Once upon a time there was an old king who had three sons; and the old
king fell very sick one time and there was nothing at all could make him
well but some golden apples from a far country. So the three brothers
went on horseback to look for some of these apples. They set off
together, and when they came to cross-roads they halted and refreshed
themselves a bit; and then they agreed to meet on a certain time, and
not one was to go home before the other. So Valentine took the right,
and Oliver went straight on, and poor Jack took the left.
To make my long story short, I shall follow poor Jack, and let the other
two take their chance, for I don't think there was much good in them.
Off poor Jack rides over hills, dales, valleys, and mountains, through
woolly woods and sheepwalks, where the old chap never sounded his hollow
bugle-horn, farther than I can tell you to-night or ever intend to tell
you.
At last he came to an old house, near a great forest, and there was an
old man sitting out by the door, and his look was enough to frighten you
or any one else; and the old man said to him:
"Good morning, my king's son."
"Good morning to you, old gentleman," was the young prince's answer;
frightened out of his wits though he was, he didn't like to give in.
The old gentleman told him to dismount and to go in to have some
refreshment, and to put his horse in the stable, such as it was. Jack
soon felt much better after having something to eat, and began to ask
the old gentleman how he knew he was a king's son.
"Oh dear!" said the old man, "I knew that you were a king's son, and I
know what is your business better than what you do yourself. So you will
have to stay here to-night; and when you are in bed you mustn't be
frightened whatever you may hear. There will come all manner of frogs
and snakes, and some will try to get into your eyes and your mouth, but
mind, don't stir the least bit or you will turn into one of those things
yourself."
Poor Jack didn't know what to make of this, but, however, he ventured to
go to bed. Just as he thought to have a bit of sleep, round and over and
under him they came, but he never stirred an inch all night.
"Well, my young son, how are you this morning?"
"Oh, I am very well, thank you, but I didn't have much rest."
"Well, never mind that; you have got on very well so far, but you have
a great deal to go through before you can have the golden apples to go
to your father. You'd better come and have some breakfast before you
start on your way to my other brother's house. You will have to leave
your own horse here with me until you come back again, and tell me
everything about how you get on."
After that out came a fresh horse for the young prince, and the old man
gave him a ball of yarn, and he flung it between the horse's two ears.
Off he went as fast as the wind, which the wind behind could not catch
the wind before, until he came to the second oldest brother's house.
When he rode up to the door he had the same salute as from the first old
man, but this one was even uglier than the first one. He had long grey
hair, and his teeth were curling out of his mouth, and his finger- and
toe-nails had not been cut for many thousand years. He put the horse
into a much better stable, and called Jack in, and gave him plenty to
eat and drink, and they had a bit of a chat before they went to bed.
"Well, my young son," said the old man, "I suppose you are one of the
king's children come to look for the golden apples to bring him back to
health."
"Yes, I am the youngest of the three brothers, and I should like to get
them to go back with."
"Well, don't mind, my young son. Before you go to bed to-night I will
send to my eldest brother, and will tell him what you want, and he won't
have much trouble in sending you on to the place where you must get the
apples. But mind not to stir to-night no matter how you get bitten and
stung, or else you will work great mischief to yourself."
The young man went to bed and bore all, as he did the first night, and
got up the next morning well and hearty. After a good breakfast out
comes a fresh horse, and a ball of yarn to throw between his ears. The
old man told him to jump up quick, and said that he had made it all
right with his eldest brother, not to delay for anything whatever,
"For," said he, "you have a good deal to go through with in a very short
and quick time."
He flung the ball, and off he goes as quick as lightning, and comes to
the eldest brother's house. The old man receives him very kindly and
told him he long wished to see him, and that he would go through his
work like a man and come back safe and sound. "To-night," said he, "I
will give you rest; there shall nothing come to disturb you, so that you
may not feel sleepy for to-morrow. And you must mind to get up middling
early, for you've got to go and come all in the same day; there will be
no place for you to rest within thousands of miles of that place; and if
there was, you would stand in great danger never to come from there in
your own form. Now, my young prince, mind what I tell you. To-morrow,
when you come in sight of a very large castle, which will be surrounded
with black water, the first thing you will do you will tie your horse to
a tree, and you will see three beautiful swans in sight, and you will
say, 'Swan, swan, carry me over in the name of the Griffin of the
Greenwood,' and the swans will swim you over to the earth. There will
be three great entrances, the first guarded by four great giants with
drawn swords in their hands, the second by lions, the other by fiery
serpents and dragons. You will have to be there exactly at one o'clock;
and mind and leave there precisely at two and not a moment later. When
the swans carry you over to the castle, you will pass all these things,
all fast asleep, but you must not notice any of them.
