CHAPTER XI.

THE GRAND TRANSFORMATION SCENE.

'What is that? What people are those in the cart?' demanded

Yellow-cap, rising in his stirrups to get a better view.

'Please your Majesty they are prisoners of State,' said the Home

Doggerel, who had turned rather pale. 'It is quite a mistake their

coming here; they should have been taken to another theatre. However,

since they are here your Majesty cannot do better than sign their

death-warrant. I have a pen and ink here; or, if your Majesty happens

not to know how to sign your name, I can----'

'Hold your tongue,' interrupted Yellow-cap sharply. He was looking

very hard at the veiled figure of the woman. After a pause he said--

'Before signing my name (which I am perfectly able to do) to the

death-warrant I will know what crime these persons have committed.

Tell them to come nearer, that I may question them.'

'Sire,' exclaimed the Home Doggerel, in evident dismay, 'the law of

England does not permit an accused person to be questioned.'

'Why not?'

'Because it might lead to a discovery.'

'What discovery?'

'The discovery of the truth, Sire; and where would you and all of us

be then?'

At this a man in the pit began to hiss, and the police tried to take

him into custody; but they could not find out his address, and

therefore let him alone.

'Where would we be indeed!' murmured King Yellow-cap thoughtfully.

'Nevertheless,' he continued, again fixing his eyes upon the veiled

woman, 'I am resolved to question these people; and this pantomime

shall not go on until I have done so.'

'I humbly beg your Majesty to think what you are about,' said the Lord

Privy Gander in an agitated tone; 'you are in danger not only of

hearing the truth but of violating etiquette.'

'It might bring about a reform,' added the First Lord of the Seesaw,

with a shudder.

'At all events let the woman be condemned unheard,' said Silvia. 'She

looks dangerous, and may intend to do your Majesty some harm.'

'Be silent, everyone!' thundered King Yellow-cap at the top of his

voice. 'I say I will hear these persons, and I will hear the woman

first. Stop--where is the Headsman?'

'Here I be, your Majesty, quite at your service,' said the Headsman,

shouldering through the crowd, and saluting the young King with his

axe. He was an immensely strong man, seven feet high, with short red

hair standing up over his head, and a butcher's apron tied on in front

of him.

'Headsman,' said the King, 'if anyone stirs or says a word except by

my leave, off with his head! Do you understand?'

For answer the Headsman tossed his terrible axe high up in the air,

caught it lightly as it came down, and then, swinging it round his

head, he cut off the tall feather that was fastened in the cap of the

Chancellor of the Jingle. An inch more would have buried the blade in

his skull.

'Very good,' said King Yellow-cap; 'I see you know your business. Now,

then, bring me hither that cart. Let the woman come down.'

Amidst a total silence, during which the Headsman was seen to feel the

edge of his axe with his thumb--keeping his right eye upon King

Yellow-cap the while, and the left upon the Home Doggerel--the veiled

woman got down from the cart and came forward to the donkey which

served the King as a throne. Here she dropped a curtsey.

King Yellow-cap gazed steadfastly upon her for several moments. The

black veil still hung before her face, but round her neck was visible

a bit of pink ribbon.

'Who are you?' he asked at last.

'I am a village maiden, Sire,' she answered in a voice so sweet and

clear that it was heard all over the theatre.

'Of what crime are you accused?'

'Of high treason, Sire.'

'In what way did you commit it?'

At this question the Home Doggerel and the other members of the

Cabinet made a movement as if they wished to step behind the scenes;

but King Yellow-cap noticed it, and in an awful voice he cried out--

'Headsman!'

'Ready, your Majesty,' said that officer, poising his axe to strike.

'One step more,' said the King, turning to the six courtiers, 'and

your heads fly into the pit. Keep your axe poised,' he added to the

Headsman.

'Right you are, young man!' said the person in the pit whom the police

had tried to arrest for hissing. 'Right you are, Master Yellow-cap;

you're just about the sort of king I goes in for, and so I tells you.'

'And now go on with your story,' said the King to the veiled woman.

'May it please your Majesty,' she replied, 'the way it happened was

this. As I was taking the butter out of my churn yesterday afternoon

there came into my dairy-room an ugly little long-armed man, with a

hook nose and a great pair of moustachios. I asked him what he wanted,

and he said that he wanted me, and that I had promised to marry him.'

'Ha!' said King Yellow-cap. 'And what did you say to that?'

'I was very indignant, Sire,' said the maiden, 'because I had that

very day promised to wed a young man of our own village, whom I had

known and loved for many years. But this ugly dwarf said, "You belong

to me; and to prove it, here is the other half of the spade guinea

that is hanging round your neck!" Now, Sire, when I parted with the

young man whom I love he had cut his spade guinea in two, and each of

us had kept half, for a sign by which, as he said, we might know each

other when we met, no matter what changes had come over us in the

meantime. So, when I saw the token in this dwarf's hand, I feared my

lover was dead, because I knew that no enchantment could make him look

like the dwarf, and I could not believe that he would have given up

his half of our spade guinea while he had life enough left to guard

it.'

'Might your lover not have given it up for something that seemed to

him more precious?' asked the young King in a tremulous voice.

'No,' said the maiden firmly, 'for he loved me, and nothing in this

world is so precious as love.'

'Go on with your story,' said the King.

'There is little more to tell, please your Majesty. I told the dwarf

to be gone; but he threw his arms round me and tried to carry me away.

Then I screamed out, and all the young men in the village ran up, and

there was a great fight. Then the dwarf said that he was the Lord High

Sheepstealer of England, and that he arrested us all for high treason.

So he bound us and tied veils over our faces, and brought us prisoners

to London; and this morning we were carried hither in this cart.'

'And what do you wish me to do for you?' asked the King.

'I do not much care what becomes of me, Sire,' replied the maiden,

'for I fear my lover is dead, and if he is, then all the love I had

for the world is dead with him. But if your Majesty would find out

whether he still lives and loves me I will thank you more than for my

life, and I will be content to die.'

'You shall have your wish,' said the King, 'though I fear your lover

is not worthy of you. But first your eyes shall be unveiled, and you

shall tell me whether, amidst this assembly, you can find the man who

called himself the Lord High Sheepstealer of England.'

And now a wonderful thing happened.

When the six courtiers, in their white dominoes, heard the command of

the King that the maiden's eyes should be unveiled they all got behind

one another, and cowered down, shaking in their shoes. And when the

maiden's glance rested on them they cowered down still more, as if

they were trying to hide their heads in their necks and their necks in

their shoulders. Still they shrivelled and shrunk, until they no

longer appeared like six tall courtiers, but like half a dozen ugly

little dwarfs, barely three feet high. And when they saw how small

they had become they uttered a cry of terror, and seemed to rush into

one another's arms. And with that--though how it came about would be

impossible to say--there stood only a single dwarf, a great deal

stouter and uglier than the six, but with precisely the same cast of

features and general appearance.

'That is the creature that called itself the Lord High Sheepstealer

of England,' said the maiden.

'What have you to say for yourself, sirrah?' said the King sternly.

'Mercy! spare my life!' cried the dwarf, falling on his knees. 'And

bethink yourself that we are brothers, and that in destroying me you

would unmake yourself.'

'That is the very thing that decides me to show you no mercy,'

answered King Yellow-cap. 'I am sick of all this stage-play.'

'Have a care what you do, Sire,' said Silvia, with a frown on her

face, which looked much older and less pretty than it had done

hitherto. 'He is your brother, and you are bound to him by the vows of

the Order.'

'I shall know how to break those bonds,' Yellow-cap replied. 'In the

first place, let my guards loose all the prisoners who are in the cart

and let them go free.'

When this had been done he turned to the village maiden.

'Get up behind me on the donkey,' he said, 'and put your arms round my

waist.'

The maiden obeyed, the donkey standing quite still, and not so much as

moving the end of its tail.

'Now let Assimund, Prince of Sprats, approach,' said the King.

'People of England,' he then continued, facing the audience, 'I have

been King over you for half an hour, and I have had enough of it. But,

before abdicating, I will place the crown on brows worthier to wear it

than mine. Behold Prince Assimund, no longer a pretender, but to be

hereafter your absolute and legitimate monarch. And behold Silvia, his

fitting queen and consort, whose hand I place in his.' He suited the

action to the word, and then, removing the crown, he set it upon

Assimund's head.

But the audience murmured, and seemed dissatisfied; and Silvia smiled

maliciously; and even the dwarf, over whom the Headsman was standing

with uplifted axe, showed his teeth in an ugly grin.

'Silence!' shouted Yellow-cap. 'I have not yet done.

Headsman--strike!'

Down came the heavy axe; and everyone thought that the dwarf must be

cloven asunder from head to foot. But before the axe could reach him

there was no dwarf there. Whether he melted into nothing, or whether

he disappeared down one of those trap-doors which are to be found in

every stage, or what else became of him, will probably never be known.

