key in her hand. She wasan old woman, so withered and dry, she looked as if no water couldhave ever passed her lips. 

When Noodle asked for a drink from the well, she looked at him brightand sharp, and said: 'Before any man drinks of my water he must make abargain with me. ' 'What is the bargain?' asked Noodle; and she led himdown to the well. 

Then she unlocked the lid and bade him look in; and at the sightNoodle knew for a second time that his heart had been stolen from him, and that to be happy he must taste that water or die. 

Again he asked, with his eyes intent upon the blue wrimpling of thewater in the well's depth, 'What is the bargain?' And the old womananswered, 'If you fail to draw water out of the well you must flingyourself into it. ' For answer Noodle swung down the bucket, loweringit as fast as it would go; then he set both hands to the windlass andwound. 

He heard the water splashing off the sides of the bucket all the wayup, as the shortening rope brought it near; but when he drew it overthe well's brink wonder and grief held him fast, for the bucket was asempty as vanity. From behind him came a noise of laughter, and therewas the old witch running round and round in a circle; and everywherea hedge of thorns came shooting up to enclose him and keep him fastfor her. 

'What a trap I am in!' thought Noodle; but once more he lowered thebucket, and once more it returned to him empty. 

The old woman climbed up into the thorn-hedge, and sat on its top, singing:

 'Overground, underground, round-about spell; The Thirsty has come to the Thirsty Well!'

Again Noodle let down the bucket; and this time as he drew it up helooked over into the well's heart, and saw all the way up the side ahundred blue arms reaching out crystal scallops and drawing waterout of the bucket as hard as they could go. He saw thick lips likesea-anemones thrust out between the crevices of the wall, sucking thecrystals dry as fast as they were filled. 'Truly, ' he said to himself, 'this is a thirsty well, but myself am thirstier!'

When he had drawn up the bucket empty for the third time, he stoodconsidering; and at last he fastened to it the firestone ring, theSweetener, and lowered it once more. Then he laughed to himself as hedrew up, and felt the bucket lightening at every turn till it touchedthe surface of things. 

Empty he found it, with only his firestone hanging by the rim, andonce again he let it down to be refilled. But this time as he woundup, nothing could keep him from letting a curious eye go over thebrink, to see how the Well-folk fared over their wine; and in what hebeheld there was already comfort for his soul. 

The blue arms went like oars out of unison; like carpet-beatersstricken in the eyes and throat with dust, they beat foolishly againstthe sides and bottom of the bucket, shattering and letting fall theirgoblets in each unruly attempt. And because Noodle wound leniently atthe rope, willing that they should have their fill, at the last gaspthey were able to send the bucket empty to the top. It was the laststaving off of destiny that lay in their power to make; thereafterwine conquered them. 

Quickly Noodle drew out the ring, and sent the bucket flying on itslast errand. It smacked the water, heeled over, and dipped under afull draught. Then Noodle spun the windlass with the full pinch of hisenergies, calling on the bucket to ascend. He heard the water spillingfrom its sides, and knew that the blue arms were there, battling toarrest it as it flew, and to pay him back once more with emptiness andmockery. Yet in spite of them the bucket hasted and lightened not, butwas drawn up to the well's head brimming largely, and winking a blueeye joyously to the light of day. 

Over head and ears Noodle plunged for the quenching of his thirst, norstayed nor drew back till his head had smitten upon the bottom of thebucket in his pursuit of the draught. Then it was apparent that onlya third of the water remained, the rest having obeyed the imperativesuction of his throat, and that the thirsty well had at last found amaster under the eye of heaven. 

In the depth of the bucket the water flashed like a burning sapphireand swung circling, curling and coiling, tossing this way and that, as if struggling to get out. At last with a laugh it threw down thebucket, and tore back into the well with a crash like thunder. 

Up from the well rose a chant of voices:

 'Under Heaven, over Hell, You have broken the spell, You are lord of the Well. '

Noodle stepped over the brink of his new realm, calling the Well-folkto reach hands for him and bear him down. All round, the blue armsstarted out, catching him and handing him on from one to anotherladderwise, down, and down, and down. As he went, anemone lips cameout of the crannies in the wall, and kissed his feet and hands intoken of allegiance. 'You are lord of the well!' they said, as theypassed him each one to the next. 

He came to the bottom of the well; under his feet, wherever he steppedupon its waters, hands came up and sustained him. The knowledge ofeverything that was there had become his. 'Give me, ' he said, 'thecrystal cup that is for him who holds kingship over you; so shall I belord of you in all places wherever I go. '

A blue arm reached down and drew up from the water a small crystal, that burned through the darkness with a blue fire, and gave it toNoodle. 'Now I am your king, however far from you!' said Noodle. Andthey answered, chanting:

 'Under Heaven, over Hell, You have broken the spell, You are lord of the Well. '

'Lift me up!' said he; and the blue arms caught him and lifted him up;from one to another they passed him in ascending circles, till he cameto the mouth of the well. 

There overhead was the old witch, crouching and looking in to knowwhat had become of him; and her hair hung far down over her eyes intothe well. He caught her to him by it over the brink. 'Old witch, ' hesaid, 'you must change places with me now!' and he tossed her down tothe bottom of the well. 

She went like a falling shuttlecock, shrieking as she fell; and as shestruck the water, the drowned bodies of the men she had sent therecame to the surface, and caught her by the feet and hair, and drew herdown, making an end of her, as she also had made of them. 

[Illustration]

IV

THE PRINCESS MELILOT

When Noodle, carrying the crystal with him, set foot once more upondry land, straightway he was again upon the back of the GallopingPlough, with the world flying away under him. But now weariness cameover him, and his head weighed this way and that, so that earth andsky mixed themselves before his gaze, and he was so drugged withsleep that he had no wits to bid the Plough slacken from its speed. Therefore it happened that as they passed a wood, a hanging boughcaught him, and brushed him like a feather from his place, landing himon a green bosom of grass, where he slept the sleep of the weary, norever lifted his head to see the Plough fast disappearing over hill andvalley and plain, out of sound of his voice or sight of his eye. 

When Noodle awoke and found that the Plough was gone, he was bitteragainst himself for his folly. 'So poor a use to make of so noblea steed!' he cried; 'no wonder it has gone from me to seek for aworthier master! If by good fortune I find it again, needs must I dogreat things by its aid to be worthy of its service. ' So he set out, following the furrow of its course, determined, however far he mustseek, to journey on till he found it. 

For a whole year he travelled, till at length he came, footsore andweary, to a deserted palace standing in the midst of an overgrowngarden. The great gates, which lay wide open, were overrun withcreepers, and the paths were green with weeds. That morning he hadthought that he saw far away on the hills the gleam of his silverPlough, and now hope rose high, for he could see by its track thatthe Plough had passed before him into the garden of the palace. 'O mymoonbeam, ' he thought, 'is it here I shall find you at last?'

Within the garden there was a sound of cross questions and crookedanswers, of many talking with loud voices, and of one weeping apartfrom the rest. When he got quite close, he was struck still with awe, and joy, and wonder. For first there lay the Galloping Plough in themiddle of a green lawn, and round it a score of serving-men, tuggingat it and trying to make it move on. Near by stood an old woman, wringing her hands and begging them to leave it alone: 'For, ' criedshe, 'if the Plough touches but the feet of the Princess, she will beuprooted, and will presently wither away and die. Of what use is it tobreak one, if the other enchantments cannot be broken?'

In the centre of the lawn grew a bower of roses, and beneath the bowerstood the loveliest princess that ever eye beheld; but she stood theremotionless, and without sign of life. She seemed neither to hear, norsee, nor breathe; her feet were rooted to the ground; though theyseemed only to rest lightly under her weight upon the grass, no man, nor a hundred men, could stir her from where she stood. And, as thespell that held her fast bound to the spot, even so was the spell thatsealed her senses, --no man might lift it from her. When Noodle seteyes upon her he knew that for the third time his heart had beenstolen from him, and that to be happy he must possess her, or die. 

He ran quickly to the old woman, who, unregarded by the serving-men, stood weeping and wringing her hands. 'Tell me, said Noodle, 'who isthis sleeper who stands enchanted and rooted like a flower to earth?And who are you, and these others who work and cry at cross purposes?'

The old woman cried from a wide mouth: 'It is my mistress, thehoney-jewel of my heart, whom you see here so grievously enchanted. All the gifts of the fairies at her christening did not prevent whatwas foretold of her at her birth. In her seventeenth year, as you seeher now, so it was told of her that she should be. '

'Does she live?' asked Noodle; 'is she asleep? She is not dead; whenwill she wake? Tell me, old woman, her history, and how this fate hascome upon her. '

'She was the daughter of the king of this country by his first wife, 'said the old woman, 'and heir to the throne after his death; but whenher mother died the king married again, and the three daughters he hadby his second wife were jealous of the beauty, and charm, and goodnesswhich raised their sister so high above them in the estimation of allmen. So they asked their mother to teach them a spell that should robMelilot of her charms, and make them useless in the eyes of men. Andtheir mother, who was wise in such arts, taught to each of them aspell, so that together they might work their will. 

'One day they came running to Melilot, and said, "Come and play withus a new game that our mother has taught us!" Then they began turningthemselves into flowers. "I will be a hollyhock!" said one. "And Iwill be a columbine!" said another; and saying the spell over eachother they became each the flower they had named. 

'Then they unloosed the spells, and became themselves again. "Oh, itis so nice to be a flower!" they cried, laughing and clapping theirhands. But Melilot knew no spell. 

'At last, seeing how her sisters turned into flowers, and came backsafe again, "I will be a rose!" she cried; "turn me into a rose andout again!"

