outwitted them, but they gave chase and away they went through the
woods, while poor frightened little Leta clung to the Prince, wondering
what it was all about.
On and on they rode, but to Leta clinging to her lover, it seemed they
flew over the ground and through the woods. She could see the bright
trimmings of the servants’ coats glistening in the sun, and she knew
they were gaining on them.
By this time Prince Roul had told her that his father, the King, had
tried to make him marry a princess, but that he would marry no one but
the girl he loved and that was herself.
When Leta heard this she was more frightened than ever, for she knew
now that she was the cause of all this trouble and that the servants
must be chasing them to take Roul from her.
Leta put her hand to her breast. Yes; it was there--the little paper
with the powder a fairy had given her a long time ago, because Leta
had left a beautiful rose on its stem she was about to pick when she
discovered a little fairy sleeping inside the rose.
“If you ever are in trouble, open this paper and throw the powder
around you,” the fairy had told her. “It will protect you from all
harm.”
Leta had never before needed protection, and she was not thinking so
much of herself now as of her lover, wondering what the King would do
if he did not obey him.
Just then the horse on which they were riding came to a full stop with
such force that Leta was thrown to the ground and the next thing she
knew over the side of a cliff leaped the horse with the Prince on his
back.
The ocean was below, but before the horse and his rider had reached it
Leta drew from her dress the magic powder and threw it over the cliff.
“Make the ocean dry,” she screamed as she threw the powder, and, to her
surprise, as she threw it over she went, too, and the next instant she
stood beside Prince Roul on dry land before a beautiful white castle
and the ocean was miles away.
The cliff over which they had gone was the white rock where the ogre
and the ogress lived, but when Leta threw the powder she had also
summoned the little fairy who had given it to her and she had changed
the big white cave into a castle.
When the King’s servants came dashing up to the cliff they saw nothing
of the Prince or his horse, and the bottom of the cliff was so far
below that they felt sure they had been destroyed, and they rode home
to the King with the sad news.
The King’s grief was deep and bitter, for he really loved his son very
much, and now when it was too late he cried out that he wished he had
let the Prince marry the girl he loved; if only he had him alive that
would be all he would ask.
The little fairy did not make herself visible to either Leta or
the Prince, but if they could have seen with fairy eyes they would
have seen the fairy flying ahead of them into the castle, touching
everything with her magic wand as she went.
When Leta entered the door, which was open, for they had called and no
one answered, she stood spellbound by what she saw.
The long white marble hall had a floor of silver and marble and the
doors were silver also.
The Prince, who was used to beautiful things, was quite surprised at
all the splendor, too.
Opening a big silver door, they entered a room hung with silver
and deep-blue curtains, and on a silver table Leta saw a big white
envelop. When she looked at it she read her own name.
Wondering who could have left it, she opened it and read: “Princess
Leta, this is your castle; it is the gift of the fairies who love
roses.”
“Your father will not object now to having me for the wife of his son,”
she said, with a blush, as she gave the note to the Prince, and then
they ran like two happy children through the beautiful castle that had
come to them so strangely.
In the deep dungeons under the castle they found all the wealth that
the ogre had taken from the ships, and after they had become used to
their new home they gave it all to the poor, and so the ogre’s stolen
wealth did not help him, and while it could not be given back to those
who had lost it, it did much good.
And what became of the old ogre and his wife, you are wondering. I will
tell you. When the fairy changed the cave into a castle she changed the
ogre and ogress into two big silver statues in the big hall, one at
each end, like huge mummies, holding a big light in their hands, which
lighted the long hall of the castle.
Then one day Prince Roul and Princess Leta rode away to the palace of
the old King, and when he saw his son he wept for joy and hugged him to
his heart, and Leta’s pretty face won the old King’s heart at once, so
they all lived happily ever after.
But while the old King wanted them to make the palace their home,
Prince Roul and Leta could not give up their white castle by the sea,
so part of the year they lived in the white castle, and when Prince
Roul grew old and his grandchildren begged for a story, the King told
them of Prince Roul’s bride and the wonderful leap they took over the
cliff which forms the back of the castle.
