[Illustration]
Twilight Land
BY
HOWARD PYLE
AUTHOR OF
“THE WONDER CLOCK” “PEPPER AND SALT”
“MEN OF IRON” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED
[Illustration]
NEW YORK AND LONDON
HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
TWILIGHT LAND
Copyright, 1894, by Harper & Brothers
Copyright, 1922, by Mrs. Anne Poole Pyle
Printed in the United States of America
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Table of Contents.
PAGE
INTRODUCTION 1
THE STOOL OF FORTUNE 5
THE TALISMAN OF SOLOMON 29
ILL-LUCK AND THE FIDDLER 77
EMPTY BOTTLES 95
GOOD GIFTS AND A FOOL’S FOLLY 113
THE GOOD OF A FEW WORDS 135
WOMAN’S WIT 169
A PIECE OF GOOD LUCK 195
THE FRUIT OF HAPPINESS 235
NOT A PIN TO CHOOSE 259
MUCH SHALL HAVE MORE AND LITTLE SHALL HAVE LESS 299
WISDOM’S WAGES AND FOLLY’S PAY 313
THE ENCHANTED ISLAND 337
ALL THINGS ARE AS FATE WILLS 365
WHERE TO LAY THE BLAME 387
THE SALT OF LIFE 405
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[Illustration]
_Introduction_
_I found myself in Twilight Land._
_How I ever got there I cannot tell, but there I was in Twilight
Land._
_What is Twilight Land? It is a wonderful, wonderful place where no
sun shines to scorch your back as you jog along the way, where no
rain falls to make the road muddy and hard to travel, where no wind
blows the dust into your eyes or the chill into your marrow. Where
all is sweet and quiet and ready to go to bed._
_Where is Twilight Land? Ah! that I cannot tell you. You will
either have to ask your mother or find it for yourself._
_There I was in Twilight Land. The birds were singing their
good-night song, and the little frogs were piping “peet, peet.” The
sky overhead was full of still brightness, and the moon in the east
hung in the purple gray like a great bubble as yellow as gold. All
the air was full of the smell of growing things. The high-road was
gray, and the trees were dark._
_I drifted along the road as a soap-bubble floats before the wind,
or as a body floats in a dream. I floated along and I floated along
past the trees, past the bushes, past the mill-pond, past the mill
where the old miller stood at the door looking at me._
_I floated on, and there was the Inn, and it was the Sign of Mother
Goose._
_The sign hung on a pole, and on it was painted a picture of Mother
Goose with her gray gander._
_It was to the Inn I wished to come._
_I floated on, and I would have floated past the Inn, and perhaps
have gotten into the Land of Never-Come-Back-Again, only I caught
at the branch of an apple-tree, and so I stopped myself, though the
apple-blossoms came falling down like pink and white snowflakes._
_The earth and the air and the sky were all still, just as it is
at twilight, and I heard them laughing and talking in the tap-room
of the Inn of the Sign of Mother Goose--the clinking of glasses,
and the rattling and clatter of knives and forks and plates and
dishes. That was where I wished to go._
_So in I went. Mother Goose herself opened the door, and there I
was._
_The room was all full of twilight; but there they sat, every
one of them. I did not count them, but there were ever so many:
Aladdin, and Ali Baba, and Fortunatis, and Jack-the-Giant-Killer,
and Doctor Faustus, and Bidpai, and Cinderella, and Patient
Grizzle, and the Soldier who cheated the Devil, and St. George,
and Hans in Luck, who traded and traded his lump of gold until he
had only an empty churn to show for it; and there was Sindbad the
Sailor, and the Tailor who killed seven flies at a blow, and the
Fisherman who fished up the Genie, and the Lad who fiddled for the
Jew in the bramble-bush, and the Blacksmith who made Death sit in
his apple-tree, and Boots, who always marries the Princess, whether
he wants to or not--a rag-tag lot as ever you saw in your life,
gathered from every place, and brought together in Twilight Land._
_Each one of them was telling a story, and now it was the turn of
the Soldier who cheated the Devil._
* * * * *
_“I WILL tell you,” said the Soldier who cheated the Devil, “a
story of a friend of mine.”_
_“Take a fresh pipe of tobacco,” said St. George._
_“Thank you, I will,” said the Soldier who cheated the Devil._
_He filled his long pipe full of tobacco, and then he tilted it
upside down and sucked in the light of the candle._
_Puff! puff! puff! and a cloud of smoke went up about his head, so
that you could just see his red nose shining through it, and his
bright eyes twinkling in the midst of the smoke-wreath, like two
stars through a thin cloud on a summer night._
_“I’ll tell you,” said the Soldier who cheated the Devil, “the
story of a friend of mine. ’Tis every word of it just as true as
that I myself cheated the Devil.”_
_He took a drink from his mug of beer, and then he began._
_“’Tis called,” said he_--
[Illustration]
The Stool of Fortune
Once upon a time there came a soldier marching along the road,
kicking up a little cloud of dust at each step--as strapping and
merry and bright-eyed a fellow as you would wish to see in a summer
day. Tramp! tramp! tramp! he marched, whistling as he jogged along,
though he carried a heavy musket over his shoulder and though the
sun shone hot and strong and there was never a tree in sight to
give him a bit of shelter.
At last he came in sight of the King’s Town and to a great field of
stocks and stones, and there sat a little old man as withered and
brown as a dead leaf, and clad all in scarlet from head to foot.
“Ho! soldier,” said he, “are you a good shot?”
