Part 10

Now the cherry-stone which the beggar had given the gardener’s son had been planted not far from the spot on which they were standing when the rebels saw them. It had grown into a magnificent tree, and, as it was now springtime, every branch and twig was a mass of blossom. The Prince and his companion heard a great shouting, and, looking round, they saw the palace in flames, and a number of horsemen bearing down on them with drawn swords. As they were standing unarmed in the midst of an open plain, they knew the only thing they could do was to run to the shelter of a wood in front of them, and try to escape among the trees; so they set off as fast as they could go. The horsemen redoubled their pace with loud shouts.

They were nearing the wood when the Prince, who was in advance, tripped and fell just as they passed the cherry-tree. He flung his arms round the trunk to save himself, and the gardener’s son stopped running, for he would not leave him alone to be killed. He made a terribly fierce face and stood in front of his friend with his fists clenched. Then a wonderful thing happened.

The petals of the cherry-blossoms began to fall like snow; hither and thither they went, blown by a wind which had suddenly risen, and filling the air with a whirl of blinding white. It was a storm of whiteness. Soon they lay knee-deep for yards round the tree. It was impossible to see a yard in front of one’s face, and the horsemen galloped about this way and that, bewildered by the showers of petals and calling one to the other in great dismay.

The young men leaned close against the trunk, listening to their cries. Suddenly the gardener’s son put his finger on a little rough place in the bark and, to his astonishment, something moved under his hand. A door opened in the trunk. He went in, drawing the Prince after him, and shut it behind them.

They were at the top of a narrow stair which led far down to where a glimmer of light could be seen below. They descended, one after the other, and found themselves in a country they had never seen before. They were standing by a winding stream that ran between alders whose roots were almost in the water; all along the bank was a perfect forest of daffodils, golden and shining. Above, the sky was primrose-yellow with sunset, and a little crescent moon hung in mid-air. There was an island in the water, and on it was sitting the most lovely pale Princess that ever was seen, with a wreath of daffodils in her hair. As they looked at her she waved her hand to them and they both fell in love with her at once.

The Prince and the gardener’s son did not know whether to take their way back again up the steps or not, but, when they tried to do so, they found all trace of them had disappeared; besides, they could not tear themselves away from the Princess. She rose and sprang over the little bit of stream that divided the island from the bank and came to meet them. They took off their caps and bowed to the ground.

When she heard how they had reached her country she was much astonished, and invited them to go with her to the palace of her uncle, which was not far off. Her uncle was a King, and, as she had neither father nor mother, he had taken her to live with him and his Queen.

They arrived at the palace and the Princess presented the two friends to her uncle, who asked them to stay at the court as long as they pleased; the Prince was in a very bad temper, for he thought that the Princess seemed to like his companion better than himself.

“_I_ will stay with great pleasure,” he said, “but this fellow is only the son of my father’s gardener. He ought to go to the kitchen.”

The King could hardly believe him.

“Is that true?” he asked the gardener’s son.

“It is, your Majesty,” said the young man.

So he was sent off to live with the servants, and the only comfort he had was the thought that the Princess looked sorry.

The Prince enjoyed himself very much in the palace, but his pleasure was spoilt because the Princess did not take much notice of him and seemed glad when she saw the gardener’s son anywhere; she always stopped and spoke kindly to him. This made him furious.

[Illustration: INSIDE THE HUT THE WITCH WAS SITTING BY THE FIRE]

One day he went to the King and told him that his former companion was a good-for-nothing fellow, and that he had heard him trying to stir up mischief among the palace servants, and he suggested that he should be sent away and made to work for his living. So the King told the Queen, and the Queen settled that he should be apprenticed to a witch who lived not far off, and who wanted a man to work in the garden and help her to keep her magic books and tools in order. So the gardener’s son went.

When the day came for him to go he took his little bundle in his hand, looked up at the Princess’s window, and set off for the witch’s hut, which lay in the cleft of a hill. When he arrived there he saw, to his great surprise, that a cherry-tree, just like the one in the world he had left, was growing close to the door.

Inside the hut the witch was sitting by the fire; she was the most horrid-looking old woman imaginable; and her double chin hung down below the strings of her cap. Beside her, on the hearth, sat a little half-starved black cat with green eyes.

“I suppose you are the young man from the palace,” said she.

