brother, who had perished in trying to blow it. At the foot of the
silver trumpet the corpse of the second prince had fallen; and now
Myrtillo must choose between the two remaining trumpets! Without a
moment's hesitation he put his lips to the copper trumpet, and gave a
loud, clear blast. At once the iron door flew open, and he was in a hall
surrounded by dungeons, through whose gratings he could see prisoners in
every stage of misery. They called to him frantically, and hailed him as
their deliverer. Alas! what could the poor prince do to save them. He
looked about and saw a long tunnel, ending in a massive gate of stone
and iron. As he gazed into the darkness of the tunnel something coiled
up at the end of it seemed to stir, and a hideous snake darted toward
him, opening a pair of jaws as wide as an ordinary fireplace, and
sending out a flaming tongue. Myrtillo charged upon the beast, and after
a desperate fight drove his sword down its throat, the point coming out
at the back of the neck. As he stooped to free his sword the serpent
gave a convulsive struggle and died. Myrtillo found a chain around its
neck on which was fastened a golden key. He took the key and put it in
the great key-hole of the iron door before him, and to his joy the door
opened. There, in a dismal dungeon within, lay a beautiful maiden in
chains. Myrtillo set her free, and found that she was the Princess
Sybilla, whom the giant treated with especial cruelty because she
persisted in refusing his love. She told him that the little pigeon was
one of many kept for the serpent's food, and that she had hidden it, and
helped it to fly out one day when the giant left her cell. "And now,"
said the princess, when Myrtillo had in turn told her his story, "let us
be quick, and lose no time. In the court beyond my cell are two
fountains. One of them contains the water of strength, the other the
water of weakness. From the former fountain Furioso gains all his power.
A little of its water sprinkled upon the dead recalls them to life, and
we may save your poor brothers yet."
Myrtillo and the lady hastened to the fountains; but to their dismay a
roaring noise and the groans of the wretched prisoners, who were
chastised daily upon his return, announced the arrival of the giant.
"Quick!" said the lady, pointing to the water of strength; "drink once
of this, and you will be strong enough to change the fountains, putting
each in the place of the other."
Myrtillo obeyed, and at once felt able to move a mountain at command. He
seized the solid stone basins and changed them, and hardly had he done
so when the giant came rushing in. "Where is that insolent
whipper-snapper of a prince who has dared to kill my faithful serpent?"
roared he.
"Here he is, at your service," said Myrtillo, stepping forth with a
gallant bow, and holding his glittering sword in hand.
"Just wait till I quench my thirst," said the giant disdainfully, as he
stooped down to what he supposed to be his fountain of strength, and
drank a long, deep draught. Suddenly a strange trembling came over the
monster's huge bulk. His face turned pale, his eyes stared, his jaw
dropped, he sank to the ground.
"Why, this is the water of weakness my prisoners drink," he cried. "What
trick have you been playing me, you scoundrel?"
Myrtillo again drank of the water of strength, and now he felt as if he
could defy an army, single-handed. Swift as a lightning flash he
descended upon the giant, and severed his wicked head from his body. The
Princess Sybilla uttered a wild shriek of delight, which was heard and
understood by all her fellow-captives, and the dungeons echoed with
sobs and cries of joy. Myrtillo and the princess filled goblets with the
water of strength, and hastened to sprinkle all the prisoners, who,
paralyzed by their chains and wasted with hunger, could in many cases
barely stir upon the ground where they lay. Soon, a host of strong men
and women filled the main hall of the dungeon, and then Myrtillo had the
joy of seeing his two brothers return to life under the action of the
magic water, in which he bathed their limbs. As Myrtillo only had
_drank_ of the water of strength, he remained the strongest champion in
the world; and when Sybilla was taken back to her father and mother, she
told them that she had promised to take the Prince Myrtillo for her
husband. From the giant's stronghold Myrtillo brought away gems and gold
enough to enrich him for a lifetime, even after all the giant's victims
had been sent home with a bag of gold apiece. His brothers found brides
in two lovely fellow-sufferers they had led out of the giant's cavern to
the light of day; and so all were satisfied, and in a short time the
Giant Furioso was forgotten. No more hurricanes visited the kingdom of
Sybilla's father, where things continued to jog along in the old-time
peaceful fashion.
ANNETTE; OR, THE MAGIC COFFEE-MILL.
