The Devil goes wandering over the earth in many disguises, and that
not only to hunt souls; sometimes it is to choose for himself a wife,
but when he goes on these expeditions he calls himself "Luxehale."
There was once a very beautiful princess, very proud of her beauty, who
had vowed she would never marry any but the handsomest prince. Numbers
of princes, who heard the fame of her beauty, came to ask her hand,
but directly she saw them she declared they were not handsome enough
for her, and drove them out of the city. Her parents were in despair,
for there was scarcely any young prince left in the world whom she
had not thus rejected.
One day the trumpeters sounded the call by which they were wont to
announce the arrival of a visitor.
The princess sat with her mother in an arbour.
"Ah!" said the queen, "there is another come to ask your hand. How
I wish he may be the really handsome one you desire, this time!"
"It is all useless, mother; I don't mean to see any more of them--they
are all uglier, one than the other."
The queen was about to answer by instancing several noted paragons of
manly beauty whom she had rejected like the rest, but the chamberlain
came in with great importance just at that moment, to say that the
prince who had just arrived appeared to be a very great prince indeed,
and that he was in a great hurry, and demanded to see the princess
instantly.
The princess was very indignant at this abrupt proposal, and refused
absolutely to see him; but at last the queen got her to consent to
place herself in a hollow pillar in the great reception-hall, and
through a little peephole, contrived in the decorations, take a view
of him without his knowing that she did so.
When the princess thus saw the stranger, she was dazzled with
the perfection of his form and the surpassing beauty of his
countenance, and she could hardly restrain herself from darting
from her hiding-place and offering him her hand at once; in order
to preserve herself from committing such a mistake, she immediately
let herself down through a little trap-door into the room below,
where it had been agreed that her mother should meet her.
"Well, what did you think of him?" said the queen, who did not keep
her long waiting.
"Oh! I think he might do," said the princess, with an assumed air
of indifference, for she was too proud to acknowledge how much she
admired him.
The queen was overjoyed that at length she consented to marry, and so
put an end to the anxiety she was in to see her established before she
died. That she might not take it into her head to go back from what she
had said, her parents hastened on the wedding preparations, and the
prince seemed very anxious, too, that no delay should occur. As soon
as the festivities were over, he handed his bride into a magnificent
gold coach, and drove off with her, followed by a retinue which showed
he was a very great prince indeed.
Away they rode many days' journey, till at last they reached a palace
of greater magnificence than any thing the princess had ever conceived,
filled with crowds of servants, who fulfilled her least wish almost
before it was uttered, and where every pleasure and every gratification
was provided for her in abundance.
The prince took great pleasure in conducting her frequently over every
part of the palace, and it was so vast that, after she had been over
it many times, there was still much which seemed strange to her;
but what was strangest of all was, there was one high door, all of
adamant, which the prince never opened, and the only cross word he
had spoken to her was once when she had asked him whither it led.
After some time it happened that the prince had to go on a considerable
journey, and before he left he confided to his wife the keys of all
the apartments in the palace, but she observed the key of the adamant
door was not among them, and ventured to ask why it was not.
"Because no one passes through that door but myself; and I advise
you not to think any thing more about that door, or you may be sure
you will repent it," and he spoke very sternly and positively.
This only whetted her curiosity still more; and she was no sooner
sure he was at a safe distance, than she determined to go down and see
if some of the keys would not open this door. The first she tried in
it showed there was no need of any, for it was unlocked, and pushed
open at her touch. It gave entrance to a long underground passage,
which received a strange lurid light from the opening at the far end.
The princess pursued the ominous corridor with beating heart; and,
when she reached the other end, made the frightful discovery that it
was--the entrance to hell!
Without losing a moment, she rushed up-stairs, regained her own
apartment, and sat down to contrive her escape, for she now perceived
that it was the Devil, disguised as a beautiful prince, that she
had married!
As she sat, pursued by a thousand agonizing thoughts, the gentle
cooing of two pigeons in a cage soothed her, and reminded her of home.
Her father's fondness had suggested that she should take the birds
with her that she might have the means of communicating to him how
it fared with her in her married home. Quickly she now wrote a note
to tell him of the discovery she had made, and begging him to deliver
her. She tied the note to one of the pigeons, and let them fly.
The Devil came back in the same disguise, and was profuse in his
caresses; and he never thought of her having opened the door. But all
the princess's affection and admiration for him were gone, and it was
with the greatest difficulty she contrived to keep up an appearance
of the fondness she had formerly so warmly and so sincerely lavished.
Meantime the pigeons went on their way, and brought the note home. The
king and queen were having dinner on the terrace, and with them
sat a young stranger, named Berthold, conversing with them, but too
sad to taste the food before him. He was one of those the princess
had rejected without seeing, but as he had seen her, he was deeply
distressed at the present separation. The pigeons flew tamely in
narrowing circles round the king's head, and, at last, the one which
carried the note came fluttering on to the table before him. He would
have driven them away, the rather, that they were all distressed and
bleeding, and with scarcely a feather left, but the young stranger's
eye discovered the note, which was quickly opened and read.
"Oh, help me! What can I do?" exclaimed the king; "give me some
counsel. How can I ever reach the Devil's palace--and how could I
fight him, if even I did get there?"
