As it happened that night, there was a thin new moon, and the youth
slept but little because of the croaking noise made by the frogs.
Presently, full awake, he sat up, and it seemed to him that the air was
full of noise, not only of frogs but of the hooting of owls and the
whirring of bats, and looking he saw the strange sight of a great white
toad with two heads, and presently about that fearful thing other things
gathered. From rock and hole came unclean creatures, abominable serpents
and centipedes and great gray spiders, and all these gathered in a
circle, the two-headed toad in the centre. With wide-open eyes Huathia
watched, although the sight of so much that was noisome came near to
benumbing and stupefying him, and incomplete shapes seemed to be looking
at him with evil eyes from the black depth of the forest.
Soon the owl began to mourn and the song fell into words and the youth
heard this:
“Who knows where hides our queen? Hoo! Hoo!”
And first one creature and then another answered:
“The toad, our queen, lies hid unsought
Beneath the stone that men have wrought.”
And so it went on, a mad and horrible concert, with bat and owl and
great ghost-moth whirling about on silent wings, until sickened of it
all Huathia rose up and clapping his hands to his ears fled from the
place. And when he had gained a quiet and lonely spot he sat down, but
in his ears rang what he had heard:
“The toad, our queen, lies hid unsought
Beneath the stone that men have wrought.”
So he wondered and wondered where could be the stone that men had
wrought, and the story that men had told of a great temple on the
mountains came to him. But that place seemed too far away.
When it was full day the youth went to the house, and in time the rich
man came forth and greeted him. Then came the stepmother, who fixed her
large dark eyes on Huathia, not looking at him straight, but sideways.
Suso came shortly afterward and the youth could not take his eyes from
her. It seemed to him that she was the most beautiful of living things
as she sat on her stool by the side of her father, her hair touched by
the golden light so that it seemed to be as full of ripples as a
sun-kissed brook. So there was pleasant talk while they ate, and, after,
a drinking-in of soft music as Huathia played on his flute. Suso sang
when Huathia had finished, and though her song had a touch of sadness in
it, it seemed to her pleased father that all on earth that was soft and
shapely and fair was gathered there in that garden, until catching the
eye of his wife he was reminded that his life was flowing away, and the
old grief came upon him.
Somehow talk fell upon Huathia and his mirror and the strange way in
which he had found it, and he took it from his bag. As he looked in it,
Suso came and stood behind him, so that he saw the reflection of her
face and the true picture of herself, and there was a gentleness there,
the gentleness of the dove and the purity of the flower. The rich man
came, too, looking over Huathia’s shoulder and saw his own reflection.
But what the youth saw was a face that denoted great bravery and
kindness. Seeing all this the stepmother stretched her hand across the
table and took the mirror, gazing at the picture of her own dark beauty.
Then Huathia stepped to her side and looked into the disc. He saw, not
the dark eyes and night-black hair that she saw, not the face of a proud
woman, but the face of a toad, and when she held the polished silver
further off, the better to see, the toad-face changed, so that he saw a
double-headed toad. But of that she knew nothing and did not even guess
that he knew her for a vile witch and no true woman. And as she
continued to gaze and her thoughts wandered, so did new things come into
the picture that Huathia saw, and he beheld about her neck two writhing
white snakes, a sight so horrible that he could scarcely hold his
countenance or prevent himself from calling out. Having seen to her
content, the woman rose from her stool and left the room.
The rich man, already tired, for his night’s sleep did not revive him,
stood up and beckoned to the youth to give him an arm. Suso supported
him on the other side and so they walked slowly to a seat beneath a
great flowering bush near the house. Having found his seat and being
wrapped in his feather mantle by Suso, he asked the youth to play the
flute again. Huathia was ready and willing, but somehow the memory of
the two-headed toad and the two white snakes made him nervous, and when
he put his flute to his lips no sweet sounds came, but instead rude
noises like the hissing of snakes and the croaking of frogs and the
screeching of parrots. Even Suso stopped her ears and her father bade
the youth cease his noise.
“Are you of those who make my last days the wearier with your noises?”
he asked sorrowfully. Then he added: “For many nights I have dreamed of
toads with two heads and of snakes that hung over me, and now you come
with your flute and the noises that such evil things make. I had
expected better of you, Huathia, seeing that I have treated you as a
son.”
Huathia earnestly assured him that he had no wish to do other than to
make music, and he ended by saying: “There is, I am sure, some
enchantment in this place, for though the sun is warm I feel a chill, as
if some clammy thing enfolded me.”
He shivered as he spoke, though he was a lad whose blood ran warm; not
afraid, not given to idle fancies. Of a sudden his eyes fell upon a
large grindstone that lay near by. It was a stone so great that two men
could hardly make shift to raise it, and so it had been left there for
years and grasses had grown about it. But when Huathia saw it, there
leaped into his mind the song that he had heard:
“The toad, our queen, lies hid unsought
Beneath the stone that men have wrought.”
It had meant little in the night, but in a flash he saw that the
grindstone was a stone wrought by men. So fitting an arrow to his bow he
handed the weapon to Suso, telling her to shoot whatever evil thing was
discovered when he lifted the stone. With a great effort he raised the
stone suddenly, heavy though it was, lifting it high above his head, and
there, in a hollow place where the stone had been, sat a large, white,
double-headed toad.
“Shoot, Suso, shoot!” commanded the father. “Let not that evil thing
escape. It is the creature that torments me at night.”
Swift flew the arrow and it pierced the body of the toad. At the same
moment there fell from the roof of the house two monstrous white
serpents where they had lain hidden. Like lightning Huathia, having
seized the bow, sent two arrows flying, and each serpent was cut into
halves. In less than three moments three evil things died, and it was
like the sun coming from a cloud-veil, the way in which joy came to that
place. The weakness of the father fell from him like a cloak. The bodies
of the toad and the snakes withered and shrivelled, and as a light
breeze sprang up, what was left of them was blown away as dust. There
were soft stirrings in the thicket and the whole world burst into song.
So both father and daughter knew then that the witcheries were gone and
the evil creatures vanished for ever, and that all the trouble that had
been upon that place came from the wicked stepmother.
So youth and maiden were married, and the father soon regained his
health and strength, and in all the world there were no happier people
than they.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]