SANDMAN’S
RAINY DAY STORIES
[Illustration]
_Books by_
ABBIE PHILLIPS WALKER
SANDMAN’S STORIES OF DRUSILLA DOLL
SANDMAN’S RAINY DAY STORIES
SANDMAN’S CHRISTMAS STORIES
SANDMAN’S TWILIGHT STORIES
TOLD BY THE SANDMAN
SANDMAN’S TALES
THE SANDMAN’S HOUR
_Harper & Brothers Publishers_
ESTABLISHED 1817
Sandman’s
Rainy Day
Stories
[Illustration]
_By_ Abbie Phillips Walker
_Illustrated by_ Rhoda C. Chase
Harper & Brothers, Publishers
SANDMAN’S RAINY DAY STORIES
Copyright, 1920, by Harper & Brothers
Printed in the United States of America
Published September, 1920
G--U
_This book is lovingly dedicated
to the memory of
my father
THOMAS PHILLIPS_
CONTENTS
PAGE
PRINCESS CANTILLA 3
THE TREE OF SWORDS 18
THE SILVER HORSESHOES 28
THE BLUE CASTLE 37
NARDO AND THE PRINCESS 50
OLD THREE HEADS 59
THE ENCHANTED BOAT 73
NICKO AND THE OGRE 83
THE GINGERBREAD ROCK 91
PRINCE ROUL’S BRIDE 100
SUNEV 109
CILLA AND THE DWARF 117
GRETA AND THE BLACK CAT 123
THE KNIGHT OF THE BRIGHT STAR 132
THE DOLPHIN’S BRIDE 138
PRINCESS DIDO AND THE PRINCE OF THE ROSES 144
CATVILLE GOSSIP 151
HOW THE ELEPHANT GOT HIS TRUNK 154
WHY RABBITS HAVE SHORT TAILS 160
THE HUNTER’S FRIEND, JOHNNIE BEAR 166
PLAID TROUSERS 170
THE THREE RUNAWAYS 177
SANDMAN’S
RAINY DAY STORIES
[Illustration]
PRINCESS CANTILLA
Princess Cantilla lived in a castle like most princesses, but she was
not a rich princess, for her father had lost all his lands and money by
quarreling with other kings about the length and breadth of his kingdom
and theirs.
So poor little Cantilla had to work just like any common peasant girl
and cook the meals for herself and her father.
The old castle where Cantilla and her father lived had fallen into
decay, and only a few rooms at one end were now used, so that the bats
and owls had taken possession of the towers and once gorgeous halls on
the opposite side of the castle, where beautiful ladies and courtly
gentlemen were once seen in gay and festive pleasures. A kitchen and a
bedroom apiece were all the rooms that Cantilla and her father, the old
King, used, and the furniture was so old it hardly held together.
One day Cantilla was cooking soup for dinner, and as the steam rolled
up from the kettle Cantilla thought she saw a face with a long beard
looking at her. She drew her hand across her eyes to make her sight
more clear, and the next time she looked she did see a face, and a
form, too.
A little man with a misshapen back and a long white beard, the ends of
which he carried over one arm, stepped from the cover of the boiling
pot and hopped to the floor.
“Princess,” he said, bowing low before Cantilla, “I am an enchanted
dwarf. I can give you back your once beautiful home and make your
father a rich king again.
“I can cause all the rooms of the old castle to become new and filled
with beautiful hangings and furniture, as they were before your father
became so poor.”
Cantilla began to smile at the thought of all the luxury and comfort
the dwarf pictured, and she lost sight of his ugly-looking body and
face for a minute, but she was brought to her senses by what the dwarf
next said.
“All this will I give you, Princess Cantilla, if you will become my
wife,” he said, taking a step closer to Cantilla.
“Oh no, no! I cannot do that,” said Cantilla, holding up both hands as
if to ward off even the thought of such a thing.
“Wait,” said the dwarf. “Do not be so hasty, my Princess. I will come
again for your reply to-night at the fountain in the garden where the
honeysuckle grows.”
Before Cantilla could reply to this he swung his beard over his head
and disappeared in a cloud of what looked like steam or smoke.
Cantilla looked about her and pinched herself to make sure she had not
dreamed all she had just seen, and by and by she believed it was a
dream--that she must have fallen asleep in her chair by the fire.
That night while she was sleeping she was awakened by feeling some one
touch her on the face.
Cantilla had been awakened so many times by the little mice that
overran the old castle that she only brushed her face with her hand
without opening her eyes and went to sleep again.
“Cantilla, open your eyes! Open your eyes!” she heard some one whisper
close to her ear, and again she felt the touch of something on her face.
Cantilla opened her eyes and sat up in bed. The room was quite bright,
and a beautiful lamp with a pink silk shade gave everything in the room
a rose tint.
Cantilla was sure she was dreaming, for it was not her old shabby room
at all she was looking at.
She looked down at the covering of her bed--that was pink silk, too;
she felt of it and found it was filled with the softest down; she also
noticed that she wore a beautiful night-robe of pink silk and lace.
On the floor beside the bed on a soft, pink rug stood two little satin
slippers, trimmed with swan’s-down.
“I am dreaming,” said Cantilla, “but I will enjoy it while it lasts,”
and she looked about her.
The furniture was white and gold, and soft pink rugs covered the floor.
