"I thought he would appear to you. Do you know what it means to see the
old man of the mountains, with that long stick in his hand?"
Rick recognized the sharp voice, and, turning around, saw the fairy
seated upon a low crag behind him, fanning herself with a bough laden
with green leaves, and flowers just the color of her skirt.
She repeated the question again, in a louder voice; for Rick was so
frightened and confused that he made no reply.
"No, ma'am," he faltered.
"Well, I'll tell you what it means, my fine young gentleman: it means
that it is high time for the person who sees that sight, to make a
change in his ways. Do you know what change you had better make in your
ways?"
"No, ma'am," responded Rick meekly.
"Perhaps you don't know what you're coming to, my fine young gentleman.
You're coming to be an ignorant man, more ignorant than many a peasant's
son, as ignorant as a gypsy. And it's a bad man you're going to make,--a
spendthrift, a drunkard, a sluggard, a ne'er do well, a villain, like
enough. No one will respect you, no one trust you, no one love you,
except your father and mother and Nanette, whose hearts you have
crushed, and whose names you have disgraced."
Although Rick did not understand all the words she used, his imagination
pictured even a worse prophecy, if possible, than their true meaning.
He felt as if his future was pronounced, and was a terrible doom, which
also involved his parents and Nanette in disgrace and ruin.
He fell upon his knees, and burst into a fresh flood of tears. Though
he tried to speak, and beg the fairy to take back the dreadful words, he
was so frightened and grief-stricken that he could utter nothing but
convulsive sobs.
"What is the matter?" asked the fairy.
"Oh! oh!" sobbed Rick. "Don't let it happen to me! don't let it happen
to my father and mother and Nanette!"
"How can I help it, silly boy? No one can help it but yourself. You
might prevent it, if you would, but there is no use in supposing you
ever will: you would rather have your own way, and go to destruction,
than cross your own wishes, and come to a good end. I could tell you
how you could change your fortune, and, instead of all this, grow up a
good and noble man, of whom your father and mother would be proud. But
to do that, you would have to change your present course entirely; and
that you would not do."
"Oh, yes, I will! I will!" cried Rick eagerly. "Tell me how I can
change my fortune!"
"Very well, I can tell you, although it will be only a waste of words.
But you sha'n't have it to say it wasn't told you, and so you will have
no one to blame but yourself, for going to destruction. There's Herr
Schuler, in the village, who has taught many a peasant's son more than
you are ever likely to know, and taught many a gentleman's son besides;
so that it's been well said that the boy who has begun to learn under
Herr Schuler never can grow up a dunce. If you will give up your play
and nonsense from morning to night, and your lazy, lounging ways, and go
over to Herr Schuler's, to learn to read, write, and cipher, to talk
like a well-educated young gentleman, and to get a dressing with his
long whip once in a while, to mend your ways and your manners, there'll
be a chance for you yet."
"I'll go to-morrow!" cried Rick joyfully.
"A likely story, that! If I show you your way home, when you get there,
safe and sound, that'll be the last you'll think of Zenia, and the good
advice she gave you."
"No! no!" cried Rick. "I truly will go to Herr Schuler and learn!"
"If there's man enough in you to keep to that mind, my young gentleman,
what will your lady-mother say to your going to Herr Schuler to learn?
She'll say it's not the place for a fine gentleman's son like you."
"I sha'n't care what she says," replied Rick, conscious that he could
have his own way with his mother. "I shall certainly go, let my mother
say what she will."
The fairy laughed, and began to look upon Rick rather more graciously.
"It's not a likely story. But it's a good turn you'll do your mother
and yourself, if you do as you say. And mind you, you'll need the long
stick, and don't you be afraid of it: there'll be a power of good in
every stroke; it'll help to make a man of you, and it'll be the best
medicine that ever you had. But one thing's sure: if you tell your
mother and Nanette, or any one else, of your meeting me in this wood,
and receiving this advice from me, there'll be an end of your changing
your fortune. Tell no one a word, but get your own way, and go to Herr
Schuler to-morrow. Tell him you're coming every day, to take lessons,
as long as you stay at the castle."