"When you go in, you will turn up to the right; you will see some grand
rooms, then you will go downstairs through the cooking kitchen, and
through; a door on your left you go into a garden, where you will find
the apples you want for your father to get well. After you fill your
wallet, you make all speed you possibly can, and call out for the swans
to carry you over the same as before. After you get on your horse,
should you hear anything shouting or making any noise after you, be sure
not to look back, as they will follow you for thousands of miles; but
when the time is up and you get near my place, it will be all over. Well
now, my young man, I have told you all you have to do to-morrow; and
mind, whatever you do, don't look about you when you see all those
frightful things asleep. Keep a good heart, and make haste from there,
and come back to me with all the speed you can. I should like to know
how my two brothers were when you left them, and what they said to you
about me."
[Illustration: The Castle of Melvales
Swan Swan,
Carry me over,
In the name of the Griffin of Greenwood.]
"Well, to tell the truth, before I left London my father was sick, and
said I was to come here to look for the golden apples, for they were the
only things that would do him good; and when I came to your youngest
brother, he told me many things I had to do before I came here. And I
thought once that your youngest brother put me in the wrong bed, when he
put all those snakes to bite me all night long, until your second
brother told me 'So it was to be,' and said, 'It is the same here,' but
said you had none in your beds."
"Well, let's go to bed. You need not fear. There are no snakes here."
The young man went to bed, and had a good night's rest, and got up the
next morning as fresh as newly caught trout. Breakfast being over, out
comes the other horse, and, while saddling and fettling, the old man
began to laugh, and told the young gentleman that if he saw a pretty
young lady, not to stay with her too long, because she might waken, and
then he would have to stay with her or to be turned into one of those
unearthly monsters, like those he would have to pass by going into the
castle.
"Ha! ha! ha! you make me laugh so that I can scarcely buckle the
saddle-straps. I think I shall make it all right, my uncle, if I see a
young lady there, you may depend."
"Well, my boy, I shall see how you will get on."
So he mounts his Arab steed, and off he goes like a shot out of a gun.
At last he comes in sight of the castle. He ties his horse safe to a
tree, and pulls out his watch. It was then a quarter to one, when he
called out, "Swan, swan, carry me over, for the name of the old Griffin
of the Greenwood." No sooner said than done. A swan under each side,
and one in front, took him over in a crack. He got on his legs, and
walked quietly by all those giants, lions, fiery serpents, and all
manner of other frightful things too numerous to mention, while they
were fast asleep, and that only for the space of one hour, when into the
castle he goes neck or nothing. Turning to the right, upstairs he runs,
and enters into a very grand bedroom, and sees a beautiful Princess
lying full stretch on a gold bedstead, fast asleep. He gazed on her
beautiful form with admiration, and he takes her garter off, and buckles
it on his own leg, and he buckles his on hers; he also takes her gold
watch and pocket-handkerchief, and exchanges his for hers; after that he
ventures to give her a kiss, when she very nearly opened her eyes.
Seeing the time short, off he runs downstairs, and passing through the
kitchen to go into the garden for the apples, he could see the cook
all-fours on her back on the middle of the floor, with the knife in one
hand and the fork in the other. He found the apples, and filled the
wallet; and on passing through the kitchen the cook near wakened, but he
was obliged to make all the speed he possibly could, as the time was
nearly up. He called out for the swans, and they managed to take him
over; but they found that he was a little heavier than before. No sooner
than he had mounted his horse he could hear a tremendous noise, the
enchantment was broke, and they tried to follow him, but all to no
purpose. He was not long before he came to the oldest brother's house;
and glad enough he was to see it, for the sight and the noise of all
those things that were after him nearly frightened him to death.
"Welcome, my boy; I am proud to see you. Dismount and put the horse in
the stable, and come in and have some refreshments; I know you are
hungry after all you have gone through in that castle. And tell me all
you did, and all you saw there. Other kings' sons went by here to go to
that castle, but they never came back alive, and you are the only one
that ever broke the spell. And now you must come with me, with a sword
in your hand, and must cut my head off, and must throw it in that well."
