Eric had now to endure a great trial of his faith in the thread. As he
journeyed on, the thread led him up a winding path towards the summit
of a hill, descending which the large trees of the forest were left
behind, and small stunted bushes grew among masses of gray rocks. The
path was like the bed of a dry brook, and was often very steep. There
were no birds, except little stonechats, that hopped and chirped among
the large round stones. Far below, he could see the tops of the trees,
and here and there a stream glittering under the sunbeams. Nothing
disturbed the silence but the hoarse croak of the raven, or the wild
cry of a kite or an eagle, that, like a speck, wheeled far up in the
sky. But, suddenly, Eric heard a roar like thunder, that seemed to
come from the direction towards which the thread was leading him. He
stopped for a moment, but the thread was firm in his hand and led
right up the hill. On he went, and no wonder he was afraid, when, as
he turned the corner of a rock, he heard another roar, and saw the
head of a large lion looking out of what seemed to be a cave, a few
yards back from the edge of a dizzy precipice! He saw, too, that the
path he must follow was between the lion’s den and the precipice! What
now was to be done? Would he give up his thread and fly? No! A voice
in his heart encouraged him to be brave and not fear, and he knew from
his experience that he had always been led in safety and peace when he
followed the road, holding fast to his thread. He was certain that his
father never would deceive him, or bid him do anything but what was
right; and he was sure, too, that the lady, from her love to him, and
her teaching him to trust God and to pray, would not have bid him do
anything that was wrong. And then an old verse his nurse taught him
came into his mind,――
“Fear not to do right,
Fear not the grave;
But fear to do wrong,
Your life to save.”
All this, and much more, passed through little Eric’s mind in a
minute, and so he resolved to go on, come what might. There was just
one thing he saw which cheered him, and that was a white hare, sitting
with her ears cocked, quite close to the lion’s den, and he wondered
how she had no fear, but could not explain it at the time. On he went,
but he could hardly breathe, as the thread led still nearer and nearer
the den. These big eyes were glaring on him, and seemed to draw him
closer and closer! There the lion was, on one side of the path, and
the great precipice on the other. One step more, and he was between
them. He went on until he was so near that he seemed to feel the
lion’s breath, when suddenly he sprang out on him, and tried to strike
him with his huge paw that would have crushed him to the dust! Eric
shut his eyes, and gave himself up for lost. But the lion suddenly
fell back, for he was held fast by a great iron chain, and so Eric
passed in safety!
Oh! how thankful he was! and how gladly he ran downhill, the lion
roaring behind him in his den. Down he ran until all was quiet again.
As he pursued his journey in the beautiful green woods, something told
him his greatest trial was past. He felt very peaceful and strong. And
now, as he reached some noble old beech-trees, the thread fell on the
grass, and he took this as a sign that he should lie down too, and so
he did, grateful for the rest. He ate some of his cake that tasted so
nice, and drank from a clear spring beside him, and gathered wild
strawberries which grew in abundance all round him, and thus had quite
a feast. He then stretched himself on his back among soft moss, and
looked up through the branches of the gigantic trees, and watched with
delight the sunlight speckling the emerald green leaves and brown bark
with touches of silver, and, far up, the deep blue sky with white
clouds reposing on it, like snowy islands on a blue ocean; and he
watched the squirrels with their bushy tails, as they ran up the
trees, and jumped from branch to branch, and sported among the leaves,
until he fell into a sort of pleasant day-dream, and felt so happy, he
hardly knew why.
As he lay here, he thought he heard in his half-waking dream a little
squirrel sing a song. Was it not his own heart, now so glad because
doing what was right, which was singing? This was the song which he
thought he heard:――
“I’m a merry, merry squirrel;
All day I leap and whirl,
Through my home in the old beech-tree;
If you chase me, I will run
In the shade and in the sun,
But you never, never can catch me!
For round a bough I’ll creep,
Playing hide-and-seek so sly,
Or through the leaves Bo-peep,
With my little shining eye.
Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!
“Up and down I run and frisk,
With my bushy tail to whisk
All who mope in the old beech-trees;
How droll to see the owl,
As I make him wink and growl,
When his sleepy, sleepy head I tease!
And I waken up the bat,
Who flies off with a scream,
For he thinks that I’m the cat
Pouncing on him in his dream.
Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!
“Through all the summer long
I never want a song,
From my birds in the old beech-trees;
I have singers all the night,
And with the morning bright,
Come my busy humming fat brown bees.
When I’ve nothing else to do,
With the nursing birds I sit,
And we laugh at the cuckoo
A-cuckooing to her tit!
Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!