“I am,” said the gardener’s son.

He then made a bow to the witch, and being very well-mannered, he made a bow to the cat too.

“You needn’t do that,” said the witch. “I am one thing but the cat is quite another. His name is Sootface.”

“It’s not a very nice name,” said the cat, apologetically.

“And you are not a very nice cat,” said the witch; “so it is all the more appropriate.”

The gardener’s son soon found out that the witch was far from being a pleasant person. She was dreadfully unkind to poor Sootface and would beat him unmercifully, and much of his time was spent in trying to defend him from her anger. Besides this, he had to sweep the hut, carry water, dig in the garden, prepare the horrid dishes which she liked to eat, and take care of her magic instruments. As he was clever he did his best to learn all the magic he could; this he did by the cat’s advice. When the old woman was out, Sootface would show him where her book of magic was kept and they would take it out and read it together. The cat admired him immensely.

One day the witch set off on a journey and Sootface and the gardener’s son went out for a walk. When they had gone some way they sat down by a hill-side to rest, for the day was hot and they were glad of the shade of a spreading tree which stood by the path. In a few minutes they saw the beautiful Princess who lived in the King’s palace approaching them.

She looked very sad, but, when she saw the gardener’s son, she smiled and sat down beside him under the tree, telling him that she had run away from the palace when no one was looking because she wanted to consult the witch.

“But the witch is away from home,” said he.

“Oh dear! oh dear! what _shall_ I do?” cried the Princess, wringing her hands.

Then she explained that her uncle the King wished her to marry the Prince, but that she hated him, and meant to ask the witch for some magic spell to help her to escape from him. She wanted to go far away to the country where her sister lived; for her sister had married a great King and had a kingdom of her own.

“And when will the witch come back?” she asked.

“Not for six weeks,” said the gardener’s son.

The poor Princess began to cry, which made him very sad, and Sootface mewed at the top of his voice for sympathy.

“If you will stop crying,” said he, “I will go with you on your journey and take care of you till you reach the end of it.”

“And I will go too,” said Sootface.

Now the cat and the gardener’s son had brought out the witch’s book of magic to study as they rested by the wayside, and they determined to see if it would give them any advice for the journey.

The cat placed the book open before them on the grass and repeated a song he had heard the witch sing:

“Flames and salt, And queens and kings, And monkeys’ tails, And golden rings.”

Then they all could see how the letters on the page were jumping about, and how they were arranging themselves into a verse. When the verse was made they read it, and found that it told the gardener’s son to go back to the witch’s hut before starting and cut a stick from the cherry-tree; so he obeyed at once, and presently returned with a good strong staff in his hand, and at sunset they set off for the kingdom of the Princess’s sister.

For some days they got on very well. Sootface marched first, capering and dancing with delight at having escaped from the cruel old witch; the gardener’s son followed, his cherry-stick in his hand, and giving his arm to the Princess when she was tired. But, as they were on foot, their progress was very slow, and, having very little money between them, they began to wonder how they should get enough food for each day. The gardener’s son and the Princess did not like begging, so the cat ran forward to every village as they approached it, and, with many a sad tale and wonderful antic, asked alms from door to door. Sometimes he said that his father had died and required decent burial; sometimes that he was the eldest of fourteen and was charged with the education of his brothers and sisters, and he always managed to bring back a little money from the charitably disposed persons whom he met.

But, at last, they came to a part of the world where everybody was mean and misers were found in abundance; in one village twenty of them lived in a row in the principal street. They would give Sootface nothing and even leaned out of their windows to shake their fists at him as he passed, and he returned empty-handed to his friends. Finding that things had come to such a pass, they opened the book of magic and Sootface sat in front of it repeating his verse. When he had done this the letters jumped about as before, and soon there was quite a clear verse upon the page. This is what it said:

“When the moon is young and new Take the cherry-stick with you, Throw it up into the sky, Where it falls there let it lie; Dig beneath it in the grass, Who knows what may come to pass?”

It happened that that night was the first night of the new moon, so they took the cherry-stick into a field and the gardener’s son tossed it high into the air. It fell a little way off, and when they had run to the place where it lay, Sootface began digging with his paws underneath it. Soon he came upon something hard, and, when they had taken it out of the hole, they found a leather bag stuffed full of gold.