A poor woman and her daughter, who were on the verge of starvation, saw
a little green bud of a plant growing through their cottage floor. They
watered it, and in a day or two it sent forth long shoots, and became a
vine, fine and delicate to look at, but tough as an iron wire. The vine
put forth leaves, soon covering the inner walls of the cottage. The
tendrils waved longingly toward the sun, and so the mother and daughter
set their lattice window open, when, lo! the vine escaped as if it had
wings and grew quickly heavenward. Lovely flowers bloomed on it, in
shape like morning-glories, and rare birds came to drink the honey of
their chalices. The maiden leaned out of her window and looked up.
Higher, higher climbed the vine, till it was lost in the blue sky above
them. The girl was seized with a yearning desire to climb up and see
what could be seen. Her mother gave her leave, and she set out. Up, up,
she went, and the mother watched below till the clustering green and
many-colored bells hid her child from sight. At last the girl reached a
wonderful new country, and stepped off the vine upon a shining silver
path, which she followed through a green meadow till she came to a house
made of honey-comb that glittered, oh! so beautifully. The columns of
the porch were sticks of lemon-candy, and there were little benches to
rest yourself upon, made of maple-sugar and cushioned with gingerbread.
Annette, for so the girl was called, ventured to open the door of the
house and peep in. There she found more beautiful things than I can tell
you of--toys and books and pictures--and all the furniture was made of
cake with raisins in it, so that, if one sat down to read, one need only
turn around and nibble a knob off the chair, or pick raisins out of the
arm of the sofa. Annette played a little and read a story-book, then she
fell asleep on a couch made of apple-dumplings. Suddenly in came three
goats, who were the servants of the fairy to whom this house belonged.
"Let us butt her to death," said the oldest goat. "Let us trample on
her, and bite her," said the second goat. "Let her alone," said the
third goat, who was a kind little fellow with golden horns. "If she
holds her tongue, and if she don't find out the secret of the golden
coffee-mill, our mistress will let her stay here and work for her."
Annette heard this while pretending to be asleep, and when the fairy
came home, she jumped up and made a nice little courtesy, begging to be
allowed to do the housework. "Well," said the fairy, after looking at
her sharply, "I will try you; only don't undertake to grind my coffee
for me, and don't gossip with the goats."
Annette lived there for six months, and learned to make all kinds of
goodies; for the fairy was the queen's confectioner in that country. You
might eat all you pleased, provided you didn't talk; and not a word
spoke Annette, and not a word spoke the goats. Every day the fairy went
into a pantry and there ground her coffee; and every day she carried two
or three bags full of something heavy, and put them in her chariot, and
drove off with them. The coffee-mill looked like any other one, and
Annette wondered vainly what its secret was. At last curiosity overcame
her, and she stole into the pantry and began to grind the mill. Down
fell a stream of pure gold-dust, and it powdered Annette all over till
she looked like a golden image. "How shall I get rid of this?" she said,
trying to shake it off, but the gold dust stuck fast. She cried and
sobbed, for she knew that now the fairy would certainly find her out. In
came the friendly goat. "Cheer up," said he. "That was the way my horns
came to be gilded, because I yielded to my curiosity about the mill,
when I first came here to live. The fairy wanted to kill me, but she let
me off when I vowed to serve her faithfully for seven years. The time is
just up, and so I propose that we escape together. Take the magic mill
under your arm and get upon my back, and we will go down to your world."
Annette joyfully obeyed the friendly goat, and carrying the coffee-mill
they set off from the fairy's house. Unfortunately she did not know how
to stop the mill from grinding, and it left a path of gold-dust behind
them as they fled, which showed the way to the fairy. The fairy followed
them, riding on a silver broom-stick; but the goat was swift as the wind,
and Annette clung to his golden horns, and held the magic mill tight
under her arm. By good luck they reached the opening, near which the
vine was growing, and, just as the furious fairy got near enough to
stretch out her long arm after them, down went Annette, goat, and
coffee-mill, through a rift in the clouds, to a land where their enemy
could not follow them. The faithful vine caught them as they fell, and
held them up stoutly. When they had climbed down, and touched the earth
in safety, Annette was astonished to see her goat turn into a handsome
young prince, with curling golden locks and kind blue eyes.