Her bed had little gold Cupids on each post, and they held in their
hands the ends of pink silk that formed a beautiful canopy; little
frills of lace fell from the bottom of the silk, making it look very
soft and pretty in the lamplight.
On the table beside her bed, which held her lamp, Cantilla saw a
big gold-and-glass bottle. She reached for it and took out the gold
stopper, then she tipped the bottle and bathed her face and hands with
the delicious perfume it held.
Cantilla put her little feet out of bed and slipped them into the
slippers and walked over to the gold-and-white dressing-table at the
other side of the room.
Everything was so beautiful she just looked at first, then she picked
up a gold brush and smoothed her hair. She took up each of the gold
toilet articles and saw that on each was the letter “C.”
“They must belong to me,” said Cantilla. “But, of course, it is all a
dream,” as she opened a drawer of a big gold-and-white chest.
What she saw made Cantilla gasp with wonder, for the drawer was filled
with beautiful clothes, and as she opened the others she found they all
were filled with silk and lace-trimmed clothes.
Cantilla forgot all about her dream and ran, just as though she were
awake, to a closet door that was open. She swung it back and looked;
there hung before her astonished gaze pink silk dresses and blue silk
dresses and white and dainty green and yellow silk dresses.
Now, I did not tell you that Cantilla had black hair which hung in long
curls about her pretty face and over her pretty white shoulders, and
her eyes were as deep-blue as the deepest blue of a violet, and when
she put on one of the pink silk dresses and stepped in front of a long
mirror she forgot all else for a moment. Then suddenly she heard her
name called softly. “Cantilla, Cantilla,” the voice said.
Cantilla looked up, and on the top of the mirror stood a little fairy
dressed in pink gauze.
“Oh! you have a pretty pink dress, too,” said Cantilla, forgetting to
be surprised at seeing a fairy in her room.
“Yes, but it is the only dress I own,” said the little creature, with a
smile, “while you have a closet full; but then mine never wear out, and
yours will.”
“You mean I will wake up in a minute, I suppose,” said Cantilla. “Yes,
I know it is a dream, but I am having a good time. I wish I could have
a dream like this every night. I wouldn’t mind being poor through the
day.”
“Ah! but you are not dreaming at all, Princess Cantilla,” said the
fairy, “and if you will follow me I will show you more of your
beautiful home. Come along.”
Cantilla did not answer, but walked after the fairy, who skimmed along
before Cantilla like a little pink bird.
The fairy touched a door with her wand and it flew open. Cantilla
looked about her in wonder, for the hall, which had been hung with
tatters of faded tapestry, now looked like the hall of a king.
The tapestry hung whole and rich-looking upon the walls, which were of
deep-blue and gold. The old armor that had been broken and covered with
dust and mold was erect as though its former wearer was inside it.
The fairy touched the door of the room where the old King was sleeping,
and again Cantilla looked in wonder, for her father slept beneath a
canopy of red and gold upon a bed of gold, and all the furnishings of
his room were such as a king would have.
Cantilla looked at her father. He was smiling in his sleep, and the
care-worn look had gone from his face.
The fairy beckoned to her and Cantilla, with one backward glance at her
sleeping father, followed.
Next the old dining-hall was opened for Cantilla to see. The once faded
and torn draperies were whole, and bats and owls were gone from the
corners of the room where they had often made their nests.
The beautiful table of onyx and silver was covered with dishes of
silver, and dainty lace napkins lay beside each place as though ready
for the coming guests. But the fairy led her away, and next Cantilla
saw the beautiful halls where the old King held his grand balls and
kings and queens and princes and princesses had danced.
The lights burned in the gold-and-glass fixtures fastened to the walls
and made the place look like fairyland.
The blue damask curtains with their edge of priceless lace hung from
the windows, whole and shimmering with richness, and chairs of gold
stood upright and bright against the walls, and the floor shone with
polish.
And so through the whole castle the fairy led the wondering little
Princess to look at her old ruined home, now beautiful and whole.
Then the fairy took Cantilla to the gardens. The once dry fountains
were playing in the moonlight, the nightingales could be heard among
the roses, and the air was filled with rich perfume.
When they reached the lower end of the garden Cantilla suddenly stopped
and stood very still. She was beside a fountain, and honeysuckle grew
over an arbor close beside it.
Cantilla remembered the words of the dwarf she had seen in her dream,
and his words, “I will come for your reply to-night at the fountain
where the honeysuckle grows.”
The fairy stood on a bush beside her. “You remember now, do you not?”
she asked. “You see it was not a dream this morning, and you are not
dreaming now, my Princess, but I cannot help you. I have finished my
work and must return to my Queen. Farewell!”
Cantilla watched the fairy disappear without uttering a single word.
She saw in her mind’s eye only the ugly features of the dwarf and heard
his words.
In another minute she saw what looked like a cloud near the
honeysuckle arbor, and in another minute the dwarf of the morning stood
before her with the ends of his long white beard thrown over one arm.
“I have come, Princess Cantilla, for my answer,” said the dwarf. “Marry
me and all you have seen shall be yours.”
Cantilla threw out her hands as she had in the morning and started to
reply, but the dwarf checked her. “Before you give your answer,” he
said, “think of your old father and how contented and happy he looked
surrounded by the comforts of his former days of prosperity.”
