know where the castle was, nor how to set about finding it. However,
he resolved to seek the whole world through till he came to the right
place. He began by setting sail in a favourable wind, but his bad luck
followed him even on the sea. He had scarcely lost sight of the land
when a violent storm arose, and after several hours of beating about,
the vessel was driven on to some rocks, on which it dashed itself to
bits. The Prince was fortunate enough to be able to lay hold of a
floating spar, and contrived to keep himself afloat; and, after a long
struggle with the winds and waves, he was cast upon a strange island.
But what was his surprise, on reaching the shore, to hear sounds of
the most heartrending distress, mingled with the sweetest songs which
had ever charmed him! His curiosity was instantly roused, and he
advanced cautiously till he saw two huge dragons guarding the gate of
a wood. They were terrible indeed to look upon. Their bodies were
covered with glittering scales; their curly tails extended far over
the land; flames darted from their mouths and noses, and their eyes
would have made the bravest shudder; but as the Prince was invisible
and they did not see him, he slipped past them into the wood. He found
himself at once in a labyrinth, and wandered about for a long time
without meeting anyone; in fact, the only sight he saw was a circle of
human hands, sticking out of the ground above the wrist, each with a
bracelet of gold, on which a name was written. The farther he advanced
in the labyrinth the more curious he became, till he was stopped by
two corpses lying in the midst of a cypress alley, each with a scarlet
cord round his neck and a bracelet on his arm on which were engraved
their own names, and those of two Princesses.
[Illustration: In The Labyrinth of Despair]
The invisible Prince recognised these dead men as Kings of two large
islands near his own home, but the names of the Princesses were
unknown to him. He grieved for their unhappy fate, and at once
proceeded to bury them; but no sooner had he laid them in their
graves, than their hands started up through the earth and remained
sticking up like those of their fellows.
The Prince went on his way, thinking about this strange adventure,
when suddenly at the turn of the walk he perceived a tall man whose
face was the picture of misery, holding in his hands a silken cord of
the exact colour of those round the necks of the dead men. A few steps
further this man came up with another as miserable to the full as he
himself; they silently embraced, and then without a word passed the
cords round their throats, and fell dead side by side. In vain the
Prince rushed to their assistance and strove to undo the cord. He
could not loosen it; so he buried them like the others and continued
his path.
He felt, however, that great prudence was necessary, or he himself
might become the victim of some enchantment; and he was thankful to
slip past the dragons, and enter a beautiful park, with clear streams
and sweet flowers, and a crowd of men and maidens. But he could not
forget the terrible things he had seen, and hoped eagerly for a clue
to the mystery. Noticing two young people talking together, he drew
near thinking that he might get some explanation of what puzzled him.
And so he did.
‘You swear,’ said the Prince, ‘that you will love me till you die, but
I fear your faithless heart, and I feel that I shall soon have to seek
the Fairy Despair, ruler of half this island. She carries off the
lovers who have been cast away by their mistresses, and wish to have
done with life. She places them in a labyrinth where they are
condemned to walk for ever, with a bracelet on their arms and a cord
round their necks, unless they meet another as miserable as
themselves. Then the cord is pulled and they lie where they fall, till
they are buried by the first passer-by. Terrible as this death would
be,’ added the Prince, ‘it would be sweeter than life if I had lost
your love.’
The sight of all these happy lovers only made the Prince grieve the
more, and he wandered along the seashore spending his days; but one
day he was sitting on a rock bewailing his fate, and the impossibility
of leaving the island, when all in a moment the sea appeared to raise
itself nearly to the skies, and the caves echoed with hideous screams.
As he looked a woman rose from the depths of the sea, flying madly
before a furious giant. The cries she uttered softened the heart of
the Prince; he took the stone from his mouth, and drawing his sword he
rushed after the giant, so as to give the lady time to escape. But
hardly had he come within reach of the enemy, than the giant touched
him with a ring that he held in his hand, and the Prince remained
immovable where he stood. The giant then hastily rejoined his prey,
and, seizing her in his arms, he plunged her into the sea. Then he
sent some tritons to bind chains about the Prince of the Golden Isle,
and he too felt himself borne to the depths of the ocean, and without
the hope of ever again seeing the Princess.