'Then her three sisters joined their tongues together, and finished thespell over her. And so soon as she had become a rose-tree, the threesisters turned into three moles, and went down under the earth andgnawed at the roots. 

'Then they came up, and took their own forms again, and sang, --

 '"Sister, sister, here you are now, Till the ploughman come with the Galloping Plough!"

'Then they turned into bees, and sucked out the honey from the roses, and coming to themselves again they sang, --

 '"Sister, here you must doze and doze, Till they bring you a flower of the Burning Rose!"

'Then they shook the dewdrops out of her eyes, crying, --

 "Sister, your brain lies under our spell, Till water be brought from the Thirsty Well!"

'Then they took the top blossom of all, and broke it to pieces, andthrew the petals away as they cried, --

 "Sister, your life goes down for a term, Till they bring you breath from the Camphor-Worm!"

'And when they had done all this, they turned her back into her trueshape, and left her standing even as you see her now, without warmth, or sight, or memory, or motion, dead saving for her beauty, that neverchanges or dies. And here she must stand till the spells which havebeen fastened upon her have been unloosed. No long time after, the wickedness of the three sisters and of their cruel mother wasdiscovered to the king, and they were all put to death for the crime. Yet the ill they had done remained; and the king's grief became sogreat to see his loved daughter standing dead before him that heremoved with his court to another place, and left this palace to thecare of only a few serving-men, and myself to keep watch and guardover the Princess. 

'So now four-fold is the spell that holds her, and to break thelightest of them the water of the Thirsty Well is needed; with two ofits drops laid upon her eyes memory will come back to her, and hermind will remember of the things of the past. And for the breakingof the second spell is needed a blossom of the Burning Rose, and theplucking of that no man's hand can achieve; but when the Rose is laidupon her breast, her heart will belong to the world once more, andwill beat again under her bosom. And for the breaking of the thirdspell one must bring the breath of the Camphor-Worm that has lain fora whole year inside its body, and breathe it between her lips; thenshe will breathe again, and all her five senses will return to her. And for the last spell only the Galloping Plough can uproot her backto life, and free her feet for the ways of earth. Now, here we havethe Galloping Plough with no man who can guide it, and what aid can itbe? If these fools should be able to make it so much as but touch thefeet of my dear mistress, she will be mown down like grass, and diepresently for lack of earth; for only the three other charms I havetold you of can put whole life back into her. '

'As for the mastery of the Plough, ' said Noodle, 'I will fetch thatfrom them in a breath. See, in a moment, how marvellous will be theuplifting of their eyes!' He put to his lips the firestone ring--theSweetener--and blew but one note through it. Then in a moment thecrowd divided hither and thither, with cries of wonder and alarm, forthe Plough turned and bounded back to its master quickly, as an Arabmare at the call of her owner. 

The old woman, weeping for gladness, cried: 'Thou art master of thePlough! Art thou master of all the other things as well?'

He said: 'Of one thing only. Tell me of the Burning Rose and theCamphor-Worm; what and where are they? For I am the master of the endsof the earth by reason of the speed with which this carries me; and Iam lord of the Thirsty Well, and have the Fire-eaters for my friends. '

The old woman clapped her hands, and blessed him for his youth, andhis wisdom, and his courage. 'First, ' she said, 'restore to thePrincess her memory by means of the water of the Thirsty Well; then Iwill show you the way to the Burning Rose, for the easier thing mustbe done first. '

Then Noodle drew out the crystal and breathed in it, calling on theWell-folk for the two drops of water to lay on Princess Melilot'seyes. Immediately in the bottom of the cup appeared two blue dropsof water, that came climbing up the sides of the glass and stoodtrembling together on the brim. And Noodle, touching them with thefirestone ring to make the memory of things sweet to her, bent backthe Princess's face, and let them fall under her closed lids. 

'Look!' cried the faithful nurse, 'light trembles within those eyes ofhers! In there she begins to remember things; but as yet she sees andhears nothing. Now it is for you to be swift and fetch her the blossomof the Burning Rose. Be wise, and you shall not fail!'

[Illustration]

V

THE BURNING ROSE

She told him how he was to go, across the desert southward, till hefound a giant, longer in length than a day's journey, lying asleepupon the sand. Over his head, it was told, hung a cloud, covering himfrom the heat and resting itself against his brows; within the cloudwas a dream, and within the dream grew the garden of the BurningRose. Than this she knew no more, nor by what means Noodle might gainentrance and become possessor of the Rose. 

Noodle waited for no more; he mounted upon the Galloping Plough, andpressed away over the desert to the south. For three days he travelledthrough parched places, refreshing himself by the way with the waterof the Thirsty Well, calling on the Well-folk for the replenishment ofhis crystal, and turning the draught to wine by the sweetness of hismagic ring. 

At length he saw a cloud rising to him from a distance; like a greatopal it hung motionless between earth and heaven. Coming nearer he sawthe giant himself stretched out for a day's journey across the sand. His head lay under the colours of the dawn, and his feet were coveredwith the dusk of evening, and over his middle shone the noonday sun. 

Under the giant's shadow Noodle stopped, and gazed up into the cloud;through the outer covering of its mists he saw what seemed to be ballsof fire, and knew that within lay the dream and the garden of theBurning Rose. 

The giant laughed and muttered in his sleep, for the dream was sweetto him. 'O Rose, ' he said, 'O sweet Rose, what end is there ofthy sweetness? How innumerable is the dance of the Roses of myRose-garden!'

Noodle caught hold of the ropes of the giant's hair, and climbed tillhe sat within the hollow of his right ear. Then he put to his lips thering, the Sweetener, and sang till the giant heard him in his sleep;and the sweet singing mixed itself with the sweetness of the Rose inthe giant's brain, and he muttered to himself, saying: 'O bee, O sweetbee, O bee in my brain, what honey wilt thou fetch for me out of theRoses of my Rose-garden?'

So, more and more, Noodle sweetened himself to the giant, till thegiant passed him into his brain, and into the heart of the dream, eveninto the garden of the Burning Rose. 

Far down below the folds of the cloud, Noodle remembered that theGalloping Plough lay waiting a call from him. 'When I have stolen theRose, ' thought he, 'I may need swift heels for my flight. ' And he putthe Sweetener to his lips and whistled the Plough up to him. 

It came, cleaving the encirclement of clouds like a silver gleam ofmoonlight, and for a moment, where they parted, Noodle saw a rift ofblue sky, and the light of the outer world clear through their midst. 

The giant turned uneasily in his sleep, and the garden of the BurningRose rocked to its foundations as the edge of things real pierced intoit. 

'While I stay here there is danger, ' thought Noodle. 'Surely I mustmake haste to possess myself of the Rose and to escape!'

All round him was a garden set thick with rose-trees in myriads ofblossom, rose behind rose as far as the eye could reach, and thefragrance of them lay like a heavy curtain of sleep upon the senses. Noodle, beginning to feel drowsy, stretched out his hand in haste tothe nearest flower, lest in a little while he should be no more than apart of the giant's dream. 'O beloved Heart of Melilot!' he cried, andcrushed his fingers upon the stem. 

The whole bough crackled and sprang away at his touch; the Rose turnedupon him, screaming and spouting fire; a noise like thunder filled allthe air. Every rose in the garden turned and spat flame at where hestood. His face and his hands became blistered with the heat. 

Leaping upon the back of his Plough, he cried, 'Carry me to theborders of the garden where there are open spaces! The price of thePrincess is upon my head!'

The Plough bounded this way and that, searching for some outlet bywhich to escape. It flew in spirals and circles, it leaped like aflea, it burrowed like a mole, it ploughed up the rose-trees by theroots. But so soon as it had passed they stood up unharmed again, andto whatever point of refuge the Plough fled, that way they all turnedtheir heads and darted out vomitings of fire. 

In vain did Noodle summon the Well-folk to his aid; his crystal shotforth fountains of water that turned into steam as they rose, and fellback again, scalding him. 

Then with two deaths threatening to devour him, he brandished thering, calling upon the Fire-eaters for their aid. 

They laughed as they came. 'Here is food for you!' he cried. 'Multiplyyour appetites about me, or I shall be consumed in these flames!'

'Brandish again!' cried they--the same seven whom he had fed. 'We arenot enough; this fire is not quenchable. '

Noodle brandished till the whole garden swarmed with their kind. Onefastened himself upon every rose, a gulf opposing itself to a torrent. All sight of the conflagration disappeared; but within there went aroaring sound, and the bodies of the Fire-eaters crackled, growinglarge and luminous the while. 

'Do your will quickly and begone!' cried the Fire-eaters. 'Even now weswell to bursting with the pumping in of these fires!'

Noodle seized on a rose to which one hung, sucking out its heats. Hetugged, but the strong fibres held. Then he locked himself to the backof the Plough, crying to it and caressing its speed with all namesunder heaven, and beseeching it in the name of Melilot to break free. And the Plough giving but one plunge, the Rose came away into Noodle'shand, panting and a prisoner. All blushing it grew and radiant, with asoft inner glow, and an odour of incomparable sweetness. He seemed tosee the heart of Melilot beating before him. 

But now there came a blast of fire behind him, for the Fire-eaters haddisappeared, and all was whirling and shaken before his eyes; and thePlough sped desperately over earthquake and space. For the pluckingof the Rose had awakened the giant from his sleep; and the dreamshrivelled and spun away in a whirl of flame-coloured vapours. Leapinginto clear day out of the unravelment of its mists, Noodle foundhimself and his Plough launching over an edge of precipice for adownward dive into space. The giant's hair, standing upright from hishead in the wrath and horror of his awakening, made a forest ending inhis forehead that bowered them to right and to left. Quitting it theyslid ungovernably over the bulge of his brow, and went at full spurtfor the abyss. 