Cantilla let her hands fall by her side, her head bent low, and she
stood lost in thought. She saw again her old father in his bed of gold,
and the face that looked so happy, then she raised her head without
looking at the ugly creature before her and said: “I consent; I will
become your wife; I cannot love you, but I will wed you if that will
content you.”
“Follow me, then,” said the dwarf, throwing his long beard over his
head and letting it fall over Cantilla as he spoke.
Cantilla saw only a fleecy cloud closing all about her, and the next
thing she knew she was on a little island in the middle of a deep blue
ocean, with the dwarf standing beside her.
The dwarf, with his beard still over one arm, held his hands to his
mouth and gave a long, loud call, which seemed to descend to the depths
of the ocean.
Up from the water came an arm and hand holding a twisted shell, and
then Cantilla saw a head appear and blow a long, loud blast from the
shell.
A splashing was heard, and out of the water came an old man in a
chariot of mother-of-pearl.
The chariot was drawn by two horses with feet and manes of gold, and in
one hand the old man carried a long wand with three prongs at one end.
The old man struck the water with the queer-looking wand, and from all
over the surface of the water come the sea nymphs and all sorts of
monsters and creatures that live at the bottom of the ocean.
But when the mermaids appeared the old man sent them back quickly and
drove his chariot toward Cantilla and the dwarf.
Cantilla by this time was beyond being frightened or surprised, and she
stood beside the dwarf waiting for the next thing to happen.
“My Lord Neptune,” said the dwarf, bowing low as the old man drove
close to the island on which Cantilla and the dwarf stood, “I have come
with my Princess for you to perform the ceremony. She has consented to
become my wife.”
“What!” cried the old man, in an angry voice, “do you mean you have
found a Princess who will consent to have such a husband as you
are--ugly and misshapen wretch?”
“Answer him, my Princess,” said the dwarf. “Tell my Lord Neptune you
consent to marry me.”
“I do consent to marry the dwarf,” Cantilla managed to say, and again
the old man struck the water, this time in anger, and the water spouted
about them like huge fountains throwing up rivers.
Cantilla felt the dwarf take her hand, and he said, “Fear not, my
Princess; it will soon be over.”
In a few minutes the water was calm again, and the old man in the
chariot stood a little way off, surrounded by the nymphs and other
creatures, holding the three-pronged wand high over his head.
“I release you; you are wed; be gone from my sight,” said the old man,
and as the trumpet-bearer sounded his loud call, the old man and his
chariot passed into the deep water, followed by all his nymphs and the
others.
Cantilla looked toward the dwarf, wondering if ever any one had such a
strange wedding, but to her surprise he was gone and by her side stood
a handsome man, who said: “My Princess, behold in me your husband. I am
free from the spell of the old man of the sea, who wanted me to become
a sea monster and live under the ocean.
“I was changed into the shape of the ugly dwarf because I would not
marry a mermaid who happened to fall in love with me one day while I
was bathing, and she called upon a sea witch to change me into a sea
monster, but I escaped before I took on the sea shape, but not before I
was changed into the ugly dwarf you saw this morning.
“A kind fairy interceded with her Queen to save me, and she went to the
old man, who is Neptune, the God of the Waters. He told the Queen if I
could find a princess who would consent to marry me he would release
me from the spell the sea witch had cast over me.
“You know how that was accomplished, my Princess, and if you think you
can accept me in place of the dwarf for your husband we will return
to the castle, where your father is still sleeping, I expect, for the
Fairy Queen said she would watch until sunrise for our return.”
Cantilla, no longer looking sad, but smiling and happy, put her hand in
her husband’s and told him she was the happiest girl in the world.
“And I am the happiest man in the world,” said her husband, “for I not
only am freed from the spell of the sea witch, but I have won the one
woman in the world I could ever love for my wife.”
Three times he clapped his hands together, and the little fairy in the
pink gauze dress appeared.
“The Queen sends her love to you and this message, ‘Bless you, my
children,’ and now I will take you home to the castle.”
She touched the Princess and her husband on the cheek with her wand,
and Cantilla found herself back in the castle garden by the fountain
and honeysuckle arbor, with her handsome husband standing by her side.
“Come, my dear, we must go in to breakfast,” said her husband; “your
father will be waiting for us.”
“How will we explain about our wedding and the changed appearance of
the castle?” asked Cantilla.
“Oh! the Fairy Queen has arranged all that,” said Cantilla’s husband.
“Your father will not remember he ever lost his fortune; he will ask no
questions.”
Cantilla and her husband went hand in hand into the castle to their
breakfast, and from that day Cantilla never knew another sorrow or
unhappy moment.
[Illustration]
THE TREE OF SWORDS
Once there lived a king who had a daughter that had been changed by a
wicked witch into a brindle cow.
The witch had wanted the King to invite her to the feast when the
Princess was born, and because he invited her only into the servants’
hall and not to the feast of the royal family the old witch had thrown
a spell over the baby, and when she grew to womanhood she suddenly one
day changed into the brindle cow. Great was the surprise of the King
and Queen when they went to the room of the Princess one morning and
found in her dainty lace bed a cow in place of their pretty daughter.
They sent for the old witch at once, for they knew that some magic
spell must have caused this terrible change, but the old witch sent
back word that the only thing that would change the Princess back to
her own shape was a pear from the tree which grew by the mountain of
ice.
