[Illustration: An Indian Brave]

FOLK TALESEvery Child Should Know

EDITED BYHamilton Wright Mabie

[Illustration]

THE WHAT-EVERY-CHILD-SHOULD-KNOW-LIBRARY

_Published by_

DOUBLEDAY, DORAN & CO. , INC. , _for_THE PARENTS' INSTITUTE, INC. _Publishers of "The Parents' Magazine"_9 EAST 40th STREET, NEW YORK

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The editor and publishers wish to express their appreciation to thefollowing firms for permission to use the material indicated:

To Messrs. G. P. Putnam's Sons for "Why the Sea is Salt, " "The Lad WhoWent to the North Wind, " "The Lad and the Deil, " and "Ananzi and theLion, " by Sir George Webbe Dasent, D. C. L. ; to the Macmillan Company, NewYork, for "The Grateful Foxes" and "The Badger's Money, " by A. B. Mitford; to Messrs. Macmillan & Company, London, for "The Origin ofRubies, " by Rev. Lal Behari Day; to Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons for"The Dun Horse, " by George Bird Grinnell; to Messrs. Little, Brown &Company for "The Peasant Story of Napoleon, " by Honoré de Balzac; toMessrs. Houghton, Mifflin & Company for "Why Brother Bear Has No Tail, "by Joel Chandler Harris, and for the following selections from "SixtyFolk Tales, from Exclusively Slavonic Sources, " translated by A. H. Wratislaw, M. A. :--"Long, Broad, and Sharpsight, " "Intelligence andLuck, " "George and the Goat, " "The Wonderful Hair, " "The Dragon and thePrince, " and "The Good Children. "

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER

I. HANS IN LUCK From Grimm's Fairy Tales. 

II. WHY THE SEA IS SALT From "Popular Tales from the Norse, " by Sir George Webbe Dasent, D. C. L. 

III. THE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND From "Popular Tales from the Norse, " by Sir George Webbe Dasent, D. C. L. 

IV. THE LAD AND THE DEIL From "Popular Tales from the Norse, " by Sir George Webbe Dasent, D. C. L. 

V. ANANZI AND THE LION From "Popular Tales from the Norse, " by Sir George Webbe Dasent, D. C. L. 

VI. THE GRATEFUL FOXES From "Tales of Old Japan, " by A. B. Mitford. 

VII. THE BADGER'S MONEY From "Tales of Old Japan, " by A. B. Mitford. 

VIII. WHY BROTHER BEAR HAS NO TAIL From "Nights with Uncle Remus, " by Joel Chandler Harris. 

IX. THE ORIGIN OF RUBIES From "Folk Tales of Bengal, " by Rev. Lal Behari Day. 

X. LONG, BROAD, AND SHARPSIGHT Translated from the Bohemian by A. H. Wratislaw, M. A. , in "Sixty Folk Tales, from Exclusively Slavonic Sources. "

XI. INTELLIGENCE AND LUCK Translated from the Bohemian by A. H. Wratislaw, M. A. , in "Sixty Folk Tales, from Exclusively Slavonic Sources. "

XII. GEORGE WITH THE GOAT Translated from the Bohemian by A. H. Wratislaw, M. A. , in "Sixty Folk Tales, from Exclusively Slavonic Sources. "

XIII. THE WONDERFUL HAIR Translated from the Serbian by A. H. Wratislaw, M. A. , in "Sixty Folk Tales, from Exclusively Slavonic Sources. "

XIV. THE DRAGON AND THE PRINCE Translated from the Serbian by A. H. Wratislaw, M. A. , in "Sixty Folk Tales, from Exclusively Slavonic Sources. "

XV. THE GOOD CHILDREN A Little Russian story of Galicia. Translated by A. H. Wratislaw, M. A. , in "Sixty Folk Tales, from Exclusively Slavonic Sources. "

XVI. THE DUN HORSE From "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales, " by George Bird Grinnell. 

XVII. THE GREEDY YOUNGSTER From the Norwegian tale of Peter Christen Asbjörnsen. 

XVIII. HANS, WHO MADE THE PRINCESS LAUGH From the Norwegian tale of Peter Christen Asbjörnsen. 

XIX. THE STORY OF TOM TIT TOT An old Suffolk Tale, given in the dialect of East Anglia. From "Tom Tit Tot. An Essay on Savage Philosophy in Folk Tale, " by Edward Clodd. 

XX. THE PEASANT STORY OF NAPOLEON From "The Country Doctor, " by Honoré de Balzac. Translated by Katharine Prescott Wormeley. 

INTRODUCTION

When the traveller looks at Rome for the first time he does not realizethat there have been several cities on the same piece of ground, andthat the churches and palaces and other great buildings he sees to-dayrest on an earlier and invisible city buried in dust beneath thefoundations of the Rome of the Twentieth Century. In like manner, andbecause all visible things on the surface of the earth have grown out ofolder things which have ceased to be, the world of habits, the ideas, customs, fancies, and arts, in which we live is a survival of a youngerworld which long ago disappeared. When we speak of Friday as an unluckyday, or touch wood after saying that we have had good luck for a longtime, or take the trouble to look at the new moon over the rightshoulder, or avoid crossing the street while a funeral is passing, weare recalling old superstitions or beliefs, a vanished world in whichour remote forefathers lived. 

We do not realize how much of this vanished world still survives in ourlanguage, our talk, our books, our sculpture and pictures. The plays ofShakespeare are full of reference to the fancies and beliefs of theEnglish people in his time or in the times not long before him. If wecould understand all these references as we read, we should findourselves in a world as different from the England of to-day as Englandis from Austria, and among a people whose ideas and language we shouldfind it hard to understand. 

In those early days there were no magazines or newspapers, and for thepeople as contrasted with the scholars there were no books. The mostlearned men were ignorant of things which intelligent children knowto-day; only a very few men and women could read or write; and all kindsof beliefs about animals, birds, witches, fairies, giants, and themagical qualities of herbs and stones flourished like weeds in aneglected garden. There came into existence an immense mass ofmisinformation about all manner of things; some of it very stupid, muchof it very poetic and interesting. Below the region of exact knowledgeaccessible to men of education, lay a region of popular fancies, ideas, proverbs, and superstitions in which the great mass of men and womenlived, and which was a kind of invisible playground for children. Muchof the popular belief about animals and the world was touched withimagination and was full of suggestions, illustrations, and pictorialfigures which the poets were quick to use. When the king says to Cranmerin "Henry VIII:" "Come, come, my lord, you'd spare your spoons, " he wasthinking of the old custom of giving children at christenings silver orgilt spoons with handles shaped to represent the figures of theApostles. Rich people gave twelve of the "apostles' spoons;" people ofmore moderate means gave three or four, or only one with the figure ofthe saint after whom the child was named. On Lord Mayor's Day in London, which came in November and is still celebrated, though shorn of much ofits ancient splendour, the Lord Mayor's fool, as part of thefestivities, jumped into a great bowl of custard, and this is what BenJonson had in mind when he wrote:

 "He may, perchance, in tail of a sheriff's dinner, Skip with a rime o' the table, from near nothing, And take his almain leap into a custard, Shall make my lady Maydress and her sisters, Laugh all their hoods over their shoulders. "

It was once widely believed that a stone of magical, medicinal qualitieswas set in the toad's head, and so Shakespeare wrote:

 "Sweet are the uses of adversity; Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in its head. "

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is the most wonderful fairy story in theworld, but Shakespeare did not create it out of hand; he found the fairypart of it in the traditions of the country people. One of his mostintelligent students says: "He founded his elfin world on the prettiestof the people's traditions, and has clothed it in the ever-living flowerof his own exuberant fancy. "

This immense mass of belief, superstition, fancy, is called folk-loreand is to be found in all parts of the world. These fancies or faiths orsuperstitions were often distorted with stories, and side by side withfolk-lore grew up the folk-tales, of which there are so many that a manmight spend his whole life writing them down. They were not made asmodern stories are often made, by men who think out carefully what theyare to say, arrange the different parts so that they go together likethe parts of a house or of a machine, and write them with carefulselection of words so as to make the story vivid and interesting. 

The folk-tales were not written out; many of them grew out of singleincidents or little inventions of fancy, and became longer and larger asthey passed from one story-teller to another and were retold generationafter generation. 

Men love stories, and for very good reasons, as has been pointed out inintroductions to other volumes in this series; and the more quick andoriginal the imagination of a race, the more interesting and varied willbe its stories. From the earliest times, long before books were made, the people of many countries were eagerly listening to the men and womenwho could tell thrilling or humorous tales, as in these later days theyread the novels of the writers who know how to tell a story so as tostir the imagination or hold the attention and make readers forgetthemselves and their worries and troubles. In India and Japan, in Russiaand Roumania, among the Indians at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, these stories are still told, not only to children by their mothers andgrandmothers, but to crowds of grown-up people by those who have the artof making tales entertaining; and there are still so many of thesestories floating about the world from one person to another that if theywere written down they would fill a great library. "Until the generationnow lately passed away, " says Mr. Gosse in his introduction to that veryinteresting book, "Folk and Fairy Tales" by Asbjörnsen, "almost the onlymode in which the Norwegian peasant killed time in the leisure momentsbetween his daily labour and his religious observances, was in listeningto stories. It was the business of old men and women who had reached theextreme limit of their working hours, to retain and repeat these ancientlegends in prose and verse, and to recite or sing them when called to doso. " And Miss Hapgood has told us that in Russia these stories have notonly been handed down wholly by word or mouth for a thousand years, butare flourishing to-day and extending into fresh fields. 

The stories made by the people, and told before evening fires, or inpublic places and at the gates of inns in the Orient, belong to the ageswhen books were few and knowledge limited, or to people whose fancy wasnot hampered by familiarity with or care for facts; they are thecreations, as they were the amusement, of men and women who werechildren in knowledge, but were thinking deeply and often wisely of whatlife meant to them, and were eager to know and hear more aboutthemselves, their fellows, and the world. In the earlier folk-storiesone finds a childlike simplicity and readiness to believe in themarvellous; and these qualities are found also in the French peasant'sversion of the career of Napoleon. 

HAMILTON W. MABIE

FOLK TALES EVERY CHILD SHOULD KNOW

I

HANS IN LUCK

Hans had served his Master seven years, and at the end of that time hesaid to him: "Master, since my time is up, I should like to go home tomy mother; so give me my wages, if you please. "

His Master replied, "You have served me truly and honestly, Hans, andsuch as your service was, such shall be your reward;" and with thesewords he gave him a lump of gold as big as his head. Hans thereupon tookhis handkerchief out of his pocket, and, wrapping the gold up in it, threw it over his shoulder and set out on the road toward his nativevillage. As he went along, carefully setting one foot to the groundbefore the other, a horseman came in sight, trotting gaily and brisklyalong upon a capital animal. "Ah, " said Hans, aloud, "what a fine thingthat riding is! one is seated, as it were, upon a stool, kicks againstno stones, spares one's shoes, and gets along without any trouble!"

The Rider, overhearing Hans making these reflections, stopped and said, "Why, then, do you travel on foot, my fine fellow?"

"Because I am forced, " replied Hans, "for I have got a bit of a lump tocarry home; it certainly is gold, but then I can't carry my headstraight, and it hurts my shoulder. "

"If you like we will exchange, " said the Rider. "I will give you myhorse, and you can give me your lump of gold. "

"With all my heart, " cried Hans; "but I tell you fairly you undertake avery heavy burden. "

The man dismounted, took the gold, and helped Hans on to the horse, and, giving him the reins into his hands, said, "Now, when you want to gofaster, you must chuckle with your tongue and cry, 'Gee up! gee up!'"

Hans was delighted indeed when he found himself on the top of a horse, and riding along so freely and gaily. After a while he thought he shouldlike to go rather quicker, and so he cried, "Gee up! gee up!" as the manhad told him. The horse soon set off at a hard trot, and, before Hansknew what he was about, he was thrown over head and heels into a ditchwhich divided the fields from the road. The horse, having accomplishedthis feat, would have bolted off if he had not been stopped by a Peasantwho was coming that way, driving a cow before him. Hans soon pickedhimself up on his legs, but he was terribly put out, and said to thecountryman, "That is bad sport, that riding, especially when one mountssuch a beast as that, which stumbles and throws one off so as to nearlybreak one's neck. I will never ride on that animal again. Commend me toyour cow: one may walk behind her without any discomfort, and besidesone has, every day for certain, milk, butter, and cheese. Ah! what wouldI not give for such a cow!"

"Well, " said the Peasant, "such an advantage you may soon enjoy; I willexchange my cow for your horse. "

To this Hans consented with a thousand thanks, and the Peasant, swinginghimself upon the horse, rode off in a hurry. 

Hans now drove his cow off steadily before him, thinking of his luckybargain in this wise: "I have a bit of bread, and I can, as often as Iplease, eat with it butter and cheese, and when I am thirsty I can milkmy cow and have a draught: and what more can I desire?"

As soon, then, as he came to an inn he halted, and ate with greatsatisfaction all the bread he had brought with him for his noonday andevening meals, and washed it down with a glass of beer, to buy which hespent his two last farthings. This over, he drove his cow farther, butstill in the direction of his mother's village. The heat meantime becamemore and more oppressive as noontime approached, and just then Hans cameto a common which was an hour's journey across. Here he got into such astate of heat that his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth, and hethought to himself: "This won't do; I will just milk my cow, and refreshmyself. " Hans, therefore tied her to a stump of a tree, and, having nopail, placed his leathern cap below, and set to work, but not a drop ofmilk could he squeeze out. He had placed himself, too, very awkwardly, and at last the impatient cow gave him such a kick on the head that hetumbled over on the ground, and for a long time knew not where he was. Fortunately, not many hours after, a Butcher passed by, trundling ayoung pig along upon a wheelbarrow. "What trick is this!" exclaimed he, helping up poor Hans; and Hans told him that all that had passed. TheButcher then handed him his flask and said, "There, take a drink; itwill revive you. Your cow might well give no milk: she is an old beast, and worth nothing at the best but for the plough or the butcher!"

"Eh! eh!" said Hans, pulling his hair over his eyes, "who would havethought it? It is all very well when one can kill a beast like that athome, and make a profit of the flesh; but for my part I have no relishfor cow's flesh; it is too tough for me! Ah! a young pig like yours isthe thing that tastes something like, let alone the sausages!"

"Well now, for love of you, " said the Butcher, "I will make an exchange, and let you have my pig for your cow. "

"Heaven reward you for your kindness!" cried Hans; and, giving up thecow, he untied the pig from the barrow and took into his hands thestring with which it was tied. 

Hans walked on again, considering how everything had happened just as hewished, and how all his vexations had turned out for the best after all!Presently a boy overtook him carrying a fine white goose under his arm, and after they had said "Good-day" to each other, Hans began to talkabout his luck, and what profitable exchanges he had made. The Boy onhis part told him that he was carrying the goose to a christening-feast. "Just lift it, " said he to Hans, holding it up by its wings, "just feelhow heavy it is; why, it has been fattened up for the last eight weeks, and whoever bites it when it is cooked will have to wipe the grease fromeach side of his mouth!"

"Yes, " said Hans, weighing it with one hand, "it is weighty, but my pigis no trifle either. "

While he was speaking the Boy kept looking about on all sides, andshaking his head suspiciously, and at length he broke out, "I am afraidit is not all right about your pig. In the village through which I havejust come, one has been stolen out of the sty of the mayor himself; andI am afraid, very much afraid, you have it now in your hand! They havesent out several people, and it would be a very bad job for you if theyfound you with the pig; the best thing you can do is to hide it in somedark corner!"

Honest Hans was thunderstruck, and exclaimed, "Ah, Heaven help me inthis fresh trouble! you know the neighbourhood better than I do; do youtake my pig and let me have your goose, " said he to the boy. 

"I shall have to hazard something at that game, " replied the Boy, "butstill I do not wish to be the cause of your meeting with misfortune;"and, so saying, he took the rope into his own hand, and drove the pigoff quickly by a side-path, while Hans, lightened of his cares, walkedon homeward with the goose under his arm. "If I judge rightly, " thoughthe to himself, "I have gained even by this exchange: first there is agood roast; then the quantity of fat which will drip out will make goosebroth for a quarter of a year; and then there are fine white feathers, which, when once I have put into my pillow I warrant I shall sleepwithout rocking. What pleasure my mother will have!"

As he came to the last village on his road there stood a Knife-grinder, with his barrow by the hedge, whirling his wheel round and singing:

 "Scissors and razors and such-like I grind; And gaily my rags are flying behind. "

Hans stopped and looked at him, and at last he said, "You appear to havea good business, if I may judge by your merry song?"

"Yes, " answered the Grinder, "this business has a golden bottom! A trueknife-grinder is a man who as often as he puts his hand into his pocketfeels money in it! But what a fine goose you have got; where did you buyit?"

"I did not buy it at all, " said Hans, "but took it in exchange for mypig. " "And the pig?" "I exchanged for my cow. " "And the cow?" "Iexchanged a horse for her. " "And the horse?" "For him I gave a lump ofgold as big as my head. " "And the gold?" "That was my wages for a sevenyears' servitude. " "And I see you have known how to benefit yourselfeach time, " said the Grinder; "but, could you now manage that you heardthe money rattling in your pocket as you walked, your fortune would bemade. "

"Well! how shall I manage that?" asked Hans. 

"You must become a grinder like me; to this trade nothing peculiarbelongs but a grindstone; the other necessaries find themselves. Here isone which is a little worn, certainly, and so I will not ask anythingmore for it than your goose; are you agreeable?"

"How can you ask me?" said Hans; "why, I shall be the luckiest man inthe world; having money as often as I dip my hand into my pocket, whathave I to care about any longer?"

So saying, he handed over the goose, and received the grindstone inexchange. 

"Now, " said the Grinder, picking up an ordinary big flint stone whichlay near, "now, there you have a capital stone upon which only beat themlong enough and you may straighten all your old nails! Take it, and useit carefully!"

Hans took the stone and walked on with a satisfied heart, his eyesglistening with joy. "I must have been born, " said he, "to a heap ofluck; everything happens just as I wish, as if I were a Sunday-child. "

Soon, however, having been on his legs since daybreak, he began to feelvery tired, and was plagued too with hunger, since he had eaten all hisprovision at once in his joy about the cow bargain. At last he feltquite unable to go farther, and was forced, too, to halt every minutefor the stones encumbered him very much. Just then the thought overcamehim, what a good thing it were if he had no need to carry them anylonger, and at the same moment he came up to a stream. Here he resolvedto rest and refresh himself with drink, and so that the stones might nothurt him in kneeling he laid them carefully down by his side on thebank. This done, he stooped down to scoop up some water in his hand, andthen it happened that he pushed one stone a little too far, so that bothpresently went plump into the water. Hans, as soon as he saw themsinking to the bottom, jumped up for joy, and then kneeled down andreturned thanks, with tears in his eyes, that so mercifully, and withoutany act on his part, and in so nice a way, he had been delivered fromthe heavy stones, which alone hindered him from getting on. 

"So lucky as I am, " exclaimed Hans, "is no other man under the sun!"

Then with a light heart, and free from every burden, he leaped gailyalong till he reached his mother's house. 

II

WHY THE SEA IS SALT

Once on a time, but it was a long, long time ago, there were twobrothers, one rich and one poor. Now, one Christmas eve, the poor onehadn't so much as a crumb in the house, either of meat or bread, so hewent to his brother to ask him for something to keep Christmas with, inGod's name. It was not the first time his brother had been forced tohelp him, and you may fancy he wasn't very glad to see his face, but hesaid:

"If you will do what I ask you to do, I'll give you a whole flitch ofbacon. "

So the poor brother said he would do anything and was full of thanks. 

"Well, here is the flitch, " said the rich brother, "and now go straightto Hell. "

"What I have given my word to do, I must stick to, " said the other; sohe took the flitch and set off. He walked the whole day, and at dusk hecame to a place where he saw a very bright light. 

"Maybe this is the place, " said the man to himself. So he turned aside, and the first thing he saw was an old, old man, with a long white beard, who stood in an outhouse, hewing wood for the Christmas fire. 

"Good even, " said the man with the flitch. 

"The same to you; whither are you going so late?" said the man. 

"Oh! I'm going to Hell, if I only knew the right way, " answered the poorman. 

"Well, you're not far wrong, for this is Hell, " said the old man; "whenyou get inside they will be all for buying your flitch, for meat isscarce in Hell; but, mind you don't sell it unless you get thehand-quern which stands behind the door for it. When you come out, I'llteach you how to handle the quern, for it's good to grind almostanything. "

So the man with the flitch thanked the other for his good advice, andgave a great knock at the Devil's door. 

When he got in, everything was just as the old man had said. All thedevils, great and small, came swarming up to him like ants round ananthill, and each tried to outbid the other for the flitch. 

"Well!" said the man, "by rights, my old dame and I ought to have thisflitch for our Christmas dinner; but since you have all set your heartson it, I suppose I must give it up to you; but if I sell it at all, I'llhave for it the quern behind the door yonder. "

At first the Devil wouldn't hear of such a bargain, and chaffed andhaggled with the man; but he stuck to what he said, and at last theDevil had to part with his quern. When the man got out into the yard, heasked the old woodcutter how he was to handle the quern; and after hehad learned how to use it, he thanked the old man and went off home asfast as he could, but still the clock had struck twelve on Christmas evebefore he reached his own door. 

"Wherever in the world have you been?" said his old dame; "here have Isat hour after hour waiting and watching, without so much as two sticksto lay together under the Christmas brose. "

"Oh!" said the man, "I couldn't get back before, for I had to go a longway first for one thing, and then for another; but now you shall seewhat you shall see. "

So he put the quern on the table, and bade it first of all grind lights, then a table-cloth, then meat, then ale, and so on till they had goteverything that was nice for Christmas fare. He had only to speak theword, and the quern ground out what he wanted. The old dame stood byblessing her stars, and kept on asking where he had got this wonderfulquern, but he wouldn't tell her. 

"It's all one where I got it from; you see the quern is a good one, andthe mill-stream never freezes, that's enough. "

So he ground meat and drink and dainties enough to last out till TwelfthDay, and on the third day he asked all his friends and kin to his house, and gave a great feast. Now, when his rich brother saw all that was onthe table, and all that was behind in the larder, he grew quite spitefuland wild, for he couldn't bear that his brother should have anything. 

"Twas only on Christmas eve, " he said to the rest, "he was in suchstraits that he came and asked for a morsel of food in God's name, andnow he gives a feast as if he were count or king;" and he turned to hisbrother and said:

"But whence, in Hell's name, have you got all this wealth?"

"From behind the door, " answered the owner of the quern, for he didn'tcare to let the cat out of the bag. But later on in the evening, when hehad got a drop too much, he could keep his secret no longer, and broughtout the quern and said:

"There, you see what has gotten me all this wealth;" and so he made thequern grind all kind of things. When his brother saw it, he set hisheart on having the quern, and, after a deal of coaxing, he got it; buthe had to pay three hundred dollars for it, and his brother bargained tokeep it till hay-harvest, for he thought, if I keep it till then, I canmake it grind meat and drink that will last for years. So you may fancythe quern didn't grow rusty for want of work, and when hay-harvest came, the rich brother got it, but the other took care not to teach him how tohandle it. 

It was evening when the rich brother got the quern home, and the nextmorning he told his wife to go out into the hay-field and toss, whilethe mowers cut the grass, and he would stay at home and get the dinnerready. So, when dinner-time drew near, he put the quern on the kitchentable and said:

"Grind herrings and broth, and grind them good and fast. "

So the quern began to grind herrings and broth; first of all, all thedishes full, then all the tubs full, and so on till the kitchen floorwas quite covered. Then the man twisted and twirled at the quern to getit to stop, but for all his twisting and fingering the quern went ongrinding, and in a little while the broth rose so high that the man waslike to drown. So he threw open the kitchen door and ran into theparlour, but it wasn't long before the quern had ground the parlour fulltoo, and it was only at the risk of his life that the man could get holdof the latch of the house door through the stream of broth. When he gotthe door open, he ran out and set off down the road, with the stream ofherrings and broth at his heels, roaring like a waterfall over the wholefarm. 

Now, his old dame, who was in the field tossing hay, thought it a longtime to dinner, and at last she said:

"Well! though the master doesn't call us home, we may as well go. Maybehe finds it hard work to boil the broth, and will be glad of my help. "

The men were willing enough, so they sauntered homeward; but just asthey had got a little way up the hill, what should they meet butherrings, and broth, and bread, all running and dashing, and splashingtogether in a stream, and the master himself running before them for hislife, and as he passed them he bawled out: "Would to heaven each of youhad a hundred throats! but take care you're not drowned in the broth. "

Away he went, as though the Evil One were at his heels, to his brother'shouse, and begged him for God's sake to take back the quern thatinstant; for, said he:

"If it grinds only one hour more, the whole parish will be swallowed upby herrings and broth. "

But his brother wouldn't hear of taking it back till the other paid himdown three hundred dollars more. 