“Aye,” said the soldier, “that is my trade.”
“Would you like to earn a dollar by shooting off your musket for
me?”
“Aye,” said the soldier, “that is my trade also.”
“Very well, then,” said the little man in red, “here is a silver
button to drop into your gun instead of a bullet. Wait you here,
and about sunset there will come a great black bird flying. In one
claw it carries a feather cap and in the other a round stone. Shoot
me the silver button at that bird, and if your aim is good it will
drop the feather cap and the pebble. Bring them to me to the great
town-gate and I will pay you a dollar for your trouble.”
“Very well,” said the soldier, “shooting my gun is a job that fits
me like an old coat.” So, down he sat and the old man went his way.
Well, there he sat and sat and sat and sat until the sun touched
the rim of the ground, and then, just as the old man said, there
came flying a great black bird as silent as night. The soldier did
not tarry to look or to think. As the bird flew by up came the
gun to his shoulder, squint went his eye along the barrel--Puff!
Bang!--
[Illustration]
I vow and declare that if the shot he fired had cracked the sky he
could not have been more frightened. The great black bird gave a
yell so terrible that it curdled the very blood in his veins and
made his hair stand upon end. Away it flew like a flash--a bird
no longer, but a great, black demon, smoking and smelling most
horribly of brimstone, and when the soldier gathered his wits,
there lay the feather cap and a little, round, black stone upon the
ground.
“Well,” said the soldier, “it is little wonder that the old man had
no liking to shoot at such game as that.” And thereupon he popped
the feather cap into one pocket and the round stone into another,
and shouldering his musket marched away until he reached the
town-gate, and there was the old man waiting for him.
“Did you shoot the bird?” said he.
“I did,” said the soldier.
“And did you get the cap and the round stone?”
“I did.”
“Then here is your dollar.”
“Wait a bit,” said the soldier, “I shot greater game that time
than I bargained for, and so it’s ten dollars and not one you shall
pay me before you lay finger upon the feather cap and the little
stone.”
“Very well,” said the old man, “here are ten dollars.”
“Ho! ho!” thought the soldier, “is that the way the wind
blows?”--“Did I say ten dollars?” said he; “’twas a hundred
dollars I meant.”
At that the old man frowned until his eyes shone green. “Very
well,” said he, “if it is a hundred dollars you want, you will have
to come home with me, for I have not so much with me.” Thereupon he
entered the town with the soldier at his heels.
Up one street he went and down another, until at last he came to
a great, black, ancient, ramshackle house; and that was where he
lived. In he walked without so much as a rap at the door, and so
led the way to a great room with furnaces and books and bottles
and jars and dust and cobwebs, and three grinning skulls upon the
mantelpiece, each with a candle stuck atop of it, and there he left
the soldier while he went to get the hundred dollars.
The soldier sat him down upon a three-legged stool in the corner
and began staring about him; and he liked the looks of the place as
little as any he had seen in all of his life, for it smelled musty
and dusty, it did: the three skulls grinned at him, and he began to
think that the little old man was no better than he should be. “I
wish,” says he, at last, “that instead of being here I might be
well out of my scrape and in a safe place.”
[Illustration]
Now the little old man in scarlet was a great magician, and there
was little or nothing in that house that had not some magic about
it, and of all things the three-legged stool had been conjured the
most.
“I wish that instead of being here I might be well out of my
scrape, and in a safe place.” That was what the soldier said; and
hardly had the words left his lips when--whisk! whir!--away flew
the stool through the window, so suddenly that the soldier had only
just time enough to gripe it tight by the legs to save himself from
falling. Whir! whiz!--away it flew like a bullet. Up and up it
went--so high in the air that the earth below looked like a black
blanket spread out in the night; and then down it came again,
with the soldier still griping tight to the legs, until at last it
settled as light as a feather upon a balcony of the king’s palace;
and when the soldier caught his wind again he found himself without
a hat, and with hardly any wits in his head.
There he sat upon the stool for a long time without daring to move,
for he did not know what might happen to him next. There he sat and
sat, and by-and-by his ears got cold in the night air, and then
he noticed for the first time that he had lost his head gear, and
bethought himself of the feather cap in his pocket. So out he drew
it and clapped it upon his head, and then--lo and behold!--he found
he had become as invisible as thin air--not a shred or a hair of
him could be seen. “Well!” said he, “here is another wonder, but I
am safe now at any rate.” And up he got to find some place not so
cool as where he sat.
He stepped in at an open window, and there he found himself in
a beautiful room, hung with cloth of silver and blue, and with
chairs and tables of white and gold; dozens and scores of waxlights
shone like so many stars, and lit every crack and cranny as bright
as day, and there at one end of the room upon a couch, with her
eyelids closed and fast asleep, lay the prettiest princess that
ever the sun shone upon. The soldier stood and looked and looked
at her, and looked and looked at her, until his heart melted within
him like soft butter, and then he kissed her.
“Who is that?” said the princess, starting up, wide-awake, but not
a soul could she see, because the soldier had the feather cap upon
his head.
“Who is that?” said she again; and then the soldier answered, but
without taking the feather cap from his head.
“It is I,” said he, “and I am King of the Wind, and ten times
greater than the greatest of kings here below. One day I saw you
walking in your garden and fell in love with you, and now I have
come to ask you if you will marry me and be my wife?”
“But how can I marry you?” said the princess, “without seeing you?”
