_But I hae dreamed a weary dream
Beyond the land of Skye;
I saw a dead man win a fight,
And I think that man was I._
OLD BALLAD.
The days passed happily for the children in their almost daily
companionship of the old woman. They liked to work for her. They
would clean the cottage, or wash the china, hanging all the cups
again by their handles on the hooks of the dresser. And you may roam
through pleasures and palaces and never, to my mind, happen upon a
prettier decoration to the wall of a room, than cups thus suspended
in a row.
When Granny Gather-stick returned from her expedition to the
neighbouring market-town, she would find all comfortably prepared.
Her tea in making, the table spread, a fire of logs, with the cat
purring before them, and two children glad of her return.
After she had refreshed herself and was rested, she told them more
stories of her dreams. One was called “The Story of the Greatest
Sufferer,” and in nearly all her dreams kings and queens figured--she
could give no reason why.
“I thought I was reading once in a book the story of a king. The
king worshipped many gods, but in his heart he longed to know who of
all his gods was the greatest, and the worthiest of praise. Now it
happened this king had a dream, and in his dream it was told him he
should worship none but the highest, and that he who had suffered
most was the highest, and the worthiest of praise. And it was further
told him that on the morrow all those who had suffered would come
before his throne, and when he who had suffered most should appear
before the king, the stars would fall from heaven in a golden rain.
“Now, my dears, it seemed to me that I ceased reading and I lived
in the story, and saw and felt the rest. I saw a crowd assembled
around an empty space of great magnitude, and I saw the king and his
courtiers round him, robed in purple with a golden crown. I knew we
were all there to see the Sorrowful; and first I saw the figure of
a man. Slowly he came, and he was clad in black velvet, wearing
his hair long, with a pointed beard. And all the people watched
his sorrowful countenance. ‘Deeply as you suffered,’ my heart said
within me, ‘you cannot deem yourself to be the highest.’ But no
word was said. And while we all watched him, he passed out of sight
waveringly, as if he were no real person in the flesh.
“Then I dreamed the heralds blew their trumpets, and the crowd moved
across the scene. This time I saw the figure of a woman, and, dear
heart, when I looked upon her my spirit was like to faint.
“‘This is Sorrow herself,’ I kept saying in my dream. ‘Yes, this must
be Sorrow.’ And I saw others thought the same as I, for the crowd
looked upward. But the stars were firm, and the king asked, ‘Are
there any more to appear?’
“‘There are no more,’ answered the courtiers; but I saw a woman
approach the throne.
“‘There is one more, and you must see him,’ she cried; ‘there is one
more.’
“The courtiers would have thrust her aside, but the king said, ‘Let
all those appear, that have suffered.’
“Then it seemed to me that I was looking over a vast sight of
country, a wide view, such as there is from the Windmill Hill at
home. And there in the air I saw lying, and yet not falling, a naked
child.
“I knew it was Christ I was seeing--I knew it was Christ. And while I
was just standing looking, all the stars fell from heaven in a shower
of golden rain.”
There was silence, and the children watched a bevy of sparks race up
the wide chimney, the laggards among them creeping glowingly, among
the black soot at the chimney back.
Then the old woman said:--
“That was a good dream; but I have had others that were not so good.”
“Tell us!” said the children, “tell us!”
And the old woman began the “Story of the Five Queens.”
“There was once a king who had five queens, and he took to himself
yet another queen, and this woman was proud and cruel. She would not
brook rivals, wishing to reign alone. So she sought out the ancient
laws of that country, among which she knew she would find something
to fit her mind. For in these laws it had been written, that where
the king ceased to love his queens, those queens must die.
“And now in my dream the story grew around me, and I lived within
it, as is the custom in my dreams. I heard and saw the people
speaking and moving of whom I tell.
“I was in a darkened chamber, silver lamps hanging from a low
ceiling, the air heavy with sweet essences, and I was one of the
queens.
“We were gathered in this room to kill ourselves, but within my
heart I knew I intended to do no such thing. For while they pricked
themselves with a poisoned needle, I was going to pretend to do so,
and when they had died I meant to make my escape. Determining thus, I
had thrust my poisoned needle deeply out of sight into the earth, in
the garden of the palace.
“Now in my dream I looked around me. There was no sound in the room
but a soft moaning, and I saw shrouded forms lying on low couches,
wrapped round with silk.
“I lay on a great bed, and close beside me lay the youngest queen,
and I dreamed that her name was Ayilmah. Her voice was speaking to me
very quietly, in the dusk of that darkened room.
“‘Where hast thou pricked thyself?’ she was saying.
“‘In the slender part of my wrist,’ I answered, lyingly, and I
dreamed she expressed great sorrow at my words.
“‘Oh, why hast thou done it there?’ she cried. ‘Dost thou not know
that the pain will grow and grow, till at last it will get past
bearing. And death tarries while the pain grows. Why didst thou do it
there? Dost thou not suffer exceedingly?’
“And I, in my dream, replied once more lyingly: ‘My life is already
so numb within me that I feel no pain.’ Then I thought she put her
hand into mine to comfort me, and even as her fingers closed round
mine, I felt her hand’s warmth, and the movement of it, cease.
Hurriedly I slipped my hand higher, and I found her arm was chill,
and now the rounded fingers in mine were cold like small columns of
polished jade.
“Then I knew she lay dead beside me, and suddenly I was filled with a
great awe. I started up and cried, ‘Listen, I have done you a great
wrong.’ But everything was very quiet. There was no answer to my
words.
“Then I knew that in that room I alone was living, and a great horror
overwhelmed me, a great fear.
“I moved from the couch where I was lying, my feet caught and held,
by the wrappings of the bed.
“Freeing them, I crept through the warm, scented darkness, between
the couches of the queens. Very quietly they lay there in the
stillness, and the light the silver lamps gave out through their
fretted sides, was so dim that I could barely see the heavy curtains
hiding the walls. I drew the curtains aside, seeking an outlet, but
everywhere my hands fell on the smooth surface of the wall.
“Then I knew that what had been a chamber for the living had been
sealed into a tomb, for it had been thought, that knowing the law,
the five queens had dealt faithfully. And with this knowledge my life
maddened within me, and I tore the curtains down. Stumbling over
the heaps of fallen draperies I sped forward, seeking with frenzied
hands. I laid both hands flat out against the wall, passionately
seeking.
“But there was no opening, no door.
“Only the dead were free. And I, who had planned so cunningly.
“The silver lamps moved slightly as they hung.”