Now this mountain of ice all the people knew was controlled by a
three-headed troll, and the tree which grew near by was the chimney to
his home under the mountain.
There was nothing to do but to offer money to the one who would get the
pear which would restore the little Princess to her own form.
There was another thing that made it very dangerous to try to get the
pear, and this was that no sooner did one attempt to touch the tree
than all its branches changed to sharp swords.
To reach the tree the mountain must be climbed, and this being of ice,
the ones who tried were in danger of slipping and being killed as they
fell, sliding down the mountain and striking on the tree, which would
be filled with swords as soon as they struck it.
After a while all those who tried gave it up as too dangerous, and the
King then sent out word that to the one who would bring the pear,
be he rich or poor, of high or low degree, he would give to him the
Princess for a wife, as well as a barrel of gold.
But no one would risk his life for that offer, for they thought perhaps
the Princess would not regain her shape even after eating the pear, and
who would wish to marry a cow, even if she were royal?
But one day a poor youth came to the palace and told the King and Queen
that he would try to get a pear if they would give him the brindle cow
before he ventured up the mountain of ice. “For if I fail,” he said, “I
wish to leave my poor mother something, and a cow is always useful.”
The King offered money, but the youth would have nothing but the
brindle cow, so they led away the cow to the peasant’s barn, while the
King and Queen watched her go with sad hearts.
On her back was a velvet blanket trimmed with gold, and the Queen tried
to make the peasant take a soft bed for her to sleep on, but this he
would not do. “No, she is a cow, and must sleep in the barn like other
cows,” he said.
The King and Queen had all this time been feeding the cow on dainty
fruit and all sorts of good things, and the youth had heard that the
pear she was to eat to save her would be bitter and bad to taste, and
he wanted to get her used to eating anything that was given her.
The peasant youth began his climb up the mountain of ice, but each day
for a month he only went one step ahead, for while he sometimes went
far up, each time he would slip back.
And all this time the poor little cow was growing thinner and thinner,
for she would not eat the food that was put before her.
One day when the peasant youth was about discouraged and thought he
would have to give up trying for the pear, he felt the ice under him
suddenly grow soft and his feet seemed to stick and not slip any more.
To his surprise, when he looked at his feet he saw a little fairy
standing on each foot and touching them with her wand.
Up he went swiftly now, and soon was at a place on the mountain where
he could touch the magic tree, and there the little fairies told him
they were powerless to help him further.
“We can only tell you that if you can get from the three-headed troll
the belt he wears you can get the pear, but we fairies cannot throw a
spell over trolls,” they told him.
When the fairies disappeared the peasant felt more discouraged than
before, for there he was in danger of slipping, and before him was the
dreadful tree.
But while he stood thinking the tree opened and out came the troll,
leaving the tree wide open behind him.
He did not look up or down, to right or left, but walked down the
mountain, and the youth, sitting flat upon the ice, slid into the open
tree.
Down, down he went! And then suddenly he found himself in a big room,
in one corner of which was a huge bed, in another a big stove, in
another a big chair and table, and in the fourth corner stood a large
sword so tall that the peasant could easily hide behind it.
And lucky it was for him that it was big, for at that moment in came
the three-headed troll and rolled all six of his eyes about the room.
“He, hi, ho, hun! I smell the flesh of a mortal son,” he said. “You
cannot escape me, so come out from wherever you are hiding!” The
frightened youth was trembling so that the sword tipped over, and there
he stood before the three-headed troll, who jumped to catch him.
But though he had three heads, he had only two feet, and, tripping over
the sword, he fell sprawling on the floor.
Now his three heads were so heavy that, once he was down, it was hard
work to get up, and while he struggled his belt became unfastened and
lay under him on the floor.
The peasant saw this and, knowing he was in danger anyway, thought he
would risk a little more.
So he ran over to the troll and with both hands tugged at the belt, and
as the troll rolled over out from under him it came.
Quickly as he could he put the belt about his waist, and, to his
surprise, he felt so strong that the size of the sword on the floor
seemed no longer to frighten him.
He picked it up and found that it was as light as a tin one, and then
the troll, rolling over again, saw his belt around the peasant’s waist
and his sword in his hand, and he cried out, “My power is gone!” as he
tried to crawl away.
“Tell me how to get a pear from the tree and I will spare your life,”
said the peasant.
The troll managed to get upon his feet, but he was no longer the
powerful creature he had been a few moments before.
“Follow me,” he said, as he led the peasant out of the door of the
tree, which was still open.
The tree was filled with swords, all shiny and sharp-looking, as the
sun fell upon them, for as soon as the peasant had slid in the door the
swords had appeared and had warned the troll before he entered that
some mortal was near by.
“If you will promise to do as I ask you after you have the pear, I will
tell you the secret of getting it,” said the troll. “It will not harm
any one to grant my last wish.”
So the youth promised and the troll said: “You must strike the swords
on the tree with the sword you hold until the sparks fly. Then the
pears which you see hanging from the swords will fall to the ground,
but the tree will burn up.
“And then there will be nothing for me. My magic power will be gone
forever. So I ask that you will then strike me with the sword on my
middle head, and that will change me into a shape which will never harm
any one again.”
This the youth said he would do and began to strike the swords on the
tree, making the sparks fly and the pears drop, and then all at once
the tree began to burn.
