and I will start at once."
On hearing this the sorcerer took from his bosom a small round piece of
glass, and gave it to the young man. "Take this," he said; "It is all that
I can give you, to help you, and through it you must look at the stars, and
you will see that they are all of different colours--blue, green, red, and
yellow; look for the one which is the deepest, brightest red, and follow
it; it will lead you many miles both by land and sea, but follow steadily,
and let nothing turn you from your course, and you will surely come to the
castle wherein is imprisoned the heart of your Princess."
The Prince thanked the magician, and took the glass; then bidding him
"Good-bye," he left the strangely lighted chamber, and went down the dark
staircase, and stood again on the hill outside, with the dark sky overhead
filled with shining stars.
Michael raised the glass and looked at them through it, and then he almost
shouted with surprise, for they looked wonderful. They were like jewels of
all colours--green, blue, yellow, pink--and in the south was one of a deep
glowing red, like a blood-red rose, and Michael knew that that was the star
he must follow.
Then he looked back towards his father's palace. "Farewell," he said; "some
day I will return, and bring with me my Princess Joan." So he set off, and
journeyed and journeyed, till he had reached towns and villages which he
had never seen before. All that night he travelled while the stars shone,
and he could see the rosy star to follow. But when the stars grew pale,
and the sun rose, and people began to wake up and turn to their work, he
lay down under a tree and slept soundly. When he woke the day was almost
done, and the sun was sinking. So he went to a little town near and bought
food, and rested till again the stars shone in the sky. Then he rose and
went on all night, still following the crimson star. So passed many days
and nights, and he journeyed through strange lands, and his heart sank when
he thought, "So may I wander all round the world, and come no nearer to the
star, or to the castle where they keep the heart of my poor Joan."
At last he came to the sea-shore, and in front of him lay a great cold sea,
and beyond it he saw no sign of land. But the star shone right over it, and
he knew that he must cross, if he still would follow it. It was in the
evening, the sun had set, but some fishermen still remained on the beach,
resting beside their boats. Michael went up to them, and taking some money
from his pocket, asked for how much they would sell him one of their
boats.
At this the men looked surprised, and one of them said, "Why do you wish to
buy a boat? We use them to fish near the shore, but no boat or ship has
ever crossed this sea, for no one knows what land is beyond."
"Then I will be the first to find out," said Michael. "Tell me how much you
want, and give me your largest boat." On this the men muttered together,
and one said, "He is mad." "Yes," said another, "but his money is good, for
all that. Let the madman have his way. It will hurt him, not us." So they
gave Michael their best boat, and he paid them well, and he set sail and
steered where the red star shone. He sailed all night till he had left
every trace of land behind him, and saw no shore in front, only the cold,
gray sea on every side. By day he kept the boat still, afraid lest he
should get out of the track of the star, but when the second night came he
was so weary that in spite of himself he fell asleep. When he awoke he
found the sun had risen, and his boat was drifting close to land. It was a
flat, lonely shore, without trees or grass growing in sight, and facing
him was an immense castle. It was built of black marble, and a more gloomy
place could not be, for the windows were small and high up, and were all
barred across, with heavy iron bars, and the castle had no spires or
towers, but was one square black block, and looked more like a prison than
a castle. Around it was a high wall, and outside this a moat, without a
bridge.
Michael steered his boat to shore, and stepped from it, and looked about
for some way by which he could cross the moat, and try for entrance to the
castle. Then he saw a little hut near, and beside it lay an old man
apparently fast asleep. He was small and dark, and his face was gray and
wrinkled as a monkey's, and he had no hair on his head. Close beside him
coiled up was a large snake, also asleep. Michael stood watching them both,
afraid to wake them, when, without a word, the gray man raised his head,
and opening a pair of dull, gray eyes, fixed them on him. Still he did not
speak, and at last the Prince, growing impatient, went up to him and said,
"Friend, I beg you to tell me how I am to enter the castle; or if you have
the key, to give it to me."
On this the old man answered, "I have the key, and no one can enter without
my leave. What will you give me for it?"
"Why," said Michael, "I have nothing but money," and he took some coins
from his pocket as he spoke.