"May I be permitted to undertake the deliverance?" asked the stranger.
"Oh, in heaven's name, yes!" cried the king.
"And shall I have your permission to pay my addresses to her when I
bring her back?"
"Why, she will be yours--yours of right, if you succeed in rescuing
her; altogether yours!"
"That must depend on herself. Nevertheless, if I have your consent
to ask her in marriage, that is all I desire."
"Go, and succeed!" devoutly exclaimed the king. "And whatever you
stand in need of, be it men or money, or arms, you have but to command,
and every thing shall be given you that you require."
But the prince, who knew not what sort of enemy he had to encounter,
or which way he had to go, knew not what assistance to ask for,
but set out, trusting in God and his own good sense to guide him.
As he passed out of the castle enclosure his eyes were rejoiced to see
lying on the ground some of the white feathers of the carrier-pigeons,
and then he perceived that, not having been duly matched, they had
fought all the way, and that the whole track was marked with their
feathers. But as they, of course, had come by the directest course,
it led him over steep precipices and wild, unfrequented places;
still Berthold pursued his way through all difficulties without losing
courage, and ever as he went pondering in his own mind with what arts
he should meet the Devil.
He was passing through a desolate stony place, which seemed far from
any habitations of men, when he saw a man crouching by the wayside,
with his ear close against the rock.
"What are you doing there?" said Berthold.
"I am listening to what is going on in the Devil's house," answered the
man, "for my sense of hearing is so fine, it carries as far as that."
"Then come with me," said Berthold; "I will find work for you which
shall be well repaid."
So the man left off listening, and walked on behind him.
A little farther on, he observed a man sitting on a ledge of the
precipice, with his back to the road, and with all the world before
him; and he gazed out into the far distance.
"What are you staring at?" said Berthold.
"I am gazing into the Devil's house," said the man, "for my sight is
so sharp, it carries as far as that."
"Then come along with me; I will give your eyes work that shall be
well paid." said Berthold.
So the man left off gazing, and turned and walked behind him.
"But stop!" said the prince; "let me have some little proof that you
are as clever as you say. If you can see and hear into the Devil's
house, let me know what the Devil's wife is doing."
Then the first man crouched down with his ear against the rock;
and the second man sat himself astride on a jutting projection of
the precipice, and gazed abroad over the open space--Berthold taking
care that they should be far enough apart not to communicate with
each other.
"What do you see?" he said, when the second man had poised himself
to his own satisfaction.
"I see a vast apartment, all of shining crystal, and the Devil lying
fast asleep on a ledge of the flaming spar, while the Devil's wife
sits with averted face, and weeps."
"And what do you hear?" he said, returning to the first man.
"I hear the Devil snore like the roaring of a wild beast, and I hear
great sighs of a soft woman's voice; and every now and then she says,
'Why was I so foolish and haughty, as to send away all those noble
princes whom I might have learnt to love? and above all, Berthold, whom
I would not see, and who my mother said was better than them all; and I
would not see him! If I could but see him now, how I would love him!'"
When Berthold heard that, he could not rest a minute longer, but told
them he was satisfied; and hurried on so fast that they could scarce
keep up with him.
On they went thus; and presently they saw a man amusing himself with
lifting great boulders of rock, which he did so deftly that no one
could hear him move them.
"You have a rare talent," said Berthold; "come along with me, and I
will pay your service well."
So the man put down a great mass of rock he had in his arms, and
walked on behind the prince.
Presently there were no more pigeons' feathers to be seen, and Berthold
wrung his hands in despair at losing the track.
"See!" said the man with the sharp sight, "there they lie, all down
this steep, and along yonder valley, and over that high mountain! it
will take three months to traverse that valley."
"But it is impossible to follow along there at all!" cried all the
men. But Berthold said they must find their way somehow.
While they were looking about to find a path to descend by, they
saw a great eagle soaring round and round, flapping her wings, and
uttering plaintive cries.
"I'll tell you what's the matter," said the man with the sharp hearing:
"one of her eggs has fallen down this ledge, and it is too narrow
for her to get it out; I can hear the heart of the eaglet beating
through the shell."
"Eagle," said the prince, "if I take out your egg, and give it to you,
will you do something for me?"
"Oh, yes, any thing!" said the eagle.
"Well, that is a hot, sunny ledge," said the prince; "your egg won't
hurt there till we come back--I have seen in my travels some birds
which hatch their eggs entirely in the hot sand. Now you take us
all on your back, and fly with us along the track wherever you see
the pigeons' feathers, and wait a few minutes while we complete our
business there, and then bring us back; and then I'll take your egg
out of the fissure for you."
"That's not much to do!" said the eagle; "jump up, all of you."
So they all got on the eagle's back, the prince taking care so to
arrange his men that the great neck and outstretched wings of the eagle
should hide them from the Devil's sight, should he have happened to
be outside his house.
It took the eagle only two or three hours to reach the journey's end,
and by this time it was night.
"And now it is dark," said Berthold, to the sharp-visioned man, as
they alighted from the eagle's back, "you cannot help us any more
with your sight."
"Oh, yes; the crystals of the Devil's apartment always glitter with
the same red glare by night or day. I see the Devil rolled up in bed
fast asleep, and his wife sits on a chair by his side, and weeps."
"And what do you hear?" he said, addressing the first attendant.