So the poor brother got both the money and the quern, and it wasn't longbefore he set up a farmhouse far finer than the one in which hisbrother lived, and with the quern he ground so much gold that he coveredit with plates of gold; and as the farm lay by the sea-side, the goldenhouse gleamed and glistened far away over the sea. All who sailed by, put ashore to see the rich man in the golden house, and to see thewonderful quern, the fame of which spread far and wide, till there wasnobody who hadn't heard tell of it. 

So one day there came a skipper who wanted to see the quern; and thefirst thing he asked was if it could grind salt. 

"Grind salt!" said the owner; "I should just think it could. It cangrind anything. "

When the skipper heard that, he said he must have the quern, cost whatit would; for if he only had it, he thought he should be rid of his longvoyages across stormy seas for a lading of salt. Well, at first the manwouldn't hear of parting with the quern; but the skipper begged andprayed so hard that at last he let him have it, but he had to pay many, many thousand dollars for it. Now, when the skipper had got the quern onhis back, he soon made off with it, for he was afraid lest the manshould change his mind; so he had no time to ask how to handle thequern, but got on board his ship as fast as he could, and set sail. When he had sailed a good way off, he brought the quern on deck andsaid:

"Grind salt, and grind both good and fast. "

Well, the quern began to grind salt so that it poured out like water;and when the skipper had got the ship full, he wished to stop the quern, but whichever way he turned it, and however much he tried, it was nogood; the quern kept grinding on, and the heap of salt grew higher andhigher, and at last down sunk the ship. 

There lies the quern at the bottom of the sea, and grinds away at thisvery day, and that's why the sea is salt. 

III

THE LAD WHO WENT TO THE NORTH WIND

Once on a time there was an old widow who had one son and, as she waspoorly and weak, her son had to go up into the safe to fetch meal forcooking; but when he got outside the safe, and was just going down thesteps, there came the North Wind, puffing and blowing, caught up themeal, and so away with it through the air. Then the lad went back intothe safe for more; but when he came out again on the steps, if the NorthWind didn't come again and carry off the meal with a puff; and more thanthat, he did so the third time. At this the lad got very angry; and ashe thought it hard that the North Wind should behave so, he thought he'djust look him up, and ask him to give up his meal. 

So off he went, but the way was long, and he walked and walked; but atlast he came to the North Wind's house. 

"Good day!" said the lad, and "thank you for coming to see usyesterday. "

"GOOD DAY!" answered the North Wind, for his voice was loud and gruff, "AND THANKS FOR COMING TO SEE ME. WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"Oh!" answered the lad, "I only wished to ask you to be so good as tolet me have back that meal you took from me on the safe steps, for wehaven't much to live on; and if you're to go on snapping up the morselwe have there'll be nothing for it but to starve. "

"I haven't got your meal, " said the North Wind; "but if you are in suchneed, I'll give you a cloth which will get you everything you want, ifyou only say, 'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of gooddishes!'"

With this the lad was well content. But, as the way was so long hecouldn't get home in one day, he turned into an inn on the way; and whenthey were going to sit down to supper, he laid the cloth on a tablewhich stood in the corner and said:

"Cloth spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes. "

He had scarce said so before the cloth did as it was bid; and all whostood by thought it a fine thing, but most of all the landlady. So, when all were fast asleep, at dead of night, she took the lad's cloth, and put another in its stead, just like the one he had got from theNorth Wind, but which couldn't so much as serve up a bit of dry bread. 

So, when the lad woke, he took his cloth and went off with it, and thatday he got home to his mother. 

"Now, " said he, "I've been to the North Wind's house, and a good fellowhe is, for he gave me this cloth, and when I only say to it, 'Cloth, spread yourself, and serve up all kinds of good dishes, ' I get any sortof food I please. "

"All very true, I dare say, " said his mother; "but seeing is believing, and I shan't believe it till I see it. "

So the lad made haste, drew out a table, laid the cloth on it, and said:

"Cloth, spread yourself, and serve all up kinds of good dishes. "

But never a bit of dry bread did the cloth serve up. 

"Well, " said the lad, "there's no help for it but to go to the NorthWind again;" and away he went. 

So he came to where the North Wind lived late in the afternoon. 

"Good evening!" said the lad. 

"Good evening, " said the North Wind. 

"I want my rights for that meal of ours which you took, " said the lad;"for as for that cloth I got, it isn't worth a penny. "

"I've got no meal, " said the North Wind; "but yonder you have a ramwhich coins nothing but golden ducats as soon as you say to it:

"'Ram, ram! make money!'"

So the lad thought this a fine thing but as it was too far to get homethat day, he turned in for the night to the same inn where he had sleptbefore. 

Before he called for anything, he tried the truth of what the North Windhad said of the ram, and found it all right; but when the landlord sawthat, he thought it was a famous ram, and, when the lad had fallenasleep, he took another which couldn't coin gold ducats, and changed thetwo. 

Next morning off went the lad; and when he got home to his mother hesaid:

"After all, the North Wind is a jolly fellow; for now he has given me aram which can coin golden ducats if I only say, 'Ram, ram! makemoney!'"

"All very true, I dare say, " said his mother; "but I shan't believe anysuch stuff until I see the ducats made. "

"Ram, ram! make money!" said the lad; but if the ram made anything itwasn't money. 

So the lad went back again to the North Wind and blew him up, and saidthe ram was worth nothing, and he must have his rights for the meal. 

"Well, " said the North Wind; "I've nothing else to give you but that oldstick in the corner yonder; but it's a stick of that kind that if yousay:

"'Stick, stick! lay on!' it lays on till you say:

"'Stick, stick! now stop!'"

So, as the way was long, the lad turned in this night too to thelandlord; but as he could pretty well guess how things stood as to thecloth and the ram, he lay down at once on the bench and began to snore, as if he were asleep. 

Now the landlord, who easily saw that the stick must be worth something, hunted up one which was like it, and when he heard the lad snore, wasgoing to change the two, but just as the landlord was about to take itthe lad bawled out:

"Stick, stick! lay on!"

So the stick began to beat the landlord, till he jumped over chairs, andtables, and benches, and yelled and roared:

"Oh my! oh my! bid the stick be still, else it will beat me to death, and you shall have back both your cloth and your ram. "

When the lad thought the landlord had got enough, he said:

"Stick, stick! now stop!"

Then he took the cloth and put it into his pocket, and went home withhis stick in his hand, leading the ram by a cord round its horns; and sohe got his rights for the meal he had lost. 

IV

THE LAD AND THE DEIL

Once on a time there was a lad who was walking along a road crackingnuts, so he found one that was worm-eaten, and just at that very momenthe met the Deil. 

"Is it true, now, " said the lad, "what they say, that the Deil can makehimself as small as he chooses, and thrust himself on through apinhole?"

"Yes, it is, " said the Deil. 

"Oh! it is, is it? then let me see you do it, and just creep into thisnut, " said the lad. 

So the Deil did it. 

Now, when he had crept well into it through the worm's hole, the ladstopped it up with a pin. 

"Now, I've got you safe, " he said, and put the nut into his pocket. 

So when he had walked on a bit, he came to a smithy, and he turned inand asked the smith if he'd be good enough to crack that nut for him. 

"Ay, that'll be an easy job, " said the smith, and took his smallesthammer, laid the nut on the anvil, and gave it a blow, but it wouldn'tbreak. 

So he took another hammer a little bigger, but that wasn't heavy enougheither. 

Then he took one bigger still, but it was still the same story; and sothe smith got wroth, and grasped his great sledge-hammer. 

"Now, I'll crack you to bits, " he said, and let drive at the nut withall his might and main. And so the nut flew to pieces with a bang thatblew off half the roof of the smithy, and the whole house creaked andgroaned as though it were ready to fall. 

"Why! if I don't think the Deil must have been in that nut, " said thesmith. 

"So he was; you're quite right, " said the lad, as he went away laughing. 

V

ANANZI AND THE LION

Once on a time Ananzi planned a scheme. He went to town and bought everso many firkins of fat, and ever so many sacks, and ever so many ballsof string, and a very big frying pan, then he went to the bay and blew ashell, and called the Head-fish in the sea, "Green Eel, " to him. Then hesaid to the fish, "The King sends me to tell you that you must bring allthe fish on shore, for he wants to give them new life. "

So "Green Eel" said he would, and went to call them. Meanwhile Ananzilighted a fire, and took out some of the fat, and got his frying panready, and as fast as the fish came out of the water he caught them andput them into the frying pan, and so he did with all of them until hegot to the Head-fish, who was so slippery that he couldn't hold him, andhe got back again into the water. 

When Ananzi had fried all the fish, he put them into the sacks, andtook the sacks on his back, and set off to the mountains. He had notgone very far when he met Lion, and Lion said to him:

"Well, brother Ananzi, where have you been? I have not seen you a longtime. "

Ananzi said, "I have been travelling about. "

"Oh! But what have you got there?" said the Lion. 

"Oh! I have got my mother's bones--she has been dead these forty-elevenyears, and they say I must not keep her here, so I am taking her up intothe middle of the mountains to bury her. "

Then they parted. After he had gone a little way, the Lion said: "I knowthat Ananzi is a great rogue; I dare say he has got something there thathe doesn't want me to see, and I will just follow him;" but he took carenot to let Ananzi see him. 

Now, when Ananzi got into the wood, he set his sacks down, and took onefish out and began to eat; then a fly came, and Ananzi said, "I cannoteat any more, for there is some one near;" so he tied the sack up, andwent on farther into the mountains, where he set his sacks down, andtook out two fish which he ate; and no fly came. He said, "There is noone near;" so he took out more fish. But when he had eaten about half adozen the Lion came up and said:

"Well, brother Ananzi, a pretty tale you have told me. "

"Oh! brother Lion, I am so glad you have come; never mind what tale Ihave told you, but come and sit down--it was only my fun. "

So Lion sat down and began to eat; but before Ananzi had eaten two fish, Lion had emptied one of the sacks. Then said Ananzi to himself:

"Greedy fellow, eating up all my fish. "

"What do you say, sir?"

"I only said you do not eat half fast enough, " for he was afraid theLion would eat him up. 

Then they went on eating, but Ananzi wanted to revenge himself, and hesaid to the Lion, "Which of us do you think is the stronger?"

The Lion said, "Why, I am, of course. "

Then Ananzi said, "We will tie one another to the tree, and we shall seewhich is the stronger. "

Now they agreed that the Lion should tie Ananzi first, and he tied himwith some very fine string, and did not tie him tight. Ananzi twistedhimself about two or three times, and the string broke. 

Then it was Ananzi's turn to tie the Lion, and he took some very strongcord. The Lion said, "You must not tie me tight, for I did not tie youtight. " And Ananzi said, "Oh! no, to be sure, I will not. " But he tiedhim as tight as ever he could, and then told him to try and get loose. 

The Lion tried and tried in vain--he could not get loose. Then Ananzithought, now is my chance; so he got a big stick and beat him, and thenwent away and left him, for he was afraid to loose him lest he shouldkill him. 

Now there was a woman called Miss Nancy, who was going out one morningto get some "callalou" (spinach) in the wood, and as she was going sheheard some one say, "Good morning, Miss Nancy!" She could not tell whospoke to her, but she looked where the voice came from, and saw the Liontied to the tree. 

"Good morning, Mr. Lion, what are you doing there?"

He said, "It is all that fellow Ananzi who has tied me to the tree, butwill you loose me?"

But she said, "No, for I am afraid, if I do, you will kill me. " But hegave her his word he would not; still she could not trust him; but hebegged her again and again, and said:

"Well, if I do try to eat you, I hope all the trees will cry out shameupon me. "

So at last she consented; but she had no sooner loosed him, than he cameup to her to eat her, for he had been so many days without food that hewas quite ravenous, but the trees immediately cried out, "Shame, " and sohe could not eat her. Then she went away as fast as she could, and theLion found his way home. 

When Lion got home he told his wife and children all that happened tohim, and how Miss Nancy had saved his life, so they said they would havea great dinner, and ask Miss Nancy. Now when Ananzi heard of it, hewanted to go to the dinner, so he went to Miss Nancy, and said she musttake him with her as her child, but she said, "No. " Then he said, "I canturn myself into quite a little child and then you can take me, " and atlast she said, "Yes;" and he told her, when she was asked what pap herbaby ate, she must be sure to tell them it did not eat pap, but the samefood as every one else; and so they went, and had a very good dinner, and set off home again--but somehow one of the Lion's sons fancied thatall was not right, and he told his father he was sure it was Ananzi, andthe Lion set out after him. 

Now as they were going along, before the Lion got up to them, Ananzibegged Miss Nancy to put him down, that he might run, which he did, andhe got away and ran along the wood, and the Lion ran after him. When hefound the Lion was overtaking him, he turned himself into an old manwith a bundle of wood on his head--and when the Lion got up to him, hesaid, "Good morning, Mr. Lion, " and the Lion said, "Good morning, oldgentleman. "

Then the old man said, "What are you after now?" and the Lion asked ifhe had seen Ananzi pass that way, but the old man said, "No, that fellowAnanzi is always meddling with some one; what mischief has he been up tonow?"

Then the Lion told him, but the old man said it was no use to follow himany more, for he would never catch him, and so the Lion wished himgood-day, and turned and went home again. 

VI

THE GRATEFUL FOXES

One fine spring day two friends went out to a moor to gather fern, attended by a boy with a bottle of wine and a box of provisions. As theywere straying about, they saw at the foot of a hill two foxes that hadbrought out their cub to play; and whilst they looked on, struck by thestrangeness of the sight, three children came up from a neighbouringvillage with baskets in their hands, on the same errand as themselves. As soon as the children saw the foxes, they picked up a bamboo stick andtook the creatures stealthily in the rear; and when the old foxes tookto flight, they surrounded them and beat them with the stick, so thatthey ran away as fast as their legs could carry them; but two of theboys held down the cub, and, seizing it by the scruff of the neck, wentoff in high glee. 

The two friends were looking on all the while, and one of them, raisinghis voice, shouted out, "Hallo! you boys! what are you doing with thatfox?"

The eldest of the boys replied, "We're going to take him home and sellhim to a young man in our village. He'll buy him, and then he'll boilhim in a pot and eat him. "

"Well, " replied the other, after considering the matter attentively, "Isuppose it's all the same to you whom you sell him to. You'd better letme have him. "

"Oh, but the young man from our village promised us a good sum if wecould find a fox, and got us to come out to the hills and catch one; andso we can't sell him to you at any price. "

"Well, I suppose it cannot be helped, then; but how much would the youngman give you for the cub?"

"Oh, he'll give us three hundred cash at least. "

"Then I'll give you half a bu;[1] and so you'll gain five hundred cashby the transaction. "

"Oh, we'll sell him for that, sir. How shall we hand him over to you?"

"Just tie him up here, " said the other; and so he made fast the cubround the neck with the string of the napkin in which the luncheon-boxwas wrapped, and gave half a bu to the three boys, who ran awaydelighted. 

The man's friend, upon this, said to him: "Well, certainly you have gotqueer tastes. What on earth are you going to keep the fox for?"

"How very unkind of you to speak of my tastes like that. If we had notinterfered just now, the fox's cub would have lost its life. If we hadnot seen the affair, there would have been no help for it. How could Istand by and see life taken? It was but a little I spent--only half abu--to save the cub, but had it cost a fortune I should not have grudgedit. I thought you were intimate enough with me to know my heart; butto-day you have accused me of being eccentric, and I see how mistaken Ihave been in you. However, our friendship shall cease from this dayforth. "

And when he had said this with a great deal of firmness, the other, retiring backward and bowing with his hands on his knees, replied:

"Indeed, indeed, I am filled with admiration at the goodness of yourheart. When I hear you speak thus, I feel more than ever how great isthe love I bear you. I thought that you might wish to use the cub as asort of decoy to lead the old ones to you, that you might pray them tobring prosperity and virtue to your house. When I called you eccentricjust now, I was but trying your heart, because I had some suspicions ofyou; and now I am truly ashamed of myself. "

And as he spoke, still bowing, the other replied: "Really! was thatindeed your thought? Then I pray you to forgive me for my violentlanguage. "

When the two friends had thus become reconciled, they examined the cub, and saw that it had a slight wound in its foot, and could not walk; andwhile they were thinking what they should do, they spied out the herbcalled "Doctor's Nakasé, " which was just sprouting; so they rolled up alittle of it in their fingers and applied it to the part. Then theypulled out some boiled rice from their luncheon-box and offered it tothe cub, but it showed no sign of wanting to eat; so they stroked itgently on the back and petted it; and as the pain of the wound seemed tohave subsided, they were admiring the properties of the herb, when, opposite to them, they saw the old foxes sitting watching them by theside of some stacks of rice straw. 

"Look there! the old foxes have come back, out of fear for their cub'ssafety. Come, we will set it free!" And with these words they untied thestring round the cub's neck, and turned its head toward the spot wherethe old foxes sat; and as the wounded foot was no longer painful, withone bound it dashed to its parents' side and licked them all over forjoy, while they seemed to bow their thanks, looking toward the twofriends. So, with peace in their hearts, the latter went off to anotherplace, and, choosing a pretty spot, produced the wine bottle and atetheir noonday meal; and after a pleasant day, they returned to theirhomes, and became firmer friends than ever. 

Now the man who had rescued the fox's cub was a tradesman in goodcircumstances: he had three or four agents and two maid-servants, besides men-servants; and altogether he lived in a liberal manner. Hewas married, and this union had brought him one son, who had reached histenth year, but had been attacked by a strange disease which defied allthe physicians' skill and drugs. At last a famous physician prescribedthe liver taken from a live fox, which, as he said, would certainlyeffect a cure. If that were not forthcoming, the most expensive medicinein the world would not restore the boy to health. When the parents heardthis, they were at their wits' end. However, they told the state of thecase to a man who lived on the mountains. "Even though our child shoulddie for it, " they said, "we will not ourselves deprive other creaturesof their lives; but you, who live among the hills, are sure to hear whenyour neighbours go out fox-hunting. We don't care what price we mighthave to pay for a fox's liver; pray, buy one for us at any expense. " Sothey pressed him to exert himself on their behalf; and he, havingpromised faithfully to execute the commission, went his way. 

In the night of the following day there came a messenger, who announcedhimself as coming from the person who had undertaken to procure thefox's liver; so the master of the house went out to see him. 

"I have come from Mr. So-and-so. Last night the fox's liver that yourequired fell into his hands; so he sent me to bring it to you. " Withthese words the messenger produced a small jar, adding, "In a few dayshe will let you know the price. "

When he had delivered his message, the master of the house was greatlypleased and said, "Indeed, I am deeply grateful for this kindness, whichwill save my son's life. "

Then the good wife came out, and received the jar with every mark ofpoliteness. 

"We must make a present to the messenger. "

"Indeed, sir, I've already been paid for my trouble. "

"Well, at any rate, you must stop the night here. "

"Thank you, sir: I've a relation in the next village whom I have notseen for a long while, and I will pass the night with him;" and so hetook his leave, and went away. 

The parents lost no time in sending to let the physician know that theyhad procured the fox's liver. The next day the doctor came andcompounded a medicine for the patient, which at once produced a goodeffect, and there was no little joy in the household. As luck would haveit, three days after this the man whom they had commissioned to buy thefox's liver came to the house: so the goodwife hurried out to meet himand welcome him. 

"How quickly you fulfilled our wishes, and how kind of you to send atonce! The doctor prepared the medicine, and now our boy can get up andwalk about the room; and it's all owing to your goodness. "

"Wait a bit!" cried the guest, who did not know what to make of the joyof the two parents. "The commission with which you entrusted me aboutthe fox's liver turned out to be a matter of impossibility, so I cameto-day to make my excuses; and now I really can't understand what youare so grateful to me for. "

"We are thanking you, sir, " replied the master of the house, bowing withhis hands on the ground, "for the fox's liver which we asked you toprocure for us. "

"I really am perfectly unaware of having sent you a fox's liver: theremust be some mistake here. Pray inquire carefully into the matter. "

"Well, this is very strange. Four nights ago, a man of some five or sixand thirty years of age came with a verbal message from you, to theeffect that you had sent him with a fox's liver, which you had justprocured, and said that he would come and tell us the price another day. When we asked him to spend the night here, he answered that he wouldlodge with a relation in the next village, and went away. "

The visitor was more and more lost in amazement, and, leaning his headon one side in deep thought, confessed that he could make nothing of it. As for the husband and wife, they felt quite out of countenance athaving thanked a man so warmly for favours of which he denied allknowledge; and so the visitor took his leave and went home. 

That night there appeared at the pillow of the master of the house awoman of about one or two and thirty years of age, who said: "I am thefox that lives at such-and-such a mountain. Last spring, when I wastaking out my cub to play, it was carried off by some boys, and onlysaved by your goodness. The desire to requite this kindness pierced meto the quick. At last, when calamity attacked your house, I thought Imight be of use to you. Your son's illness could not be cured without aliver taken from a live fox, so to repay your kindness I killed my cuband took out its liver; then its sire, disguising himself as amessenger, brought it to your house. "

And as she spoke, the fox shed tears; and the master of the house, wishing to thank her, moved in bed, upon which his wife awoke and askedhim what was the matter; but he too, to her great astonishment, wasbiting the pillow and weeping bitterly. 

"Why are you weeping thus?" asked she. 

At last he sat up in bed and said: "Last spring, when I was out on apleasure excursion, I was the means of saving the life of a fox's cub, as I told you at the time. The other day I told Mr. So-and-so that, although my son were to die before my eyes, I would not be the means ofkilling a fox on purpose, but asked him, in case he heard of any hunterkilling a fox, to buy it for me. How the foxes came to hear of this Idon't know; but the foxes to whom I had shown kindness killed their owncub and took out the liver; and the old dog-fox, disguising himself as amessenger from the person to whom we had confided the commission, camehere with it. His mate has just been at my pillow-side and told me allabout it. Hence it was that, in spite of myself, I was moved to tears. "

When she heard this, the goodwife likewise was blinded by her tears, andfor a while they lay lost in thought; but at last, coming to themselves, they lighted the lamp on the shelf on which the family idol stood, andspent the night in reciting prayers and praises, and the next day theypublished the matter to the household and to their relations andfriends. Now, although there are instances of men killing their ownchildren to requite a favour, there is no other example of foxes havingdone such a thing; so the story became the talk of the whole country. 

Now, the boy who had recovered through the efficacy of this medicineselected the prettiest spot on the premises to erect a shrine to InariSama, [2] the Fox God, and offered sacrifice to the two old foxes, forwhom he purchased the highest rank at the court of the Mikado. 

 * * * * *

The passage in the tale which speaks of rank being purchased for thefoxes at the court of the Mikado is, of course, a piece of nonsense. "The saints who are worshipped in Japan, " writes a native authority, "are men who, in the remote ages, when the country was developingitself, were sages, and by their great and virtuous deeds having earnedthe gratitude of future generations, received divine honours after theirdeath. How can the Son of Heaven, who is the father and mother of hispeople, turn dealer in ranks and honours? If rank were a matter ofbarter, it would cease to be a reward to the virtuous. "

All matters connected with the shrines of the Shintô, or indigenousreligion, are confided to the superintendence of the families of Yoshidaand Fushimi, Kugés or nobles of the Mikado's court at Kiyôto. Theaffairs of the Buddhist or imported religion are under the care of thefamily of Kanjuji. As it is necessary that those who as priests performthe honourable office of serving the gods should be persons of somestanding, a certain small rank is procured for them through theintervention of the representatives of the above noble families, who, onthe issuing of the required patent, receive as their perquisite a fee, which, although insignificant in itself, is yet of importance to thepoor Kugés, whose penniless condition forms a great contrast to thewealth of their inferiors in rank, the Daimios. I believe that this isthe only case in which rank can be bought or sold in Japan. In China, onthe contrary, in spite of what has been written by Meadows and otheradmirers of the examination system, a man can be what he pleases bypaying for it; and the coveted button, which is nominally the reward oflearning and ability, is more often the prize of wealthy ignorance. 

The saints who are alluded to above are the saints of the whole country, as distinct from those who for special deeds are locally worshipped. 