"I'll do it!" cried Rick, "I'll do it!--and if I do, the bad things
won't come to pass, will they?"
"Never a one of them, my lad, never a one of them; but if you don't keep
your promise, mind you, they'll every one of them come true, you may
depend upon it. Get up now, and go ahead of me. I'll show you how
paths will open before you that you'd never have found without Zenia
behind you. And with Herr Schuler behind you, there'll open a way that
it will pay you well to walk in. So, go ahead, my laddie!"
Rick was very much comforted and re-assured by the pleasanter tone of
Zenia's voice, as well as by the prospect of avoiding the awful future
she had described, under the guidance of Herr Schuler; and he went on
before her with a springing step. He wanted to look behind very much,
now and then, but was afraid to do so: neither did he dare address her,
but he followed her directions very obediently and promptly.
Her first direction was to go to the left. Now, at the left, there was
apparently nothing but a thick growth of briers and bushes. But he had
no sooner reached this thicket, in the way indicated, than a narrow but
distinct path opened before him, which wound down the hill by the side
of a little rivulet.
At the bottom of the hill, there was a swamp, in which Rick sank at
every step, until the fairy said,--
"Let me go before you, and follow in my footsteps."
So Zenia took the lead; and, to Rick's surprise, he found that, by
following directly in her steps, he had a perfectly firm footing in the
midst of the swamp.
On the other side of the swamp rose another line of high hills, and it
made Rick's tired limbs ache harder to think of having to climb over
them.
But as they approached these hills, the two directly in front of them
appeared to move apart, disclosing a very good, grassy road.
The fairy followed Rick along the winding road between the mountains,
singing to herself in a low, monotonous tone, and not deigning to speak
to Rick until they came out into a meadow, whose farther end seemed to
rest against the sky. But to Rick's surprise, they had gone only a
little way before they stood upon the verge of a hill, and below him
Rick saw the familiar river-road again, lying, a white, winding streak,
as far as he could see on either hand, and, not far to the right, half
hidden by the trees, was the castle, its windows burning with the sunset
glow shining beneath a mass of clouds that had just lifted from the
horizon.
Rick's heart leaped with joy and thankfulness. Never before had his
mother and Nanette and the castle seemed so dear.
"Hurry home now, as fast as you please; but don't forget all that Zenia
has told you," said the fairy.
Rick ran down over the long, slanting fields of the descent before him
as fast as he could go. He had turned to thank the fairy for her
kindness; but she had suddenly disappeared, leaving him alone upon the
brow of the hill.
His mother and Nanette had grown so anxious about him, that they had
sent Peter, the groom, off on horseback to look for him. They were
astonished enough to see Rick coming into the yard on foot, with torn
and soiled garments. But as soon as they found he was sound and well,
although exhausted by fatigue and excitement, Nanette said,--
"What has become of Skip?"
Rick had been so frightened, and so taken up with his strange situation
and the fairy's presence, that he had, until that moment, forgotten all
about poor Skip.
He burst into tears, and was about to tell his mother and Nanette all of
his adventures, when he remembered the fairy's caution, and the awful
fate which awaited him if he should disclose his meeting with her. So
he only explained that he had got lost, and had to leave Skip in some
woods of whose situation he was ignorant, and that he had come home on
foot through strange and curious ways.
"Poor boy!" said his mother, kissing him fondly, and feeling glad to see
him appear so singularly gentle and downcast, although she was very
sorry for him. "He is crying because he is so sorry about Skip. When
Peter comes home, we will send him off at once to get Skip."
But it was in vain that Peter, following Rick's directions as far as the
bewildered boy could give any, searched the woods for the pony. Long
after dark, he came home without having seen a trace of her.
The next morning, Skip was found tied just outside the castle-gate; and
no one about the castle could tell how she came there, unless it was
Rick, who was certain, in his own mind, that it was Zenia's doings.
Before the dew was off the grass, Rick mounted the pony.