“You shall see me,” said the soldier, “all in good time. Three days
from now I will come again, and will show myself to you, but just
now it cannot be. But if I come, will you marry me?”
“Yes I will,” said the princess, “for I like the way you talk--that
I do!”
Thereupon the soldier kissed her and said good-bye, and then
stepped out of the window as he had stepped in. He sat him down
upon his three-legged stool. “I wish,” said he, “to be carried to
such and such a tavern.” For he had been in that town before, and
knew the places where good living was to be had.
[Illustration]
Whir! whiz! Away flew the stool as high and higher than it had
flown before, and then down it came again, and down and down until
it lit as light as a feather in the street before the tavern
door. The soldier tucked his feather cap in his pocket, and the
three-legged stool under his arm, and in he went and ordered a pot
of beer and some white bread and cheese.
Meantime, at the king’s palace was such a gossiping and such a
hubbub as had not been heard there for many a day; for the pretty
princess was not slow in telling how the invisible King of the Wind
had come and asked her to marry him; and some said it was true and
some said it was not true, and everybody wondered and talked, and
told their own notions of the matter. But all agreed that three
days would show whether what had been told was true or no.
As for the soldier, he knew no more how to do what he had promised
to do than my grandmother’s cat; for where was he to get clothes
fine enough for the King of the Wind to wear? So there he sat on
his three-legged stool thinking and thinking, and if he had known
all that I know he would not have given two turns of his wit upon
it. “I wish,” says he, at last--“I wish that this stool could help
me now as well as it can carry me through the sky. I wish,” says
he, “that I had a suit of clothes such as the King of the Wind
might really wear.”
The wonders of the three-legged stool were wonders indeed!
Hardly had the words left the soldier’s lips when down came
something tumbling about his ears from up in the air; and what
should it be but just such a suit of clothes as he had in his
mind--all crusted over with gold and silver and jewels.
“Well,” says the soldier, as soon as he had got over his wonder
again, “I would rather sit upon this stool than any I ever saw.”
And so would I, if I had been in his place, and had a few minutes
to think of all that I wanted.
So he found out the trick of the stool, and after that wishing
and having were easy enough, and by the time the three days were
ended the real King of the Wind himself could not have cut a finer
figure. Then down sat the soldier upon his stool, and wished
himself at the king’s palace. Away he flew through the air, and
by-and-by there he was, just where he had been before. He put his
feather cap upon his head, and stepped in through the window, and
there he found the princess with her father, the king, and her
mother, the queen, and all the great lords and nobles waiting for
his coming; but never a stitch nor a hair did they see of him until
he stood in the very midst of them all. Then he whipped the feather
cap off of his head, and there he was, shining with silver and gold
and glistening with jewels--such a sight as man’s eyes never saw
before.
“Take her,” said the king, “she is yours.” And the soldier looked
so handsome in his fine clothes that the princess was as glad to
hear those words as any she had ever listened to in all of her life.
“You shall,” said the king, “be married to-morrow.”
“Very well,” said the soldier. “Only give me a plot of ground to
build a palace upon that shall be fit for the wife of the King of
the Wind to live in.”
“You shall have it,” said the king, “and it shall be the great
parade ground back of the palace, which is so wide and long that
all my army can march round and round in it without getting into
its own way; and that ought to be big enough.”
“Yes,” said the soldier, “it is.” Thereupon he put on his feather
cap and disappeared from the sight of all as quickly as one might
snuff out a candle.
He mounted his three-legged stool and away he flew through the air
until he had come again to the tavern where he was lodging. There
he sat him down and began to churn his thoughts, and the butter
he made was worth the having, I can tell you. He wished for a
grand palace of white marble, and then he wished for all sorts of
things to fill it--the finest that could be had. Then he wished for
servants in clothes of gold and silver, and then he wished for fine
horses and gilded coaches. Then he wished for gardens and orchards
and lawns and flower-plats and fountains, and all kinds and sorts
of things, until the sweat ran down his face from hard thinking and
wishing. And as he thought and wished, all the things he thought
and wished for grew up like soap-bubbles from nothing at all.
Then, when day began to break, he wished himself with his fine
clothes to be in the palace that his own wits had made, and away he
flew through the air until he had come there safe and sound.
But when the sun rose and shone down upon the beautiful palace and
all the gardens and orchards around it, the king and queen and all
the court stood dumb with wonder at the sight. Then, as they stood
staring, the gates opened and out came the soldier riding in his
gilded coach with his servants in silver and gold marching beside
him, and such a sight the daylight never looked upon before that
day.
Well, the princess and the soldier were married, and if no couple
had ever been happy in the world before, they were then. Nothing
was heard but feasting and merrymaking, and at night all the sky
was lit with fireworks. Such a wedding had never been before, and
all the world was glad that it had happened.
That is, all the world but one; that one was the old man dressed
in scarlet that the soldier had met when he first came to town.
While all the rest were in the hubbub of rejoicing, he put on his
thinking-cap, and by-and-by began to see pretty well how things
lay, and that, as they say in our town, there was a fly in the
milk-jug. “Ho, ho!” thought he, “so the soldier has found out all
about the three-legged stool, has he? Well, I will just put a spoke
into his wheel for him.” And so he began to watch for his chance to
do the soldier an ill turn.
Now, a week or two after the wedding, and after all the gay doings
had ended, a grand hunt was declared, and the king and his new
son-in-law and all the court went to it. That was just such a
chance as the old magician had been waiting for; so the night
before the hunting-party returned he climbed the walls of the
garden, and so came to the wonderful palace that the soldier had
built out of nothing at all, and there stood three men keeping
guard so that no one might enter.
