and placed them away in the cupboard until her husband and her son came
home. It happened that something kept the husband in the village a
little later than usual, and while the woman was waiting for him her son
came in and said he was very hungry.
“‘You will find something in the cupboard,’ his mother said. ‘Eat a
little now, and when your stepfather returns we will have supper.’
“The boy went to the cupboard. The fowl was on a big dish ready to be
carved, and the head was in the saucer by itself. To save time and
trouble the boy took the head and ate it, and then felt as if he could
wait for supper very comfortably. The husband came, and the woman
proceeded to set the table. When she came to look for the fowl’s head it
was gone.
“‘Why, I ate it,’ said her son, when he heard her exclamation of
surprise. ‘I found it in the saucer, and I ate it rather than cut the
fowl.’
“The stepfather was angry enough to tear his hair, but he said nothing.
The next day the boy went hunting. He was ready to return about noon,
but, being tired, he stretched himself in the shade of a tree and was
soon sound asleep.
[Illustration:
THEY SAW THE HANDSOME BOY SLEEPING
]
“While he was sleeping his soundest, the nine men who had been appointed
by the people to find them a king chanced to pass that way. They saw the
handsome boy sleeping in the shade of the tree, and they stationed
themselves around and watched him. For four long hours they watched the
boy, but still the shadow of the tree kept the sun from his face. The
nine men consulted among themselves, and they came to the conclusion
that the shadow of the tree hadn’t moved, and that the boy was a
well-favored lad who would look very well when he was dressed up and put
on a throne with a crown on his head.
“So they shook the boy and aroused him from his sleep.
“‘What’s your name?’ asked the spokesman.
“‘Telambus,’ replied the boy.
“‘Where do you live?’
“‘Not far from here.’
“‘How would you like to be king?’
“‘I have never tried it. Is it an easy trade to learn?’
“The nine men looked at each other shrewdly and smiled. They each had
the same thought.
“They went with the boy to his home and saw his mother, and inquired
about his age and his education, and asked a hundred other questions
besides. They cautioned the woman as they were leaving to say nothing of
their visit except this, that they were going about hunting for a king
and had called to make some inquiries.
“When her husband came home he had already heard of the visit of the
distinguished company, and so he asked his wife a thousand questions.
All the answer he got was that the visitors were hunting for a king.
“‘I’m sure it was for me they were hunting,’ said the man. ‘How
unfortunate that I was away.’
“‘Well, don’t worry,’ replied his wife. ‘If they ever intended to make
you king, they’ll come back after you.’
“‘You don’t seem to think much about it,’ remarked the man, ‘but some of
these days you’ll find out that you narrowly escaped being the king’s
wife.’
“The nine citizens were so certain that they had found the right person
to rule over their country as king, that they made haste to return to
the capital city and tell the news to the eleven wise men who had sent
them out. They made their report, and the eleven wise men put their
heads together once more. When they had consulted together a long time,
they said to the people:—
“‘There is one test by which you may know whether a king has been found.
Send a messenger and ask this young man to send us a rope made of sand a
hundred feet long.’
“The messenger straightway went to the house of Telambus and told him
what the eleven wise men had said. His mother straightway fell to
crying. But Telambus laughed at her fears.
“‘Tell the eleven wise men,’ he said to the messenger, ‘that there are
various patterns of sand ropes. Let them send me a sample of the kind
they want—a piece only a foot long—and I will make them one a hundred
feet long.’
“The messenger returned to the eleven wise men and told them what
Telambus had said. They put their heads together again and then told the
people that the young man was wise enough to be their king. There was
great rejoicing then, and the nine wise men who had found him went to
fetch him.
“But Telambus shook his head. ‘Kings are not carried about in this way.
Where are your banners and your chariots? Where are your drums and your
cymbals?’
“So the nine men returned to the eleven wise men and told them what
Telambus had said.
“‘He is right,’ said the eleven wise men. ‘He is a king already. Get
your horses, your chariots, your banners, and your music, and bring our
king in as he deserves to be brought.’
“So Telambus was made the king of that country.”
At this point Mrs. Meadows began to hunt for a knitting-needle she had
dropped, and the children knew that the story was ended.
“That was a pretty good story,” said Mr. Thimblefinger. “It was short
and sweet, as the king-bird said to the honey-bee.”
“Dey wuz too much kingin’ in it ter suit me. Ef folks got ter have
kings, how come we ain’t got none?” asked Drusilla.