"You have freed me from my enchantment, beautiful maiden," he said,
kneeling upon the grass at her feet. "Long years ago I and my wicked
brothers were captured by the fairy and became her slaves under the form
of goats, as you saw. For fear that they may find out some way to
follow us, we must cut down this vine, and then we shall be free forever
from all dread of disturbance."
Annette's mother came running out, kissed her child, and listened with
wonder to the tale of her adventures. All this while the mill had gone
on grinding, and before they knew it the cottage floor was knee-deep in
gold-dust. "We shall be smothered at this rate," cried the prince
laughing, and he hastened to make a magic sign he had learned from the
fairy. The mill ceased to flow, and then the prince took an axe and cut
the beautiful vine at its root. Annette wept to see the lovely leaves
and blossoms shrivel up, but in a short time they vanished entirely from
sight. The prince married Annette, and every day the mill ground gold
enough to pay all the expenses of their palace and servants and horses,
and also the expenses of Annette's mother, who had a separate palace for
herself over the way.
The country people, for years after the time when Annette and the prince
came down the magic vine, showering gold-dust along their way, continued
to talk about the wonderful rain of stars they had seen in the sky that
moon-lit night.
JULIET; OR, THE LITTLE WHITE MOUSE.
[Illustration: _The Queen & the Princess in prison._]
Once upon a time there lived a king and queen who loved each other so
dearly that they were an example to all the married couples in their
kingdom. In an adjoining country lived a wicked king, who spent his life
in envying the happiness of his neighbors. He was a sworn enemy to all
good and charitable people, and his chosen companions were robbers and
murderers. His air was stern and forbidding. He was lean and withered,
dressed always in black, and his hair hung in long elf-locks over his
fiery eyes. This wicked wretch, determined to end the happiness of his
neighbor, raised an immense army and marched to attack the kingdom of
the Land of Sweet Content, for so the good king's country was called.
The king of Sweet Content made a brave defence, but it was all in vain.
The immense numbers of the adversary overpowered him and his troops.
One day when his poor queen was sitting with her infant daughter in her
arms, waiting for news from the battle-field, a messenger on horseback
galloped up to the door, and entered the room where she was, with every
sign of terror.
"Oh! madam," he cried, "all is lost. The king is slain, the army
defeated, and the ferocious King Grimgouger is even now marching to take
you prisoner."
The queen fell senseless on the floor; and while her attendants were
making every effort to provide a means of flight for her and the little
princess, the army of the foe, with banners flying and with music
playing, marched into the city. Surrounding the palace, they called on
the queen to surrender. No answer was given, and the horrid King
Grimgouger instantly ordered a file of his most blood-thirsty soldiers
to march through the palace and to kill everybody they met, except the
queen and princess.
Now nothing was heard but shrieks and lamentations from the doomed
attendants of the queen. When all were sacrificed, the tyrant Grimgouger
walked into the apartment where the terrified queen stood, clasping her
child in her arms, and prepared for death.
"You won't die now, madam," he thundered, seizing her by the long hair,
and dragging her after him down the stairs and over the stones of the
courtyard to his chariot. She was all bruised and bleeding, and knew
nothing more till she found herself in a tower-room, where dampness
dripped from the walls, and the light of day could scarcely reach
through a small grated window. She lay upon a little heap of mouldy
straw, and her child cried for food beside her, while over her stood a
wicked fairy to whom King Grimgouger had given the prisoners in charge.
The fairy threw her a few crusts without any butter on them, and the
baby seized one eagerly, and stopped crying as she sucked it.
"That is all either of you shall have to-day," said the fairy.
"To-morrow they will decide what to do with you. Probably you, queen,
will be hanged, and your daughter be saved to marry the son of our good
King Grimgouger."
"What! That ugly little reptile of a prince!" screamed the queen. "Hang
me, if you will, but don't give my beautiful angel to a husband like
that!"
"Then she, too, will be hanged," said the fairy, grinning maliciously,
and flying away with a fizz of flame, leaving behind her the smell of
sulphur matches.
Next day the fairy gave the queen three boiled peas, and a small bit of
black bread, and the next, and the next, until the poor queen wasted to
skin and bone, and the baby looked like a wax doll that had been left
out in the rain all night.
"In a few days it will be over," thought the poor queen. "We shall be
starved to death."