[Illustration]
But little that troubled the magician. He began to mutter spells
and strange words, and all of a sudden he was gone, and in his
place was a great black ant, for he had changed himself into an
ant. In he ran through a crack of the door (and mischief has got
into many a man’s house through a smaller hole for the matter of
that). In and out ran the ant through one room and another, and
up and down and here and there, until at last in a far-away part
of the magic palace he found the three-legged stool, and if I
had been in the soldier’s place I would have chopped it up into
kindling-wood after I had gotten all that I wanted. But there it
was, and in an instant the magician resumed his own shape. Down he
sat him upon the stool. “I wish,” said he, “that this palace and
the princess and all who are within it, together with its orchards
and its lawns and its gardens and everything, may be removed to
such and such a country, upon the other side of the earth.”
And as the stool had obeyed the soldier, so everything was done now
just as the magician said.
The next morning back came the hunting-party, and as they rode over
the hill--lo and behold hold!--there lay stretched out the great
parade ground in which the king’s armies used to march around and
around, and the land was as bare as the palm of my hand. Not a
stick or a stone of the palace was left; not a leaf or a blade of
the orchards or gardens was to be seen.
The soldier sat as dumb as a fish, and the king stared with
eyes and mouth wide open. “Where is the palace, and where is my
daughter?” said he, at last, finding words and wit.
“I do not know,” said the soldier.
The king’s face grew as black as thunder. “You do not know?” he
said, “then you must find out. Seize the traitor!” he cried.
But that was easier said than done, for, quick as a wink, as they
came to lay hold of him, the soldier whisked the feather cap from
his pocket and clapped it upon his head, and then they might as
well have hoped to find the south wind in winter as to find him.
But though he got safe away from that trouble he was deep enough in
the dumps, you may be sure of that. Away he went, out into the wide
world, leaving that town behind him. Away he went, until by-and-by
he came to a great forest, and for three days he travelled on and
on--he knew not whither. On the third night, as he sat beside a
fire which he had built to keep him warm, he suddenly bethought
himself of the little round stone which had dropped from the bird’s
claw, and which he still had in his pocket. “Why should it not
also help me,” said he, “for there must be some wonder about it.”
So he brought it out, and sat looking at it and looking at it, but
he could make nothing of it for the life of him. Nevertheless, it
might have some wishing power about it, like the magic stool. “I
wish,” said the soldier, “that I might get out of this scrape.”
That is what we have all wished many and many a time in a like
case; but just now it did the soldier no more good to wish than it
does good for the rest of us. “Bah!” said he, “it is nothing but a
black stone after all.” And then he threw it into the fire.
Puff! Bang! Away flew the embers upon every side, and back tumbled
the soldier, and there in the middle of the flame stood just such a
grim, black being as he had one time shot at with the silver button.
As for the poor soldier, he just lay flat on his back and stared
with eyes like saucers, for he thought that his end had come for
sure.
“What are my lord’s commands?” said the being, in a voice that
shook the marrow of the soldier’s bones.
“Who are you?” said the soldier.
[Illustration]
“I am the spirit of the stone,” said the being. “You have heated it
in the flame, and I am here. Whatever you command I must obey.”
“Say you so?” cried the soldier, scrambling to his feet. “Very
well, then, just carry me to where I may find my wife and my palace
again.”
Without a word the spirit of the stone snatched the soldier up, and
flew away with him swifter than the wind. Over forest, over field,
over mountain and over valley he flew, until at last, just at the
crack of day, he set him down in front of his own palace gate in
the far country where the magician had transported it.
After that the soldier knew his way quickly enough. He clapped his
feather cap upon his head and into the palace he went, and from one
room to another, until at last he came to where the princess sat
weeping and wailing, with her pretty eyes red from long crying.
Then the soldier took off his cap again, and you may guess what
sounds of rejoicing followed. They sat down beside one another, and
after the soldier had eaten, the princess told him all that had
happened to her; how the magician had found the stool, and how he
had transported the palace to this far-away land; how he came every
day and begged her to marry him--which she would rather die than
do.
To all this the soldier listened, and when she had ended her story
he bade her to dry her tears, for, after all, the jug was only
cracked, and not past mending. Then he told her that when the
sorcerer came again that day she should say so and so and so and
so, and that he would be by to help her with his feather cap upon
his head.
After that they sat talking together as happy as two turtle-doves,
until the magician’s foot was heard on the stairs. And then the
soldier clapped his feather cap upon his head just as the door
opened.
“Snuff, snuff!” said the magician, sniffing the air, “here is a
smell of Christian blood.”
“Yes,” said the princess, “that is so; there came a peddler to-day,
but after all he did not stay long.”
“He’d better not come again,” said the magician, “or it will be the
worse for him. But tell me, will you marry me?”
“No,” said the princess, “I shall not marry you until you can prove
yourself to be a greater man than my husband.”
“Pooh!” said the magician, “that will be easy enough to prove; tell
me how you would have me do so and I will do it.”
“Very well,” said the princess, “then let me see you change
yourself into a lion. If you can do that I may perhaps believe you
to be as great as my husband.”
“It shall,” said the magician, “be as you say.” He began to mutter
spells and strange words, and then all of a sudden he was gone, and
in his place there stood a lion with bristling mane and flaming
eyes--a sight fit of itself to kill a body with terror.
