"Have you got the tinder-box?" said the witch.
"Oh, that I had quite forgotten," answered the soldier, and back he
went to fetch it.
When he came back the witch took the rope and hauled and hauled, till
there was the soldier, once more, safe on the high road, just as he
was before, only now he was rich, so rich that he had become very
bold.
He had gold in his pockets, gold in his knapsack, gold in his cap,
gold in his boots.
"What are you going to do with the tinder-box, just tell me that?"
said the soldier.
"That is no business of yours," said the witch. "You have the gold,
give me the tinder-box!"
"Rubbish!" said the soldier. He had grown rude as well as rich, you
see. "Rubbish--take your choice--tell me at once what you mean to do
with the tinker-box, or I will draw my sword and cut off your head."
"I won't tell you," screamed the witch.
Then the soldier cut off her head, and the poor witch lay there dead.
But the soldier did not stay to look at her. In a great hurry he took
all his gold and tied it up in the blue checked apron.
He slung it across his shoulder, put the tinder-box in his pocket, and
marched off to town.
How grand he felt! What heaps of gold he had in his bundle!
When the soldier reached the town he walked straight to the finest
hotel, and asked for the best rooms, and for dinner ordered all his
favorite puddings and fruits.
The servant who cleaned his boots tossed her head. "Shabby boots for a
rich man to wear," she said.
But next day the soldier had bought himself very grand new boots, and
gay clothing, so that no one could possibly call him shabby.
Shabby! No, he was a great man now, and people crowded round this rich
fellow, told him all the sights there were to be seen in their city,
all about their King too, and the beautiful Princess, his daughter.
"I should like to see her, this wonderful Princess," said the soldier.
"But you cannot see her," they told him. "She lives, the beautiful
Princess, in a great copper castle, with walls and towers all round.
Only the King visits her there, for it was once foretold that she
would marry a common soldier, and that our King does not wish."
"I must see her once, just once," thought the soldier. But how was he
going to find the way into the castle, that was the question?
Meanwhile he led a merry life. He drove about in the King's Park; he
went to the theater; he gave money to the poor, because he remembered
how miserable it was to have no money in his own pocket.
The soldier was always gaily dressed now. He had a great many friends
who said he was a real gentleman, and that pleased him very much.
And so he went on day after day, spending money and giving money, but
getting none, till at last the gold came to an end. He had only two
copper coins left: he was only a poor soldier once more.
Leaving the grand hotel he went to live in a small room. He found a
tiny attic, just under a roof, up, oh! so many stairs. Here he lived,
mending his own clothes, brushing his own boots. He had no visitors,
for his grand friends would not take the trouble to walk up so many
stairs to his little attic.
Hungry? Yes, he was hungry too, and as he had no money to buy even a
farthing candle, he had to sit alone in the dark.
One evening he suddenly thought of the witch's tinder-box. Surely in
it there were matches.
The soldier opened it eagerly. Yes, there lay the matches. He seized
one and struck it on the tinder-box.
No sooner had he done this, than the door burst suddenly open, and
there, there, staring at him, stood the dog with eyes as big as
saucers.
"What does my master command?" asked the dog.
"No wonder the old witch wished the tinder-box for her very own,"
thought the soldier. Aloud he said to the dog, "Fetch me some money,"
and the dog instantly vanished to do his master's bidding.
He was back in a moment, and lo! in his mouth was a big bag, full of
pennies.
"Why, this is a magic box," said the soldier. "I have a treasure
indeed." And so he had, for listen! Strike the box once, the dog with
eyes as large as saucers appeared. Strike it twice and the dog with
eyes as big as mill-wheels appeared. Strike it thrice and there
appeared the monster dog with eyes that rolled round and round and
were as large as the Round Tower itself. All three dogs did the
soldier's bidding.
Now the soldier could have gold again. Gold as much as ever he wished.
He moved once more to the grand rooms in the fine hotel. He had gay
clothes again; and now, strangely enough, all his friends came to see
him and liked him as much as ever.
One evening the soldier's thoughts wandered away to the beautiful
Princess, the beautiful Princess who was shut up so safely in the
great copper palace.
"It is ridiculous that no one sees the Princess," thought the soldier.
"I want to see her, and I shall."
He pulled out his tinder-box, struck a light, and lo! there stood the
dog with eyes as large as saucers.
"It is the middle of the night," said the soldier, "but I must see the
Princess, if it is only for a moment."
The dog bounded out of the door, and before the soldier had time
to wonder what he would do or say if the beautiful Princess really
appeared, there she was.
Yes, there she was, fast asleep on the dog's back. She was beautiful,
so beautiful that the soldier was quite sure that she was a real
Princess. He stooped and kissed her hand. She was so beautiful he
could not help it. Then off ran the dog, back to the copper palace
with the Princess.
"I had such a strange dream last night," the Princess told the King
and Queen at breakfast next morning. "I dreamed that an enormous dog
came and carried me off to a soldier, and the soldier kissed my hand.
It was a strange dream," she murmured.
"The Princess must not be left alone to-night," said the Queen. "She
may be frightened if she dreams again." And she told an old dame who
lived at court to sit in the Princess's room at night.
But what would the Queen have said if she had known that what the
Princess told them was no dream, but something that had really and
truly happened?
