Sometimes he lost sight of the light, and again he caught it, till it
became brighter and brighter, and very soon he came to a high rock, on
the top of which was perched a tall dark tower. After groping about,
he found a narrow path that led up to the tower. From one of the
windows of the tower the light was brightly shining. He went up a
flight of steep steps till he reached a massive door covered with
iron, and knocked as loud as he could, when a large dog began barking
furiously inside, and springing up to the door, as if it would tear it
down. Then a gruff voice called out of a window over the door, “Who is
there? Who disturbs me in this way?”
The little boy replied, “Please, sir, I am Eric, son of King Magnus,
and I have lost my way in this wood.”
“The son of the king, are you?” asked the voice. “That is a grand
joke! Let me have a sight of you.” Then the window was shut, and he
heard footsteps coming tramp, tramp down the stairs, and the voice
said to the dog, “Lie down, hound, and don’t be greedy! You would not
eat a young prince, would you? Lie down!”
The door was then opened by a fierce-looking man with a long beard.
The man bid him enter, and examined him about himself and his journey.
Eric answered truly every question.
Then the man rang a bell for an old woman who lived in the house, and
bid her take the boy with her, and give him his supper. The old woman
looked very ugly and very cross, and led Eric up, up, a great number
of dark gloomy stairs, until she reached a small room, with a bed and
table in it, where she bade Eric wait till she brought him supper.
The big hound followed them, and stayed in the room while the woman
went away. Eric was at first afraid of the dog, he was so large and
wild-looking; but he came and laid his head on his knee, and Eric
scratched his ears, and patted him, and was very kind to him. The
supper came, and little Eric managed to keep a few bits of meat out of
his own supper for the dog, and when the old woman went out of the
room he fed the hound, who seemed very hungry, and said to him, “Good
dog, I love you very much.” The dog wagged his tail, and looked up
kindly with his large eyes, for he was thankful for his supper, and
ate much more than Eric.
“Now,” said the old woman gruffly, when she took away the remains of
the supper, “you have ate what would do me for a week. You won’t
starve, master prince. Go to bed.”
The old woman left him, but suddenly returning, she discovered Eric on
his knees. As he rose she scoffed and jeered him, and asked, “Do you
always say your prayers?”
“Yes, always,” replied the boy.
“Who taught you?”
“My mother, who is dead.”
The old woman heaved a deep sigh, but the boy did not know why.
Perhaps she used to pray when she was a little girl herself, and had
given up doing so, and become wicked; or perhaps she thought of some
child of her own whom she had never taught to pray. She then went away
without speaking a word more, and Eric was left in darkness. He looked
out through the narrow window of his room, but could see nothing but
black clouds rushing over the sky. Far down he heard a stream roaring,
and the wind, which now blew a gale, came booming over the tree-tops,
and howling round the tower. Every now and then a flash lighted up the
forest, and the thunder crashed in the sky. It was a fearful night!
By-and-by Eric heard footsteps at his door, and immediately the man
with the beard entered it, and sat down. “Do you know,” he asked,
“where your father is?”
“No,” said Eric; “as I told you, I lost my way in the forest, and have
been wandering all day, and cannot find him; but perhaps you will send
some one to-morrow with me to show me the way to his castle, and I am
sure my kind, good father will give you a rich reward.”
“You are very, very far from your father’s house,” said the man, “and
I fear you will never see him again; but come with me, and I shall
show you some beautiful things that will please you.” So the man took
Eric by the hand, and, carrying a bright lamp in the other, led him
into a room that seemed full of gold and silver, with beautiful
dresses sparkling with diamonds, and every kind of splendour, and he
said, “Stay with me, my boy, and I will give you all this, for I am a
king too, and will make you my heir.”
“Oh no, no,” said Eric; “I will never forsake my own father.”
The man then said, “If you stay with me, you need never go to school
all day, but may amuse yourself from morning till night, and have a
beautiful pony to ride, and a gun to shoot deer with, and also
fishing-rods, and a servant to attend you, and any kind of meat and
drink you like best. Do stay with me!”
“You are very kind,” said Eric, “but I cannot be happy without my
father. Oh, my dear father! if I found you I would never leave you
more!”
“Come then with me, my fine fellow, and I shall show you something
different,” said the man, seizing Eric firmly by the arm, and looking
very fierce.