Now the giant whom the invisible had so rashly attacked was the Lord
of the Sea, and the third son of the Queen of the Elements, and he had
touched the youth with a magic ring which enabled a mortal to live
under water. So the Prince of the Golden Isle found, when bound in
chains by the tritons, he was carried through the homes of strange
monsters and past immense seaweed forests, till he reached a vast
sandy space, surrounded by huge rocks. On the tallest of the rocks sat
the giant as on a throne.
‘Rash mortal,’ said he, when the Prince was dragged before him, ‘you
have deserved death, but you shall live only to suffer more cruelly.
Go, and add to the number of those whom it is my pleasure to torture.’
At these words the unhappy Prince found himself tied to a rock; but he
was not alone in his misfortunes, for all round him were chained
Princes and Princesses, whom the giant had led captive. Indeed, it was
his chief delight to create a storm, in order to add to the list of
his prisoners.
As his hands were fastened, it was impossible for the Prince of the
Golden Isle to make use of his magic stone, and he passed his nights
and days dreaming of Rosalie. But at last the time came when the giant
took it into his head to amuse himself by arranging fights between
some of his captives. Lots were drawn, and one fell upon our Prince,
whose chains were immediately loosened. The moment he was set free, he
snatched up his stone, and became invisible.
The astonishment of the giant at the sudden disappearance of the
Prince may well be imagined. He ordered all the passages to be
watched, but it was too late, for the Prince had already glided
between two rocks. He wandered for a long while through the forests,
where he met nothing but fearful monsters; he climbed rock after rock,
steered his way from tree to tree, till at length he arrived at the
edge of the sea, at the foot of a mountain that he remembered to have
seen in the cabinet of the present, where Rosalie was held captive.
Filled with joy, he made his way to the top of the mountain which
pierced the clouds, and there he found a palace. He entered, and in
the middle of a long gallery he discovered a crystal room, in the
midst of which sat Rosalie, guarded night and day by genii. There was
no door anywhere, nor any window. At this sight the Prince became more
puzzled than ever, for he did not know how he was to warn Rosalie of
his return. Yet it broke his heart to see her weeping from dawn till
dark.
One day, as Rosalie was walking up and down her room, she was
surprised to see that the crystal which served for a wall had grown
cloudy, as if some one had breathed on it, and, what was more,
wherever she moved the brightness of the crystal always became
clouded. This was enough to cause the Princess to suspect that her
lover had returned. In order to set the Prince of the Air’s mind at
rest she began by being very gracious to him, so that when she begged
that her captivity might be a little lightened she should not be
refused. At first the only favour she asked was to be allowed to walk
for one hour every day up and down the long gallery. This was granted,
and the Invisible Prince speedily took the opportunity of handing her
the stone, which she at once slipped into her mouth. No words can
paint the fury of her captor at her disappearance. He ordered the
spirits of the air to fly through all space, and to bring back Rosalie
wherever she might be. They instantly flew off to obey his commands,
and spread themselves over the whole earth.
Meantime Rosalie and the Invisible Prince had reached, hand in hand, a
door of the gallery which led through a terrace into the gardens. In
silence they glided along, and thought themselves already safe, when a
furious monster dashed itself by accident against Rosalie and the
Invisible Prince, and in her fright she let go his hand. No one can
speak as long as he is invisible, and besides, they knew that the
spirits were all around them, and at the slightest sound they would be
recognised; so all they could do was to feel about in the hope that
their hands might once more meet.
[Illustration: Prince Gnome Learns the Name of His Rival at the Golden
Fountain]
But, alas! the joy of liberty lasted but a short time. The Princess,
having wandered in vain up and down the forest, stopped at last on the
edge of a fountain. As she walked she wrote on the trees: ‘If ever the
Prince, my lover, comes this way, let him know that it is here I
dwell, and that I sit daily on the edge of this fountain, mingling my
tears with its waters.’
These words were read by one of the genii, who repeated them to his
master. The Prince of the Air, in his turn making himself invisible,
was led to the fountain, and waited for Rosalie. When she drew near he
held out his hand, which she grasped eagerly, taking it for that of
her lover; and, seizing his opportunity, the Prince passed a cord
round her arms, and throwing off his invisibility cried to his spirits
to drag her into the lowest pit.