Keeping the sword still in his grasp, the youth looked for the largest
of the green pears and picked it up, putting it in his pocket.
“Don’t forget your promise,” said the troll as the youth started to go
away. “You need not be afraid,” he said as the youth drew back. “The
blow will not hurt me.”
So the youth lifted the sword and brought it down on the troll’s middle
head with such force that the sword fell from his hands and struck the
mountain of ice with such a bang that the ice began to crack.
At first the youth did not see what had happened, the noise had
startled him so, but the next minute he saw that in place of the troll
stood a beautiful tree filled with pears, and the mountain was no
longer ice, but covered with soft, green moss.
He did not stop, but down the mountain he ran and to his home, where
the brindle cow stood in the barn, so hungry she opened her mouth at
once and ate the pear, thinking it would be sweet and juicy, but it
was far from that. It was so bitter and bad that had she not been so
hungry she could not have eaten it, but it was swallowed before she
knew it, and there in the stall of the peasant’s barn stood the pretty
Princess looking about her in astonishment.
“How did I come in this horrid place, and what a dirty-looking man you
are!” she said. “Take me home at once! My father is the King, and he
will punish you if you do not obey me!”
It did not take the peasant long to take her home, and when the Queen
and the King saw their daughter in her own form again they fell on
their knees before the peasant youth and thanked him.
But the Princess did not understand what it all meant, and said: “Why
do you kneel to him? He should kneel to you! Are you not King and Queen
of this land, and this man a poor peasant?”
Before the King could explain to the Princess the youth said: “I have
brought you your daughter, but you must keep her. I could never marry a
maid who thought herself above me. Give me gold and let me go back to
my home!”
He was wise enough to see that a poor peasant and a princess could not
be happy together and a peasant girl was a more fitting bride for him.
The Princess was very sorry for all she had said when she found out the
peasant had saved her, and when he was married she sent to his wife
a chest of linen and silver which made her the envy of all the other
peasants for miles around.
The troll was never heard of again, and only the peasant youth knows
that the pear-tree on the side of the mountain which bears such juicy
fruit was once the three-headed troll who lived under the tree of
swords.
[Illustration]
THE SILVER HORSESHOES
Once upon a time there lived a king who wanted a son-in-law who would
be a good soldier as well as a good husband, so he put his daughter,
the Princess, who, of course, was very beautiful, in a tower on top of
a high mountain. Then he sent out word all over his kingdom and to all
the other kingdoms that to the youth who could get to the top of the
tower he would give the Princess for a wife.
But when the youths came from far and near they found the mountain was
slippery as glass, and their horses slipped back faster than they could
climb.
In a kingdom far from where the King lived was a poor prince whose
father had lost all his lands and money in wars, so that when he died
he left the Prince nothing but the castle and a black horse.
One day the Prince was feeding his horse and thinking of the Princess
on top of the high mountain in the tower, and he spoke his thought out
loud.
“If only I had some clothes fit to be seen,” he said, “I would try to
reach the Princess in the tower, and this poverty would be at an end.
And you, my beauty, would have oats in plenty then,” patting the horse
on the neck.
“Why don’t you try, master?” said the horse.
The Prince was surprised to hear the horse speak, but still he had
heard of such things happening, and he answered, saying: “I have no
clothes; besides, many others have tried, and no horse is able to climb
the mountain.”
“Master, go to the witch that lives in a cave in the middle of the
woods at midnight and get my shoes,” said the horse. And then he fell
to eating his scanty dinner and said no more.
The Prince thought there was nothing to lose by doing as the horse told
him, so that night he went to the woods to find the witch. The woods
he found easily, but to find the cave was a different matter. First he
met a fox, and he asked the way to the cave of the witch.
“Oh, master,” said the fox, “take my advice and go home; no good will
come to you if you find it.”
But the Prince would not give up the quest, so he asked a wolf that he
met next where the cave was located in the woods.
The wolf ran away, saying: “You better go home. That cave will bring
only harm to any one who finds it.”
The Prince was not to be frightened and on he went, and an owl was the
next one he saw. “Where is the cave the old witch lives in?” he asked.
“Hoot! hoot!” said the owl, flapping his wings. “Be off, man, while
there is time. Don’t go near that cave if you value your life,” and off
flew the owl, leaving the Prince no wiser than before.
After going deep into the woods--in fact, he was at the very center and
did not know it--the Prince stood still and listened.
A sound reached his ear which seemed like the clatter of horses’
hoofs, and the Prince went in the direction from which the sound came.
All at once he found himself in front of the cave for which he had
searched so long, and, looking in, he saw the old witch prancing about
in the craziest manner.
She would climb the side of her cave with as much ease as she could
walk across the floor, and then, giving a spring, she would walk on the
top of the cave, her head hanging down toward the floor.
While the Prince was looking and wondering at this strange performance
he noticed something shining on her feet, and when he looked closer, to
his surprise he saw that the witch had on her feet silver horseshoes.
Then he knew what his black horse had said was worth listening to--he
was to get the shoes the old witch was wearing.
But then he thought: “She has on only two; I must have four. I wonder
where are the other two.”
Just then a black cat came dancing into the cave, and on her hind feet
the Prince saw the other two shoes he wanted. Such dancing and climbing
the Prince had never seen as was done by the old witch and her black
cat. The silver shoes seemed to take them anywhere and they could do
anything while they wore them.
