He was decidedly dirty and unattractive, but he didn't mind in the
least. He saw the quantities of gold in the robbers' cave and his eyes
shone.
[Illustration: He saw the quantities of gold]
"If I can only find my way home to tell my father about it, he will be
a rich man!" he cried.
It was a long distance home and several times he thought that he had
lost his way. Finally, however, he saw his own mother's light in the
window. He ran toward it as fast as he could run.
"Manoel Littlebean, what have you been doing?" cried his mother when
she saw him. "Where did you get so dirty? Come, let me give you a
bath the first thing!"
"Never mind about the bath, mother," said Manoel. "I have more
important things to attend to. Where is father?"
His mother called her husband and they both forgot how dirty the child
was when they heard his story.
"Let us hurry to the robbers' cave, father," he said. "We must get
there before they return."
"What about the wolf?" asked his mother anxiously.
Manoel Littlebean laughed.
"The wolf doesn't have any stomachache now," he said. "He went home
long ago."
They went to the robbers' cave and brought home the huge sacks full of
gold. It was enough to make them live like princes for a lifetime.
"I have the best and cleverest son in the world," said the father.
"Never in the world was there a son who was such a joy and comfort to
his parents," said his mother.
Manoel Littlebean was treated by every one as politely as if he had
been big.
THE NECKLACE OF PEARLS
_The Story of a Water-nymph and an Island Lad_
In a tiny cottage on the steep rocky hillside of one of the islands of
the Azores there lived a poor woman and her only son whose name was
Francisco. Every day the boy went fishing in his little boat, and
every night he brought home fish for his mother to cook for their
evening meal and to carry into the market to sell. In this way they
lived very comfortably, and they loved each other so dearly that they
were as happy as happy can be.
Francisco, with his fair skin, blue eyes and thatch of curly golden
hair, was the handsomest boy in the whole parish, and by the time he
was sixteen years old there was many a rich man's daughter who had
smiled upon him. However, the lad thought only of his fishing boat and
his mother and did not notice the smiles.
One night the moon was so bright that Francisco could not sleep. He
awakened his mother who was dozing comfortably in her bed.
"I'm going fishing, mother dear," he said as he kissed her. "The
moonlight is calling me."
His mother started up from her bed in terror and amazement.
"Why, my boy, do you do such a thing as this?" she asked. "You have
never been fishing in the night before. Some evil will surely befall
you."
"Don't worry about me, dear mother," replied Francisco, laughing at her
fears. "I know how to take care of myself. It is as light as day.
Think how many fish I'll bring back for you to sell in the market
to-morrow."
His mother shook her head anxiously, but, with another loving kiss, the
lad ran out into the bright moonlight. He quickly launched his little
fishing boat and soon was floating smoothly along on the peaceful
waters of the bay which gleamed like a silver pathway in the moonlight.
The soft air, the gentle rocking of the little boat, and the face of
the moon upon which his blue eyes were fixed combined to send sleep to
his eyelids. Soon he was nodding in the little boat. A few moments
later and he was fast asleep. The moon's rays upon his curls made them
shine as if they were indeed made of gold.
Now the village maidens were not the only ones who had noticed
Francisco's blue eyes and handsome face. A water-nymph who dwelt in
the depths of the sea had often observed him. In the daytime she was
invisible to the eye of humans and so the lad had never seen her though
she often spent long hours near him, never taking her eyes from his
face.
"Here comes the beautiful youth in his little fishing boat!" cried the
nymph as she saw the moonlight gleaming upon his bright curls. "At
last my wish has come true. Now at night he'll be able to see me."
She hastily arranged her own beautiful hair before a little mirror she
carried. Some of the strands of priceless pearls which decked her
lovely head were a trifle awry. These and the necklaces of rare pearls
which hung about her fair throat surrounded her with a gleam of soft
light almost like the light of the moon. As she approached nearer to
the little boat she saw that Francisco was fast asleep. She swam in
the direction of the lad with all possible speed, a wild terror in her
eyes.
"What madness is this?" she asked as she looked down upon his bowed
head. "This frail boat will drift upon the dangerous rocks and be
dashed to pieces. I'll take him home to my own palace without
awakening him. Perhaps when he sees how lovely it is he'll even like
me a little bit."