Touching the remedy of the fox's liver, prescribed in the tale, I mayadd that there would be nothing strange in this to a person acquaintedwith the Chinese pharmacopoeia, which the Japanese long exclusivelyfollowed, although they are now successfully studying the art of healingas practised in the West. When I was at Peking, I saw a Chinesephysician prescribe a decoction of three scorpions for a child struckdown with fever; and on another occasion a groom of mine, suffering fromdysentery, was treated with acupuncture of the tongue. The art ofmedicine would appear to be at the present time in China much in thestate in which it existed in Europe in the sixteenth century, when theexcretions and secretions of all manner of animals, saurians, andvenomous snakes and insects, and even live bugs, were administered topatients. "Some physicians, " says Matthiolus, "use the ashes ofscorpions, burnt alive, for retention caused by either renal or vesicalcalculi. But I have myself thoroughly experienced the utility of an oilI make myself, whereof scorpions form a very large portion of theingredients. If only the region of the heart and all the pulses of thebody be anointed with it, it will free the patients from the effects ofall kinds of poisons taken by the mouth, corrosive ones excepted. "Decoctions of Egyptian mummies were much commended, and often prescribedwith due academical solemnity; and the bones of the human skull, pulverized and administered with oil, were used as a specific in casesof renal calculus. (See Petri Andreæ Matthioli "Opera, " 1574. )

These remarks were made to me by a medical gentleman to whom I mentionedthe Chinese doctor's prescription of scorpion tea, and they seem to meso curious that I insert them for comparison's sake. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: _Bu. _ This coin is generally called by foreigners "ichibu, "which means "one bu. " To talk of "_a hundred ichibus_" is as though aJapanese were to say "_a hundred one shillings_. " Four bus make a_riyo_, or ounce; and any sum above three bus is spoken of as so manyriyos and bus--as 101 riyos and three bus equal 407 bus. The bu is worthabout 1_s. _ 4_d. _]

[Footnote 2: Inari Sama is the title under which was deified a certainmythical personage, called Uga, to whom tradition attributes the honourof having first discovered and cultivated the rice-plant. He isrepresented carrying a few ears of rice, and is symbolized by a snakeguarding a bale of rice grain. The foxes wait upon him, and do hisbidding. Inasmuch as rice is the most important and necessary product ofJapan, the honours which Inari Sama receives are extraordinary. Almostevery house in the country contains somewhere about the grounds a prettylittle shrine in his honour; and on a certain day of the second month ofthe year his feast is celebrated with much beating of drums and othernoises, in which the children take a special delight. "On this day, "says the O-Satsuyô, a Japanese cyclopædia, "at Yeddo, where there aremyriads upon myriads of shrines to Inari Sama, there are all sorts ofceremonies. Long banners with inscriptions are erected, lamps andlanterns are hung up, and the houses are decked with various dolls andfigures; the sound of flutes and drums is heard, and people dance andmake holiday according to their fancy. In short, it is the most bustlingfestival of the Yeddo year. "]

VII

THE BADGER'S MONEY

It is a common saying among men that to forget favours received is thepart of a bird or a beast: an ungrateful man will be ill spoken of byall the world. And yet even birds and beasts will show gratitude; sothat a man who does not requite a favour is worse even than dumb brutes. Is not this a disgrace?

Once upon a time, in a hut at a place called Namékata, in Hitachi, therelived an old priest famous neither for learning nor wisdom, but bentonly on passing his days in prayer and meditation. He had not even achild to wait upon him, but prepared his food with his own hands. Nightand morning he recited the prayer "Namu Amida Butsu, "[3] intent uponthat alone. Although the fame of his virtue did not reach far, yet hisneighbours respected and revered him, and often brought him food andraiment; and when his roof or his walls fell out of repair, they wouldmend them for him; so for the things of this world he took no thought. 

One very cold night, when he little thought any one was outside, heheard a voice calling, "Your reverence! your reverence!" So he rose andwent out to see who it was, and there he beheld an old badger standing. Any ordinary man would have been greatly alarmed at the apparition; butthe priest, being such as he has been described above, showed no sign offear, but asked the creature its business. Upon this the badgerrespectfully bent its knees and said:

"Hitherto, sir, my lair has been in the mountains, and of snow or frostI have taken no heed; but now I am growing old, and this severe cold ismore than I can bear. I pray you to let me enter and warm myself at thefire of your cottage, that I may live through this bitter night. "

When the priest heard what a helpless state the beast was reduced to, hewas filled with pity and said:

"That's a very slight matter: make haste and come in and warm yourself. "

The badger, delighted with so good a reception, went into the hut, andsquatting down by the fire began to warm itself; and the priest, withrenewed fervour, recited his prayers and struck his bell before theimage of Buddha, looking straight before him. 

After two hours the badger took its leave, with profuse expressions ofthanks, and went out; and from that time forth it came every night tothe hut. As the badger would collect and bring with it dried branchesand dead leaves from the hills for firewood, the priest at last becamevery friendly with it, and got used to its company; so that if ever, asthe night wore on, the badger did not arrive, he used to miss it, andwonder why it did not come. When the winter was over, and the springtimecame at the end of the second month, the badger gave up its visits, andwas no more seen; but, on the return of the winter, the beast resumedits old habit of coming to the hut. When this practice had gone on forten years, one day the badger said to the priest, "Through yourreverence's kindness for all these years, I have been able to pass thewinter nights in comfort. Your favours are such that during all my life, and even after my death, I must remember them. What can I do to requitethem? If there is anything that you wish for, pray tell me. "

The priest, smiling at this speech, answered: "Being such as I am, Ihave no desire and no wishes. Glad as I am to hear your kind intentions, there is nothing that I can ask you to do for me. You need feel noanxiety on my account. As long as I live, when the winter comes, youshall be welcome here. " The badger, on hearing this, could not concealits admiration of the depth of the old man's benevolence; but having somuch to be grateful for, it felt hurt at not being able to requite it. As this subject was often renewed between them, the priest at last, touched by the goodness of the badger's heart, said: "Since I haveshaven my head, renounced the world, and forsaken the pleasures of thislife, I have no desire to gratify, yet I own I should like to possessthree riyos in gold. Food and raiment I receive by the favour of thevillagers, so I take no heed for those things. Were I to die to-morrow, and attain my wish of being born again into the next world, the samekind folk have promised to meet and bury my body. Thus, although I haveno other reason to wish for money, still if I had three riyos I wouldoffer them up at some holy shrine, that masses and prayers might be saidfor me, whereby I might enter into salvation. Yet I would not get thismoney by violent or unlawful means; I only think of what might be if Ihad it. So you see, since you have expressed such kind feelings towardme, I have told you what is on my mind. " When the priest had donespeaking, the badger leant its head on one side with a puzzled andanxious look, so much so that the old man was sorry he had expressed awish which seemed to give the beast trouble, and tried to retract whathe had said. "Posthumous honours, after all, are the wish of ordinarymen. I, who am a priest, ought not to entertain such thoughts, or towant money; so pray pay no attention to what I have said;" and thebadger, feigning assent to what the priest had impressed upon it, returned to the hills as usual. 

From that time forth the badger came no more to the hut. The priestthought this very strange, but imagined either that the badger stayedaway because it did not like to come without the money, or that it hadbeen killed in an attempt to steal it; and he blamed himself for havingadded to his sins for no purpose, repenting when it was too late:persuaded, however, that the badger must have been killed, he passed histime in putting up prayers upon prayers for it. 

After three years had gone by, one night the old man heard a voice nearhis door calling out, "Your reverence! your reverence!"

As the voice was like that of the badger, he jumped up as soon as heheard it, and ran to open the door; and there, sure enough, was thebadger. The priest, in great delight, cried out: "And so you are safeand sound, after all! Why have you been so long without coming here? Ihave been expecting you anxiously this long while. "

So the badger came into the hut and said: "If the money which yourequired had been for unlawful purposes, I could easily have procured asmuch as ever you might have wanted; but when I heard that it was to beoffered to a temple for masses for your soul, I thought that, if I wereto steal the hidden treasure of some other man, you could not apply to asacred purpose money which had been obtained at the expense of hissorrow. So I went to the island of Sado, [4] and gathering the sand andearth which had been cast away as worthless by the miners, fused itafresh in the fire; and at this work I spent months and days. " As thebadger finished speaking, the priest looked at the money which it hadproduced, and sure enough he saw that it was bright and new and clean;so he took the money, and received it respectfully, raising it to hishead. 

"And so you have had all this toil and labour on account of a foolishspeech of mine? I have obtained my heart's desire, and am trulythankful. "

As he was thanking the badger with great politeness and ceremony, thebeast said: "In doing this I have but fulfilled my own wish; still Ihope that you will tell this thing to no man. "

"Indeed, " replied the priest, "I cannot choose but tell this story. Forif I keep this money in my poor hut, it will be stolen by thieves: Imust either give it to some one to keep for me, or else at once offer itup at the temple. And when I do this, when people see a poor old priestwith a sum of money quite unsuited to his station, they will think itvery suspicious, and I shall have to tell the tale as it occurred; but Ishall say that the badger that gave me the money has ceased coming to myhut, you need not fear being waylaid, but can come, as of old, andshelter yourself from the cold. " To this the badger nodded assent; andas long as the old priest lived, it came and spent the winter nightswith him. 

From this story, it is plain that even beasts have a sense of gratitude:in this quality dogs excel all other beasts. Is not the story of the dogof Totoribé Yorodzu written in the Annals of Japan? I[5] have heard thatmany anecdotes of this nature have been collected and printed in a book, which I have not yet seen; but as the facts which I have recorded relateto a badger, they appear to me to be passing strange. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 3: A Buddhist prayer, in which something approaching to thesounds of the original Sanscrit has been preserved. The meaning of theprayer is explained as, "Save us, eternal Buddha'" Many even of thepriests who repeat it know it only as a formula, without understandingit. ]

[Footnote 4: An island on the west coast of Japan, famous for its goldmines. ]

[Footnote 5: The author of the tale. ]

VIII

WHY BROTHER BEAR HAS NO TAIL

"I 'clar' ter gracious, honey, " Uncle Remus exclaimed one night, as thelittle boy ran in, "you sholy ain't chaw'd yo' vittles. Hit ain't bin notime, skacely, sence de supper-bell rung, en ef you go on dis a-way, you'll des nat'ally pe'sh yo'se'f out. "

"Oh, I wasn't hungry, " said the little boy. "I had something beforesupper, and I wasn't hungry anyway. "

The old man looked keenly at the child, and presently he said:

"De ins en de outs er dat kinder talk all come ter de same p'int in mymin'. Youer bin a-cuttin' up at de table, en Mars John, he tuck'n sontyou 'way fum dar, en w'iles he think youer off some'er a-snifflin' ena-feelin' bad, yer you is a-high-primin' 'roun' des lak you done had mo'supper dan de King er Philanders. "

Before the little boy could inquire about the King of Philanders heheard his father calling him. He started to go out, but Uncle Remusmotioned him back. 

"Des set right whar you is, honey--des set right still. "

Then Uncle Remus went to the door and answered for the child; and a veryqueer answer it was--one that could be heard half over the plantation:

"Mars John, I wish you en Miss Sally be so good ez ter let dat chile'lone. He down yer cryin' he eyes out, en he ain't boddern' 'long ernobody in de roun' worl'. "

Uncle Remus stood in the door a moment to see what the reply would be, but he heard none. Thereupon he continued, in the same loud tone:

"I ain't bin use ter no sich gwines on in Ole Miss time, en I ain'tgwine git use ter it now. Dat I ain't. "

Presently 'Tildy, the house-girl, brought the little boy his supper, andthe girl was no sooner out of hearing than the child swapped it withUncle Remus for a roasted yam, and the enjoyment of both seemed to becomplete. 

"Uncle Remus, " said the little boy, after a while, "you know I wasn'tcrying just now. "

"Dat's so, honey, " the old man replied, "but 't wouldn't er bin long'fo' you would er bin, kaze Mars John bawl out lak a man wa't got astrop in he han', so wa't de diff'unce?"

When they had finished eating, Uncle Remus busied himself in cutting andtrimming some sole-leather for future use. His knife was so keen, andthe leather fell away from it so smoothly and easily, that the littleboy wanted to trim some himself. But to this Uncle Remus would notlisten. 

"'Tain't on'y chilluns w'at got de consate er doin' eve'ything dey seeyuther folks do. Hit's grown folks w'at oughter know better, " said theold man. "Dat's des de way Brer B'ar git his tail broke offsmick-smack-smoove, en down ter dis day he be funnies'-lookin' creeturw'at wobble on top er dry groun'. "

Instantly the little boy forgot all about Uncle Remus's sharp knife. 

"Hit seem lak dat in dem days Brer Rabbit en Brer Tarrypin done gone incohoots fer ter outdo de t'er creeturs. One time Brer Rabbit tuck'n makea call on Brer Tarrypin, but w'en he git ter Brer Tarrypin house, heyear talk fum Miss Tarrypin dat her ole man done gone fer ter spen' deday wid Mr. Mud-Turkle, w'ich dey wuz blood kin. Brer Rabbit he put outatter Brer Tarrypin, en w'en he got ter Mr. Mud-Turkle house, dey allsot up, dey did, en tole tales, en den w'en twelf er' clock come dey hadcrawfish fer dinner, en dey 'joy deyse'f right erlong. Atter dinner deywent down ter Mr. Mud-Turkle mill-pon, ' en w'en dey git dar Mr. Mud-Turkle en Brer Tarrypin dey 'muse deyse'f, dey did, wid slidin' fumde top uv a big slantin' rock down inter de water. 

"I'speck you moughter seen rocks in de water 'fo' now, whar dey gitgreen en slipp'y, " said Uncle Remus. 

The little boy had not only seen them, but had found them to be verydangerous to walk upon, and the old man continued:

"Well, den, dish yer rock wuz mighty slick en mighty slantin'. Mr. Mud-Turkle, he'd crawl ter de top, en tu'n loose, en go a-sailin' downinter de water--_kersplash!_ Ole Brer Tarrypin, he'd foller atter, enslide down inter de water--_kersplash!_ Ole Brer Rabbit, he sot off, hedid, en praise um up. 

"W'iles dey wuz a-gwine on dis a-way, a-havin' der fun, en 'joyin'deyse'f, yer come ole Brer B'ar. He year um laffin' en holl'in', en hehail um. 

"'Heyo, folks! W'at all dis? Ef my eye ain't 'ceive me, dish yer's BrerRabbit, en Brer Tarrypin, en ole Unk' Tommy Mud-Turkle, ' sez Brer B'ar, sezee. 

"'De same, ' sez Brer Rabbit, sezee, 'en yer we is 'joyin' de day datpasses des lak dey wa'n't no hard times. '

"'Well, well, well!' sez ole Brer B'ar, sezee, 'a-slippin' en a-slidin'en makin' free! En w'at de matter wid Brer Rabbit dat he ain't j'inin'in?' sezee. 

"Ole Brer Rabbit he wink at Brer Tarrypin, en Brer Tarrypin he hunch Mr. Mud-Turkle, en den Brer Rabbit he up'n 'low, he did:

"'My goodness, Brer B'ar! you can't 'speck a man fer ter slip en slidede whole blessid day, kin you? I done had my fun, en now I'm a-settin'out yer lettin' my cloze dry. Hit's tu'n en tu'n about wid me en dezegents w'en dey's any fun gwine on, ' sezee. 

"'Maybe Brer B'ar might jine in wid us, ' sez Brer Tarrypin, sezee. 

"Brer Rabbit he des holler en laff. 

"'Shoo!' sezee, 'Brer B'ar foot too big en he tail too long fer terslide down dat rock, ' sezee. 

"Dis kinder put Brer B'ar on he mettle, en he up'n 'spon', he did:

"'Maybe dey is, en maybe dey ain't, yit I ain't a-feared ter try. '

"Wid dat de yuthers tuck'n made way fer 'im, en ole Brer B'ar he git upon de rock he did, en squot down on he hunkers, en quile he tail und''im, en start down. Fus' he go sorter slow, en he grin lak he feel good;den he go sorter peart, en he grin lak he feel bad; den he go mo'pearter, en he grin lak he skeerd; den he strack de slick part, en, gentermens! he swaller de grin en fetch a howl dat moughter bin yeard amile, en he hit de water lak a chimbly a-fallin'. 

"You kin gimme denial, " Uncle Remus continued after a little pause, "butdes ez sho' ez you er settin' dar, w'en Brer B'ar slick'd up en flewdown dat rock, he break off he tail right smick-smack-smoove, en mo'ndat, w'en he make his disappear'nce up de big road, Brer Rabbit hollerout:

"'Brer B'ar!--O Brer B'ar! I year tell dat flaxseed poultices is mightygood fer so' places!'

"Yit Brer B'ar ain't look back. "

IX

THE ORIGIN OF RUBIES

There was a certain king who died leaving four sons behind him with hisqueen. The queen was passionately fond of the youngest of the princes. She gave him the best robes, the best horses, the best food, and thebest furniture. The other three princes became exceedingly jealous oftheir youngest brother, and, conspiring against him and their mother, made them live in a separate house, and took possession of the estate. Owing to overindulgence, the youngest prince had become very wilful. Henever listened to any one, not even to his mother, but had his own wayin everything. One day he went with his mother to bathe in the river. Alarge boat was riding there at anchor. None of the boatmen were in it. The prince went into the boat, and told his mother to come into it. Hismother besought him to get down from the boat, as it did not belong tohim. But the prince said, "No, mother I am not coming down; I mean to goon a voyage, and if you wish to come with me, then delay not but come upat once, or I shall be off in a trice. " The queen besought the prince todo no such thing, but to come down instantly. But the prince gave noheed to what she said, and began to take up the anchor. The queen wentup into the boat in great haste; and the moment she was on board theboat started, and falling into the current passed on swiftly like anarrow. The boat went on and on till it reached the sea. After it hadgone many furlongs into the open sea, the boat came near a whirlpoolwhere the prince saw a great many rubies of monstrous size floating onthe waters. Such large rubies no one had ever seen, each being in valueequal to the wealth of seven kings. The prince caught hold ofhalf-a-dozen of those rubies, and put them on board. His mother said, "Darling, don't take up those red balls; they must belong to somebodywho has been shipwrecked, and we may be taken up as thieves. " At therepeated entreaties of his mother, the prince threw them into the sea, keeping only one tied up in his clothes. The boat then drifted towardthe coast, and the queen and the prince arrived at a certain port wherethey landed. 

The port where they landed was not a small place; it was a large city, the capital of a great king. Not far from the palace, the queen and herson hired a hut where they lived. As the prince was yet a boy, he wasfond of playing at marbles. When the children of the king came out toplay on a lawn before the palace, our young prince joined them. He hadno marbles, but he played with the ruby which he had in his possession. The ruby was so hard that it broke every taw against which it struck. The daughter of the king, who used to watch the games from a balcony ofthe palace, was astonished to see a brilliant red ball in the hand ofthe strange lad, and wanted to take possession of it. She told herfather that a boy of the street had an uncommonly bright stone in hispossession which she must have or else she would starve herself todeath. The king ordered his servants to bring to him the lad with thatprecious stone. When the boy was brought, the king wondered at thelargeness and brilliancy of the ruby. He had never seen anything likeit. He doubted whether any king of any country in the world possessed sogreat a treasure. He asked the lad where he had got it. The lad repliedthat he got it from the sea. The king offered a thousand rupees for theruby, and the lad, not knowing its value, readily parted with it forthat sum. He went with the money to his mother, who was not a littlefrightened, thinking that her son had stolen the money from some richman's house. She became quiet, however, on being assured that the moneywas given to him by the king in exchange for the red ball which he hadpicked up in the sea. 

The king's daughter, on getting the ruby put it in her hair, and, standing before her pet parrot, said to the bird, "Oh, my darlingparrot, don't I look very beautiful with this ruby in my hair?" Theparrot replied, "Beautiful! you look quite hideous with it! Whatprincess ever puts only one ruby in her hair? It would be somewhatfeasible if you had two at least. " Stung with shame at the reproach castin her teeth by the parrot, the princess went into the grief-chamber ofthe palace, and would neither eat nor drink. The king was not a littleconcerned when he heard that his daughter had gone into thegrief-chamber. He went to her, and asked her the cause of her grief. Theprincess told the king what her pet parrot had said, and added, "Father, if you do not procure for me another ruby like this, I'll put an end tomy life by mine own hands. " The king was overwhelmed with grief. Wherewas he to get another ruby like it? He doubted whether another like itcould be found in the whole world. He ordered the lad who had sold theruby, to be brought into his presence. "Have you, young man, " asked theking, "another ruby like the one you sold me?" The lad replied: "No, Ihave not got one. Why, do you want another? I can give you lots, if youwish to have them. They are to be found in a whirlpool in the sea, far, far away. I can go and fetch some for you. " Amazed at the lad's reply, the king offered rich rewards for procuring only another ruby of thesame sort. 

The lad went home and said to his mother that he must go to sea again tofetch some rubies for the king. The woman was quite frightened at theidea, and begged him not to go. But the lad was resolved on going, andnothing could prevent him from carrying out his purpose. He accordinglywent alone on board that same vessel which had brought him and hismother, and set sail. He reached the whirlpool, from near which he hadformerly picked up the rubies. This time, however, he determined to goto the exact spot whence the rubies were coming out. He went to thecentre of the whirlpool, where he saw a gap reaching to the bottom ofthe ocean. He dived into it, leaving his boat to wheel round thewhirlpool. When he reached the bottom of the ocean he saw there abeautiful palace. He went inside. In the central room of the palacethere was the god Siva, with his eyes closed, and absorbed apparently inintense meditation. A few feet above Siva's head was a platform, onwhich lay a young lady of exquisite beauty. The prince went to theplatform and saw that the head of the lady was separated from her body. Horrified at the sight, he did not know what to make of it. He saw astream of blood trickling from the severed head, falling upon the mattedhead of Siva, and running into the ocean in the form of rubies. After alittle two small rods, one of silver and one of gold, which were lyingnear the head of the lady, attracted his eyes. As he took up the rods inhis hands, the golden rod accidentally fell upon the head, on which thehead immediately joined itself to the body, and the lady got up. Astonished at the sight of a human being, the lady asked the prince whohe was and how he had got there. After hearing the story of the prince'sadventures, the lady said, "Unhappy young man, depart instantly fromthis place; for when Siva finishes his meditations he will turn you toashes by a single glance of his eyes. " The young man, however, would notgo except in her company, as he was over head and ears in love with thebeautiful lady. At last they both contrived to run away from the palace, and coming up to the surface of the ocean they climbed into the boatnear the centre of the whirlpool, and sailed away toward land, havingpreviously laden the vessel with a cargo of rubies. The wonder of theprince's mother at seeing the beautiful damsel may be well imagined. Early next morning the prince sent a basin full of big rubies, through aservant. The king was astonished beyond measure. His daughter, ongetting the rubies, resolved on marrying the wonderful lad who had madea present of them to her. Though the prince had a wife, whom he hadbrought up from the depths of the ocean, he consented to have a secondwife. They were accordingly married, and lived happily for years, begetting sons and daughters. 

 Here my story endeth, The Natiya-thorn withereth, etc. 

X

LONG, BROAD, AND SHARPSIGHT

There was a king, who was already old, and had but one son. Once upon atime he called this son to him and said to him: "My dear son! you knowthat old fruit falls to make room for other fruit. My head is alreadyripening, and maybe the sun will soon no longer shine upon it; butbefore you bury me, I should like to see your wife, my future daughter. My son, marry!" The prince said: "I would gladly, father, do as youwish; but I have no bride, and don't know any. " The old king put hishand into his pocket, took out a golden key and showed it to his son, with the words, "go up into the tower, to the top story, look roundthere, and then tell me which you fancy. " The prince went without delay. Nobody within the memory of man had been up there or had ever heard whatwas up there. 

When he got up to the last story, he saw in the ceiling a little irondoor like a trap-door. It was closed. He opened it with the golden key, lifted it, and went up above it. There was a large circular room. Theceiling was blue like the sky on a clear night, and silver starsglittered on it, the floor was a carpet of green silk, and around in thewall were twelve high windows in golden frames, and in each window oncrystal glass was a damsel painted with the colours of the rainbow, witha royal crown on her head, in each window a different one in a differentdress, each handsomer than the other, and it was a wonder that theprince did not let his eyes dwell upon them. When he had gazed at themwith astonishment, the damsels began to move as if they were alive, looked down upon him, smiled, and did everything but speak. 

Now the prince observed that one of the twelve windows was covered witha white curtain; he drew the curtain to see what was behind it. Therethere was a damsel in a white dress, girt with a silver girdle, with acrown of pearls on her head; she was the most beautiful of all, but wassad and pale, as if she had risen from the grave. The prince stood longbefore the picture, as if he had made a discovery, and as he thusgazed, his heart pained him, and he cried, "This one will I have, and noother. " As he said the words the damsel bowed her head, blushed like arose, and that instant all the pictures disappeared. 