[Illustration]
SUNEV
There was once a poor peasant and his wife who had a very beautiful
daughter named Sunev. So beautiful was she that her hair rivaled the
sun in its golden brightness. Her eyes were like the blue sky and her
lips were so red that the roses beheld her with envy. Her skin was so
white and fair that the winter snow was not whiter. Her teeth were like
the pearls. And when an old witch named Zitna, who lived in the forest
near by, saw Sunev one day she became enraged because she was more
beautiful than her own daughter.
Witch Zitna had thought till then that her own daughter was the most
beautiful creature in the world, for the witch child was as dark as
Sunev was fair, and Witch Zitna wished the Prince of Esor, who was
looking for a wife, to wed her.
She knew that the Prince had sent out his servants far and near to look
for the most beautiful lady in the country for his wife, and if Sunev
were brought before the Prince of Esor her daughter would never be
chosen.
There was only one thing to do, and that was to entice the lovely Sunev
into the forest and there change her into the shape of an animal and
leave her to her fate.
The wicked Witch Zitna watched her chance, and one day, when Sunev
was sent into the forest to gather wood, Witch Zitna slipped out from
behind a tree and touched her with her magic stick, changing her into a
tiger.
Poor little Sunev was so frightened when she beheld her paws she fell
on the ground and began to moan and cry and all the birds and animals
of the forest came running to see what had happened.
The witch, in her haste, forgot to deprive Sunev of her power to talk,
so when the birds and animals wanted to know what was the matter she
told them she did not know, but something dreadful had happened and she
was no longer a girl, but a tiger, and was afraid to go home.
The birds and animals can understand any language, and, being now part
animal herself, Sunev had no trouble in understanding them.
“Do not cry,” they told her. “It must be the work of Witch Zitna, but
we will protect you, and when the hunters come we will warn you so you
may hide until they go. Eat the berries and nuts and we will find you
a nice place to sleep, so dry your eyes and some way may be found to
restore you to your own shape.”
Sunev did as the birds and animals told her, for there was no other
way, and soon she became fond of her forest home and all her new
friends.
Witch Zitna now proceeded to have her beautiful daughter seen by the
messengers of the Prince of Esor, and they carried her off to his
palace, sure they had found at last a wife that would suit their royal
master.
Of course the parents of little Sunev looked everywhere for her, but
she could not be found, and when they saw the tiger coming toward
them they fled, for they did not know that the beautiful and graceful
tiger-skin held their own child.
The Prince of Esor, when he saw the witch child, thought that she was
beautiful, but he had wished for a wife that was as fair, so he decided
to wait, and sent out his servants again to look for a lady with golden
hair.
Witch Zitna was enraged when she heard this, for she knew that until
her daughter was safely married to the Prince she was not safe.
The reason for this was that every night Venus, the goddess of beauty,
came to the forest to look for the graceful tiger the fairies had told
her about, for, while Sunev looked like a tiger, she had more grace and
beauty than a real tiger, though they are graceful, too.
Venus did not wish even a tiger to rival her in being graceful, so she
wanted to see this wonderful animal that she might learn from it more
charm.
One night Sunev was walking through the forest in the moonlight when
Venus, in the form of a tree, beheld her.
Knowing at once that the graceful tiger was a mortal changed, she
called her attendants, who were not far away, and, changing herself
back to her own beautiful form, she spoke to Sunev.
“What is your name, beautiful creature, and why are you in this form?”
she asked.
It was the first time any one but the birds and animals had spoken to
her since Witch Zitna had changed her, and poor little Sunev began to
cry for joy.
Venus soothed her and soon Sunev told her all she knew of her sad
plight. But when she told the goddess her name a flash of anger came to
the eyes of Venus.
“Old Witch Zitna has done this,” said the goddess. “She shall pay for
it, for, my dear, your name is mine spelled backward and you are my
godchild. Zitna knew she had much to fear in the beauty you possess.
Come with me!”
It did not take long to reach the cave of Zitna, for Venus had the
power of witches and fairies when she wished to use it.
“Come forth!” called Venus, when they reached the cave of Zitna. “Undo
your cruel work,” she commanded, when the trembling witch appeared in
the doorway of her cave.
In another minute Sunev stood in her own lovely shape before Venus,
who, instead of being jealous of the wonderful beauty she beheld, drew
Sunev to her and kissed her on her brow.
“You will always be the most beautiful woman in the land,” she said.