"I hear snoring and weeping, as before," said the man addressed.
"Now you, who are so clever at lifting weights without being heard,"
said the prince, "lift the great door off its hinges."
"That's done," replied the man, a minute later, for he had done it
so quietly Berthold was not aware he had moved from the spot.
"Since you have done this so well, I'm sure you'll do the next
job. You have now to go up into the Devil's room, and bring the lady
down without the least noise; if you show her this token, she will
recognize it for her father's device, and will come with you."
The sharp-visioned man told him how he would have to go, for he could
see all the inside of the house, lighted up as it was with the glaring
crystals. But just as he was about to start,--
"Stop!" cried the man with the sharp ears; "I hear the Devil turn
in his bed; our talking must have disturbed him." So they all stood
stock still in great fear.
"He seems to be getting up," whispered the man with the sharp
sight. "No; now he has turned round and rolled himself up once more."
"And now he is snoring again," continued the other.
"Then we may proceed," replied the prince; and the third attendant
went his way so softly that no one heard him go.
"Get up on the eagle's back," said Berthold to the other two, "that
we may be ready to start immediately." So the men took their places.
They had hardly done so when the man came back bearing the princess,
and at a sign from Berthold sprang with her on to the eagle's neck. The
prince got up behind, and away flew the eagle--so swiftly that had
he been less collected he might have lost his balance before he had
secured his seat.
By daybreak they had reached the spot where the eagle's egg had
fallen. Berthold willingly exerted himself to restore her treasure
to her, and she was so grateful that she proposed to fly with them
home the remainder of the journey--an offer which they gladly accepted.
The Devil was still sleeping and snoring, they were assured by the
clever attendants; and away they sped, reaching home just as the king
and queen were sitting down to breakfast.
Great was the rejoicing in all the palace. The princess gladly
acknowledged Berthold's service by giving him her hand; and to all
three attendants high offices were given at court. To the eagle
was offered a gold cage and two attendants to wait on her, but she
preferred liberty on her own high mountain, and flew away, accepting
no reward but a lamb to carry home to her young ones.
When Luxehale woke next morning great was his fury to find that the
princess was gone.
"Order out a troop of horse, and send and demolish her palace, and
kill all belonging to her, and bring her home again," was the advice
of his chamberlain.
"No," replied Luxehale; "I hate violence: I have other ways at command
which I find answer better. There are people enough in the world
glad enough to follow me willingly. It is not worth while to give
myself much trouble with those who resist." And he dressed himself,
and walked out.
This time his steps were not directed towards a grand palace. He didn't
care particularly about birth or cultivation. There was a cottage
situated just above one of the alleys of his pleasure-grounds where
lived three beautiful peasant girls with an old father. Luxehale had
often listened to their merry laugh and thought how he should like
to have one of them for his wife; but he never could find any means
of getting at them, as they were very quiet and modest, and never
would enter into conversation with any stranger.
As he now walked along he heard their voices in earnest talk.
"It's great nonsense of father selling all the celery, and not letting
us have a taste of it!" said one, in a discontented voice.
"Yes, it is; I don't mean to submit to it either," said another.
"Oh, but you wouldn't disobey father!" said the first.
"Well, it's not such a great matter," replied the other; "only a foot
of celery [82]!"
Luxehale was very glad when he heard that, for he had never been able
to catch them in an act of disobedience before. He placed himself
under the celery-bed and watched all the roots. The moment one began
to shake, showing that they were pulling it up, Luxehale took hold of
the root, and held it hard, so that, instead of their pulling it up,
he contrived to drag down the girl who was trying to gather it.
It was the peasant's eldest daughter Lucia; and much surprised was she,
after passing through the hole Luxehale had made in the earth, to find
herself in the arms of a handsome cavalier, who lavished the greatest
care on her! Lucia had never been spoken to by such a good-looking
gallant before, and felt much pleased with his attention. She begged
him, however, to let her go; but he told her that was impossible. She
was his captive, and he never meant to let her go again; but if she
would only be quiet and reasonable she would be happier than any queen;
that he would take her to a magnificent palace where she would have
every thing she desired, and be as happy as the day was long, for
he would make her his wife. In fact, he succeeded in dazzling her so
with his promises that she began to feel a pleasure in going with him.
Nor did he break these promises. She was installed into all the
enjoyments of which we have seen the former wife in possession;
and as the Devil admired her beauty, and flattered and fondled her,
she did not altogether regret her captivity. But when the time came
that he had to go upon earth about his business, he brought her all
the keys of the place, with the express recommendation that she was
never to attempt to open the adamant door; then he plucked a red rose,
and placed it in her bosom, as a memorial of him, which he promised
should not fade till his return, and departed.
Lucia amused herself very well at first with various occupations and
amusements the palace afforded, and which were new to her; but as the
days fled by she began to grow weary, and at last, from being tired
and out of spirits with her loneliness, she became possessed with
so intense a curiosity to see what lay hid behind the adamant door,
that she could not resist it.
Accordingly she went down at last, with the bunch of keys in her
hand, and with trembling steps made her way up to it. But, without
even trying one of the keys, she found her touch pushed it open,
and made the terrible discovery, that it was the gate of hell! She
turned to escape, and rushed back to her apartment, to weep bitterly
over her forlorn condition.