At this the old man laughed. "Your money is nothing to me," he said; "But
look yonder. Over there I am building a wall of heavy stones, and I am old,
and my strength fails me; stay and work for me at that wall, and in return
I will give you the key of the castle."
"But how long must I work?" said Michael, "For unless I can enter the
castle before seven years are over, it will be no use to me.
"Look at that serpent," said the old man; "It is sitting on its eggs. When
they are hatched you shall have the key and open the castle door. Till then
you must be my slave."
"Gladly," said Michael, who was delighted; "for no snake could take seven
years hatching its eggs."
Then the old man rose, and beckoning to him to follow, went into the little
cottage. From a nail upon the wall he took a pair of manacles fastened
together by a heavy iron chain. These he slipped over Michael's wrists, and
stooping down over them, muttered a few words, and at once the manacles
fastened together as if they had been locked, and Michael could not move
them, or draw out his hands. Then the old man took down another heavy chain
and passed it over the first and fastened it with more iron rings to his
ankles, so that he could only move his arms and hands a little way, and
could not raise them high, and could only walk with slow careful steps.
This done, he pointed to where, on the wall high up, hung a gleaming golden
sword, the handle of which was set with precious stones.
"That," said he, "is the key of the castle, and you need only push the
doors with its point and they will all fly open; but while your hands are
chained you cannot reach it to lift it down, but when the serpent's eggs
are hatched your iron rings will fall off, and you yourself may take the
sword down from its place, and push your way into the castle. Now get you
to your work, and work hard, or you may rue it."
Then he showed Michael how he was to move the heavy stones, and where to
build with them, and he himself sat down by the serpent and watched him,
while the Prince went to work with a light heart, for he thought, "It is
hard work while it lasts, but 'twill not be for long, and 'tis not much to
do to win my Joan." So he worked hard till the sun had set, and then the
old man rose, saying, "Enough," and called him into the hut and gave him
food and drink, but he ate nothing himself, and then he showed him where he
could sleep in one corner, and Michael lay down and slept soundly and
dreamed of Joan.
At break of day he was waked by the old man, who again gave him plenty to
eat, and again ate nothing, but what he gave to him he took from an urn in
the corner, and when he had done he put into the urn the fragments that
were left.
All day Michael worked hard, and in the evening as he passed by the snake,
he looked at it as it lay coiled over its eggs, and said,
"How soon will your work be done, and mine also, good snake? Make haste, I
pray, that I may find my way into the castle, and return to my Princess."
So the days passed. Each morning the old man awoke Michael and gave him
food, and set him to work, and all day he laboured hard. Then when night
approached, he called "Enough," and beckoning him into the hut, gave him
plenty to eat and drink, but never ate himself, and beside that one word
never spoke, but crouched all day beside the snake, with closed eyes as if
asleep.
Meantime, the doors of the castle never opened, and no one was seen going
in, or coming out; but sometimes, towards night, strange noises might be
heard from within its walls; sometimes there were wails and moans, which it
filled Michael with horror to hear, and sometimes there was sweet singing,
so sweet that it drew tears to his eyes.
But the days passed, and the serpent never moved from its eggs, and
Michael's heart began to be oppressed with fear, lest the old man was
deceiving him, and they should never be hatched at all. As each day passed,
he put aside a stone on a bare rock, and one day when he counted over the
stones to see how many days were gone, he found that more than a year had
passed since his boat had brought him to the shore. His hands had grown
hard and brown and cracked, with working at the heavy stones, and his face
and neck were blistered and sunburnt with the fierce sun that beat upon
them as he worked. His clothes were cut and torn and soiled, and yet he
seemed to be no nearer entering the castle. Then he rose and went into the
cottage, and looked longingly at the sword which hung high up, on the
walls, and raised his arms to try and reach it, but the chains held him
down, and as he turned from it in despair he saw the old man standing in
the doorway watching him with his cold dull eyes.
"What would you do here?" he asked; "have I not bid you serve me till the
serpent's eggs are hatched, and then the sword shall be yours?"
"And when will the serpent's eggs be hatched?" cried Michael in despair.
