Fairy Tales From all Nations Part 3

Then the horse of Argilius turning back his head called out: "Why dost thou let those fiery spurs be stuck in thy side, brother? They will burn thy entrails, they are so long; and yet thou wilt never come up with me. It would be much better that we should both serve one master."

Taigarot perceived this, and the next time Holofernes stuck the spurs in him, he threw the Flame-king. As they were very high up in the air, (in fact, they were as high as the stars), Holofernes fell to the ground with such force, that he broke his neck. As for Argilius, he brought Kavadiska back to her castle, where they again celebrated their nuptials, lived very happy; and, if they have not died since, they live there to this very day.

PERSEVERE AND PROSPER.

[Arabic.]

"_He that seeketh shall find, and to him that knocketh shall be opened_," says an old Arab proverb. "I will try that," said a youth one day. To carry out his intentions he journeyed to Bagdad, where he presented himself before the Vizier. "Lord!" said he, "for many years I have lived a quiet and solitary life, the monotony of which wearies me. I have never permitted myself earnestly to will anything. But as my teacher daily repeated to me, '_He that seeketh shall find, and to him that knocketh shall be opened_,' so have I now come to the resolution with might and heart to _will_, and the resolution of my _will_ is nothing less than to have the Caliph's daughter for my wife."

The Vizier thought the poor man was mad, and told him to call again some other time.

Perseveringly he daily returned, and never felt disconcerted at the same often-repeated answer. One day, the Caliph called on the Vizier, just as the youth was delivering his statement.

Full of astonishment the Caliph listened to the strange demand, and being in no peculiar humour for having the poor youth's head taken off, but on the contrary, rather inclined for pleasantry, his Mightiness condescendingly said: "For the great, the wise, or the brave, to request a princess for wife, is a moderate demand; but what are your claims? To be the possessor of my daughter you must distinguish yourself by one of these attributes, or else by some great undertaking. Ages ago a carbuncle of inestimable value was lost in the Tigris; he who finds it shall have the hand of my daughter."

The youth, satisfied with the promise of the Caliph, went to the sh.o.r.es of the Tigris. With a small vessel he every morning went to the river, scooping out the water and throwing it on the land; and after having for hours thus employed himself, he knelt down and prayed. The fishes became at last uneasy at his perseverance; and being fearful that, in course of time, he might exhaust the waters, they a.s.sembled in great council.

"What is the purpose of this man?" demanded the monarch of the fishes.

"The possession of the carbuncle that lies buried in the sluice of the Tigris," was the reply.

"I advise you, then," said the aged monarch, "to give it up to him; for if he has the steady will, and has positively resolved to find it, he will drain the last drop of water from the Tigris, rather than deviate a hair's breadth from his purpose."

The fishes, out of fear, threw the carbuncle into the vessel of the youth; and the latter, as a reward, received the daughter of the Caliph for his wife.

"He who earnestly _wills_, can do _much_!"

THE PRINCE OF THE GLOW-WORMS.

[German.]

"No! I'll bear it no longer, you good-for-nothing vagabond!" screamed the old woman to little Julius. "When you should be sitting with your book in your hand trying to learn somewhat, if I do but turn my back off goes the dunce to the wood, and stays there for whole days, frightening me out of my wits! What business have you in the wood, pray? You ought to stay at home and learn your book or help me in my work. And then you let one have no peace by night either. What's the use of my telling you ten times over all the stories I know about the black man and the grim wolf? You G.o.dless child you! You care for none of the things that frighten good pious children almost to death; but in the dead of the night off you go into the dark forest, through hedges and brambles, making me fine work to wash and patch your clothes. This is the last day I'll put up with it. The very next time I'll turn you out of doors; and then you may go far enough before you'll find anybody to take pity on you, you lazy foundling, and feed you, as I have done, out of sheer humanity!"

"I cannot say much for your food," replied the boy shortly and carelessly, as he sat dreamily in a corner playing with a wild flower.

"What!" shrieked the old woman in a still sharper key; "you ungrateful viper! Is that the thanks I get for so often cooking something on purpose, because our nice savoury potatoes and nourishing black bread are not good enough for you? And so, forsooth, the gentleman must have milk porridge and honey cakes,--and even these he pecks at as if they were not delicate enough for him, the beggarly ingrate!"