At all events the blade of the axe came down upon the bare boards and

buried itself six inches deep in the wood, and no dwarf was there, but

only the glittering half of a spade guinea, strung on a broken thread

of silk. This the Headsman placed in Yellow-cap's hand, and he hid it

in his bosom.

'He lives still!' said Silvia, smiling again.

'But he will never again cross my path,' replied Yellow-cap. 'King

Assimund,' he added, 'accept my parting gift before I go. With this

and with your crown, and with Silvia to whisper worldly wisdom in your

ear, it will be your own fault if you are not the mightiest sovereign

in Christendom.'

So saying he snatched off the yellow cap from his own black locks and

clapped it down upon Assimund's foolish poll. At the same moment he

felt the arms of the village maiden tighten round his waist.

He struck his heels into the donkey's sides and shook the rein. The

donkey kicked up its heels, and seemed to spring bodily off the stage.

Yellow-cap (but he was now Yellow-cap no longer) had a momentary

glimpse of Assimund, now wearing an aspect of imperial magnificence,

of Silvia, frowning and biting her lip, and of the whole great

audience standing up and shouting; and then he had a feeling of

passing rapidly through the air he knew not whither....

He came down very softly.

It was high noon. They were in the meadow beside the river. The donkey

was feeding quietly near at hand; Raymond had fallen on his knees in

the grass, and Rosamund was standing before him.

'Oh, Rosamund,' he said, 'you are my kingdom! Will you take me back?'

'You have been a very naughty boy,' she replied, 'and you deserve a

scolding. But come home first and have some milk, for you must be

hungry.'

Raymond looked up at her. She was more lovely than ever. There was a

sparkle of laughter in her eyes and a beautiful blush in her cheeks.

Beyond her rose the thatched roofs of Honeymead, overshadowed by the

great lime-trees; the birds were singing, and the sky was blue.

'Come--do get up!' exclaimed Rosamund. 'Now that you belong to me you

must give up these mooning dreamy ways of yours and behave sensibly.

Come--make haste! Armand, and Dorimund, and all the rest of them have

been invited, and our betrothal is to be formally announced.'

'How strange all this sounds!' said Raymond, getting to his feet in a

bewildered way. 'You almost make me think that I have been----'

Before he could finish his sentence the donkey lifted its head and

tail in the air and sent forth a long-drawn reproachful bray.

'Ah! no, it was real--I have not been dreaming,' Raymond said. 'If it

had not been for that donkey where should we be now?'

'How stupid you are to-day--muttering to yourself like that!' cried

Rosamund, briskly. 'Anyone would think you had a headache.'

'And so I had--a very bad one,' said Raymond.

Rosamund became tender immediately.

'Oh, my poor love!' murmured she. 'And what a horrid red mark that is

round your forehead, as if you had been wearing a cap that was too

tight for you. Stoop down a little--let me kiss it. There, does that

feel better?'

'A great deal better,' Raymond answered, with a long sigh.

So they went back, hand in hand, through the meadow. The breeze came

fresh and sweet upon their faces; they smelt the fragrance of the

breath of cows. As they approached their home they walked more and

more slowly. Rosamund was humming a little song to herself; she was as

happy as a bird.

But Raymond was silent, and pondered many things.

RUMPTY-DUDGET.

CHAPTER I.

THE PALACE AND THE TOWER.

In the days before the sun caught fire, before the moon froze up, and

before you were born, a great queen had three children, whose names

were Hilda, Harold, and Hector. Princess Hilda, who was the eldest,

had blue eyes and golden hair; Prince Hector, who was the youngest,

had black eyes and black hair; and Prince Harold, who was neither the

youngest nor the eldest, had, of course, brown eyes and brown hair.

There was nothing else specially remarkable about them, except that

they were (at the time I write of) the best children in the world, as

well as the prettiest and the cleverest for their age; that they lived

in the most beautiful palace ever built, and that the garden they

played in was the loveliest ever seen.

The palace stood on the borders of a mighty forest, on the further

side of which lay Fairyland. But there was only one window in the

palace that looked out upon this forest, and that was the round window

of the room in which Hilda, Harold, and Hector slept. And since the

round window was never open except at night, after the three children

had been put to bed, they knew very little about how the forest

looked, or what kind of flowers grew there, or what sort of birds sang

in the dark branches of the lofty trees. Sometimes, however, as they

lay with their three heads on their three pillows, and with all their

eyes open, waiting for the Spirit of Forgetfulness to come and fasten

down their eyelids, they would see stars, white, blue, and red,

twinkling in the sky overhead; and below, amongst the gloomy shadows

of the trees, other yellow stars which danced about and flitted to and

fro. These flitting stars were supposed by grown-up people to be

will-o'-the-wisp, jack-o'-lanterns, fire-flies, and glow-worms. But

the three children knew them to be the torches borne by the elves as

they capered hither and thither about their affairs. For although the

Forest of Mystery (as it was named) was not, strictly speaking, in

Fairyland, but formed the boundary between that and the rest of the

world, yet many fairies held nightly revels there. The children wished

that a few of these tiny people would come in through the round window

some evening and pay them a visit. But if such a thing ever happened

it was not until after the children had fallen asleep; and then, when

they woke up in the morning, they had forgotten all about it.

The garden was on the side of the palace opposite to the Forest of

Mystery; it was called the Garden of Delight. It was full of flowers,

pink, white, and blue; and there were birds, and fountains, in the

marble basins of which gold-fishes glowed and swam. In the centre of

the garden was a round green lawn for the children to play on; but at

the end of the garden was a tall thick hedge, on which no blossoms

ever grew, and which was prickly with sharp-pointed leaves and thorns.

This hedge also had a name, but the children did not know what it was.

It was impossible either to get round the hedge, or to get over it, or

to get through it--except in one place, where a small opening had been

made. But through that opening no one might pass, for the land on the

other side belonged to a dwarf, whose name was Rumpty-Dudget, and

whose only pleasure lay in doing mischief. An ugly little dwarf he

was, all grey from head to foot. He wore a broad-brimmed grey hat, a

thick grey beard, and a grey cloak that was so much too long for him

that it trailed on the ground like a grey tail as he walked. On his

back was a grey hump, which made him look even shorter than he

was--and he was not much over a foot high at his tallest. He lived in

a large grey tower, whose battlements the three children could see

rising above the hedge as they played on the round lawn; and over the

tower there hung, even in the brightest weather, a dull grey cloud.

Inside the tower was a vast room with a hundred and one corners to it;

and in each of the corners stood a little child, with its face to the

wall and its hands behind its back. Who were the children, and how

came they there? They were children, whom Rumpty-Dudget had caught

trespassing on his grounds, and had therefore carried away with him to

his tower. In this way he had filled up one corner after another,

until only one corner was left unfilled; and that one, curiously

enough, was the one-hundred-and-first. Now, it was a well-known fact

that if Rumpty-Dudget could but catch a child to put it in that one

empty corner he would become master of all the country round about.

And since he loved nothing that was not of the same colour and temper

as himself, the noble palace would in that case disappear, the garden

would be changed into a desert covered with grey stones and brambles,

and the dull grey cloud that now hung above the tower would sullenly

spread itself over all the heavens. The mighty Forest of Mystery, too,

would be cut down and sold for firewood; and the elves and fairies

would fly westward in pursuit of the flying sun. You may be sure,

therefore, that Rumpty-Dudget tried with all his might to get hold of

a child to put into that hundred-and-first corner. But by this time

the inhabitants of the country had begun to realise their danger; and

all the mothers were so careful, and all the children were so

obedient, that, for a long time, the hundred-and-first corner remained

empty.

CHAPTER II.

THE AUNT, THE CAT, AND THE DWARF.

When Hilda, Harold, and Hector were still very young indeed the Queen,

their mother, was obliged to make a long journey to a far-off country,

and to leave her children behind her. But before going she took them

in her arms and said, 'My darlings, though I must leave you, you will

not be left alone, either by night or by day. While you are awake you

will be protected by a beautiful white cat that I shall send to you,

named Tom; and while you are asleep your fairy aunt will keep watch

over you; you will not see her, but you will know that she is with you

by your pleasant dreams. Only at one hour of the day will you be left

unguarded, and that is the hour before sunset. At that hour Tom will

have to be away, and your fairy aunt will not yet have arrived, so you

must be very careful of yourselves. You will, I hope, try always to

be good children; but in the hour before sunset you must try

twenty-four times harder than ever. Nobody knows what may happen when

a little child does wrong; but there is great danger that the sun

might catch fire and the moon freeze up. So, once more, my darlings,

be very careful; for every hour is as long as it is short, but the

hour before sunset is the longest and the shortest of all.'

