[Illustration: MASTER TOBACCO.]
"Once on a time there was a poor woman who went about begging with her
son; for at home she had neither a morsel to eat nor a stick to burn.
First she tried the country, and went from parish to parish; but it was
poor work, and so she came into the town. There she went about from
house to house for a while, and at last she came to the lord mayor. He
was both open-hearted and open-handed, and he was married to the
daughter of the richest merchant in the town, and they had one little
daughter. As they had no more children, you may fancy she was sugar and
spice and all that's nice, and in a word there was nothing too good for
her. This little girl soon came to know the beggar boy as he went about
with his mother; and as the lord mayor was a wise man, as soon as he saw
what friends the two were, he took the boy into his house, that he might
be his daughter's playmate. Yes, they played and read and went to school
together, and never had so much as one quarrel.
"One day the lady mayoress stood at the window, and watched the children
as they were trudging off to school. There had been a shower of rain,
and the street was flooded, and she saw how the boy first carried the
basket with their dinner over the stream, and then he went back and
lifted the little girl over, and when he set her down he gave her a
kiss.
"When the lady mayoress saw this, she got very angry. 'To think of such
a ragamuffin kissing our daughter--we, who are the best people in the
place!' That was what she said. Her husband did his best to stop her
tongue. 'No one knew,' he said, 'how children would turn out in life, or
what might befall his own: the boy was a clever, handy lad, and often
and often a great tree sprang from a slender plant.'
"But no! it was all the same whatever he said, and whichever way he put
it. The lady mayoress held her own, and said, beggars on horseback
always rode their cattle to death, and that no one had ever heard of a
silk purse being made out of a sow's ear; adding, that a penny would
never turn into a shilling, even though it glittered like a guinea. The
end of it all was that the poor lad was turned out of the house, and had
to pack up his rags and be off.
"When the lord mayor saw there was no help for it, he sent him away with
a trader who had come thither with a ship, and he was to be cabin-boy on
board her. He told his wife he had sold the boy for a roll of tobacco.
"But before he went the lord mayor's daughter broke her ring into two
bits, and gave the boy one bit, that it might be a token to know him by
if they ever met again; and so the ship sailed away, and the lad came to
a town, far, far off in the world, and to that town a priest had just
come who was so good a preacher that every one went to church to hear
him, and the crew of the ship went with the rest the Sunday after to
hear the sermon. As for the lad, he was left behind to mind the ship and
to cook the dinner. So while he was hard at work he heard some one
calling out across the water on an island. So he took the boat and rowed
across, and there he saw an old hag, who called and roared.
"'Aye,' she said, 'you have come at last! Here have I stood a hundred
years calling and bawling, and thinking how I should ever get over this
water; but no one has ever heard or heeded but you, and you shall be
well paid, if you will put me over to the other side.'
"So the lad had to row her to her sister's house, who lived on a hill on
the other side, close by; and when they got there, she told him to beg
for the old table-cloth which lay on the dresser. Yes! he begged for it,
and when the old witch who lived there knew that he had helped her
sister over the water, she said he might have whatever he chose to ask.
"'Oh,' said the boy, 'then I won't have anything else than that old
table-cloth on the dresser yonder.'
"'Oh,' said the old witch, 'that you never asked out of your own wits.'
"'Now I must be off,' said the lad, 'to cook the Sunday dinner for the
church-goers.'
"'Never mind that,' said the first old hag; 'it will cook itself while
you are away. Stop with me, and I will pay you better still. Here have I
stood and called and bawled for a hundred years, but no one has ever
heeded me but you.'
"The end was he had to go with her to another sister, and when he got
there the old hag said he was to be sure and ask for the old sword,
which was such that he could put it into his pocket and it became a
knife, and when he drew it out it was a long sword again. One edge was
black and the other white; and if he smote with the black edge
everything fell dead, and if with the white everything came to life
again. So when they came over, and the second old witch heard how he had
helped her sister across, she said he might have anything he chose to
ask for her fare.
"'Oh,' said the lad, 'then I will have nothing else but that old sword
which hangs up over the cupboard.'
"'That you never asked out of your own wits,' said the old witch; but
for all that he got the sword.
"Then the old hag said again, 'Come on with me to my third sister. Here
have I stood and called and bawled for a hundred years, and no one has
heeded me but you. Come on to my third sister, and you shall have better
pay still.'
"So he went with her, and on the way she told him he was to ask for the
old hymn-book; and that was such a book that when any one was sick and
the nurse sang one of the hymns, the sickness passed away, and they were
well again. Well! when they got across, and the third old witch heard he
had helped her sister across, she said he was to have whatever he chose
to ask for his fare.
"'Oh,' said the lad, 'then I won't have anything else but granny's old
hymn-book.'