"One might as well eat mill-stones and wood-choppers as your vile hard potatoes and sour bread," said Julius in the same tone of indifference.

The old woman fell into such a rage that her breath failed her for further utterance; so her husband, who was making bird-traps at the table, began in his turn.

"You rascal! do you dare to blaspheme G.o.d's good gifts, when, if we did not feed you out of charity--you must starve! And what return do you make us, you stray vagabond? When the fellow wants to slip out at night, truly he can be as sharp and cunning as any fox; but place a book before him, that he may learn to be pious and wise, and he loses his senses at once, and stares as stupidly at the letters as a cow at a new gate. Does he suppose I picked him off the road for love of his paltry flaxen hair and his blue goggle eyes? Fool that I was for my pains! Mark my words, and let every one beware of having anything to do with a child that is not his own flesh and blood! Why was I such a goose as not to let the child lie where I found him, kicking and screaming in the forest?"

"Well, why did you not?" said Julius. "I should have fared much better beneath G.o.d's bright sky, than in your nasty smoky hovel."

At this, the old pair--he with a stick, and she s.n.a.t.c.hing up a broom--rushed furiously on the boy, screaming and scolding as if they had a wager who should make most noise. But the child, light and active as a roebuck, bounded away. He fled to the wood; and when at last the old people had calmed down a little they heard him singing in the distance--

"You ill-favoured couple, adieu to you now!

I'm off to the forest where waves the green bough.

The bees, they know neither to read nor to write, Yet they gather sweet honey in sunshine bright; Though the little birds never were taught how to spell, Full many a blithe song they warble right well; The flowers are not fed on potato-roots vile, Yet through the long summer's day sweetly they smile.

The b.u.t.terfly, he has no tailor to pay, Yet he never feels cold,--and who dresses so gay?

The glow-worms at eve show a lovelier light Than the dim lamps that mortals consume through the night.

So adieu, ye vile pair, whom no more I shall see,-- To the wood! to the wood! there I'm wealthy and free!"

Fearlessly ran Julius about in the forest, and the further he penetrated into it the lighter grew his heart. The dark night came on; and many a child would have been frightened, and fancied the tall dark trees with their strangely contorted branches were giants with long arms, or black dragons with twisted tails. But Julius was accustomed to wander by night, and went gaily on. When, however, it began to rain, and it was so dark that he found difficulty in walking, he sang in a clear sweet voice:--

"You glow-worms bright, You leaf-clad trees, That shine in the night, And that bend in the breeze; Hither I came, for I trusted that you Would lighten my darkness and shelter me too.

Come, glow-worms! light me to my mossy bed,-- Branches! keep off the rain-drops from my head!"

Then, a light shone suddenly through the thick tangled bushes and wild plants; and a mult.i.tude of glow-worms came cl.u.s.tering round his footsteps like little torch-bearers, and guided him along a smooth and pleasant path to a retired spot, where the bushes and trees were entwined so as to form a little airy cave, the ground of which was covered with soft moss. Julius, being very tired, stretched himself on the moss; and the branches closed over his head, making such a thick covering with their leaves that not the smallest rain-drop could penetrate it. Then, he sang:--

"Now, glow-worms, let your tiny torches gleam To light my chamber with their emerald beam; In mazy dances round and round me sweep, Shedding your radiance o'er me whilst I sleep, That I may gaze in slumber's vision fair On heaven's bright stars and breathe earth's perfumed air!"

At these words, a thousand glow-worms at the very least came from all sides. Some hung themselves on the leaves like little coronets of lamps. Others lay like scattered gems on the moss; whilst others again circled round him executing the most intricate figures. A great number fixed themselves in the boy's fair hair,--so that he seemed to wear a starry crown. So, in the gold green twilight, sat Julius on the soft green moss, amongst flitting lamps, and concealed by arches and columns from which streamed forth a green radiance, whilst the mild and perfumed air played around him, and he heard the rain drip and the wind murmur mysteriously--but neither could approach him. He gazed smilingly around; when he suddenly heard a murmuring sound that soon formed itself into whispered words. It proceeded from a glow-worm that had perched on the rim of his ear, and spoke to him thus:--

"If thy thoughts are pure and mild, Such as beseem a holy child, A wondrous tale will please thee well,-- And such a tale I now can tell."