The children promised to remember; and their mother kissed them and

went away. The same day Tom the Cat arrived. A beautiful big cat he

was, with deep soft fur, round yellow eyes, and a tail as thick as a

feather duster. He was also the sweetest-tempered cat in the world, so

that the children lived with him several years without even so much as

suspecting that he had such a thing as a claw about him. He could purr

as comfortably as the hopper of a windmill; and he took care of the

children better than a dozen nurses would have done. But an hour

before sunset every day he always disappeared, and only came back

again when the last bit of the sun had gone out of sight. Then he put

the children to bed, and purred outside their window until they fell

asleep; and as soon as that happened in floated the Fairy Aunt, to

kiss their closed eyelids, and to hover beside their beds and whisper

in their ears all manner of charming stories about Fairyland, and the

wonderful things that were to be seen and done there. But early in the

morning, just before they awoke, she would kiss their eyelids once

more and flit away out of the round window; and the white cat, with

his yellow eyes and his thick tail, would come purring comfortably in

at the door.

One day, however (the unluckiest day in the whole year), Hilda,

Harold, and Hector went out to play as usual on the round lawn in the

centre of the garden. It was Rumpty-Dudget's birthday--the only day in

the whole year on which he had power to creep through the hole in the

hedge and prowl about the Queen's grounds. Nevertheless, all went well

until the last hour before sunset, when Tom the Cat was forced to be

away. Before he went he warned the children to look out for the grey

rat; but before he had time to explain what he meant by the grey rat

the hour struck, and he could not help vanishing. The children were

left to themselves; but they were not at all frightened. They had

never heard of Rumpty-Dudget; and this is not so strange as it might

at first seem; for it often happens in the world that our worst

enemies live so close to us that we are not aware of them until after

we have fallen into their power. Hilda, Harold, and Hector, at all

events, went on playing together very kindly; for up to this time they

had never had a quarrel. The only thing that troubled them was, that

Tom the Cat was not there to play with them; they all longed to see

his yellow eyes and his thick tail, and to stroke his soft back, and

hear his comfortable purr. But it was now very near sunset, and he

must soon return. The sun, like a great red ball, hung a little way

above the edge of the world; though he had not caught fire as yet, he

was evidently very hot, and it was quite time for him to be at rest.

All at once Princess Hilda, who had been gazing at the sun with her

blue eyes wide open, heard a little croaking laugh, and looking down,

she saw a strange little creature standing close beside her, all grey

from head to foot. He wore a grey hat and beard, and a long grey cloak

that dragged on the ground like a tail, and on his back was a grey

hump that made him seem even shorter than he was, though at the most

he was hardly over a foot high. Hilda was surprised, but not in the

least frightened, for nobody had ever yet done her any harm; and

besides, this odd little grey man, though he was as ugly as a rent in

a new pinafore, grinned at her from one ear to the other, and seemed

to be the most good-natured dwarf in the world. So Princess Hilda

called to Prince Harold and Prince Hector, who, when they saw what had

come to them, were no more frightened than Hilda, and a good deal more

amused; and as the dwarf kept on grinning from one ear to the other

the three children began to smile back at him. Meanwhile the great red

ball of the sun was slowly dropping downwards; and now his lower rim

was just resting on the edge of the world.

Since you have already heard about Rumpty-Dudget you will have guessed

that this grey dwarf was none other than he, and that although he

grinned so broadly from one ear to the other he wished in reality to

do the three children harm; and even (if he could manage it) to carry

one of them off to his tower, to stand in the hundred-and-first

corner, with his face to the wall and his hands behind his back. But

Rumpty-Dudget had no power to do this so long as the children stayed

on their side of the prickly hedge; he must first tempt them to creep

through the opening, and then, when they were upon his own grounds, he

could do with them what he pleased. Now, the children had often been

warned not to creep through the hedge, both by their Queen-mother,

before she went away, and by their Fairy Aunt in dreams, and by Tom

the Cat in the daytime; and as they had never had reason to suppose

that there was anything prettier on the other side of the hedge than

on their own, they had never thought of going thither. Rumpty-Dudget

knew this; and as he was even more cunning than he was ugly he had

made up his mind to profit by it.

'My dear young people,' he said, holding out his hands, 'I am very

glad to meet you. It has grieved me to see you all playing here on

this ugly lawn, when there is a garden so much more beautiful just on

the other side of the hedge. I am very fond of children, and I make it

my business to amuse them. If you will just give yourselves the

trouble to step through that opening in the hedge you shall see

something that you never saw before.'

The three children thought this sounded very pleasant; but, after a

pause, Princess Hilda, who generally took the lead, said:

'We were told not to go on the other side of the hedge.'

'Who could have been so unkind as to tell you that?' cried

Rumpty-Dudget, as if he was very much shocked. 'Besides, one side of

the hedge is just the same as another; and if it is wrong to go on the

other side, how much more wrong it must be to stay on this!'

Hilda thought awhile before answering, for what Rumpty-Dudget had said

certainly sounded reasonable. 'But why,' she asked at last, 'should

there be any hedge at all?'

'It is all on account of the hole through it,' the dwarf replied, with

his most charming grin. 'There could have been no hole, you see, if

there hadn't been a hedge; and that is why the hedge was planted.'

Princess Hilda could not deny that this was true; and, moreover, since

she had begun to talk with the dwarf she had felt a strong desire to

see whether the garden on the other side of the hedge was so very much

prettier than their own, as he declared. 'What do you say, boys?' she

asked, turning to the two little princes. 'Shall we take just one

peep?'

'That is right! Come, my dears, at once!' put in Rumpty-Dudget

eagerly, taking Hilda and Harold each by the hand, and letting little

Hector trot on before. 'It is already late, and I want you to see my

garden before the sun goes down.' So they all came to the opening in

the hedge; and, if the truth must be told, the three children were

almost as anxious to get through it as Rumpty-Dudget was to have them

do so. And the great red ball of the sun kept going down further and

further, and now all his lower half was out of sight beneath the edge

of the world.

'Now, my dear,' said Rumpty-Dudget to Princess Hilda, 'will you step

through first? Ladies always go first, you know.'

'Not through holes in the hedges,' replied Hilda, drawing back. 'It is

always the men who go first then.'

All but the last quarter of the sun was now hidden behind the edge of

the world, and there was no time to be lost, for (as Rumpty-Dudget

well knew) as soon as the sun was quite gone Tom the Cat would appear.

So he said, as amiably as he could, though in reality he felt very

angry:

'Well, then, Prince Harold, my fine fellow, you are the next eldest;

take my hand, and in we go.'

'No,' said Prince Harold, drawing back; 'I think I am too big to get

through that little hole. Somebody else must go first.'

Rumpty-Dudget trembled with rage and fear; and there was only the

smallest bit of the sun yet visible. However, he managed to say, in a

tolerably smooth voice:

'Little Prince Hector, there, is my man after all! He will come

through the hole, and see the pretty things, won't he?'

Now, Prince Hector was a sturdy little fellow, and afraid of nothing;

so he put his hand in Rumpty-Dudget's and said boldly:

'Yes, I'll go; but if your garden isn't any prettier than you are I

shan't want to stay long.'

'Let me lift you in, my little hero,' said Rumpty-Dudget, taking

Hector round the waist with his little bony hands; 'and I'll warrant

you won't come back in a hurry. Now, then--jump!'

But just at that moment the last scrap of the sun vanished beneath the

edge of the world; and instantly, with a tremendous hissing and

caterwauling, Tom the Cat came springing across the lawn like a

white-hot snowball. His yellow eyes flashed, his back bristled, and

every hair upon his tail stood out so straight that the tail looked as

thick as an old-fashioned muff. He flew straight at Rumpty-Dudget and

leaped upon his hump, and bit and scratched him soundly. Rumpty-Dudget

yelled with pain, and dropping Prince Hector, he vanished through the

hole in the hedge like a hot chestnut into a hungry boy.

But from the other side of the hedge he flung at the three children a

handful of black mud; a bit of it hit Princess Hilda on the forehead,

and another bit fell upon Prince Harold's nose, and another upon

little Prince Hector's chin. And there those three black spots stayed;

and all the washing and scrubbing in the world would not make them go

away. It is always so with the mud that Rumpty-Dudget throws; it

seems to grow down into you until it fastens a root in your heart. And

this, probably, was the reason why Princess Hilda (who had until then

been the best little girl in the world) began from that time to wish

to rule things; and Prince Harold (who had until then been one of the

two best little boys in the world) began from that time to wish to

have things; and little Prince Hector (who had until then been the

other of the two best little boys in the world) began from that time

to wish to do things which he was told not to do.

Such was the effect of Rumpty-Dudget's three mud-spots.

CHAPTER III.

THE WAYS OF THE WIND.

But, although Hilda, Harold, and Hector were no longer quite the best

children in the world, they were pretty good children as the world

goes, and if it had not been for the north wind they would have got on

together very well. But whenever that wind blew everything began to go

wrong. Hilda wanted everything her own way; Harold wanted everything

in his own pockets; and Hector wanted everything at cross-purposes.