Just for a moment she hesitated, thinking how far from home Francisco
would be in the palace of mother-of-pearl in the depths of the sea.
"The rocks are really very dangerous," she said to herself as she
gently drew his sleeping form into her arms.
The next morning Francisco's empty fishing boat was found by the
fishermen. For hours his mother had watched in vain for his return.
When at last she heard that the empty boat had been found she was
nearly wild with grief.
"He was the best son a mother ever had," she moaned over and over
again. "How can I live without him!"
Indeed, as the days and weeks went by it was increasingly difficult for
the poor woman to live. She not only missed her boy's loving smile,
but she also missed the fish he caught so skillfully. There was little
for the poor woman to eat if she had any appetite for food.
"Why don't you go to the Wiseman of the Sea and tell him your
troubles?" asked one of the neighbors.
Francisco's mother knew that it was a long and difficult journey to
reach the Wiseman of the Sea. She decided, however, it would be worth
the effort just to gaze into his wise eyes. He knew so much, perhaps
he would know how to say something to comfort her in her great sorrow
and loneliness. She had shrugged her shoulders when her neighbor had
spoken of it but she could not get the idea out of her mind. She knew
that she would never rest in peace until she had made this journey.
Accordingly, she launched Francisco's fishing boat, and, thanks to
smooth seas, reached the little rocky island in the midst of the sea
where the Wiseman of the Sea lived.
His tall form was outlined above the cliff even as she tied her little
boat. He was very tall, far taller than anybody she had ever seen, and
his snow-white beard fell to his feet. He was clothed in fish scales
which gleamed in the sunlight.
"Well, little mother, what can I do for you to-day?" he asked, as she
came up the path to the summit of the rock.
The eyes of the Wiseman of the Sea were very kind as well as full of
great wisdom. Francisco's mother forgot to be afraid of him as she had
expected to be. She told him the story of her lost son. The Wiseman
listened carefully to her words and then he said:
"Good mother, I am glad to tell you that I know where your Francisco
is. He is in the power of a water-nymph who has carried him away to
her castle of mother-of-pearl in the depths of the sea."
Francisco's mother felt the tears of joy well up into her eyes. "Is my
boy happy there and is he well?" she asked eagerly.
"He is entirely well and happy. The water-nymph gave him a philtre
which has made him forget his past life entirely."
"I'm glad you told me that," said the boy's mother. "I was just
wondering how my dear lad could be happy while he was causing me so
much sorrow. He has always been the best and kindest son with which a
mother ever was blessed."
The Wiseman of the Sea started to say something, but the woman
interrupted as a new thought flew into her mind. "Tell me," she cried,
"is there no way of getting him back? With all your wisdom can't you
think of some way to make him once more remember the mother who loves
him and the little home in which we have passed so many happy days
together? Do you not know some means of breaking the power which this
water-nymph has over him?"
The Wiseman looked out across the sea in silence for at least a minute
and a half. He thought hard. Francisco's mother watched him with
eager eyes. She could hardly wait for his answer. At last these were
the words which fell from his lips:
"You have shed many tears, good woman, but tears are still to flow if
you are to bring back your son."
"Oh, must I suffer more?" cried the heart-broken mother. "It seems
that I have already lived a lifetime since my dear lad kissed me in the
moonlight. I have endured all that I can bear."
The Wiseman smiled gently as he raised his hand. "Listen, my child,"
he said. "Your tears must be shed upon the bosom of the waters. If,
perchance, one of them should fall upon your son's heart there in the
palace of the water-nymph in the depths of the sea, the power of her
philtre will be broken."
"I'll shed whole oceans of tears if I can break the power of that
water-nymph and bring back my Francisco," said his mother.
The fact is that she began to shed tears then and there, even before
she had thanked the Wiseman of the Sea for what he had told her.
Now it happened that Francisco had grown to love the beautiful palace
of mother-of-pearl in the depths of the sea. He never tired of all its
beauty. About the palace there were lovely gardens filled with flowers
made of precious gems. Each tiny bud of that garden was worth a king's
ransom, so rich were the jewels which composed it. The water-nymph
often gathered her arms full of these rare blossoms and wove them into
a garland to crown Francisco's golden curls. He never had a thought of
the old life at home with his mother, so completely had the nymph's
philtre done its work.