After a while the witch and the black cat grew weary and took off the
shoes, and the Prince saw them lift up a stone in the middle of the
cave and drop the four silver horseshoes into a hole and then drop the
stone again.
After the witch and the black cat were fast asleep in one corner of the
cave the Prince crept in softly and lifted the stone. At the bottom of
a deep hole he saw the horseshoes, and he was wondering how he could
get them when he felt a push from behind and down he went into the
hole, landing at the bottom where the shoes were.
The old witch had awakened and had pushed him in, and the Prince could
hear her and the cat jumping about and laughing with glee that they had
trapped him.
When the Prince found himself in the hole under the cave where the old
witch lived he thought his end had come. It was as dark as a dungeon.
The only thing he could see was the glitter of the silver horseshoes.
While he stood looking at them and thinking how the old witch and her
cat jumped about, and wondering what she would do with him, he suddenly
was struck with an idea.
He would put on the shoes, one on each foot, and take the other two in
his hands.
No sooner did he think it than he did it, and, giving a spring, up he
went, the stone flying off the top of the hole as he touched it with
his hands holding the silver horseshoes.
Into the cave he jumped, and the old witch and her black cat sprang at
him, but he had only to run, and, without touching the ground, away he
flew through the forest, the old witch and her cat after him.
Sometimes they would almost catch him, for the witch had jumped on her
broomstick and the cat sat on behind her, and they flew over trees and
bushes as well as the Prince.
The Prince knew he was lost if they caught him, and finally decided to
turn around and run toward them, thinking he might be able to knock the
witch off her broomstick and so stop their flight.
No sooner did he turn than the shining silver shoes cast a ray of light
on the old witch and her cat and like magic they tumbled off the
broomstick, and away went the stick higher and higher in the air until
it disappeared; and on the ground where the cat and the old witch fell
the Prince saw two stones, one big and the other smaller and almost
black, so he knew he was rid of his enemies and could get out of the
forest safely with the silver horseshoes.
The black horse danced with delight when he saw the shoes, and stood
still until they were fastened on his feet; then he pranced about and
shook his head in a very knowing manner, though he did not speak again,
and the Prince mounted him and rode away, forgetting all about his
shabby coat.
The black horse trotted along like any other horse until they came to
the mountain on top of which the Princess lived in the tower; then the
Prince felt himself gliding up the mountain, past all the other youths
who were vainly trying to climb to the top.
Up and up they went until the Prince found himself by the tower. When
he looked at the height he knew his troubles were not at an end. He
looked around for some way to scale the wall, but it was as smooth as
glass. While he stood looking at the top he saw something white slowly
coming down the wall from a little window.
Down it came until the Prince could see that it was a piece of white
thread, and on the end of it was a little golden curl.
The Prince untied it and kissed it, then, looking up at the window, he
kissed his hand, for he knew that somewhere in the tower the Princess
had been looking for the Prince who was to come for her, and had seen
him.
He was more anxious than ever to reach the Princess, but how could he
climb those slippery walls?
How? And then he thought of the silver shoes that the witch had walked
on the top of the cave with, and he took them off his horse and tied
one on each foot and took one in each hand.
Placing his hands on the wall of the tower, he walked up as easily
as if he were walking on the ground, and in a few minutes was at the
little window above.
The Princess smiled when she saw him, and then he saw that the window
which looked so small to him from the ground was really a door.
He stepped in and knelt at the feet of the blushing Princess, who
said, “I shall be glad to leave here, but how can I get to the ground?”
“In my arms,” answered the bold Prince, and, picking her up, he stepped
out on the smooth wall again, easily reaching the ground with the
Princess.
He placed her in front of him on his horse and rode down the mountain,
at the bottom of which a crowd was waiting for him, and the King also,
for it had been noised abroad that a youth had been seen to climb the
mountain and the people wanted to see him.
“Well done, my son,” said the King, riding up to greet them. “You will
make a good soldier, for you have shown that you can overcome obstacles
to gain that which you desire. Come home; the wedding feast is
prepared.” So the Prince gained a princess for a wife, a father-in-law
who admired his courage, and was happy ever after.
[Illustration]
THE BLUE CASTLE
Once upon a time in a far-off country there lived a witch on top of a
high mountain, and every year she came down into the country about and
appeared at the palace of the King and asked for a bag of gold.
One night when the King and his Queen were making merry and having a
big feast in honor of the birth of their little daughter, the Princess
Lily, the old witch came to the palace and asked for her bag of gold.
“Tell her to begone,” said the King to his servant. “I have used all
the gold in the vaults for the feast; she will have to come next year.”
Now the old witch was very angry when she heard this message, and she
hid in the grounds of the palace until all were asleep that night, and
then she entered the palace and carried off the baby Princess.
The Queen and the King were beside themselves with grief when they
discovered their loss, and they offered big rewards for the return of
their daughter, but she could not be found.
“Find the old witch who came here the night of the feast,” said one of
the King’s wise men, “and you will find the Princess.”
They hunted far and near, but the witch could not be found, for when
any one attempted to climb the mountain where the old witch lived the
insects would become as thick as mist and clouds and they could not see
where to go.
One after another gave up the attempt, and so after a while the King
and Queen mourned their daughter as dead and the old witch never came
to the palace again.