Dexterously the Plough steered its descent, catching on the bridge andfurrowing the ridge of the nose; nine leagues were the duration of asecond. 

The giant, thinking some venomous parasite was injuring his flesh, aimed, and a moment too late had thumped his fist upon the place. Butalready the Plough skirting the amazed opening of his mouth was lostin the trammels of his beard. Thence, as it escaped the rummagingof his fingers, it flew scouring his breast, and inflicted a flyingscratch over the regions of his abdomen. Then, still believing it tobe the triumphal procession of a flea, he pursued it to his thigh, andmistaking the shadow for the substance allowed it yet again to escape. At his knee-cap there was but a hair's-breadth between Noodle and theweight of his thumb; but thereafter the Plough out-distanced his everyeffort, and, with Noodle preserved whole and alive, sped fast and far, bearing the Burning Rose to the heart of the beloved Melilot. 

The crone was aware of his coming before she heard him, or saw thegleam of his Plough running beam-like over the land. From her seat bythe Princess's bower she clapped her hands, and springing to his neckere he alighted: 'A long way off, and a long time off, ' she cried, 'Iknew what fortune was with you; for when you plucked off the Rose, and bore it out of the heart of the dream, the scent of it filled theworld; and I felt the sweetness of youth once more in my blood. '

Then she led him to the Princess, and bade him lay the Rose in herbreast, that her heart might be won back into the world. Looking ather face again, Noodle saw how memory had made it more beautiful thanever, and how between her lips had grown the tender parting of asmile. Then he laid the Rose where the movement of the heart shouldbe; and presently under the white breast rose the music of itsbeating. 

'Ah!' cried the old nurse, weeping for happiness, 'now her heart thatloved me is come back, and I can listen all day to the sound of it!You have brought memory to her, you have brought love; now bringbreath, and the awakening of her five senses. Surely the light of hereyes will be your reward!'

[Illustration]

VI

THE CAMPHOR-WORM

'Tell me quickly of the Camphor-Worm, ' cried the youth as he feastedhis eyes on the Princess's loveliness, made more unendurable by theawakening within of love. 'Where and what is it?' 'It is not so far aswas the way to the Burning Rose, ' answered the crone; 'an hour on theback of the Plough shall bring it near to you; but the dangerand difficulty of this quest is more, not less. For to reach theCamphor-Worm you need to be a diver in deep waters, whose weightcrushes a man; and to touch its lips you must master the loathing ofyour nature; and to carry away its breath you must have strength ofwill and endurance beyond what is mortal. ' 'You trouble me with thingsI need not know, ' cried Noodle. 'Tell me, ' he said, 'how I may reachthe Camphor-Worm; and of it and its ways. '

'By this path, and by that, ' said the old woman, pointing him, 'go ontill you come to the thick waters of the Bitter Lake; they are blackerthan night, and their weight is heavier than lead, and in the depthsdwells the Camphor-Worm. Once a year, when the air is sweetest withthe scents of summer, she rises to breathe, lifting her black snoutthrough the surface of the waters. Then she draws fresh air into herlungs, flavoured with leaves and flowers, and after she has breathedit in she lets go the last bubble of the breath she drew from thesummer of the year before; and it is this bubble of breath alone thatwill give back life to the five senses of Princess Melilot. But theWorm's time for rising is far; and how you shall bear the weight inthe depths of those waters, or make the Worm give up the bubble beforeher time, or at last bear back the bubble to lay it on the lips of thePrincess so that she may wake, --these are things I know not the wayof, for to my eyes they seem dark with difficulty and peril. '

Then Noodle, opening the petals of the Burning Rose as it lay upon theheart of Melilot, drew out honey from its centre, filling his handwith the golden crumblings of fragrance; and he leapt upon theGalloping Plough, urging it in the way the Princess's nurse hadpointed out to him. As they went he caressed it with all the namesunder heaven, stroking it with his hand and praising it for thedelicacy of its steering: saying, 'O my moonbeam, if thou wouldst savethe life of thy master, or restore the five senses of the PrincessMelilot, thou must surpass thyself to-day. Listen, thou heaven-sentlimb, thou miracle of quicksilver, and have a long mind to my words;for in a short while I shall have no speech left in me till thething be done, and the deliverance, from head to feet, of my Belovedaccomplished. '

Even while he spoke they came to the edge of the Bitter Lake--a smallpool, but its waters were blacker than night, and heavier than lead tothe eye. Then Noodle leapt down from the Plough, and caressed it forthe last time, saying: 'Set thy face for the garden where the PrincessMelilot is; and when I am come back to thee speechless out of the Lakeand am striding thee once more, then wait not for a word but carry meto her with more speed than thou hast ever mustered to my aid tillnow; go faster than wind or lightning or than the eye of man can see!So, by good fortune, I may live till I reach her lips; but if thoutarry at all I am a dead man. And when thou art come to Melilot setthy share beneath the roots of her feet, and take her up to me out ofthe ground. Do this tenderly, but abate not speed till it be done!'

Then the youth put into his mouth the honey of the Burning Rose, andinto his lips the Sweetener, and stripped himself as a bather to thepool. And the Plough, remembering its master's word, turned and setits face to where lay the garden with Melilot waiting to be relievedof her enchantment. Whereat Noodle, bowing his head, and blessing itwith lips of farewell, turned shortly and slid down into the blacknessof the lake. 

The weight of that water was like a vice upon his limbs, and aroundhis throat, as he swam out into the centre of the pool. As he went hebreathed upon the water, and the scent of the honey of the BurningRose passing through the Sweetener made an incomparable fragrance, gentle, and subtle, and wooing to the senses. 

When he came to the middle of the lake he stayed breathing fullbreaths, till the air deepened with fragrance around him. Presentlyunderneath him he felt the movement of a great thing coming up fromthe bottom of the pool. It touched his feet and came grazing along hisside; and all at once shuddering and horror took hold upon him, forhis whole nature was filled with loathing of its touch. 

Out of the pool's surface before him rose a great black snout, thatopened, showing a round hole. Then he thought of Melilot and herbeauty laid fast under a charm, and drawing a full breath he laid hislips containing the ring, the Sweetener, to the lips of the Worm. 

The Worm began to breathe. As the Worm drank the air out of him, hedrew in more through his nostrils, and more and more, till the greatgills were filled and satisfied. 

Then the Worm let go the last bubble of air which remained from theyear before, and had lain ever since in its body, by which alone lifecould be given back to the five senses of Melilot. Then drawing inits head it lowered itself once more to the bottom of the pool; andNoodle, feeling in his mouth the precious globule of air, fastened hislips upon it and shot out for shore. 

Against the weight of those leaden waters a longing to gasp possessedhim; but he knew that with the least breath the bubble would be lost, and all his labour undone. Not too soon his feet caught hold of thebank, and drew him free to land. He cast himself speechless across theback of the Galloping Plough and clung. 

The Plough gathered itself together and sprang away through space. Remembering its master's word it showed itself a miracle of speed;like lightning became its flight. 

The eye of Noodle grew blind to the passing of things; he could takeno count of the collapsing leagues. More and more grew the amazingnessof the Plough's leaps, things only to be measured by miles, andcounted as joltings on the way; while fast to the back of it clungNoodle, and endured, praying that shortness of breath might notovermaster him, or the check of his lungs give way and burst him tothe emptiness of a drum. His senses rocked and swayed; he felt thegates of his resolve slackening and forcing themselves apart; andstill the Galloping Plough plunged him blindly along through space. 

But now the shrill crying of the crone struck in upon his ears, andhe stretched open his arms for the accomplishment of the deliverance. Even in that nick of time was the end of the thing brought about; forthe Plough, guiding itself as a thread to the needle's eye, gave theuprooting stroke to the white feet of Melilot; and Noodle, swooningfor the last gasp, saw all at once her beauty swaying level to hisgaze and her body bending down upon his. 

Then he fastened his lips upon hers, and loosed the bubble from hismouth; and panting and sobbing themselves back to life they hung ineach other's arms. She warmed and ripened in his embrace, opening uponhim the light of her eyes; and the greatness and beauty of the rewardabashed him and bore him down to earth. 

He heard the old crone clucking and crowing, like a hen over its egg, of the happiness that had come to her old years; till recognising theyouth's state she covered him over with a cloak amid exclamations ofastonishment. 

The Princess saw nothing but her lover's face and the happy feastingof his eyes. She bent her head nearer and nearer to his, and the storyof what he had done became a dream that she remembered, and thatwaking made true. 'O you Noodle, ' she said, laughing, 'you wise, wiseNoodle!' And then everything was finished, for she had kissed him!

So Noodle and the Princess were married, and came to the thronetogether and reigned over a happy land. The Fire-eaters were theirfriends, and the gifts of fortune were theirs. The Galloping Ploughmade all the waste places fertile; and the water of the Thirsty Wellrose and ran in rivers through the land; and over the walls of theirpalace, where they had planted it, grew the flower of the BurningRose. 

THE CROWN'S WARRANTY

[Illustration]

THE CROWN'S WARRANTY

Five hundred years ago or more a king died, leaving two sons: onewas the child of his first wife, and the other of his second, whosurviving him became his widow. When the king was dying he took offthe royal crown which he wore, and set it upon the head of the elderborn, the son of his first wife, and said to him: 'God is the lord ofthe air, and of the water, and of the dry land: this gift cometh tothee from God. Be merciful, over whatsoever thou holdest power, as Godis!' And saying these words he laid his hands upon the heads of histwo sons and died. 