“That will do!” cried the princess, quaking and trembling at the
sight, and thereupon the magician took his own shape again.
“Now,” said he, “do you believe that I am as great as the poor
soldier?”
“Not yet,” said the princess; “I have seen how big you can make
yourself, now I wish to see how little you can become. Let me see
you change yourself into a mouse.”
“So be it,” said the magician, and began again to mutter his
spells. Then all of a sudden he was gone just as he was gone
before, and in his place was a little mouse sitting up and looking
at the princess with a pair of eyes like glass beads.
But he did not sit there long. This was what the soldier had
planned for, and all the while he had been standing by with his
feather hat upon his head. Up he raised his foot, and down he set
it upon the mouse.
Crunch!--that was an end of the magician.
After that all was clear sailing; the soldier hunted up the
three-legged stool and down he sat upon it, and by dint of no more
than just a little wishing, back flew palace and garden and all
through the air again to the place whence it came.
I do not know whether the old king ever believed again that
his son-in-law was the King of the Wind; anyhow, all was peace
and friendliness thereafter, for when a body can sit upon a
three-legged stool and wish to such good purpose as the soldier
wished, a body is just as good as a king, and a good deal better,
to my mind.
[Illustration]
* * * * *
_The Soldier who cheated the Devil looked into his pipe; it was
nearly out. He puffed and puffed and the coal glowed brighter, and
fresh clouds of smoke rolled up into the air. Little Brown Betty
came and refilled, from a crock of brown foaming ale, the mug which
he had emptied. The Soldier who had cheated the Devil looked up at
her and winked one eye._
_“Now,” said St. George, “it is the turn of yonder old man,” and he
pointed, as he spoke, with the stem of his pipe towards old Bidpai,
who sat with closed eyes meditating inside of himself._
_The old man opened his eyes, the whites of which were as yellow as
saffron, and wrinkled his face into innumerable cracks and lines.
Then he closed his eyes again; then he opened them again; then he
cleared his throat and began_: “There was once upon a time a man
whom other men called Aben Hassen the Wise--”
_“One moment,” said Ali Baba; “will you not tell us what the story
is about?”_
_Old Bidpai looked at him and stroked his long white beard. “It
is,” said he, “about--”_
[Illustration]
The Talisman _of_ Solomon.
There was once upon a time a man whom other men called Aben Hassen
the Wise. He had read a thousand books of magic, and knew all that
the ancients or moderns had to tell of the hidden arts.
The King of the Demons of the Earth, a great and hideous monster,
named Zadok, was his servant, and came and went as Aben Hassen the
Wise ordered, and did as he bade. After Aben Hassen learned all
that it was possible for man to know, he said to himself, “Now I
will take my ease and enjoy my life.” So he called the Demon Zadok
to him, and said to the monster, “I have read in my books that
there is a treasure that was one time hidden by the ancient kings
of Egypt--a treasure such as the eyes of man never saw before or
since their day. Is that true?”
“It is true,” said the Demon.
“Then I command thee to take me to that treasure and to show it to
me,” said Aben Hassen the Wise.
“It shall be done,” said the Demon; and thereupon he caught up the
Wise Man and transported him across mountain and valley, across
land and sea, until he brought him to a country known as the “Land
of the Black Isles,” where the treasure of the ancient kings was
hidden. The Demon showed the Magician the treasure, and it was a
sight such as man had never looked upon before or since the days
that the dark, ancient ones hid it. With his treasure Aben Hassen
built himself palaces and gardens and paradises such as the world
never saw before. He lived like an emperor, and the fame of his
doings rang through all the four corners of the earth.
Now the queen of the Black Isles was the most beautiful woman in
the world, but she was as cruel and wicked and cunning as she was
beautiful. No man that looked upon her could help loving her; for
not only was she as beautiful as a dream, but her beauty was of
that sort that it bewitched a man in spite of himself.
One day the queen sent for Aben Hassen the Wise. “Tell me,” said
she, “is it true that men say of you that you have discovered a
hidden treasure such as the world never saw before?” And she looked
at Aben Hassen so that his wisdom all crumbled away like sand, and
he became just as foolish as other men.
“Yes,” said he, “it is true.”
Aben Hassen the Wise spent all that day with the queen, and when
he left the palace he was like a man drunk and dizzy with love.
Moreover, he had promised to show the queen the hidden treasure the
next day.
As Aben Hassen, like a man in a dream, walked towards his own
house, he met an old man standing at the corner of the street. The
old man had a talisman that hung dangling from a chain, and which
he offered for sale. When Aben Hassen saw the talisman he knew very
well what it was--that it was the famous talisman of King Solomon
the Wise. If he who possessed the talisman asked it to speak, it
would tell that man both what to do and what not to do.
The Wise Man bought the talisman for three pieces of silver (and
wisdom has been sold for less than that many a time), and as soon
as he had the talisman in his hands he hurried home with it and
locked himself in a room.
“Tell me,” said the Wise Man to the Talisman, “shall I marry the
beautiful queen of the Black Isles?”
“Fly, while there is yet time to escape!” said the Talisman; “but
go not near the queen again, for she seeks to destroy thy life.”
“But tell me, O Talisman!” said the Wise Man, “what then shall I do
with all that vast treasure of the kings of Egypt?”
“Fly from it while there is yet chance to escape!” said the
Talisman; “but go not into the treasure-house again, for in the
farther door, where thou hast not yet looked, is that which will
destroy him who possesses the treasure.”