“Be you old or young, none shall compare with you.
“As for your daughter, Witch Zitna, you will never see her again, for
a mother who would treat the daughter of another as you have done this
beautiful girl is not the sort to have a daughter. I will claim your
daughter as well as Sunev for my godchild.”
Sunev did not know how they reached the door of her parents’ home, but
she stood there a short time after, and with trembling hands opened the
door.
Oh, how happy her father and mother were to have her again! The joy of
seeing her safe made them forget the time, and it was the trumpeting of
the Prince of Esor’s messengers that told them the day was far gone.
The messengers knocked at the door, and when Sunev opened it they knew
they had found the wife of their Prince.
Sunev’s father and mother were overcome with sorrow when the messengers
told their errand. They thought they had found their child, only to
lose her again, but the messengers told them they might go along to
the palace. So they all set out.
When the Prince of Esor saw the beauty of Sunev he knew she was the one
woman in the world for him, and without delay he ordered the wedding
feast to be prepared.
A wonderful gown of white and gold was brought from the royal
clothes-room, and a crown of pearls and diamonds was placed upon her
beautiful golden hair, and upon her dainty feet golden slippers and
silk stockings.
Her father and mother were not forgotten by the Prince, either. They
were dressed in clothes they had never even dreamed of and given a
palace near where Sunev and Prince Esor were to live.
But what had become of the beautiful witch child all this time, for, of
course, she was not to blame for the bad deed of Witch Zitna and should
not be made to suffer?
She was safe and happy, you may be sure, for she was surrounded by
every comfort and luxury in another part of the palace, and she did not
wish to become the wife of the Prince.
Instead, she loved one of the friends of the Prince, a noble lord who
had fallen in love with her, but did not dare speak his love because
he knew the Prince might choose her for his bride.
But when this noble lord heard a wife had been found for his Prince and
it was not the beautiful girl he loved, he told the witch child of his
love and they were married the very night that the Prince and Sunev
were married.
And it turned out that the witch child was not a witch child at
all, but had been stolen when a baby from a stork who was carrying
her through the forest to the home of a nobleman, for the goddess
Venus, true to her promise, took both of the beautiful girls for her
godchildren and had the fairies see that they were both made happy.
The witch child was given a pretty name, but her husband best loved to
call her the Queen of Night, because of her wonderful dark beauty.
Sunev was the Princess of Esor, of course, but the Prince called her
Princess Rose, and if you will spell Esor backward you will learn why.
[Illustration]
CILLA AND THE DWARF
Once upon a time there lived a king who had a very beautiful daughter,
and her suitors came from far and near.
Among them was a dwarf with a huge head and a very long nose. Of
course, no one expected the Princess to marry the ugly creature, but
the dwarf did, and when the Princess refused he flew into a rage and
said he would have her in spite of all she said.
At last the Princess gave her hand to a prince, but the night the
wedding was to take place the Princess was nowhere to be found. They
hunted high and low all over the palace, but no trace could they find
of her; even her wedding-dress disappeared, too. The Prince was in
despair and wrung his hands and cried out he would give to any one who
would find the Princess half of his fortune.
The King also said he would give half of his kingdom to the one who
would bring back the lost Princess.
Now, there was among the servants a little kitchen-maid named Cilla,
who loved the Princess because she always spoke kindly to her, and when
she knew her mistress was lost she resolved to find her at any cost.
So one night when all the people in the palace were sound asleep Cilla
stole out and went to a witch who lived in the woods and asked her to
help her to find the Princess.
“I can only help you a little,” said the witch, “as she is in the power
of one who is more powerful than I am, but this much I can do: Here
is a bean that will do magic work if used in the right way; whether
it will help you to find your Princess I cannot tell. The dwarf has
carried her off, and where he is I do not know.”
Cilla said she would take the bean. She thanked the witch and started
off through the woods to look for the dwarf, for she was sure he must
live in a cave.
For days she wandered until she was in the deep forest, and at last
she came to a high rock over which she could not climb.
Cilla sat down and leaned against the rock to rest, when, to her
surprise, she heard the sound of weeping. She looked all around, but
could see no opening except a big crack in one side, and this was too
small for her to get through.
She was just about to call out and ask who was inside weeping when she
heard some one coming through the bushes.