Two or three days later a train of waggons came laden with beautiful
presents Luxehale had bought and sent home to amuse her, and she
became so interested in turning them all over, that when he returned
she was as bright and smiling as if nothing had happened.
Luxehale ran to embrace her, but suddenly observed that the rose
had withered on her bosom! When he saw that, he pushed her from
him. He had given it to her as a test to ascertain whether she had
gone through the adamant door, for the heat of the fire was sure to
tarnish it--and now he knew she was in possession of his secret.
"You have opened the adamant door!" he exclaimed, fiercely; and she,
seeing him so fierce, thought it better to deny it.
"It is useless to deny it," he replied; "for nothing else would have
tarnished that rose." And saying that, he dragged her down to it and
thrust her within its enclosure, saying, "You wanted to know what
there was behind the adamant door; now you will know all about it."
Luxehale now had to look out for another wife. He at once bethought
him of Lucia's sisters, and went pacing up and down under their garden,
as before. The two sisters were talking with some warmth.
"I don't see why father should have forbidden us to look through the
trellis!" said the voice which had spoken first on the former occasion.
"Nor I," said the other. "And I don't mean to be kept in in that
style either," said the other.
Quick as thought the Devil transformed himself into a serpent and
worked his way up through the earth to the other side of the trellis,
where he waited till the maiden put her head through, as she had
threatened. She had no sooner done so than he caught her in his coils
and carried her down under the earth. Before she had time to recover
from her surprise, he had transformed himself back into the handsome
cavalier who had charmed Lucia.
It was the second sister, Orsola; and her opposition to his advances
was as easily overcome as Lucia's. She lived in the palace as Lucia
had done, and learnt to feel great delight in its pleasures. At last
the day came when the Devil had to go upon earth about his business,
and he left her with the same charge about the adamant door, and
placed a red rose on her breast, which he promised should not fade
till his return. After a time her weariness induced Orsola to peep
through the fatal door; and the hot blast which escaped as she opened
it would have been sufficient to drive her away, but that it came
charged with the sound of a familiar voice!
"Lucia!" she screamed, in a voice thrilled with horror.
"Orsola!" returned her unhappy sister, in a tone of agony.
Orsola knew enough. She did not dare venture farther; and as she made
her way back to her apartment she saw in the court below the retinue
which had escorted her husband back. Assuming as composed a mien as
possible, she went out to meet him, and he ran towards her with every
appearance of affection--but his eye caught the withered rose.
"You have opened the adamant door," he said, sternly. "There is no
help for you; those who once pass it cannot live up above here any
more. You must go back, and live there for ever!" And, regardless of
her entreaties and cries, he dragged her down, and thrust her into
the burning pit.
Luxehale now had to search for another wife, and he determined it
should be no other than the third of the sisters. "But," he reflected,
as he walked towards her cottage, "now she has no one left to talk to,
how shall I manage? Ah, well, I generally find a way to do most things
I take in hand--and if I don't catch her I needn't break my heart;
there are plenty of girls in the world whom I have arts to enthrall."
But he did hear her voice. As he got near she was singing, very
sadly and sweetly, a verse which told her regrets for her sisters,
and called on them to return.
"That's all right!" said Luxehale, "she is sure to come to the spot
where she last saw her sister. I'll be there!"
So, transforming himself once more into a serpent, he wriggled
through the earth and took up his place of observation beside the
trellis. He had not been there long, when she actually came up to it,
singing the same melancholy strains; and then she stopped to call,
"Lucia! Orsola! Lucia! Orsola!" till the woods rang again. Then she
seemed to get weary with calling, and she leant against the trellis.
"Ha! she'll soon put her head through now," chuckled Luxehale. And so
she did, sure enough; and no sooner did her head appear on the other
side than he twisted his coils round her and dragged her down under
the earth.
Before she recovered herself he once more appeared as a handsome
cavalier.
It was Regina, the youngest and best-conducted of the sisters.
"Let me go! let me go!" she cried, refusing to look at him.
"I thought I heard you calling for your sisters," he replied,
soothingly; "don't you want to see them?"
"Oh, yes! tell me where they are."
"I can't tell you where they are," he answered; "and if I did, it
would be of no use, because you would not know the way to where they
are. But if you come with me, it is possible we may be able to hear
something about them some day. One thing is certain, no one else is
so likely to be able to hear of them as I."
Regina was terribly perplexed, something within her said she ought
not to speak to the stranger gallant. "And yet, on the other hand,
if, by going with him, I can do any thing to recover my dear sisters,"
she thought, "I ought to risk something for that."
When he saw her hesitate, he knew his affair was won; and, indeed,
it required little persuasion to decide her now. As they went along
he said so many soft and flattering things as to make her forget
insensibly about her sisters. But when they got to the palace there
were such a number of beautiful things to occupy her attention, so
much to astonish her--a poor peasant maid who had never seen any of
these fine things before--that she soon got habituated to her new life,
and the fact of her having come for her sisters' sake went quite out
of her remembrance.
Luxehale was delighted to have brought things so far; and in proportion
to the difficulty he had had in winning her, was the satisfaction he
felt in being with her; thus he spent a longer time with her than
he had with either of the other sisters. But the time came at last
when he had to go upon earth about his business; and then he gave her
the same charge as the others about the keys and the adamant door,
and the rose which was not to fade till his return.
