time and trouble in calling you.”
“I will keep her secret from all but the fairies, but one of the fairy
family will come here every night to make sure no mortal has been
harmed by her, for some one might stray in here just as this girl did
and be changed into some other form.”
“I have one more favor to ask of you, good fairy,” said the Prince. “I
wish to make this girl my wife if she will marry me, and I would like
to have the proper clothes for a princess, so that I may take her to my
palace at once.”
“What do you say, my dear?” asked the fairy. “Will you marry the
Prince?”
Greta felt she must be dreaming, but she was sure she would love the
handsome Prince if she were awake, so she told the fairy she would,
and the next instant her ragged clothes dropped from her and she stood
before the Prince in a beautiful green velvet riding-habit, with a long
feather in her hat, looking every inch a princess.
That night a great feast was held at the palace of the Prince in honor
of his return and to celebrate their wedding, and the very next day
Greta and the Prince rode to the home where she had once lived to give
Peter a bag of gold.
“He was the only person who ever treated me kindly until I met you,”
Greta told the Prince, “and I shall never forget him.”
Greta was not recognized by Martha or her son Robert, for they little
thought the beautiful Princess was the poor girl that had once been
their slave. But Peter, who had loved her, looked after the coach as it
rolled away. “It looked a little like her,” he said, “but, of course,
it could not be.” Many gifts did Greta and the Prince send to Peter,
and in his old age he was given a comfortable house and plenty to eat,
and, though Martha and Robert shared his good fortune, they never knew
who sent it.
The Prince told Peter who the Princess really was one day, because the
poor old man had never ceased to sorrow because Greta could not be
found, but not a word did he tell of this to Robert or Martha, but kept
his secret all to himself as long as he lived.
[Illustration]
THE KNIGHT OF THE BRIGHT STAR
Once upon a time there lived a prince named Lorenzo. Although he was a
prince, he was quite poor and lived with his mother and one servant in
a mountain far from the land of his birth.
His father, the King, had been killed in a battle with another king,
who took away the wealth and the castles of the defeated King, leaving
Prince Lorenzo and his mother nothing of their former grandeur.
Prince Lorenzo grew up with a longing for vengeance in his heart, and
often at night his mother would find him gazing in the direction of his
old home as he stood alone under the stars.
“Son,” said the Queen-mother one night, “why do you gaze so intently
into the distance? Why are you so sad?”
“There is bitterness in my heart for my father’s enemy who has robbed
me of all the happiness and pleasure in the great world outside,”
replied the Prince.
“Let me go, mother, and seek my fortune, and I may be able to avenge
the wrongs done to you and me.”
“Vengeance does not belong to us, my son,” said the Queen-mother. “You
must not take upon yourself that which is not your right.
“Go out in the world and taste its pleasures, but keep your Star of
Hope as bright as those shining in the heavens over your head if you
wish for happiness.”
The next morning Prince Lorenzo started on his journey. He was dressed
in a shining suit of mail and sat upon a white horse with trappings of
silver. In the center of his helmet was a little silver star which his
mother gave him with these words:
“My son, may your armor protect you from all evil and may this star be
your guide. It is enchanted, for it was given to me by a fairy when I
was Queen and your father King.
“If ever it grows dim look into your own heart to find the cause, and,
finding it, cast it from you if you wish for happiness.”
Prince Lorenzo promised to look to the brightness of the little star
and rode away to seek his happiness.
After several days he came to a big city, the City of Pleasure it was
called, and those who lived there told him his armor was much too heavy
for one so young to wear.
“Cast it aside,” they told the Prince, “and we will show you the joys
of living.”
So the Prince listened and followed the people in the City of Pleasure
to a beautiful palace where merriment reigned, and laid aside his armor
for a lighter garb. One day Prince Lorenzo looked from the Palace
of Merriment and saw all around the castle men, women, and children
working, and on their faces the look of misery.
“Who are these creatures?” he asked his gay companions.
“Those are the toilers who make the money for us to spend,” was the
reply. “Look at us and forget these creatures and be merry.”
But the Prince could no more be merry; he remembered his Star of Hope
his mother had given him and hurried to find it.
Instead of the shining star he had left he found it dim and dull, and
then he remembered his mother’s words, “Look into your own heart to
find the cause.” His love of wealth and pleasure had driven out all
thoughts of others, and he had cared not how he gained these things, so
long as he had them.