Now this crown was no ordinary crown, for it was made of the goldbrought by the Wise men of the East when they came to worship atBethlehem. Every king that had worn it since then had reigned well anduprightly and had been loved by all his people: but only to himselfwas it known what virtue lay in his crown; and every king at dyinggave it to his son with the same words of blessing. 

So, now, the king's eldest son wore the crown; and his step-motherknew that her own son could not wear it while he lived, therefore shelooked on and said nothing. Now he was known to all the people of hiscountry, because of his right to the throne, as the king's son; andhis brother, the child of the second wife, was called the queen's son. But as yet they were both young, and cared little enough for crowns. 

After the king's death the queen was made regent till the king's sonshould be come to a full age; but already the little king wore theroyal crown his father had left him, and the queen looked on and saidnothing. 

More than three years went by, and everybody said how good the queenwas to the little king who was not her own son; and the king's son, for his part, was good to her and to his step-brother, loving themboth; and all by himself he kept thinking, having his thoughts guardedand circled by his golden crown, 'How shall I learn to be a wise king, and to be merciful when I have power, as God is?'

So to everything that came his way, to his playthings and his pets, tohis ministers and his servants, he played the king as though alreadyhis word made life and death. People watching him said, 'Everythingthat has touch with the king's son loves him. ' They told strange talesof him: only in fairy books could they be believed, because they wereso beautiful; and all the time the queen, getting a good name forherself, looked on and said nothing. 

One night the king's son was lying half-asleep upon his bed, with wisedreams coming and going under the circle of his gold crown, when amouse ran out of the wainscot and came and jumped up upon the couch. The poor mouse had turned quite white with fear and horror, and wastrembling in every limb as it cried its news into the king's ear. 'Oking's son, ' it said, 'get up and run for your life! I was behind thewainscot in the queen's closet, and this is what I heard: if you stayhere, when you wake up to-morrow you will be dead!'

The king's son got up, and all alone in the dark night stole out ofthe palace, seeking safety for his dear life. He sighed to himself, 'There was a pain in my crown ever since I wore it. Alas, mother, Ithought you were too kind a step-mother to do this!'

Outside it was still winter: there was no warmth in the world, and nota leaf upon the trees. He wandered away and away, wondering where heshould hide. 

The queen, when her villains came and told her the king's son was notto be found, went and looked in her magic crystal to find trace ofhim. As soon as it grew light, for in the darkness the crystal couldshow her nothing, she saw many miles away the king's son running tohide himself in the forest. So she sent out her villains to searchuntil they should find him. 

As they went the sun grew hot in the sky, and birds began singing. 'Itis spring!' cried the messengers. 'How suddenly it has come!' Theyrode on till they came to the forest. 

The king's son, stumbling along through the forest under the bareboughs, thought, 'Even here where shall I hide? Nowhere is there aleaf to cover me. ' But when the sun grew warm he looked up; and therewere all the trees breaking into bud and leaf, making a green heavenabove his head. So when he was too weary to go farther, he climbedinto the largest tree he could find; and the leaves covered him. 

The queen's messengers searched through all the forest but could notfind him; so they went back to her empty handed, not having either theking's crown or his heart to show. 'Fools!' she cried, looking in hermagic crystal, 'he was in the big sycamore under which you stopped togive your horses provender!'

The sycamore said to the king's son, 'The queen's eye is on you; getdown and run for your life till you get to the hollow tarn-stonesamong the hills! But if you stay here, when you wake to-morrow youwill be dead. '

When the queen's messengers came once more to the forest they foundit all wintry again, and without leaf; only the sycamore was in fullgreen, clapping its hands for joy in the keen and bitter air. 

The messengers searched, and beat down the leaves, but the king's sonwas not there. They went back to the queen. She looked long in hermagic crystal, but little could she see; for the king's son had hiddenhimself in a small cave beside the tarn-stones, and into the darknessthe crystal could not pry. 

Presently she saw a flight of birds crossing the blue, and every birdcarried a few crumbs of bread in its beak. Then she ran and called toher villains, 'Follow the birds, and they will take you to where thelittle wizard is; for they are carrying bread to feed him, and theyare all heading for the tarn-stones up on the hills. '

The birds said to the king's son, 'Now you are rested; we have fedyou, and you are not hungry. The queen's eye is on you. Up, and runfor your life! If you stay here, when you wake up to-morrow you willbe dead. '

'Where shall I go?' said the king's son. 'Go, ' answered the birds, 'and hide in the rushes on the island of the pool of sweet waters!'

When the queen's messengers came to the tarn-stones, it was as thoughfive thousand people had been feeding: they found crumbs enough tofill twelve baskets full, lying in the cave; but no king's son couldthey lay their hands on. 

The king's son was lying hidden among the rushes on the island of thegreat pool of sweet waters; and thick and fast came silver-scaledfishes, feeding him. 

It took the queen three days of hard gazing in her crystal, beforeshe found how the fishes all swam to a point among the rushes of theisland in the pool of sweet waters, and away again. Then she knew: andrunning to her messengers she cried: 'He is among the rushes on theisland in the pool of sweet waters; and all the fishes are feedinghim!'

The fishes said to the king's son: 'The queen's eye is on you; up, andswim to shore, and away for your life! For if they come and find youhere, when you wake to-morrow you will certainly be dead. '

'Where shall I go?' asked the king's son. 'Wherever I go, she findsme. ' 'Go to the old fox who gets his poultry from the palace, and askhim to hide you in his burrow!'

When the queen's messengers came to the pool they found the fishesplaying at _alibis_ all about in the water; but nothing of the king'sson could they see. 

The king's son came to the fox, and the fox hid him in his burrow, andbrought him butter and eggs from the royal dairy. This was better farethan the king's son had had since the beginning of his wanderings, andhe thanked the fox warmly for his friendship. 'On the contrary, ' saidthe fox, 'I am under an obligation to you; for ever since you came tobe my guest I have felt like an honest man. ' 'If I live to be king, 'said the king's son, 'you shall always have butter and eggs from theroyal dairy, and be as honest as you like. '

The queen hugged her magic crystal for a whole week, but could makenothing out of it: for her crystal showed her nothing of the king'sson's hiding-place, nor of the fox at his nightly thefts of butter andeggs from the royal dairy. But it so happened that this same fox wasa sort of half-brother of the queen's; and so guilty did he feel withhis brand-new good conscience that he quite left off going to see her. So in a little while the queen, with her suspicions and her magiccrystal, had nosed out the young king's hiding-place. 

The fox said to the king's son: 'The queen's eye is on you! Get outand run for your life, for if you stay here till to-morrow, you willwake up and find yourself a dead goose!'

'But where else can I go to?' asked the king's son. 'Is there anyplace left for me?' The fox laughed, and winked, and whispered a word;and all at once the king's son got up and went. 

The queen had said to her messengers, 'Go and look in the fox's hole;and you shall find him!' But the messengers came and dug up theburrow, and found butter and eggs from the royal dairy, but of theking's son never a sign. 

The king's son came to the palace, and as he crept through the gardenshe found there his little brother alone at play, --playing sadlybecause now he was all alone. Then the king's son stopped and said, 'Little brother, do you so much wish to be king?' And taking off thecrown, he put it upon his brother's head. Then he went on throughunderground ways and corridors, till he came to the palace dungeons. 

Now a dungeon is a hard thing to get out of, but it is easy enough toget into. He came to the deepest and darkest dungeon of all, and therehe opened the door, and went in and hid himself. 

The queen's son came running to his mother, wearing the king's crown. 'Oh, mother, ' he said, 'I am frightened! while I was playing, mybrother came looking all dead and white, and put this crown on myhead. Take it off for me, it hurts!'

When the queen saw the crown on her son's head, she was horriblyafraid; for that it should have so come there was the most unlikelything of all. She fetched her crystal ball, and looked in, askingwhere the king's son might be, and, for answer, the crystal becameblack as night. 

Then said the queen to herself, 'He is dead at last!'

But, now that the king's crown was on the wrong head, the air, and thewater, and the dry land, over which God is lord, heard of it. And thetrees said, 'Until the king's son returns, we will not put forth budor leaf!'

And the birds said, 'We will not sing in the land, or breed or buildnests until the king's son returns!'

And the fishes said, 'We will not stay in the ponds or rivers to getcaught, unless the king's son, to whom we belong, returns!'

And the foxes said, 'Unless the king's son returns, we will increaseand multiply exceedingly and be like locusts in the land!'

So all through that land the trees, though it was spring, stayed as ifit were mid-winter; and all the fishes swam down to the sea; and allthe birds flew over the sea, away into other countries; and all thefoxes increased and multiplied, and became like locusts in the land. 

Now when the trees, and the birds, and the beasts, and the fishes ledthe way the good folk of the country discovered that the queen was acriminal. So, after the way of the flesh, they took the queen andher little son, and bound them, and threw them into the deepest anddarkest dungeon they could find; and said they: 'Until you tell uswhere the king's son is, there you stay and starve!'

The king's son was playing all alone in his dungeon with the mice whobrought him food from the palace larder, when the queen and her sonwere thrown down to him fast bound, as though he were as dangerous asa den of lions. At first he was terribly afraid when he found himselfpursued into his last hiding-place; but presently he gathered from thequeen's remarks that she was quite powerless to do him harm. 

'Oh, what a wicked woman I am!' she moaned; and began cryinglamentably, as if she hoped to melt the stone walls which formed herprison. 

