[Illustration]
THE
WONDERFUL STORIES
OF
FUZ-BUZ THE FLY
AND
MOTHER GRABEM
THE
SPIDER.
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
1867.
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania.
[Illustration]
MRS. GRABEM AND FUZ-BUZ.
Mrs. Grabem was a hairy spider who knit cobwebs and caught flies and
brought up a small household of nine young spiders.
When I first knew this happy family, and learned all the wonderful
things they heard and did, their home was as pretty a place as a spider
need want. Their web was spun to and fro across the crotch of an old
apple tree, and when they looked down they could see the green grass,
and when they looked up they could see the great jolly red apples which
must have looked to those young spiders just as the stars look to our
own young folks.
On one side of their web, Mrs. Grabem had knit with great labour a long
dark cave all of cobweb, where the family slept at night, and where
they lay trembling while the great winds blew and the tree rocked and
bent.
One fine breezy morning in June, when the leaves above were clapping
their palms for joy at growing, and when the birds were tossing little
love songs to one another, the old lady sat mending her web which a
great wasp had broken. Meanwhile, the young spiders chased each other
along one thread and down another and shook the dew from the web as
they played.
"Ah!" said the eldest of them, as he saw it sparkle in the sun, "these
must be the diamonds we have heard about."
"No," said another, "they look to me blue, they are turquoises."
"Geese!" said a third, who was on a distant part of the web, "they are
drops of gold, any one can see they are yellow."
At this they fell to abusing each other, when suddenly the old lady
cried out, "Foolish children, if you change places you will see that
each of you is right. You make me think of a tale which my grandmother
used to tell me. It is a story which has come down in our family from
your ancestor who gave Robert Bruce such very good advice without ever
saying a word. You know that the king was looking at the spider when he
was swinging a line, striving to fasten it. The spider having tried six
times was about to stop, for before this spiders never tried more than
six times. But when he looked up and saw the king he knew just what was
needed to give him courage, and therefore it was that the spider made
one more mighty effort, and so at last made fast the web.
"Thus you see that our ancestor invented trying seven times, although
I think the Bruce usually gets more credit than the spider. When this
wise spider grew older he went to Spain in the helmet of the good
Lord Douglas who was killed by the Moors, so that they got his helmet
and your great-great-great-grandfather, who kept quiet enough in the
darkest corner until he was carried to Granada, where he lived a long
while and found the flies many, and tender, and of good flavour. And
this was one of his stories which he had gotten at Granada, when he lay
among the Moors."
Then all the young spiders listened, and the old mother spider began.
"One night the King Almanzor was walking alone when he overheard three
water-carriers gossiping.
"'I would not be the King,' said Amric, the first who spoke. 'Every
morning before prayers I peep through a crack in the wall of the Palace
garden, and always I see the King grave and sober, just when the sun is
rising red and the birds are laughing and telling their dreams. I would
not be a King, to look sober at dawn every day in the year. A grave man
is the King.'
"'Bosh!' said the second, whose name was Hassan. 'The King is a sad
man. He must have done some evil in his youth, for just before noon-day
prayers I look into the Palace garden from my window, and lo! always
the King kneels weeping at the great fountain, which we call the forest
of waters.'
"'And I,' cried Amrah, 'think ye both wrong. A merry man is King
Almanzor. For ever at evening, when the minarets call to prayer, I have
seen the King at the fountain laughing, always laughing, always glad. A
foolish man must the King be to laugh at nothing.'
"'He's too sober,' said one.
"'Too sad,' cried the second.
"'Too merry,' said the third.
"Then each held to his own opinion, and abused the others, until from
words they came to blows.
"This roused the guard, who seized upon the whole three, and was taking
them away, when the King whispered to the Captain to bring them to the
Palace the next day.
"Accordingly in the morning they were brought to the King in the garden
before prayer time.
"'I hear,' said Almanzor, 'that you talked of me last night. It is said
that you think me sober, sad, and foolish.'
"Not one of them answered.
"'I will think of your crime, and how you shall be punished. Begone,
and return hither at noon.'
"At noon-tide they were brought again to the King, who said to them
gravely, 'You have abused the King. You shall die to-morrow.'
"'Woe is me!" cried they all, and as they were led away the King stayed
weeping by the water's edge.
"But at evening, the guard took them out yet once more, and this time
the King was merry, and the sound of music mocked their sadness.
"'You are pardoned,' said the King Almanzor. 'Judge not lightly of me
again. In the morning I reflect on the crimes which I have to judge,
and then I am grave. At noon I condemn some to die, and then ever I
weep. But at night-fall I pardon the least guilty, and then always I am
glad at heart. Be ye also merry to-night, and to-morrow wiser.'
"And thus saying, the King gave them a purse of gold and turned away."
"What a little story," cried the young spiders.
"Hush!" answered Mrs. Grabem. "Now I must mend this hole in our cobweb.
But, bless me! run to the den. Here comes a big fly."
Quick as could be they all ran into the dark passage and Mrs. Grabem
stayed at the door. Pretty soon the fly flew near. He was a handsome
gay fellow all over gold and purple and sparkling in the sun-light. He
thought he would have a little of the nice gum which flowed from the
apple tree bark, so he flew nearer, but just as he alighted his legs
caught in the net and then what a fuss he made! Buz, Buz, and pulled
and bit, but it was in vain, for he was held fast by a long cobweb
which allowed him to go a little way but no further.
Then Mrs. Grabem ran out, and pulled at the web, and drew him near,
when all the little spiders began to sing, "We shall have a good
breakfast."