It was not many days either before the desire to see what was
hid behind it took possession of her; but as she approached it she
already perceived that the air that came from it was dry and heated,
and as she really regarded the rose as a token of affection, she was
concerned to keep it fair and fresh, so she went back and placed it
in a glass of water, and then pursued her investigation of the secret
of the adamant door.
She had learnt enough when she had but half opened it, and smelt
the stifling fumes of sulphur which issued from the pit it guarded,
and would have turned to go, but then her sisters' voices, wailing
in piteous accents, met her ear.
"Lucia! Orsola!" she cried.
"Regina!" they replied; and then, courageously advancing farther by
the light of the lurid flames, which burnt fitfully through the smoke,
now red with a horrid glare, now ashy grey and ghastly, she descried
the beloved forms of her sisters writhing and wailing, and calling
on her to help them.
She promised to use all her best endeavours to release them, and,
in the meantime, bid them keep up their courage as best they might,
and be on the look-out to take advantage of the first chance of
escape she could throw in their way. With that she returned to her
apartment, replaced the rose in her bosom, and looked out for the
return of Luxehale. Nor did he keep her long waiting; and when he
saw the rose blooming as freshly as at the first he was delighted,
and embraced her with enthusiasm. In fact, he was so smiling and well
inclined that she thought she could not do better than take advantage
of his good humour to carry out the plan she had already conceived.
"Do you know," she said, "I don't like the way in which your people
wash my things; they dry them in a hot room. Now I've always been
accustomed to dry them on the grass, where the thyme grows, and then
they not only get beautifully aired, but they retain a sweet scent
of the wild thyme which I have always loved since the days when I was
a little, little girl, and my mother used to kiss me when she put on
my clean things."
"It shall be done as you like," said Luxehale. "I will order a field
of thyme to be got ready immediately, and your things shall always
be dried upon it. Is there nothing else, nothing more difficult,
I can do for you?"
"Well, do you know," she replied--for this would not have answered
her purpose at all--"do you know, I don't fancy that would be quite
the same thing either; there is something peculiar about the scent
of our grass and our thyme at home which is very dear to me. Wouldn't
it be possible to send the things home?"
Luxehale looked undecided.
"It's the only thing wanted to make this beautiful place perfectly
delightful," she continued.
He couldn't resist this, and promised she should do as she liked.
Regina then ordered a large box to be made, and packed a quantity of
her things into it. But in the night when all slept she went down to
the adamant door, and called Lucia.
Both sisters came running out. "One at a time!" she said. "Lucia has
been in longest; it will be your turn next." So she took Lucia up with
her, and hid her in the box under the clothes, and told her what she
had to do. She was to send all the linen back clean at the end of the
week, and well scent it with thyme, and to fill up the vacant space
with more linen, so that it might not seem to return with less in it
than when it went. She told her also, if the porter who carried the
box should take into his head to peep in, "all you have to say is,
'I see you!' and you will find that will cure him." Then she went to
bed, and slept quietly till morning.
Early next day Luxehale called a porter to carry the box, to whom she
overheard him giving secret instructions that, as soon as he had got
to a good distance, he should search the box, and let him know what
was in it before he sent him up to her for final orders.
Regina told him all about the situation of her father's cottage. "But,"
she added, "I've had my eye on you a long time--you're not a bad sort
of fellow, but you're too curious."
"Why, I've never been where your worship could see me!" answered the
porter; "I've always worked in the stables."
"I can see every where!" replied Regina, solemnly. "I can see you in
the stables as well as I can see you here, and as well as I shall be
able to see you all the way you are journeying; and if an impertinent
curiosity should take you to look at my clothes, I shall see you,
you may be sure, and shall have you properly punished, so beware!"
The porter planted the chest on his strong shoulders and walked
away. He was a devil-may-care sort of fellow, and didn't altogether
believe in Regina's power of seeing "every where," and, as his
master's injunction to look into the box accorded much better with
his own humour than Regina's order to abstain from opening it, before
he had got halfway he set it down on the ground, and opened it.
"I see you!" said Lucia, from within; and her voice was so like her
sister's that the fellow made no doubt it was Regina herself who
really saw him as she had threatened; and, clapping the box to again
in a great fright, lifted it on to his shoulders with all expedition.
"I've brought your daughter's linen to be washed!" cried the porter,
when he arrived at the cottage, to the father of the Devil's wives, who
was in his field "breaking" Indian corn. "I've got a message to carry
about a hundred miles farther and shall be back by the end of the week,
so please have it all ready for me to take back when I call for it."
The good peasant gave him a glass of his best Küchelberger [83],
and sent him on his way rejoicing.
He had no sooner departed than Lucia started up out of the box of
linen, and hastily told her father all the story. The peasant's hair
stood on end as he listened, but they felt there was no time to be
lost. All the linen Regina had sent, and all that remained in the
cottage, was washed and well scented with thyme, and packed smoothly
into the box for the porter to take back with him. They had hardly
got it all ready when he came to the gate to ask for it.
"Here you are!" said the peasant; and the porter lifted the box on
to his strong shoulders, and made the best of his way home.
"What did you find when you looked into the box?" asked the Devil,
the first time he could catch the porter alone.