Then, too, the spots on Hilda's forehead, on Harold's nose, and on

Hector's chin became blacker and blacker, and hotter and hotter, until

the children were ready to cry from pain and vexation. But tears could

do no more than soap and water to wash the spots away.

As soon as the wind began to blow from the south, however, the spots

began to lose their blackness, and the pricking to lessen, until at

last the children almost forgot their trouble. Yet it never altogether

disappeared; and neither Tom the Cat nor the Fairy Aunt had the power

to cure it. But Tom used to say that, unless Hilda and her two

brothers would agree always to make the wind blow from the south, the

hundred-and-first corner in Rumpty-Dudget's tower would sooner or

later be filled.

'How can we make the wind blow one way or the other?' Hilda would ask.

'It all depends upon you, nevertheless,' Tom would reply. 'Winds do

not move of themselves, but people pull them.'

'Well, I don't understand it,' Hilda would answer, after a little

thinking; 'and if I don't, of course the boys don't either.'

At night, when the Fairy Aunt came in through the round window, and

sat on their bedside to whisper stories about Fairyland into their

ears, the children would sometimes ask her to take them all three up

in her arms and carry them over the tops of the trees of the Forest of

Mystery to her home far away on the other side. Then she would shake

her head and say:

'While those spots are on your faces you cannot come with me.'

'Why not?' the children asked in their dream.

'Because they are a sign that a part of each of you belongs to

Rumpty-Dudget; and he will not let go of that part, in spite of all

that I can do.'

'Shall we never be able to go with you, then?' dreamed the children

piteously.

'Not until the wind blows from the south every day in the week. When

that happens the spots will vanish, and I will take you all three in

my arms, and fly with you over the tops of the trees to Fairyland.'

'And what shall we see there?' the children asked.

'You will see the Queen, your mother.'

'And shall we see you too?'

'Yes, I shall be with you.'

'And Tom the Cat too?'

'What you have loved in Tom the Cat will be there too,' answered the

fairy, smiling.

'But how shall we make the wind blow from the south every day in the

week?'

At that the fairy smiled and shook her head, and touched each one of

them on the heart; and no other answer would she give. So the

children were no wiser on that point than before.

Thus time went on steadily, to-morrow always going before to-day, and

yesterday invariably bringing up the rear, until a year was past; and

what should come round again but Rumpty-Dudget's birthday, the most

unlucky day of all the three hundred and sixty five! An hour and

twenty seconds before sunset Tom the Cat said to the children:

'Now, you must be very careful, while I am away, to do as I tell you.

Do not go out into the garden, do not touch the black ball that lies

on the nursery table, and do not jump against the north wind; for if

you do----'

But at this moment the hour struck, and Tom the Cat sprang into the

air and disappeared like a soap bubble.

For a while the three children remembered what had been said to them;

they played quietly in the palace, and did not touch the black ball on

the nursery table. But towards sunset it so happened that they were

all leaning against the table, with their elbows resting on it, and

their heads between their hands. There lay the black ball mysterious

and quiet. The longer the children looked at it the more mysterious it

appeared. At last Hilda said:

'I wonder where it came from?'

'I wonder what it's made of?' said Harold.

'I wonder why we mustn't touch it?' said Hector.

Then all three looked at it steadily for another minute. Then Hilda

exclaimed suddenly:

'I believe it moved!'

'So do I!' cried Harold.

'I don't!' said Hector. 'But I can make it move.' And with that he

gave the table a tip, and the black ball rolled off, bounced on to the

floor, and jumped out of the window into the garden.

'You have disobeyed Tom the Cat,' said Hilda, after a pause.

'How shall we ever get it back again?' cried Harold, running to the

window and looking out. 'Oh, I can see it! there, in the middle of the

lawn.'

'Yes, but we are not to go into the garden,' said Hilda.

'It is all Hector's fault,' said Harold.

'I am going into the garden to play with the ball,' said Hector

boldly; and he walked off.

'What a naughty boy he is!' said Harold to Hilda.

'Yes; but the wind blows from the south,' she answered. 'You may stay

here if you like; I think I shall go and play with Hector.' And she

walked off.

'What naughty children they are!' said Harold to himself. 'But Hilda

is older than I, and Hector is younger, so I think I will go out too.'

So he ran after the others, and came up with them just as Hector had

picked up the black ball and was tossing it to Hilda.

'Let us play in a triangle,' said Harold. So they stood at the three

corners, and tossed the ball from one to another.

But, strange to say, the wind, which had been blowing all day from the

south, had suddenly changed to the north; and the spots on the

children's faces began to get blacker than ink and hotter than pepper.

And, as they had to keep rubbing the spots first with one hand and

then with another, they were continually missing the ball when it was

thrown to them; and they did not notice that every time it fell to the

ground it struck nearer and nearer to the tall hedge which divided

Rumpty-Dudget's land from the Queen's. At last Harold got the ball to

himself, and kept tossing it up and down without letting the others

have their turn. Hereupon Hilda and Hector began to run after him to

take the ball away from him; but just as they caught up with him he

gave the ball a great throw, and it flew clear over the high hedge,

and came down with a bounce in Rumpty-Dudget's garden. It wanted three

minutes to sunset.

The three children were a good deal frightened at this, and looked at

one another in dismay. But they did not yet know how much reason for

fright there was.

'It is your fault!' said Hector to Harold.

'It is your fault!' said Harold to Hilda.

'It is your fault!' said Hilda to Hector.

'Let us look through the hole in the hedge,' said Hector, putting his

finger on his chin, where the black spot was. Hilda put her finger

upon the spot on her forehead and followed him; and Harold followed

them both, with his finger on his nose. They came to the hole in the

hedge, and looked through it.

'I can see it!' exclaimed Hilda.

'It is not far off,' said Harold. 'If the north wind did not blow so

hard through this hole we might jump through and get it.'

'I don't mind jumping against the north wind,' said Hector boldly; and

with that he jumped through the hole: and the sun set.

'It is too late!' said Tom the Cat, who appeared between Harold and

Hilda at that moment. 'I cannot save him now. Look!'

Hector, after jumping through the hedge, had run up to the black ball

and stooped to pick it up. But the ball moved and unfolded itself, and

a little cackling laugh came out of it, and it stood up on its legs.

It was no other than Rumpty-Dudget himself.

'Now, my young prince, you will come with me and stand in my

hundred-and-first corner!' said he, with a malignant grin.

'No, I won't!' said Hector.

At that Rumpty-Dudget took a piece of black string from his pocket and

held one end of it to the black spot on Hector's chin; and it stuck to

it so fast that all the pulling in the world could not pull it off.

Then Rumpty-Dudget put the string over his shoulder, and so dragged

Hector into his tower, and put him in the hundred-and-first corner.

As soon as this was done the north wind increased to a hurricane; the

beautiful palace was blown away, the Garden of Delight was destroyed,

and nothing was left but a desert covered with grey stones and

brambles. The dull grey cloud covered all the sky, and Rumpty-Dudget

was master of the whole country.

CHAPTER IV.

NO TIME TO BE LOST.

Princess Hilda and Prince Harold sat down on a heap of rubbish that

happened to be near them, and cried heartily. Tom the Cat sat before

them, moving the end of his tail first one way and then the other, and

looking very sorrowful out of his yellow eyes. But presently he said:

'Crying will not get poor Hector back again.'

'Can we ever get him back?' sobbed Harold.

'I would do anything!' whimpered Hilda.

'If our Fairy Aunt were only here,' said Harold, 'perhaps she could

tell us what we ought to do.'

'You will not see the Fairy Aunt again,' Tom replied, 'until you have

got Hector out of the grey tower, where he is at this moment standing,

with his face to the wall and his hands behind his back, in the

one-hundred-and-first corner.'

'But what can we do?' cried Hilda, beginning to weep afresh. 'We are

nothing but little children.'

'Perhaps you may be able to do more than if you were grown up,' Tom

replied. 'It depends a good deal upon how much you love Hector.'

'Oh!' exclaimed both the children at once; and as they could not think

of anything big enough to compare their love for Hector to, they said

nothing more.

'Listen to me, then,' said Tom, 'and all may yet be well. But in the

first place get on my back, so that I may take you out of this desert

and into the great forest, where we can lay our plans without being

interrupted.'

So saying Tom rose and curved his back: the two children jumped upon

it; off they all went, and, in less time than it takes to tell it,

they were in the midst of that great Forest of Mystery which they had

so often seen from the window of their chamber, but which, until now,

they had never entered. It was quite still, except a faint chopping

noise that seemed to come from a long way off.

'What makes that noise?' Hilda asked.

'That is Rumpty-Dudget cutting down the trees,' Tom replied; 'and

unless we can stop him he will cut down every one of them. However, he

will hardly get so far as this to-night. Now, children, sit down and

listen.'