"What! do you mean to eat me?" said Fuz-buz, the Fly. "I never hurt
you."
"Oh no," said Mrs. Grabem, "you will do us a great deal of good very
soon. You are a queer-looking fly any how. I hope you won't disagree
with my children. Where do you live?"
"In Spain," replied Fuz-buz proudly. "I am a Spanish fly."
"Dear me," cried one of the spiders, "perhaps you can tell us some
stories."
"I know a thousand fairy tales," said Fuz-buz.
"Oh mamma!" said one fat little spider, "It would be a shame to eat a
thousand stories all at once. Let us keep him until he tells us nine
hundred and ninety-nine tales, and then we can eat him afterwards."
"That I call good advice," cried Mrs. Grabem, and at once she fastened
the cobweb so that poor Fuz-buz could walk just a little way from the
web and no farther.
"And now," said she, "twice a day you must tell my children a story.
But never let me find you trying to get away or I will eat you in a
moment."
The young spiders could hardly wait.
"Quick!" they cried, "a story!" "a story!"
"What about?" replied Fuz-buz, glad to be spared.
"Oh about men, big men like Robert Bruce," said they, "and about a
Princess too."
"Very well," returned Fuz-buz, "Don't eat me, and I will tell you no
end of stories and the first shall be about
LADY GOLDEN HAIR AND HER TWO LOVERS, PRINCE CLEVER AND PRINCE STURDY.
"A long while ago, and far far away, a lady lived who had such
beautiful locks that the people named her Lady Golden Hair. Folks said
that when she was little, her fairy Godmother had so well woven three
strands of sunshine with her curly tresses that it never got loose
again, and I suppose this must have been so, because when at night she
walked in the garden all the flowers woke up and looked about thinking
the daylight had come.
"All day long her maidens combed her hair with combs of gold, and at
evening sang to her of the beautiful Prince who would one day come
across the seas and win her love for evermore.
"Many came and looked into her deep brown eyes, but none suited her,
and so she shook her golden hair, and they went their ways again.
"At length her Father the King said she must make up her mind to marry
somebody.
"The Princess said, 'I will marry no one who does not own a Roc's egg,
and no one who has not kissed me, and no one who has not a lock of hair
to show exactly like my own. And no one shall kiss me, and no one ever
shall have a lock of my hair, and where on earth will any one get a
Roc's egg? And so how shall I ever be married? No, I never will marry
anybody.'
"At this her Father was in despair, but as he thought that perhaps some
one might be bright enough to outwit the Princess, he caused it to be
proclaimed everywhere that the Lady Golden Hair would marry the man who
had kissed her, and who could show a lock of hair just like hers, and
who owned a Roc's egg.
"When her lovers heard this they all cried and went away, except two
who were named Prince Clever and Prince Sturdy.
"Prince Clever was handsome and tall, and very cunning, because he was
a Sorcerer's son, but Prince Sturdy was brave and straightforward, and
had honest eyes of his own which were brown as garnets and as steady as
stars.
"Now when these two heard about the Princess, and what must be done to
marry her, Prince Clever said, 'I am so cunning that I shall be sure to
succeed;' but Prince Sturdy said, 'Thorns are roses to those who love!
I will try.'
"When the Princess saw them she wished silently that Prince Sturdy
might succeed; still she only said, 'How foolish you both must be. Do
either of you own a Roc's egg?' and then she bade them good-bye and
they kissed their hands to her and rode away by different paths till
each of them entered a wood where they dismounted, and thought how to
get a Roc's egg. 'Then,' said Clever, 'I see;' but Sturdy said, 'I will
ride till I find one.'
"About a thousand miles away, across a great sea, lived a Roc who had
just laid an egg as big as a house and as hard as marble. No one knew
where she lived except a witch, to whose cave in a great hill Prince
Clever rode swiftly.
"Because he was a Sorcerer's son the witch came out to speak to him.
But, meanwhile, Prince Sturdy having become lost in the woods rode on,
until at night-fall he heard voices.
"Then he alighted and clambered over the hill and lay quiet until he
heard to his delight the witch telling Clever where to get the Roc's
egg.
"As quick as could be Sturdy got on his horse and rode away as hard as
ever a man could ride. By and by he came to the sea, where he hired a
ship, and sailed many days to a desolate land where was nothing but
hills of gray sand.
"Here he went on shore and sent the ship away. Then, drawing his sword,
he climbed a great sand hill and after two days reached the top. There
he saw in a mighty nest the great egg, as white and smooth as ivory.
"As soon as the Roc flew away to get her dinner the Prince came near
and began to crack a big hole in the egg with his sword. Presently all
the insides of the egg ran out of the hole and nearly drowned him. When
it was well emptied and the whole of it had flowed away to the sea, the
Prince put his bag of cakes into the egg, and then his sword, and at
last squeezed himself in.
"He was just able to thrust his turban into the hole, when the Roc flew
home to her nest.
"When she left her nest once more Sturdy made a nice little opening as
big as a pea, so that he could just see through it. And what think you
he saw?
"There were two ships on the sea, and Prince Clever with a hundred men.
Very soon they came up the hill and began to push the egg and to heave
it over with crow-bars and beams of wood, until it rolled to the edge
of the sand heap. Then to Prince Sturdy's horror the egg began to turn
over and over down the hill to the sea.
"Fast it went, and faster and faster, while Sturdy tumbled over and
over, and was on his head one minute, and on his heels the next,
till at last splash went the egg into the water and floated lightly on
the rolling waves.
[Illustration]
"Very soon the sailors tied a rope around the egg, and fastened the
other end to their ships, and sailed away rejoicing.