"Oh! nothing whatever but dirty linen," replied he, too much of a
braggadocio to confess that he had been scared by a woman's voice.
After receiving this testimony the Devil made no sort of obstacle any
more to his wife sending a box home whenever she would, and as soon
as she collected sufficient to justify the use of the large chest
she ordered the porter to be ready over night, and then went down
and called Orsola.
Orsola came quickly enough, and was packed into the linen chest as
her sister had been, and with the same instructions. "Only, as I don't
mean to stay here much longer behind, there is no reason why we should
lose all our best linen, so don't send a great deal back this time,
but fill up the box with celery, of which Luxehale is very fond."
The porter, feeling somewhat ashamed of his pusillanimity on the last
occasion, determined this time to have a good look into the box,
for the effect of his fright had worn off, and he said to himself,
"It was only a foolish fancy--I couldn't really have heard it."
So he had hardly got half way when he set the box down, and lifted
the lid.
"I see you!" exclaimed Orsola, in a voice so like Regina's that the
lid slipped out of his hand, and fell upon the box with a crash which
startled Orsola herself. He loaded the box on his shoulders once more,
nor stopped again till he reached his destination.
Hearty was the greeting of the two sisters and their father as soon
as he was gone; and then they set to work to get the washing done.
"The weather has been so bad," said the father, when the porter
returned, "that we could not dry all the linen, please to say to your
mistress, but we hope to have it ready to go back with next week's;
beg her acceptance, however, of the celery which I have packed into
the box in its place."
"Did you look into the box this time?" said Luxehale, as soon as he
got the porter alone.
The porter did not like to acknowledge that he had been scared by
a woman, and so declared again that there was nothing in the box
but linen.
It was more difficult to arrange for her own escape, but Regina had
a plan for all. The box had now gone backwards and forwards often
enough for the porter to need no fresh directions, so she told him
over-night where he would find it in the morning; and he, finding it
seem all as usual, loaded it on his shoulders, and walked off with
it by the usual path.
He had not performed half the journey when he determined to
have a serious look into the box this time, and be scared by no
one. Accordingly he lifted the lid, but this time the words,--
"I see you!" came out of the box so unmistakably in Regina's voice,
that there was no room for doubt of her power of seeing him, and with
more haste than ever he closed it up again, and made the best of his
way to the peasant's cottage.
Both sisters and their father greeted Regina as their good angel and
deliverer when she stepped out of the box; and they went on talking
over all their adventures with no need to make haste, for Regina had
brought away with her money and jewels enough to make them rich for the
rest of their lives, so that they had no need to work any more at all.
When the porter returned to ask for the linen-chest, the peasant came
out with a humorous smile, and bid him tell his master that they had
not time to do the washing that week.
"But what shall I tell my mistress?" asked the man.
As he said so, Regina and her sisters came into the room, striking
him dumb with astonishment.
"No, you had better not go back to him," she said, compassionating
him for the treatment that would have awaited him, had he returned
without her; "Luxehale would doubtless vent his fury on you for my
absence. Better to stay here and serve us; and you need not fear his
power as long as you keep out of his territory."
After this, Luxehale determined to give up young and pretty wives,
since they proved sharp enough to outwit him, as he had before given
up rich and titled ones, who were like to have knights and princes
to deliver them.
This time he said he would look out for a bustling woman of good
common sense, who had been knocked about in the world long enough to
know the value of what he had to offer her.
So he went out into the town of Trient, and fixed upon a buxom woman of
the middle class, who was just in her first mourning for her husband,
and mourned him not because she cared for him, for he had been a bad
man, and constantly quarrelled with her, but because, now he was dead,
she had no one to provide for her, and after a life of comparative
comfort, she saw penury and starvation staring her in the face.
He met her walking in the olive-yard upon the hill whence her husband's
chief means had been derived. "And to think that all these fine trees,
our fruitful arativo, and our bright green prativo [84], are to be
sold to pay those rascally creditors of my brute of a husband!" she
mused as she sat upon the rising ground, and cried. "If he had nothing
to leave me, why did he go off in that cowardly way, and leave me
here? what is the use of living, if one has nothing to live upon?"
The Devil overheard her, and perceived she was just in the mood for
his purpose, but took care to appear to have heard nothing.
"And are you still charitably mourning because the Devil has taken
your tyrant of a husband?"
"Not because he has taken him, but because he didn't take me too,
at the same time!" answered the woman, pettishly.
"What! did you love the old churl as much as all that?" asked Luxehale.
"Love him! what put that into your head? But I didn't want to be left
here to starve, I suppose."
"Come along with me then, and you shan't starve. You shall have a
jollier time of it than with the old fool who is dead--plenty to eat
and drink, and no lack, and no work!"
"That's not a bad proposition, certainly; but, pray, who are you?"
"I am he who you regretted just now had not taken you. I will take you,
if you wish, and make you my wife."
"You the Devil!" exclaimed the woman, eyeing the handsome person he
had assumed from head to foot; "impossible, you can't be the Devil!"
"You see the Devil's not so black as he's painted," replied
Luxehale. "Believe me that is all stuff, invented by designing knaves
to deceive silly people. You can see for yourself if I don't look,
by a long way, handsomer and taller than your departed spouse, at
all events."