When he went down and related to his father what he had seen and whichdamsel he had selected, the old king became sad, bethought himself, andsaid: "You have done ill, my son, in uncovering what was curtained over, and have placed yourself in great danger on account of those words. Thatdamsel is in the power of a wicked wizard, and kept captive in an ironcastle; of all who have attempted to set her free, not one has hithertoreturned. But what's done cannot be undone; the plighted word is a law. Go! try your luck, and return home safe and sound!"

The prince took leave of his father, mounted his horse, and rode away insearch of his bride. It came to pass that he rode through a vast forest, and through the forest he rode on and on till he lost the road. And ashe was wandering with his horse in thickets and amongst rocks andmorasses, not knowing which way to turn, he heard somebody shout behindhim, "Hi! stop!" The prince looked round, and saw a tall man hasteningafter him. "Stop and take me with you, and take me into your service, and you won't regret it!" "Who are you, " said the prince, "and what canyou do?" "My name is Long, and I can extend myself. Do you see a bird'snest in that pine yonder? I will bring you the nest down without havingto climb up. "

Long then began to extend himself; his body grew rapidly till it was astall as the pine; he then reached the nest, and in a moment contractedhimself again and gave it to the prince. "You know your business well, but what's the use of birds' nests to me, if you can't conduct me out ofthis forest?"

"Ahem! that's an easy matter, " said Long, and began to extend himselftill he was thrice as high as the highest fir in the forest, lookedround, and said: "Here on this side we have the nearest way out of theforest. " He then contracted himself, took the horse by the bridle, andbefore the prince had any idea of it, they were beyond the forest. Before them was a long and wide plain, and beyond the plain tall grayrocks like the walls of a large town, and mountains overgrown withforest trees. 

"Yonder, sir, goes my comrade!" said Long, and pointed suddenly to theplain; "you should take him also into your service; I believe he wouldserve you well. " "Shout to him, and call him hither, that I may see whathe is good for. " "It is a little too far, sir, " said Long; "he wouldhardly hear me, and it would take a long time before he came, because hehas a great deal to carry. I'll jump after him instead. " Then Long againextended himself to such a height that his head plunged into the clouds, made two or three steps, took his comrade by the arm, and placed himbefore the prince. He was a short, thick-set fellow, with a paunch likea sixty-four-gallon cask. "Who are you?" demanded the prince, "and whatcan you do?" "My name, sir, is Broad; I can widen myself. " "Give me aspecimen. " "Ride quick, sir, quick, back into the forest!" cried Broad, as he began to blow himself out. 

The prince didn't understand why he was to ride away; but seeing thatLong made all haste to get into the forest, he spurred his horse androde full gallop after him. It was high time that he did ride away, orelse Broad would have squashed him, horse and all, as his paunch rapidlygrew in all directions; it filled everything everywhere, just as if amountain had rolled up. Broad then ceased to blow himself out, and tookhimself in again, raising such a wind that the trees in the forest bowedand bent, and became what he was at first. "You have played me a nicetrick, " said the prince, "but I shan't find such a fellow every day;come with me. "

They proceeded further. When they approached the rocks, they met a manwho had his eyes bandaged with a handkerchief. "Sir, this is our thirdcomrade, " said Long, "you ought to take him also into your service. I'msure he won't eat his victuals for naught. "

"Who are you?" the prince asked him, "and why are your eyes bandaged?You don't see your way!" "No, sir, quite the contrary! It is justbecause I see too well that I am obliged to bandage my eyes; I see withbandaged eyes just as well as others with unbandaged eyes; and if Iunbandage them I look everything through and through, and when I gazesharply at anything it catches fire and bursts into flame, and whatcan't burn splits into pieces. For this reason my name is Sharpsight. "He then turned to a rock opposite, removed the bandage, and fixed hisflaming eyes upon it; the rock began to crackle, pieces flew on everyside, and in a very short time nothing of it remained but a heap ofsand, on which something glittered like fire. Sharpsight went to fetchit, and brought it to the prince. It was pure gold. 

"Heigho! you're a fellow that money can't purchase!" said the prince. "He is a fool who wouldn't make use of your services, and if you havesuch good sight, look and tell me whether it is far to the iron castle, and what is now going on there?" "If you rode by yourself, sir, "answered Sharpsight, "maybe you wouldn't get there within a year; butwith us you'll arrive to-day--they're just getting supper ready for us. ""And what is my bride doing?"

 "An iron lattice is before her, In a tower that's high She doth sit and sigh, A wizard watch and ward keeps o'er her. "

The prince cried, "Whoever is well disposed, help me to set her free!"They all promised to help him. They guided him among the gray rocksthrough the breach that Sharpsight had made in them with his eyes, andfarther and farther on through rocks, through high mountains and deepforests, and wherever there was any obstacle in the road, forthwith itwas removed by the three comrades. And when the sun was declining towardthe west, the mountains began to become lower, the forests less dense, and the rocks concealed themselves amongst the heath; and when it wasalmost on the point of setting, the prince saw not far before him aniron castle; and when it was actually setting, he rode by an iron bridgeto the gate, and as soon as it had set, up rose the iron bridge ofitself, the gate closed with a single movement, and the prince and hiscompanions were captives in the iron castle. 

When they had looked round the court, the prince put his horse up in thestable, where everything was ready for it, and then they went into thecastle. In the court, in the stable, in the castle hall, and in therooms, they saw in the twilight many richly-dressed people, gentlemenand servants, but not one of them stirred--they were all turned tostone. They went through several rooms, and came into the supper-room. This was brilliantly lighted up, and in the midst was a table, and on itplenty of good meats and drinks, and covers were laid for four persons. They waited and waited, thinking that some one would come: but whennobody came for a long time, they sat down and ate and drank what thepalate fancied. 

When they had done eating, they looked about to find where to sleep. Thereupon the door flew open unexpectedly all at once, and into the roomcame the wizard; a bent old man in a long black garb, with a bald head, a gray beard down to his knees, and three iron hoops instead of agirdle. By the hand he led a beautiful, very beautiful damsel, dressedin white; she had a silver girdle round her waist, and a crown of pearlson her head, but was pale and sad, as if she had risen from the grave. The prince recognized her at once, sprang forward, and went to meet her;but before he could utter a word the wizard addressed him: "I know forwhat you have come; you want to take the princess away. Well, be it so!Take her, if you can keep her in sight for three nights, so that shedoesn't vanish from you. If she vanishes, you will be turned into stoneas well as your three servants; like all who have come before you. " Hethen motioned the princess to a seat and departed. 

The prince could not take his eyes off the princess, so beautiful wasshe. He began to talk to her, and asked her all manner of questions, butshe neither answered nor smiled, nor looked at any one more than if shehad been of marble. He sat down by her, and determined not to sleep allnight long lest she should vanish from him, and, to make surer, Longextended himself like a strap, and wound himself round the whole roomalong the wall; Broad posted himself in the doorway, swelled himself up, and stopped it up so tight that not even a mouse could have slippedthrough; while Sharpsight placed himself against a pillar in the midstof the room on the look-out. But after a time they all began to nod, fell asleep, and slept the whole night, just as if the wizard had thrownthem into the water. 

In the morning, when it began to dawn, the prince was the first to wake, but--as if a knife had been thrust into his heart--the princess wasgone! He forthwith awoke his servants, and asked what was to be done. "Never mind, sir, " said Sharpsight, and looked sharply out through thewindow, "I see her already. A hundred miles hence is a forest, in themidst of the forest an old oak, and on the top of the oak an acorn, andshe is that acorn. " Long immediately took him on his shoulders, extendedhimself, and went ten miles at a step, while Sharpsight showed him theway. 

No more time elapsed than would have been wanted to move once round acottage before they were back again, and Long delivered the acorn to theprince. "Sir, let it fall on the ground. " The prince let it fall andthat moment the princess stood beside him. And when the sun began toshow itself beyond the mountains, the folding doors flew open with acrash, and the wizard entered the room and smiled spitefully; but whenhe saw the princess he frowned, growled, and bang! one of the iron hoopswhich he wore splintered and sprang off him. He then took the damsel bythe hand and led her away. 

The whole day after the prince had nothing to do but walk up and downthe castle, and round about the castle, and look at the wonderfulthings that were there. It was everywhere as if life had been lost in asingle moment. In one hall he saw a prince, who held in both hands abrandished sword, as if he intended to cleave somebody in twain; but theblow never fell: he had been turned into stone. In one chamber was aknight turned into stone, just as if he had been fleeing from some onein terror, and, stumbling on the threshold, had taken a downwarddirection, but not fallen. Under the chimney sat a servant, who held inone hand a piece of roast meat, and with the other lifted a mouthfultoward his mouth, which never reached it; when it was just in front ofhis mouth, he had also been turned to stone. Many others he saw thereturned to stone, each in the position in which he was when the wizardsaid, "Be turned into stone. " He likewise saw many fine horses turned tostone, and in the castle and round the castle all was desolate and dead;there were trees, but without leaves; there were meadows, but withoutgrass; there was a river but it did not flow; nowhere was there even asinging bird, or a flower, the offspring of the ground, or a white fishin the water. 

Morning, noon, and evening the prince and his companions found good andabundant entertainment in the castle; the viands came of themselves, thewine poured itself out. After supper the folding doors opened again, andthe wizard brought in the princess for the prince to guard. And althoughthey all determined to exert themselves with all their might not to fallasleep, yet it was of no use, fall asleep again they did. And when theprince awoke at dawn and saw the princess had vanished, he jumped up andpulled Sharpsight by the arm, "Hey! get up, Sharpsight, do you knowwhere the princess is?" He rubbed his eyes, looked, and said: "I seeher. There's a mountain two hundred miles off, and in the mountain arock, and in the rock a precious stone, and she's that precious stone. If Long carries me thither, we shall obtain her. "

Long took him at once on his shoulders, extended himself, and wenttwenty miles at a step. Sharpsight fixed his flaming eyes on themountain, the mountain crumbled, and the rock in it split into athousand pieces, and amongst them glittered the precious stone. Theytook it up and brought it to the prince, and when he let it fall on theground, the princess again stood there. When afterward the wizard cameand saw her there, his eyes flashed with spite, and bang! again an ironhoop cracked upon him and flew off. He growled and led the princess outof the room. 

That day all was again as it had been the day before. After supper thewizard brought the princess in again, looked the prince keenly in theface, and scornfully uttered the words, "It will be seen who's a matchfor whom; whether you are victorious or I, " and with that he departed. This night they all exerted themselves still more to avoid going tosleep. They wouldn't even sit down, they wanted to walk about all nightlong, but all in vain; they were bewitched; one fell asleep after theother as he walked and the princess vanished away from them. 

In the morning the prince again awoke earliest, and, when he didn't seethe princess, woke Sharpsight. "Hey! get up, Sharpsight! look where theprincess is!" Sharpsight looked out for a long time. "Oh, sir, " says he, "she is a long way off, a long way off! Three hundred miles off is ablack sea, and in the midst of the sea a shell on the bottom, and inthe shell is a gold ring, and she's the ring. But never mind! we shallobtain her, but to-day Long must take Broad with him as well; we shallwant him. " Long took Sharpsight on one shoulder, and Broad on the other, and went thirty miles at a step. When they came to the black sea, Sharpsight showed him where he must reach into the water for the shell. Long extended his hand as far as he could, but could not reach thebottom. 

"Wait, comrades! wait only a little and I'll help you, " said Broad, andswelled himself out as far as his paunch would stretch; he then lay downon the shore and drank. In a very short time the water fell so low thatLong easily reached the bottom and took the shell out of the sea. Out ofit he extracted the ring, took his comrades on his shoulders andhastened back. But on the way he found it a little difficult to run withBroad, who had half a sea of water inside him, so he cast him from hisshoulder on to the ground in a wide valley. Thump he went like a sacklet fall from a tower, and in a moment the whole valley was under waterlike a vast lake. Broad himself barely crawled out of it. 

Meanwhile the prince was in great trouble in the castle. The dawn beganto display itself over the mountains, and his servants had not returned;the more brilliantly the rays ascended, the greater was his anxiety; adeadly perspiration came out upon his forehead. Soon the sun showeditself in the east like a thin slip of flame--and then with a loud crashthe door flew open, and on the threshold stood the wizard. He lookedround the room, and seeing the princess was not there, laughed a hatefullaugh and entered the room. But just at that moment, pop! the windowflew in pieces, the gold ring fell on the floor, and in an instant therestood the princess again. Sharpsight, seeing what was going on in thecastle, and in what danger his master was, told Long. Long made a step, and threw the ring through the window into the room. The wizard roaredwith rage till the castle quaked, and then, bang! went the third ironhoop that was round his waist, and sprang off him; the wizard turnedinto a raven, and flew out and away through the shattered window. 

Then, and not till then, did the beautiful damsel speak and thank theprince for setting her free, and blushed like a rose. In the castle andround the castle everything became alive again at once. He who washolding in the hall the outstretched sword, swung it into the air, whichwhistled again, and then returned it to its sheath; he who was stumblingon the threshold, fell on the ground, but immediately got up again andfelt his nose to see whether it was still entire; he who was sittingunder the chimney put the piece of meat into his mouth and went oneating; and thus everybody completed what he had begun doing, and at thepoint where he had left off. In the stables the horses merrily stampedand snorted, the trees round the castle became green like periwinkles, the meadows were full of variegated flowers, high in the air warbled theskylark, and abundance of small fishes appeared in the clear river. Everywhere was life, everywhere enjoyment. 

Meanwhile a number of gentlemen assembled in the room where the princewas, and all thanked him for their liberation. But he said: "You havenothing to thank me for; if it had not been for my trusty servants Long, Broad, and Sharpsight, I too, should have been what you were. " He thenimmediately started on his way home to the old king, his father, withhis bride and servants. On the way they met Broad and took him withthem. 

The old king wept for joy at the success of his son; he had thought hewould return no more. Soon afterward there was a grand wedding, thefestivities of which lasted three weeks; all the gentlemen that theprince had liberated were invited. After the wedding Long, Broad, andSharpsight announced to the young king that they were going again intothe world to look for work. The young king tried to persuade them tostay with him. "I will give you everything you want, as long as youlive, " said he; "you needn't work at all. " But they didn't like such anidle life, took leave of him, went away, and have been ever sinceknocking about somewhere or other in the world. 

XI

INTELLIGENCE AND LUCK

Once upon a time Luck met Intelligence on a garden-seat. "Make room forme!" said Luck. Intelligence was then as yet inexperienced, and didn'tknow who ought to make room for whom. He said: "Why should I make roomfor you? you're no better than I. " "He's the better man, " answered Luck, "who performs most. See you there yon peasant's son who's ploughing inthe field? Enter into him, and if he gets on better through you thanthrough me, I'll always submissively make way for you, whensoever andwheresoever we meet. " Intelligence agreed, and entered at once into theploughboy's head. As soon as the ploughboy felt that he had intelligencein his head, he began to think: "Why must I follow the plough to the dayof my death? I can go somewhere else and make my fortune more easily. "He left off ploughing, put up the plough, and drove home. "Daddy, " sayshe, "I don't like this peasant's life; I'd rather learn to be agardener. " His father said: "What ails you, Vanek? have you lost yourwits?" However, he bethought himself and said: "Well, if you will, learn, and God be with you! Your brother will be heir to the cottageafter me. " Vanek lost the cottage, but he didn't care for that, but wentand put himself apprentice to the king's gardener. For every little thatthe gardener showed him, Vanek comprehended ever so much more. Ere longhe didn't even obey the gardener's orders as to how he ought to doanything, but did everything his own way. At first the gardener wasangry, but, seeing everything thus getting on better, he was content. "Isee that you've more intelligence than I, " said he, and henceforth letVanek garden as he thought fit. In no long space of time Vanek made thegarden so beautiful that the king took great delight in it, andfrequently walked in it with the queen and with his only daughter. 

The princess was a very beautiful damsel, but ever since she was twelveyears old she had ceased speaking, and no one ever heard a single wordfrom her. The king was much grieved, and caused a proclamation to bemade that whoever should bring it to pass that she should speak again, should be her husband. Many young kings, princes, and other great lordsannounced themselves one after the other, but all went away as they hadcome; no one succeeded in causing her to speak. "Why shouldn't I try myluck?" thought Vanek; "who knows whether I mayn't succeed in bringingher to answer when I ask her a question?" He at once caused himself tobe announced at the palace, and the king and his councillors conductedhim into the room where the princess was. The king's daughter had apretty little dog, and was very fond of him, because he was so clever, understanding everything that she wanted. When Vanek went into the roomwith the king and his councillors, he made as if he didn't even see theprincess, but turned to the dog and said: "I have heard, doggie, thatyou are very clever, and I come to you for advice. We are threecompanions in travel, a sculptor, a tailor, and myself. Once upon a timewe were going through a forest and were obliged to pass the night in it. To be safe from wolves, we made a fire, and agreed to keep watch oneafter the other. The sculptor kept watch first, and for amusement tokill time took a log and carved a damsel out of it. When it wasfinished, he woke the tailor to keep watch in his turn. The tailor, seeing the wooden damsel, asked what it meant. 'As you see, ' said thesculptor, 'I was weary, and didn't know what to do with myself, so Icarved a damsel out of a log; if you find time hang heavy on your hands, you can dress her. ' The tailor at once took out his scissors, needle andthread, cut out the clothes, stitched away, and, when they were ready, dressed the damsel in them. He then called me to come and keep watch. I, too, asked him what the meaning of all this was. 'As you see, ' said thetailor, 'the sculptor found time hang heavy on his hands and carved adamsel out of a log, and I for the same reason clothed her; and if youfind time hanging on your hands, you can teach her to speak. ' And bymorning dawn I had actually taught her to speak. But in the morning whenmy companions woke up, each wanted to possess the damsel. The sculptorsaid, 'I made her;' the tailor, 'I clothed her. ' I, too, maintained myright. Tell me, therefore, doggie, to which of us the damsel belongs. "The dog said nothing, but instead of the dog the princess replied: "Towhom can she belong but to yourself? What's the good of the sculptor'sdamsel without life? What's the good of the tailor's dressing withoutspeech? You gave her the best gift, life and speech, and therefore sheby right belongs to you. " "You have passed your own sentence, " saidVanek; "I have given you speech again and a new life, and you thereforeby right belong to me. " Then said one of the king's councillors: "HisRoyal Grace will give you a plenteous reward for succeeding in unloosinghis daughter's tongue; but you cannot have her to wife, as you are ofmean lineage. " The king said: "You are of mean lineage; I will give youa plenteous reward instead of our daughter. " But Vanek wouldn't hear ofany other reward, and said: "The king promised without any exception, that whoever caused his daughter to speak again should be her husband. Aking's word is law; and if the king wants others to observe his laws, hemust first keep them himself. Therefore the king _must_ give me hisdaughter. " "Seize and bind him!" shouted the councillor. "Whoever saysthe king _must_ do anything, offers an insult to his Majesty, and isworthy of death. May it please your Majesty to order this malefactor tobe executed with the sword?" The king said: "Let him be executed. " Vanekwas immediately bound and led to execution. When they came to the placeof execution Luck was there waiting for him, and said secretly toIntelligence: "See how this man has got on through you, till he has tolose his head! Make way, and let me take your place!" As soon as Luckentered Vanek, the executioners sword broke against the scaffold, justas if some one had snapped it; and before they brought him another, uprode a trumpeter on horseback from the city, galloping as swift as abird, trumpeted merrily, and waved a white flag, and after him came theroyal carriage for Vanek. This is what had happened: The princess hadtold her father at home that Vanek had but spoken the truth, and theking's word ought not to be broken. If Vanek were of mean lineage theking could easily make him a prince. The king said: "You're right; lethim be a prince!" The royal carriage was immediately sent for Vanek, andthe councillor who had irritated the king against him was executed inhis stead. Afterward, when Vanek and the princess were going together ina carriage from the wedding, Intelligence happened to be somewhere onthe road, and seeing that he couldn't help meeting Luck, bent his headand slipped on one side, just as if cold water had been thrown upon him. And from that time forth it is said that Intelligence has always given awide berth to Luck whenever he has had to meet him. 

XII

GEORGE WITH THE GOAT

There was a king who had a daughter who never could be induced to laugh;she was always sad. So the king proclaimed that she should be given toany one who could cause her to laugh. There was also a shepherd who hada son named George. He said: "Daddy! I, too, will go to see whether Ican make her laugh. I want nothing from you but the goat. " His fathersaid, "Well, go. " The goat was of such a nature that, when her masterwished, she detained everybody, and that person was obliged to stay byher. 

So he took the goat and went, and met a man who had a foot on hisshoulder. George said: "Why have you a foot on your shoulder?" Hereplied: "If I take it off, I leap a hundred miles. " "Whither are yougoing?" "I am going in search of service, to see if any one will takeme. " "Well, come with us. "

They went on, and again met a man who had a bandage on his eyes. "Whyhave you a bandage on your eyes?" He answered, "If I remove the bandage, I see a hundred miles. " "Whither are you going?" "I am going in searchof service, if you will take me. " "Yes, I'll take you. Come also withme. "

They went on a bit farther, and met another fellow, who had a bottleunder his arm, and, instead of a stopper, held his thumb in it. "Why doyou hold your thumb there?" "If I pull it out, I squirt a hundred miles, and besprinkle everything that I choose. If you like, take me also intoyour service; it may be to your advantage and ours too. " George replied:"Well, come, too!"

Afterward they came to the town where the king lived, and bought asilken riband for the goat. They came to an inn, and orders had alreadybeen given there beforehand, that when such people came, they were togive them what they liked to eat and drink--the king would pay for all. So they tied the goat with that very riband and placed it in theinnkeeper's room to be taken care of, and he put it in the side roomwhere his daughters slept. The innkeeper had three maiden daughters, whowere not yet asleep. So Manka said: "Oh! if I, too, could have such ariband! I will go and unfasten it from that goat. " The second, Dodla, said: "Don't; he'll find it out in the morning. " But she wentnotwithstanding. And when Manka did not return for a long time, thethird, Kate, said: "Go, fetch her. " So Dodla went, and gave Manka a paton the back. "Come, leave it alone!" And now she, too, was unable towithdraw herself from her. So Kate said: "Come, don't unfasten it!" Katewent and gave Dodla a pat on the petticoat; and now she, too, couldn'tget away, but was obliged to stay by her. 

In the morning George made haste and went for the goat, and led thewhole set away--Kate Dodla, and Manka. The innkeeper was still asleep. They went through the village, and the judge looked out of a window andsaid, "Fie, Kate! what's this? what's this?" He went and took her by thehand, wishing to pull her away, but remained also by her. After this, acowherd drove some cows through a narrow street, and the bull camerushing round; he stuck fast, and George led him, too, in theprocession. 

Thus they afterward came in front of the castle, and the servants cameout-of-doors; and when they saw such things they went and told theking. "Oh, sire, we have such a spectacle here; we have already had allmanner of masquerades, but this has never been here yet. " So theyimmediately led the king's daughter to the square in front of thecastle, and she looked and laughed till the castle shook. 

Now they asked him what sort of person he was. He said that he was ashepherd's son, and was named George. They said that it could not bedone; for he was of mean lineage, and they could not give him thedamsel; but he must accomplish something more for them. He said, "What?"They replied that there was a spring yonder, a hundred miles off; if hebrought a goblet of water from it in a minute, then he should obtain thedamsel. So George said to the man who had the foot on his shoulder: "Yousaid that if you took the foot down, you could jump a hundred miles. " Hereplied: "I'll easily do that. " He took the foot down, jumped, and wasthere. But after this there was only a very little time to spare, and bythen he ought to have been back. So George said to the other: "You saidthat if you removed the bandage from your eyes, you could see a hundredmiles. Peep and see what is going on. " "Ah, sir! Goodness gracious! he'sfallen asleep!" "That will be a bad job, " said George; "the time will beup. You, third man, you said if you pulled your thumb out, you couldsquirt a hundred miles; be quick and squirt thither, that he may get up. And you, look whether he is moving, or what. " "Oh, sir, he's getting upnow; he's knocking the dust off; he's drawing the water. " He then gave ajump, and was there exactly in time. 

After this they said that he must perform one task more; that yonder, ina rock, was a wild beast, a unicorn, of such a nature that he destroyeda great many of their people; if he cleared him out of the world heshould obtain the damsel. So he took his people and went into theforest. They came to a firwood. There were three wild beasts, and threelairs had been formed by wallowing as they lay. Two did nothing: but thethird destroyed the people. So they took some stones and some pine-conesin their pockets, and climbed up into a tree; and when the beasts laydown, they dropped a stone down upon that one which was the unicorn. Hesaid to the next: "Be quiet; don't butt me. " It said: "I'm not doinganything to you. " Again they let a stone fall from above upon theunicorn. "Be quiet! you've already done it to me twice. " "Indeed, I'mdoing nothing to you. " So they attacked each other and fought together. The unicorn wanted to pierce the second beast through; but it jumped outof the way, and he rushed so violently after it, that he struck his horninto a tree, and couldn't pull it out quickly. So they sprang speedilydown from the fir, and the other two beasts ran away and escaped, butthey cut off the head of the third, the unicorn, took it up, and carriedit to the castle. 