"In this manner they sailed many weeks, until poor Sturdy had eaten his
last cake and was nearly starved to death.
"When at last they came to land, the egg was hoisted on to a huge car,
and a hundred horses drew it to the Palace of the Princess Golden Hair,
while Prince Clever rode alongside as happy as could be.
"When the lady saw Clever and the egg she was ready to cry with
vexation, because she knew there was only one Roc's egg in the world,
and because Prince Clever had gotten it.
"Soon her father called her to welcome the Prince, and every one went
to see the egg, while the music sounded and the people hurrahed for
Prince Clever.
"As soon as he saw the lady he ran and knelt and said, 'Princess, here
is my Roc's egg.'
"Then a voice was heard saying, 'No, it is mine!'
"'Who spoke?' said Clever.
"'I,' said the voice, 'It is mine!'
"But no one could tell where the voice came from.
"At last the Chief Magician cried aloud, 'Who dares to mock the King?'
"Then said the voice, 'Oh great Magician, who owns the house, he who
lives in it, or he who looks at it?'
"'He who lives in it,' answered the Magician.
"'Then it is my egg,' said Sturdy, as he broke away the shell and
stepped out of the hole in the side of the egg.
[Illustration.]
"'Ah,' said the lady to herself, 'what beautiful eyes he has.' But
Prince Clever smote his breast, and the people hurrahed for Prince
Sturdy.
"Meanwhile Sturdy knelt to the Lady. 'Ah,' said he, 'it is easy to live
in a Roc's egg, or to storm a city for a Lady's love, but to kiss her
and to find hair like thine, woe is me! How can these things be done?'
"As for Clever, he smiled, and said to himself, 'It is hard to bring a
Roc's egg home, but to cheat a woman with a lock of hair and to steal a
kiss is easy.'
"After Prince Clever had eaten and rested the two Princes kissed their
hands to the lady and rode away once more to find a tress of hair which
should be like that of the Princess.
"Now what did Prince Clever do to get the lady? He went into the
country to see his fairy godmother and to ask her advice, and this was
what she told him to do.
"He was to dress himself like a pedlar and was to take with him a
beautiful great opal, and afterwards he was to do other things which
presently you shall hear of.
"When the Fairy told him all these things he said, 'Ah Godmother,
how shall I make my nose long and my mouth big and ugly so as to be
like a real pedlar?'
"'Well my dear,' she replied, 'that is easy,' and so saying she put a
forefinger into the two corners of his mouth and pulled it until one
corner was under each ear.
[Illustration.]
"'I think that will do,' she said, 'and as to your nose, take a pinch
of this snuff.'
"No sooner had he done as she desired than he began to sneeze so hard
that in five minutes the end of his delicate nose was blown out into a
great round purple knob, which was so bright that he could not keep
from squinting to get a look at it.
"'I do not think any one will know you now,' said the Fairy, 'but be
careful not to open your mouth very wide or possibly your head may fall
off backwards.'
"'Upon my word,' cried the Prince when he looked at his face in a
smooth pool of water, 'If I be as cunning as I am ugly I shall surely
win the Lady!'
"The Fairy then gave him a little red cloak, and bade him walk like an
old man and be careful.
"Finally she placed in his basket a gold box containing the magical
opal.
[Illustration.]
"When he had left her she drew a ring on the ground and stood within
it, and enchanted the Lady Golden Hair with wicked words, so that for
four days and nights she had no sleep, because the instant her lids
closed she dreamed that nine beautiful ladies were kissing Prince
Sturdy, and that he was also kissing one of them and the one he kissed
was not herself.
"So it was that all these days she lay awake angry, and all the while
Prince Clever rode fiercely to her garden gate.
"Near by he hid his horse, and walking like an old man came to the
Palace slowly and asked to see the Lady.
"The guard laughed at his nose and told him the Princess was ill and
could not sleep.
"'It is well,' answered he, 'I have a charm here to bring her sleep.'
"As soon as this was known he was quickly ordered to the chamber of the
Princess, where resting on a couch she lay, while her ladies fanned her
with fans made of fresh flowers which every ten minutes were brought to
them by slaves.
"Although she felt very badly from want of sleep no sooner did she see
the Prince with his new face than she began to laugh until she cried
with mirth. 'For tears,' said Saadi the poet, 'are the diamonds of
affliction and the pearls of merriment.'
"After a time however the Princess grew silent, although she did not
dare to look at him when he talked. Now this was what he said,—'Here is
an amulet for them that sleep not, or sleeping have evil dreams. Let
thy ladies leave thee, and in a moment thou shalt sleep.'
"'Instantly begone!' cried the Princess to her maidens. 'Fly! I have
no fears. Let a slave with a drawn scimetar keep the door and leave me
with this wise and astonishing man.'
"Then, when there were none in the room but the Lady and himself, the
Prince opened his gold box and lifted out of it a large opal which
shone with a dim gray sleepy lustre with points of red and purple light.
"When he held the jewel up before her eyes she said, 'It has letters on
it. What be they? What do they mean?'
"'The words,' he replied, 'are the names of the nine most stupid books
that ever were written, and within is the name of the sleepiest man
that ever lived, and also the name of a very young baby who slept every
night all night long.'
"'It is well,' said the Princess. 'Let me sleep.'
"'Rise!' said the Prince, and she stood erect while he held the opal
before her eyes, and the golden flow of her hair fell from head to
neck and from waist to floor in curves of darkling gold like the early
sunlight when it is yet touched with the fading brown of twilight.