Cilla ran behind the rock and watched, and in a minute the dwarf came
bounding out of the bush and briers.
He carried in his hand an iron bar, and with this he opened the crack
in the rock, which was a door, and entered the rock, leaving the door
open behind him.
Cilla was a very brave girl or she would have stayed where she was, but
no sooner had the dwarf disappeared than she ran in after him.
He was standing beside a poor, half-starved-looking little white
rabbit, and Cilla heard him say, “Do you consent or will you starve?”
The little white rabbit only blinked and turned away, and then Cilla
saw something that made her start, for hanging on a ragged bit of rock
was the wedding-dress the Princess was to have worn the night she
disappeared.
Cilla did not wait to see more. She dashed toward the dwarf and grabbed
him by his long nose, and, giving it a hard twist, she cried out:
“Where is my mistress, you wretch? Where is she, I say?”
A very strange thing happened when Cilla gave the long nose a twist;
the dwarf howled like the sound of thunder, and instead of the dwarf
there stood before Cilla a huge toad that hopped away so fast she could
not see where it disappeared.
“You poor half-starved little rabbit,” said Cilla. “I wish I had
something to give you to eat, but I must hunt for my mistress first,
for I know she must be here.”
Then Cilla thought of the bean. “I’ll give you this,” she said to the
rabbit. “I am sure I shall have no use for it.”
When the rabbit swallowed the bean Cilla’s eyes popped wide open, for
there stood her mistress, safe and sound.
“Oh, Cilla, you have saved me! How ever did you think of twisting his
nose?” asked the Princess.
“Because it looked as if it were made to be twisted,” said Cilla, “but
how did you know the bean would change you back to your own form?”
“I didn’t, but I was hungry; that dreadful dwarf was trying to make me
say I would marry him by starving me. Some powerful witch had given him
the form of a dwarf, and if he could get a princess to marry him she
would change him into a man,” said the Princess.
“Was he a toad at first?” asked Cilla.
“Yes, it seems he was a toad in the cave of a powerful witch, and for
something he did for her she made him a dwarf; then he wanted to become
a man, and the witch told him if he would marry a princess and take her
into the palace to live she would grant his wish.
“He told me this before he had me changed into a rabbit, for he first
carried me off to the cave of this witch, who lives somewhere in this
forest, and I think we better hurry away before the toad gets to her
and tells her I have escaped.”
It took a long time to get out of the forest, but Cilla and the
Princess found the way and the Prince and the King told Cilla she
should have the promised reward.
“Now, what would I do with all that gold and half of a kingdom?” asked
Cilla. “All I ask is to have a nice little cottage and a cow near by
the palace where I can see my mistress every day.”
Of course Cilla’s wish was granted, and there she lived and was happy,
for she married the King’s gardener and became the mother of many boys
and girls who never tired of hearing how their mother rescued the
Princess from the bad dwarf.
[Illustration]
GRETA AND THE BLACK CAT
One day a woodsman named Peter was chopping down a tree when he saw
swinging from one of the branches a bundle. Dropping his ax, he climbed
up, and to his surprise, when he opened the bundle, he found in it a
baby girl asleep. Peter hurried home with the baby to his wife. “Look,
Martha,” he said. “I have found a baby girl to be a sister to our son
Robert. We will name her Greta and they shall grow up as brother and
sister.”
But Martha did not want the baby. “We have three mouths to feed now,”
she grumbled. “Why should we care for a child we know nothing of?”
But Peter would not hear of putting the child out-of-doors and so Greta
lived with Peter and Martha and grew up with Robert.
Poor little Greta had anything but a happy life, for Martha treated her
kindly only when Peter was in sight, and that was seldom.
Robert, seeing that his mother did not treat Greta well, began to order
her to wait upon him as soon as he was old enough and treated her as a
servant.
Greta had to weed the garden and bring in the water and the wood. She
had to wash the dishes and make the beds and do all the work excepting
when Peter was at home.
One day when Peter was going to the woods he told Robert to chop a pile
of wood in the yard and have it finished by the time he came home.
When Peter was out of sight Robert told Greta to chop the wood. “That
is what you are here for--to do the work,” said Robert. “You would have
been eaten up by the bears if we had not taken you in. Now go to work
and chop that wood.”