She fell to spinning with what strength remained to her (for the fairy
made her work, to pay her board, she said), and just then she saw,
entering at a small hole, a pretty little mouse as white as snow.
"Ah! pretty creature," cried the queen, "you have come to a poor place
for food. I have only three peas, which are to last me and my child all
day. Begone, if you, too, would not starve."
The little mouse ran about, here and there, skipping so like a little
monkey that the baby smiled, and gave it the pea she had for her
supper.
The instant she had fed the mouse, what was the queen's surprise to see,
start out of the prison floor, a neat little table, covered with a white
cloth, having on it silver dishes, containing a roast partridge, a
lovely cake, some raspberry jam, and for the baby a big bowl of fresh
bread and milk, with a silver spoon! How they did eat! I leave you to
imagine it!
Next day the mouse came again, and devoured the queen's three peas, her
whole day's supply. The queen sighed, for she did not know where
anything else was to come from. She stroked the little mouse, and said
gently, "Pretty creature, you are welcome." Immediately the same little
table sprang up out of the floor. This time there was broiled chicken
and ice-cream, green peas, marsh-mallows and custard, with a fresh bowl
of bread and milk for the baby. "Oh! you dear little mouse," said the
queen. "This must be your work! If you could only help me to get my baby
out of this dreadful place, I would thank you forever."
The mouse ran up to her with some straws in its mouth. This gave the
queen an idea, and taking them she began to weave a basket, for she was
a clever queen, and knew how to use her pretty white hands in a variety
of useful ways. The mouse understood her, and brought her more straws,
until she had made a nice covered basket large enough to hold the baby.
Then the queen cut her petticoat into strips, and plaited them, till she
had a long and strong cord. She tied the basket to this, and wrapping
the beautiful little smiling princess in the only covering she had, laid
her in the basket, crying all the time as if her heart would break. Then
she climbed up to the window, and (the little white mouse watching her
with a very friendly air) looked down to see if she could attract the
attention of any charitable person who might be passing in the street
below.
There she saw an old woman leaning upon a stick and looking up at her.
"Pray, goody," said the queen, "have pity on an innocent babe, and save
it from destruction. Feed and nurse her, and heaven will reward you, if
I cannot."
"I don't want money," said the old woman; "but I am very nice in my
eating, and I have a positive longing for a nice, little, fat, white
mouse. If you can find such an one in your prison, kill it and throw it
out to me. Then, right willingly, will I take your pretty babe and nurse
it carefully."
When the queen heard this, she exclaimed to herself, "Oh! the dreadful
old thing!" and began to cry. "There is only one mouse here, madam," she
said aloud, "and that is so pretty and engaging that I can't find it in
my heart to kill it, even to save my child."
"Hoity-toity!" said the angry old creature, thumping her stick on the
ground below. "If you think more of a miserable little mouse than of
your child, keep them both, and be hanged to you!"
So saying, her staff changed to a broom-stick, and with a fizz and a
bang the old hag shot up into the sky like a rocket. And there was again
a strong smell of sulphur matches in the air!
The queen, seeing that this was, without doubt, the wicked fairy come to
try her, gave way to new grief. She kissed her hapless little one, and
just then the mouse jumped into the basket. The baby's rough clothes
changed to finest linen and lace, and a pillow of down was under her
head, while a gay silver rattle was put into her hand.
More surprises! As the queen watched, the mouse's paws changed to tiny
hands with jewelled rings upon them. The little face grew into the image
of a smiling old woman's, and a figure of a pretty old-time fairy stood
before her. As these fairies have been rather out of fashion lately, I
will tell you just how she was dressed. She wore a chintz gown, looped
up over a blue silk quilted petticoat. A lace ruff was around her
throat, and her long-pointed bodice was laced with silver. Over her
mob-cap she had a high sugar-loaf hat tied on with pink ribbons, and her
feet were clad in the prettiest black silk stockings and high-heeled
black satin slippers, with big diamond buckles. When you remember that
she was just of a size with the baby princess, you will agree that you
would have liked to see her.
"What is the baby's name?" said the fairy.
"Oh--Juliet; I thought I had mentioned it," said the queen,
apologetically.
"I have never heard anything but 'pecious wecious,' and 'mother's
blessing,' and things like that," said the fairy. "You may stop crying
now, for I will save Juliet. If you had given me to the wicked fairy,
she would have gobbled me up in a minute, so you see I owe my life to
you. Henceforth I will take Juliet under my protection. She shall live
to be an hundred years old, and never have an illness or a wrinkle."