"As she gazed fixedly at the jewel her eyelids closed, and drowsy
languor grew upon her face, till at last she swayed backwards and fell
upon the couch.
"Then the Prince laid the jewel on the floor and crushed it with his
foot. As it brake, a rosy flame flashed from it, and a heavy odorous
smoke curled upwards and filled the room with dense vapour.
"Then the Prince took a long lock of her golden hair, and with his
dagger cut it quickly. When he had twisted it around his sword hilt he
leaned over and kissed her cheek, but though the Lady slept the blood
seemed to leap to the spot he had touched, and her cheek grew scarlet,
as he turned away ashamed and fled from the palace.
"Near to the garden he mounted his horse, and spurred swiftly away
through the night, while the trees moaned in the wind as he passed,
and the birds awoke and sang, 'Shame! shame!' till he stopped his ears
and fled faster and faster.
"Thus it was that Prince Clever kissed the Lady and had a golden lock
to show which was like her own, because it was her own. The next day he
met Sturdy.
"'Ha! ha!' said Clever, 'you own a Roc's egg, but I have kissed the
Lady, and who do you think has hair like this?'
"'Only one,' replied Prince Sturdy sadly.
"'We shall meet to-morrow,' said Clever, for so they had agreed, and
thus saying he rode away.
"Prince Sturdy also arose and entered a wood near by, for he was sick
at heart and desired to see no man's face.
"In a little while he was aware of two wild roses beside a rock on
which he had seated himself. As he thought of the Lady he wept, and
just one tear fell upon a rose.
"Then said a faint clear voice, 'The dew falls.'
"'I hope it is rain,' said another voice which was still more sweet and
pure.
"'Ah,' sighed the Prince, 'happy roses!'
"'Why do you weep?' said the roses, for it was their voices he had
heard.
"'Because I may not steal a lady's kiss,' said the Prince, 'and
because I want a tress of golden hair the like of which is not to be
had on earth.'
"'We don't know much about kisses,' said the rose. 'But it is pleasant
to touch a young rose bud when the winds blow us against one another. I
suppose that is a kiss.'
"'Yes,' said Sturdy laughing, as he pushed the two roses together till
their red lips touched.
"'Thanks,' said they. Then after a silence one of them said, 'If I were
you I would go and lie on the top of a great cliff, and as the yellow
sunlight trickles over the stones at morning, I would catch a bit in a
gold box and shut the lid quickly and keep it. Where is a Lady would
have golden locks like that, so yellow and so fine?'
"'It is well,' cried the Prince, and so saying he went away, sadly
thinking of the kiss he might not have.
"Next day the Court and the King and the Princess were in the garden
awaiting the two Princes.
"First came Prince Clever who had gotten his good looks again, and who
came gaily with a hundred knights and with slaves who bore an ivory box
which held the Princess' hair.
"Next came Prince Sturdy on a great black steed, but all alone and with
only a little gold box in his hand.
"When both had bent before the lady she smiled and said, 'You are empty
handed.'
"'No,' said Clever, and bade the slaves approach. Then from the ivory
box he took a glorious tress of the Lady's hair.
"'Is it like?' said he. 'Ah!' she cried, as she matched it with her own
long hair. 'It is the same! It was mine! How came you by this?'
"'Pardon me, Lady,' he said. 'It was I who in your sleep yesterday
stole this tress of hair. Where else is any like it?'
"'Ah!' she cried, growing pale, 'You were the Sorcerer with the foul
visage. You must have worn your heart upon your face for once Fair Sir.
But ah me!' she continued, 'the kiss! the kiss! Did you dare to kiss
me, sir Prince?'
"'I dared,' he said. 'How else could I win you?'
"'Enough,' she said, and turned, pale and despairing, to Prince Sturdy.
"'Lady,' said he, 'at morning I climbed the hill and caught in this box
a tress of golden sunlight. If it be not as like to thy hair as sun
to sun I am a false knight.' Then he opened the box beside the Lady's
wealth of hair.
"'Bosh!' cried Prince Clever. 'There is nothing there,' for the box of
a truth was empty.
"'True,' said Sturdy, 'It was bright this morning, but it is darkness
now beside the sunshine of my Lady's locks.'
"'Well said!' cried the King, while the Princess blushed like a whole
summer of rosy peaches.
"'By my beard!' cried Clever, 'He has the egg, and it seems I am
outwitted about the lock of hair. I pray you to tell me which of us has
the kiss.'
"'A gift is better than a theft,' said she, and whispering this, bent
down and kissed the brow of brave Prince Sturdy who trembled like a
lily of earth in the wind of Paradise.
"But as for Prince Clever, he made a wry face and said, 'It is very
warm in this place,' and so went away with his hands in his pockets and
was no more seen among men."
* * * * *
When Fuz-buz had ended, all the little family of spiders began to
rejoice together, because of the nice story they had heard and also
because of the many more which were yet to be told.
The next afternoon as soon as ever Mrs. Grabem began to knit, the
spiders cried aloud for a story.
"But I am tired," said Fuz-buz.
"No matter!" cried the spiders, "we are not."
"Come, no nonsense!" roared Mrs. Grabem.
"Well," cried poor Fuz-buz. "Let me think a little."
"I should not suppose it took much thinking to make up stories,"
replied Mrs. Grabem.
By this time Fuz-buz was ready and having eaten a little cherry gum to
clear his throat, he began as follows:
"This is a fairy tale about
COLD COUNTRY.
ABOUT TROWEL KU THE BEAVER WHO BUILDS DAMS. ABOUT KANECRI THE LOON WHO
SINGS ON THE LAKES. ABOUT HOOTA THE OWL WHO IS NOT SO WISE AS HE LOOKS.