The children accordingly seated themselves on a cushion of moss at the

foot of one of the tallest pine-trees in the forest, and the cat sat

down in front of them, with his thick tail curled round his toes.

'The first thing to be done,' said Tom, looking at the children with

his yellow eyes, which burned as brightly as lamps in the gloom of the

forest, 'the first thing to be done is, of course, to get the Golden

Ivy-seed and the Diamond Waterdrop. After that the rest is easy.'

'And where are the Golden Ivy-seed and the Diamond Waterdrop to be

found?' inquired the two children hopefully.

'The Golden Ivy-seed must be sought in the centre of the earth, where

the King of the Gnomes reigns,' replied the cat; 'and the Diamond

Waterdrop is to be asked for in the kingdom of the Air Spirits, above

the clouds.'

'But how are we to get up to the Air Spirits and down to the Gnomes?'

asked the children disconsolately.

'We will see about that,' replied the cat. 'But before starting we

must build the enchanted bonfire.'

'What good will that do?' demanded the children.

'We could never get on without it,' replied Tom. 'For since Hector has

been put into the one-hundred-and-first corner the sun has caught fire

and the moon has frozen up, and this fire will be all we can have to

warm and light us on our journey.'

'But what if it should go out while we are away?' said the children.

'In order to prevent that one of you must stay by it, while the other

goes with me on the journey,' said Tom. 'Harold, you shall be the one

to stay. Be sure and not let the fire go out whatever happens; for if

it does, Rumpty-Dudget will take the blackened logs and rub Hector's

face all over with them, and then we should never be able to get him

out of the tower at all. Now do you two run about and pick up all the

dried sticks you can find, and pile them together in a heap, while I

get the touchwood ready.'

In a few minutes--so diligently did Hilda and Harold work--a heap of

faggots had been gathered together as high as the top of Hilda's head.

Meanwhile Tom the Cat had not been idle. He had drawn on the ground

with the tip of his tail a large circle, in the centre of which was

the heap of faggots. It had now become quite dark, and the children

could not have seen their way about had it not been for Tom's yellow

eyes, which burned as brightly as two carriage-lamps.

'Come inside the circle, children,' said he at length. 'I am now going

to light the touchwood.'

In they came accordingly, and sat down again on the moss cushion at

the foot of the tall pine-tree. The cat then put the touchwood on the

ground and crouched down in front of it, with his nose resting against

it; and he stared and stared at it with his flaming yellow eyes, and

by and by it began to smoke and smoulder, and at last it caught fire

and burned away famously.

'That will do nicely,' said the cat; 'now put on some sticks.'

Hilda and Harold heaped on the dry sticks in handfuls; and so the

enchanted fire was fairly started, and it burned blue, red, and

yellow.

'And now there is no time to be lost,' said Tom the Cat. 'Harold, you

will stay beside this fire, and keep it burning until I come back with

Hilda from the kingdoms of the Air Spirits and of the Gnomes.

Remember, that if you let the fire go out it can never again be

lighted, and all will be lost. Nevertheless, you must on no account go

outside the circle to gather more faggots, if those which are already

inside get used up before we return. You may, perhaps, be tempted to

do so; but if you yield to the temptation all will go wrong. Your

brother Hector will then be in greater danger than ever, and the only

way you can save him will be to get into the fire yourself and burn!'

Prince Harold did not much like the idea of being left alone in the

woods all night, with the sound of Rumpty-Dudget's axe coming ever

nearer and nearer. Still, since it was for his little brother Hector's

sake, he never dreamed of refusing. But he made up his mind to be

particularly careful not to use up the faggots too fast, so that he

would not be tempted to go outside the ring.

Hilda and Tom kissed him, and bade him farewell; then Hilda got on the

cat's back, and nestled down amidst the warm white fur. Tom sprang on

to the trunk of the tall pine-tree, and away! straight upwards they

went, and were out of sight in the twinkling of an eye.

CHAPTER V.

THE QUEEN OF THE AIR.

After climbing upwards for a long time they came at last to the very

tiptop of the pine-tree, which was just on a level with the upper

surface of the clouds.

'We are now above the reach of the north wind,' remarked the cat; 'and

this is the only tree in the forest tall enough for our purpose. All

the clouds hereabouts, as you see, are blown by the south wind and by

the west. If we rode on one blown by the north we should be driven

straight into Rumpty-Dudget's power.'

'Are we going to ride on a cloud, then?' asked Hilda, feeling a little

nervous; for it was a terrible distance if they should fall.

'Hold tight to me, and you will be safe,' replied Tom. 'Here comes the

cloud we want--it will pass within two yards of us. As we make the

jump do you look down to the foot of the tree and see whether Harold

is in his place and the fire still burning.'

Hardly had Tom done speaking, when the cloud sailed by, passing, as he

had said, within two yards of the top of the pine-tree to which they

were clinging. The cat jumped, and alighted very cleverly on the

cloud's edge, and a moment's scramble brought them to the top.

Meanwhile, Hilda had looked downward to the foot of the tree as they

took their leap; and she had caught a glimpse of Harold sitting within

the ring, beside the enchanted fire, and seeming rather disconsolate.

But the fire was burning brightly, yellow, red, and blue.

The cloud sailed away, and took them to a part of the sky which Hilda

had never seen before. It was full of a strange white light, and no

darkness ever came there. On went the cloud, moving slowly but

steadily, like a great ship steering its way amidst the sky. The

kingdom of the Air Spirits soon loomed in sight. Rainbow bridges

spanned its shining rivers; its forests were like the tracery of the

Northern Lights; and the houses and palaces in which the people lived

were stars of different sizes, along whose rays was the only path to

get to them.

At length the cloud entered the harbour, and, letting down an anchor

of raindrops, its motion ceased.

'You must go the rest of the way alone, Hilda,' said the cat. 'I shall

wait for you, and you will find me here on your return.'

'But which way am I to go, and what am I to do?' asked Hilda in a

tremulous tone; for being so high above the earth almost took her

breath away.

'You must ask the first Air Spirit you meet to show you the star where

the Queen lives, and then you must get there the best way you can,'

Tom replied. 'When you have found her you must ask her for the Diamond

Waterdrop. But be very careful not to sit down, however much you may

be tempted to do so; for if you do, your little brother Hector never

can be saved.'

Hilda did not much like the idea of making so perilous a journey as

this promised to be, without even the cat to go with her; but since it

was for Hector's sake she never dreamed of refusing: only she made up

her mind on no account to sit down, no matter what happened. She bade

Tom farewell, therefore, and walked off.

She had not gone far when she met an Air Spirit, carrying its nose in

the air--as, of course, all Air Spirits do.

'Can you tell me which star the Queen sits in?' Hilda asked.

'What do you want of the Queen?' inquired the Air Spirit

superciliously.

'I want to ask her where the Diamond Waterdrop is,' answered Hilda.

'You will never get on in this country unless you carry your nose more

in the air than you do,' observed the Air Spirit. 'As for her Majesty,

she sits in the large star up yonder with the white ray. Mind you

don't break your neck. Ta-ta!'

Hilda went onward very disconsolately. As to carrying her nose in the

air she had never in her life felt less inclined to do such a thing.

By and by she came to the spot where the white ray of light from the

Queen's star touched the solid air. A number of Air Spirits were

walking up and down it like so many tight-rope dancers.

'Look at that absurd child!' they said to one another. 'See how she

hangs her head! Why doesn't she put on airs? She will never come to

anything.'

Hilda began to climb up the long white ray; and though at first she

was very much frightened, by degrees she gained courage, and at last

she was able to walk along tolerably fast. But it was a long distance

to the top, and by the time she got there she was almost ready to drop

with fatigue.

The star, when she entered it, was a glorious place indeed; and the

Queen of the Air Spirits was dazzlingly beautiful, though Hilda

fancied that she looked upon her rather haughtily. She was seated upon

a throne of fretted sunshine; and as soon as Hilda was within hearing

she said:

'I have been expecting you. You have come a long way, and you look

very tired. Come here and sit down.'

'No, your Majesty,' replied Hilda faintly, 'I have no time to sit down

or to stay. I have come to ask you for the Diamond Waterdrop.'

'For the Diamond Waterdrop indeed!' exclaimed the Queen, laughing.

'And pray what made you suppose that you would find the Diamond

Waterdrop here? However, sit down here beside me, and let us talk

about it. Such a question as you ask cannot be answered in a moment.'

But Hilda shook her head.

'Listen to me, my dear Princess,' said the Queen again, more

courteously than she had yet spoken. 'I know that you like to have

everything your own way; and, as you are perhaps aware, there is no

one who can have things so entirely her own way as can the Queen of

the Air Spirits. Now, Princess Hilda, if you will sit down here on my

throne I will let you be Queen of the Air Spirits instead of me. You

shall have everything your own way, and you shall put on as many airs

as you please. Come!'