Fancy it, children! No mumps, no measles, no whooping-cough, no
castor-oil! What rapture in the thought!
The queen kissed the fairy's little hand, and begged that Juliet should
at once be taken away. So the weeping princess was put into the basket,
and carefully let down to the bottom of the tower. Then the fairy
resumed the shape of a mouse and ran after her down the string, which
the queen still held in her hands. Suddenly she came running back again.
"Alas! alas!" she cried to the terrified queen, "our enemy, the fairy
Cancaline, was hidden below, and seized upon the child, and flew away
with it. Unfortunately she is older and more powerful than I am, and I
don't know how to rescue Juliet from her hands."
At these words the queen uttered a loud cry, and in came running the
jailer of the tower, his men, some soldiers, and after them, gnashing
his teeth with rage, the horrid Grimgouger himself.
"Where is the child?" he said, stamping.
"Alas, I know not, king," said the mother. "A fairy has taken it off."
"Then you shall be hanged at once," he cried in a fury. "Seize her,
guards."
They dragged the poor queen by the hair of her head to the gallows. Just
as the executioner was about to tie the rope around her neck, the
gallows fell down beneath him and knocked out all his front teeth, while
invisible hands carried the queen through the air to a safe retreat in
the mountains. She found herself in a beautiful castle, where all her
attendants were white mice. Here the queen lived for eighteen years,
surrounded by luxury and tender care. But she always thought of her
little daughter, and dreamed of her by day and night. The mouse fairy
made every attempt to find news of the lost princess, but failed to do
so.
At this period the son of the wicked King Grimgouger had grown up, and
everybody was talking about his strange fancy for a poultry-woman's
maid-servant, who had refused to marry him in spite of his rank and fine
clothes. The story went that the prince sent her, every day, a new gown
of silk or velvet, and that the girl would not look at them. So the
little white mouse fairy determined, through curiosity, to have a peep
at this strange damsel. Accordingly she visited King Grimgouger's
capital, and entering the poultry-yard found there an extremely
beautiful young creature dressed in a coarse woollen gown, with her feet
bare, and a cap of goat-skin on her head. Lying by her side were
magnificent dresses, embroidered with gold and silver and ornamented
with precious stones; the turkeys and other fowls that surrounded her
trampled on them and spoiled them. The poultry-girl sat upon a stone in
the yard when the king's son arrived; he was crooked, and hump-backed,
and horrible to look upon.
"Do you still refuse to marry me, fair maiden?" he asked. "If so, I
shall have you put to death immediately."
"I am not afraid of you, prince," the girl replied, modestly. "I
certainly should prefer death to marriage with you. And I like the
society of my chickens and turkeys better than yours, if it please your
highness."
The prince went off in a rage, and the mouse fairy appeared, in her real
shape as a little old lady.
"Good-day, fair damsel," she said. "I respect you and admire you--let me
be your friend."
"Willingly, good madam," said the girl. "I am greatly in need of
friends, as you may see."
"Have you, then, no father or mother, my child?"
"None, madam; I am an orphan, and this poultry-yard is my refuge from
the cruelty of the only protector I have ever known. The fairy
Cancaline, who had charge of me, used to beat me until I was nearly
killed. Weary of suffering I ran away from her at last; and while
wandering in a wood I met the prince, who promised to befriend me, and
placed me here as poultry-girl. Alas! now that I find he is in love with
me, I must leave this place, and where to go I know not."
"And what is your name, my dear?" asked the mouse fairy, affectionately.
"Juliet, madam."
"Then, kiss me, my dear; I knew you before you knew yourself," the fairy
cried, joyfully. "I am delighted to see you so sensible. But your
complexion is a little dark. Bathe in yonder fountain. And you should be
better dressed. Put on one of these dresses, and then let me see you."
The girl obeyed. On taking off her cap of goat-skin her long golden
curls fell nearly to her knees. After bathing in the fountain she
revealed a complexion more bright and transparent than the choicest
pearls of India. Roses bloomed in her cheeks, and her eyes shone like
the brightest diamonds. Her figure was light and graceful as a young
fir-tree. The fairy gazed at her in wonder and delight. Her next thought
was to restore the lost child to her mother.