“Please tell me about the little girl with the vial of sparkling water
from the Well at the End of the World,” said Sweetest Susan to Mr.
Thimblefinger. “I expect she is nearly grown by this time.”
“Oh, yes,” replied Mr. Thimblefinger, “she has now grown to be quite a
young lady.”
“Huh!” grunted Drusilla, “ef folks grow up dat quick, I dunner what
hinder me from bein’ a ol’ gray-head ’oman by sundown.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VI.
THE MAGIC RING.
“Don’t you see,” said Mr. Thimblefinger, with apparent seriousness,
“that if we hadn’t left off the story of the little girl who went to the
Well at the End of the World just where we did, she would have had no
time to grow?”
Buster John smiled faintly, but Sweetest Susan took the statement
seriously, though she said nothing. Drusilla boldly indorsed it.
“I speck dat’s so,” she said, “kaze when de lil’ gal got back home wid
dat vial she wa’n’t in no fix fer ter cut up dem kind er capers what de
tales tell about.”
“Certainly not,” remarked Mr. Thimblefinger, “but now she has had time
to grow up to be a young lady, almost. Names go for so little down here
that I haven’t told you hers. She was named Eolen. Some said it was a
beautiful name, but her stepmother and her stepmother’s daughter said it
was very ugly. Anyhow, that was her name, and whether it was ugly or
whether it was beautiful, she had to make the best of it.
“Well, Eolen went home when the old man gave her the vial of water from
the Well at the End of the World. She hid the vial beneath her apron
until she reached her own room, and then she placed it at the very
bottom of her little trunk,—a trunk that had belonged to her mother, who
was dead.
“Nothing happened for a long time. Whenever Friday fell on the
thirteenth of a month, Eolen would rub a drop of the sparkling water on
her forehead, and she grew to be the loveliest young lady that ever was
seen. Her stepsister was not bad-looking, but, compared with Eolen, she
was ugly. The contrast between them was so great that people could not
help noticing it and making remarks about it. Some of these remarks came
to the ears of her stepmother.
“Now a stepmother can be just as nice and as good as anybody, but this
particular stepmother cared for nothing except her own child, and she
soon came to hate Eolen for being so beautiful. She had never treated
the child kindly, but now she began to treat her cruelly. Eolen never
told her father, but somehow he seemed to know what was going on, and he
treated her more affectionately each day, as her stepmother grew more
cruel.
“This lasted for some time, but finally Eolen’s father fell ill and
died, and then, although she had many admirers, she was left without a
friend she could confide in or rely on. To make matters worse, her
stepmother produced a will in which her husband had left everything to
her and nothing to Eolen. The poor girl didn’t know what to do. She knew
that her father had made no such will, but how could she prove it? She
happened to think of the vial of sparkling waters. She found it and
turned it upside down.
“On the instant there was a loud knock at the street door. Eolen would
have gone to open it, but her stepmother was there before her. She
peeped from behind the curtains in the hallway, and saw a tall,
richly-dressed stranger standing on the steps.
“‘I wish to see a young lady who lives here. She is the daughter of an
old friend,’ said the stranger.
“The stepmother smiled very sweetly. ‘Come in. I will call her.’
“But instead of calling Eolen she called her own daughter. The girl
went, but not with a good grace. She had been petted and spoiled, and
was very saucy and impolite. The stranger smiled when he saw her.
“‘What was my mother doing when you saw her sitting by the Well at the
End of the World?’ he asked.
“‘Do you take me for a crazy person?’ replied the girl.
“‘By no means,’ said the stranger. ‘You are not the young lady I came to
see.’
“The stepmother then called Eolen and stood in the room frowning to see
what was going to happen. Eolen came as soon as she was called, and the
stranger seemed to be much struck by her beauty and modesty. He took her
by the hand and led her to a chair.
“‘What was my mother doing when you saw her sitting by the Well at the
End of the World?’ he asked.
“‘She was combing her hair,’ replied Eolen.
“‘That is true,’ remarked the stranger. ‘Yes, she was combing her hair.’
Then he turned to the stepmother and said: ‘May I see this young lady
alone for a little while? I have a message for her from an old friend.’
“‘Certainly!’ the stepmother answered. ‘I hope her friend is well-to-do,
for her father has died without leaving her so much as a farthing.’
Having said this, the stepmother flounced from the room.
“‘I came at your summons,’ said the stranger; ‘you turned the vial of
sparkling water upside down, and now I am here to do your bidding.’