Presently her little son cried, 'Mother, take off my brother's crown;it pricks me!' And the king's son sat in his corner, and cried tohimself with grief over the harm that his step-mother's wickedness hadbrought about. 

'Mother, ' cried the queen's son again, 'night and day since I haveworn it, it pricks me; I cannot sleep!'

But the queen's heart was still hard; not if she could help, would sheyet take off from her son the crown. 

Hours went by, and the queen and her son grew hungry. 'We shall bestarved to death!' she cried. 'Now I see what a wicked woman I am!'

'Mother, ' cried the queen's son, 'some one is putting food into mymouth!' 'No one, ' said the queen, 'is putting any into mine. Now Iknow what a wicked woman I am!'

Presently the king's son came to the queen also, and began feedingher. 'Someone is putting food into _my_ mouth, now!' cried the queen. 'If it is poisoned I shall die in agony! I wish, ' she said, 'I wish Iknew your brother were not dead; if I have killed him what a wickedwoman I am!'

'Dear step-mother, ' said the king's son 'I am not dead, I am here. '

'Here?' cried the queen, shaking with fright. 'Here? not dead! Howlong have you been here?'

'Days, and days, and days, ' said the king's son, sadly. 

'Ah! if I had only known _that_!' cried the queen. '_Now_ I know whata wicked woman I am!'

Just then, the trap-door in the roof of the dungeon opened, and avoice called down, 'Tell us where is the king's son! If you do nottell us, you shall stay here and starve. '

'The king's son is here!' cried the queen. 

'A likely story!' answered the gaolers. 'Do you think we are going tobelieve that?' And they shut-to the trap. 

The queen's son cried, 'Dear brother, come and take back your crown, it pricks so!' But the king's son only undid the queen's bonds and hisbrother's. 'Now, ' said he, 'you are free: you can kill me now. '

'Oh!' cried the queen, 'what a wicked woman I must be! Do you think Icould do it now?' Then she cried, 'O little son, bring your poor headto me, and I will take off the crown!' and she took off the crown andgave it back to the king's son. 'When I am dead, ' she said, 'remember, and be kind to him!'

The king's son put the crown upon his own head. 

Suddenly, outside the palace, all the land broke into leaf; there wasa rushing sound in the river of fishes swimming up from the sea, andall the air was loud and dark with flights of returning birds. Almostat the same moment the foxes began to disappear and diminish, andcease to be like locusts in the land. 

People came running to open the door of the deepest and darkestdungeon in the palace: 'For either, ' they cried, 'the queen is dead, or the king's son has been found!'

'Where is the king's son, then?' they called out, as they threw widethe door. 'He is here!' cried the king; and out he came, to theastonishment of all, wearing his crown, and leading his step-motherand half-brother by the hand. 

He looked at his step-mother, and she was quite white; as white as themouse that had jumped upon the king's bed at midnight bidding him flyfor his life. Not only her face, but her hair, her lips, and her veryeyes were white and colourless, for she had gone blind from gazing toohard into her crystal ball, and hunting the king's son to death. 

So she remained blind to the end of her days; but the king was moregood to her than gold, and as for his brother, never did half-brotherslove each other better than these. Therefore they all lived veryhappily together, and after a long time, the queen learned to forgetwhat a wicked woman she had been. 

THE WISHING-POT

[Illustration]

THE WISHING-POT

Tulip was the son of a poor but prudent mother; from the moment of hisbirth she had trained him to count ten before ever he wanted or askedfor anything. An otherwise reckless youth, he acquired an intrinsicvalue through the practice of this habit. Only once, just as he wasreaching, but had not quite reached, years of discretion, did hishabit of precaution fail him; and this same failure became in the endthe opening of his fortunes. 

Bathing one day in the river, to whose banks the woods ran down insteep terraces, he heard a voice come singing along one of the upperslopes; and looking up under the boughs of cedar and sycamore, he sawa pair of green feet go dancing by, up and down like grasshoppers onthe prance. 

There was such rhythm in them, and such sweetness in the voice, thathis heart was out of him before he could harness it to the number ten, and he came out of the water the most natural and forlorn of lovers. 

Before he was dressed the green feet and the voice were gone, andbefore he got home his health and his appetite seemed to have gonealso. He pined industriously from day to day, and spent all his hoursin searching among the woods by the river side for his lady of thedear green feet. He did not know so much as the size or colour of herface; the sound of her voice alone, and the running up and down of herfeet, had, as he told his mother, 'decimated his affections. '

In his trouble he could think of only one possible remedy, and that hecounted well over, knowing its risk. Away in the loneliest part of theforest there lived a wise woman, to whom, now and then, folk went forhelp when everything else had failed them. So he had heard tell of acertain Wishing-Pot that was hers in which people might see the thingthey desired most, and into which for a fee she allowed lovers andother poor fools of fortune to look. One thing, however, was toldagainst the virtues of this Wishing-Pot, that though many had had asight of it, and their wishes revealed to them therein, others hadgone and had never again returned to their homes, but had vanishedaltogether from men's sight, nor had any news ever been heard of themafter. There were some wise folk who held that they had only goneelsewhere to seek the fortune that the Wishing-Pot had shown to them. Nevertheless, for the most part the wise woman and her Wishing-Pot hadan ill name in that neighbourhood. 

To a lover's heart risk gives value; so one fine morning Tulip kissedhis mother, counted ten, and set out for the woods. 

Towards evening he came to the house of the witch and knocked at thedoor. 'Good mother, ' said he, when she opened to him, 'I have broughtyou the fee to buy myself a wish over the Wishing-Pot. ' 'Ay, surely, 'answered the crone, and drew him in. 

In one corner of the room stood a great crystal bowl. Nearly round itwas, and had a small opening at the top, to which a man might placehis eye and look in. To Tulip, as he looked at it, it seemed allcoloured fires and falling stars, and a soft crackling sound camefrom it, as though heat burned in its veins. It threw long shapes andlustres upon the walls, and within innumerable things writhed, andran, and whiffed in the floating of its vapours. 

'You may have two wishes, ' said the old witch, 'a one and a two. ' Andshe said the spell that undid the secret of the Pot to the wisher. 

Then Tulip bent down his head and looked in, counting softly tohimself, and at ten, he let the wish go to his lady of the dear greenfeet. 

The colours changed and sprang, as though stirred and fed with freshfuel; and down in the depths of the Wishing-Pot he saw the feet of hisBeloved go by in twinkling green slippers. 

As soon as he saw that he began counting ten in great haste for thesecond wish. 'O to be inside the Wishing-Pot with her!' was histhought now. He had got to nine, and the wish was almost on histongue, when he caught sight of the old woman's eye looking at him. And the eye had become like a large green spider, with great longlimbs that kept clutching up and out again!

His heart queegled to a jelly at the sight; but the green feet luredhim so, that he still thought how to get to them and yet be safe. Surely, to be in the Wishing-Pot and out by the sound of the nextAngelus became the shape of his wish. He shut his eyes, cried ten uponthe venture, and was in the Wishing-Pot!

The little green feet were trebling over the glass with a sound likerunning water; and he himself began running at full speed, shot offinto the Wishing-Pot like a pellet from a pop-gun. Nothing could hesee of his dear but her wee green feet. But above them as they ran heheard showery laughter, and he knew that his lady was there beforehim, though invisible to the eye. 

The Pot, now he was in it, seemed bigger than the biggest dome in theworld; to run all round it took him two or three minutes. Away in thecentre of its base stood a great opal knob, like the axle to a wheelround which he and the green feet kept circling. 

However much he wished and wished, the green feet still kept theirdistance, for now he was _in_ the Wishing-Pot wishes availed himnothing. The green feet flew faster than his; the light laugh rangfurther and further away; right across to the other side of the hallhis lady had passed from him now. 

The magic fires of the crystal leapt and crackled under his tread;now it seemed as if his feet ran on a green lawn, out of which brokecrocuses and daffodils, and now roses reddened in the track, and nowthe purple of grapes spurted across the path like spilled wine. Thesound of the green feet and the running of overhead laughter, as theydistanced him in front, came nearer and nearer behind him from acrossthe hall. He felt that he must follow and not turn, however beaten hemight be. 

Presently a voice, that he knew was his Beloved's, cried, --

 'Heart that would have me must hatch me! Feet that would find me must catch me! Man that would mate me must match me!'

Oh, how? wondered spent feet, and failing heart, and reeling brain. He stumbled slower and slower in the race, till presently with quickinnumerable patterings the green feet grew closer, and were overtakinghim from the rear. 

Warm breath was in his hair, --lips and a hand; he turned, open armed, to snatch the mischievous morsel, but all that he clasped was a gustof air; and he saw the green feet scudding out and away on a freshstart before him. 

Again, with laughter, the voice cried, --

 'Lap for lap you must wind me: Equal, before you can find me! You are a lap behind me!'

Where they raced the surface of the glass sloped slightly to theupward rise of its walls; Tulip shifted his ground, and ran where thefooting was leveller toward the centre, and the circle began to gosmaller. So he began to gain, till the green slippers, seeing how theadvantage had come about, shifted also in their turn. 

Thus they ran on; there were no inner posts to mark the course, onlythe great opal standing in the centre of all formed the pivot of therace, and round and round it, a great way off, they ran. 

All at once a big thought came into Tulip's head; he waited not tocount ten, but, before Green Slippers knew what he was after, he hadreached the opal centre, and was circling it. Then quickly all thelaughter stopped; the green feet came twinkling sixteens to thedozens, so as to get round the post before him and away. 

One lap, he was before her; two laps, he turned again to her coming, and found her falling into his arms. She blossomed into sight at histouch: from top to toe she was there! All rosy and alive he had her inhis clasp, laughing, crying, clinging, yet struggling to be free. Shemade a most endless handful, till Tulip had caught her by the hair andkissed her between the eyes. 