After walking along a passage, from the end of which confused noises
came, a door was opened, and in a large hall, round a great oak table,
sat a company of fierce-looking men, drinking from large flagons which
stood before them. Their faces were red, and their eyes gleamed like
fire. Ralph placed Eric on the table. One of the robbers was singing
this song:――
“We’re the famous robber band――
Hurrah!
The lords of all the land――
Hurrah!
A fig for law or duty,
If we only get our booty;
With a fa, lal, la, la, la!
“Our law is what we will――
Hurrah!
So we lie, and rob, or kill――
Hurrah!
‘Every man to mind himself,’
Is the rule of Captain Ralph;
With a fa, lal, la, la, la!”
No wonder poor Eric trembled as he heard that lawless band thus
glorying in their shame, and like demons singing their horrid song in
praise of all that was most dreadful and most wicked. He had read
stories of robbers, which sometimes made him think that they were
fine, brave fellows, but now that he was among them, he saw how
depraved, cruel, and frightful they were. Their savage, coarse looks
terrified him; but he was held by Ralph on the table.
When the song was ended, one of them asked, “Whom have we got here?”
“Who do you think?” replied Ralph. “What would you say, my men, to a
young prince――no less than the son of our great enemy, King Magnus?”
“A young prince! The son of Magnus! What a prize!” they exclaimed.
“What shall we do with him?”
“First of all, let us have his gold belt,” said Ralph, unbuckling
Eric’s belt. “Ha! what a pretty thing it is!”
“My father gave it to me, and I don’t wish to part with it. The
swineherd Wolf tried to take it from me, but I fought him, and kept
it,” said Eric.
“Wolf is a brave young robber,” replied Ralph, “and he shall have it
for his trouble. In the meantime, my lad, it is mine. But what, my
men, shall we do with the prince?”
“Kill him,” said one.
“Starve him to death,” said another.
“Put his eyes out, and send him back to his father,” said a third.
Eric prayed to God, but said nothing.
“I propose,” said Ralph, “to make him a captain if he will stay with
us.”
“Never!” said Eric; “I would rather die!”
“Let him die, then,” said a fierce robber; “for his father hung my
brother for killing one of his nobles.”
“I tell you what we will do with the lion’s whelp,” said Ralph: “let
us keep him in prison, and send a message to his father that we have
him snug in a den among the mountains, and that, unless he sends us an
immense ransom, we shall kill him.”
“That will do famously,” said the robbers; “so off with him!”
Then Ralph led the boy downstairs――down, down, until Eric thought they
never would stop――and at last they came to an iron door, with great
bars on it, and a large lock, and Ralph turned to Eric, and said, “I
know your father, and I hate him! for he sends his soldiers after me,
and tries to save travellers from me; and now I have got his son. I
will keep you here till you die, or till he pays!” Then he opened the
dungeon door, and thrust Eric in. When it closed it echoed like
thunder through the passages. Eric lay down on the dungeon floor, and
wept till his heart seemed to break.
All seemed a strange dream. Oh, how he repented having disobeyed his
father! and how he seemed to be as bad as the dreadful robbers in
having done what he pleased, and followed his own will, instead of
doing what was right! After some time he heard some rustling, as if
high up on the wall, and a voice whispering “Eric!”
“Who is there?” asked Eric, and his little heart trembled.
“Silence! quiet! it is Wolf. Here is a small window in your prison,
and I have opened it outside; climb up, get out, and run for your
life.”
Eric heard no more, but scrambled in the dark up the rough stones in
the wall until he reached the window. As he looked out he saw the
stars and the woods. He soon forced his way through, and dropped down
on the opposite side. Some one caught him in his arms. It was Wolf.
“Here is your gold band, Eric. I got it from Ralph; for He who was
speaking in the thunder has been saying things in my heart. You were
kind to poor Wolf. Now run for your life! I shall close the window
again. Ralph will never know how you got out, and he will not open the
prison door till after breakfast. So you have a long time. Run as long
as you can along that road till you reach a hill, then cross it and
follow a stream. Run off!”
“Bless you, Wolf!” said Eric; “I shall never forget you.”
Poor Eric! how he ran, and ran, beneath the stars! He felt no fatigue
for a time. He thought he heard the robbers after him; every time the
wind blew loud, he imagined it was their wild cry. On he ran till he
reached the hill, and crossed it, and came to a green spot beneath a
rock, when he could run no more, but fell down, and whether he fainted
or fell asleep he could not tell.