“My selfishness has dimmed my Star of Hope,” said the Prince; “I must
leave the City of Pleasure and the Palace of Merriment, for this is not
happiness.”
He buckled on the cast-off armor and rode away. As he rode past the
toilers he threw among them all the gold he had gained while in the
City of Pleasure.
Far away from the city he rode, and found himself in the midst of
sickness and suffering.
Dismounting, the Prince ministered to the sufferers’ needs and forgot
all else until he fell asleep from exhaustion.
When he awoke his horse stood beside him, and in the moonlight the
little star shone brightly from its place in his helmet on the ground
at his side. Prince Lorenzo jumped to his feet and placed the helmet on
his head. He had tasted the joy of good deeds. He no longer looked for
pleasure in selfishness, and the bitterness of vengeance had gone from
his heart.
Back to his mother he rode with the little star shining. “You have won,
my son!” she cried as she met him. “All my love for you could not teach
you how to gain real happiness; selfish pleasure and love of vengeance
dull our Star of Hope, but only those who have learned the lesson for
themselves can know this.”
Prince Lorenzo was surprised one morning to see coming up the mountain,
where he and his mother lived, an army of brightly dressed soldiers.
When they came nearer he saw they were the soldiers that once had
served his father, the King.
“The King who wronged you is dead,” they told Prince Lorenzo, “and
before he died he made us promise to find you and the Queen and bring
you back to your kingdom, which he wrongfully took from you.”
Of course Prince Lorenzo and his mother rejoiced to know that once more
they would live in their former home, and lost no time in starting out
on the journey.
“Your Star of Hope has brought you through tribulations into peace and
happiness,” said his mother, “and all wrongs are righted, but if it had
become dulled by selfishness and vengeance, my son, we still might be
in the darkness of despair.”
[Illustration]
THE DOLPHIN’S BRIDE
One day there came through the woods that bordered on a big ocean a
poor little beggar girl named Nitta.
Nitta was crying; she was hungry and she did not know where to go, for
her aunt, who had a daughter of her own, did not want to support Nitta
and had turned her out-of-doors that very day.
“I am too poor to support you,” said the hard-hearted aunt. “You must
take care of yourself.”
Nitta’s father and mother were dead and there seemed to be no place for
her but the woods, so she wandered along until she came to the ocean,
and there she sat down to cry out her grief.
While she was crying a big dolphin poked his head out of the water.
“What are you crying for, little girl?” he asked.
Nitta was so surprised to hear the dolphin speak that she stopped
crying at once. “I am crying because I have no home,” she replied.
“I will give you a home if you will come with me,” said the dolphin. “I
need some one to take care of my house.”
“But I cannot live in the water; I should drown,” said Nitta.
“I would not ask you to come if you would drown,” answered the dolphin.
“But you must decide for yourself whether you could keep house for a
fish. There are no children to play with at the bottom of the ocean.”
“I shall starve if I stay on land, and I may find a good home,” thought
Nitta as the dolphin waited for his answer.
“I’ll go with you,” she said.
“Then jump on my back,” said the dolphin, “and close your eyes; there
is nothing to fear. I promise you that.”
Nitta jumped on his back and closed her eyes. Over the waves they went,
and then suddenly Nitta felt the dolphin plunge under the water, and
down, down they went, and then next thing she knew the dolphin stopped
and said, “Here we are.”
Nitta opened her eyes, and instead of being in the water, as she
thought, she was in a beautiful garden in front of a beautiful house.
Up the steps the dolphin flopped, for, of course, he could not walk,
having no feet, and Nitta followed him.
He led her into a big hall hung with beautiful pictures and soft
carpets upon the floor upon which Nitta was almost afraid to step.
Nitta almost forgot her queer companion, she was so overcome with all
the grandeur she beheld.
On both sides of the long hall were many rooms, one of gold, one of
silver, one of marble, and the dolphin told Nitta she was to choose
which room she would care to have for her own.
“But you said I was to keep your house,” said Nitta; “a servant cannot
live in one of these beautiful rooms.”
“I did not say I wanted you to be a servant,” said the dolphin. “I want
some one to live here and care for the house, but not to do the work.”
Nitta chose a beautiful room hung in blue silk, with chairs of blue
damask and beautiful rosewood frames.
The ceiling was a darker blue, and all over it were dotted diamonds
that twinkled like stars.