All round and overhead the magic crystal reared up arches of fire, toa roof that dropped like rain, while Tulip and his prize sank downexhausted on the great hub of opal to rest. As he touched it all thesecret wonders of the Wishing-Pot were opened and revealed to hisgaze. 

Crowds and crowds of faces were what he most saw; everywhere that heturned he saw old friends and neighbours who, he thought, had beendead and gone, looking sadly, and shaking long sorrowful faces athim. 'You here too, Tulip?' they seemed forever to be saying. 'Alwaysanother, and another; and now you here too!'

There was the dairyman's wife, who had waited seven years to have achild, holding a little will-o'-the-wisp of a thing in her arms. Nowand then for a while it would lie still, and then suddenly it wouldleap up and dart away; and she, poor soul, must up and after it, though the chase were ever so long!

There also was Miller Dick with his broad thumbs, counting over a richpile of gold, which, ever and anon, spun up into the air, and wentstrewing itself like dead leaves before the wind. Then he too mustneeds up and after it, till it was all caught again, and addedtogether, and made right. 

There were small playmates of Tulip's childhood, each with its littleconceit of treasure: one had a toy, and another a lamb, another abird; and all of them hunted and caught the thing they loved, andkissed it and again let go. So it went on, over and over again, moresad than the sight of a quaker as he twiddles his thumbs. 

Whenever they were at peace for a moment, they turned their eyes hisway. 'What, you here too, Tulip?' was always the thing they seemed tobe saying. 

While Tulip sat looking at them, and thinking of it all, suddenly hislady disappeared, and only her green feet darted from his side andbegan running round and round in a circle. Then was he just about toset off running after them, when he felt himself caught up to thecoloured fires of the roof and sent spinning ungovernably throughspace. Suddenly he was dumped to the ground, and just as his feet weregathering themselves up under him he heard the Angelus bell ringingfrom the village below the slopes of the wood. 

He was standing again by the side of the Wishing-Pot, and the oldwoman sat cowering, and blinking her spider-eye at him, too muchastonished to speak or move. 

Tulip looked at her with a pleasant and engaging air. 'Oh, goodmother, what a treat you have given me!' he said. 'How I wish I hadmoney for another wish! what a pity it was ever to have wished myselfback again!'

When the old witch heard that she thought still to entrap him, andanswered joyfully, 'Why, kind Sir, surely, kind Sir, if you like ityou shall look again! Take another wish, and never mind about themoney. ' So she said the spell once more which opened to him thewonders of the Wishing-Pot. 

Then cried Tulip, clapping his hands, 'What better can I wish than tohave you in the Wishing-Pot, in the place of all those poor folk whomyou have imprisoned with their wishes!'

Hardly was the thing said than done; all the children who had beenTulip's playmates, and Miller Dick with his broad thumbs, and thedairyman's wife, were every one of them out, and the old witch womanwas nowhere to be seen. 

But Tulip put his eye to the mouth of the Wishing-Pot; and there downbelow he saw the old witch, running round and round as hard as shecould go, pursued by a herd of green spiders. And there without doubtshe remains. 

And now everybody was happy except Tulip himself; for the children hadall of them their toys, and the old miller his gold, and as for thedairyman's wife, she found that she had become the mother of a largeand promising infant. But Tulip had altogether lost his lady of thedear green feet, for in thinking of others he had forgotten to thinkof himself. All the gratitude of the poor people he had saved wasnothing to him in that great loss which had left him desolate. For hispart he only took the Wishing-Pot up under his arm, and went sadlyaway home. 

But before long the noise of what he had done reached to the king'sears; and he sent for Tulip to appear before him and his Court. Tulipcame, carrying the Wishing-Pot under his arm, very downcast and sadfor love of the lady of the dear green feet. 

At that time all the Court was in half mourning; for the PrincessRoyal, who was the king's only child, and the most beautiful andaccomplished of her sex, had gone perfectly distraught with grief, ofwhich nothing could cure her. All day long she sat with her eyes shut, and tears running down, and folded hands and quiet little feet. Andall this came, it was said, from a dream which she could not tell orexplain to anybody. 

The king had promised that whoever could rouse her from her grief, should have the princess for his wife, and become heir to the throne;and when he heard that there was such a thing in the world as aWishing-Pot, he thought that something might be done with it. 

From Tulip he learned, however, that no one knew the spell whichopened the resources of the Wishing-Pot save the old witch woman whowas shut up fast for ever in its inside. So it seemed to the king thatthe Pot could be of no use for curing the princess. 

But it was so beautiful, with its shooting stars and coloured fires, that, when Tulip brought it, they carried it in to show to her. 

After three hours the princess was prevailed upon to open her eyes;and directly they fell upon the great opal bowl, all at once shestarted to her feet and began laughing and dancing and singing. 

These are the words that they heard her sing, --

 'Lap for lap I must wind you; Equal, before I can find you; I am a lap behind you!'

Tulip, as soon as he heard the sweetness of that voice, and the words, pushed his way past the king and all his court, to where the princesswas. And there over the heads of the crowd he saw his lady of the deargreen feet laughing and opening her white arms to him. 

As she set eyes on his face the dream of the princess came true, andall her unhappiness passed from her. So they loved and were married, to the astonishment and edification of the whole court; and lived tobe greatly loved and admired by all their grandchildren. 

THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS

[Illustration]

THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS

Over the sea went the birds, flying southward to their other homewhere the sun was. The rustle of their wings, high over head, could beheard down on the water; and their soft, shrill twitterings, and thethirsty nibbling of their beaks; for the seas were hushed, and thewinds hung away in cloud-land. 

Far away from any shore, and beginning to be weary, their eyes caughtsight of a white form resting between sky and sea. Nearer they came, till it seemed to be a great white bird, brooding on the calmed water;and its wings were stretched high and wide, yet it stirred not. Andthe wings had in themselves no motion, but stood rigidly poised overtheir own reflection in the water. 

Then the birds came curiously, dropping from their straight course, towonder at the white wings that went not on. And they came and settledabout this great, bird-like thing, so still and so grand. 

Onto the deck crept a small child, for the noise of the birds had comedown to him in the hold. 'There is nobody at home but me, ' he said;for he thought the birds must have come to call, and he wished to bepolite. 'They are all gone but me, ' he went on, 'all gone. I am leftalone. '

The birds, none of them understood him; but they put their headson one side and looked down on him in a friendly way, seeming toconsider. 

He ran down below and fetched up a pannikin of water and some biscuit. He set the water down, and breaking the biscuit sprinkled it over thewhite deck. Then he clapped his hands to see them all flutter andcrowd round him, dipping their bright heads to the food and drink hegave them. 

They might not stay long, for the waterlogged ship could not helpthem on the way they wished to go; and by sunset they must touch landagain. Away they went, on a sudden, the whole crew of them, and thesound of their voices became faint in the bright sea-air. 

'I am left alone!' said the child. 

Many days ago, while he was asleep in a snug corner he had found forhimself, the captain and crew had taken to the boats, leaving thegreat ship to its fate. And forgetting him because he was so small, orthinking that he was safe in some one of the other boats, the roughsailors had gone off without him, and he was left alone. So for awhole week he had stayed with the ship, like a whisper of its vanishedlife amid the blues of a deep calm. And the birds came to the shiponly to desert it again quickly, because it stood so still upon thesea. 

But that night the mermen came round the vessel's side, and sang; andthe wind rose to their singing, and the sea grew rough. Yet the childslept with his head in dreams. The dreams came from the mermen'ssongs, and he held his breath, and his heart stayed burdened by thedeep sweetness of what he saw. 

Dark and strange and cold the sea-valleys opened before him; bluesea-beasts ranged there, guarded by strong-finned shepherds, andfishes like birds darted to and fro, but made no sound. And that waswhat burdened his heart, --that for all the beauty he saw, there was nosound, no song of a single bird to comfort him. 

The mermen reached out their blue arms to him, and sang; on the top ofthe waves they sang, striving to make him forget the silence of theland below. They offered him the sea-life: why should he be drownedand die?

And now over him in the dark night the great wings crashed, and beatabroad in the wind, and the ship made great way. And the mermen swamfast to be with her, and ceased from their own song, for the wind sanga coronach in the canvas and cordage. But the little child lifted hishead in his sleep and smiled, for his soul was eased of the mermen'ssong, and it seemed to him that instead he heard birds singing in afar-off land, singing of a child whose loving hand had fed them, faintand weary, in their way over the wide ocean. 

In that far southern land the dawn had begun, and the birds, wakingone by one, were singing their story of him to the soft-breathingtamarisk boughs. And none of them knew how they had been sent asa salvage crew to save the child's spirit from the spell of thesea-dream, and to carry it safely back to the land that loved him. 

 * * * * *

But with the child's body the white wings had flown down into thewave-buried valleys, and to a cleft of the sea-hills to rest. 

THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS

[Illustration]

THE PASSIONATE PUPPETS

When the long days of summer began, Killian, the cow-herd, was ableto lead his drove up into the hills, giving them the high pastures torange. Then from sunrise to sunset he was alone, except when, earlyeach morning, Grendel and the other girls came up to carry down themilk to the villages. 

All day long the cow-bells sounded in his ears, but still the time ofhis wedding was a long way off; it would be five years before he andGrendel could afford to set up a house and farm, with cows of theirown. 