When Hilda heard this she certainly felt for a moment very much

tempted to do as the Queen asked her. But the next moment the thought

came to her of her poor little brother Hector, standing in the

hundred-and-first corner of Rumpty-Dudget's tower, with his face to

the wall and his hands behind his back. So she answered, with tears in

her eyes:

'Oh, Queen of the Air Spirits, I am so sorry for my little brother

that I do not any longer care to have everything my own way, or to

put on airs, or to do anything except find the Diamond Waterdrop, so

that Hector may be saved. Can you tell me where it is?'

But the Queen shook her beautiful head and frowned.

'I have no Diamond Waterdrop,' said she. 'Ask yourself where it is.'

Then poor Hilda felt as if her heart would break, and she sobbed out:

'Oh, what shall I do to save my poor little brother?'

There was no answer, and Hilda turned away. But, as she did so, the

Queen suddenly said:

'I see the Diamond Waterdrop now, Hilda!'

'Oh, where?' cried Hilda, turning again eagerly.

The Queen was smiling upon her now with a very kind expression.

'It is on your own cheek!' said she.

Hilda was so bewildered that, at first, she could only gaze at the

Queen without moving or speaking.

'Yes,' the Queen continued, in a gentle tone, 'you might have searched

through all the kingdoms of the earth and air, and yet never have

found that precious Diamond, had you not loved your brother Hector

more than you loved to be Queen. That tear upon your cheek, Hilda,

which you shed for love of him, is the Diamond Waterdrop that you have

sought. Keep it in this crystal phial; be prudent, patient, and

resolute, and sooner or later Hector will be free.'

As the Queen spoke she held out a small crystal phial, and the tear

from Hilda's cheek fell into it. Then the Queen hung the phial about

Hilda's neck by a chain of moon-sparkles, and kissed her tenderly and

bade her farewell. And away went Hilda, light of foot, for the

weariness had left her. But as she went she kept fancying that she had

somewhere heard a voice like this Queen's before; but where or when

she could not tell.

She now reached the solid air again, and hastening her steps, she

presently arrived at the harbour in which the cloud was anchored; and

there she found Tom the Cat awaiting her. He got up and stretched

himself as she approached; and when he saw the crystal phial hanging

at her neck by its chain of moon-sparkles he said:

'So far all has gone well. But the hardest part is yet to come: we

have to find the Golden Ivy-seed. There is no time to be lost, so jump

on my back, and let us be off!'

With that he curved his back, Hilda put her arms round his neck and

nestled down in the soft white fur, and Tom gave a great leap off the

edge of the cloud, and away! down they went through the empty air like

a live snowball, and it seemed to Hilda that they never would have

done falling. At length, however, they alighted safely on the top of a

haystack, and the next moment they were standing in the hayfield.

CHAPTER VI.

THE KING OF THE GNOMES.

Just beside the haystack was a field-mouse's hole, or what looked like

one; and something that looked like a little brown mouse, but which

might have been something else for all Hilda could tell, was sitting

at the entrance of it. But when it saw the cat it rose up on its

little hind legs, turned a complete somersault, and then darted away

down the hole; and Hilda noticed that it had no tail.

'What a curious mouse!' she said to Tom.

'It was a Gnome,' he replied: 'they are often mistaken for mice when

they appear on the surface of the ground.'

'Where has he gone to?' inquired Hilda.

'Down to the centre of the earth, to be sure,' said Tom, 'to tell the

others that we are coming.'

'But we can never get into such a little hole as that,' Hilda said.

'Get on my back, and hold fast!' was all Tom's answer; and when Hilda

had nestled down in his soft white fur and clasped her arms round his

neck he began scratching at the hole with both his fore-paws, and

throwing up the dirt in a mighty heap behind; till in a wonderfully

short time a large passage was made, opening towards the centre of the

earth.

'Hold fast!' said Tom again, and into the passage they went.

If it had not been for the cat's eyes, which shone like two yellow

carriage-lamps, they might more than once have missed their way, for

it was as dark as pitch during the first part of the journey. Hilda,

as she clung close to the cat's back, could see that they were passing

rapidly through what seemed to be a series of caves, one opening into

another, and growing always higher and broader as they went on. At

first the air felt damp and cold; but as they sped onwards it grew

warmer and drier; and now the wall of the caverns began to throw back

gleams of many-coloured light, as if from gigantic jewels sticking

there; and presently the light increased, without seeming to come

from anywhere in particular; and the great vault overhead seemed to

soar aloft, until only a misty brightness was visible, like the sky at

sunset-time, when it is feathered with gorgeous clouds. It was a new

and marvellous country, with gold and silver filagree instead of

foliage, and fields of emerald, and rivers of sapphires, and distant

mountains of amethyst. By and by the cat came to two lofty pillars of

plain white alabaster, and there he stopped.

'Now, Hilda,' he said, 'you must go the rest of the way alone. Pass

between those pillars, and then you will be in the kingdom of the

Gnomes. Ask the first Gnome you meet to show you the place where the

King ploughs; and when you have found him, ask him where the Golden

Ivy-seed is. But be very careful to do everything that he bids you, no

matter how strange or disagreeable it may be; for, if you disobey him,

your brother Hector cannot be saved.'

Though Hilda did not much like the idea of going on through this

strange land all by herself, still, since it was for Hector's sake,

she never dreamed of refusing; only she made up her mind to do

everything the King bade her, whatever happened. So off she started,

and after passing between the alabaster pillars she came to a road on

which the gold-dust lay an inch thick; for it seldom rains in the

centre of the earth. Pretty soon she met a little brown Gnome, running

along on all-fours, and turning somersaults, as all Gnomes do.

'Will you show me the place where the King ploughs?' asked Hilda.

'What do you want of him?' asked the Gnome.

'I want to ask him to tell me where the Golden Ivy-seed is,' Hilda

replied.

'He ploughs in the emerald field on the other side of the mountain of

amethyst,' said the Gnome; 'but, unless you can go on all-fours and

turn somersaults better than you seem able to do, you will never get

on in this country.'

But Hilda had never walked on all-fours, much less turned somersaults,

since she was a baby a year old; so she trudged along the dusty golden

road just as she was, and all the Gnomes who met her threw somersaults

and said:

'See how upright she walks! She will never come to anything!'

The road was very long, the amethyst mountain was very far away, and

Hilda was very tired by the time she arrived at the emerald field. But

there was the field at last, and there was the King of the Gnomes on

all-fours in the midst of it. He was a strange little being, with

piercing black eyes, immensely broad shoulders, and a beard of white

asbestos woven together like a woman's braid. As soon as he caught

sight of Hilda he shouted out to her:

'Get down on all-fours this instant! How dare you come into my kingdom

walking upright?'

Hilda was a good deal frightened at the way the King spoke; but she

answered resolutely, 'Your Majesty, I walked upright because there was

no time to lose, and I have come to ask you for the Golden Ivy-seed.'

'The Golden Ivy-seed, forsooth!' exclaimed the King, with a deep

laugh. 'What made you suppose, I should like to know, that there was

any Golden Ivy-seed to be got here? The Golden Ivy-seed is not given

to people with stiff necks, I can assure you; so get down on all-fours

at once, or else go about your business.'

Then Hilda remembered what Tom the Cat had told her, and down she

dropped on all-fours without a word.

'Now, listen to me,' said the King sternly. 'I shall harness you to

that plough in the place of my horses, and you must drag it up and

down over this field until the whole of it is ploughed, while I follow

behind with the whip. Hitch yourself to the shaft immediately. Come!'

When Hilda heard this command it seemed to her at first as if it was

impossible that she could obey it. For she was weary with her long

journey along the golden road and over the mountain of amethyst, and

the King's plough looked very heavy, and his whip very long; and,

besides, she thought it was much beneath the dignity of a princess

such as she was to be driven on all-fours through a ploughed field.

But the next moment the thought came to her of her poor little brother

Hector, standing in the hundred-and-first corner of Rumpty-Dudget's

tower, with his face to the wall and his hands behind his back. So she

said humbly:

'Oh, King of the Gnomes! I am so sorry for my brother Hector that for

his sake I will do as you bid me, in the hope that afterwards you

will tell me where the Golden Ivy-seed is to be found, so that Hector

may be saved from Rumpty-Dudget's tower.'

The King made no reply whatever, but he harnessed Hilda to the plough,

and she dragged it back and forth across the emerald field until the

whole of it was ploughed, while the King followed behind with the

whip. At last he unharnessed her.

'Now begone about your business!' he said roughly.

'But you have not told me where the Golden Ivy-seed is,' said Hilda,

with a piteous throb in her heart.

'I have no Golden Ivy-seed!' returned the King, with his deep laugh.

'Why don't you ask yourself where it is?'

At this poor Hilda's heart felt as if it were broken, and she sank

down on the ground and sobbed out:

'Oh! what shall I do to save my little brother?'