It was at this moment that the Invisible Prince appeared, and at the
sight of the Prince of the Genii mounting into the air, holding a
silken cord, he guessed instantly that he was carrying off Rosalie.
He felt so overwhelmed by despair that he thought for an instant of
putting an end to his life. ‘Can I survive my misfortunes?’ he cried.
‘I fancied I had come to an end of my troubles, and now they are worse
than ever. What will become of me? Never can I discover the place
where this monster will hide Rosalie.’
The unhappy youth had determined to let himself die, and indeed his
sorrow alone was enough to kill him, when the thought that by means of
the cabinets of the years he might find out where the Princess was
imprisoned, gave him a little ray of comfort. So he continued to walk
on through the forest, and after some hours he arrived at the gate of
a temple, guarded by two huge lions. Being invisible, he was able to
enter unharmed. In the middle of the temple was an altar, on which lay
a book, and behind the altar hung a great curtain. The Prince
approached the altar and opened the book, which contained the names of
all the lovers in the world; and in it he read that Rosalie had been
carried off by the Prince of the Air to an abyss which had no entrance
except the one that lay by way of the Fountain of Gold.
Now, as the Prince had not the smallest idea where this fountain was
to be found, it might be thought that he was not much nearer Rosalie
than before. This was not, however, the view taken by the Prince.
‘Though every step that I take may perhaps lead me further from her,’
he said to himself, ‘I am still thankful to know that she is alive
somewhere.’
On leaving the temple the Invisible Prince saw six paths lying before
him, each of which led through the wood. He was hesitating which to
choose, when he suddenly beheld two people coming towards him, down
the track which lay most to his right. They turned out to be the
Prince Gnome and his friend, and the sudden desire to get some news of
his sister, Princess Argentine, caused the Invisible Prince to follow
them and to listen to their conversation.
‘Do you think,’ the Prince Gnome was saying, ‘do you think that I
would not break my chains if I could? I know that the Princess
Argentine will never love me, yet each day I feel her dearer still.
And as if this were not enough, I have the horror of feeling that she
probably loves another. So I have resolved to put myself out of my
pain by means of the Golden Fountain. A single drop of its water
falling on the sand around will trace the name of my rival in her
heart. I dread the test, and yet this very dread convinces me of my
misfortune.’
It may be imagined that after listening to these words the Invisible
Prince followed Prince Gnome like his shadow, and after walking some
time they arrived at the Golden Fountain. The unhappy lover stooped
down with a sigh, and dipping his finger in the water let fall a drop
on the sand. It instantly wrote the name of Prince Flame, his brother.
The shock of this discovery was so real, that Prince Gnome sank
fainting into the arms of his friend.
Meanwhile the Invisible Prince was turning over in his mind how he
could best deliver Rosalie. As, since he had been touched by the
Giant’s ring, he had the power to live in the water as well as on
land, he at once dived into the fountain. He perceived in one corner a
door leading into the mountain, and at the foot of the mountain was a
high rock on which was fixed an iron ring with a cord attached. The
Prince promptly guessed that the cord was used to chain the Princess,
and drew his sword and cut it. In a moment he felt the Princess’s hand
in his, for she had always kept her magic pebble in her mouth, in
spite of the prayers and entreaties of the Prince of the Air to make
herself visible.
So hand in hand the invisible Prince and Rosalie crossed the mountain;
but as the Princess had no power of living under water, she could not
pass the Golden Fountain. Speechless and invisible they clung together
on the brink, trembling at the frightful tempest the Prince of the Air
had raised in his fury. The storm had already lasted many days when
tremendous heat began to make itself felt. The lightning flashed, the
thunder rattled, fire bolts fell from heaven, burning up the forests
and even the fields of corn. In one instant the very streams were
dried up, and the Prince, seizing his opportunity, carried the
Princess over the Golden Fountain.
It took them a long time still to reach the Golden Isle, but at last
they got there, and we may be quite sure they never wanted to leave it
any more.
_THE CROW_[13]
Once upon a time there were three Princesses who were all three young
and beautiful; but the youngest, although she was not fairer than the
other two, was the most loveable of them all.