To this Julius replied:--

"I seem to myself like some legend strange, So thy tale I shall gladly hear: So it be but one of wild chance and change, Come whisper it in mine ear."

Then, the glow-worm began her story:--

"As glow-worms bright we now appear, but little nimble elves we were; in form and in figure much like unto thee, but many hundred times less were we. In India was our dwelling-place, far--oh how far!--away; where midst green leaves and blossoms bright we sported all the day.

We scaled the petals of the flowers, within their cups to lie: and rocked by zephyrs, pa.s.sed the hours in dreamy phantasy. Our food was the Aroma sweet exhaled by blossoms fair; and to and fro we darted fleet, light as the ambient air. 'Twas thus in careless mood we lived, nor good nor ill did we; when lo! an earnest man arrived, and a holy tale told he.

"He told us how Creation's Lord had with His own made peace; because His son His blood had poured, to make His anger cease. For that life-blood, He willing gave, had slaked the flames of h.e.l.l; and His hard-wrung victory o'er the grave had broken its fierce spell. And not the human race alone,--all things that breathe and move, and e'en the insensate-seeming stone, were rescued by such love. Hence, through all nature's vast domain a universal tremor ran; a thrill like that of death's fierce pain shot through the ransomed race of man.

"'Twas thus the old man daily urged, in high and holy speech, and gently led us to accept the creed he came to teach:--till at length we let him sprinkle us with pearly drops of dew; and he hailed us then a Christian race, and blessed us all anew. And in token of that blessing, as we bent before him low, he gently laid his finger light upon each fairy brow; and as the consecrating sign his finger traced,--lo! there up sprang on each a brilliant star like that which now I bear. Then did the old man in the ground a cross of pure white place,--and calling us around him, spake in words of truth and grace.

"'Revere this holy symbol; and as ye have lived for pleasure and ease, without a creed,--by some good deed henceforward strive your Lord to appease. There are men living in this land who still in sin and blindness stand; they lay their dead in the forest's shade, and scatter o'er them flowers fair, but seek not their poor souls to aid by holy song or prayer. Wherefore, in night's still secresy, for the service of the dead, be ready aye to watch and pray and your little light to shed. That ye this pious work may do, lo! this fair star is given you!'--And many more high words he spake ere his departure he did take. Thenceforth we led a holy life, as he command had given; and often in the silent night, we prayed that through our song and light, the cleansed soul might win its way to heaven."

"How could you do that? You cannot sing, surely," interrupted Julius.

To which the glow-worm answered:

"Thou canst no other voices hear but such as thundering reach thy ear.

Thou little dull-eared earth-bound wight, thou canst not e'en perceive by night the stars' majestic music sounding, through the azure vaults rebounding, with such a full and mighty voice, that though we listen and rejoice, our delicate nerves shrink tremblingly beneath that storm of harmony. Think'st thou 'tis without sense and feeling, that in our spark-twined dances wheeling, some of us darting radiance throw, whilst others burn with steady glow? But thou knows't not how closely bound by mystic tie are light and sound.

"Now hear my story on.--

"Not all of us became Christians; and one of our orders in particular, which had learnt from a Greek the philosophy of Epicurus, still held to its doctrines. This was the b.u.t.terfly-tribes,--who like ourselves were also elves. A light and G.o.dless race they were, thinking nothing worth their care but how to appear in colours gay; and to their sensual maxims true, they would drink deep of ambrosial dew, and then for hours would sleep; whilst we, the star-adorned nation, sucked of the flowers' sweet exhalation just so much from the humid air as for our nourishment we needed. But those light creatures far exceeded. The fragrance-breathing rose they courted, and with the young field-lilies sported, till at length of their strength and their perfume bereft, the poor wasted flowers to perish were left. By their uncertain zig-zag flight, dear child, thou well may'st see, that they have drunk more than is right and their senses clouded be.