Now those in the castle saw that George had again accomplished thattask. "What, prithee, shall we do? Perhaps we must after all give himthe damsel!" "No, sire, " said one of the attendants, "that cannot be; heis too lowborn to obtain a king's daughter! On the contrary, we mustclear him out of the world. " So the king ordered them to note his words, what he should say. There was a hired female servant there, and she saidto him: "George, it will be evil for you to-day; they're going to clearyou out of the world. " He answered: "Oh, I'm not afraid. When I was onlyjust twelve years old, I killed twelve of them at one blow!" But thiswas the fact: when his mother was baking a flat-cake, a dozen fliessettled upon her, and he killed them all at a single blow. 

When they heard this, they said: "Nothing else will do but we must shoothim. " So they drew up the soldiers, and said they would hold a review inhis honour, for they would celebrate the wedding in the square beforethe castle. Then they conducted him thither, and the soldiers werealready going to let fly at him. But George said to the man who held histhumb in the bottle in the place of a stopper: "You said, if you pulledyour thumb out, you could besprinkle everything. Pull it out--quick!""Oh, sir, I'll easily perform that. " So he pulled out his thumb and gavethem all such a sprinkling that they were all blind, and not one couldsee. 

So, when they perceived that nothing else was to be done, they told himto go, for they would give him the damsel. Then they gave him a handsomeroyal robe, and the wedding took place. I, too, was at the wedding; theyhad music there, sang, ate, and drank; there was meat, there werecheesecakes, and baskets full of everything, and buckets full of strongwaters. To-day I went, yesterday I came; I found an egg among thetree-stumps; I knocked it against somebody's head, and gave him a baldplace, and he's got it still. 

XIII

THE WONDERFUL HAIR

There was a man who was very poor, but so well supplied with childrenthat he was utterly unable to maintain them, and one morning more thanonce prepared to kill them, in order not to see their misery in dying ofhunger, but his wife prevented him. One night a child came to him in hissleep, and said to him: "Man! I see that you are making up your mind todestroy and to kill your poor little children, and I know that you aredistressed there at; but in the morning you will find under your pillowa mirror, a red kerchief, and an embroidered pocket-handkerchief; takeall three secretly and tell nobody; then go to such a hill; by it youwill find a stream; go along it till you come to its fountain-head;there you will find a damsel as bright as the sun, with her hair hangingdown over her back. Be on your guard, that the ferocious she-dragon donot coil round you; do not converse with her if she speaks; for if youconverse with her, she will poison you, and turn you into a fish orsomething else, and will then devour you but if she bids you examine herhead, examine it, and as you turn over her hair, look, and you will findone hair as red as blood; pull it out and run back again; then, if shesuspects and begins to run after you, throw her first the embroideredpocket-handkerchief, then the kerchief, and, lastly, the mirror; thenshe will find occupation for herself. And sell that hair to some richman; but don't let them cheat you, for that hair is worth countlesswealth; and you will thus enrich yourself and maintain your children. "

When the poor man awoke, he found everything under his pillow, just asthe child had told him in his sleep; and then he went to the hill. Whenthere, he found the stream, went on and on alongside of it, till he cameto the fountain-head. Having looked about him to see where the damselwas, he espied her above a piece of water, like sunbeams threaded on aneedle, and she was embroidering at a frame on stuff, the threads ofwhich were young men's hair. As soon as he saw her, he made a reverenceto her, and she stood on her feet and questioned him: "Whence are you, unknown young man?" But he held his tongue. She questioned him again:"Who are you? Why have you come?" and much else of all sorts; but he wasas mute as a stone, making signs with his hands, as if he were deaf andwanted help. Then she told him to sit down on her skirt. He did not waitfor any more orders, but sat down, and she bent down her head to him, that he might examine it. Turning over the hair of her head, as if toexamine it, he was not long in finding that red hair, and separated itfrom the other hair, pulled it out, jumped off her skirt and ran awayback as he best could. She noticed it, and ran at his heels full speedafter him. He looked round, and seeing that she was about to overtakehim, threw, as he was told, the embroidered pocket-handkerchief on theway, and when she saw the pocket-handkerchief she stooped and began tooverhaul it in every direction, admiring the embroidery, till he had gota good way off. Then the damsel placed the pocket-handkerchief in herbosom, and ran after him again. When he saw that she was about toovertake him, he threw the red kerchief, and she again occupiedherself, admiring and gazing, till the poor man had again got a good wayoff. Then the damsel became exasperated, and threw both thepocket-handkerchief and the kerchief on the way, and ran after him inpursuit. Again, when he saw that she was about to overtake him, he threwthe mirror. When the damsel came to the mirror, the like of which shehad never seen before, she lifted it up, and when she saw herself in it, not knowing that it was herself, but thinking that it was somebody else, she, as it were, fell in love with herself in the mirror, and the mangot so far off that she was no longer able to overtake him. When she sawthat she could not catch him, she turned back, and the man reached hishome safe and sound. After arriving at his home, he showed his wife thehair, and told her all that had happened to him, but she began to jeerand laugh at him. But he paid no attention to her, and went to a town tosell the hair. A crowd of all sorts of people and merchants collectedround him; one offered a sequin, another two, and so on, higher andhigher, till they came to a hundred gold sequins. Just then the emperorheard of the hair, summoned the man into his presence, and said to himthat he would give him a thousand sequins for it, and he sold it to him. What was the hair? The emperor split it in two from top to bottom, andfound registered in it in writing many remarkable things, which happenedin the olden time since the beginning of the world. Thus the man becamerich and lived on with his wife and children. And that child, that cameto him in his sleep, was an angel sent by the Lord God, whose will itwas to aid the poor man, and to reveal secrets which had not beenrevealed till then. 

XIV

THE DRAGON AND THE PRINCE

There was an emperor who had three sons. One day the eldest son went outhunting, and, when he got outside the town, up sprang a hare out of abush, and he after it, and hither and thither, till the hare fled into awater-mill, and the prince after it. But it was not a hare, but adragon, and it waited for the prince and devoured him. When several dayshad elapsed and the prince did not return home, people began to wonderwhy it was that he was not to be found. Then the middle son wenthunting, and as he issued from the town, a hare sprang out of a bush, and the prince after it, and hither and thither, till the hare fled intothe water-mill and the prince after it; but it was not a hare, but adragon, which waited for and devoured him. When some days had elapsedand the princes did not return, either of them, the whole court was insorrow. Then the third son went hunting, to see whether he could notfind his brothers. When he issued from the town, again up sprang a hareout of a bush, and the prince after it, and hither and thither, till thehare fled into the water-mill. But the prince did not choose to followit, but went to find other game, saying to himself: "When I return Ishall find you. " After thus he went for a long time up and down thehill, but found nothing, and then returned to the water-mill; but whenhe got there, there was only an old woman in the mill. The princeinvoked God in addressing her: "God help you, old woman!" The old womanreplied: "God help you, my son!" Then the prince asked her: "Where, oldwoman, is my hare?" She replied: "My son, that was not a hare, but adragon. It kills and throttles many people. " Hearing this, the princewas somewhat disturbed, and said to the old woman: "What shall we donow? Doubtless my two brothers also have perished here. " The old womananswered: "They have indeed; but there's no help for it. Go home, myson, lest you follow them. " Then he said to her: "Dear old woman, do youknow what? I know that you will be glad to liberate yourself from thatpest. " The old woman interrupted him: "How should I not? It captured me, too, in this way, but now I have no means of escape. " Then he proceeded:"Listen well to what I am going to say to you. Ask it whither it goesand where its strength is; then kiss all that place where it tells youits strength is, as if from love, till you ascertain it, and afterwardtell me when I come. " Then the prince went off to the palace, and theold woman remained in the water-mill. When the dragon came in, the oldwoman began to question it: "Where in God's name have you been? Whitherdo you go so far? You will never tell me whither you go. " The dragonreplied: "Well, my dear old woman, I do go far. " Then the old womanbegan to coax it: "And why do you go so far? Tell me where your strengthis. If I knew where your strength is, I don't know what I should do forlove; I would kiss all that place. " Thereupon the dragon smiled and saidto her: "Yonder is my strength, in that fireplace. " Then the old womanbegan to fondle and kiss the fireplace, and the dragon on seeing itburst into a laugh and said to her: "Silly old woman, my strength isn'tthere; my strength is in that tree-fungus in front of the house. " Thenthe old woman began again to fondle and kiss the tree, and the dragonagain laughed, and said to her: "Away, old woman! my strength isn'tthere. " Then the old woman inquired: "Where is it?" The dragon began togive an account in detail: "My strength is a long way off, and youcannot go thither. Far in another empire under the emperor's city is alake, in that lake is a dragon, and in that dragon a boar, and in theboar a pigeon, and in that is my strength. " The next morning when thedragon went away from the mill, the prince came to the old woman, andthe old woman told him all that she had heard from the dragon. Then heleft his home, and disguised himself; he put shepherd's boots to hisfeet, took a shepherd's staff in his hand, and went into the world. Ashe went on thus from village to village, and from town to town, at lasthe came into another empire and into the imperial city, in a lake underwhich the dragon was. On going into the town he began to inquire whowanted a shepherd. The citizens told him that the emperor did. Then hewent straight to the emperor. After he announced himself, the emperoradmitted him into his presence, and asked him: "Do you wish to keepsheep?" He replied: "I do, illustrious crown!" Then the emperor engagedhim, and began to inform and instruct him: "There is here a lake, andalongside of the lake very beautiful pasture, and when you call thesheep out, they go thither at once, and spread themselves round thelake; but whatever shepherd goes off there, that shepherd returns backno more. Therefore, my son, I tell you, don't let the sheep have theirown way and go where _they_ will, but keep them where _you_ will. " Theprince thanked the emperor, got himself ready, and called out the sheep, taking with him, more-over, two hounds that could catch a boar in theopen country, and a falcon that could capture any bird, and carryingalso a pair of bagpipes. When he called out the sheep he let them go atonce to the lake, and when the sheep arrived at the lake, theyimmediately spread round it, and the prince placed the falcon on astump, and the hounds and bagpipes under the stump, then tucked up hishose and sleeves, waded into the lake, and began to shout: "Dragon, dragon! come out to single combat with me to-day that we may measureourselves together, unless you're a woman. "[6] The dragon called out inreply, "I will do so now, prince--now!" Erelong behold the dragon! it islarge, it is terrible, it is disgusting! When the dragon came out, itseized him by the waist, and they wrestled a summer day till afternoon. But when the heat of afternoon came on, the dragon said: "Let me go, prince, that I may moisten my parched head in the lake, and toss you tothe sky. " But the prince replied: "Come, dragon, don't talk nonsense; ifI had the emperor's daughter to kiss me on the forehead, I would tossyou still higher. " Thereupon, the dragon suddenly let him go, and wentoff into the lake. On the approach of evening, he washed and got himselfup nicely, placed the falcon on his arm, the hounds behind him, and thebagpipes under his arm, then drove the sheep and went into the townplaying on the bagpipes. When he arrived at the town, the whole townassembled as to see a wondrous sight because he had come, whereaspreviously no shepherd had been able to come from the lake. The next daythe prince got ready again, and went with his sheep straight to thelake. But the emperor sent two grooms after him to go stealthily and seewhat he did, and they placed themselves on a high hill whence they couldhave a good view. When the shepherd arrived, he put the hounds andbagpipes under the stump and the falcon upon it, then tucked up his hoseand sleeves waded into the lake and shouted: "Dragon, dragon! come outto single combat with me, that we may measure ourselves once moretogether, unless you are a woman!" The dragon replied: "I will do so, prince, now, now!" Erelong, behold the dragon! it was large, it wasterrible, it was disgusting! And it seized him by the waist and wrestledwith him a summer's day till afternoon. But when the afternoon heat cameon, the dragon said: "Let me go, prince, that I may moisten my parchedhead in the lake, and may toss you to the sky. " The prince replied:"Come, dragon, don't talk nonsense; if I had the emperor's daughter tokiss me on the forehead, I would toss you still higher. " Thereupon thedragon suddenly left hold of him, and went off into the lake. When nightapproached the prince drove the sheep as before, and went home playingthe bagpipes When he arrived at the town, the whole town was astir andbegan to wonder because the shepherd came home every evening, which noone had been able to do before. Those two grooms had already arrived atthe palace before the prince, and related to the emperor in ordereverything that they had heard and seen. Now when the emperor saw thatthe shepherd returned home, he immediately summoned his daughter intohis presence and told her all, what it was and how it was. "But, " saidhe, "to-morrow you must go with the shepherd to the lake and kiss him onthe forehead. " When she heard this she burst into tears and began toentreat her father. "You have no one but me, and I am your onlydaughter, and you don't care about me if I perish. " Then the emperorbegan to persuade and encourage her: "Don't fear, my daughter; you seewe have had so many changes of shepherds, and of all that went out tothe lake not one has returned; but _he_ had been contending with thedragon for two whole days and it has done him no hurt. I assure you, inGod's name, that he is able to overcome the dragon, only go to-morrowwith him to see whether he will free us from this mischief which hasdestroyed so many people. "

When, on the morrow, the day dawned and the sun came forth, up rose theshepherd, up rose the maiden too, to begin to prepare for going to thelake. The shepherd was cheerful, more cheerful than ever, but theemperor's daughter was sad and shed tears. The shepherd comforted her:"Lady sister, I pray you, do not weep, but do what I tell you. When itis time, run up and kiss me, and fear not. " As he went and drove thesheep, the shepherd was thoroughly cheery, and played a merry tune onhis bagpipes; but the damsel did nothing but weep as she went besidehim, and he several times left off playing and turned toward her: "Weepnot, golden one; fear nought. " When they arrived at the lake, the sheepimmediately spread round it, and the prince placed the falcon on thestump, and the hounds and bagpipes under it, then tucked up his hose andsleeves, waded into the water, and shouted: "Dragon! dragon! Come out tosingle combat with me; let us measure ourselves once more, unless you'rea woman!" The dragon replied: "I will, prince; now, now!" Erelong, there was the dragon! it was huge, it was terrible, it was disgusting!When it came out, they seized each other by the middle, and wrestled asummer's day till afternoon. But when the afternoon heat came on, thedragon said: "Let me go, prince, that I may moisten my parched head inthe lake, and toss you to the skies. " The prince replied: "Come, dragon, don't talk nonsense; if I had the emperor's daughter to kiss me on theforehead, I would toss you much higher. " When he said this, theemperor's daughter ran up and kissed him on the face, on the eye, and onthe forehead. Then he swung the dragon, and tossed it high into the air, and when it fell to the ground it burst into pieces. But as it burstinto pieces, out of it sprang a wild boar, and started to run away. Butthe prince shouted to his shepherd dogs: "Hold it! don't let it go!" andthe dogs sprang up and after it, caught it, and soon tore it to pieces. But out of the boar flew a pigeon, and the prince loosed the falcon, andthe falcon caught the pigeon and brought it into the prince's hands. Theprince said to it: "Tell me now, where are my brothers?" The pigeonreplied: "I will; only do me no harm. Immediately behind your father'stown is a water-mill, and in the water-mill are three wands that havesprouted up. Cut these three wands up from below, and strike with themupon their root; an iron door will immediately open into a large vault. In that vault are many people, old and young, rich and poor, small andgreat, wives and maidens, so that you could settle a populous empire;there, too, are your brothers. " When the pigeon had told him all this, the prince immediately wrung its neck. 

The emperor had gone out in person, and posted himself on the hill fromwhich the grooms had viewed the shepherd, and he, too, was a spectatorof all that had taken place. After the shepherd had thus obtained thedragon's head, twilight began to approach. He washed himself nicely, took the falcon on his shoulder, the hounds behind him, and the bagpipesunder his arm, played as he went, drove the sheep, and proceeded to theemperor's palace, with the damsel at his side still in terror. When theycame to the town, all the town assembled as to see a wonder. Theemperor, who had seen all his heroism from the hill, called him intohis presence, and gave him his daughter, went immediately to church, hadthem married, and held a wedding festival for a week. After this theprince told him who and whence he was, and the emperor and the wholetown rejoiced still more. Then, as the prince was urgent to go to hisown home, the emperor gave him a large escort, and equipped him for thejourney. When they were in the neighbourhood of the water-mill, theprince halted his attendants, went inside, cut up the three wands, andstruck the root with them, and the iron door opened at once. In thevault was a vast multitude of people. The prince ordered them to comeout one by one, and go whither each would, and stood himself at thedoor. They came out thus one after another, and lo! there were hisbrothers also, whom he embraced and kissed. When the whole multitude hadcome out, they thanked him for releasing and delivering them, and wenteach to his own home. But he went to his father's house with hisbrothers and bride, and there lived and reigned to the end of his days. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 6: This is intended as an insult. "Azhdaja, " a dragon, isfeminine in Servian. ]

XV

THE GOOD CHILDREN

The Lord was angered at mankind, and for three years there was a greatfamine over all the world; nowhere in the world was even a grain of cornproduced, and what people sowed failed to come up from a drought sogreat that for three years there was not a drop of rain or dew. For oneyear more people managed to live somehow or other, thrashing up what oldcorn there was; the rich made money, for corn rose very high. Autumncame. Where anybody had or purchased old seed, they sowed it; andentreated the Lord, hoped in the love of God, if God would givefertility, "if God would forgive our sins. " But it was not so. They didnot obtain the love of God. When they cast the seed into the holy earth, that was the last they saw of it; if it germinated somewhat, if it sentup shoots, it withered away close to the ground. Woe! and abundance ofit! God's world went on, sorrowed and wept, for now it was manifestthat death by hunger was approaching. They somehow got miserably throughthe winter. Spring came. Where anybody had still any grain, they sowedit. What would come to pass? No blessing was poured forth, for thethought began with wind. Moreover, there was but little snow in thewinter, and everything dried up so that the black earth remained as itwas. It now came to this--all the world began to perish! The peopledied; the cattle perished; as misery carried them, so did the peopleproceed. 

There was at that time a powerful emperor in a certain empire: as theyoung ordinarily cleave to the young, so would he associate only withyoung men. Whether in council or in office or in the army, there werenone but young men; no old men had access to anything anywhere. Well, asyoung men, unripe in understanding, were the councillors, so was theircounsel also unripe. One year passed; a second passed; then, in thethird year, they saw that misery was already on every side, that it wasalready coming to this, that all the world would perish. The youngemperor assembled his young council, and they began to advise aftertheir fashion; they advised, they advised, and ah! the resolutions theycame to were such that it is a sin even to give an account of theirresolutions! Well, the emperor made proclamation after their advice, that all old people were to be drowned, in order that, said he, breadmight not be wasted in vain, but there might be a supply of bread forthe young; and that no one should venture, on pain of death, to maintainor harbour any old man. Well, heralds went about throughout the wholecountry, and promulgated the emperor's command everywhere--yea, brigandsseized old people where they chose, and drowned them without mercy. 

There were then in a certain place three own brothers, who had an agedfather. When they heard of this edict, they told their father; and theirfather said: "My sons, such is the will of God and the will of theemperor; take me, let me perish at once, only that you, my children, maylive on. I am already with one foot in the grave, " "No, our own daddy!we will die, but we will not give you up, " cried the good sons with onevoice, and fell upon his neck; "we will keep you; we will take from ourown mouths, and will nourish you. "

The three brothers took their aged father, conducted him into theircottage, dug under the raised portion of the floor, made up a bed withsheets and frieze-coats, for straw was scarce, and placed the old manthere, brought him a loaf of bread as black as the holy earth, andcovered him over with the floor. There the old man abode for two orthree months, and his sons brought him clandestinely all they had. Thesummer passed without harvest, without mowing. September passed too. Autumn passed without joy. Winter passed too. Now came spring; the sunbecame warm. It was now time to sow, but there was no seed. The worldwas large, but there was no seed-corn. When one kind was used up, thepeople sowed others, hoping that there would be a crop; but when theycast it into the holy earth, it rotted there. It seemed as if the end ofthe world were come. 

Then the three sons went to their father, and asked him: "Daddy, whatshall we do? It's time to sow. God is now sending showers of rain; theearth is warmed and is crumbling like grits; but of seed there is not ablessed grain, " "Take, my sons, and strip the old roof off the house, and thresh the bundles and sow the chaff. " The lads stripped the houseand barn (anyhow, there was nothing in it), and threshed away till thesweat ran from their brows, so that they crushed the bundles as small aspoppy-seeds. When they sowed, God gave a blessing; so in a week's timeit became green like rue; in a month's time, in two months' time, therewas corn, ever so much--ever so much, and all manner of seed was foundthere: there was rye, there was wheat and barley; yea, maybe, there wasalso a plant or two of buckwheat and millet. Wherever you wentthroughout the world there was no corn to be seen; all the plain wasovergrown with grasses, steppe-grasses, and thistles, but with _them_was corn like a forest. How people wondered and were astounded! The famethereof went over the whole world, and the news reached the emperorhimself, that in such and such a place there were three own brothers, and with them corn had sprung up for all the world, and so beautiful, never was the like beheld! The emperor ordered the three brothers toappear in the imperial presence. 

The brothers heard of it, and smacked the tops of their heads with theirhands. "Now it will be amen with us!" They went again to their father. "Daddy! they tell us to appear before the emperor. Advise us, daddy, what to do!" "Go, my sons--what will be, will be; and tell the puretruth before the emperor. " The brothers started off and went to theemperor. The emperor inquired menacingly: "Why, villains, did ye hoardup corn, when there was such a famine that so many people died ofhunger? Tell the truth; if not I shall order you to be tortured andracked even unto death. " The brothers related all as it had been, fromthe beginning to the end. "Now, most gracious emperor, give us over toany torture whatever, or let thy kindness have compassion on us!" Theemperor's brow became smooth, his eyes became serene. He then orderedthe old father to be brought before him at once, and made him sit besidehim close to his throne, and hearkened to his counsel till death, andhis sons he rewarded handsomely. He ordered the corn to be collected earby ear, and to be rubbed out in men's hands; and sent it about forseed-corn in all empires, and from it was produced holy corn for all theworld. 

XVI

THE DUN HORSE[7]

I

Many years ago there lived in the Pawnee tribe an old woman and hergrandson a boy about sixteen years old. These people had no relationsand were very poor. They were so poor that they were despised by therest of the tribe. They had nothing of their own; and always, after thevillage started to move the camp from one place to another, these twowould stay behind the rest, to look over the old camp and pick upanything that the other Indians had thrown away as worn out or useless. In this way they would sometimes get pieces of robes, wornout moccasinswith holes in them, and bits of meat. 

Now, it happened one day, after the tribe had moved away from the camp, that this old woman and her boy were following along the trail behindthe rest, when they came to a miserable old wornout dun horse, whichthey supposed had been abandoned by some Indians. He was thin andexhausted, was blind of one eye, had a bad sore back, and one of hisforelegs was very much swollen. In fact, he was so worthless that noneof the Pawnees had been willing to take the trouble to try to drive himalong with them. But when the old woman and her boy came along, the boysaid, "Come now, we will take this old horse, for we can make him carryour pack. " So the old woman put her pack on the horse, and drove himalong, but he limped and could only go very slowly. 

II

The tribe moved up on the North Platte, until they came to Court HouseRock. The two poor Indians followed them, and camped with the others. One day while they were here, the young men who had been sent out tolook for buffalo, came hurrying into camp and told the chiefs that alarge herd of buffalo were near, and that among them was a spottedcalf. 

The Head Chief of the Pawnees had a very beautiful daughter, and when heheard about the spotted calf, he ordered his old crier to go aboutthrough the village and call out that the man who killed the spottedcalf should have his daughter for his wife. For a spotted robe is_ti-war'-uks-ti_--big medicine. 

The buffalo were feeding about four miles from the village, and thechiefs decided that the charge should be made from there. In this way, the man who had the fastest horse would be the most likely to kill thecalf. Then all the warriors and the young men picked out their best andfastest horses, and made ready to start. Among those who prepared forthe charge was the poor boy on the old dun horse. But when they saw him, all the rich young braves on their fast horses pointed at him and said, "Oh, see; there is the horse that is going to catch the spotted calf;"and they laughed at him, so that the poor boy was ashamed, and rode offto one side of the crowd, where he could not hear their jokes andlaughter. 