There was always a big fish swimming about the palace. On its back
there was a cushion of seagreen satin embroidered with lovely pearls.
"This is your riding horse," said the water-nymph to Francisco the
first day he had seen it. "If you should ever get tired of the palace
and find the life here a bit monotonous, just mount this horse and ride
about for a little."
The water-nymph had shaken out her long fair tresses so that they
covered as much as possible of the fishtail she had instead of feet.
She was very sensitive about the fact that she had no feet upon which
to wear pretty little slippers like those of the maidens she had seen
so often as they called out gay greetings to the handsome fisher-lad.
Francisco had smiled into her eyes. "How absurd," he cried, "to think
of such a thing as getting tired of this wonderful place!"
In fact the days had slipped by all too fast for the happy youth. Then
it suddenly happened one day while the water-nymph was asleep that he
thought of his mother, the little house which had been his home for
sixteen years and more, the fishing boat which was his pride and joy,
the moonlight night when he had gaily kissed his mother's cheek and
gone away never to return. He did not stop to waken the sleeping
nymph. He said no word to the servants of the palace. He thought only
of the fish with the cushion of sea-green satin embroidered with rare
pearls.
"Quick!" he cried to it. "Take me home as fast as you can! My
mother's heart is breaking! She has shed so many tears for me, I know,
that by this time she may be entirely blind."
[Illustration: "Take me home as fast as you can!"]
In another hour Francisco was safe at home with his mother's arms about
him. She had shed so many tears that her eyes were swollen almost
shut, but they were not closed so completely that they could not shine
with the great joy which once more filled her heart.
"Promise me one thing," she said to him. "Give me your word that
you'll never go fishing again. I don't trust that water-nymph even in
the daytime."
Accordingly, Francisco gave up being a fisherman and became a hunter.
To make his spears, he gathered the young sapling which grew on the
hillside even down to the edge of the water. He had grown still
handsomer while he had lived in the palace of mother-of-pearl in the
depths of the sea, and there were twice as many pretty maidens who cast
smiling glances in his direction.
It was the daughter of the rich man of the village who at last won the
heart of Francisco. When he went a-wooing, however, he had no gift to
take except the birds he had killed with his own hand. The rich man
laughed at him. These were his words:
"When my daughter marries it shall be only to a youth who can bring her
rich gifts."
Francisco went away with a sad heart and sat upon the rocks at the edge
of the sea, gazing out over the water with eyes so full of tears that
they saw nothing.
The water-nymph was not far away from the shore those days. She was
always seeking for a glimpse of the golden head which she had so often
crowned with flowers. Her joy now at the sight of him was buried by
her sorrow when she saw that his heart was full of woe. She knew at
once the cause of his grief.
The next morning when Francisco went to get wood to make a new spear,
he found a necklace of priceless pearls lying on the shore. It was the
gift of the water-nymph, but since his heart had been touched by his
mother's tears he had entirely forgotten her. He took the gift to the
maid he loved with never a thought of the giver.
THE DAUGHTER OF THE KING OF NAPLES
_The Story of a Prince's Quest_
There was once a king who had an only son. The years passed by and he
did not marry, so one day his father called him before him and said:
"The time has come when you should marry, my son. You are now at the
age when you should no longer wait to choose your bride. Why is it
that you have not already done this?"
The prince replied:
"I will wed no one except the daughter of the king of Naples."
"Do you know that the king of Naples has a daughter?" asked the father.
"No," answered the son. "I do not know."
"I should advise you to find out whether or not the king of Naples
happens to have a daughter before you decide to marry her," remarked
the king dryly.
"That is good advice," replied the prince. "I thank you."
Accordingly, he asked everybody he met whether the king of Naples had a
daughter. There was no person to be found who knew anything about it.
"You'll have to go to Naples to obtain this information," advised the
king. "It is a long journey, but if you are determined to marry nobody
except the daughter of the king of Naples there seems to be no way
except to go there and learn whether or not he has a daughter."