Well, that evening the soldier thought he would like to see the
Princess again.
He struck a light, and there stood one of his obedient dogs.
"Bring the Princess," ordered the soldier, and the dog vanished to do
his master's will.
The old dame sat beside the Princess's bed. She had heard all about
the Princess's dream.
"Was she dreaming herself now?" she wondered. She pinched
herself.--No, she was wide awake, yet she saw a dog, a real dog with
eyes as large as saucers, in front of her.
The dog seized the Princess, and ran off; but although he ran very
quickly, the old dame found time to put on her goloshes before she
followed.
How she panted along! How she ran, the faithful old dame! She was just
in time to see the Princess on the dog's back disappear into a large
house.
"I shall mark the house, so that I may know it in the morning," she
thought. And she took a piece of white chalk and made a great white
cross on the door.
Then she walked home and slept.
Soon afterwards the dog carried the Princess back to the copper
palace, and noticed the great white cross on the door of the hotel
where his master lived.
And what do you think he did? Oh, he was a wise dog. He took a piece
of chalk, and he put a great white cross on every door in the town.
Early next morning the King and Queen and all the lords and ladies of
the court were astir. They had heard the old dame's story, and were
going to see the house with the great white cross.
They had scarcely started, when the King's eyes fell on a great white
cross! "Here it is," cried the King eagerly.
"What nonsense you talk, my dear! it is here," said the Queen, for
almost at the same moment she too had seen a door with a great white
cross.
Then all the lords and ladies cried: "It is here, it is here," as
one after another they saw doors marked with great white crosses. The
hubbub was terrible, and the poor old dame was quite bewildered. How
could she tell which door she had marked? It was quite useless. The
dog had perplexed everybody, and they went back to the copper palace
knowing no more than when they left it.
But the Queen was a clever woman. She could do more than just sit very
properly on a throne.
The same evening, she took her big gold scissors and cut up a large
piece of silk into small pieces. These she sewed together into a
pretty little bag. Then she filled the bag with the finest grains of
wheat. With her own hands she tied the bag round the Princess's waist,
after which she took her gold scissors again and cut a tiny little
hole in the bag, a hole just big enough to let the grains of wheat
drop out whenever the Princess moved.
That night the dog came again and carried the Princess off to the
soldier, and the soldier wished he were a Prince, for then he would
marry this beautiful Princess.
Now although the dog had very big eyes, eyes as large as saucers, he
did not notice the tiny grains of wheat as they dropped out all along
the road from the palace to the soldier's window. Under the window
the dog stopped and climbed up the wall with the Princess, into the
soldier's room.
The next morning the King and Queen followed the little grains of
wheat and very easily found out where the Princess had been.
Then the soldier was seized and put into prison.
Oh, how dark and tiresome it was! But it was worse than that one day,
when they told him he was to be hanged, "hanged to-morrow," they told
him.
What a fright the soldier was in, and, worst of all, he had left his
tinder-box at the hotel.
Morning came! Through the narrow bars of his little window the soldier
could see the people all hurrying out of town. They were going to see
him hanged.
He heard the drums, he saw the soldiers marching along. He wished he
were marching with them. Alas, alas! that could never be now--
A little shoemaker's apprentice, with a leather apron, came running
along. He was in such a hurry that he lost one of his slippers. It
fell close under the soldier's window, as he sat peering out through
the narrow bars.
The soldier called to the boy, "There is no hurry, for I am still
here. Nothing will happen till I go. I will give you two-pence if you
will run to the house where I used to live and fetch me my tinder-box.
You must run all the way."
The shoemaker's boy thought he would like to earn twopence, and off he
raced to bring the tinder-box.
He found it. "A useless little box," he said to himself, but back he
raced with it to the soldier; and then--what do you think happened?
Outside the town the scaffold had been raised, the soldiers were drawn
up round it, as well as crowds of people.
The King and Queen were there too, seated on a magnificent throne,
exactly opposite the judges and councilors.
The rope was being put round the soldier's neck, when he turned to
the King and Queen and earnestly entreated one last favor--only to be
allowed to smoke one pipe of tobacco.
What a harmless request! How could the King refuse so harmless a
request?
"Yes," said his Majesty, "you may smoke one pipe of tobacco."
The soldier took out his tinder-box, struck a match, once, twice,
thrice, and lo! there before him stood the three enormous dogs,
waiting his commands.
"Help me," shouted the soldier; "do not let me be hanged."
At once the three terrible dogs rushed at the judges and councilors,
tossed them high into the air, so that as they fell they were broken
into pieces.
The King began to speak; perhaps he was going to forgive the soldier,
but no one knows what he was going to say, for the biggest dog gave
him no time to finish his sentence.
He rushed at the King and Queen, flung them high into the air, so that
when they fell down, they too were broken all to pieces.
Then the soldiers and the people, who were all terribly frightened,
shouted in a great hurry, "Brave soldier, you shall be our King, and
the beautiful Princess shall be our Queen!"
And while they led the soldier to the royal carriage the great big
dogs bounded along in front.
Little boys whistled gaily, and the guards presented arms.
Then the Princess was sent for, and made Queen, which she liked much
better than living shut up in a copper palace. And the wedding feast
lasted for eight whole days, and the three monster wizard dogs sat at
the table, staring around them with all their eyes.
* * * * *