“Then Eolen told him of the death of her father, and how he had left all
of his property to her stepmother. The stranger listened attentively,
and while he listened played with a heavy gold ring that he wore on his
third finger. When Eolen was through with her story he took this ring
from his finger and handed it to her.
“‘Look through that,’ he said, ‘and tell me what you see.’
“Eolen held the ring to one of her eyes, and peeped through the golden
circle. She was so surprised that she came near dropping the ring. She
had held it up toward the stranger, but instead of seeing him through
the ring she seemed to be looking into a room in which some person was
moving about. As she continued to look, the scene appeared to be a
familiar one. The room was the one her stepmother occupied—the room in
which her father had died. She saw her stepmother take from her father’s
private drawer a folded paper and hide it behind the mantel. Then the
scene vanished, and through the ring she saw the stranger smiling at
her.
“‘What you have seen happened some time ago.’ He took the ring and
replaced it on his finger. ‘Your stepmother is now coming this way. She
has been trying to hear what we are saying. When she comes in, do you
get your father’s real will from behind the mantel and bring it to me.’
“Sure enough the stepmother came into the room silently and suddenly.
She pretended to be much surprised to find any one there.
“‘You must excuse me,’ she said to the stranger. ‘I imagined I heard you
take your leave some time ago.’
“‘You are excusable,’ replied the stranger. ‘I have been reflecting
rather than talking. I have been thinking what could be done for your
stepdaughter, who must be quite a burden to you.’
“The stepmother took this for an invitation to tell what she knew about
Eolen, and you may be sure she didn’t waste any praise on the young
lady. But right in the midst of it all Eolen, who had gone out, returned
and handed the stranger the folded paper that had been hid behind the
mantel. The stepmother recognized it and turned pale.
“‘This,’ said the stranger, opening the paper and reading it at a
glance, ‘is your father’s will. I see he has left you half the
property.’
“‘That is the will my husband forgot to destroy,’ cried the stepmother.
‘I have the real will.’
“‘May I see it?’ asked the stranger.
“The stepmother ran to fetch it, but when the stranger had opened it,
not a line nor a word of writing could be found on it.
“‘I see you are fond of a joke,’ said the stranger, but the stepmother
had fallen into a chair and sat with her face hid in her hands. ‘I am
fond of a joke myself,’ continued the stranger, ‘and I think I can match
yours.’
“With that the stranger took the real will, tore it in small pieces and
threw it into the fireplace.
“‘What have you done?’ cried Eolen.
“‘The most difficult thing in the world,’ replied the stranger; ‘I have
made this lady happy.’
“And sure enough the stepmother was smiling and thanking him.
“‘I thought you were my enemy,’ she said, ‘but now I see you are my
friend indeed. How can I repay you?’
“‘By treating this young lady here as your daughter,’ he replied. ‘Have
no fear,’ he said, turning to Eolen. ‘No harm can befall you. What I
have done is for the best.’
“But before he went away he gave Eolen the gold ring, and told her to
wear it for the sake of his mother, who sat by the Well at the End of
the World. She thanked him for his kindness and promised she would keep
the ring and treasure it as long as she lived.
“But there was one trouble with this magic ring. It was too large for
any of Eolen’s fingers. She had the whitest and most beautiful hands
ever seen, but the ring would fit none of her fingers. Around her neck
she wore a necklace of coral beads, and on this necklace she hung the
ring.
“For many day’s Eolen’s stepmother was kind to her, almost too kind. But
the woman was afraid her stepdaughter would inform the judges of her
effort to steal and hide her husband’s will. The judges were very severe
in those days and in that country, and if the woman had been brought
before them and such a crime proven on her, she would have been sent to
the rack.”
“What is a rack?” asked Sweetest Susan.
“Hit’s de place whar dey scrunch folks’s ve’y vitals out’n ’em,” said
Drusilla solemnly.
“That’s about right, I reckon,” assented Mr. Thimblefinger. “Well, the
stepmother was as kind to Eolen as she knew how to be, but the kindness
didn’t last long. She hated her stepdaughter worse than ever. She was
afraid of her, but she didn’t hate her any the less on that account.
“Eolen had a habit of taking off her coral necklace and placing it under
her pillow at night. One night, when she was fast asleep, her stepmother
crept into the room and slipped the ring from the necklace. She had no
idea it was a magic ring. She said to herself that it would look better
on her daughter’s finger than it did on Eolen’s coral necklace, so she
took the ring and slipped it on the finger of her sleeping daughter, and
then stepped back a little to admire the big golden circle on the
coarse, red hand.