Accordingly, a ship was prepared and the prince sailed for Naples. It
was a difficult, stormy voyage, but finally they arrived safely. The
moment they landed the beggars came crowding about them. The prince
distributed alms among them most generously.
Then he asked: "Does any one know whether or not the king of Naples has
a daughter?"
There was nobody who knew. Finally, however, an old woman said that
once she passed by the royal palace and there was a beautiful face at
the window.
"I think that perhaps this was the daughter of the king of Naples, but
I do not know," she added.
"Go at once and find out," ordered the prince. "You shall be richly
rewarded."
The old woman hastened to the royal palace. She saw the same lovely
face at the window which she had seen before.
"Lovely lady, I want to talk to you!" she called out.
Now it happened that day that the princess was feeling decidedly bored
and out of tune with life. It looked like an interesting diversion to
talk with the old woman. Thus it came to pass that she opened the
window graciously.
"What do you wish, good mother?" she asked.
"Are you the daughter of the king of Naples?" questioned the old woman.
"I am," replied the princess.
"May I come some day to sell you pretty things?" asked the old woman.
The princess appointed an hour the next day when she might come with
her wares. Then the old woman hurried back to the waiting prince.
"The king of Naples has a daughter!" she cried. "A very beautiful
daughter, too!"
The prince showered the old woman with gold. He was so delighted that
at last he had found this out that he could well afford to be generous.
The old woman thanked him. "I did something else for you, kind sir,"
she said. "I made an appointment to see the princess to-morrow. I am
going to the palace at four o'clock to sell pretty things to her."
"Well done, good mother!" cried the prince, again thrusting his hand
into his purse. "Let me go in your place!"
The old woman gladly consented, and the prince dressed himself as a
peddler. The next afternoon at four o'clock he went to the palace of
the king of Naples.
"It is a peddler with many interesting wares for sale," said the
servant who answered his knock. "He speaks of an appointment with your
Royal Highness."
"Yes," said the princess. "A peddler was to come to-day at four
o'clock with pretty things for me to buy."
Accordingly, the prince was admitted to the presence of the daughter of
the king of Naples. If she were surprised to find the peddler a
handsome young man instead of the old woman with whom she had talked
the day before she did not show it.
"What lovely things you have!" she cried as she examined the tray full
of ribbons and beads and trinkets.
She selected a number of the wares and then she asked, "What is the
price of these?"
The prince would not set a price.
"If your Royal Highness is pleased with these," said he, "I have many
more things at home which you will like even better. I'll bring them
to you to-morrow."
"That will be splendid!" cried the princess. "Come again to-morrow at
this hour."
The next day the prince again dressed himself as a peddler, but
underneath the outer garments he wore his own rich clothing. When he
was admitted to the royal palace he laid aside his peddler's disguise
and stood before the princess looking like the true prince he was. He
was very handsome in his rich suit of crimson velvet, with his hat with
the long plume in his hand. The princess was so surprised that she
turned pale.
"Who are you?" she cried. "You surely are not the peddler who came
here yesterday!"
The prince smiled into her eyes, and, even without the peddler's
garments which were rolled up on the tray, she would have recognized
him.
He told her of the quest which had led him there, and she admired all
the patience and diligence he had shown in finding out her existence.
When he asked her to marry him at once, she readily consented. They
planned that she should steal down the staircase at night and go away
with him on his ship.
All this sounded very romantic to the daughter of the king of Naples.
She had never dreamed that a thing like this would ever happen. All
her life she had been so closely guarded that stealing out of the
palace and sailing away in the prince's ship seemed the most wonderful
thing in the world.
The next night had been agreed on, and long ahead of the appointed hour
the prince sat on horseback at the foot of the stairway down which the
princess would steal. He was very weary with all the excitement of the
past three days, and as he waited he fell asleep. A robber passed by
and saw his sleeping form hanging limply on the saddle.
"I'll gently deposit him on the ground and get away with his horse and
saddle," thought the thief, as he stopped and regarded the horse with a
critical eye.