"'That,' said the old hag, 'you never asked out of your own wits.'
"When he got back to the ship the crew were still at church, so he tried
his table-cloth, and spread just a little bit of it out, for he wanted
to see what good it was before he laid it on the table. Yes! in a trice,
it was covered with good food and strong drink; enough, and to spare. So
he just took a little snack, and then he gave the ship's dog as much as
it could eat.
"When the church-goers came on board, the captain said, 'Wherever did
you get all that food for the dog? Why, he's as round as a sausage, and
as lazy as a snail.'
"'Oh, if you must know,' said the lad, 'I gave him the bones.'
"'Good boy,' said the captain, 'to think of the dog.'
"So he spread out the cloth, and at once the whole table was covered all
over with such brave meat and drink as they had never before seen in all
their born days.
"Now when the boy was again alone with the dog, he wanted to try the
sword, so he smote at the dog with the black edge, and it fell dead on
the deck; but when he turned the blade and smote with the white edge,
the dog came to life again and wagged his tail and fawned on his
playmate. But the book,--that he could not get tried just then.
"Then they sailed well and far till a storm overtook them, which lasted
many days; so they lay to and drove till they were quite out of their
course, and could not tell where they were. At last the wind fell, and
then they came to a country far, far off, that none of them knew; but
they could easily see there was great grief there, as well there might
be, for the king's daughter was a leper. The king came down to the
shore, and asked was there any one on board who could cure her and make
her well again.
"'No, there was not.' That was what they all said who were on deck.
"'Is there no one else on board the ship than those I see?' asked the
king.
"'Yes; there's a little beggar boy.'
"'Well,' said the king, 'let him come on deck.'
"So when he came, and heard what the king wanted, he said he thought he
might cure her; and then the captain got so wrath and mad with rage that
he ran round and round like a squirrel in a cage, for he thought the boy
was only putting himself forward to do something in which he was sure to
fail, and he told the king not to listen to such childish chatter.
"But the king only said that wit came as children grew, and that there
was the making of a man in every bairn. The boy had said he could do it,
and he might as well try. After all, there were many who had tried and
failed before him. So he took him home to his daughter, and the lad sang
an hymn once. Then the princess could lift her arm. Once again he sang
it, and she could sit up in bed. And when he had sung it thrice the
king's daughter was as well as you and I are.
"The king was so glad, he wanted to give him half his kingdom and the
princess to wife.
"'Yes,' said the lad, 'land and power were fine things to have half of,
and was very grateful; but as for the princess, he was betrothed to
another,' he said, 'and he could not take her to wife.'
"So he stayed there awhile, and got half the kingdom; and when he had
not been very long there, war broke out, and the lad went out to battle
with the rest, and you may fancy he did not spare the black edge of his
sword. The enemy's soldiers fell before him like flies, and the king won
the day. But when they had conquered, he turned the white edge, and they
all rose up alive and became the king's soldiers, who had granted them
their lives. But then there were so many of them that they were badly
off for food, though the king wished to send them away full, both of
meat and drink. So the lad had to bring out his table-cloth, and then
there was not a man that lacked anything.
"Now when he had lived a little longer with the king, he began to long
to see the lord mayor's daughter. So he fitted out four ships of war and
set sail; and when he came off the town where the lord mayor lived, he
fired off his cannon like thunder, till half the panes of glass in the
town were shivered. On board those ships everything was as grand as in a
king's palace; and as for himself, he had gold on every seam of his
coat, so fine he was. It was not long before the lord mayor came down to
the shore and asked if the foreign lord would not be so good as to come
up and dine with him. 'Yes, he would go,' he said; and so he went up to
the mansion-house where the lord mayor lived, and there he took his seat
between the lady mayoress and her daughter.
"So as they sat there in the greatest state, and ate and drank and were
merry, he threw the half of the ring into the daughter's glass, and no
one saw it; but she was not slow to find out what he meant, and excused
herself from the feast and went out and fitted his half to her half. Her
mother saw there was something in the wind and hurried after her as fast
as she could.
"'Do you know who that is in there, mother?' said the daughter.
"'No!' said the lady mayoress.
"'He whom papa sold for a roll of tobacco,' said the daughter.
"At these words the lady mayoress fainted, and fell down flat on the
floor.
"In a little while the lord mayor came out to see what was the matter,
and when he heard how things stood he was almost as uneasy as his wife.
"'There is nothing to make a fuss about,' said Master Tobacco. 'I have
only come to claim the little girl I kissed as we were going to school.'
"But to the lady mayoress, he said, 'You should never despise the
children of the poor and needy, for none can tell how they may turn out;
for there is the making of a man in every child of man, and wit and
wisdom come with growth and strength.'"