The floor was covered with a blue velvet carpet, soft and thick, and
over it were scattered big pink roses which looked as if they would
crush when stepped upon, they seemed so natural.
There was a piano of rosewood at one end of the room, and upon this
Nitta was surprised to see the dolphin jump and with its fins begin
to play. Music such as Nitta never heard came from the keys, and so
enchanted was she that when the dolphin stopped playing Nitta ran to
him and put her hand upon his head.
“You poor fish,” she said, “it is too bad you are not a man. I wish I
were a fairy and could change you into a prince. This place is far too
beautiful for a fish to live in, and besides, you play such wonderful
music. How is it possible?”
“There is only one way you can help me, and since you wished to be a
fairy and change me into a prince,” said the dolphin, “I will see if
you will keep your word.
“Look behind the door and bring the sword you will find there, and I
will tell you the only way I can be freed from the spell of a witch who
hates me.”
From behind the door Nitta brought the sword. She found it had a
beautiful handle of gold and set with diamonds and pearls, but the
blade looked sharp and pointed and Nitta trembled as she held it.
“Now if you really are sorry for me,” said the dolphin, “and wish to
make me a prince, strike off my head.”
Nitta dropped the sword at the very thought of anything so terrible. “I
cannot do that,” she said. “You have been too kind to me.”
“That is the only way you can repay me,” said the dolphin, with a sigh.
“I see you did not mean what you said about wishing to be a fairy.”
“Oh yes, I do, indeed I do!” said Nitta. “I do not want to kill you,
but I will put you out of misery if that is what you want.”
She picked up the sword and swung it over her head; then she looked at
the dolphin, closed her eyes, and brought down the sword.
As it fell Nitta felt herself slipping away, it seemed to her into the
bottom of the ocean.
When she opened her eyes she saw a very handsome man bending over her.
“You are a brave girl,” he said. “You have saved me from a terrible
fate.”
“Where is the good dolphin?” asked Nitta. “Oh, I will never forgive
myself for killing him!”
“He is gone forever. I was the poor dolphin,” said the handsome man
at her side. “You broke the spell that held me, for the old witch who
changed me into the dolphin said I must remain one until a pretty woman
should strike off my head.”
“But why should a witch change you into a fish?” asked Nitta.
“Because I would not marry her daughter and make her a princess,”
replied the handsome man. “You see, I am a prince and I was waiting for
the girl I could love to appear before I would take my princess.
“And now I have found her. Will you become my princess?”
Nitta was already in love with the handsome man who had fallen in love
with her, and so they were married that very day in the wonderful
castle of beautiful rooms and lived happily ever after.
[Illustration]
PRINCESS DIDO AND THE PRINCE OF THE ROSES
Little Princess Dido ran away from her attendants every time she could,
and one day when she was walking in the forest with her servants she
hid behind a tree while they were talking, and before they had missed
her she ran down another path and was out of their sight.
When Princess Dido found herself alone she began to look about to see
if she could find any flowers, for she was very fond of flowers and was
never allowed to pick them herself; her servants did that for her.
“I can pick them myself now,” she said, laughing to herself to think
she had escaped from the servants, and she began picking all the wild
flowers she could find, walking along all the time and going farther
into the forest.
When it was sunset the Princess Dido found herself in the thick of the
trees and bushes, and she began to wonder why her attendants did not
find her and take her home; but the sun set and the stars came out and
still no one came, and Princess Dido felt tired and lay down among the
leaves and mosses and went to sleep.
When she awoke the moon was shining, and although she was in the forest
alone she was not afraid, for she did not think any one would harm a
princess, so she rolled over on her soft bed, thinking she would go to
sleep again, when something cold touched her cheek.
Princess Dido opened her eyes very wide then and sat up, and on a bush
beside her she saw a very small gold key hanging by a thread which
swung back and forth and half touched her face.
“I wonder what this cunning little key can fit,” said the Princess. “I
do wish I knew! I am sure I should find something nice. I believe I
will look about. I am not a bit sleepy, and the moon is as bright as
day.”
Princess Dido hunted everywhere among the bushes and rocks, and nothing
could she find, when, just as she had decided to go to sleep again, she
saw something shining on a tree, and there was a tiny keyhole that the
key just fitted.
She put the key in the lock and the tree opened like a door, and
Princess Dido stepped inside and closed the door after her.