“Almost immediately the daughter began to toss and tumble in her sleep.
She flung her arms wildly about and tried to talk. The mother, becoming
alarmed, tried to wake her, but it was some time before the girl could
be roused from her troubled sleep.
“‘Oh!’ she cried, when she awoke, ‘what is the matter with me? I dreamed
some one was cutting my finger off. What was it? Oh! it hurts me still!’
“She held up the finger on which her mother had placed the ring and
tried to tear off the golden band. ‘It burns—it burns!’ she cried. ‘Take
it off.’
“Her mother tried to take the ring off, but it was some time before she
succeeded. Her daughter struggled and cried so that it was a hard matter
to remove the ring, which seemed to be as hot as fire. A red blister was
left on the girl’s finger, and she was in great pain.
[Illustration:
HER STEPMOTHER CREPT INTO THE ROOM
]
“‘What have I done?’ the mother cried, seeing her daughter’s condition.
The two made so much noise that Eolen awoke and went to the door to find
out what the trouble was.
“‘Go away, you hussy!’ screamed the stepmother when she saw Eolen at the
door. ‘Go away! You are a witch!’
“‘Why, what have I done?’ Eolen asked.
“‘You are the cause of all this trouble. For amusement I placed your
gold ring on my dear daughter’s finger, and now see her condition!’
“‘Why, then, did you take my ring? If you had left it where I placed it,
you would have had none of this trouble.’ Eolen spoke with so much
dignity that her stepmother was surprised into silence, though she could
talk faster and louder than a flutter-mill. But finally she found her
voice.
“‘Go away! You are a witch!’ she said to Eolen.
“But Eolen went boldly into the room. ‘Give me my ring!’ she exclaimed.
‘You shall wrong me no further. Give me my ring! I will have it!’
“This roused the stepmother’s temper. She searched on the floor till she
found the ring. Then she opened a window and flung it as far as she
could send it.
“‘Now let’s see you get it!’ she cried. With that she seized Eolen by
the arm and pushed her from the room, saying, ‘Go away, you witch!’
“Now, then,” said Mr. Thimblefinger, after pausing to take breath, “what
was the poor girl to do?” He looked at Sweetest Susan as if expecting
her to answer the question.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” replied Sweetest Susan.
“Shake up de bottle,” exclaimed Drusilla.
“Exactly so,” said Mr. Thimblefinger.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VII.
THE COW WITH THE GOLDEN HORNS.
“I hope that isn’t all of the story,—if you call it a story,” said
Buster John.
“Which?” remarked Mr. Thimblefinger, with an air of having forgotten the
whole business.
“Why, that about throwing the gold ring from the window,” replied Buster
John.
“Well, no,” said Mr. Thimblefinger, in an absent-minded way. “In a book,
you know, you can read right on if you want to, or you can put the book
down and rest yourself when you get tired. But when I’m telling a story,
you must give me time to rest. I’m so little, you know, that it doesn’t
take much to tire me. Of course, if you don’t like the story, I can stop
any time. It’s no trouble at all to stop. Just wink your eye at me
twice, and I’m mum.”
“Oh, we don’t want you to stop,” said Sweetest Susan.
“No, don’t stop,” remarked Mr. Rabbit, drowsily, “because then everybody
gets to talking, and I can’t doze comfortably. Your stories are as
comforting to me as a feather-bed.”
“Then I’ll add a bolster to the bed,” exclaimed Mr. Thimblefinger. He
hesitated a moment, and then went on with the story:—
“Of course, Eolen didn’t know what to do when her stepmother threw the
gold ring from the window and pushed her from the room. She went back to
her bed and lay down, but she couldn’t sleep. After a while daylight
came, and then she dressed herself and went down into the garden to hunt
for the ring. She searched everywhere, but the ring was not to be found.
“Now the ring could have been found very easily if it had been where it
fell when Eolen’s stepmother threw it from the window. But that night a
tame crow, belonging to the Prince of that country, was roosting in one
of the trees in the garden.”
“Oh, was it a sure enough Prince?” asked Sweetest Susan.
“Why, certainly,” replied Mr. Thimblefinger, with great solemnity. “A
make-believe Prince could never have reigned in that country. The people
would have found him out, and he would have been put in the calaboose.
Well, this tame crow that belonged to the Prince had wandered off over
the fields, and had gone so far away from the palace that it was unable
to get back before dark, and so it went to bed in one of the trees
growing in the garden behind the house where Eolen lived.