ABOUT WEESKA THE FOX WHO IS JUST AS SHARP AS HIS OWN NOSE, AND THAT IS
SAYING A GREAT DEAL.
"Ever so many days ago," said Fuz-buz, "and ever so far away up among
the great lakes it was always summer. There the trees were always green
and the flowers never ceased to bloom nor the birds to sing.
"The beaver built dams and no winter came to freeze them. The owl
hooted solemnly and the squirrels raced and played and ate nuts all the
year, and the foxes joked with the big bears, and the loons sang to the
stars all the nights long, and the stars winked at the lakes, and no
one ate any one else, for every one was merry and happy, because it was
summer all the year.
"But at last everything and everybody grew tired of being so happy.
"'Ah me!' said the bear, 'I get so fat it would be as easy to roll as
to walk.'
"'Just so,' sighed the trees, 'what a bore to have to make leaves all
the time.'
"Only the owl said, 'I'm comfortable,' and gave his feathers a lazy
shake and went to sleep again.
"After a while all the animals and trees and fish had a great talk and
made up their minds that it was unpleasant to have hot weather always.
"So the fox proposed that they should go in search of cool weather, and
bring back a little by way of a change.
"At last they agreed to send Trowel Ku the Beaver, and Kanecri the
Loon, and Hoota the Owl, and Weeska the Fox.
[Illustration.]
"All were ready except Hoota the Owl, who said, 'I'm comfortable.
What's the use?' and fell asleep again, but Weeska bit his toes and
Kanecri the Loon sang in his ears and at last they woke him up. 'For,'
said the Beaver, 'he looks so wise we cannot do without him.'
"Therefore it was resolved that Trowel Ku the Beaver should pull out
one of his feathers every five minutes to keep him wide awake, and
having thus planned the matter each one filled a birch bark bag with
food, and the whole party set off at daybreak.
"After a long journey they came to the hut of a magician called a
Manitou, on a high hill. Here the Loon called aloud, but no one came
until the Owl mounted on the Fox's back and knocked at the door, when
a little hunch-backed woman opened it and said, 'You can't come in
without money.'
"'Ha! ha!' said the Fox and ran away into the wood, and presently came
back with a handful of green leaves which he gave to the old woman.
"'That will do,' said she, for she was blind. 'Money must be plenty
where you live. Come in.' By and by the Manitou came home.
"'What now?' said he.
"'Sir,' answered Trowel Ku, the Beaver, 'I am tired of summer and of
building dams. Tell us where we can buy a little cold to take home for
a change.' 'And I,' said the Fox, 'I find it always too hot.' 'For my
part,' cried the Loon, Kanecri, 'You have given us only summer. Either
give me fewer feathers or else a little cold. As for the trees they are
all growling about having no rest at making leaves.'
"'Then,' said Manitou to the Owl, 'What do you want?' 'I'm
comfortable,' said Hoota the Owl, and straightway went to sleep.
"'Well,' said Manitou, 'I will send you to the cold country and you can
all of you take home a bag of cold to your friends.' Then he began to
laugh, and taking a deer-skin bade them all jump inside.
"When they were all in he sewed them up and putting the skin outside of
the hut bade it go.
"At once it became alive and bounded off over the hills and through the
streams until it came to a great frozen lake.
"Here the Beaver heard a noise, and presently an arrow went through the
deer which fell on the ice. The next moment a knife ripped the deer
open, and the Owl and the Beaver and Fox and Loon jumped out.
"Then they saw two tall men made of icicles who gave a cry when they
saw them, dropped their knives, and skated away over the lake.
"'Dear me!' said Trowel Ku, 'This must be cold land, let us fill our
bags,' cried Weeska the Fox, 'and be off.' 'Here is too much cold for
me, I'm not comfortable,' said Hoota the owl. 'Boo hoo how it bites my
toes!'
"Then they all filled their birch bags with cold, of which there was
plenty for every one lying about loose, and set off homewards.
"But after a little while they all became so cold that their jaws
chattered. By and by they saw the Manitou.
"'What now?' said he.
"'Too much cold,' said the Beaver. 'I think one bag would answer,'
added the Fox, 'and we could carry it by turns.' 'I'm not comfortable,'
groaned Hoota the Owl, 'my toes are frozen.' 'Suppose,' said the Loon,
'you were to help us to carry the cold home.'
"'Ho!' answered Manitou, for he was very angry. 'Begone! you wanted
summer and I gave it to you, and you had leave to take as much cold as
you wanted, and were greedy and took too much. I will warm you a little
and send your cold home too.'
"Thus saying he tore the sunset out of the west and threw it a thousand
miles into their country, and lo! it fell on the trees, and some it
stained yellow and some red and some brown, which so amazed them that
they let their leaves fall in affright and horror.
"Next the Manitou took up the bags of cold and threw them after the
sunset, and as they flew they broke, and the white cold fell in little
fleecy blankets on the naked trees and on the land.
"When the animals reached home there was no summer. So the Fox Weeska
ran into his den in the rocks, and the Beaver Trowel Ku cried, 'Woe is
me! the water has become white stone,' and the Loon Kanecri sang a song
to the stars and flew up into the skies and sailed away and away. But
Hoota the Owl said, 'I'm comfortable,' and fell fast asleep in a hollow
stump."
* * * * *
The next night Mrs. Grabem herself came along with her little ones to
hear Fuz-buz relate a tale.
"Be sure it is a nice story," said one of the spiders.