She walked along a road which seemed to be just behind the tree,
but when she looked about she was not in the forest at all, but in
a beautiful country filled with flowers and tall trees, and in the
distance she saw a beautiful castle.
When Princess Dido came to the castle she saw fountains and more
beautiful flowers growing around, and there were birds of all kinds
singing in the trees.
“I suppose I must go to the door of the castle and let them know who I
am,” thought the Princess. “A princess ought to do that, I know, but I
would much rather stay in this beautiful garden and hear the birds sing
and look at the flowers.”
When the Princess knocked at the door no one answered, and after
waiting a short time the Princess opened the door and stepped inside.
All was still and she sat down and waited.
“I expect everybody is at breakfast,” thought the Princess. “I wish I
had something to eat. I didn’t have any supper, and I have not had my
breakfast, either.
“Yes, I am hungry and want my breakfast,” said Princess Dido, and,
though she did not know it, she had spoken right out loud, and as she
did so a table appeared beside her with her breakfast on it and a
bouquet of beautiful pink roses.
“I wonder where this came from. I didn’t see or hear any one,” said the
Princess.
But she did not wonder about it; she was too hungry. When she had
finished she walked along the hall, for, being a princess, she was in
the habit of going where she liked, and as she saw no one she did the
same here.
But there was no room opening out of the hall she was in, so the
Princess went up the stairs, and here again she found herself in a
large hall, but this was so beautiful she looked about her in wonder,
for it was a much more beautiful place than her own castle. The floor
was of opals and the walls were the same; the sunlight shining through
the windows made the most wonderful colors wherever it fell, and all
around the place were white roses, making the air sweet with their
fragrance.
There was another flight of stairs, and up these the Princess went. The
stairs were of silver, and on the next floor the Princess found herself
in a hall of crystal with roses all around; beautiful pink roses such
as she had never before beheld.
“Oh, how I wish I could pick them!” said the Princess as she went from
bush to bush, and to her surprise the roses nodded as if to tell her
she could if she liked.
Princess Dido broke one from its stem, and then another, and as the
roses still nodded she picked more until her arms were full.
But there was another flight of stairs, and these were of gold. So the
Princess walked up these and found herself in another beautiful room,
which was blue, the color of sapphires, and around this room grew red
roses.
But there was still another flight of stairs, and the Princess did not
stop long here, with her arms filled with the pink roses. She went up
the last flight and found herself in a hall filled with red, pink, and
white roses, but the walls were hung with soft gray silk and the floor
covered with velvet of the same color.
“Oh, how beautiful! I wish I could live here among the roses,” she said.
“You can, my Princess of the Roses,” said a voice, and from behind a
curtain stepped a handsome prince, dressed in a suit of gray velvet,
with trimmings of silver and pink.
He took from his head a hat with a long plume of pink and bowed low
before the Princess Dido, who had dropped her roses and stood blushing
as pink as the roses she had dropped.
“This is my castle, the Castle of the Roses,” explained the Prince,
“and I vowed I would never marry until I found a princess who loved my
roses as well as me, and you have proved you do by coming into all of
my rose-garden. Others have been here, but when they found only roses
in each room they never came to this floor.
“Behind these curtains is my palace. These halls of roses are but a
part of my private rooms. Will you stay, Princess, or shall I call the
fairies to take you back to your own castle?” asked the Prince.
“You may call the fairies to take the news to my people that I will
live in the Castle of Roses, with the Prince of Roses,” said Princess
Dido.
“But who hung the little gold key on the bush?” she asked the Prince.
“Oh! I asked the fairies to help me find a wife,” said the Prince.
“They hung it there. You see, we shall live in an enchanted castle,
as well as in the Castle of Roses, so there is nothing for us but
happiness.”
[Illustration]
CATVILLE GOSSIP
Mr. Tommy Kat was in love with Tabby Gray--at least so all the gossips
in Catville say, for Tabby was as graceful as a little kit can be. Said
Tommy, when he saw her, “She’s just the wife for me.”
But Tabby Gray was fickle, as sometimes kittens are; so she giggled
and told Tommy he would have to ask her pa. For there was big white
Tom Cat, with coat as smooth as silk, who often took her walking and
treated her to milk. He had told her he would give her a ribbon bright
of red, if she would only promise no other cat to wed.