"There's no saying nay to that," responded the widow.
"Nor to my other proposition either," urged Luxehale; and, as he found
she ceased to make any resistance, he took her up in his arms, and,
spreading his great bat's wings, carried her down to his palace, where
he installed her as lady and mistress, much to her own satisfaction.
As she was fond of luxury and ease, and had met with little of it
before, the life in the Devil's palace suited her uncommonly well,
and yet, though she had every thing her own way, her bad temper
frequently found subject for quarrel and complaint.
It was on one occasion when her temper had thus been ruffled, and she
had had an angry dispute with Luxehale, who to avoid her wrangling
had gone off in a sullen mood to bed, that some one knocked at the
door. All the servants were gone to bed, so she got up, and asked
who was there.
"I, Pangrazio Clamer of Trient," said a somewhat tremulous voice.
"Pangrazio Clamer of Trient!" returned the widow; "come in, and
welcome. But how did you get here?"
"It's a longish story; but, first, how did you get here, and installed
here too, it seems? Ah, Giuseppa, you had better have married me!"
"I've forbidden you to talk of that," answered Giuseppa. "Besides,
I had not better have married you, for I have married a great prince,
who is able to keep me in every kind of luxury, and give me every
thing I can wish. You couldn't have done that."
"No, indeed," he sighed.
"Well, don't let's talk any more about that. Tell me how every one
is going on in Trient."
"By-and-by, if there is time. But, first, let me tell you about myself,
and what brought me here. That's strange enough."
"Well, what was it, then?"
"You know that you refused to have me, because I was poor----"
"I have already forbidden you to allude to that subject."
"You must know, then, that though I worked so hard to try and make
myself rich enough to please you, I only got poorer and poorer; while
at the same time, there was Eligio Righi, who, though his father left
him a good fortune to begin with, kept on getting richer and richer,
till he had bought up all the mines and all the olive-grounds, and
all the vineyards and mulberry-trees that were to be sold for miles
round--yours among the rest."
"That too?"
"Yes; and I often felt tempted to envy him, but I never did. One day
he came to me while I was hard at work, and said, 'You know, Pangrazio
Clamer, that I am very rich;' and I thought he didn't need to have come
and said that to me, who had all the labour in life to keep off envying
him, as it was. 'Pangrazio,' says he, 'I am not only rich, but I have
every thing I can wish, but one thing; and if I meet any one who will
do that one thing, I will take him to share my riches while I live,
and make him my heir at my death. I come first to ask you.' 'Tell me
what it is,' says I; 'I can't work harder, or fare worse, than I do
now, whatever it may be--so I'm your man.' 'Well, then, it's this,'
he continued. 'My one great unfulfilled wish through life has been
to give the Devil three good kicks, as some punishment for all the
mischief he does in the world; but I have never had the courage to
make the attempt, and now I have got old, and past the strength for
adventures, so if you will do this in my stead, I will put you in
my shoes as far as my money is concerned.' Of course, I answered I
would set out directly; and, as he had made the road by which men
get hither his study, for this very purpose, all through his life,
he could give me very exact directions for finding the Devil's abode.
"But, to get here, I had to traverse the lands of three different
sovereigns; and, as I had to go to them to get my passport properly
in order, they learned my destination, and each gave me a commission
on his own account, which I accepted, because if I should fail with
Eligio Righi's affair, I should have a chance of the rewards they
promised me to fall back on."
"And what were these three commissions?"
"The first king wants to know why the fountain which supplied all
his country with such beautiful bright water has suddenly ceased
to flow. The second king wants a remedy for the malady of his only
son, who lies at the point of death, and no physician knows what
ails him. And the third king wants to know why all the trees in his
dominions bear such splendid foliage, but bring forth no fruit."
"And you expect me to help you in all this?" said the Devil's wife.
"Well, for our old acquaintance' sake, and the bond of our common
home," said Clamer, "you might do that; and for the sake of the nearer
bond that might have united us."
"I would have refused you all you ask, to punish you for going back to
that story," said Giuseppa, "but I really desire to see old Luxehale
get a good drubbing, just now, for he has been very tiresome to-day. I
daren't give it him myself, but I'll help you to do it, if you have
a mind."
"Never mind the motive, provided you give me the help," replied
Clamer. "And will you help me to trick him out of the answers for
the three kings, as well as to give him a good drubbing?"
"That will I; for it will be good fun to counter-act some of his
mischief."
"How shall we set about it then?"
"I am just going to bed; he is asleep already. You must conceal
yourself in the curtains, and bring a big stick with you; and when
I make a sign, you must, without a moment's notice, set to and give
it him. Will that do for you?"
"Admirably! Only, remember, I have to do it three times, or I shan't
get my guerdon."
"And do you think you are certain of getting all Eligio Righi's
fortune?" said Giuseppa, earnestly.
"Oh, as sure as fate!" replied Clamer; "he's a man who never goes back
from his word. But I must fulfil all he says with equal exactness."
"And when I've helped you with half your labour, I don't see why I
shouldn't have half your guerdon."
"Nor I! You'll always find me faithful and true; and what I offered
you when I was poor, I offer you with equal heartiness when I have
the prospect of being the richest man in Trient."
"When you have done all you have to do, then, will you take me back
with you?"