The Queen and King never had any more children, and every day they
grieved because there would be no one to reign after they were gone.
One day one of the King’s wise men said to him: “In a cave in the
forest lives an ogre who has a wonderful horse; it is kept in a stable
made of marble, and its stall is of gold, and it is fed on corn grown
in a field of pearls.
“If we could get this horse we might be able to climb the mountain
where the old witch lives, and perhaps the Princess is still alive.”
“But how can we get this horse?” asked the King.
“Ah! that is the hard part,” answered the wise man. “The enchanted
creature can only be caught and mounted by one who can feed him with
the magic corn, and it is said that any one who tries to gather the
corn from the field of pearls finds himself sinking, and has to run for
his life, so that only the ogre, who knows the magic words that keep
the pearls from drawing him down, can gather the corn.”
When the King heard this he sent for all the princes in the land to
come to his palace, and when they came he told them he would give
to the one who could catch and mount the ogre’s enchanted horse his
kingdom if he could find the lost Princess Lily, and she should become
his wife.
But all the princes were rich enough, and did not care to take such a
risk, especially as they had never seen the Princess Lily.
Then the King sent out word to all the poor young men in his kingdom
to come to him, and he made them the same offer, but one by one they
turned away, and at last there was only a poor peasant youth left.
“I will try, Your Majesty,” he said, “but I will not marry the Princess
unless I can love her, and if she does not wish to marry me I will
not hold you to that part of the bargain, either, but I will take the
kingdom if I bring back your child.”
So that night the peasant boy went to a fairy that lived in the woods
and asked her to help him.
“You can only enter the field of magic corn by wearing the magic shoes
belonging to the ogre, and he sleeps with them under his bed. They are
tied to the big toe of his right foot by a silken thread, and no one
can cut it or break it without awakening the ogre.
“I will give you a feather, and if you are fortunate enough to enter
his chamber without being caught, for he is guarded well by a dog with
two heads, use this feather to tickle his left foot and you can cut the
silken thread without the ogre knowing it. This is all I can do to help
you. The two-headed dog is not in my power to control.”
So the peasant took the magic feather and that night he went to the
ogre’s castle in the woods and waited until he heard his snore, and
then he took from his pocket two big bones.
He opened the door to the castle, for the ogre was afraid of no one and
did not lock his door at night.
The two-headed dog growled and sprang toward the peasant, but he
quickly thrust the bones in the mouth of each and that quieted them.
The two heads began to eat, and while they were eating the peasant
crept softly into the room of the sleeping ogre and tickled his left
foot, which was sticking out from under the bedclothes.
The old ogre began to laugh, and he laughed so hard and loudly that
no other sound could be heard; and the peasant had time to break the
slender thread which was tied to the magic shoes with one hand while he
kept tickling the ogre’s left foot with the feather held in the other
hand.
When he had the shoes under his arm he crept softly away from the bed,
leaving the ogre still laughing.
The two-headed dog was still eating the bones, and the peasant went out
and sat on the steps of the castle to put on the magic shoes.
He had just drawn the shoes on when the two-headed dog finished the
bones and set up a bark that the peasant thought at first was thunder.
He ran to the field of pearls where grew the magic corn, and was just
pulling the ears when the ogre came dashing out of his castle, followed
by the two-headed dog, with both mouths wide open and looking as though
he would devour him.
Out of the field ran the peasant, but not before the ogre had entered,
and down went the ogre out of sight, the pearls closing over his
head, for, of course, he forgot all about his shoes when he heard the
two-headed dog bark, and anyway he thought they were tied to the big
toe of his right foot.
But though he was rid of the ogre he was not of the two-headed dog,
which ran after him, showing his two sets of big teeth and barking all
the while. But the peasant was far ahead of the dog, so he reached the
stable and fed the magic corn to the enchanted horse, who neighed in
the most friendly manner and let the peasant mount him.
He wore a bridle of gold and silver trimmed with rubies, and he was
pure white, with a saddle of purple velvet, with gold and silver
trimmings.
He was a horse fit for a king to ride, and the poor peasant looked
strangely out of place on his back.
Just as the peasant rode into the yard of the castle the two-headed dog
dashed at the hind feet of the enchanted horse to bite him, but the
horse kicked at him and over he rolled.
The peasant looked back to see what had happened to the dog, but he
was nowhere to be seen; in the place where he had lain was a big
black-looking rock with a ragged-looking top like a set of huge teeth.
The peasant was rid of both his pursuers now, and he rode off toward
the mountain where the King had told him the witch lived.
Up the mountain dashed the enchanted white horse, as though he had
wings instead of feet, and in a few minutes he had carried the peasant
to the top.
The peasant looked about him, expecting to see a cave, but to his
surprise he saw only a grove of trees with something glistening
through their leaves which looked like a house.
When he rode nearer to the grove he saw a deep-blue castle of glass
without doors or windows, and inside he could see a girl spinning.
She looked up as the shadow of the horse and rider fell on the glass
castle, and her eyes grew big with surprise, but before the peasant
could jump from his horse an old woman came up through the floor of the
house and tapped the girl on the head with her cane, and she turned
into a mouse.
The peasant was too astonished to move for a minute, but the laugh of
the old woman brought him to his senses and he knew she must be the
witch.
“Ha, ha! you caught the horse, but you cannot bring back the Princess
until I will it!” she screamed, and then disappeared through the floor.