Then there was Tommy Mouser, who by all was called a sport. He had told
her that he loved her, and once for her had fought.
And there was Tommy Black, the dandy of the town, who was called by
all who watched him the best dancer to be found.
He often danced with Tabby Gray, and frightened all the rest away; for
when he danced they all stood by and looked on him with jealous eye.
And Tiger Tom, another swain, who always said he felt a pain around his
heart when any other danced with her except her brother.
An admirer, too, was Tommy Buff; he said and vowed it was no bluff when
he declared he loved Miss Gray and in his heart she held full sway.
And there was Tommy Black-and-White, who said he sat up many a night to
serenade Miss Tabby Gray on the back-yard fence till break of day.
And Tommy, who was nicknamed Slim, said she was the only girl for him
and that his eyes had turned to green because another cat was seen to
walk with Tabby down the road. Since that his heart was like a load.
And so, you see, Miss Tabby Gray needed time these things to weigh, and
that was why she told Tom Kat her pa would have to answer that question
he had asked that night on the back-yard fence in the bright moonlight.
Said Tommy Kat as he looked at a star: “I don’t want to marry your pa.
Now why do you keep me here a-guessing when we might go round and get
pa’s blessing?”
Miss Tabby stretched and heaved a sigh, then on Tommy Kat she cast her
eye. He was handsomer, far, than all the rest, and she felt quite sure
she loved him best. But, like all others of her kind, she pretended to
make up her mind.
But Tommy Kat was a hasty fellow. He knew present time was always
mellow; so he told Miss Tabby ’twas getting late, and whisked her over
the back-yard gate. And before she knew where she was at they stood at
the door of Minister Cat.
In a minute more they came out married, for Minister Cat he never
tarried. He married off couples quick as scat, and for his fee he took
a rat.
The reception they held was a howling success, as all who came to it
had to confess. And all the way through Catville Town bottles and shoes
were strewn up and down. And when Old Sun Man o’er the hill did peep
every kit in the town was fast asleep.
[Illustration]
HOW THE ELEPHANT GOT HIS TRUNK
One night in the Zoo when the keepers were asleep the other animals
were awakened by the chattering in the monkey cage.
“I have heard that Mr. Lion can be made very tame,” said Jocko, “and
while I doubt very much if he really can bite, his growl is most
unpleasant to hear.”
“Oh, well, it may be worse than his bite,” said Tito. “Those who make
the most noise are not always to be feared, I have been told.”
“There is Hippo; he is much bigger than Mr. Lion, and he doesn’t make
as much noise all the time as Mr. Lion.”
“Oh, dear me, but what a big mouth Hippo has!” laughed Tito. “I wonder
how he happened to get such a big one. He must have been the first one
there when they gave out mouths.”
“I have heard something about almost every animal here,” said Jocko.
“Want to hear it?”
“Yes, tell me,” said Tito, moving close to Jocko. “Where did Mr. Lion
get his long hair?”
“Oh dear! don’t you know?” laughed Jocko, “Mrs. Lion pulled it so much
it made it long. She hasn’t any, you see. Oh dear, yes, Mr. Lion is a
henpecked husband if ever there was one.”
“You don’t tell me so,” said Tito. “What about Hippo? How did it happen
he is so big and clumsy?”
“Oh, don’t you know?” said Jocko. “When the animals were being made
there was a lot of each animal left and it was all stirred together,
and that made Hippo. They made his body first and then they did not
have enough to give him a long tail or fill in his mouth. That is the
reason it is so large.”
“Ho, ho, ho!” laughed Tito, and Jocko laughed, too, until they nearly
fell off the place where they were sitting.
“Where did old Reynard get his bushy tail, Jocko?”
“Oh, don’t you know that either?” replied Jocko. “He was caught trying
to steal chickens by the farmer’s wife, and she threw the brush she was
using at him with such force that it struck him handle first, and there
it stuck right on his back, and he never could be rid of it.”
“Ho, ho, ho!” laughed Tito. “And where did the giraffe get his long
neck?”
“Oh, that is easy,” said Jocko. “He was so big-feeling and so haughty
he would not look at the other animals, and it stretched his neck until
now he can’t see the ground, so I have been told. I don’t know, of
course.”
“He has a very little head, anyway,” said Tito.
“There is very little in it, my dear Tito,” said Jocko. And then they
both laughed again.