"That," said the old man, "I cannot tell, but a bargain is a bargain; keep
you your part and I will keep mine." Then he turned again to where the
serpent lay, and lying down beside it closed his eyes, and Michael returned
to his work mournfully.
Time passed, but there came no change. Michael despaired in his heart, but
he could not have escaped even if he would, because of the chains which
hung from his arms.
"I will work here," he said, "till the seven years are out, then I will
climb on the wall which I have built and throw myself into the sea and end
my troubles."
Sometimes at night he would take from his bosom the piece of magic glass
which the wizard had given him and would gaze through it at the star which
still looked a bright crimson colour.
"Why have you led me here, cruel star," he asked sadly, "if you cannot help
me more? Are you shining over my home and my Princess, and does she
remember me? The seven long years will soon be passed, and they will wed
her to another king, and it will be all of no avail that I have given up
everything to find her heart, since I have only broken my own."
So the time passed. Michael worked hard by day, but by night he lay and
wept. One day, when the seven years had nearly worn themselves away, he
bent over a pool of water, and in it saw his own form, and he saw that his
hair was thin and streaked with gray, and his face furrowed and seamed, and
his eyes dim with crying, also his shoulders were bowed with hard work, and
his clothes, once so gorgeous, now hung mere rags upon his bent form.
"Now all is in vain," said he, "for if even I returned to my own home no
one will know me, so changed am I. I will go and kill the snake that has
caused my misery, and then I will slay the old man who has deceived me."
So he went up to the snake, who lay motionless coiled over its eggs as
usual, and reached out his hand to grasp its throat, but as he did so his
tears fell and dropped upon its head, and it writhed fearfully and then
glided away so fast that he could not see where it went, and left the heap
of gray eggs bare beneath his hand. The old man lay beside them as still as
usual, and did not move or open his eyes, even when the snake glided
hissing past him.
"If the snake has escaped me," cried Michael, "then at least I can destroy
the eggs;" and lifting his heel he struck them with all his might, but his
foot left no mark upon them, nor even moved them from their place. They
might have been made of iron, and each one nailed to the ground, so hard
and firm they stood.
Michael burst out weeping afresh. "How foolish I am," he said, "Yes, and
wicked too. It is not the fault of the poor snake that its eggs are not
hatched. Perhaps it is enchanted like me, and waits as patiently for them;"
and he bent his head till his tears fell upon the eggs. No sooner did they
touch them, than the shells broke, and the pieces fell asunder, and from
each egg came a small moving thing, though what it was Michael did not see,
for he leaped to his feet with a shout of joy, which filled the air, and
echoed again from the castle. At this the old man opened his eyes, and
raising himself gazed, as if thunderstruck, with astonishment at the eggs.
"Tis a miracle," he cried, chuckling with joy.
But out of the eggs, there came no one fully formed animal, but from one
egg came a foot, from another a leg, from another a tail, and from one a
head, and each looked as though it belonged to some different beast, yet
all these drew themselves together, and joined so well that the join was
not to be seen. And they made a hideous monster of many colours. Then the
manacles on Michael's wrists burst asunder, and the chains fell to the
ground.
"Now," he cried, "I will go and take for myself the sword from the wall,
and win my way into the castle, and nothing shall hinder me more." And he
turned and rushed into the hut. There, upon the wall hung the shining
sword, and Michael reached out his hand and seized it firmly, and drew it
down from its place.
"I will swear a vow," he cried, "upon this sword, that when I enter the
castle, I will say not one word for good or for ill to any one, save to ask
for what I come to seek, lest I should again be kept for years. Moreover, I
will not taste food or drink, till I have found the heart of my Joan to
take back to her." Then, with the sword in his hand, he passed the old man,
who still sat chuckling over the monster, too busy to heed him, and he went
straight on to the bridgeless moat. It was not wide, and he swam it easily,
and scrambled up the bank by the stone wall. He pushed with the point of
the sword at the gate, and it at once flew open, and he stood in the outer
court. Then he saw a heavy door in the wall of the castle, and went up to
it, nothing fearing, and, on touching it with the sword's point, it too
flew open at once, and he entered.