“But Zadok,” said Aben Hassen; “what of Zadok?”
“Fly from the monster while there is yet time to escape,” said the
Talisman, “and have no more to do with thy Demon slave, for already
he is weaving a net of death and destruction about thy feet.”
The Wise Man sat all that night pondering and thinking upon what
the Talisman had said. When morning came he washed and dressed
himself, and called the Demon Zadok to him. “Zadok,” said he,
“carry me to the palace of the queen.” In the twinkling of an eye
the Demon transported him to the steps of the palace.
[Illustration]
“Zadok,” said the Wise Man, “give me the staff of life and death;”
and the Demon brought from under his clothes a wand, one-half of
which was of silver and one-half of which was of gold. The Wise Man
touched the steps of the palace with the silver end of the staff.
Instantly all the sound and hum of life was hushed. The thread of
life was cut by the knife of silence, and in a moment all was as
still as death.
“Zadok,” said the Wise Man, “transport me to the treasure-house of
the king of Egypt.” And instantly the Demon had transported him
thither. The Wise Man drew a circle upon the earth. “No one,” said
he, “shall have power to enter here but the master of Zadok, the
King of the Demons of the Earth.”
“And now, Zadok,” said he, “I command thee to transport me to
India, and as far from here as thou canst.” Instantly the Demon
did as he was commanded; and of all the treasure that he had, the
Wise Man took nothing with him but a jar of golden money and a jar
of silver money. As soon as the Wise Man stood upon the ground of
India, he drew from beneath his robe a little jar of glass.
“Zadok,” said he, “I command thee to enter this jar.”
Then the Demon knew that now his turn had come. He besought and
implored the Wise Man to have mercy upon him; but it was all in
vain. Then the Demon roared and bellowed till the earth shook and
the sky grew dark overhead. But all was of no avail; into the jar
he must go, and into the jar he went. Then the Wise Man stoppered
the jar and sealed it. He wrote an inscription of warning upon it,
and then he buried it in the ground.
“Now,” said Aben Hassen the Wise to the Talisman of Solomon, “have
I done everything that I should?”
“No,” said the Talisman, “thou shouldst not have brought the jar
of golden money and the jar of silver money with thee; for that
which is evil in the greatest is evil in the least. Thou fool! The
treasure is cursed! cast it all from thee while there is yet time.”
“Yes, I will do that, too,” said the Wise Man. So he buried in the
earth the jar of gold and the jar of silver that he had brought
with him, and then he stamped the mould down upon it. After that
the Wise Man began his life all over again. He bought, and he
sold, and he traded, and by-and-by he became rich. Then he built
himself a great house, and in the foundation he laid the jar in
which the Demon was bottled.
Then he married a young and handsome wife. By-and-by the wife bore
him a son, and then she died.
This son was the pride of his father’s heart; but he was as vain
and foolish as his father was wise, so that all men called him Aben
Hassen the Fool, as they called the father Aben Hassen the Wise.
Then one day death came and called the old man, and he left his son
all that belonged to him--even the Talisman of Solomon.
* * * * *
Young Aben Hassen the Fool had never seen so much money as now
belonged to him. It seemed to him that there was nothing in the
world he could not enjoy. He found friends by the dozens and
scores, and everybody seemed to be very fond of him.
He asked no questions of the Talisman of Solomon, for to his mind
there was no need of being both wise and rich. So he began enjoying
himself with his new friends. Day and night there was feasting and
drinking and singing and dancing and merrymaking and carousing;
and the money that the old man had made by trading and wise living
poured out like water through a sieve.
Then, one day came an end to all this junketing, and nothing
remained to the young spendthrift of all the wealth that his father
had left him. Then the officers of the law came down upon him and
seized all that was left of the fine things, and his fair-weather
friends flew away from his troubles like flies from vinegar. Then
the young man began to think of the Talisman of Wisdom. For it was
with him as it is with so many of us: When folly has emptied the
platter, wisdom is called in to pick the bones.
“Tell me,” said the young man to the Talisman of Solomon, “what
shall I do, now that everything is gone?”
“Go,” said the Talisman of Solomon, “and work as thy father has
worked before thee. Advise with me and become prosperous and
contented, but do not go dig under the cherry-tree in the garden.”
“Why should I not dig under the cherry-tree in the garden?” says
the young man; “I will see what is there, at any rate.”
So he straightway took a spade and went out into the garden, where
the Talisman had told him not to go. He dug and dug under the
cherry-tree, and by-and-by his spade struck something hard. It was
a vessel of brass, and it was full of silver money. Upon the lid of
the vessel were these words, engraved in the handwriting of the old
man who had died:
“My son, this vessel full of silver has been brought from the
treasure-house of the ancient kings of Egypt. Take this, then, that
thou findest; advise with the Talisman; be wise and prosper.”
“And they call that the Talisman of Wisdom,” said the young man.
“If I had listened to it I never would have found this treasure.”
The next day he began to spend the money he had found, and his
friends soon gathered around him again.
The vessel of silver money lasted a week, and then it was all gone;
not a single piece was left.
Then the young man bethought himself again of the Talisman of
Solomon. “What shall I do now,” said he, “to save myself from
ruin?”
“Earn thy bread with honest labor,” said the Talisman, “and I will
teach thee how to prosper; but do not dig beneath the fig-tree that
stands by the fountain in the garden.”
