The Counterpane Fairy Part 11

"What are you making there?" asked Teddy.

"A link," answered the dwarfs.

"What for?" said Teddy.

"For a chain," answered the dwarfs, and then they set to work again.

Teddy went on and on through the forges, and in every one of them were little dwarfs hammering away on links.

When he came to the last forge of all, they were just finishing a link, and as they threw it into a tank of water a cloud of steam rose, almost hiding them from view. They were so busy that they paid no attention to Teddy when he spoke. "Make haste! Make haste!" they cried to each other.

"It is growing late and she will soon be here."

In a great hurry the dwarfs caught up the link from the water and laid it on the anvil again, and then they all stood back from it. Every noise has ceased through all the forges, and the dwarfs were waiting in breathless stillness as though for something to happen.

Suddenly, in the silence, Teddy heard a faint tinkling as though of icicles struck lightly together, and at the same moment he saw that a woman all in white had entered the forge down at the other end. Her dress shone with all different colors, just as icicles do when they hang in the sunlight, and as the light of the fire caught it here and there, it almost looked as though it were on fire. Her hair was very black, and she wore a crown.

She stepped up to the anvil that was in the forge and laid her hand upon it. She was too far away for Teddy to see what she did, but there was a clink as of something breaking, and a low wail arose from the dwarfs that stood near by. Then she pa.s.sed on to the next anvil, and to the next, and to the next, and at each one she paused and touched the link that lay upon it, and always at that there was a clink, and a wail arose from the dwarfs.

At last she came to the very forge where Teddy was, but he had drawn back behind the stone archway and she did not see him. Gliding to the anvil, she stretched out her white finger and laid it upon the link that the dwarfs had made, and instantly, as soon as she touched it, the iron flew into pieces with a clink.

The dwarfs burst into a low wail, but the woman with the crown struck her hands together and stamped her foot in a rage. "Fools! fools!" she cried. "Not yet one link that will not fly into pieces at a touch. But you shall make the chain, though it should take your very hearts to do it."

Then, still scowling until her beautiful face was like a thunder-cloud, and without a single glance at the trembling dwarfs, she glided from the forge and was gone.

The dwarf who held the pincers drew his arm across his forehead to wipe off the sweat. "Come," said he, "let us set to work, for now it's all to be done over again."

"But tell me first," said Teddy, "what does this all mean, and who is this woman with a crown who comes and breaks your links with a touch as soon as you have finished them?"

"Ah! that is a long, sad story," said the dwarf who held the pincers.

"Yes, it is a long, sad story," echoed the others. "You tell him, Leatherkin," they added.

"Well," said Leatherkin, sitting down on a rock that lay close by, "it's this way. This mountain where we live is only one of many that are called the Fire Mountains, because their rocks are so red, and because they are all full of forges. Here we dwarfs used to live happily enough, for our good King Fireheart was so rich and strong that no one dared to make war on us, and we were left in peace to do what we would.

"King Fireheart, however, was not contented, for he wanted to see the world, so one day he set out on a journey, no one knew whither, leaving the country in the charge of his foster-brother.

"While he was away the Ice-Queen came with all her white spearsmen and attacked the country and conquered it. Then she set us all to work, for she knew that in all the world there were no such smiths as the dwarfs of the Fire King's country, and not until we have forged her the magic chain that binds all but one's self will she set us free to go about out own affairs again.

"That is why we are all working to forge the links, and if we could but make one that would stand so much as a touch of her finger we would have hopes of making it, but so far not one has been made but what flies into pieces at her lightest touch.

"But there," he added; "we must set to work, for the days are all too short for what we have to do."

"Wait a bit," said Teddy, "I should like to have a stroke at that chain myself. Will you lend me a hammer and let me try?"

"No, no," cried the dwarfs, shaking their heads. "We have no time to waste in lending out hammers and anvil."

"Look!" said Teddy, taking off his ruby girdle and holding it out to them. "You shall have this if you will let me try."

The dwarfs' eyes glittered, and they took the girdle and all crowded around to look and handle it, for they had never seen such fine rubies before, not even down in the middle of the earth; and at last they told Teddy that they would lend him their hammers awhile in exchange for the ruby girdle. "Though what can you do with them?" they said, "for look at your hands; they are white and smooth, and not hairy and strong like ours."

"Never you mind," said Teddy, "for sometimes white, smooth hands can do the work that others can't," and he took one of their hammers in his hand as he spoke.

"What will you have to work with?" they asked.

"Oh, anything at all," said Teddy, "if it is no more than an old nail, so that it is something to begin with."

The dwarfs laughed, and picking up an old nail that was on the floor they laid it upon the anvil.

Then Teddy raised the hammer, and the ruby of the ring he wore throbbed and burned until his hand was hot, and his arm was so strong that the hammer was like a feather in his grasp.

As he beat and turned the nail he sang, and it seemed to him that the fire sang with him, clear and thin, and sounding like the voice of the Counterpane Fairy,--

"Hammer and turn!

The fire must burn, The coals must glow, The bellows blow.

Beat, good hammer, loud and fast; So the chain will be made at last.

"Clankety-clink!

We forge the link.

My hammer bold, This chain must hold.

The snow shall melt, the ice fly fast, For the magic chain is wrought at last."

With these words Teddy threw down the hammer and lifted the chain he had made, and it was as thin as a hair, as light as a breath, and yet so strong that no power on earth could break it.

The dwarfs sprang forward with a shout and caught the chain in their crooked fingers. "Wonderful! wonderful!" they cried. "It is indeed the magic chain that we have been trying to make for all these years. Who are you, wonderful stranger, for there is no smith among all the dwarfs who can do what you have done?"

Then without a word Teddy raised his hand, and held it up with the palm turned toward them so that they saw the ruby in his ring, and when they saw it they shouted again in their wonder and joy. "It is King Fireheart himself come back to rule the country!"

Then all the dwarfs, even from the farthest forges, came running up and gathered about the archway of the forge where Teddy stood, and when they saw that it was indeed King Fireheart they shouted and leaped and threw their caps up into the air.

When they had grown quieter Teddy bade them take him to the Ice-Queen, so all the dwarfs led him out, and up the mountain, on and on, until they came to a great castle built of ice, but ruddy with the cold light of the aurora borealis that shone behind it.

They went into the hall, past the rows of white spearsmen, and when the spearsmen would have stopped them the dwarfs told them that they were carrying the magic chain that binds all but one's self to the Queen, and so they let the little men pa.s.s on, but all the while Teddy kept the ruby ring hidden under his cloak.

At last they came to the great chamber, where the Queen sat on a magnificent throne of ice, and when she saw the crowd she started to her feet. "Have you brought it? Have you brought it?" she cried eagerly.

"Have you brought me the magic chain?"

"Yes," shouted the dwarfs all together, "we have brought it."

Then they stood still, and Teddy went on up the steps along.

"Where is it?" asked the Queen, and she stretched out her hands.

"It is here," said Teddy. Very slowly he drew it out from under his cloak, and then suddenly he threw it over her. "And now take it!" he cried.

It was in vain that the Queen struggled and cried; the more she strove, the closer the chain drew about her, for it was a magic chain. At last she stood still, panting. "Who are you?" she asked.

Then Teddy raised his hand, holding it open so that she could see the ruby. "I am King Fireheart," he cried; "and now take your own real shape, wicked enchantress that you are."

At these words the black-browed Queen gave a cry that changed, even as she uttered it, to a croak, and a moment after she was nothing but a great black raven that spread its wings, and flew away over the heads of the dwarfs, out of the window and on out of sight.