He stepped into a passage filled with flowers and hung with silken
hangings. He trod upon a velvet carpet, and the air was laden with sweet
scents, and from afar he heard sweet voices singing. He strode on through
another door, and yet another, and at each step he took all things became
lovelier, till at last he passed into a splendid chamber, the like of which
he had never seen before. In the ceiling were precious stones set in
patterns of flowers and crowns, on the walls were soft velvet hangings and
embroideries. The furniture was of carven gold and silver and ivory, and
everywhere grew flowers of wonderful beauty, which sprang from the floor
and crept along the walls, and filled the air with sweet scents, and
hanging on the walls were cages which held what Michael thought were birds,
which sang most sweetly.
On a table in the centre of the room was a banquet all laid ready, and as
Michael looked at it and wondered where he should go farther, a curtain was
drawn aside, and there stepped forth a stately dame dressed in black
velvet, who came smiling towards him and held out her hand, saying, "I am
indeed glad to see you, I am mistress of this castle, and you are very
welcome; but I beg that before you tell me from where you come and what you
seek, you will sit down and share this feast with me." Michael was
beginning to answer, when he felt the sword in his hand, and remembered his
oath, and looking full in the face of the new-comer, said, "I seek the
heart of Princess Joan."
"And you shall find it," answered the grand lady. "But first you must rest
and eat, for you must be both tired and hungry;" and so saying she sat at
one end of the table, and signed to Michael to sit at the other, and took
the golden covers from the dishes, and prepared to begin the feast. Michael
knew not what to do, but he sat at the table in silence, and all at once
bethought him of the magic glass in his bosom, and drawing it forth when
she was not looking, gazed through it at her, and then he beheld no
finely-dressed lady, but a wizened old woman, robed in yellow, with an evil
yellow face and evil yellow eyes. He hid the glass again, and sat still as
stone, though the yellow woman pressed on him the different dishes again
and again. He saw that her face grew white with rage. Then all of a sudden
she disappeared, and the lights went out, and he was left alone in the
darkness. He rose and searched for the door by which he had entered, but
could not find it nor any way out of the room; so there he was, a prisoner
alone with the singing-birds.
"Never mind," quoth he to himself cheerily; "I have at last reached the
inside of the castle, and surely shall find the heart of my Joan, and if I
keep my vow and neither eat nor drink here or say aught but ask for that
which I seek, nothing can harm me."
So he sat down contentedly to wait for what might come. There he sat the
whole night, and no one came near him, but the birds sang so beautifully
that he almost forgot how the time passed.
When morning dawned and light again shone through the windows, he searched
everywhere for some way out of the room, but the door had quite
disappeared. Moreover, the feast had gone from the table. The day passed,
and still he was all alone, and as evening again drew in he sat and
lamented, quite wearied out and faint for want of food. But when the
darkness came, the lamps about the room were suddenly lit as if by magic,
and all was brilliant, and a curtain was drawn aside, and there came in a
little child with bright eyes and hair, who held in one hand a goblet and
in the other a well-filled plate. These she placed before Michael, saying,
"My mistress sends you these, and begs that you will eat and drink, for you
must be both hungry and thirsty;" but Michael pushed away the goblet and
the plate, and said,
"I seek the heart of Princess Joan; I beg you to give it to me."
To this the seeming child answered nothing, but still pressed on him the
food and wine. Then Michael took from his bosom the magic glass and looked
through it, and saw no lovely child, but the same yellow hag with
shrivelled face and evil eyes. With a cry of rage she disappeared, and
though Michael searched everywhere, he could not find the way by which she
went.
Now indeed he began to feel that unless he ate he could not live much
longer, and wept from very weakness.
"Still I will neither eat nor drink," he said, "till I have found what I
came to seek, and the fairy cannot refuse me much longer."
Night passed and day came, and he lay upon a couch quite still, too weak to
move, yet he feared to sleep lest some spell should be thrown upon him.
So he lay all day, and as evening again drew near he began to feel despair,
for he knew that in another day he would be dead of hunger.
"Oh! Why have I toiled for seven years," he cried aloud, "and at last won
my way into the castle, if now I am to be starved to death, and Joan will
never know how I have laboured for her sake?"