When he had ridden off some little way the horse stopped and turned hishead round, and spoke to the boy. He said, "Take me down the creek, andplaster me all over with mud. Cover my head and neck and body and legs. "When the boy heard the horse speak, he was afraid; but he did as he wastold. Then the horse said, "Now mount, but do not ride back to thewarriors, who laugh at you because you have such a poor horse. Stayright here until the word is given to charge. " So the boy stayed there. 

And presently all the fine horses were drawn up in line and prancedabout, and were so eager to go that their riders could hardly hold themin; and at last the old crier gave the word, "_Loo-ah!_"--Go! Then thePawnees all leaned forward on their horses and yelled, and away theywent. Suddenly, away off to the right, was seen the old dun horse. Hedid not seem to run. He seemed to sail along like a bird. He passed allthe fastest horses, and in a moment he was among the buffalo. First hepicked out the spotted calf, and charging up alongside of it, _U-ra-rish!_ straight flew the arrow. The calf fell. The boy drewanother arrow, and killed a fat cow that was running by. Then hedismounted and began to skin the calf, before any of the other warriorshad come up. But when the rider got off the old dun horse, how changedhe was! He pranced about and would hardly stand still near the deadbuffalo. His back was all right again; his legs were well and fine; andboth his eyes were clear and bright. 

The boy skinned the calf and the cow that he had killed, and then hepacked all the meat on the horse, and put the spotted robe on top of theload, and started back to the camp on foot, leading the dun horse. Buteven with this heavy load the horse pranced all the time, and was scaredat everything he saw. On the way to camp, one of the rich young chiefsof the tribe rode up by the boy and offered him twelve good horses forthe spotted robe, so that he could marry the Head Chief's beautifuldaughter; but the boy laughed at him and would not sell the robe. 

Now, while the boy walked to the camp leading the dun horse, most of thewarriors rode back, and one of those that came first to the village wentto the old woman and said to her, "Your grandson has killed the spottedcalf. " And the old woman said, "Why do you come to tell me this? Youought to be ashamed to make fun of my boy, because he is poor. " Thewarrior said, "What I have told you is true, " and then he rode away. After a little while another brave rode up to the old woman, and said toher, "Your grandson has killed the spotted calf. " Then the old womanbegan to cry, she felt so badly because every one made fun of her boy, because he was poor. 

Pretty soon the boy came along, leading the horse up to the lodge wherehe and his grandmother lived. It was a little lodge, just big enough fortwo, and was made of old pieces of skin that the old woman had pickedup, and was tied together with strings of rawhide and sinew. It was themeanest and worst lodge in the village. When the old woman saw her boyleading the dun horse with the load of meat and the robes on it, she wasvery surprised. The boy said to her, "Here, I have brought you plenty ofmeat to eat, and here is a robe, that you may have for yourself. Takethe meat off the horse. " Then the old woman laughed, for her heart wasglad. But when she went to take the meat from the horse's back, hesnorted and jumped about, and acted like a wild horse. The old womanlooked at him in wonder, and could hardly believe that it was the samehorse. So the boy had to take off the meat, for the horse would not letthe old woman come near him. 

III

That night the horse spoke again to the boy and said, "_Wa-ti-hesChah'-ra-rat wa-ta_. Tomorrow the Sioux are coming--a large war party. They will attack the village, and you will have a great battle. Now, when the Sioux are all drawn up in line of battle, and are all ready tofight, you jump on to me, and ride as hard as you can, right into themiddle of the Sioux, and up to their Head Chief, their greatest warrior, and count _coup_ on him, and kill him, and then ride back. Do this fourtimes, and count _coup_ on four of the bravest Sioux, and kill them, butdon't go again. If you go the fifth time, maybe you will be killed, orelse you will lose me. _La-ku'-ta-chix_--remember. " So the boy promised. 

The next day it happened as the horse had said, and the Sioux came downand formed in line of battle. Then the boy took his bow and arrows, andjumped on the dun horse, and charged into the midst of them. And whenthe Sioux saw that he was going to strike their Head Chief, they allshot their arrows at him, and the arrows flew so thickly across eachother that they darkened the sky, but none of them hit the boy. And hecounted _coup_ on the Chief, and killed him, and then rode back. Afterthat he charged again among the Sioux, where they were gatheredthickest, and counted _coup_ on their bravest warrior, and killed him. And then twice more, until he had gone four times as the horse had toldhim. 

But the Sioux and the Pawnees kept on fighting, and the boy stood aroundand watched the battle. And at last he said to himself, "I have beenfour times and have killed four Sioux, and I am all right, I am not hurtanywhere; why may I not go again?" So he jumped on the dun horse, andcharged again. But when he got among the Sioux, one Sioux warrior drewan arrow and shot. The arrow struck the dun horse behind the forelegsand pierced him through. And the horse fell down dead. But the boyjumped off, and fought his way through the Sioux, and ran away as fastas he could to the Pawnees. Now, as soon as the horse was killed, theSioux said to each other: "This horse was like a man. He was brave. Hewas not like a horse. " And they took their knives and hatchets, andhacked the dun horse and gashed his flesh, and cut him into smallpieces. 

The Pawnees and Sioux fought all day long, but toward night the Siouxbroke and fled. 

IV

The boy felt very badly that he had lost his horse; and, after the fightwas over, he went out from the village to where it had taken place, tomourn for his horse. He went to the spot where the horse lay, andgathered up all the pieces of flesh, which the Sioux had cut off, andthe legs and the hoofs, and put them all together in a pile. Then hewent off to the top of a hill near by, and sat down and drew his robeover his head, and began to mourn for his horse. 

As he sat there, he heard a great wind-storm coming up, and it passedover him with a loud rushing sound, and after the wind came a rain. Theboy looked down from where he sat to the pile of flesh and bones, whichwas all that was left of his horse, and he could just see it through therain. And the rain passed by, and his heart was very heavy, and he kepton mourning. 

And pretty soon came another rushing wind, and after it a rain; and ashe looked through the driving rain toward the spot where the pieces lay, he thought that they seemed to come together and take shape, and thatthe pile looked like a horse lying down, but he could not see well forthe thick rain. 

After this came a third storm like the others; and now when he lookedtoward the horse he thought he saw its tail move from side to side twoor three times, and that it lifted its head from the ground. The boy wasafraid, and wanted to run away, but he stayed. 

And as he waited, there came another storm. And while the rain fell, looking through the rain, the boy saw the horse raise himself up on hisforelegs and look about. Then the dun horse stood up. 

V

The boy left the place where he had been sitting on the hilltop, andwent down to him. When the boy had come near to him, the horse spokeand said: "You have seen how it has been this day; and from this you mayknow how it will be after this. But _Ti-ra'-wa_ has been good, and haslet me come back to you. After this, do what I tell you; not any more, not any less. " Then the horse said: "Now lead me off, far away from thecamp, behind that big hill, and leave me there to-night, and in themorning come for me;" and the boy did as he was told. 

And when he went for the horse in the morning, he found with him abeautiful white gelding, much more handsome than any horse in the tribe. That night the dun horse told the boy to take him again to the placebehind the big hill, and to come for him the next morning; and when theboy went for him again, he found with him a beautiful black gelding. Andso for ten nights, he left the horse among the hills, and each morninghe found a different coloured horse, a bay, a roan, a gray, a blue, aspotted horse, and all of them finer than any horses that the Pawneeshad ever had in their tribe before. 

Now the boy was rich, and he married the beautiful daughter of the HeadChief, and when he became older he was made Head Chief himself. He hadmany children by his beautiful wife, and one day when his oldest boydied, he wrapped him in the spotted calf robe and buried him in it. Healways took good care of his old grandmother, and kept her in his ownlodge until she died. The dun horse was never ridden except at feasts, and when they were going to have a doctors' dance, but he was always ledabout with the Chief wherever he went. The horse lived in the villagefor many years, until he became very old. And at last he died. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 7: From "Pawnee Hero Stories and Folk Tales. " Copyright, 1890, by George Bird Grinnell; published by Charles Scribner's Sons. ]

XVII

THE GREEDY YOUNGSTER

Once upon a time there were five women who were in a field reaping corn. None of them had any children, but they were all wishing for a child. All at once they found a big goose egg, almost as big as a man's head. 

"I saw it first, " said one. "I saw it just as soon as you did, " shoutedanother. "But I'll have it, " screamed the third, "I saw it first ofall. "

Thus they kept on quarrelling and fighting about the egg, and they werevery near tearing each other's hair. But at last they agreed that itshould belong to them all, and that they should sit on it as the geesedo and hatch a gosling. The first woman sat on it for eight days, takingit very comfortably and doing nothing at all, while the others had towork hard both for their own and her living. One of the women began tomake some insinuations to her about this. 

"Well, I suppose you didn't come out of the egg either before you couldchirp, " said the woman who was on the egg, "But I think there issomething in this egg, for I fancy I can hear some one inside grumblingevery other moment: 'Herring and soup! Porridge and milk!' You can comeand sit for eight days now, and then we will sit and work in turn, allof us. "

So when the fifth in turn had sat for eight days, she heard plainly someone inside the egg screeching for "Herring and soup! Porridge and milk!"And so she made a hole in it; but instead of a gosling out came a baby, but it was awfully ugly, and had a big head and a tiny little body. Thefirst thing it screamed out for, as soon as it put its head outside theegg, was "Herring and soup! Porridge and milk!" And so they called it"the greedy youngster. "

Ugly as he was, they were fond of him at first; but before long hebecame so greedy that he ate up all the meat they had. When they boileda dish of soup or a pot of porridge which they thought would besufficient for all six, he finished it all by himself. So they would nothave him any longer. 

"I have not had a decent meal since this changeling crept out of theeggshell, " said one of them, and when the youngster heard that they wereall of the same opinion, he said he was quite willing to go his way; "ifthey did not want him, he was sure he did not want them, " and with thathe left the place. 

After a long time he came to a farm where the fields were full ofstones, and he went in and asked for a situation. They wanted a laboureron the farm, and the farmer put him to pick up stones from the field. Yes, the youngster went to work and picked up the stones, some of whichwere so big that they would make many cartloads; but whether they werebig or small, he put them all into his pocket. It did not take him longto finish that job, so he wanted to know what he should do next. 

"You will have to get all the stones out of the field, " said the farmer. "I suppose you can't be ready before you have commenced?"

But the youngster emptied his pockets and threw all the stones in aheap. Then the farmer saw that he had finished the work, and he thoughthe ought to look well after one who was so strong. He must come in andget something to eat, he said. The youngster thought so too, and healone ate what was prepared both for master and servants, and still hewas only half satisfied. 

"He is the right sort of man for a labourer, but he is a terrible eater, to be sure, " thought the farmer. "A man like him would eat a poor farmerout of house and home before anybody knew a word about it, " he said. Hehad no more work for him; it was best for him to go to the king'spalace. 

The youngster set out for the palace, where he got a place at once. There was plenty of food and plenty of work. He was to be errand boy, and to help the girls to carry wood and water and do other odd jobs. Sohe asked what he was to do first. 

"You had better chop some wood in the mean time, " they said. Yes, hecommenced to chop and cut wood till the splinters flew about him. It wasnot long before he had chopped up everything in the place, both firewoodand timber, both rafters and beams, and when he was ready with it, hecame in and asked what he was to do now. 

"You can finish chopping the wood, " they said. 

"There is no more to chop, " he answered. 

That could not be possible, thought the overlooker, and had a look intothe wood-shed. But yes, the youngster had chopped up everything; he hadeven cut up the timber and planks in the place. This was vexatious, theoverlooker said; and then he told the youngster that he should not tastefood until he had gone into the forest and cut just as much timber as hehad chopped up for firewood. 

The youngster went to the smithy and got the smith to help him to makean axe of five hundredweight of iron, and then he set out for the forestand began to make a regular clearance, not only of the pine and thelofty fir trees, but of everything else which was to be found in theking's forests, and in the neighbours' as well. He did not stop to cutthe branches or the tops off, but he left them lying there as if ahurricane had blown them down. He put a proper load on the sledge andput all the horses to it, but they could not even move it; so he tookthe horses by the heads to give the sledge a start, but he pulled sohard that the horses' heads came off. He then turned the horses out ofthe shafts and drew the load himself. 

When he came to the palace, the king and his overlooker were standing inthe hall to give him a scolding for having destroyed the forest--theoverlooker had been there and seen what he had been doing. But when theking saw the youngster dragging half the forest after him, he got bothangry and afraid; but he thought he had better be a little careful withhim, since he was strong. 

"Well, you are a wonderful workman, to be sure, " said the king; "but howmuch do you eat at a time, because I suppose you are hungry now?"

Oh, when he was to have a proper meal of porridge, it would take twelvebarrels of meal to make it, thought the youngster; but when he had putthat away, he could wait awhile, of course, for his next meal. 

It took some time to boil such a dish of porridge, and meantime he wasto bring in a little firewood for the cook. He put a lot of wood on asledge, but when he was coming through the door with it he was a littlerough and careless again. The house got almost out of shape, and all thejoists creaked; he was very near dragging down the whole palace. Whenthe porridge was nearly ready, they sent him out to call the people homefrom the fields. He shouted so that the mountains and hills around rangwith echoes, but the people did not come quick enough for him. He cameto blows with them, and killed twelve of them. 

"You have killed twelve men, " said the king; "and you eat for many timestwelve; but how many do you work for?"

"For many times twelve as well, " answered the youngster. 

When he had finished his porridge, he was to go into the barn to thrash. He took one of the rafters from the roof and made a flail out of it, andwhen the roof was about to fall in, he took a big pine tree withbranches and all and put it up instead of the rafter. So he went onthrashing the grain and the straw and the hay all together. This wasdoing more damage than good, for the corn and the chaff flew abouttogether, and a cloud of dust arose over the whole palace. 

When he had nearly finished thrashing, enemies came into the country, asa war was coming on. So the king told the youngster that he should takemen with him to go and meet the enemy and fight them, for the kingthought they would surely kill him. 

No, he would not have any men with him to be cut to pieces; he wouldfight by himself, answered the youngster. 

"So much the better, " thought the king; "the sooner I shall get rid ofhim; but he must have a proper club. "

They sent for the smith; he forged a club which weighed a hundredweight. "A very nice thing to crack nuts with, " said the youngster. So the smithmade one of three hundredweight. "It would be very well for hammeringnails into boots, " was the answer. Well, the smith could not make abigger one with the men he had. So the youngster set out for the smithyhimself, and made a club that weighed five tons, and it took a hundredmen to turn it on the anvil. "That one might do for lack of a better, "thought the youngster. He wanted next a bag with some provisions; theyhad to make one out of fifteen oxhides, and they filled it with food, and away he went down the hill with the bag on his back and the club onhis shoulder. 

When he came so far that the enemy saw him, they sent a soldier to askhim if he was going to fight them. 

"Yes; but wait a little till I have had something to eat, " said theyoungster. He threw himself down on the grass and began to eat with thebig bag of food in front of him. 

But the enemy would not wait, and commenced to fire at him at once, tillit rained and hailed around him with bullets. 

"I don't mind these crowberries a bit, " said the youngster, and went oneating harder than ever. Neither lead nor iron took any effect upon him, and his bag with food in front of him guarded him against the bullets asif it were a rampart. 

So they commenced throwing bomb-shells and firing cannons at him. Heonly grinned a little every time he felt them. 

"They don't hurt me a bit, " he said. But just then he got a bomb-shellright down his windpipe. 

"Fy!" he shouted, and spat it out again; but then a chain-shot made itsway into his butter-can, and another carried away the piece of food heheld between his fingers. 

That made him angry; he got up and took his big club and struck theground with it, asking them if they wanted to take the food out of hismouth, and what they meant by blowing crowberries at him with thosepea-shooters of theirs. He then struck the ground again till the hillsand rocks rattled and shook, and sent the enemy flying in the air likechaff. This finished the war. 

When he came home again, and asked for more work, the king was takenquite aback, for he thought he should have got rid of him in the war. Heknew of nothing else but to send him on a message to the devil. 

"You had better go to the devil and ask him for my ground-rent, " hesaid. The youngster took his bag on his back, and started at once. Hewas not long in getting there, but the devil was gone to court, andthere was no one at home but his mother, and she said that she had neverheard talk of any ground-rent. He had better call again another time. 

"Yes, call again to-morrow is always the cry, " he said; but he was notgoing to be made a fool of, he told her. He was there, and there hewould remain till he got the ground-rent. He had plenty of time to wait. But when he had finished all the food in his bag, the time hung heavy onhis hands, and then he asked the old lady for the ground-rent again. She had better pay it now, he said. 

"No, she was going to do nothing of the sort, " she said. Her words wereas firm as the old fir tree just outside the gates, which was so bigthat fifteen men could scarcely span it. 

But the youngster climbed right up in the top of it and twisted andturned it as if it was a willow, and then he asked her if she was goingto pay the ground-rent now. 

Yes, she dared not do anything else, and scraped together as much moneyas he thought he could carry in his bag. He then set out for home withthe ground-rent, but as soon as he was gone the devil came home. When heheard that the youngster had gone off with his bag full of money, hefirst of all gave his mother a hiding, and then he started after him, thinking he would soon overtake him. 

He soon came up to him, for he had nothing to carry, and now and then heused his wings; but the youngster had, of course, to keep to the groundwith his heavy bag. Just as the devil was at his heels, he began to jumpand run as fast as he could. He kept his club behind him to keep thedevil off, and thus they went along, the youngster holding the handleand the devil trying to catch hold of the other end of it, till theycame to a deep valley. There the youngster made a jump across from thetop of one hill to the other, and the devil was in such a hurry tofollow him that he ran his head against the club and fell down into thevalley and broke his leg, and there he lay. 

"There is the ground-rent, " said the youngster when he came to thepalace, and threw the bag with the money to the king with such a crashthat you could hear it all over the hall. 

The king thanked him, and appeared to be well pleased, and promised himgood pay and leave of absence if he wished it, but the youngster wantedonly more work. 

"What shall I do now?" he said. 

As soon as the king had had time to consider, he told him that he mustgo to the hill-troll, who had taken his grandfather's sword. The trollhad a castle by the sea, where no one dared to go. 

The youngster put some cartloads of food into his bag and set out again. He travelled both long and far, over woods and hills and wild moors, till he came to the big mountains where the troll, who had taken thesword of the king's grandfather, was living. 

But the troll seldom came out in the open air, and the mountain was wellclosed, so the youngster was not man enough to get inside. 

So he joined a gang of quarrymen who were living at a farm on top of thehill, and who were quarrying stones in the hills about there. They hadnever had such help before, for he broke and hammered away at the rockstill the mountain cracked, and big stones of the size of a house rolleddown the hill. But when he rested to get his dinner, for which he wasgoing to have one of the cartloads in his bag, he found it was all eatenup. 

"I have generally a good appetite myself, " said the youngster; "but theone who has been here can do a trifle more than I, for he has eaten allthe bones as well. "

Thus the first day passed; and he fared no better the second. On thethird day he set out to break stones again, taking with him the thirdload of food, but he lay down behind the bag and pretended to be asleep. All of a sudden, a troll with seven heads came out of the mountain andbegan to eat his food. 

"It's all ready for me here, and I will eat, " said the troll. 

"We will see about that, " said the youngster, and hit the troll with hisclub, so the heads rolled down the hill. 

So he went into the mountain which the troll had come out of, and inthere stood a horse eating out of a barrel of glowing cinders, andbehind it stood a barrel of oats. 

"Why don't you eat out of the barrel of oats?" asked the youngster. 

"Because I cannot turn round, " said the horse. 

"But I will soon turn you round, " said the youngster. 

"Rather cut my head off, " said the horse. 

So he cut its head off, and the horse turned into a fine handsomefellow. He said he had been bewitched, and taken into the mountain andturned into a horse by the troll. He then helped the youngster to findthe sword, which the troll had hidden at the bottom of the bed, and inthe bed lay the old mother of the troll, asleep and snoring hard. 

So they set out for home by water, but when they had got some distanceout to sea the old mother came after them. As she could not overtakethem, she lay down and began to drink the sea, and she drank till thewater fell; but she could not drink the sea dry, and so she burst. 

When they came to land, the youngster sent word that the king must comeand fetch the sword. He sent four horses, but no, they could not moveit; he sent eight, and he sent twelve; but the sword remained where itwas. They were not able to stir it from the spot. But the youngster tookit and carried it up to the palace alone. 

The king could not believe his eyes when he saw the youngster backagain. He appeared, however, to be pleased to see him, and promised himland and riches. When the youngster wanted more work, the king said hemight set out for an enchanted castle he had, where no one dared tolive, and he would have to stop there till he had built a bridge overthe sound, so that people could get across to the castle. 

If he was able to do this he would reward him handsomely, yes, he wouldeven give him his daughter in marriage, said he. 

"Well, I think I can do it, " said the youngster. 

No one had ever got away alive; those who had got as far as the castle, lay there killed and torn to pieces as small as barley, and the kingthought he should never see him any more if he would go thither. 

But the youngster started on his expedition; he took with him the bag offood, a crooked, twisted block of a fir tree, an axe, a wedge, and somechips of the fir root, and the small pauper boy at the palace. 

When he came to the sound, he found the river full of ice, and thecurrent ran as strong as in a waterfall; but he stuck his legs to thebottom of the river and waded until he got safe across. 

When he had warmed himself and had something to eat, he wanted to go tosleep; but before long he heard such a terrible noise, as if they wereturning the castle upside down. The door burst wide open, and he sawnothing but a gaping jaw extending from the threshold up to the lintel. 

"There is a mouthful for you, " said the youngster and threw the pauperboy into the swallow: "taste that! But let me see now who you are!Perhaps you are an old acquaintance?"

And so it was; it was the devil who was about again. 

They began to play cards, for the devil wanted to try and win back someof the ground-rent which the youngster had got out of his mother bythreats, when he was sent by the king to collect it; but the youngsterwas always the fortunate one, for he put a cross on the back of all thegood cards, and when he had won all the money which the devil had uponhim, the devil had to pay him out of the gold and silver which was inthe castle. 

Suddenly the fire went out, so they could not tell the one card from theother. 

"We must chop some wood now, " said the youngster, who drove the axe intothe fir block, and forced the wedge in; but the twisted, knotty blockwould not split, although the youngster worked as hard as he could withthe axe. 

"They say you are strong, " he said to the devil; "just spit on yourhands, stick your claws in, and tear away, and let me see what you aremade of. "

The devil did so, and put both his fists into the split and pulled ashard as he could, when the youngster suddenly struck the wedge out, andthe devil stuck fast in the block and the youngster let him also have ataste of the butt end of his axe on his back. The devil begged andprayed so nicely to be let loose, but the youngster would not listen toanything of the kind unless he promised that he would never come thereany more and create any disturbance. He also had to promise that hewould build a bridge over the sound, so that people could pass over itat all times of the year, and it should be ready when the ice was gone. 

"They are very hard conditions, " said the devil; but there was no otherway out of it--if the devil wanted to be set free, he would have topromise it. He bargained, however, that he should have the first soulthat went across the bridge. That was to be the toll. 

Yes, he should have that, said the youngster. So the devil was letloose, and he started home. But the youngster lay down to sleep, andslept till far into the day. 

When the king came to see if he was cut and chopped into small pieces, he had to wade through all the money before he came to his bedside. There was money in heaps and in bags which reached far up the wall, andthe youngster lay in bed asleep and snoring hard. 

"Lord help me and my daughter, " said the king when he saw that theyoungster was alive. Well, all was good and well done, that no one coulddeny; but there was no hurry talking of the wedding before the bridgewas ready. 

One day the bridge stood ready, and the devil was there waiting for thetoll which he had bargained for. 

The youngster wanted the king to go with him and try the bridge, but theking had no mind to do it. So he mounted a horse himself, and put thefat dairy-maid in the palace on the pommel in front of him; she lookedalmost like a big fir block, and so he rode over the bridge, whichthundered under the horse's feet. 

"Where is the toll? Where have you got the soul?" cried the devil. 

"Why, inside this fir block, " said the youngster; "if you want it youwill have to spit in your hands and take it. "

"No, many thanks! If she does not come to me, I am sure I shan't takeher, " said the devil. "You got me once into a pinch, and I'll take careyou don't get me into another, " and with that he flew straight home tohis old mother, and since that time he has never been heard or seenthereabouts. 

The youngster went home to the palace and asked for the reward the kinghad promised him, and when the king wanted to get out of it, and wouldnot stick to what he had promised, the youngster said it was best he gota good bag of food ready for him and he would take his reward himself. 

Yes, the king would see to that, and when the bag was ready theyoungster asked the king to come outside the door. The youngster thengave the king such a kick, which sent him flying up in the air. The baghe threw after him that he might not be without food; and if he has notcome down again by this he is floating about with his bag between heavenand earth to this very day. 