"For my part," cried Mrs. Grabem, "I take no interest in stories, but
it pleases me to see the youngsters amused. You may go on while I knit,
and as I have ten threads to mend let the story be a long one."
"Please ma'am," answered Fuz-buz, "I will now tell you a story which I
flatter myself is the very best one I ever heard. It was brought by a
cousin of mine from Bagdad where he got it from a very aristocratic fly
who lived many years in the household of Sinbad the Sailor."
THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.
"Once upon a time there lived in Persia a great king. He had one nephew
who was to be the ruler after him, and to have all his kingdom.
"When this lad was about six years old a daughter was born to the King.
No sooner was her birth known than the magicians foretold that she
would be beautiful, and would have blue eyes like lakes, which last was
not very hard to foretell because they were already blue, but the magi
also declared that on the day of her marriage the King would die.
"'Oh ho!' said the King, who was called Omar, 'If this be so she shall
never marry, and I shall live long and pleasantly, and after me she
shall be queen. As for my nephew, I fear that he may wish to be king
when he grows to manhood. Therefore let him be thrown into the sea.'
Then an old Magician arose and spoke thus.
"'Be careful, oh King, not to do this wicked act, or if you greatly
dread the Prince Ali give him to me, and I will carry him far away to
an island on the coast, where he may be taught as a Prince should be,
and where he may live all his days and never know what he might have
been.'
"Then said a second counsellor, 'For my part I advise that the Princess
be shut up in a palace around whose gardens a wall shall be built, that
she may grow up and see none but women, for so only can you make sure
that she will not fall in love and marry.'
"'It were well,' said the King. 'Let the Magician take the Prince as
he has said.' Accordingly the next day Prince Ali was carried to an
island many miles from the main land and lodged in a fair palace. Here
he was cared for by trusty persons who taught him all manner of wisdom,
as well as to ride and hunt and swim, so that he grew up brave and
handsome and full of goodness and knowledge.
"Meanwhile the Princess lived alone with her women in a gleaming marble
castle which looked across the sea, and was girt about by a high wall
on every side but that bounded by the waters of the ocean.
"The busy years went on and by and by the little girl grew to be a
stately woman, and the Prince a tall and vigourous man, while the King
Omar became gray and old, and was every day more greedy to live. Each
morning he sent a slave to see how the Princess fared, and every month
he was told all about Prince Ali, and so made sure of his constant safe
keeping.
"One fine morning just after a storm a strange thing happened to the
Prince. He was walking up and down the beach and looking at the waves
which were rushing up the shore and sweeping down again with a fierce
roar, when he heard a cry of distress among the rocks near by. In a
moment he climbed towards the spot and saw to his great wonder as he
came near long tresses of something like thin seaweed floating in the
wind from a rock above him. He seized it and was more amazed to find
that it was beautiful hair like his own, but of a bright green colour.
As he pulled it he heard again a cry of pain which hastened his steps.
"This hair was wonderful, for it not only fell far down the cliff but
lay on top of the rocks and across bushes, and was strung here and
there with coral and great pearls.
"When the nimble Prince had traced it some thirty feet it led him to a
deep hollow between two rocks. Into this he descended. As he reached
the bottom what should he see but a little old woman, with fins for
hands and a long scaly tail like that of a fish. She was such a comical
little old lady that the Prince sat down and laughed for five minutes.
He ceased his mirth, however, when the old creature waved her fins in a
helpless way and groaned aloud.
[Illustration.]
"'What can I do for you Mrs. Woman-fish?' said he, 'and how came you
here?'
"'My dear,' said she, 'I am, as you see, a mermaid. I happened to come
on shore last night just to do a little knitting by the light of the
moon, when up came a big storm, and the waves gave me a great toss over
these rocks and into this hole. But the worst of it is I have lost my
spectacles, and my poor back is nearly broken, and one fin's out of
joint, and I've lost a knitting-needle and my back comb. Now if you
would kindly carry me to the edge of the rocks and throw me in, I think
I could reach home, but, as you may notice, I don't get along very well
upon land.'
"The Prince was too good-natured to refuse, so he lifted her carefully,
and drawing her long hair after him climbed with his queer load to the
top of the cliff. Here he gave her a mighty cast, and away she went
fifty feet down into the sea with her green hair sailing after her. The
moment she felt the water she rolled over and kissing her fin to Prince
Ali sculled away as cleverly as could be.
"The Prince said nothing about this adventure, but felt sorry that he
had not asked her some questions, for you must know that whenever he
asked questions of the people who waited on him, and taught him, they
were very apt to say, 'Oh don't bother me! I'm busy,' so that there
were many things which he desired to learn and could not.
"From this day forward he spent all of his time upon the shore and
among the rocks. At last one evening he saw a large white crested wave
rolling in, and on a sudden out of it paddled the mermaid. She sculled
up the sand and rolling over on her back said to the Prince, 'My dear
I can never thank you enough. If the doctors had been quicker about
getting my flapper well I should have been here long ago.'
"'You are most welcome,' returned Ali, 'and the more so because perhaps
you can tell me who I am.'
"'Sir!' said she, 'You are a King's son. Your parents are dead, and
your uncle has put you here for fear that you may wish to take the
kingdom away from his daughter the Princess Jessalie who is the most
beautiful woman in the world. She also is a prisoner within the gardens
of her Palace because it has been foretold that whenever she marries,
her Father the King will die.'
"'Would that I could see her!' said the Prince.
"'Sir!' replied the mermaid, 'to-morrow I will bring you her picture,
and meanwhile here are some trifles which my children have sent you as
tokens of their gratitude.'