The great stretch of world that lay out under him, like a broad mapcoloured blue and green, made him full of a restless longing for amove in life. Yonder he could pick out the towns with their spires andglittering roofs, and the overhead mists, that gave token of crowdedlife below. It was there that wealth could be got; and with wealth menmarried soon, and were at ease. Somewhere, he had heard, lived kingsand queens, wearing rich robes and gold crowns on the top of theirheart's desire. For kings and queens, he supposed, loved as did he andGrendel, regarding nothing else as much in the world besides. 

So Killian put heart into his deft hands, and presently had set towork. 

One evening Grendel came up from the valley, after her day's work, tohave a look at her lover; she had brought him some brown cakes and abottle of wine. But Killian, who had caught sight of her eyes over thegreen rise at his feet, was hiding something behind his back. 

'Whatever have you there?' she asked, as she saw chips, and tools, andbits of bright foil, lying scattered about the ground. Yet for threedays he would show her nothing, only he said, 'What I do is because welove each other so. '

At the end of that time, he showed her what he had done. There she sawa little king and queen, about six inches high; he was in blue, andshe in white; and they were both as dear as they were small. The kingwas partly like a cow-herd, having a crown over his broad-brimmed hat, with thick wooden shoes, and leather-bound legs; and the queen waslike Grendel, with great long plaits past her waist, and a gold-workedbodice, such as Grendel had for Sunday wear. 'Aye, aye, ' criedGrendel, 'why, it is you and me!'

Then Killian showed her how the joints of the little puppets moved ondelicate wires, and how five strings ran up, one from each limb, to befastened to the player's fingers, so that he might make them act asthough life were in them. 

'I shall take these down with me to the valley, ' said Killian. 'FirstI shall go about among the villages; then, when I can do better, Ishall go to the towns. After that no doubt the kings and queens willhear of me, and will send for me to play before them, and I shallbecome rich. Then I shall come home and marry you. '

Grendel thought her lover the most wonderful man in the world, and itis the truth he was very clever; she kissed him a hundred times, andthe little marionettes also. 'Ah, ' she said, 'now we shall not have towait five years! in five months you will come back rich and famous, and we shall marry, and live happily. '

How Killian had loved her while making his puppets, only she knew aswell as he. Truly, he had put his heart into them, so that they werelike living beings, --and so small that their very smallness made thema marvel. Being a lover, he had put inside each breast a little heart, and, for the luck of the thing, had christened them with a drop of hisown blood, and a drop of Grendel's; so each heart had in it one littledrop of blood. Now he was to go out, and try his fortune. 

He found a lad to come and take his place and see after the cows;then he said good-bye to Grendel, and set off on a round of all thevillages of the plain. 

At every inn where he put up, he called the country folk together tothe sound of his shepherd's bag-pipes, and showed them his play. Itwas only himself and Grendel, no story at all, merely lovers partingand meeting again, each believing the other dead, and in the endliving happily to the sound of cow-bells, that showed how rich theywere in herds. 

And the villagers laughed and cried, and gave him pence, and a night'slodging, and food; so that presently he was able to make himself alittle travelling-stage, and hire a piper to play dance-music for him. But it was always the one story of himself and Grendel, and no other, though the two puppets wore crowns upon their heads. 

 * * * * *

The little marionettes had hearts. That was the beginning of things:they remembered nothing else. When their eyes had grown open to thefact, then for them life had begun. After that they lived like bee andblossom, only that the bee never flew away, and the honey remained inthe blossom. 

How this came to pass was a question they never asked; why they lovedeach other they did not know. If they had had to think of it theywould have said, 'It is because we cannot help it. ' And every dayone same thing happened to them that they could not help, the mostbeautiful thing in life. It came to them by instinct, taking hold ofthem from head to feet and saying, 'love, love, love, ' in all sorts ofwonderful ways. 

Whenever this thing happened they began to move about softly, going toand fro, and round and round, dancing, and holding each other bythe hand, putting their cheeks so close together that their eyelidsbrushed, and sometimes their little hearts that heaved. And all thewhile music from somewhere was giving a meaning to these things; andover and over again, 'love, love, love, ' was what it kept saying tothem. 

Their happiness was so great, that they would begin playing with it, pretending that it was all turned into grief. First he would kiss herfrom forehead to chin, and into the hollow of her little throat; andthen all down each dear arm, even to the finger-tips; and last of allher feet; and again last of all her lips, and again last of all herbreast. And then he would go away, walking backwards most of the time, or if not, still turning round and round to take another look at her. Then when he was altogether out of sight, she would sit down and cry, though all the while he would be peeping at her from his hiding-place, to let her know that he was not really gone. Then she would lie down, and cry more, and at last leave off crying and stay almost still on alittle bed, that seemed to come to her from nowhere, just when she wasready to fall on it. Then, at last, she would shut her eyes, and coverher face up very slowly with a sheet, and lie so still that he wouldgrow quite frightened, and come running from his hiding-place, andlift the sheet, and look at her; then he would fall down as if hislegs had been cut from under him; then he would get up and throwflowers over her, and at last catch her up and begin to carry her;and at that she would wake up all at once and kiss him, to a sound ofbells. 

They did not know why they did this; it was so beautiful they couldnot have thought of it for themselves, and yet it said everything oflife that they wanted to say. For love was the beginning and the endof it; and always, as they came to the sad part, they had tendertremblings for fear the other should think the sorrow was real: he, lest she should think he had really gone away and left her, never toreturn; and she, lest he should believe that she always meant to lieso cruelly still, with a sheet over her eyes. Yet the kissings thatcame after made the fearfulness almost the sweetest thing in theirprayer-sayings to each other. 

For to them this was a daily prayer, the most solemn thing in theirlives; heart praying to heart, and hand reaching to hand; and fromsomewhere overhead gentle monitions as to what they must do nextcoming to them, so that they knew how to pray best, now by lifting ahand, or now by turning the head, or now by running fast with bothfeet. And all this beautiful worship of love their bodies learned todo more perfectly day by day; yet the little quaking of fear was stillin the centre of it all. 

 * * * * *

Killian's fingers grew nimble; and yet he often wondered to see howtrue to life his puppets were, how they sighed, how they embraced andclung, as if their hearts were coming in two when the parting drewnear. How lingeringly the little queen drew up the sheet over herface, when her lover did not return, and let it fall to cover her witha quiet sigh. Often he cried when she did that part, so like Grendelwas it, --the tender waiting, and the last giving in! And then, how thelittle king shuddered as he drew the cloth from her face; and how hethrew the flowers, as if there were not enough in the world to expresshis grief! And yet it was only a play, made by the twitching of thestrings tied to his fingers, with love as the beginning and end of it. 

Killian was getting quite rich in copper coin, so he sent some of ithome to Grendel, that she might buy stock for the home that was sosoon to be theirs. And presently he made bold to go into the towns, where, instead of copper, he might gain silver. He built a biggerstage, and had more music to go to the dance; but still it was thestory of himself and Grendel, with crowns upon their heads, andnothing more. 

And now, indeed, people began to cry, 'Here is a wonderful new actor!He has it all at the ends of his fingers! What a pity he has no betterplay in which to show himself off!' But Killian said, 'It is the onlyplay I know how to do. '

Presently there came a sharp fellow to him, who said: 'If you willgo shares with me, I will make your fortune. We have only to put ourheads together, and the thing is done. I will write the plays for you, and you shall play them on the strings. What is wanted is a littlemore real life. '

Killian was a simple fellow, who believed all the world to be wiserthan himself. He was glad enough to meet with a clever fellow whocould write plays for him. His partner wanted him to make new dressesfor the marionettes, to suit their new parts; but to that Killianwould not agree. So whatever they were they still wore their broadhats and crowns, and their wooden shoes, that still he might watchin his own mind himself and Grendel making their way to fortune andhappiness. 

The marionettes grew bewildered with their new taking; they did notunderstand the meaning of all the coarse things they had to do. So inthe middle of a play, the little queen would fail now and then inher part, and move awkwardly, wondering what her lover meant when hesprawled to and fro, and seemed trying to find in the air more feetthan he had upon the ground. 

Yet the crowd found her bashful fear so irresistibly funny, that itroared again. Also, when the little cow-herd with a crown on his head, lifted his hand or foot toward his partner, and then shrank tremblingaway, it roared yet more at the poltroon manner of the thing. 

Killian's partner said, 'You alter all my plays, but the way you dothem is something to marvel at. Only, why do you always bring themround again to that silly lover's ending?'

'I cannot help it, ' said Killian; 'often now, with these new plays, Ican't get the strings to work properly. I think the poor puppets aregetting worn out. '

His partner began examining the puppets, and watching how Killianplayed them, with more attention; and presently he knew that there wasmore in it than met the eye. 'It is the puppets who are the marvel, not the man, ' he said to himself. 'I could work them better myself, ifI had practice. '

Soon after this he proposed that they should set off for another town;it was the chief town of all, where they hoped at last to be allowedto show their plays to the queen herself. 'It must be a real play thistime, ' said the partner, 'a tragedy; but it wants a third person. Youmust make another puppet, while I write the play!'

So Killian set to work. But he had no love for the third puppet, whichwas neither himself nor Grendel, and he put no heart inside it, and nolittle drop of blood. So the new marionette was but limbs, and a headdrawn on wires. 

'Soon, ' thought Killian, 'I shall be rich enough to go home and marryGrendel. Then I will throw this stupid third one away; but the othertwo we will always keep close to the niche with the statue of SaintLady, to help to make us thankful for the good things God gives us inthis world. '

It was beautiful late spring weather when he and his companion set outfor the capital. On the way Killian's partner told him the play thatwould have to be played before the queen, and said, 'In case threeshould be too much for you to manage, you had better teach me alsoto handle the strings. ' So Killian began to teach him, with the twolittle marionettes alone, the first play which he had brought downwith him from the mountains, --that being the easiest of all to learn, and the one he loved best to teach. 