About half a mile from the palace in which they lived there stood a
castle, which was uninhabited and almost a ruin, but the garden which
surrounded it was a mass of blooming flowers, and in this garden the
youngest Princess used often to walk.
One day when she was pacing to and fro under the lime trees, a black
crow hopped out of a rose-bush in front of her. The poor beast was all
torn and bleeding, and the kind little Princess was quite unhappy
about it. When the crow saw this it turned to her and said:
‘I am not really a black crow, but an enchanted Prince, who has been
doomed to spend his youth in misery. If you only liked, Princess, you
could save me. But you would have to say good-bye to all your own
people, and come and be my constant companion in this ruined castle.
There is one habitable room in it, in which there is a golden bed;
there you will have to live all by yourself, and don’t forget that
whatever you may see or hear in the night you must not scream out, for
if you give as much as a single cry my sufferings will be doubled.’
The good-natured Princess at once left her home and her family and
hurried to the ruined castle, and took possession of the room with the
golden bed.
[Footnote 13: From the Polish. Kletke.]
When night approached she lay down, but though she shut her eyes tight
sleep would not come. At midnight she heard to her great horror some
one coming along the passage, and in a minute her door was flung wide
open and a troop of strange beings entered the room. They at once
proceeded to light a fire in the huge fire-place; then they placed a
great cauldron of boiling water on it. When they had done this, they
approached the bed on which the trembling girl lay, and, screaming and
yelling all the time, they dragged her towards the cauldron. She
nearly died with fright, but she never uttered a sound. Then of a
sudden the cock crew, and all the evil spirits vanished.
At the same moment the crow appeared and hopped all round the room
with joy. It thanked the Princess most heartily for her goodness, and
said that its sufferings had already been greatly lessened.
[Illustration: The evil spirits drag the girl to the cauldron]
Now one of the Princess’s elder sisters, who was very inquisitive, had
found out about everything, and went to pay her youngest sister a
visit in the ruined castle. She implored her so urgently to let her
spend the night with her in the golden bed, that at last the
good-natured little Princess consented. But at midnight, when the odd
folk appeared, the elder sister screamed with terror, and from this
time on the youngest Princess insisted always on keeping watch alone.
So she lived in solitude all the day-time, and at night she would have
been frightened, had she not been so brave; but every day the crow
came and thanked her for her endurance, and assured her that his
sufferings were far less than they had been.
And so two years passed away, when one day the crow came to the
Princess and said: ‘In another year I shall be freed from the spell I
am under at present, because then the seven years will be over. But
before I can resume my natural form, and take possession of the
belongings of my forefathers, you must go out into the world and take
service as a maidservant.’
The young Princess consented at once, and for a whole year she served
as a maid; but in spite of her youth and beauty she was very badly
treated, and suffered many things. One evening, when she was spinning
flax, and had worked her little white hands weary, she heard a
rustling beside her and a cry of joy. Then she saw a handsome youth
standing beside her; who knelt down at her feet and kissed the little
weary white hands.
‘I am the Prince,’ he said, ‘who you in your goodness, when I was
wandering about in the shape of a black crow, freed from the most
awful torments. Come now to my castle with me, and let us live there
happily together.’
So they went to the castle where they had both endured so much. But
when they reached it, it was difficult to believe that it was the
same, for it had all been rebuilt and done up again. And there they
lived for a hundred years, a hundred years of joy and happiness.
_HOW SIX MEN TRAVELLED THROUGH THE WIDE WORLD_
There was once upon a time a man who understood all sorts of arts; he
served in the war, and bore himself bravely and well; but when the war
was over, he got his discharge, and set out on his travels with three
farthings of his pay in his pocket. ‘Wait,’ he said; ‘that does not
please me; only let me find the right people, and the King shall yet
give me all the treasures of his kingdom.’ He strode angrily into the
forest, and there he saw a man standing who had uprooted six trees as
if they were straws. He said to him, ‘Will you be my servant and
travel with me?’