But hereupon the King of the Gnomes smiled upon her, and he said, in a

gentler voice than he had yet used:

'Put your hand to your heart, Hilda, and see what you find there.'

Hilda did not understand what he meant; but she had by this time got

so used to obeying him that she put her hand to her heart, and felt

something fall into the palm of her hand; and when in astonishment she

looked at it, behold, it was a tiny golden seed!

'Yes,' said the King kindly, 'you might have searched through all the

kingdoms of the earth and air, and yet never have found that precious

seed, had not your heart been broken like this field for love of your

brother Hector. Keep the Golden Ivy-seed in this hollow pearl; be

humble, patient, and gentle, and sooner or later Hector will be free.'

As he said these words he fastened the pearl to her girdle with a

jewelled clasp, and kissed her on the forehead and bade her farewell.

And as Hilda trudged back along the golden road and over the mountain

of amethyst she kept thinking that somewhere she had heard a voice

like this King's before; but where or when she could not tell.

In course of time she arrived at the alabaster pillars, and, passing

out between them, she found Tom the Cat awaiting her. He got up and

stretched himself as she approached; and when he saw the hollow pearl

at her girdle he said:

'So far all has gone well. But now we must see whether or not Harold

has kept the enchanted fire going. There is no time to be lost; so

jump on my back and hold fast, and let us be off.'

With that he curved his back; Hilda clasped her arms round his neck as

before, and away they went, through the gleaming caverns, and up the

sombre passages, and through the cold damp tunnels, until at last out

they popped beside the haystack in the field; and after they had come

out the little brown creature which had been sitting waiting at the

entrance threw a somersault into the great pit and disappeared. And

immediately the whole heap of earth which Tom had dug up fell back

into its place, and nothing was left but a small round crevice in the

ground, like a field-mouse's hole.

CHAPTER VII.

THE ENCHANTED FIRE.

Now, Harold--after he had seen Hilda and the cat vanish up the trunk

of the tall pine-tree--had sat himself down rather disconsolately

beside the fire, which was blazing away famously, yellow, red, and

blue. He rested his back against the trunk of the tree, and fixed his

eyes upon the fire; it made a slight rustling and crackling noise as

it burned. There was also another noise, but that did not come from

the fire; it was a chopping noise, sounding far away in the forest,

and Harold knew that it was Rumpty-Dudget cutting down the trees. Each

time he heard this sound it seemed to be a little nearer. Then he

would wonder to himself what he should do if Rumpty-Dudget were

suddenly to appear. He must not, at all events, let the fire go out;

and every once in a while he took a faggot from the pile that he and

Hilda had heaped up and put it in the leaping flame; but he was very

careful to avoid stepping outside the circle which Tom the Cat had

drawn with the tip of his tail.

In this manner a very long time passed away, and Harold, who had never

sat up so late before in his life, began to get uncommonly sleepy. But

still Hilda and Tom did not return; and Harold knew that, if he were

to lie down and take a nap, the enchanted fire might go out before he

waked up again; and, as Tom had warned him, once out it could never be

rekindled. Moreover, Rumpty-Dudget would then be able to steal the

fire-blackened logs and blacken poor Hector's face all over with them,

so that he never could be saved. Therefore Harold kept himself awake,

partly by sitting on a pine-needle which he had found stuck in the

moss cushion, and partly by putting fresh faggots into the flame,

which went on burning blue, yellow, and red.

But another very long time passed away, and the sound of

Rumpty-Dudget's axe sounded nearer, and the forest was dark and full

of mystery, and there was no sign yet of Hilda and the cat. 'I never

knew before,' said Harold to himself, 'that a night was so much

longer than a day. I always thought they were a great deal shorter,

But then I have no Fairy Aunt now to come and whisper pleasant stories

into my ear. Heigho! well, I suppose I must put on another faggot.'

And he got up to fetch one.

Much to his consternation, however, he found that there was now only a

single faggot left of all those that he and Hilda had gathered

together.

He was really frightened at this, and knew not what to do; for this

last faggot would soon be burnt up, and then what was to be done to

keep the enchanted fire going? He made a careful search inside the

ring, and satisfied himself that there was not so much as another chip

to be found there; and Tom had told him that if he went outside the

ring all would be lost.

However, the last faggot was not gone yet, and in order to make it

last as long as possible Harold took it apart and put only one stick

at a time on the fire; but it was alarming to see how quickly the

flame ate up one after another, and seemed hungrier than ever. After a

while all but the last stick was gone. A little while more and that

had to be put in too. And then Prince Harold sat down quite in despair

and cried with all his might. He was at the end of everything, and at

his wit's end too.

At that moment he heard a voice calling to him; and looking up he saw

an odd little man standing just outside the circle, carrying a great

bundle of faggots on his shoulder. Harold's eyes were so full of tears

that he did not see that this odd little man was Rumpty-Dudget

himself; or else (what is quite as likely) the dwarf had some spell by

means of which he could make himself appear different from what he

was.

'What are you crying for, my poor dear little boy?' asked

Rumpty-Dudget of Prince Harold in his most coaxing voice.

'Because I have used up all my faggots,' he answered.

'Used them all up! But surely there are plenty more in the forest

where those came from?' the dwarf answered in pretended surprise.

'Besides, what harm if the fire does go out? It isn't a cold night,

and the moon will be up presently.'

'But if the fire goes out,' said Harold, 'my poor little brother

Hector cannot be saved.'

'Oh, that is the trouble, is it?' exclaimed the dwarf. 'Well, now, it

is lucky I happened to come along this way; you could not have met

with a better adviser than I am. For I know all about this

Rumpty-Dudget, with whom your brother Hector is staying; and I saw

Hector myself not an hour ago.'

'Oh! did you?' cried Harold in great excitement.

'To be sure I did; and very well he looked, I can tell you. He has

done nothing but eat sugar-candy and blow on a tin whistle ever since

he went there; and he says he wants nothing better than to stay with

Rumpty-Dudget all his life. And, by the way, he asked me to tell you

if I saw you that he hoped you and your sister would come and join;

for that Rumpty-Dudget is the pleasantest fellow in the world, and not

at all like what you had been made to believe him.'

'Oh-h!' exclaimed Harold, staring at Rumpty-Dudget with wide-open

eyes. 'I don't see how that can be true. Who are you?'

'A friend,' replied Rumpty-Dudget. 'And to prove it I have brought

over this bundle of faggots; and when these are used up I will get

you some more.'

'Oh, thank you very much!' exclaimed Harold, jumping for joy, and

going as near to the inside edge of the circle as he could. 'Give them

to me quick, for there is no time to be lost; the fire is just going

out.'

'I can't bring them inside the circle,' said the dwarf, suddenly

putting the bundle on the ground, and pretending to be very much

exhausted. 'I have carried them already all the way from the further

side of the forest, and that is far enough. Surely you can come the

rest of the way for them yourself.'

'But I must not come outside the circle, you know,' said Harold,

dancing up and down with impatience.

'Why not?'

'Because Tom the Cat said that if I did all would go wrong.'

'Pshaw! what should a cat know about a thing like this?' demanded the

dwarf very scornfully. 'At all events, your fire will burn less than a

minute longer; and you know what will happen when it goes out.'

At that Harold became almost beside himself with anxiety and

bewilderment, and what to do he could not tell. But at last he

thought that anything would be better than to let the fire go out; so

he put one foot outside the circle and stretched forth his hand for

the faggots.

'Just the least bit further,' said the dwarf coaxingly. 'I would save

you the trouble if I could; but I am really too tired to stir.'

Harold saw that by stretching about six inches further he could reach

a faggot. But in order to stretch six inches he would be obliged to

put the other foot outside the circle. 'After all, what can it

matter?' he thought. And the next moment there he was, outside!

Immediately, with aloud laugh, the dwarf flung away the faggots far

into the depths of the forest; and rushing into the circle, he began

to stamp out with his feet what was left of the enchanted fire.

Then Harold recognised Rumpty-Dudget for the first time, for the spell

was off him. And Harold remembered what Tom the Cat had said, and he

leaped back into the circle, and as the last bit of flame flickered at

the end of the stick he laid himself down upon it. Whereupon

Rumpty-Dudget gave a hoarse cry and vanished; and the enchanted fire

blazed up famously, red, blue, and yellow, with poor Harold in the

midst of it.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE GOLDEN IVY.

Now, or never, it was the time for Hilda and the cat to come back.

And, sure enough, at this very instant there was a sound like the

whistling of a blast of wind through the forest, and a hurrying and a

skurrying, and behold! there was Tom the Cat, with Hilda on his back.

Tom said nothing, but he sprang into the circle, and without losing an

instant he dug a little hole in the ground with his fore paws,

throwing up the dirt in a heap behind him. When it was finished he

said:

'Open the hollow pearl, Hilda, and put the Golden Ivy-seed in this

hole; and make haste, for Harold is burning for Hector's sake!'