"Now, my love," said his mother, "do not ride far this morning, for fear
you will get lost again in these wild woods. Keep to the main road, or
I shall never dare to trust you away from the castle again without Peter
behind you."
"I shall never go into the woods again," said Rick, in a tone of
decision, which quite re-assured his mother. "I am going over to Herr
Schuler's, to get him to teach me to read and write and cipher, and to
train me with his long stick."
His mother could not believe her ears; and, while she was collecting her
wits, Rick rode away, not in his usual gay manner, but looking as
serious as a judge.
When he came to Herr Schuler's house, he dismounted, and knocked at the
door.
Herr Schuler himself appeared.
"Ah, my little man!" said he, "what can I do for you?"
"I want you to teach me," said Rick.
"Indeed! Did your mother send you to me?"
"No, sir: I have come because I wanted to."
"Are not you the boy who dislikes schools and teachers so much?"
"I was that boy; but I am a boy now who wants to learn, and no one can
teach me but you."
"I must go over and see your mother, then, and find out about it,"
replied Herr Schuler, who was much perplexed.
"But I want to commence this morning, and have brought the books that my
mother and Nanette tried to make me study in."
Hereupon Rick ran and took off a little satchel which he had hung upon
his saddle.
"This looks like business," said Herr Schuler. "If you keep on as you
have begun, it will not take long to make a scholar of you."
He took Rick in, set him down at a little table, and gave him an easy
lesson to learn, in spelling. It was soon learned, and then followed
one column of the multiplication table. After that, Rick wrote the words
of a copy over half a dozen times, very carefully. Then he read a short
story aloud. Herr Schuler said that was enough for once; and Rick went
home feeling very proud and happy, to tell his mother and Nanette what
Herr Schuler said,--that there was now no reason why he should not
become as good a scholar as any in the whole country.
His mother and Nanette praised and encouraged him; but they said behind
his back, that this new freak would not continue long. They were
greatly mistaken. Day after day Rick went to Herr Schuler's, and
learned his lessons faithfully: more than that, he seemed to enjoy them
as much as he had previously enjoyed his idleness. One reason of this
was, that Herr Schuler had a way of making lessons so interesting that
they seemed like play, and he did not give too long tasks.
After Rick had been to school about a fortnight, he lingered after he
had been dismissed.
"Do you want to speak with me, Rick?" asked Herr Schuler.
"I only want to ask you," replied Rick, "when you are going to use your
long stick upon me?"
"What!" exclaimed Herr Schuler, in great glee, thinking Rick was joking.
"You don't want a whipping, do you?"
"Yes, I do!" replied Rick soberly and emphatically.
"You don't mean it!" exclaimed Herr Schuler, in amazement.
"Why not?" replied Rick. "I never shall make a man, if you don't whip
me some; and I want you to begin right off."
It was with much difficulty that Herr Schuler restrained his smiles.
"Well, well, Rick! if you are really willing"--
"Willing!" interrupted Rick, "I am in a great hurry."
"Very well: perhaps there are some things that you will learn better by
the use of my long stick, than you will from books or lectures; so look
out for a whipping soon."
Rick hurried home in high spirits, to tell his mother and Nanette that
he was getting on so well that Herr Schuler was going to begin switching
him with his long stick, to teach him some things that he could not
learn out of books.
"My dear child!" exclaimed his mother. "It is because you have never
known what a whipping is, that you are in such glee. What have you been
doing to displease Herr Schuler? Tell me at once. I will go directly
and ask him to pardon you and spare his rod."
"No, no!" cried Rick excitedly. "If you do, I will never forgive you!"
"But do you know, my child, that a whipping hurts?"
"Of course I do! Don't I switch Skip with my whip, to make her go
faster, and to mind what I tell her? And haven't I switched myself with
it, too, for fun? And haven't I seen boys whipped ever so many times,
and crying and dancing about? But I shall neither dance nor cry,
because I shall like it."
"What a strange boy!" said his mother, laughing. "But I will trust Herr
Schuler not to do my boy any injury, and we will see if you like the rod
so well after you have felt it."