Just then, however, he saw something which made him change his mind
about hurrying away after he had deposited the prince's sleeping form
beneath a tree. There was the loveliest maiden he had ever seen
creeping silently down the stairway. She came straight up to him.
"I'm ready, beloved," were her words.
The robber silently lifted her behind him on the horse's back and
together they rode away.
"Where is your boat?" asked the princess after they had ridden together
for some time without speaking.
"So it is a boat which the fair lady is looking for," thought the
thief. "I was expecting this good horse to carry us the whole
distance. A boat is a bit difficult to arrange, but it can be done if
necessary. There ought to be a boat around somewhere for me to steal."
He left the daughter of the king of Naples on the shore while he went
to steal a boat. When he returned the light shone upon his face and
the girl thought that he did not look the same as the day before.
"Of course, I've seen him only twice," she told herself in an effort to
gain assurance. "It must be the prince, my own true love."
"Here is our boat," said the robber, and together they embarked.
As the morning light shone upon the robber the princess saw that he was
not in the least like the prince who had come a-peddling. The robber
laughed.
"Does my lady know with whom she is going away?" he asked.
"I thought I was going with the prince who is my lover," she replied,
bursting into bitter tears.
Running away was not half so romantic and delightful as she had
pictured it. She heartily wished that she were back in the royal
palace.
As for the prince, he soon awoke and looked about the palace garden
where he was lying under the tree.
"How did I get here?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes sleepily.
There was none to tell him, so he decided that his horse must have
thrown him off and run away.
"It is queer that my fall did not awaken me," he said to himself. "It
is a bit awkward to lose my horse. However, if the princess only keeps
her promise and comes to me we shall manage to get to our ship somehow."
He waited very patiently for a time and then he began to fear that the
princess had repented of her promise to run away. He did not give her
up, however, until it was almost daylight. Then he sorrowfully
returned to his waiting ship.
[Illustration: Then he sorrowfully returned to his waiting ship]
"I have at least found out that the king of Naples has a daughter and
that she is the most beautiful princess in the whole world," he said.
"If she prefers not to have a run-away marriage it will doubtless be
better for me to sail home and tell my father to make arrangements with
the king of Naples for our wedding. There are some advantages in this
more dignified method."
Thus it happened that the prince sailed away for his own country, never
dreaming that the princess had kept her promise to steal down the
stairway in the night and that she was then in the hands of the wicked
robber.
The daughter of the king of Naples sobbed and cried so loud when she
found that it was not her own prince with whom she was sailing that the
robber became quite disgusted with her.
"I thought you were a pretty little maid," he said, "when I first saw
you, but now I've changed my mind about you."
Indeed no person with good eyesight would have called the princess
pretty at that moment, with her face all red and swollen with much
weeping.
The robber decided that he did not want to bother with her any longer,
so he landed in the country of the Junqueiras and left her there. The
princess wandered about the place until night came without seeing a
single soul,--nothing but the sea, sky and rocks.
She was really, however, not far from the hut in which there lived the
wife and daughter of a poor fisherman. In the stillness of the night
they heard a cry.
"Some one is in trouble outside, mother," said the daughter.
"Perhaps the pirates have come and by this cry are trying to lure us
out," answered her mother cautiously. There were often pirate ships
which stopped there. The daughter listened carefully.
"No, mother," she insisted. "I'm sure this is a girl's cry."
The two women opened their door and crept out in the darkness. The
sobs of the princess soon led them to the place upon the rocks where
she lay crying as if her heart would break. They lifted her tenderly
and carried her home.
The fisherman's daughter gave the princess some of her own clothes to
wear and they lived together as if they were sisters. Together they
did all the work of the little house and the princess was too busy to
weep. Sometimes, however, she cried in the night when the fisherman's
wife and daughter were asleep. She wept for her lost love and for the
royal palace of the king of Naples which had always been her home.
Now it happened that the prince's ship encountered a great storm and
was driven about by the sea. At last it was blown by the gales to the
land of the Junqueiras.
The prince saw the fisherman's daughter and the princess standing on
the rocks by the sea. He stared hard at the princess. Then he spoke
in a voice which shook.
"You remind me of some one I used to know," he said. "Tell me your
name, I pray you, fair maid."