The peasant walked around the blue castle, but no door or window could
he find, or an opening of any kind.
He was leading the horse by his gold bridle when suddenly it lifted one
of its front feet and struck the blue castle.
Crash! went the blue glass, and the peasant saw an opening large enough
for him to enter.
He was about to do so, leaving the enchanted horse outside, when he
heard another crash--the enchanted horse was following him in; it had
broken a place large enough for both of them to enter.
The mouse was crouching in one corner of the room and the peasant
picked it up carefully and put it in his pocket.
The horse went to the spot where the old witch had disappeared, and
tapped on the glass floor three times with one of his front feet,
and up from the floor came the old witch. But this time she was not
laughing; she looked frightened, and trembled so she had to lean on her
cane to keep from falling.
The enchanted horse took her by the dress and shook her three times,
and out from her pocket fell a black bean with a white spot on it.
As it dropped the old witch screamed and fell on the floor, and the
horse picked up the bean and swallowed it.
The peasant all this time was standing watching all the strange
happenings, not daring to move for fear of breaking the spell, and
wondering what would happen next.
As the horse swallowed the bean he seemed to shrink away from sight
and a blue mist filled the room. When it cleared the peasant beheld a
handsome young man where the horse had stood, and where the witch had
been was a deep hole.
“Did she fall into it?” asked the peasant, not knowing what else to say.
“No; in that hole we will find the magic charm that will restore the
Princess to her own form,” said the young man. “The witch disappeared
in the blue mist.”
“Let us hurry and find the magic charm,” he said, dropping into the
hole, and the peasant followed him.
There was a ladder down which they climbed, and down they went until it
seemed they would never reach the bottom.
But at last their feet touched something firm and soft and they stood
in a beautiful room on a carpet of blue velvet.
The room was hung with velvet the color of sapphire, and the chairs
were of burnished gold with velvet seats.
A gold fountain played in the middle of the room and the water fell
into a basin of sapphire.
“This is the magic fountain,” said the youth. “You must throw the
little mouse into it if you wish to bring back the Princess.”
The peasant took from his pocket the trembling little mouse. “It is
frightened,” he said. “I hate to throw it into that deep water.”
Without replying the youth grabbed the mouse from the peasant and threw
it with great force into the fountain and it disappeared from sight.
“Oh, you have killed it!” said the peasant, looking into the deep-blue
water with frightened eyes.
Then he saw a head rise slowly from the bottom of the blue basin; then
it came above the water; and then a beautiful girl stepped from the
fountain, her golden hair all wet and glistening.
A soft warm breeze came through the windows and soon her hair and
clothes were dry, and the peasant thought he had never seen any one so
beautiful as the Princess.
“I am the Prince who was changed into the horse for the ogre,” said
the youth, addressing the Princess. “I was stolen at the same time you
were and the ogre who was the husband of the witch took me and the
witch took you, but this youth has rescued us, for it was here that
the magic bean was kept that restored me to my own form, and if it had
not been for a fairy who came to me one night and told me the secret I
never should have regained my own form.”
All the time the Prince was speaking the peasant saw the Princess
looking at him with loving glance, and he knew the Princess was not for
him, and besides that he knew he never would be happy in a palace.
They began to look about and found they were in a beautiful palace that
the old witch had lived in, but, now that she was gone for good, the
peasant said he would take it as his reward and let the Prince and the
Princess return to her father.
In the stables they found beautiful white horses, and on one of them
the Prince and Princess rode away after making the peasant promise to
come to their wedding and to dance with the bride. “For we will never
forget you,” said the Princess, “and we must always be friends.”
The father and mother of the Princess listened to the story the Prince
told, and then the Queen said: “I can tell whether this is my lost
child or not. Let me see your left shoulder; she bears her name on
that shoulder if she be our child.”
The Princess bared her shoulder and there the Queen saw a tiny lily
which proved she was her child.
The King gave a great feast in honor of his daughter’s return, and the
Prince and Princess were married; and the peasant danced at the wedding
as he promised.
[Illustration]
NARDO AND THE PRINCESS
Once there lived a king who had two sons, and, though they were twins,
they were as different as if they had been strangers.
Nardo was kind and good, while his brother Stephen was greedy and
selfish, never doing any one kindness.
One day there came to the King’s gates an old beggar man who asked for
a night’s lodging and food.
The brothers were standing near and Stephen told the servants to close
the gates, that a palace was no place for beggars.
“Stop,” said Nardo to the servant; “a palace is just the place for
beggars. Brother, we have a plenty and to spare; let the poor man
enter.”
The beggar thanked Nardo and said: “You shall never regret your
kindness. Wear this ring, and whenever you wish for something money
cannot buy you shall have your wish.”
Nardo put the ring in his pocket and forgot all about it until he fell
in love with a beautiful princess, and, like all lovers, he was afraid
she did not love him.
Then he remembered the old beggar man and the ring, and put it on and
wished for the love of the beautiful Princess.
It happened that Stephen also loved the Princess, but he knew she did
not love him, and, seeing the ring the old beggar had given Nardo on
his hand one day, he remembered what the beggar had said when he gave
his brother the ring.
“I must have the ring,” said Stephen. “Then I will have the love of the
Princess; besides that, her father, the King, is old, and when he dies
I shall be king in his place.”