His mother recognized him at once and ran with open arms to greet him.
She wanted to kiss him but he wouldn't let her. The news of his
return flew abroad and he was immediately proclaimed king. A great
feast was spread and all the people ate and drank and made merry.
Fatigued with his journey and with the excitement of his return, Raduz
lay down to rest. While he slept his mother came in and kissed him on
both cheeks. Instantly Yezibaba's curse was fulfilled and all memory
of Ludmila left him.
Poor Ludmila waited for his return but he never came. Then she knew
what must have happened. Heartbroken and lonely she found a spot near
a farmhouse that commanded a view of the castle, and she stood there
day after day hoping to see Raduz. She stood there so long that
finally she took root and grew up into a poplar tree that was so
beautiful that soon throughout the countryside people began talking
about it. Every one admired it but the young king. He when he looked
at it always felt unhappy and he supposed this was because it
obstructed the view from his window. At last he ordered it to be cut
down.
The farmer near whose house it stood begged hard to have it saved, but
the king was firm.
Shortly after the poplar was cut down there grew up under the king's
very window a pretty little pear tree that bore golden pears. It was a
wonderful little tree. No matter how many pears you picked in the
evening, by the next morning the tree would again be full.
The king loved the little tree and was forever talking about it. The
old queen, on the other hand, disliked it.
"I wish that tree would die," she used to say. "There's something
strange about it that makes me nervous."
The king begged her to leave the tree alone but she worried and
complained and nagged until at last for his own peace of mind he had
the poor little pear tree cut down.
The seven years of Yezibaba's curse at last ran out. Then Ludmila
changed herself again into a little golden duck and went swimming
about on the lake that was under the king's window.
Suddenly the king began to remember that he had seen that duck before.
He ordered it to be caught and brought to him. But none of his people
could catch it. Then he called together all the fishermen and
birdcatchers in the country but none of them could catch the strange
duck.
The days went by and the king's mind was more and more engrossed with
the thought of the golden duck. "If no one can catch it for me," he
said at last, "I must try to catch it myself."
So he went to the lake and reached out his hand after the golden duck.
The duck led him on and on but at last she allowed herself to be
caught. As soon as she was in his hand she changed to herself and
Raduz recognized her as his own beautiful Ludmila.
She said to him: "I have been true to you but you have forgotten me
all these years. Yet I forgive you, for it was not your fault."
In Raduz' heart his old love returned a hundredfold and he was
overjoyed to lead Ludmila to the castle. He presented her to his
mother and said:
"This is she who saved my life many times. She and no one else will be
my wife."
A great wedding feast was prepared and so at last Raduz married the
faithful Ludmila.
THE STORY THAT NEVER ENDS
[Illustration: {A ram}]
THE STORY THAT NEVER ENDS
(_To be told very seriously_)
Once upon a time there was a shepherd who had a great flock of sheep.
He used to pasture them in a meadow on the other side of a brook. One
day the sun had already set before he started home. Recent rains had
swollen the brook so that he and the sheep had to cross on a little
footbridge. The bridge was so narrow that the sheep had to pass over
one by one.
Now we'll wait until he drives them all over. Then I'll go on with my
story.
(_When the children grow impatient and beg for a continuation of the
story, they are told that there are many sheep and that up to this
time only a few have crossed. A little later when their impatience
again breaks out, they are told that the sheep are still crossing. And
so on indefinitely. In conclusion:_)
In fact there were so many sheep that when morning came they were
still crossing, and then it was time for the shepherd to turn around
and drive them back again to pasture!
[Illustration: {A dragon flies past a castle}]
Transcriber's Note
Minor printer errors have been repaired.
The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.
Other illustrations have been moved where necessary so that they are
not in the middle of a paragraph.
End of Project Gutenberg's Czechoslovak Fairy Tales, by Parker Fillmore