[Illustration]
The young man did not tarry long after he heard what the Talisman
had said. He seized a spade and hurried away to the fig-tree in the
garden as fast as he could run. He dug and dug, and by-and-by his
spade struck something hard. It was a copper vessel, and it was
filled with gold money. Upon the lid of the vessel was engraved
these words in the handwriting of the old man who had gone: “My
son, my son,” they said, “thou hast been warned once; be warned
again. The gold money in this vessel has been brought from the
treasure-house of the ancient kings of Egypt. Take it; be advised
by the Talisman of Solomon; be wise and prosper.”
“And to think that if I had listened to the Talisman, I would never
have found this,” said the young man.
The gold in the vessel lasted maybe for a month of jollity and
merrymaking, but at the end of that time there was nothing
left--not a copper farthing.
“Tell me,” said the young man to the Talisman, “what shall I do
now?”
“Thou fool,” said the Talisman, “go sweat and toil, but do not go
down into the vault beneath this house. There in the vault is a red
stone built into the wall. The red stone turns upon a pivot. Behind
the stone is a hollow space. As thou wouldst save thy life from
peril, go not near it!”
“Hear that now,” says the young man, “first, this Talisman told
me not to go, and I found silver. Then it told me not to go, and
I found gold; now it tells me not to go--perhaps I shall find
precious stones enough for a king’s ransom.”
He lit a lantern and went down into the vault beneath the house.
There, as the Talisman had said, was the red stone built into the
wall. He pressed the stone, and it turned upon its pivot as the
Talisman had said it would turn. Within was a hollow space, as
the Talisman said there would be. In the hollow space there was
a casket of silver. The young man snatched it up, and his hands
trembled for joy.
Upon the lid of the box were these words in the father’s
handwriting, written in letters as red as blood: “Fool, fool! Thou
hast been a fool once, thou hast been a fool twice; be not a fool
for a third time. Restore this casket whence it was taken, and
depart.”
“I will see what is in the box, at any rate,” said the young man.
He opened it. There was nothing in it but a hollow glass jar the
size of an egg. The young man took the jar from the box; it was as
hot as fire. He cried out and let it fall. The jar burst upon the
floor with a crack of thunder; the house shook and rocked, and the
dust flew about in clouds. Then all was still; and when Aben Hassen
the Fool could see through the cloud of terror that enveloped him
he beheld a great, tall, hideous being as black as ink, and with
eyes that shone like coals of fire.
When the young man saw that terrible creature his tongue clave to
the roof of his mouth, and his knees smote together with fear, for
he thought that his end had now certainly come.
“Who are you?” he croaked, as soon as he could find his voice.
“I am the King of the Demons of the Earth, and my name is Zadok,”
answered the being. “I was once thy father’s slave, and now I am
thine, thou being his son. When thou speakest I must obey, and
whatever thou commandest me to do that I must do.”
“For instance, what can you do for me?” said the young man.
“I can do whatsoever you ask me; I can make you rich.”
“You can make me rich?”
“Yes, I can make you richer than a king.”
“Then make me rich as soon as you can,” said Aben Hassen the Fool,
“and that is all that I shall ask of you now.”
“It shall be done,” said the Demon; “spend all that thou canst
spend, and thou shalt always have more. Has my lord any further
commands for his slave?”
“No,” said the young man, “there is nothing more; you may go now.”
And thereupon the Demon vanished like a flash.
“And to think,” said the young man, as he came up out of the
vault--“and to think that all this I should never have found if I
had obeyed the Talisman.”
[Illustration]
Such riches were never seen in that land as the young man now
possessed. There was no end to the treasure that poured in upon
him. He lived like an emperor. He built a palace more splendid
than the palace of the king. He laid out vast gardens of the most
exquisite beauty, in which there were fountains as white as snow,
trees of rare fruit and flowers that filled all the air with their
perfume, summer-houses of alabaster and ebony.
Every one who visited him was received like a prince, entertained
like a king, given a present fit for an emperor, and sent away
happy. The fame of all these things went out through all the land,
and every one talked of him and the magnificence that surrounded
him.
It came at last to the ears of the king himself, and one day he
said to his minister, “Let us go and see with our own eyes if all
the things reported of this merchant’s son are true.”
So the king and his minister disguised themselves as foreign
merchants, and went that evening to the palace where the young man
lived. A servant dressed in clothes of gold and silver cloth stood
at the door, and called to them to come in and be made welcome.
He led them in, and to a chamber lit with perfumed lamps of gold.
Then six black slaves took them in charge and led them to a bath
of white marble. They were bathed in perfumed water and dried
with towels of fine linen. When they came forth they were clad in
clothes of cloth of silver, stiff with gold and jewels. Then twelve
handsome white slaves led them through a vast and splendid hall to
a banqueting-room.
When they entered they were deafened with the noise of carousing
and merrymaking.
Aben Hassen the Fool sat at the head of the table upon a throne of
gold, with a canopy of gold above his head. When he saw the king
and the minister enter, he beckoned to them to come and sit beside
him. He showed them special favor because they were strangers, and
special servants waited upon them.
The king and his minister had never seen anything like what they
then saw. They could hardly believe it was not all magic and
enchantment. At the end of the feast each of the guests was given
a present of great value, and was sent away rejoicing. The king
received a pearl as big as a marble; the minister a cup of wrought
gold.
The next morning the king and the prime-minister were talking
over what they had seen. “Sire,” said the prime-minister, “I have
no doubt but that the young man has discovered some vast hidden
treasure. Now, according to the laws of this kingdom, the half
of any treasure that is discovered shall belong to the king’s
treasury. If I were in your place I would send for this young man
and compel him to tell me whence comes all this vast wealth.”