The young Prince dismounts, and puts his horse in the stable, and they
go in to have some refreshments, for I can assure you he wanted some;
and after telling everything that passed, which the old gentleman was
very pleased to hear, they both went for a walk together, the young
Prince looking around and seeing the place looking dreadful, as did the
old man. He could scarcely walk from his toe-nails curling up like ram's
horns that had not been cut for many hundred years, and big long hair.
They come to a well, and the old man gives the Prince a sword, and tells
him to cut his head off, and throw it in that well. The young man has to
do it against his wish, but has to do it.
No sooner has he flung the head in the well, than up springs one of the
finest young gentlemen you would wish to see; and instead of the old
house and the frightful-looking place, it was changed into a beautiful
hall and grounds. And they went back and enjoyed themselves well, and
had a good laugh about the castle.
The young Prince leaves this young gentleman in all his glory, and he
tells the young Prince before leaving that he will see him again before
long. They have a jolly shake-hands, and off he goes to the next oldest
brother; and, to make my long story short, he has to serve the other two
brothers the same as the first.
Now the youngest brother began to ask him how things went on. "Did you
see my two brothers?"
"Yes."
"How did they look?"
"Oh! they looked very well. I liked them much. They told me many things
what to do."
"Well, did you go to the castle?"
"Yes, my uncle."
"And will you tell me what you see in there? Did you see the young
lady?"
"Yes, I saw her, and plenty of other frightful things."
"Did you hear any snake biting you in my oldest brother's bed?"
"No, there were none there; I slept well."
"You won't have to sleep in the same bed to-night. You will have to cut
my head off in the morning."
The young Prince had a good night's rest, and changed all the appearance
of the place by cutting his friend's head off before he started in the
morning. A jolly shake-hands, and the uncle tells him it's very probable
he shall see him again soon when he is not aware of it. This one's
mansion was very pretty, and the country around it beautiful, after his
head was cut off. Off Jack goes, over hills, dales, valleys, and
mountains, and very near losing his apples again.
At last he arrives at the cross-roads, where he has to meet his brothers
on the very day appointed. Coming up to the place, he sees no tracks of
horses, and, being very tired, he lays himself down to sleep, by tying
the horse to his leg, and putting the apples under his head. Presently
up come the other brothers the same time to the minute, and found him
fast asleep; and they would not waken him, but said one to another, "Let
us see what sort of apples he has got under his head." So they took and
tasted them, and found they were different to theirs. They took and
changed his apples for theirs, and off to London as fast as they could,
and left the poor fellow sleeping.
After a while he awoke, and, seeing the tracks of other horses, he
mounted and off with him, not thinking anything about the apples being
changed. He had still a long way to go, and by the time he got near
London he could hear all the bells in the town ringing, but did not know
what was the matter till he rode up to the palace, when he came to know
that his father was recovered by his brothers' apples. When he got there
his two brothers were off to some sports for a while; and the King was
glad to see his youngest son, and very anxious to taste his apples. But
when he found out that they were not good, and thought that they were
more for poisoning him, he sent immediately for the headsman to behead
his youngest son, who was taken away there and then in a carriage. But
instead of the headsman taking his head off, he took him to a forest not
far from the town, because he had pity on him, and there left him to
take his chance, when presently up comes a big hairy bear, limping upon
three legs. The Prince, poor fellow, climbed up a tree, frightened of
him, but the bear told him to come down, that it was no use of him to
stop there. With hard persuasion poor Jack comes down, and the bear
speaks to him and bids him "Come here to me; I will not do you any harm.
It's better for you to come with me and have some refreshments; I know
that you are hungry all this time."
The poor young Prince says, "No, I am not hungry; but I was very
frightened when I saw you coming to me first, as I had no place to run
away from you."
The bear said, "I was also afraid of you when I saw that gentleman
setting you down from the carriage. I thought you would have guns with
you, and that you would not mind killing me if you saw me; but when I
saw the gentleman going away with the carriage, and leaving you behind
by yourself, I made bold to come to you, to see who you were, and now I
know who you are very well. Are you not the king's youngest son? I have
seen you and your brothers and lots of other gentlemen in this wood many
times. Now before we go from here, I must tell you that I am in
disguise; and I shall take you where we are stopping."
The young Prince tells him everything from first to last, how he started
in search of the apples, and about the three old men, and about the
castle, and how he was served at last by his father after he came home;
and instead of the headsman taking his head off, he was kind enough to
leave him his life, "and here I am now, under your protection."
The bear tells him, "Come on, my brother; there shall no harm come to
you as long as you are with me."