“Of course, as soon as morning came, the crow was wide awake and ready
for any mischief that might turn up. It flew to the ground, hoping to
find something for breakfast, and hopped about, searching in the leaves
and grass. Suddenly the crow saw the ring shining on the ground and
picked it up and turned it over. What could it be? The crow’s curiosity
was such that it forgot all about breakfast. It seized the ring in its
beak and went flopping to the palace. It was so early in the morning
that the palace was closed, but the crow flew straight to the Prince’s
window and beat his wings against it until some of the attendants came
and opened it, when the crow walked in with great dignity.
“The Prince had been awakened by the noise, but when he saw the bird
stalking into the room as stiff as a major-general of militia, he fell
back on his bed laughing. The crow hopped to the foot-board of the bed
and stood there holding the gold ring in his beak, as much as to say,
‘Don’t you wish you were as rich as I am?’
“The Prince rose from his bed and took the ring from the crow, but it
was so hot that he made haste to drop it in a basin of cold water. Then
a curious thing happened. The ring seemed to expand in the basin until
it was as large as the bottom, and within the circle it made the picture
of a beautiful girl standing by a milk-white cow. There were two
peculiarities about the milk-white cow. Her ears were as black as jet,
and her horns shone and glittered as if they were made of gold.
“The Prince was entranced. He gazed at the beautiful picture long and
lovingly, and the crow sat on the rim of the basin and chuckled as
proudly as if it had painted the picture. The girl was the loveliest the
Prince had ever seen, and the cow was surely the most beautiful of her
kind. The Prince’s attendants uttered exclamations of delight when they
saw the picture, and his ministers, when they were sent for, were struck
dumb with astonishment.
“‘If this bird could only speak!’ cried the Prince.
“But the crow went chuckling about the room saying to itself, ‘What a
fool a Prince must be who cannot understand my simple language!’
“The Prince gazed at the picture framed by the gold ring for a long
time. At last he concluded to take it from the water. As he did so it
shrunk to its natural size, and the picture of the beautiful girl and
the Cow with the Golden Horns disappeared, and the ring no longer burnt
his fingers. He dropped it in the basin once more, but it remained a
simple gold ring and the picture failed to appear again.
“The Prince was disconsolate. He remained in the palace and refused to
go out. He moped and pined, until the family doctor was called in. The
doctor fussed about and felt of the Prince’s pulse and looked at his
tongue, and said that a change of air was necessary; but the Prince said
he didn’t want any change of air and wouldn’t have it. In fact, he said
he didn’t want any air at all, and he wouldn’t take any pills or
powders, and he wouldn’t drink any sage tea, and he wouldn’t have any
mustard plaster put on him. He was in love, and he knew that the more
medicine he took, the worse off he would be.”
“Well, a little sage tea ain’t bad when you are in love,” remarked Mrs.
Meadows. “It’s mighty soothing.”
“Maybe,” continued Mr. Thimblefinger, “but the Prince didn’t want it,
and wouldn’t have it. He wanted the beautiful girl he had seen in the
picture. He was in love with her, and he wanted to marry her. So his
ministers consulted together and finally they sent around a bailiff”—
“Nonsense!” cried Mrs. Meadows.
“Tut—tut!” exclaimed Mr. Rabbit.
“Well,” said Mr. Thimblefinger, “he sent a crier around”—
“A herald, you mean,” suggested Buster John, who had read a good many
story books.
“A bailiff could do the work just as well, but you can have it your way.
Well,” continued Mr. Thimblefinger, “the Prince’s ministers sent a
herald around to inquire at all the people’s houses if any of them had a
Cow with Golden Horns, but nobody had such a cow, and everybody wondered
what the herald meant. A Cow with Golden Horns! People went about asking
one another if they had ever heard of such a thing before. Some said the
throne was tottering. Others said the politicians were trying to work a
scheme to increase taxation. Still others talked about the peril of the
nation. Everybody had some explanation, but nobody had the right one.
The poor young Prince was nearly crazy to find the young girl whose
picture he had seen in the basin of water.
“For a few days the people heard no more of the matter, but at the end
of a week the herald went round the city again declaring that the Prince
would marry any young lady who would bring as her marriage portion a Cow
with Golden Horns. She need not have riches of any kind; all that was
necessary was a Cow with Golden Horns. This word went around among the
people and from city to city. Rich men with daughters tried everywhere
to buy a Cow with Golden Horns, but all to no purpose.