“That is true,” said the king; “I had not thought of that before.
The young man shall tell me all about it.”
So they sent a royal guard and brought the young man to the king’s
palace. When the young man saw in the king and the prime-minister
his guests of the night before, whom he had thought to be only
foreign merchants, he fell on his face and kissed the ground before
the throne. But the king spoke to him kindly, and raised him up and
sat him on the seat beside him. They talked for a while concerning
different things, and then the king said at last, “Tell me, my
friend, whence comes all the inestimable wealth that you must
possess to allow you to live as you do?”
“Sire,” said the young man, “I cannot tell you whence it comes. I
can only tell you that it is given to me.”
[Illustration]
The king frowned. “You cannot tell,” said he; “you must tell. It is
for that that I have sent for you, and you must tell me.”
Then the young man began to be frightened. “I beseech you,” said
he, “do not ask me whence it comes. I cannot tell you.”
Then the king’s brows grew as black as thunder. “What!” cried
he, “do you dare to bandy words with me? I know that you have
discovered some treasure. Tell me upon the instant where it is; for
the half of it, by the laws of the land, belongs to me, and I will
have it.”
At the king’s words Aben Hassen the Fool fell on his knees. “Sire,”
said he, “I will tell you all the truth. There is a demon named
Zadok--a monster as black as a coal. He is my slave, and it is he
that brings me all the treasure that I enjoy.” The king thought
nothing else than that Aben Hassen the Fool was trying to deceive
him. He laughed; he was very angry. “What,” cried he, “do you amuse
me by such an absurd and unbelievable tale? Now I am more than
ever sure that you have discovered a treasure and that you wish
to keep the knowledge of it from me, knowing, as you do, that the
one-half of it by law belongs to me. Take him away!” cried he to
his attendants. “Give him fifty lashes, and throw him into prison.
He shall stay there and have fifty lashes every day until he tells
me where his wealth is hidden.”
It was done as the king said, and by-and-by Aben Hassen the Fool
lay in the prison, smarting and sore with the whipping he had had.
Then he began again to think of the Talisman of Solomon.
“Tell me,” said he to the Talisman, “what shall I do now to help
myself in this trouble?”
“Bear thy punishment, thou fool,” said the Talisman. “Know that
the king will by-and-by pardon thee and will let thee go. In the
meantime bear thy punishment; perhaps it will cure thee of thy
folly. Only do not call upon Zadok, the King of the Demons, in this
thy trouble.”
The young man smote his hand upon his head. “What a fool I am,”
said he, “not to have thought to call upon Zadok before this!” Then
he called aloud, “Zadok, Zadok! If thou art indeed my slave, come
hither at my bidding.”
In an instant there sounded a rumble as of thunder. The floor
swayed and rocked beneath the young man’s feet. The dust flew in
clouds, and there stood Zadok as black as ink, and with eyes that
shone like coals of fire.
“I have come,” said Zadok, “and first let me cure thy smarts, O
master.”
He removed the cloths from the young man’s back, and rubbed the
places that smarted with a cooling unguent. Instantly the pain and
smarting ceased, and the merchant’s son had perfect ease.
“Now,” said Zadok, “what is thy bidding?”
“Tell me,” said Aben Hassen the Fool, “whence comes all the wealth
that you have brought me? The king has commanded me to tell him and
I could not, and so he has had me beaten with fifty lashes.”
“I bring the treasure,” said Zadok, “from the treasure-house of the
ancient kings of Egypt. That treasure I at one time discovered to
your father, and he, not desiring it himself, hid it in the earth
so that no one might find it.”
“And where is this treasure-house, O Zadok?” said the young man.
“It is in the city of the queen of the Black Isles,” said the
King of the Demons; “there thy father lived in a palace of such
magnificence as thou hast never dreamed of. It was I that brought
him thence to this place with one vessel of gold money and one
vessel of silver money.”
“It was you who brought him here, did you say, Zadok? Then, tell
me, can you take me from here to the city of the queen of the Black
Isles, whence you brought him?”
“Yes,” said Zadok, “with ease.”
“Then,” said the young man, “I command you to take me thither
instantly, and to show me the treasure.”
[Illustration]
“I obey,” said Zadok.
He stamped his foot upon the ground. In an instant the walls of
the prison split asunder, and the sky was above them. The Demon
leaped from the earth, carrying the young man by the girdle, and
flew through the air so swiftly that the stars appeared to slide
away behind them. In a moment he set the young man again upon the
ground, and Aben Hassen the Fool found himself at the end of what
appeared to be a vast and splendid garden.
“We are now,” said Zadok, “above the treasure-house of which I
spoke. It was here that I saw thy father seal it so that no one but
the master of Zadok may enter. Thou mayst go in any time it may
please thee, for it is thine.”
“I would enter into it now,” said Aben Hassen the Fool.
“Thou shalt enter,” said Zadok. He stooped, and with his
finger-point he drew a circle upon the ground where they stood;
then he stamped with his heel upon the circle. Instantly the
earth opened, and there appeared a flight of marble steps leading
downward into the earth. Zadok led the way down the steps and
the young man followed. At the bottom of the steps was a door of
adamant. Upon the door were these words in letters as black as ink,
in the handwriting of the old man who had gone:
“Oh, fool! fool! Beware what thou doest. Within here shalt thou
find death!”