So he takes him up to the tents; and when they see 'em coming, the girls
begin to laugh, and say, "Here is our Jubal coming with a young
gentleman." When he advanced nearer the tents, they all knew that he was
the young Prince that had passed by that way many times before; and when
Jubal went to change himself, he called most of them together into one
tent, and told them all about him, and to be kind to him. And so they
were, for there was nothing that he desired but what he had, the same as
if he was in the palace with his father and mother. Jubal, after he
pulled off his hairy coat, was one of the finest young men amongst them,
and he was the young Prince's closest companion. The young Prince was
always very sociable and merry, only when he thought of the gold watch
he had from the young Princess in the castle, and which he had lost he
knew not where.
He passed off many happy days in the forest; but one day he and poor
Jubal were strolling through the trees, when they came to the very spot
where they first met, and, accidentally looking up, he could see his
watch hanging in the tree which he had to climb when he first saw poor
Jubal coming to him in the form of a bear; and he cries out, "Jubal,
Jubal, I can see my watch up in that tree."
"Well, I am sure, how lucky!" exclaimed poor Jubal; "shall I go and get
it down?"
"No, I'd rather go myself," said the young Prince.
Now whilst all this was going on, the young Princess in that castle,
seeing that one of the King of England's sons had been there by the
changing of the watch and other things, got herself ready with a large
army, and sailed off for England. She left her army a little out of the
town, and she went with her guards straight up to the palace to see the
King, and also demanded to see his sons. They had a long conversation
together about different things. At last she demands one of the sons to
come before her; and the oldest comes, when she asks him, "Have you ever
been at the Castle of Melvales?" and he answers, "Yes." She throws down
a pocket handkerchief and bids him to walk over it without stumbling. He
goes to walk over it, and no sooner did he put his foot on it, than he
fell down and broke his leg. He was taken off immediately and made a
prisoner of by her own guards. The other was called upon, and was asked
the same questions, and I had to go through the same performance, and he
also was made a prisoner of. Now she says, "Have you not another son?"
when the King began so to shiver and shake and knock his two knees
together that he could scarcely stand upon his legs, and did not know
what to say to her, he was so much frightened. At last a thought came to
him to send for his headsman, and inquire of him particularly, Did he
behead his son, or was he alive?
"He is saved, O King."
"Then bring him here immediately, or else I shall be done for."
Two of the fastest horses they had were put in the carriage, to go and
look for the poor Prince; and when they got to the very spot where they
left him, it was the time when the Prince was up the tree, getting his
watch down, and poor Jubal standing a distance off. They cried out to
him, Had he seen another young man in this wood? Jubal, seeing such a
nice carriage, thought something, and did not like to say No, and said
Yes, and pointed up the tree; and they told him to come down
immediately, as there was a young lady in search of him.
"Ha! ha! ha! Jubal, did you ever hear such a thing in all your life, my
brother?"
"Do you call him your brother?"
"Well, he has been better to me than my brothers."
"Well, for his kindness he shall accompany you to the palace, and see
how things turn out."
After they go to the palace, the Prince has a good wash, and appears
before the Princess, when she asks him, Had he ever been at the Castle
of Melvales? With a smile upon his face, he gives a graceful bow. And
says my Lady, "Walk over that handkerchief without stumbling." He walks
over it many times, and dances upon it, and nothing happened to him. She
said, with a proud and smiling air, "That is the young man;" and out
come the objects exchanged by both of them. Presently she orders a very
large box to be brought in and to be opened, and out come some of the
most costly uniforms that were ever worn on an emperor's back; and when
he dressed himself up, the King could scarcely look upon him from the
dazzling of the gold and diamonds on his coat. He orders his two
brothers to be in confinement for a period of time; and before the
Princess asks him to go with her to her own country, she pays a visit to
the bear's camp, and she makes some very handsome presents for their
kindness to the young Prince. And she gives Jubal an invitation to go
with them, which he accepts; wishes them a hearty farewell for a while,
promising to see them all again in some little time.
They go back to the King and bid farewell, and tell him not to be so
hasty another time to order people to be beheaded before having a proper
cause for it. Off they go with all their army with them; but while the
soldiers were striking their tents, the Prince bethought himself of his
Welsh harp, and had it sent for immediately to take with him in a
beautiful wooden case. They called to see each of those three brothers
whom the Prince had to stay with when he was on his way to the Castle of
Melvales; and I can assure you, when they all got together, they had a
very merry time of it. And there we will leave them.