"Thus saying she shook her head and a double handful of pearls fell
from her hair and dropped at the feet of the Prince, after which the
mermaid tumbled into the water and swam deftly away.
"The next morning early Ali went to the beach and found the mermaid
waiting with a large piece of crystal in her flappers.
"'Prince,' she said, 'Yesterday the Princess Jessalie chanced to look
into a small pool of water on the shore where she walks. As quick as
could be I enchanted the pool and turned it into a crystal mirror, so
that the face of the Princess is fixed upon it forever. Look, I have
brought it away with me.'
"At once the Prince regarded the mirror, and this was what he saw in
it. Calm lazy eyes of blue, and below them cheeks dimpled and rosy,
and twin lips which made you jealous of each, because ever they kissed
one the other, and brown hair which must have fallen down about this
face as it looked into the pool of water, and blue around it all, the
heavens which spread above her as she had bent to gaze at her own
fairness.
"'Ah!' said Ali, 'This is my fate! Take me to this woman swiftly that I
may see her and die contented.'
"'Not so,' said the mermaid, 'be guided by me and in time you shall
marry her. Give me a message and I will carry it to the Princess,
but as yet she must not know your name, or it might be that the King
hearing it would put you to death. Speak your message to this shell and
I will answer for the rest.'
"Thus saying she pointed to a white shell which lay on the beach. The
Prince took it up, and laughing, whispered a few words in its curled
lip, and then as the mermaid bade him threw it far out into the sea.
"'Now,' said the mermaid, 'If you tell a lady once that you love her
she laughs. If you tell her twice she is angry, but when you have ten
times said 'I love,' she will either hate or love you, or perhaps
may hate and love by turns, each for five minutes as sometimes doth
chance. Now, therefore, many times you must say to her I love you.'
"'But _how_ shall I do this?' asked Prince Ali.
"'Sir,' she said, 'look upwards and clap your hands thrice.'
"Without further words the young man did as he was told, when instantly
a great white swan descended from a vast height and alighted on the
water's edge beside them. The mermaid at once began to dig in the sand,
and presently found a large oyster shell which she desired Ali to
open. As he did so a necklace of pearls fell out, the like of which no
jeweller ever saw before or since.
"'Now!' said the mermaid, 'hang this on the swan's neck for a present
to the Princess, and with thy finger write on the bird's breast a
message.'
"The Prince was lost in wonder, but without hesitation he traced a
few rapid letters on the white breast of the swan. As he wrote, the
feathers where he touched them grew scarlet, so that you might read in
red letters 'I love thee,' marked on the snowy whiteness of the swan's
bosom.
"Scarcely had he made an end of this short letter of love when the swan
rose in swift flight until she was no longer to be seen by the amazed
Prince, who turned to look at the mermaid, though only to find that
she too had vanished. Then in still greater wonder Ali walked homeward
along the water's edge.
"Thus many days went by and brought no change, for ever the west winds
blew, and ever the waves climbed the shore and laid soft cheeks on the
sands and whispered, and went backward moaning again.
"This sadness pleased the Prince who lay on the rocks all day and heard
the sobbing waters, and looked wearily over the wide green ocean fields
where the bubble-crested foam came and went from sight like the white
clover blossoms which swayed amid their fields of green, when the wind
leaped across the rocks and took its pleasure inland.
"One of these days the Princess walked on the shore with her women,
when the youngest of them said, 'What a lovely shell!' 'Let me hear
what it says,' cried the Princess; but no sooner had she put it to her
ear than the shell murmured softly, 'I LOVE YOU.'
"'Ah!' said the Princess Jessalie to the oldest of her ladies, 'This
shell sings to me words new and strange. Tell me I pray you what is
LOVE?'
"She had scarcely finished when all the old ladies held up their hands
in horror, for this and all other such words were forbidden within the
Palace bounds. The more they made faces and signs at her the more the
Princess wished to know. So she kept saying continually, 'What is love?
I will know what is love.'
"But no one answered, and some of the old ladies cried, and some ran
away, for they all feared that King Omar would strangle them because
the Princess had heard the forbidden word, and because no one of them
knew but that presently she would say, 'what is a man?' or some other
such dreadful words.
"When at length the Princess found herself alone with her governess,
she said again, 'What is love?'
"'My dear child,' replied the old lady, 'it is a kind of medicine!'
"'Ah!' cried the Princess, 'Then I see why the ladies made faces when
I spoke of it. I suppose they had all taken a dose. But it sounds very
pleasant,' she added, and all day long she went about with the shell at
her ear.
"The next morning the shell was gone, for the ladies had taken it away
so that they might prevent further mischief by hiding this wonderful
shell. But before they concealed it they listened to hear it say 'I
love you.' No one listened twice, and they all said the shell was an
ill-bred shell and had no manners, though what it said to them I know
not, perhaps something true but not pleasant.
"The next day while walking in the garden the Princess asked eagerly
about her singing shell. While everybody pretended to look for it a
whirring noise was heard and a fluttering of white wings was seen as
the swan lit at the feet of the lady and shook the pearl necklace into
her lap.
"'Oh marvellous!' cried the Princess, 'come quickly look at this! see
what pearls! and Mahomet preserve us! Bismillah! Here is the name of
that medicine again, written in scarlet on the breast of this beautiful
swan, 'I LOVE THEE.'
"No sooner had the old ladies seen these fatal words than they rushed
at the bird and beat it so cruelly that it had hard work to get away
even with the help of the Princess herself.
"This time she was so urgent to be told more, and so eager in her
questions, that the matter came to the quick ears of the King Omar her
father. At once the guards around her Palace gardens were doubled.