The partner was surprised to find how wonderfully the puppets followedthe leading-strings; in spite of his clumsiness the story acted itselfto perfection. 

Simple-hearted Killian was charmed. 'Ah! you clever townsman, ' saidhe, 'see how at first trial you equal poor me, who have been at it formonths! It had better be you, after all, to do the play when it iscalled for at the court. ' And this Killian proposed truly out of puremodesty, but also because he did not like the play his partner hadmade for him. 'It is too cruel a one!' he said. 'After they haveplayed it together so long, I feel as if my two puppets can do nothingelse so well as love each other, and live happily. '

'Ah, but, ' said his partner, 'the queen would find that very dull!'Killian could not see why, but he believed that the townsman was wiserthan himself, and gave in. All he wanted now was to get money enoughto run back home with, and throw himself into his dear Grendel's armsfor life. 

So they journeyed on, and at last, one day, they came in sight ofthe capital. But it had been such a long way to come that when theyreached the gates they found them shut. 

The night was warm, and a high moon was overhead. 'Come, ' saidKillian, 'and let us lie down in one of these orchards that areoutside the walls!' So they left the high-road, and went and lay down. 

First they ate some food that they carried with them. Then Killianopened the case in which lay the two marionettes, and looked them overto see that they were in working order. His partner took up the oddnumber, and began practising it; but Killian's attention all went tothe little king cow-herd and his queen. 

He fondled them gently with his hands, and as he looked at them hisheart went up into the mountains to pray for his dear Grendel. 

Presently he began dreaming to himself like Jacob, only his dream wasjust of the simple things of earth. Down the great green uplands cametroops of white cattle; but to him they seemed to be bridesmaidscoming to Grendel's wedding day, and the ringing of the cow-bells wasas sweet to him as the songs of angels. Before he was fast asleep thetwo marionettes had slipped off his knee and lay in the deep grasslooking up at the sky. 

 * * * * *

They had never seen so beautiful a sight before, for never had theyspent a night in the sweet open air till now. Over their heads swungdusky clusters of blossom, that would look white by day; and over themthe moon went kissing its way from star to star. 

Now and then single blossoms dropped as if they had something to sayto the little cow-herd and his queen, lying there in the cool grass. 

But the marionettes said nothing; their hearts were very full; now, atlast, they found their old happiness return to them. Their prayers, that they used to say to each other so tenderly, had been going wrongfor quite a long time; sudden starts and tremblings of fear had takenhold of their light-hearted deceptions of each other; and every daythings had been going worse. But now they felt like entering upon along rest. 

As they lay, their hands met together. The little cow-herd couldcount her fingers across the palm of his hand, and never once did shepretend to be drawing them away. How good it all seemed!

Close by them the odd man was strutting in stiff, ungainly attitudes, cricking his neck and elbows, and tossing up his toes. How foolish heseemed to them in their innocent wisdom! They knew he was nothing tothem, for he had no heart; he was nothing but a trick on springs. Yetthey wished he would go away, and give them room to be alone, whilethe moon was making a white dream over their lives. 

 * * * * *

The partner grumbled to himself at the awkward ways of the newpuppet. Instead of obeying, it kicked at the leading strings, and dideverything like a stick, all angles and corners. Presently he put itback into its box; and then he saw the little king and queen lyingtogether on the damp grass. He picked them up, growling at Killian asa simpleton, for leaving them there to get rusty with the dew. Then heput them also away, and curled himself up to dream about the successof his play on the morrow. 

Quite early in the morning he and Killian went into the city, and setup their stage in a corner of the marketplace. The wonderful acting ofthe little king and queen, compared with the ungainly hobblings andjerkings of the odd man, threw the townspeople into ecstasies oflaughter. They declared they had never seen so funny a sight in theirlives as the beautiful nervous acting of the pair, side by side withthe stiff-jointed awkwardness of the other. 

Presently, sure enough, the queen heard tell of this new form ofentertainment, and sent word for the mummers to appear at the palace. 

Killian said to his partner: 'There is something the matter with thepuppets to-day; they want careful handling. I am glad we settledthat you are to do the new play; for, before the queen and her greatladies, I am likely to lose my head. '

All the court was gathered together to watch the puppet-play, whilebehind the scenes the partner took all the leading strings into hisown hands. 

 * * * * *

The two marionettes opened their eyes, and saw daylight; they beganmoving to and fro softly; every now and then they put their facestogether and kissed. The stupid odd man seemed to have gone; they wereso glad to be left alone. 

Soon the little king lay down, pretending to be tired, but it was onlythat he might put his head in the queen's lap. She bent over him, andlaid her fingers on his eyes, seeming to say, 'Go to sleep, then! Iwill shut your eyes for you. ' How pretty it was of her!

Then she covered his face over with her handkerchief; and all at oncein came the odd man, walking on the points of his toes. The littleking, now that the handkerchief was over his face, opened his eyes, and looked through it, to see what his dear queen would be doing now. The odd man had his arms round her neck, and was kissing her, and thequeen looked as if she were going to kiss him back; but all at onceshe had pushed away the odd man so hard that he fell down with hisheels in the air; and then she snatched the handkerchief from theking's face, and began trembling, and kissing him. 

The whole of the court shouted, first with laughter at the odd man'sfall, and then with admiration at the wonderful acting of the littlequeen. 

Behind the scenes the partner began grumbling to Killian: 'They aregoing all wrong! It's all your doing, leaving them to lie in the dampgrass last night!'

But still the whole court shouted and applauded. So the play went on;and now, more and more, the showman had cause to grumble. Whenever hecame to a part where the play required that the queen should turn fromher own cow-herd to the ugly odd man, everything went wrong. 'Verywell, ' thought he at last, 'she may be as innocent as Desdemona but itwill all come to the same at the last!'

And so, still more, as the play went on, the little marionettestrembled and shook with fear. They wished the silly odd man would goaway, and not come interrupting their prayers; and all the while theyloved each other so! No idea of jealousy ever entered the littleking's head; and as for the queen, if the odd man came and put hisarms round her neck and kissed her, could she help it? All she coulddo was to run and put her arms round her own lover when he reappeared;and how the court shouted and applauded, when she went so quick fromone to the other. 

At last the final act was begun; the king came running in with a swordin his hand, why, he did not know, until he saw his poor little queenstruggling in the arms of the odd man. 'Ah, ' thought he, 'it is todrive him away! Then we shall be by ourselves again, and happy. '

No one ever fought so wonderfully on a stage before as the littlecow-herd. All the court started to their feet, shouting; and still, while they shouted, they laughed to see the impossible odd manscooping about with his sword, and jerking head over heels, and highup into the air, to get away from the little king's sword-play. Thepartner had to keep snatching him up out of harm's way, for fear of awrong ending. Then, suddenly he let him come down with a jump on thelittle king's head. And at that the king fell back upon the ground, and felt a sharp pain go through his heart. 

The odd man drew out his sword and laughed; on the end of it was atiny drop of blood. The poor little queen ran up, and bent down tolook in her lover's face, to know if he were really hurt. And then aterrible thing happened. 

Three times the little king raised his sword and pointed it at herheart, and dropped it again. And all the time the partner was tuggingat the strings, and swearing by all the worst things he knew. 

The little king felt himself growing weak; he was very frightened. Hefelt as if he were going away altogether, and leaving her to thinkhe did not love her any more. And still his arm went up and down, pointing the sword at her heart. 

The showman tugged angrily; then there was the sound of a wire thatsnapped--the king had thrown away his sword. 

He reached up his two arms, and laid them fast round the queen's neck. 'Now at last she knows that I have not left off loving her. ' He felther drawing herself away, he held her more and more tightly to hisbreast; and now her little face lay close against his. Nothing shouldtake her away from him now!

The showman pulled violently with all his might, to get her away;there was a snapping of strings, and then--the queen reached out twoweak little hands, and laid them under her lover's head. 

They lay quite still, quite still for a long time, and never moved. 'The play is over!' said the showman, disgusted and angry at the wreckof his plot. 

Suddenly the whole stage became showered with gold; the great queenand all her court threw out showers of it like rain. It fell all overthe two marionettes, covering them where they lay, just as the babesin the wood when they died were covered over with leaves. 

Killian dropped his head on to the boards of the little stage, andsobbed. The partner let down the curtain, and began gathering up thegold. 

And still, from without, the queen and her court clapped, and criedtheir applause; and still within lay Killian with his head upon thestage, sobbing for the two little marionettes, lying still with allthe springs and strings of their bodies quite broken. Inside, thoughhe could not see them, their hearts were broken also. 'Now, ' hethought, 'I must go back to Grendel, or I too shall die!'

That night, in the middle of the night, the partner went away, carrying with him all the gold that the little marionettes had earnedby their deaths. And these, indeed, he left, seeing that they wereuseless any more. But to Killian, when he woke the next morning, theywere the only things left him in the world, to take back to Grendel. 

He took them just as they were, locked in each other's arms, and wentback all the long way to Grendel, up into the hills of his home, aspoor in money as when he first started. 

But Grendel saw that he had come back rich; for his face was growntender and wise. And for five years they waited very patientlytogether, till by cow-keeping he had earned enough for them to keepsome cows of their own, and to live in married happiness. 

The little marionettes they put on a shelf, beneath the cross, and thestatue of our Lady; and there, locked in each other's arms, those twodisciples and martyrs of love lie at peace, feeling no pain any morein their broken hearts.