‘Yes,’ he answered; ‘but first of all I will take this little bundle
of sticks home to my mother,’ and he took one of the trees and wound
it round the other five, raised the bundle on his shoulders and bore
it off. Then he came back and went with his master, who said, ‘We two
ought to be able to travel through the wide world!’ And when they had
gone a little way they came upon a hunter, who was on his knees, his
gun on his shoulder, aiming at something. The master said to him,
‘Hunter, what are you aiming at?’
He answered, ‘Two miles from this place sits a fly on a branch of an
oak; I want to shoot out its left eye.’
‘Oh, go with me,’ said the man; ‘if we three are together we shall
easily travel through the wide world.’
The hunter agreed and went with him, and they came to seven windmills
whose sails were going round quite fast, and yet there was not a
breath of wind, nor was a leaf moving. The man said, ‘I don’t know
what is turning those windmills; there is not the slightest breeze
blowing.’ So he walked on with his servants, and when they had gone
two miles they saw a man sitting on a tree, holding one of his
nostrils and blowing out of the other.
‘Fellow, what are you puffing at up there?’ asked the man.
He replied, ‘Two miles from this place are standing seven windmills;
see, I am blowing to drive them round.’
‘Oh, go with me,’ said the man; ‘if we four are together we shall
easily travel through the wide world.’
So the blower got down and went with him, and after a time they saw a
man who was standing on one leg, and had unstrapped the other and laid
it near him. Then said the master, ‘You have made yourself very
comfortable to rest!’
‘I am a runner,’ answered he; ‘and so that I shall not go too quickly,
I have unstrapped one leg; when I run with two legs, I go faster than
a bird flies.’
‘Oh, go with me; if we five are together, we shall easily travel
through the wide world.’ So he went with him, and, not long
afterwards, they met a man who wore a little hat, but he had it
slouched over one ear.
‘Manners, manners!’ said the master to him; ‘don’t hang your hat over
one ear; you look like a madman!’
‘I dare not,’ said the other, ‘for if I were to put my hat on
straight, there would come such a frost that the very birds in the sky
would freeze and fall dead on the earth.’
‘Oh, go with me,’ said the master; ‘if we six are together, we shall
easily travel through the wide world.’
Now the Six came to a town in which the King had proclaimed that
whoever should run with his daughter in a race, and win, should become
her husband; but if he lost, he must lose his head. This was reported
to the man who declared he would compete, ‘but,’ he said, ‘I shall let
my servant run for me.’
The King replied, ‘Then both your heads must be staked, and your head
and his must be guaranteed for the winner.’
When this was agreed upon and settled, the man strapped on the
runner’s other leg, saying to him, ‘Now be nimble, and see that we
win!’ It was arranged that whoever should first bring water out of a
stream a long way off, should be the victor. Then the runner got a
pitcher, and the King’s daughter another, and they began to run at the
same time; but in a moment, when the King’s daughter was only just a
little way off, no spectator could see the runner, and it seemed as if
the wind had whistled past. In a short time he reached the stream,
filled his pitcher with water, and turned round again. But, half way
home, a great drowsiness came over him; he put down his pitcher, lay
down, and fell asleep. He had, however, put a horse’s skull which was
lying on the ground, for his pillow, so that he should not be too
comfortable and might soon wake up.
In the meantime the King’s daughter, who could also run well, as well
as an ordinary man could, reached the stream, and hastened back with
her pitcher full of water. When she saw the runner lying there asleep,
she was delighted, and said, ‘My enemy is given into my hands!’ She
emptied his pitcher and ran on.
Everything now would have been lost, if by good luck the hunter had
not been standing on the castle tower and had seen everything with his
sharp eyes.
[Illustration: My Enemy is Given into My Hands]
‘Ah,’ said he, ‘the King’s daughter shall not overreach us;’ and,
loading his gun, he shot so cleverly, that he shot away the horse’s
skull from under the runner’s head, without its hurting him. Then the
runner awoke, jumped up, and saw that his pitcher was empty and the
King’s daughter far ahead. But he did not lose courage, and ran back
to the stream with his pitcher, filled it once more with water, and
was home ten minutes before the King’s daughter arrived.
‘Look,’ said he, ‘I have only just exercised my legs; that was nothing
of a run.’
But the King was angry, and his daughter even more so, that she should
be carried away by a common, discharged soldier. They consulted
together how they could destroy both him and his companions.