Twelve old ladies were set to work to gather up all the shells along
shore, while twelve more were ordered to keep strict watch lest any
other messages of love should come to the fair Jessalie.
"Meantime none knew whence came these strange words, and the King grew
more and more angry and alarmed whenever he thought about it.
"All his precautions were in vain. One fine morning every rose-leaf in
the gardens had written upon it in golden Arabic letters, 'I LOVE YOU.'
"This drove the King wild, and he commanded all the rose-bushes in the
kingdom to be cut down, which was instantly done.
"The next morrow at day-break a great noise was heard, and when the
Princess arose and peeped from her window every bird in the garden was
singing, 'I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU.'
"This time the King ordered the Princess to be shut up in the Palace.
Then the birds were driven away and a great silken net hung over the
garden so that the voice of the birds might no more be heard singing
this sweet treason among the flowers.
"Very soon, however, the Princess became so weary of her Palace that
she fell ill, and no one dared to tell the King that all night long in
dreams she whispered, 'I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU.'
"Far and near the King sought counsel of all manner of wise men and
doctors, but no one would venture to order medicine for the Princess
without seeing her, and as to a man doing that, it was out of the
question.
"About this time the mermaid, who I need not say was the merrymaker of
all this mischief, met the Prince on the beach one evening and thus
addressed him.
"'The Princess whom you love is ill, because she has not found out who
it is that is ever saying through the shells and the birds and the
flowers, "I love you." Take therefore this mirror, write on it a letter
with your finger tip, and I will see that it reaches the Princess.'
"The Prince gladly followed these directions, for though when he had
traced words on the glass he could see nothing of them, he felt sure
of the mermaid's power to help him.
"When he had ended she took the mirror, and carrying it all the way
above the waves hastened to the main-land. When she came to the shore
she put on a long petticoat to hide her scaly fish tail, and drawing
her fins through the sleeves of a gown, mounted up on a pair of
crutches and hobbled with great labour to the Palace of King Omar. Here
she told the guard to let the King know that a lame doctoress who had
come from a far country was waiting to cure the Princess.
"So soon as ever the King heard this he ordered her to be admitted.
When he set eyes upon her odd figure he cried out,
"'Quick! old woman speak! and that shortly! If you can cure my daughter
say so.'
"'Oh King!' she answered, 'Let the lady look into this mirror, but see
that no one touches it on the way. Let the Princess breathe upon it as
she looks, and if it does not cure her throw me into the sea without
mercy.'
"'Well said!' cried the King. 'It shall be as you desire. Let the
mirror be carried to the Princess.'
"Accordingly that evening the crystal was taken to the Palace with
every care and given to Jessalie.
"'You have but to breathe on it,' said her Governess, 'and you will be
well.'
"'Give it to me,' she said, and instantly blew a breath upon its
polished surface. As she did so, to her great amazement she read these
words which seemed to come into view on the glass as her breathing
moistened it, 'I LOVE YOU. I, THE PRINCE ALI YOUR COUSIN, I LOVE YOU.'
"As her breath faded from the glass the words fled from sight, but the
Princess fell back murmuring, 'My cousin Ali, he loves me.'
"Then there was confusion. The ladies tore their hair and screamed
aloud, and the slaves beat their breasts, while the Princess fainted
away. In a moment the news came to the King that his daughter had no
sooner seen the mirror than she had called aloud the name of her cousin
and fainted.
"'Allah!' muttered the King, 'Well said the poet, "A daughter is an
aching tooth, and he who doth not beat his child shall one day strike
his knees in vain." Let this old hag of a doctor be cast into the sea,'
he added, 'and let the captain of the guard take ship speedily and slay
this nephew of mine whom I did ill to spare so long.'
"Accordingly the mermaid was taken to the rocks and thrown a hundred
feet down into the waves, where she laughed a little, and kicking off
her petticoats swam away merrily to see the Prince, for whose safety
she had great fears.
"Just as she reached the island she saw the Prince standing on a rock
and bravely defending himself against the guard of the King.
"As quick as could be the mermaid called to him to leap off of the
rocks into the sea, for although he had killed at least a dozen of his
foes he was faint and sorely pressed. When he heard her call he smote
the captain of the guard a fierce blow, and bounding up the rocks
hesitated an instant, and then leaped boldly into the foaming waters at
their feet.
"For a moment he felt his strength fail, then he saw a thousand colours
before his eyes, then a gray mist came over them, and after that
darkness, until he awakened as from a dream of death.
"When he became conscious, he was under the water seated at the foot of
a vast tree of coral. About him was a forest of like trees, hung with
huge pearls and covered with sea-weed of many tints, among which great
fish and nameless ocean beasts floated lazily to and fro.
"'Come,' said the mermaid, 'You are now a son of the sea. Let us go.'
"Upon this he arose and in a great maze of wonder walked along, while
the mermaid swam easily by his side. Sometimes they passed huge heaps
of amber, and sometimes turned aside from the wrecks of mighty ships,
or else trode through caverns whose sand was gold dust and gleaming
jewels, till at length they came to a vast wall of rock.
"Here the mermaid knocked and a door opened and let them into a mighty
hall builded throughout of the purest jasper.
"But what the Prince saw here no one will ever know, for here the
mermen and mermaids lived, and here they made the Prince so welcome
that he would never have wished for earth again if the Princess whom he
loved had only been with him.
"Meanwhile King Omar felt himself growing old and feeble, but the
nearer he came to death the more he desired to live. Then there came
into his head a cunning way to cheat the Angel of Death. He therefore
summoned his counsel and spake to them thus,