"Nothing would make me happier than your consent to come with me. And
when I'm rich enough to be well fed and clothed, you'll find I'm not
such a bad-looking fellow, after all."
"Ah, you'll never be so handsome as Luxehale! But then I don't half
trust him. One never knows what trick he may take into his head to
play one. I think I should have more confidence of being able to
manage you."
"Then it's agreed; you come back with me?"
"Yes; I believe it's the best thing, after all. And now we must make
haste and set about our business."
She crept up-stairs with soft steps, and Clamer still more softly after
her. The Devil was sleeping soundly, and snoring like the roar of a
wild beast. Giuseppa stowed Clamer away in the curtains, and went to
bed too. When she heard what she reckoned one of the soundest snores,
she lifted the bed-curtains, and whispered, "Now's your time!"
Clamer did not wait to be told twice, but raised his stick, and,
as Giuseppa lifted the bed-clothes, applied it in the right place,
with a hearty good will.
Luxehale woke with a roar of pain, and Clamer disappeared behind
the curtains.
"Forgive me, dear lord!" said Giuseppa; "I had such a strange dream,
that it woke me all of a start, and I suppose made me knock you."
"What did you dream about?" said Luxehale, thinking to catch her at
fault; but Giuseppa had her answer ready.
"I thought I was travelling through a country where all the people
were panting for want of water, and as I passed along, they all
gathered round me, and desired me to tell them, what had stopped
their water from flowing, saying, 'You are the Devil's wife, so you
must know!' and when I couldn't tell them, they threw stones at me,
so that I seemed to have a hard matter to escape from them."
The Devil burst out into a loud laugh, which absorbed all his
ill-humour, as he heard this story, and Giuseppa made a sign to Clamer
to pay attention to what was to follow.
"You see, you never tell me any thing," she continued, pretending
to cry; "I never know any thing about your business, and, you see,
all those people expected I knew every thing my husband knew, as
other wives do."
"I didn't suppose you'd care to know any thing about it," replied
Luxehale, trying to soothe her; "and really there was nothing to
tell! It's an every-day matter. There was a pilgrimage chapel near
the city, to which the people used to go in procession every year;
and as long as they did that, I never could get past to get at the
fountains. But now they have left off the procession, and so I got by,
and had the fun of stopping the water."
Clamer winked to Giuseppa, to show he understood what the remedy was,
and Giuseppa said no more, so that the Devil very soon fell off to
sleep again.
When he began to snore again very soundly, she lifted the bed-clothes,
and made the agreed sign to Clamer. Clamer came forward, and applied
his stick with a hearty will in the right place, and the Devil woke
with a shout of fury.
"Oh, my dear husband!" cried Giuseppa, deprecating his wrath by her
tone of alarm; "I have had another dreadful dream!"
"What was it?" growled the Devil.
"I thought I was going through a great city where all the people were
in sorrow, and sat with ashes on their heads. And when they saw me
pass, they said they sat so because the king's son was at the point
of death, and no one could tell what ailed him, and all the doctors
were of no use; but that as I was the Devil's wife, I must know all
about it. When I couldn't tell them, they began pelting me; as they
kept putting fresh ashes on their heads each had a pan of fire by his
side, in which they were making, and they actually took the red-hot
cinders out of the pan of fire to pelt me with, and my clothes were
all on fire; so you may believe if I tried to run away fast--and it
is no wonder if I knocked you a little."
The Devil's fancy was more tickled than before with this story,
and he laughed fit to split his sides, as she proceeded, so that he
forgot all about the beating.
"It is all very well for you to lie there and laugh, but you wouldn't
have laughed if you had been treated as I was, I can tell you!" sobbed
Giuseppa. "And it's all because you never tell me any thing, as other
husbands do."
"Bosh!" answered the Devil; "I should have enough to do, if I told
you all the stories like that! Why, it's the commonest thing in the
world. That king's son was a good young man, obedient to all the
advice of his elders. But after a time he got with bad companions,
who introduced him to some of my people. After they had played him
a number of tricks, one day one of them took into his head to give
him a stunning good illness, to punish him for some luck he had had
against them at cards. And that's the history of that--there's nothing
commoner in life."
Giuseppa made a sign to know if Clamer had heard all he wanted to know,
and, finding he was satisfied, let the Devil go to sleep again.
As soon as he began to snore very soundly, Giuseppa lifted the
bed-clothes, and Clamer once more applied his stick. Whether by getting
used to the work and therefore less nervous, he really hit him harder,
or whether the previous blows had made the Devil more sensitive,
he certainly woke this time in a more furious passion than ever, and
with so rapid a start that it was all Clamer could do to get out of
his sight in time.
"What have you been dreaming now?" he exclaimed, in his most fearful
voice. "I declare, I can scarcely keep my hands off you!"
"Don't be angry," answered Giuseppa; "it is I who have had the worst
of it. I dreamt I was passing through a country where the trees had
given up bearing fruit; and when the people saw me go by, they all
came round me, and said, as I was the Devil's wife, I must know what
ailed their trees; and when I couldn't tell them, they cut down great
branches, and ran after me, poking the sharp, rough points into my
sides! You may believe if I tried to run away fast."
The Devil had never had such a laugh since he had been a devil,
as at this story, and the whole palace echoed with his merriment.