Greta began to cry and said she could not handle the ax; she was too
small. But Martha boxed her ears and told her she should not have any
dinner if she did not do as Robert told her.
Greta went to the woodpile and picked up the ax, but it was no use. She
could not chop the wood. And fearing a beating if she did not do it,
Greta ran away. On and on she ran until she came to a turn in the road
which led into a forest. Here she decided to stop for the night, and
she was just lying down by a rock when she heard a pitiful “me-ow.”
Looking in the bushes close by, Greta saw a big black cat holding up
one paw as though it was hurt. “Poor pussy!” said Greta, taking the cat
in her arms. “You look as unhappy as I feel. Let me bind up your paw.”
Greta tore off a piece of her dress and bound up the cat’s paw, and
then, to her surprise, the black cat spoke to her.
“Come with me and I will show you where to sleep. You will have to
carry me, for my paw is very painful,” said the cat.
Greta picked up the cat, too surprised to be frightened, and went
through the woods as the cat directed her.
When they reached a big rock with an opening in it the cat said: “Here
is my home. Take me in and you will find a place to sleep and food as
well.”
Creeping in on her hands and knees with the cat under her arm, Greta
found herself in a big room with a table in the center and on it plenty
of food.
In one corner of the room was a bed and on this Greta saw a
queer-looking old woman with a hooked nose.
She was asleep and did not notice them until the cat said, “Eat your
supper.”
Up jumped the queer-looking old woman when she heard this, for she was
the witch.
“You, and a mortal with you,” she screamed, as she reached for her
crooked stick.
Greta ran to the door, for she thought the old witch was about to
strike her; but the black cat, who was sitting on the floor near by
where Greta had put it, said: “Don’t you dare touch this girl; she has
saved my life, and from this hour you are in my power, for a mortal has
held me in her arms.
“If you would live call the good fairy that has been looking for me all
these years. I shall find her, anyway, but it will save time if you use
your magic power, and you will regret it if you do not obey me.”
When the old witch heard this she began to tremble and hobbled to the
door of the cave and tapped it three times with her crooked stick.
The rock opened so she could walk out, and Greta followed to see what
she did, for she was no longer afraid; she knew the black cat would
protect her.
The old witch gave a peculiar cry when she was outside, and Greta saw
the next instant a tiny creature dressed in pink gauze, holding a wand
of gold in one little hand, standing on a bush beside the old witch.
“Here I am, Witch Terrible,” said the fairy. “What can I do for you?
You must be in great danger or you would not have called for one of us.”
The cat when it heard the fairy speak ran out of the cave, limping,
and lay down in front of the fairy. “Help me, my good fairy,” said the
black cat. “I am the Prince for whom you have looked so long. The old
witch changed me into a black cat and took away my power to speak until
I was held in the arms of a mortal.
“I know her secret, and, though she dared not kill me, she wanted me
to die, so she turned me into the forest to starve, and if it had not
been for this girl, good fairy, the old witch would have had her wish
granted.
“When she changed me into a black cat she said I should never speak
until a mortal held me, and that I could not regain my own shape until
a fairy changed me, but something has happened since then, and to save
herself she obeyed me and called you, for I know her secret, and that
is why I did not have to hunt for you, my good fairy.”
The fairy touched the black cat with her wand and Greta saw in place
of the big black cat a handsome man dressed in black velvet, with gold
trimmings. “Now tell me the secret you know about the witch,” said the
fairy.
The old witch threw up her arms and cried for mercy. “Remember, I
called the fairy,” she said; “you would have hunted a long time if I
had not. Be merciful!”
“I shall not forget,” said the Prince. “This woman is only half a
witch,” he said. “She is part mortal, and every night at twelve o’clock
she has to become a mortal for an hour because she tried to change
a water nymph into a frog. The river god, the water nymph’s father,
called on a very powerful ogre, who was his friend, and the ogre was
about to change her into a rock, but she begged so hard he made her
half mortal and left her to her fate.”
“Which means she can never leave this forest,” said the fairy, “and as
she does many of her magic deeds at night when she rides abroad on her
broomstick she is not a very powerful witch.”
“Yes, that is it,” said the Prince, “and she does not want it known
among the fairies or the goblins or any of the magic-power folks. That
is the mercy for which she begs.