So Hilda made haste to open the hollow pearl and to put the Golden

Ivy-seed in the hole; and the cat spread the earth over it, and then

said:

'Now take the crystal phial, Hilda, and pour half the Diamond

Waterdrop upon the place where the seed is planted, and the other half

upon the enchanted fire; and make haste, for Harold is burning for

Hector's sake!'

So Hilda made haste and did what the cat had told her to do.

When the half of the Diamond Waterdrop fell upon the fire in which

Harold had all this while been burning the fire was immediately put

out. And there lay Harold, alive and well, amidst the embers; but the

black spot upon his nose was all burned away, and his hair and eyes,

which had until then been brown, were now quite black.

So up he jumped, and he and Hilda kissed each other heartily, for they

felt as if they had been separated for a long time.

'What has become of the black spot on your forehead, Hilda?' asked

Harold. 'It is not there any more.'

'Ah!' said Tom, 'that disappeared when the King of the Gnomes kissed

her. But now make yourselves ready, children, for we are going to take

a ride to Rumpty-Dudget's tower.'

On hearing this the young prince and princess were greatly surprised,

and looked about for the horses on which they were to ride.

But behold! the Golden Ivy-seed, watered with the Diamond Waterdrop,

was already growing and sprouting with marvellous vigour and rapidity.

A strong stem, with leaves of glistening gold, had pushed itself out

of the earth, and was creeping along the ground towards

Rumpty-Dudget's tower: hardly creeping, either, for it moved faster

than a man could run. The cat helped Hilda and Harold to a seat on two

of the largest leaves, while he himself clung to the stem; and so away

they went through the forest merrily. As they advanced the heavy grey

cloud which had overcast all the heavens since Rumpty-Dudget's rule

began was rolled back like a mighty scroll; and the pure sky, lit up

with the fresh sunshine of the early dawn, smiled above the mysterious

forest. Then the forest too awoke to life and joyousness; the birds

sang in the branches, and fragrant flowers, sparkling with dew, glowed

in the happy glades with mingled tints of white, blue, and red. So on

they went, carrying with them the freshness and perfume of the

morning and of spring; and in a wonderfully short time the Golden Ivy

had brought them to the gates of Rumpty-Dudget's tower.

'Jump down now,' said Tom, 'and leave the Golden Ivy to do the rest.'

Down they all jumped accordingly, and stood at one side, near the

castle gates. But the Golden Ivy kept on, and threw itself across, the

moat, and clambered over the portcullis, and forced its way into the

courtyard, and writhed along the passages and up the staircases, until

(in less time than it takes to write about it) the Ivy had reached the

room with the hundred-and-one corners. In the midst of this room stood

Rumpty-Dudget, having fled to it for safety; for it was defended by

enchantments which only the Golden Ivy could have overcome. There he

stood, trembling in his shoes, as well he might; and in all the

corners round about, with their faces to the wall and their hands

behind their backs, stood the poor little children that Rumpty-Dudget

had caught.

But they were not to stand there much longer, for Rumpty-Dudget's hour

had come! He tried to run away, but the terrible Golden Ivy ran after

him and caught him, and bound down his arms, and tied together his

legs, and clutched him around the throat, and squeezed him round the

body, and fastened its coils upon him tighter and tighter, until all

the mischief was squeezed out of him. But, since Rumpty-Dudget was

entirely made of mischief, when all the mischief was squeezed out of

him of course there was no Rumpty-Dudget left--no, not so much as one

of his shoe-buckles!

And when Rumpty-Dudget had ceased to exist of course all the children

who had been made prisoners by his spells became free; and they came

racing and shouting out of the grey tower, with little Prince Hector

at their head. But when Hector saw his brother and sister, and they

saw him, they all three set up a cry of joy, and ran together and

hugged and kissed each other heartily; for they felt as if they had

been parted for a very long time.

At last Hilda said, 'Why, Hector, what has become of the black spot

that used to be on your chin? It is not there any more.'

'It got rubbed off against the wall of the room with the

hundred-and-one corners,' replied Hector demurely.

At that they all three laughed; but Hilda at least had tears in her

eyes.

'And look at his hair and eyes!' exclaimed Harold; 'they are brown

now, instead of black, as they used to be. What is the reason of

that?'

'It is the touch of the Golden Ivy,' said a voice behind them, which

Hilda fancied she had heard somewhere before.

The three children looked round, and saw a lady standing beside them,

dazzlingly beautiful, with a crown on her head and a smile in her

eyes. They all knew her at once, though they had never seen her before

except in their dreams. It was their Fairy Aunt.

'But you look very much like the Queen our mother,' said Hilda.

'And do I look like anyone besides her?' asked the lady, with a smile.

'Yes, you are like the Queen of the Air Spirits!' exclaimed Hilda;

'though you don't look so haughty as she did at first.'

'Anyone else?' asked the lady again, speaking in a very gruff tone,

and drawing her eyebrows together.

'Dear me! that is the way the King of the Gnomes talked,' said Hilda,

clasping her hands. 'Surely you couldn't have been him?'

'Yes, my darlings,' said the lady, sitting down and drawing the three

children to her lap, 'I am the Queen, your mother; though, by

Rumpty-Dudget's spells, I was obliged to leave you, and to be seen by

you only in your dreams at night. And I was what seemed to you the

Queen of the Air Spirits, Hilda, and the King of the Gnomes as well;

because love shows itself in many forms, and works for you above and

beneath, and both while you wake and while you sleep; but it is always

the same love in the end, and if you love one another you will find it

out at last.'

'After all,' said Hilda thoughtfully, 'I love you best as our own

mamma. And you will always be our mamma, and be with us now, won't

you?'

'Yes, my darlings,' answered the Queen, giving them all a hug and a

kiss; 'there will be no more changes or partings, for Rumpty-Dudget

and his tower are gone, and we are free.'

'But where is Tom the Cat?' cried Hector all of a sudden, looking this

way and that. 'We can never be happy anywhere without him.'

'Oh, Tom has done his work, and we shall not see him any more,' said

the Queen, shaking her head mysteriously.

But at this all the children looked ready to cry.

'Well, then, you shall have one more look at him,' said the Queen. She

wore on her shoulders a long hooded mantle of the finest white fur. By

a sudden movement she drew this mantle round her, and pulled the hood

over her head and face; and behold! there sat Tom the Cat, looking as

natural as possible, only that between the folds of the fur the

children could see their mother's eyes laughing.

'I have often looked out at you so before now,' she said, as she threw

back the hood and mantle; 'and you would have seen me as plainly as

you do now, but that the spell prevented you. So, you see, we shall

take what was really Tom the Cat along with us, after all.'

'Where are we going?' Harold asked.

'To our home in Fairyland,' answered the Queen.

'And are we never coming back here any more?' asked Hilda, glad to

go, and yet with almost a sigh.

'No, we shall never see this land again,' the Queen replied. 'It was

beautiful, but all its beauty lives again in the land whither we go.

And there are no Rumpty-Dudgets in that land, and no grey towers full

of corners, and no prickly hedges, nor winds from the north. And all

the stars of the air and jewels of the earth are in that land, only

more glorious and splendid than those that Hilda saw. But why should I

tell you about it, when you are going to see it all for yourselves

this very day? Are you ready?'

'Yes!' said all the children together.

Then she folded her arms about them, and they clung to her neck, and

so they seemed to rise aloft in the warm air, and float towards the

south. Far beneath them lay the tops of the tallest trees; but the

children felt no fear. For they were going to their home in Fairyland;

and they are all three living there, with the Queen their mother, to

this very day.

But Hilda's hair is golden still, and her eyes are blue.

CALLADON.

CHAPTER I.

ABRACADABRA.

If you were to take three hoops, the second half as large round as the

first, and the third half as large round as the second, and lay them

on the floor one inside the other, you would have a ground-plan of the

house in which Calladon lived. The outermost wall was built of brick,

and had five narrow windows; the middle wall was of stone, and had

also five windows; the inner wall was of the purest alabaster, and was

a kind of window in itself.

In the centre of the innermost room a lamp was always burning, and the

light which it gave out was so soft and penetrating that it glowed

through the alabaster walls and illuminated the room outside with a

pale white lustre, and some rays penetrated through the windows of

this room into the outermost room of all, and there met the darkness

that streamed in through the outer windows--for the house stood in

that part of the world where it is night all the year round. The name

of the innermost room was Abra, that of the middle room was Cada, and

that of the outermost room was Bra. The whole house, therefore, was

called Abracadabra.

It was a curious thing about this house, that if you were in Abra, you

could see into both Cada and Bra, but, if you were in Cada, you could

not see into Abra, and if you were in Bra, you could not see into

either Abra or Cada. As a general thing, it is easier to see from

darkness towards light than from light towards darkness. But there was

probably something peculiar about this light--and, for the matter of

that, about this darkness too.