"And why should you be starved to death, my Prince?" said a voice; and at
once the lights lit themselves, and into the room stepped the figure of
the Princess Joan just as he had seen her last, dressed in white and gold,
and in one hand bearing a golden goblet filled with clear ruby-coloured
wine.
Michael gave a cry of joy and held out his arms to clasp her in them, but
as he did so the sword sprang as it hung at his side, and he remembered his
vow and drew back and gazed at her without speaking.
She knelt down beside him and raised the goblet to his lips, saying softly,
"My poor love, how long you have worked for me! Pray drink now, that you
may be refreshed ere we two start for our home."
Then as he looked at her face and saw how beautiful she was his heart
wavered, and he thought, "Can it be my Joan, and that I have truly won
her?" and almost had he let her place the wine at his lips, while with one
hand she stroked his hair and murmured to him the while in a soft voice,
when the cup struck against the magic glass in his bosom, and he drew it
forth and looked at her, and he trembled with horror and disgust, for there
he saw no lovely Princess Joan, but the same yellow hag, who held in one
skinny hand a goblet, formed from a skull, from which she would have him
drink.
Michael sprang to his feet and dashed it from him, and the ruby wine poured
on the floor, and there followed an awful noise like a peal of thunder, and
the room was full of smoke, and wild cries were heard.
He grasped the sword and sat still, trembling all over; but when the smoke
cleared away the whole aspect of the room was changed; the silken hangings,
and gold, and pearls, and flowers, were all gone, and he was sitting in a
grim gray chamber like a vault, and in front of him stood the yellow hag,
whose eyes shone spitefully and her lips laughed wickedly; but in one hand
she held what it made Michael rejoice to see. It was a soft pink feathery
thing, with wings, but shaped like a heart, and it trembled and quivered in
her hand.
"Take it," she cried, "for well have you won it. Take it, and tell the
Queen how many years of toil and labour her proud words and boasting have
cost. Then when you see her, from whom it was stolen, let it fly, but
first say over it these words:--
"Heart of Joan
Lost and won
Fly back home,
Thy journey's done.
Take back joy
Take back pain
Heart of Joan,
Fly home again."
and it will fly to her side, and you will see it no more; and now begone."
Michael seized the heart with a cry of joy and exultation, and then turned
and fled from the room through an open iron door, and passed through the
passages, no longer softly carpeted and hung with silk, but dreary and
bare, made of cold stone, down which his foot-steps echoed and clashed.
He hurried from the castle as quickly as might be, and once outside did not
stop to look for the old man or the monster, but swam the moat, and went
straight to where his boat lay moored as he had left it, nearly seven years
before, and never paused till he had rowed so far that the gray castle and
the shore had almost passed from view. At last he came again to the shore
where he had bought his boat of the fishermen, and here he went on land,
and started to walk till he had reached Joan's country, and her father's
castle.
He had no money, and his clothes were rags, his hair was thin and gray, and
his shoulders bent. He looked like a poor beggar, and he had to beg food as
he went, or he would have been starved. Still, he was ready to cry for joy,
because he took with him the little soft heart he had gone so far to find.
He trudged on both day and night, making great haste, for he knew that the
seven years were almost gone, and he was afraid lest already he might be
too late, and find that Joan had married some one else. At last, after many
weary miles, he reached her country, and drew near to the palace where she
lived, and here he found that the people were all decorating their houses,
and making preparations as if for some great festival.
He stopped and begged for food from a woman who stood by a cottage door,
and when she had given him some bread, as he ate it he asked her to tell
him what went on in the country, and why there was such rejoicing.
"It is for the marriage of the King's daughter Joan," said the woman;
"To-morrow she is to be married to old King Lambert, and the wedding will
be very grand, but none of the country folk like it, for he is old and
ugly, and they say he does not love her at all, but only marries her that
he may be king of this country as well as his own. The Queen is in sore
distress about it, and for seven years refused her consent; but they will
be over to-morrow, and so they will be wed, and the guests are already
beginning to arrive at the palace, and each one brings some splendid gift."
"I will be a guest at that wedding," cried Michael; "And I bring the best
gift of all for the bride;" and he hurried on again, not heeding the
woman's scorn and laughter.