“When winter comes with snow,
And its cruel tempests blow
All the leaves from my old beech-trees,
Then beside the wren and mouse
I furnish up a house,
Where like a prince I live at my ease!
What care I for hail or sleet,
With my cosy cap and coat!
And my tail upon my feet,
Or wrapped about my throat!
Ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha! ha, ha, ha!”
As Eric opened his eyes and looked up, he saw a little squirrel with
its tail curling up its back, sitting on a branch looking down upon
him; and then it playfully ran away with the tail waving after it.
“Farewell, happy little fellow!” said Eric; “I must do my work now,
and play like you afterwards;” for now the thread again became tight,
and Eric, refreshed with his rest, and hearty for his journey, stepped
out bravely. He saw, at some distance beyond an open glade in the
forest, a rapid river towards which he was descending, when he thought
he perceived something struggling in the stream, and then heard a loud
cry or scream for help, as if from one drowning. He was almost tempted
to run off to his assistance without his thread, but he felt thankful
that the thread became tight again, and led in the very direction from
whence he heard the cries coming. So off he ran as fast as he could,
and as he came to the brink of a deep, dark pool in the river, he saw
the head of a boy rising above the water, as the poor little fellow
tried to keep himself afloat. Now he sank――again he rose――until he
suddenly sank down and did not again appear. Eric laid hold of his
thread with a firm hand and leaped in over head and ears, and then
rose to the surface, and with his other hand swam to where the boy had
disappeared. He soon caught him, and brought him with great difficulty
to the surface, which he never could have done unless the thread had
supported them both above the water.
“Eric!” cried the gasping boy, opening his eyes, almost covered by his
long wet hair.
“Wolf, is it you?” It was indeed poor Wolf, who lay panting on the dry
land, with his hairy clothes dripping with water, and himself hardly
able to speak. “Oh, tell me, Wolf, what brought you here? I am so glad
to have helped you!”
After a little time, when Wolf could speak, he told him in his own
way, bit by bit, how Ralph had suspected him; and how the old woman
had heard him speaking as she was looking out of an upper window; and
how when Ralph asked the gold belt he could not give it; and how he
was obliged himself to fly; and how he had been running for his life
for hours. “Now let us fly,” said Wolf; “I am quite strong again. I
fear that they are in pursuit of us.”
They both went on at a quick pace, Eric having shown Wolf the thread
he had asked him about the day before, and explained to him how he
must never part with it, come what might. “Oh, rub-a-dub, dub!” said
Wolf, squeezing the water out of his hair, as he trotted along; “I am
glad to be away. Ralph would have killed me like a pig. The voice told
me to run after you.” So on they went as fast as they could, when
suddenly Wolf stopped, and listening with anxious face he said, “Hark!
did you hear anything?”
“No,” said Eric; “what was it?”
“Hush!――listen!――there again――I hear it!”
“I think I do hear something far off like a dog’s bark,” replied Eric.
“Hark!”
So they both stopped and listened, and far away they heard a deep
“Bow-wow-wow-wow-o-o-o-o-o” echoing through the forest.
“Let us run as fast as we can,” said the boy, in evident fear; “hear
him――hear him!”
“Bow-wow-wow-o-o-o-o,” and the sound came nearer and nearer.
“What is it? why are you so afraid?” anxiously inquired Eric.
“Oh! that is Ralph’s bloodhound, Tuscar,” cried Wolf, “and he is
following us. He won’t perhaps touch me, but you he may.” So Eric ran
as fast as he could, but never let go the gold thread, which this time
led up a steep hill, which they were obliged to scramble up. “Run,
Eric!――quick――hide――up a tree――anywhere!”
“I cannot, I dare not,” said Eric; “whatever happens, I must hold fast
my thread.”
But they heard the “Bow-wow-o-o-o” coming nearer and nearer, and as
they looked back they saw an immense hound rush out of the wood, and
as he came to the water he saw the boys on the opposite hill, and so
he leaped into the stream, and in a few minutes would be near them.
And now he came bellowing like a fierce bull up the hill, his tongue
hanging out, and his nose smelling along the ground, following their
footsteps.
“I shall run and meet him,” said Wolf, “and stop him if I can;” and
down ran the swineherd, calling “Tuscar! Tuscar! good dog, Tuscar!”
But though Tuscar knew Wolf, he passed him, and ran up to Eric. As he
reached Eric, who stood calm and firm, the bloodhound stopped panting,
smelling his clothes all round, but, strange to say, wagging his huge
tail, and then ran back the way he had come, as if he had made a
mistake, and all his race was for nothing! It was the large hound Eric
had fed! So his kindness was not lost even on the dog.