XVIII

HANS, WHO MADE THE PRINCESS LAUGH

Once upon a time there was a king, who had a daughter, and she was solovely that the reports of her beauty went far and wide; but she was somelancholy that she never laughed, and besides she was so grand andproud that she said "No" to all who came to woo her--she would not haveany of them, were they ever so fine, whether they were princes ornoblemen. 

The king was tired of this whim of hers long ago, and thought she oughtto get married like other people; there was nothing she need waitfor--she was old enough and she would not be any richer either, for shewas to have half the kingdom, which she inherited after her mother. 

So he made known every Sunday after the service, from the steps outsidethe church, that he that could make his daughter laugh should have bothher and half the kingdom. But if there were any one who tried and couldnot make her laugh, he would have three red stripes cut out of his backand salt rubbed into them--and, sad to relate, there were many sorebacks in that kingdom. Lovers from south and from north, from east andfrom west, came to try their luck--they thought it was an easy thing tomake a princess laugh. They were a queer lot altogether, but for alltheir cleverness and for all the tricks and pranks they played, theprincess was just as serious and immovable as ever. 

But close to the palace lived a man who had three sons, and they hadalso heard that the king had made known that he who could make theprincess laugh should have her and half the kingdom. 

The eldest of the brothers wanted to try first, and away he went; andwhen he came to the palace, he told the king he wouldn't mind trying tomake the princess laugh. 

"Yes, yes! that's all very well, " said the king; "but I am afraid it'sof very little use, my man. There have been many here to try their luck, but my daughter is just as sad, and I am afraid it is no good trying. Ido not like to see any more suffer on that account. "

But the lad thought he would try anyhow. It couldn't be such a difficultthing to make a princess laugh at him, for had not everybody, both grandand simple, laughed so many a time at him when he served as soldier andwent through his drill under Sergeant Nils. 

So he went out on the terrace outside the princess's windows and begandrilling just as if Sergeant Nils himself were there. But all in vain!The princess sat just as serious and immovable as before, and so theytook him and cut three broad, red stripes out of his back and sent himhome. 

He had no sooner arrived home than his second brother wanted to set outand try his luck. He was a schoolmaster, and a funny figure he wasaltogether. He had one leg shorter than the other, and limped terriblywhen he walked. One moment he was no bigger than a boy, but the nextmoment when he raised himself up on his long leg he was as big and tallas a giant--and besides he was great at preaching. 

When he came to the palace, and said that he wanted to make the princesslaugh, the king thought that it was not so unlikely that he might; "butI pity you, if you don't succeed, " said the king, "for we cut thestripes broader and broader for every one that tries. "

So the schoolmaster went out on the terrace, and took his place outsidethe princess's window, where he began preaching and chanting imitatingseven of the parsons, and reading and singing just like seven of theclerks whom they had had in the parish. 

The king laughed at the schoolmaster till he was obliged to hold on tothe door-post, and the princess was just on the point of smiling, butsuddenly she was as sad and immovable as ever, and so it fared no betterwith Paul the schoolmaster than with Peter the soldier--for Peter andPaul were their names, you must know!

So they took Paul and cut three red stripes out of his back, put saltinto them, and sent him home again. 

Well, the youngest brother thought he would have a try next. His namewas Hans. But the brothers laughed and made fun of him, and showed himtheir sore backs. Besides, the father would not give him leave to go, for he said it was no use his trying, who had so little sense; all hecould do was to sit in a corner on the hearth, like a cat, rooting aboutin the ashes and cutting chips. But Hans would not give in--he beggedand prayed so long, till they got tired of his whimpering, and so he gotleave to go to the king's palace and try his luck. 

When he arrived at the palace he did not say he had come to try to makethe princess laugh, but asked if he could get a situation there. No, they had no situation for him; but Hans was not so easily put off--theymight want one to carry wood and water for the kitchenmaid in such a bigplace as that, he said. Yes, the king thought so too, and to get rid ofthe lad he gave him leave to remain there and carry wood and water forthe kitchenmaid. 

One day, when he was going to fetch water from the brook, he saw a bigfish in the water just under an old root of a fir-tree, which thecurrent had carried all the soil away from. He put his bucket quietlyunder the fish and caught it. As he was going home to the palace, he metan old woman leading a golden goose. 

"Good day, grandmother!" said Hans. "That's a fine bird you have gotthere; and such splendid feathers too! he shines a long way off. If onehad such feathers, one needn't be chopping firewood. "

The woman thought just as much of the fish which Hans had in the bucket, and said if Hans would give her the fish he should have the goldengoose; and this goose was such that if any one touched it he would besticking fast to it if he only said: "If you'll come along, then hangon. "

Yes, Hans would willingly exchange on those terms. "A bird is as good asa fish any day, " he said to himself. "If it is as you say, I might useit instead of a fish-hook, " he said to the woman, and felt greatlypleased with the possession of the goose. 

He had not gone far before he met another old woman. When she saw thesplendid golden goose, she must go and stroke it. She made herself sofriendly and spoke so nicely to Hans, and asked him to let her strokethat lovely golden goose of his. 

"Oh, yes!" said Hans, "but you mustn't pluck off any of its feathers!"

Just as she stroked the bird, Hans said: "If you'll come along, thenhang on!"

The woman pulled and tore, but she had to hang on, whether she would orno, and Hans walked on, as if he only had the goose with him. 

When he had gone some distance, he met a man who had a spite against thewoman for a trick she had played upon him. When he saw that she foughtso hard to get free and seemed to hang on so fast, he thought he mightsafely venture to pay her off for the grudge he owed her, and so he gaveher a kick. 

"If you'll come along, then hang on!" said Hans, and the man had to hangon and limp along on one leg, whether he would or no; and when he triedto tear himself loose, he made it still worse for himself, for he wasvery nearly falling on his back whenever he struggled to get free. 

So on they went till they came in the neighborhood of the palace. Therethey met the king's smith; he was on his way to the smithy, and had alarge pair of tongs in his hand. This smith was a merry fellow, and wasalways full of mad pranks and tricks, and when he saw this processioncoming jumping and limping along, he began laughing till he was bent intwo, but suddenly he said:

"This must be a new flock of geese for the princess: but who can tellwhich is goose and which is gander? I suppose it must be the gandertoddling on in front. Goosey, goosey!" he called, and pretended to bestrewing corn out of his hands as when feeding geese. 

But they did not stop. The woman and the man only looked in great rageat the smith for making game of them. So said the smith: "It would begreat fun to see if I could stop the whole flock, many as they are!"--Hewas a strong man, and seized the old man with his tongs from behind inhis trousers, and the man shouted and struggled hard, but Hans said:

"If you'll come along, then hang on!"

And so the smith had to hang on too. He bent his back and stuck hisheels in the ground when they went up a hill and tried to get away, butit was of no use; he stuck on to the other as if he had been screwedfast in the great vise in the smithy, and whether he liked it or not, hehad to dance along with the others. 

When they came near the palace, the farm-dog ran against them and barkedat them, as if they were a gang of tramps, and when the princess came tolook out of her window to see what was the matter, and saw thisprocession, she burst out laughing. But Hans was not satisfied withthat. "Just wait a bit, and she will laugh still louder very soon, " hesaid, and made a tour round the palace with his followers. 

When they came past the kitchen, the door was open and the cook was justboiling porridge, but when she saw Hans and his train after him, sherushed out of the door with the porridge-stick in one hand and a bigladle full of boiling porridge in the other, and she laughed till hersides shook; but when she saw the smith there as well, she thought shewould have burst with laughter. When she had had a regular good laugh, she looked at the golden goose again and thought it was so lovely thatshe must stroke it. 

"Hans, Hans!" she cried, and ran after him with the ladle in her hand;"just let me stroke that lovely bird of yours. "

"Rather let her stroke me!" said the smith. 

"Very well, " said Hans. 

But when the cook heard this, she got very angry. "What is it you say!"she cried, and gave the smith a smack with the ladle. 

"If you'll come along, then hang on!" said Hans, and so she stuck fastto the others too, and for all her scolding and all her tearing andpulling, she had to limp along with them. 

And when they came past the princess's window again, she was still therewaiting for them, but when she saw that they had got hold of the cooktoo, with the ladle and porridge-stick, she laughed till the king had tohold her up. So Hans got the princess and half the kingdom, and they hada wedding which was heard of far and wide. 

XIX

THE STORY OF TOM TIT TOT[8]

Well, once upon a time there were a woman, and she baked five pies. Andwhen they come out of the oven, they was that overbaked the crust weretoo hard to eat. So she says to her darter:

"Darter, " says she, "put you them there pies on the shelf an' leave 'emthere a little, an' they'll come agin--" She meant, you know, the crust'ud get soft. 

But the gal, she says to herself, "Well, if they'll come agin, I'll ate'em now. " And she set to work and ate 'em all, first and last. 

Well, come supper time, the woman she said, "Goo you and git one o' themthere pies; I daresay they've come agin, now. "

The gal, she went an' she looked, and there warn't nothin' but thedishes. So back she come and says she, "Noo, they ain't come agin. "

"Not none on 'em?" says the mother. 

"Not none on 'em, " says she. 

"Well, come agin, or not come agin, " says the woman, "I'll ha' one forsupper. "

"But you can't, if they ain't come, " says the gal. 

"But I can, " says she. "Goo you and bring the best of 'em. "

"Best or worst, " says the gal, "I've ate 'em all, and you can't ha' onetill that's come agin. "

Well, the woman she were wholly bate, and she took her spinnin' to thedoor to spin, and as she span she sang:

 "My darter ha' ate five, five pies to-day-- My darter ha' ate five, five pies to-day. "

The king, he were a comin' down the street and he hard her sing, butwhat she sang he couldn't hare, so he stopped and said:

"What were that you was a singin of, woman?"

The woman, she were ashamed to let him hare what her darter had beena-doin', so she sang, 'stids o' that:

 "My darter ha' spun five, five skeins to-day-- My darter ha' spun five, five skeins to-day. "

"S'ars o' mine!" said the king, "I never heerd tell of any one as coulddo that. "

Then he said: "Look you here, I want a wife, and I'll marry your darter. But look you here, " says he, "'leven months out o' the year she shallhave all the vittles she likes to eat, and all the gownds she likes togit, and all the cumpny she likes to hev; but the last month o' the yearshe'll ha' to spin five skeins iv'ry day, an' if she doon't, I shallkill her. "

"All right, " says the woman; for she thowt what a grand marriage thatwas. And as for them five skeins, when te come tew, there'd be plenty o'ways of gettin' out of it, and likeliest, he'd ha' forgot about it. 

Well, so they were married. An' for 'leven months the gal had all thevittles she liked to ate, and all the gownds she liked to git, and allthe cumpny she liked to have. 

But when the time was gettin' oover, she began to think about them thereskeins an' to wonder if he had 'em in mind. But not one word did he sayabout 'em, an' she whoolly thowt he'd forgot 'em. 

Howsivir, the last day o' the last month, he takes her to a room she'dniver set eyes on afore. There worn't nothin' in it but a spinnin' wheeland a stool. An' says he, "Now, me dear, hare you'll be shut into-morrow with some vittles and some flax, and if you hain't spun fiveskeins by the night, yar hid'll goo off. "

An' awa' he went about his business. 

Well, she were that frightened. She'd allus been such a gatless gal, that she didn't se much as know how to spin, an' what were she to dewto-morrer, with no one to come nigh her to help her? She sat down on astool in the kitchen, and lork! how she did cry!

Howsivir, all on a sudden she hard a sort of a knockin' low down on thedoor. She upped and oped it, an' what should she see but a small littleblack thing with a long tail. That looked up at her right kewrious, an'that said:

"What are yew a-cryin' for?"

"Wha's that to yew?" says she. 

"Niver yew mind, " that said, "but tell me what you're a cryin' for. "

"That oon't dew me noo good if I dew, " says she. 

"Yew doon't know that, " that said, an' twirled that's tail round. 

"Well, " says she, "that oon't dew no harm, if that doon't dew no good, "and she upped and told about the pies an' the skeins an' everything. 

"This is what I'll dew, " says the little black thing: "I'll come to yarwinder iv'ry mornin' an' take the flax an' bring it spun at night"

"What's your pay?" says she. 

That looked out o' the corners o' that's eyes an' that said: "I'll giveyou three guesses every night to guess my name, an' if you hain'tguessed it afore the month's up, yew shall be mine. "

Well, she thowt she'd be sure to guess that's name afore the month wasup. "All right, " says she, "I agree. "

"All right, " that says, an' lork! how that twirled that's tail. 

Well, the next day, har husband, he took her inter the room, an' therewas the flax an' the day's vittles. 

"Now, there's the flax, " says he, "an' if that ain't spun up this night, off goo yar hid. " An' then he went out an' locked the door. 

He'd hardly goon, when there was a knockin' agin the winder. 

She upped and she oped it, and there sure enough was the little oo'dthing a settin' on the ledge. 

"Where's the flax?" says he. 

"Here te be, " says she. And she gonned it to him. 

Well, come the evenin', a knockin' come agin to the winder. She uppedan' she oped it, and there were the little oo'd thing, with five skeinsof flax on his arm. 

"Here te be, " says he, an' he gonned it to her. 

"Now, what's my name?" says he. 

"What, is that Bill?" says she. 

"Noo, that ain't, " says he. An' he twirled his tail. 

"Is that Ned?" says she. 

"Noo, that ain't, " says he. An' he twirled his tail. 

"Well, is that Mark?" says she. 

"Noo, that ain't, " says he. An' he twirled his tail harder, an' awa' heflew. 

Well, when har husban' he come in, there was the five skeins riddy forhim. 

"I see I shorn't hev for to kill you to-night, me dare, " says he. "You'll hev yar vittles and yar flax in the mornin', " says he, an' awayhe goes. 

Well, ivery day the flax an' the vittles, they was browt, an' ivery daythat there little black impet used for to come mornin's and evenin's. An' all the day the darter, she set a tryin' fur to think of names tosay to it when te come at night. But she niver hot on the right one. An'as that got to-warts the ind o' the month, the impet that began for tolook soo maliceful, an' that twirled that's tail faster an' faster eachtime she gave a guess. 

At last te came to the last day but one. The impet that come at nightalong o' the five skeins, an' that said:

"What, hain't yew got my name yet?"

"Is that Nicodemus?" says she. 

"Noo, t'ain't, " that says. 

"Is that Sammle?" says she. 

"Noo, t'ain't, " that says. 

"A-well, is that Methusalem?" says she. 

"Noo, t'ain't that norther, " he says. 

Then that looks at her with that's eyes like a cool o' fire, an thatsays, "Woman, there's only to-morrer night, an' then yar'll be mine!"An' away te flew. 

Well, she felt that horrud. Howsomediver, she hard the king a-comin'along the passage. In he came, an' when he see the five skeins, he says, says he:

"Well, me dare, " says he, "I don't see but what yew'll ha' your skeinsready to-morrer night as well, an' as I reckon I shorn't ha' to killyou, I'll ha' supper in here to-night. " So they brought supper an'another stool for him, and down the tew they sot. 

Well, he hadn't eat but a mouthful or so, when he stops and begins tolaugh. 

"What is it?" says she. 

"A-why, " says he, "I was out a-huntin' to-day, an' I got away to a placein the wood I'd never seen afore. An' there was an old chalk pit. An' Iheerd a sort of a hummin', kind o'. So I got off my hobby, an' I wentright quiet to the pit, an' I looked down. Well, what should there bebut the funniest little black thing yew iver set eyes on. An' what wasthat a dewin' on, but that had a little spinnin' wheel, an' that werea-spinnin' wonnerful fast, an' a-twirlin' that's tail. An' as that span, that sang:

 "Nimmy, nimmy not, My name's Tom Tit Tot. "

Well, when the darter heerd this, she fared as if she could ha' jumpedouter her skin for joy, but she di'n't say a word. 

Next day, that there little thing looked soo maliceful when he come forthe flax. An' when night came, she heerd that a-knockin' agin the winderpanes. She oped the winder, an' that come right in on the ledge. Thatwere grinnin' from are to are, an' Oo! tha's tail were twirlin' round sofast. 

"What's my name?" that says, as that gonned her the skeins. 

"Is that Solomon?" she says, pretendin' to be a-feard. 

"Noo, tain't, " that says, an' that come fudder inter the room. 

"Well, is that Zebedee?" says she agin. 

"Noo, tain't, " says the impet. An' then that laughed an' twirled that'stail till yew cou'n't hardly see it. 

"Take time, woman, " that says; "next guess, an' you're mine. " An' thatstretched out that's black hands at her. 

Well, she backed a step or two, an' she looked at it, and then shelaughed out, an' says she, a pointin' of her finger at it:

 "Nimmy, nimmy not, Yar name's Tom Tit Tot. "

Well, when that hard her, that shruck awful an' awa' that flew into thedark, an' she niver saw it noo more. 

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 8: An old Suffolk tale, given in the dialect of East Anglia. ]

XX

THE PEASANT STORY OF NAPOLEON

 [Goguelet, an old soldier who fought under Napoleon, tells the story of his wonderful General and Emperor to a group of eager listeners in the country doctor's barn. ]

You see, my friends, Napoleon was born in Corsica, a French island, warmed by the sun of Italy, where it is like a furnace, and where thepeople kill each other, from father to son, all about nothing: that's away they have. To begin with the marvel of the thing--his mother, whowas the handsomest woman of her time, and a knowing one, bethoughtherself of dedicating him to God, so that he might escape the dangers ofhis childhood and future life; for she had dreamed that the world wasset on fire the day he was born. And, indeed, it was a prophecy! So sheasked God to protect him, on condition that Napoleon should restore Hisholy religion, which was then cast to the ground. Well, that was agreedupon, and we shall see what came of it. 

"Follow me closely, and tell me if what you hear is in the nature orman. 

"Sure and certain it is that none but a man who conceived the idea ofmaking a compact with God could have passed unhurt through the enemy'slines, through cannon-balls, and discharges of grape-shot that swept therest of us off like flies, and always respected his head. I had proof ofthat--I myself--at Eylau. I see him now, as he rode up a height, tookhis field-glass, looked at the battle, and said, 'All goes well. ' One ofthose plumed busybodies, who plagued him considerably and followed himeverywhere, even to his meals, so they said, thought to play the wag, and took the Emperor's place as he rode away. Ho! in a twinkling, headand plume were off! You must understand that Napoleon had promised tokeep the secret of his compact all to himself. That's why all those whofollowed him, even his nearest friends, fell like nuts--Duroc, Bessières, Lannes--all strong as steel bars, though _he_ could bend themas he pleased. Besides--to prove he was the child of God, and made to bethe father of soldiers--was he ever known to be lieutenant or captain?No, no; commander-in-chief from the start. He didn't look to be morethan twenty-four years of age when he was an old general at the takingof Toulon, where he first began to show the others that they knewnothing about manoeuvring cannon. 

"After that, down came our slip of a general to command the grand armyof Italy, which hadn't bread, nor munitions, nor shoes, nor coats--apoor army, as naked as a worm. 'My friends, ' said he, 'here we aretogether. Get it into your pates that fifteen days from now you will beconquerors--new clothes, good gaiters, famous shoes, and every man witha great-coat; but, my children, to get these things you must march toMilan, where they are. ' And we marched. France, crushed as flat as abed-bug, straightened up. We were thirty thousand bare-feet againsteighty thousand Austrian bullies, all fine men, well set-up. I see 'emnow! But Napoleon--he was then only Bonaparte--he knew how to put thecourage into us! We marched by night, and we marched by day; we slappedtheir faces at Montenotte, we thrashed them at Rivoli, Lodi, Arcole, Millesimo, and we never let 'em up. A soldier gets the taste ofconquest. So Napoleon whirled round those Austrian generals, who didn'tknow where to poke themselves to get out of his way, and he pelted 'emwell--nipped off ten thousand men at a blow sometimes, by getting roundthem with fifteen hundred Frenchmen, and then he gleaned as he pleased. He took their cannon, their supplies, their money, their munitions, inshort, all they had that was good to take. He fought them and beat themon the mountains, he drove them into the rivers and seas, he bit 'em inthe air, he devoured 'em on the ground, and he lashed 'em everywhere. Hey! the grand army feathered itself well; for, d'ye see the Emperor, who was a wit, called up the inhabitants and told them he was there todeliver them. So after that the natives lodged and cherished us; thewomen too, and very judicious they were. Now here's the end of it. InVentose, '96--in those times that was the month of March of to-day--welay cuddled in a corner of Savoie with the marmots; and yet, before thatcampaign was over, we were masters of Italy, just as Napoleon hadpredicted; and by the following March--in a single year and twocampaigns--he had brought us within sight of Vienna. 'Twas a cleansweep. We devoured their armies, one after the other, and made an end offour Austrian generals. One old fellow, with white hair, was roastedlike a rat in the straw at Mantua. Kings begged for mercy on theirknees! Peace was won. 

"Could a _man_ have done that? No; God helped him, to a certainty!

"He divided himself up like the loaves in the Gospel, commanded thebattle by day, planned it by night; going and coming, for the sentinelssaw him--never eating, never sleeping. So, seeing these prodigies, thesoldiers adopted him for their father. Forward, march! Then thoseothers, the rulers in Paris, seeing this, said to themselves: 'Here's abold one that seems to get his orders from the skies; he's likely to puthis paw on France. We must let him loose on Asia; we will send him toAmerica, perhaps that will satisfy him. ' But 't was _written above_ forhim, as it was for Jesus Christ. The command went forth that he shouldgo to Egypt. See, again, his resemblance to the Son of God. But that'snot all. He called together his best veterans, his fire-eaters, the oneshe had particularly put the devil into, and he said to them like this:'My friends, they have given us Egypt to chew up, just to keep us busy, but we'll swallow it whole in a couple of campaigns, as we did Italy. The common soldiers shall be princes and have the land for their own. Forward, march!' 'Forward, march!' cried the sergeants, and there wewere at Toulon, road to Egypt. At that time the English had all theirships in the sea; but when we embarked, Napoleon said: 'They won't seeus. It is just as well that you should know from this time forth thatyour general has got his star in the sky, which guides and protects us. 'What was said was done. Passing over the sea, we took Malta like anorange, just to quench his thirst for victory; for he was a man whocouldn't live and do nothing. 

"So here we are in Egypt. Good. Once here, other orders. The Egyptians, d'ye see, are men who, ever since the earth was, have had giants forsovereigns, and armies as numerous as ants; for, you must understand, that's the land of genii and crocodiles, where they've built pyramids asbig as our mountains, and buried their kings under them to keep themfresh--an idea that pleased 'em mightily. So then, after wedisembarked, the Little Corporal said to us: 'My children, the countryyou are going to conquer has a lot of gods that you must respect;because Frenchmen ought to be friends with everybody, and fight thenations without vexing the inhabitants. Get it into your skulls that youare not to touch anything at first, for it is all going to be yourssoon. Forward, march!' So far, so good. But all those people of Africa, to whom Napoleon was foretold under the name of Kébir-Bonaberdis--a wordof their lingo that means 'the sultan fires'--were afraid as the devilof him. So the Grand Turk, and Asia, and Africa had recourse to magic. They sent us a demon, named the Mahdi, supposed to have descended fromheaven on a white horse, which, like its master, was bullet-proof; andboth of them lived on air, without food to support them. There are somethat say they saw them; but I can't give you any reasons to make youcertain about that. The rulers of Arabia and the Mamelukes tried to maketheir troopers believe that the Mahdi could keep them from perishing inbattle; and they pretended he was an angel sent from heaven to fightNapoleon and get back Solomon's seal. Solomon's seal was part of theirparaphernalia which they vowed our general had stolen. You mustunderstand that we'd given 'em a good many wry faces, in spite of whathe had said to us. 

"Now, tell me how they knew that Napoleon had a pact with God? Was thatnatural, d'ye think?

"They held to it in their minds that Napoleon commanded the genii, andcould pass hither and thither in the twinkling of an eye, like a bird. The fact is, he was everywhere. At last, it came to his carrying off aqueen beautiful as the dawn, for whom he had offered all his treasure, and diamonds as big as pigeon's eggs--a bargain which the Mameluke towhom she particularly belonged positively refused, although he hadseveral others. Such matters when they come to that pass, can't besettled without a great many battles; and, indeed, there was no scarcityof battles; there was fighting enough to please everybody. We were inline at Alexandria, at Gizeh, and before the Pyramids; we marched in thesun and through the sand, where some, who had the dazzles, saw waterthat they couldn't drink, and shade where their flesh was roasted. Butwe made short work of the Mamelukes; and everybody else yielded at thevoice of Napoleon, who took possession of Upper and Lower Egypt, Arabia, and even the capitals of kingdoms that were no more, where there werethousands of statues and all the plagues of Egypt, more particularlylizards--a mammoth of a country where everybody could take his acres ofland for as little as he pleased. Well, while Napoleon was busy with hisaffairs inland--where he had it in his head to do fine things--theEnglish burned his fleet at Aboukir; for they were always looking aboutthem to annoy us. But Napoleon, who had the respect of the East and ofthe West, whom the Pope called his son, and the cousin of Mohammedcalled 'his dear father, ' resolved to punish England, and get hold ofIndia in exchange for his fleet. He was just about to take us across theRed Sea into Asia, a country where there are diamonds and gold to paythe soldiers and palaces for bivouacs, when the Mahdi made a treaty withthe plague, and sent it down to hinder our victories. Halt! The army toa man defiled at that parade; and few they were who came back on theirfeet. Dying soldiers couldn't take Saint-Jean d'Acre, though they rushedat it three times with generous and martial obstinacy. The Plague wasthe strongest. No saying to that enemy, 'My good friend. ' Every soldierlay ill. Napoleon alone was fresh as a rose, and the whole army saw himdrinking in pestilence without its doing him a bit of harm. 

"Ha! my friends! will you tell me that _that's_ in the nature of a mereman?

"The Mamelukes, knowing we were all in the ambulances, thought theycould stop the way; but that sort of joke wouldn't do with Napoleon. Sohe said to his demons, his veterans, those that had the toughest hide, 'Go, clear me the way. ' Junot, a sabre of the first cut, and hisparticular friend, took a thousand men, no more, and ripped up the armyof the pacha who had had the presumption to put himself in the way. After that, we came back to headquarters at Cairo. Now, here's anotherside of the story. Napoleon absent, France was letting herself be ruinedby the rulers in Paris, who kept back the pay of the soldiers of theother armies, and their clothing, and their rations; left them to dieof hunger, and expected them to lay down the law to the universewithout taking any trouble to help them. Idiots! who amused themselvesby chattering, instead of putting their own hands in the dough. Well, that's how it happened that our armies were beaten, and the frontiers ofFrance were encroached upon: THE MAN was nor there. Now observe, I say_man_ because that's what they called him; but 'twas nonsense, for hehad a star and all its belongings; it was we who were only men. Hetaught history to France after his famous battle of Aboukir, where, without losing more than three hundred men, and with a single division, he vanquished the grand army of the Turk, seventy-five thousand strong, and hustled more than half of it into the sea, r-r-rah!

"That was his last thunder-clap in Egypt. He said to himself, seeing theway things were going in Paris, 'I am the saviour of France; I know it, and I must go. ' But, understand me, the army didn't know he was going, or they'd have kept him by force and made him Emperor of the East. Sonow we were sad; for He was gone who was all our joy. He left thecommand to Kléber, a big mastiff, who came off duty at Cairo, assassinated by an Egyptian, whom they put to death by empaling him on abayonet; that's the way they guillotine people down there. But it makes'em suffer so much that a soldier had pity on the criminal and gave himhis canteen; and then, as soon as the Egyptian had drunk his fill, hegave up the ghost with all the pleasure in life. But that's a trifle wecouldn't laugh at then. Napoleon embarked in a cockleshell, a littleskiff that was nothing at all, though 'twas called 'Fortune;' and in atwinkling, under the nose of England, who was blockading him with shipsof the line, frigates, and anything that could hoist a sail, he crossedover, and there he was in France. For he always had the power, mind you, of crossing the seas at one straddle. 

"Was that a human man? Bah!

"So, one minute he is at Fréjus, the next in Paris. There, they alladore him; but he summons the government. 'What have you done with mychildren, the soldiers?' he says to the lawyers. 'You're a mob ofrascally scribblers; you are making France a mess of pottage, andsnapping your fingers at what people think of you. It won't do; and Ispeak the opinion of everybody. ' So, on that, they wanted to battlewith him and kill him--click! he had 'em locked up in barracks, orflying out of windows, or drafted among his followers, where they wereas mute as fishes and as pliable as a quid of tobacco. After thatstroke--consul! And then, as it was not for him to doubt the SupremeBeing, he fulfilled his promise to the good God, who, you see, had keptHis word to him. He gave Him back His churches, and reestablished Hisreligion; the bells rang for God and for him: and lo! everybody waspleased; _primo_, the priests, whom he saved from being harassed;_secundo_, the bourgeois, who thought only of their trade, and no longerhad to fear the _rapiamus_ of the law, which had got to be unjust;_tertio_, the nobles, for he forbade they should be killed, as, unfortunately, the people had got the habit of doing. 

"But he still had the Enemy to wipe out; and he wasn't the man to go tosleep at a mess-table, because, d'ye see, his eye looked over the wholeearth as if it were no bigger than a man's head. So then he appeared inItaly, like as though he had stuck his head through the window. Oneglance was enough. The Austrians were swallowed up at Marengo like somany gudgeons by a whale! Ouf! The French eagles sang their pæans soloud that all the world heard them--and it sufficed! 'We won't play thatgame any more, ' said the German. 'Enough, enough!' said all the rest. Tosum up: Europe backed down, England knocked under. General peace; andthe kings and the peoples made believe kiss each other. That's the timewhen the Emperor invented the Legion of Honour--and a fine thing, too. 'In France'--this is what he said at Boulogne before the wholearmy--'every man is brave. So the citizen who does a fine action shallbe sister to the soldier, and the soldier shall be his brother, and thetwo shall be one under the flag of honour. '

"We, who were down in Egypt, now came home. All was changed! He left usgeneral, and hey! in a twinkling we found him EMPEROR. France gaveherself to him, like a fine girl to a lancer. When it was done--to thesatisfaction of all, as you may say--a sacred ceremony took place, thelike of which was never seen under the canopy of the skies. The Pope andthe cardinals, in their red and gold vestments, crossed the Alpsexpressly to crown him before the army and the people, who clappedtheir hands. There is one thing that I should do very wrong not to tellyou. In Egypt, in the desert close to Syria, the RED MAN came to him onthe Mount of Moses, and said, 'All is well. ' Then, at Marengo, the nightbefore the victory, the same Red Man appeared before him for the secondtime, standing erect and saying: 'Thou shalt see the world at thy feet;thou shalt be Emperor of France, King of Italy, master of Holland, sovereign of Spain, Portugal, and the Illyrian provinces, protector ofGermany, saviour of Poland, first eagle of the Legion of Honour--all. 'This Red Man, you understand, was his genius, his spirit--a sort ofsatellite who served him, as some say, to communicate with his star. Inever really believed that. But the Red Man himself is a true fact. Napoleon spoke of him, and said he came to him in troubled moments, andlived in the palace of the Tuileries under the roof. So, on the day ofthe coronation, Napoleon saw him for the third time; and they were inconsultation over many things. 

"After that, Napoleon went to Milan to be crowned king of Italy, andthere the grand triumph of the soldier began. Every man who could writewas made an officer. Down came pensions; it rained duchies; treasurespoured in for the staff which didn't cost France a penny; and the Legionof Honour provided incomes for the private soldiers--of which I receivemine to this day. So here were the armies maintained as never before onthis earth. But besides that, the Emperor, knowing that he was to be theemperor of the whole world, bethought him of the bourgeois, and toplease them he built fairy monuments, after their own ideas, in placeswhere you'd never think to find any. For instance, suppose you werecoming back from Spain and going to Berlin--well, you'd find triumphalarches along the way, with common soldiers sculptured on the stone, every bit the same as generals. In two or three years, and withoutimposing taxes on any of you, Napoleon filled his vaults with gold, built palaces, made bridges, roads, scholars, fêtes, laws, vessels, harbours, and spent millions upon millions--such enormous sums that hecould, so they tell me, have paved France from end to end withfive-franc pieces, if he had had a mind to. 

"Now, when he sat at ease on his throne, and was master of all, so thatEurope waited his permission to do his bidding, he remembered his fourbrothers and his three sisters, and he said to us, as it might be inconversation, in an order of the day, 'My children, is it right that theblood relations of your Emperor should be begging their bread? No. Iwish to see them in splendour like myself. It becomes, therefore, absolutely necessary to conquer a kingdom for each of them--to the endthat Frenchmen may be masters over all lands, that the soldiers of theGuard shall make the whole earth tremble, that France may spit where shelikes, and that all the nations shall say to her, as it is written on mycopper coins, '_God protects you!_' 'Agreed!' cried the army. 'We'll gofish for thy kingdoms with our bayonets. ' Ha! there was no backing down, don't you see! If he had taken it into his head to conquer the moon, weshould have made ready, packed knapsacks, and clambered up; happily, hedidn't think of it. The kings of the countries, who liked theircomfortable thrones, were, naturally, loath to budge, and had to havetheir ears pulled; so then--Forward, march! We did march; we got there;and the earth once more trembled to its centre. Hey! the men and theshoes he used up in those days! The enemy dealt us such blows that nonebut the grand army could have borne the fatigue of it. But you are notignorant that a Frenchman is born a philosopher, and knows that a littlesooner, or a little later, he has got to die. So we were ready to diewithout a word, for we liked to see the Emperor doing _that_ on thegeographies. "

Here the narrator nimbly described a circle with his foot on the floorof the barn. 

"And Napoleon said, 'There, that's to be a kingdom. ' And a kingdom itwas. Ha! the good times! The colonels were generals; the generals, marshals; and the marshals, kings. There's one of 'em still on histhrone, to prove it to Europe; but he's a Gascon and a traitor to Francefor keeping that crown; and he doesn't blush for shame as he ought todo, because crowns, don't you see, are made of gold. I who am speakingto you, I have seen, in Paris, eleven kings and a mob of princessurrounding Napoleon like the rays of the sun. You understand, ofcourse, that every soldier had the chance to mount a throne, providedalways he had the merit; so a corporal of the Guard was a sight to belooked at as he walked along, for each man had his share in the victory, and 'twas plainly set forth in the bulletin. What victories they were!Austerlitz, where the army manoeuvred as if on parade; Eylau, where wedrowned the Russians in a lake, as though Napoleon had blown them intoit with the breath of his mouth; Wagram, where the army fought for threedays without grumbling. We won as many battles as there are saints inthe calendar. It was proved then, beyond a doubt, that Napoleon had thesword of God in his scabbard. The soldiers were his friends; he madethem his children; he looked after us, he saw that we had shoes, andshirts, and great-coats, and bread, and cartridges; but he always keptup his majesty; for, don't you see, 'twas his business to reign. Nomatter for that, however; a sergeant, and even a common soldier, couldsay to him, 'my Emperor, ' just as you say to me sometimes, 'my goodfriend. ' He gave us an answer if we appealed to him; he slept in thesnow like the rest of us; and, indeed, he had almost the air of a humanman. I who speak to you, I have seen him with his feet among thegrape-shot, and no more uneasy than you are now--standing steady, looking through his field-glass, and minding his business. 'Twas thatkept the rest of us quiet. I don't know how he did it, but when he spokehe made our hearts burn within us; and to show him we were his children, incapable of balking, didn't we rush at the mouths of the rascallycannon, that belched and vomited shot and shell, without so much assaying, 'Look out!' Why! the dying must needs raise their heads tosalute him and cry, 'LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR!'

"I ask you, was that natural? would they have done that for a human man?

"Well, after he had settled the world, the Empress Josephine, his wife, a good woman all the same, managed matters so that she did not bear himany children, and he was obliged to give her up, though he loved herconsiderably. But, you see, he had to have little ones for reasons ofstate. Hearing of this, all the sovereigns of Europe quarrelled as towhich of them should give him a wife. And he married, so they told us, an Austrian archduchess, daughter of Cæsar, an ancient man about whompeople talk a good deal, and not in France only--where any one willtell you what he did--but in Europe. It is all true, for I myself whoaddress you at this moment, I have been on the Danube, and have seen theremains of a bridge built by that man, who, it seems, was a relation ofNapoleon in Rome, and that's how the Emperor got the inheritance of thatcity for his son. So after the marriage, which was a fête for the wholeworld, and in honour of which he released the people of ten years'taxes--which they had to pay all the same, however, because theassessors didn't take account of what he said--his wife had a littleone, who was King of Rome. Now, there's a thing that had never been seenon this earth; never before was a child born a king with his fatherliving. On that day a balloon went up in Paris to tell the news to Rome, and that balloon made the journey in one day. 

"Now, is there any man among you who will stand up here and declare tome that all that was human? No; it was _written above_; and may thescurvy seize 'em who deny that he was sent by God himself for thetriumph of France!

"Well, here's the Emperor of Russia, that used to be his friend, hegets angry because Napoleon didn't marry a Russian; so he joins with theEnglish, our enemies--to whom our Emperor always wanted to say a coupleof words in their burrows, only he was prevented. Napoleon gets angrytoo; an end had to be put to such doings; so he says to us: 'Soldiers!you have been masters of every capital in Europe, except Moscow, whichis now the ally of England. To conquer England, and India which belongsto the English, it becomes our peremptory duty to go to Moscow, ' Then heassembled the greatest army that ever trailed its gaiters over theglobe; and so marvellously in hand it was that he reviewed a million ofmen in one day. 'Hourra!'[9] cried the Russians. Down came all Russiaand those animals of Cossacks in a flock. 'Twas nation against nation, ageneral hurly-burly, and beware who could; 'Asia against Europe, ' as theRed Man had foretold to Napoleon. 'Enough, ' cried the Emperor, 'I'll beready. '

"So now, sure enough, came all the kings, as the Red Man had said, tolick Napoleon's hand! Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, Poland, Italy, every one of them were with us, flattering us; ah, it was fine! Theeagles never cawed so loud as at those parades, perched high above thebanners of all Europe. The Poles were bursting with joy, becauseNapoleon was going to release them; and that's why France and Poland arebrothers to this day. 'Russia is ours, ' cried the army. We plunged intoit well-supplied; we marched and we marched--no Russians. At last wefound the brutes entrenched on the banks of the Moskva. That's where Iwon my cross, and I've got the right to say it was a damnable battle. This was how it came about. The Emperor was anxious. He had seen the RedMan, who said to him 'My son, you are going too fast for your feet; youwill lack men; friends will betray you. ' So the Emperor offered peace. But before signing, 'Let us drub those Russians!' he said to us. 'Done!'cried the army. 'Forward, march!' said the sergeants. My clothes were inrags, my shoes worn out, from trudging along those roads, which are veryuncomfortable ones; but no matter! I said to myself, 'As it's the lastof our earthquakings, I'll go into it, tooth and nail!' We were drawn upin line before the great ravine--front seats, as 'twere. Signal given;and seven hundred pieces of artillery began a conversation that wouldbring the blood from your ears. Then--must do justice to one'senemies--the Russians let themselves be killed like Frenchmen; theywouldn't give way; we couldn't advance. 'Forward!' some one cried, 'herecomes the Emperor!' True enough; he passed at a gallop, waving his handto let us know we must take the redoubt. He inspired us; on we ran; Iwas the first in the ravine. Ha! my God! how the lieutenants fell, andthe colonels, and the soldiers! No matter! all the more shoes for thosethat had none, and epaulets for the clever ones who knew how to read. 'Victory!' cried the whole line; 'Victory!'--and, would you believe it?a thing never seen before, there lay twenty-five thousand Frenchmen onthe ground. 'Twas like mowing down a wheat-field; only in place of theears of wheat put the heads of men! We were sobered by this time--thosewho were left alive. The MAN rode up; we made the circle round him. Ha!he knew how to cajole his children; he could be amiable when he liked, and feed 'em with words when their stomachs were ravenous with thehunger of wolves. Flatterer! he distributed the crosses himself, heuncovered to the dead, and then he cried to us, 'On! to Moscow!' 'ToMoscow!' answered the army. 

"We took Moscow. Would you believe it? the Russians burned their owncity! 'Twas a haystack six miles square, and it blazed for two days. Thebuildings crashed like slates, and showers of melted iron and leadrained down upon us, which was naturally horrible. I may say to youplainly, it was like a flash of lightning on our disasters. The Emperorsaid, 'We have done enough; my soldiers shall rest here. ' So we restedawhile, just to get the breath into our bodies and the flesh on ourbones, for we were really tired. We took possession of the golden crossthat was on the Kremlin; and every soldier brought away with him a smallfortune. But out there the winter sets in a month earlier--a thing thosefools of science didn't properly explain. So, coming back, the coldnipped us. No longer an army--do you hear me?--no longer any generals, no longer any sergeants even. 'Twas the reign of wretchedness andhunger--a reign of equality at last. No one thought of anything but tosee France once more; no one stooped to pick up his gun or his money ifhe dropped them; each man followed his nose, and went as he pleasedwithout caring for glory. The weather was so bad the Emperor couldn'tsee his star; there was something between him and the skies. Poor man!it made him ill to see his eagles flying away from victory. Ah! 'twas amortal blow, you may believe me. 

"Well, we got to the Beresina, My friends, I can affirm to you by allthat is most sacred, by my honour, that since mankind came into theworld, never, never was there seen such a fricassee of any army--guns, carriages, artillery-waggons--in the midst of such snows, under suchrelentless skies! The muzzles of the muskets burned our hands if wetouched them, the iron was so cold. It was there that the army was savedby the pontoniers, who were firm at their post; and there thatGondrin--sole survivor of the men who were bold enough to go into thewater and build the bridges by which the army crossed--that Gondrin, here present, admirably conducted himself, and saved us from theRussians, who, I must tell you, still respected the grand army, remembering its victories. And, " he added, pointing to Gondrin, who wasgazing at him with the peculiar attention of a deaf man, "Gondrin is afinished soldier, a soldier who is honour itself, and he merits yourhighest esteem. 

"I saw the Emperor, " he resumed, "standing by the bridge, motionless, not feeling the cold--was that human? He looked at the destruction ofhis treasure, his friends, his old Egyptians. Bah! all that passed him, women, army-waggons, artillery, all were shattered, destroyed, ruined. The bravest carried the eagles; for the eagles, d'ye see, were France, the nation, all of you! they were the civil and the military honour thatmust be kept pure; could their heads be lowered because of the cold? Itwas only near the Emperor that we warmed ourselves, because when he wasin danger we ran, frozen as we were--we, who wouldn't have stretched ahand to save a friend. They told us he wept at night over his poorfamily of soldiers. Ah! none but he and Frenchmen could have gotthemselves out of that business. We did get out, but with losses, greatlosses, as I tell you. The Allies captured our provisions. Men began tobetray him, as the Red Man predicted. Those chatterers in Paris, who hadheld their tongues after the Imperial Guard was formed, now thought hewas dead; so they hoodwinked the prefect of police, and hatched aconspiracy to overthrow the empire. He heard of it; it worried him. Heleft us, saying: 'Adieu, my children; guard the outposts; I shall returnto you, ' Bah! without him nothing went right; the generals lost theirheads, the marshals talked nonsense and committed follies; but that wasnot surprising, for Napoleon, who was kind, had fed 'em on gold; theyhad got as fat as lard, and wouldn't stir; some stayed in camp when theyought to have been warming the backs of the enemy who was between us andFrance. 

"But the Emperor came back, and he brought recruits, famous recruits; hechanged their backbone and made 'em dogs of war, fit to set their teethinto anything; and he brought a guard of honour, a fine bodyindeed!--all bourgeois, who melted away like butter on a gridiron. 

"Well, spite of our stern bearing, here's everything going against us;and yet the army did prodigies of valour. Then came battles on themountains, nations against nations--Dresden, Lützen, Bautzen. Rememberthese days, all of you, for 'twas then that Frenchmen were soparticularly heroic that a good grenadier only lasted six months. Wetriumphed always; yet there were those English, in our rear, rousingrevolts against us with their lies! No matter, we cut our way homethrough the whole pack of the nations. Wherever the Emperor showedhimself we followed him; for if, by sea or land, he gave us the word'Go!' we went. At last, we were in France; and many a poor foot-soldierfelt the air of his own country restore his soul to satisfaction, spiteof the wintry weather. I can say for myself that it refreshed my life. Well, next, our business was to defend France, our country, ourbeautiful France, against, all Europe, which resented our having laiddown the law to the Russians, and pushed them back into their dens sothat they couldn't eat us up alive, as northern nations, who are daintyand like southern flesh, have a habit of doing--at least, so I've heardsome generals say. Then the Emperor saw his own father-in-law, hisfriends whom he had made kings, and the scoundrels to whom he had givenback their thrones, all against him. Even Frenchmen, and allies in ourown ranks, turned against us under secret orders, as at the battle ofLeipsic. Would common soldiers have been capable of such wickedness?Three times a day men were false to their word--and they calledthemselves princes!

"So, then, France was invaded. Wherever the Emperor showed his lionface, the enemy retreated; and he did more prodigies in defending Francethan ever he had done in conquering Italy, the East, Spain, Europe, andRussia. He meant to bury every invader under the sod, and teach 'em torespect the soil of France. So he let them get to Paris, that he mightswallow them at a mouthful, and rise to the height of his genius in abattle greater than all the rest--a mother-battle, as 'twere. But there, there! the Parisians were afraid for their twopenny skins, and theirtrumpery shops; they opened the gates. Then the Ragusades began, andhappiness ended. The Empress was fooled, and the white banner flauntedfrom the windows. The generals whom he had made his nearest friendsabandoned him for the Bourbons--a set of people no one had heard tellof. The Emperor bade us farewell at Fontainebleau: 'Soldiers!'--I canhear him now; we wept like children; the flags and the eagles werelowered as if for a funeral: it was, I may well say it to you, it wasthe funeral of the Empire; her dapper armies were nothing now butskeletons. So he said to us, standing there on the portico of hispalace: 'My soldiers! we are vanquished by treachery; but we shall meetin heaven, the country of the brave. Defend my child, whom I commit toyou. Long live Napoleon II!' He meant to die, that no man should lookupon Napoleon vanquished; he took poison, enough to have killed aregiment, because, like Jesus Christ before his Passion, he thoughthimself abandoned of God and his talisman. But the poison did not hurthim. 

"See again! he found he was immortal. 

"Sure of himself, knowing he must ever be THE EMPEROR, he went for awhile to an island to study out the nature of these others, who, you maybe sure, committed follies without end. Whilst he bided his time downthere, the Chinese, and the wild men on the coast of Africa, and theBarbary States, and others who are not at all accommodating, know sowell he was more than man that they respected his tent, saying to touchit would be to offend God. Thus, d'ye see, when these others turned himfrom the doors of his own France, he still reigned over the whole world. Before long he embarked in the same little cockleshell of a boat he hadhad in Egypt, sailed round the beard of the English, set foot in France, and France acclaimed him. The sacred cuckoo flew from spire to spire;all France cried out with one voice, 'LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR!' In thisregion, here, the enthusiasm for that wonder of the ages was, I may say, solid. Dauphine behaved well; and I am particularly pleased to know thather people wept when they saw, once more, the gray top-coat. March firstit was, when Napoleon landed with two hundred men to conquer thatkingdom of France and of Navarre, which, on the twentieth of the samemonth was again the French Empire. On that day our MAN was in Paris; hehad made a clean sweep, recovered his dear France, and gathered hisveterans together by saying no more than three words, 'I am here. '

"'Twas the greatest miracle God had yet done! Before _him_, did ever manrecover an empire by showing his hat? And these others, who thoughtthey had subdued France! Not they! At sight of the eagles, a nationalarmy sprang up, and we marched to Waterloo. There, the Guard died at oneblow. Napoleon, in despair, threw himself three times before the cannonof the enemy without obtaining death. We saw that. The battle was lost. That night the Emperor called his old soldiers to him; on the fieldsoaked with our blood he burned his banners and his eagles--his pooreagles, ever victorious, who cried 'Forward' in the battles, and hadflown the length and breadth of Europe, _they_ were saved the infamy ofbelonging to the enemy: all the treasures of England couldn't get her atail-feather of them. No more eagles--the rest is well known. The RedMan went over to the Bourbons, like the scoundrel that he is. France iscrushed; the soldier is nothing; they deprive him of his dues; theydischarge him to make room for broken-down nobles--ah, 'tis pitiable!They seized Napoleon by treachery; the English nailed him on a desertisland in mid-ocean on a rock raised ten thousand feet above the earth;and there he is, and will be, till the Red Man gives him back his powerfor the happiness of France. These others say he's dead. Ha, dead! 'Tiseasy to see they don't know Him. They tell that fib to catch the people, and feel safe in their hovel of a government. Listen! the truth at thebottom of it all is that his friends have left him alone on the desertisle to fulfil a prophecy, for I forgot to say that his name, Napoleon, means 'lion of the desert. ' Now this that I tell you is true as theGospel. All other tales that you hear about the Emperor are follieswithout common-sense; because, d'ye see, God never gave to child ofwoman born the right to stamp his name in red as _he_ did, on the earth, which forever shall remember him! Long live Napoleon, the father of hispeople and of the soldier!"

THE END

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 9: Battle-cry of the Cossacks. ]