After this their troubles vanished, and they began to live in a very grand manner; at each town through which they passed they hired splendid lodgings and gave largely to beggars, and instead of travelling afoot, they bought two fine horses; Sootface sat on the crupper behind the gardener’s son, bowing affably to the people who passed. They bought some magnificent new clothes—those they wore being nearly worn out—and thus they proceeded till the next new moon, when they again tossed up the cherry-stick and found another bag of money.

In time they drew near their journey’s end and approached the capital town in which the Princess’s sister lived, and they halted and sent the cat before them with a letter to the palace.

When Sootface arrived at the town he took some gold, and, going into a shop, bought a feathered hat and two yards of green satin ribbon with which he ornamented his tail. He then went to an inn, where he purchased a fine piebald horse with an embroidered saddle, and, having thus prepared himself, galloped to the palace. Everyone in the street turned round to look at him, and all the little boys cried “Hooray!” as he thundered by.

After he had presented his letter, the Princess’s sister herself received him with much politeness, and a messenger was sent with a great escort of carriages and horsemen to bring the Princess into the city.

[Illustration: IN THE VERY MIDDLE OF THE FEAST THE PRINCE STOOD UP IN HIS PLACE CALLING ON ALL TO LISTEN]

When she came all were charmed with her, and she was asked to make her home at the court; and, as the handsome appearance and fine manners of the gardener’s son impressed everybody, he was immediately made captain of the bodyguard and treated with every consideration.

For some time they lived happily, hunting and dancing and feasting and enjoying themselves, and all went well until one day who should arrive in great pomp and style but the Prince from whom the Princess had fled! He had discovered where she was and followed her to her sister’s kingdom. When he saw the gardener’s son at the head of the bodyguard he was enraged beyond measure.

That night there was a banquet, to which all the celebrated people in the kingdom were invited; if I were to describe it, it would take pages. Everything glittered with cloth of gold and silver and jewels. The table was covered with golden dishes and lamps and white roses, and the Princess was there looking more lovely than anybody, with the Prince at her right hand and the gardener’s son at her left.

In the very middle of the feast the Prince stood up in his place calling on all to listen. Then, as silence fell, he told how the Princess had been ordered by her uncle, the King, to marry him, how she had refused and run away, how the young man who had accompanied her was the son of his father’s gardener, and how, though he was such a low fellow, he ventured to be in love with her; he demanded that the Princess should be made to marry him the next day and the gardener’s son punished. Then he sat down scowling and leaving the Princess’s sister and the guests horrified.

“Can you wonder that the Princess ran away from him?” said the cat, from the other end of the table.

Everybody agreed with the cat, for they admired the gardener’s son very much, and nobody liked the looks of the Prince; but they did not dare to say anything. That would never have done at all.

“What defence have you to make, sir?” roared the Princess’s sister’s husband.

“None,” said the gardener’s son. “I love the Princess and shall do so as long as I live.”

“_That_ won’t be for long,” said the Princess’s sister.

Then the Princess threw her arms round the neck of the gardener’s son and vowed that she loved him too, and that nothing would induce her to marry such a hateful person as the Prince.

All the banquet broke up in confusion, and everyone rushed out of the hall except the cat, who waited to conceal a carving-knife upon his person with which he intended to murder the Prince. But the Prince, who was a coward, had gone off to his room and locked himself in when he saw the way in which some of the guests looked at him.

Next day the gardener’s son was put in prison; the Princess cried and Sootface tore his hair, but he had to go. What was his astonishment, on arriving at the prison door, to find that a cherry-tree was growing beside it. He was taken up a winding stair and locked into a cell with a tiny window protected by iron bars. When he looked out he could see into the boughs of the tree, and, above them, a new moon beginning to shine in the sky as it drew towards evening.

When it was night the cat, who had hidden the witch’s book of magic as soon as the gardener’s son had gone to prison, took it under his arm, climbed into the boughs of the cherry-tree, and began to try and console his friend, who was looking out of the barred window. He opened it, reciting his song:

“Flames and salt And queens and kings, And monkeys’ tails And golden rings.”

And, by the faint light of the new moon, he saw the letters jumping about till they made this verse:

“When the moon is young and new, Take the cherry-stick with you; Toss it up into the sky, Where it falls there let it lie; Dig beneath it, you will see In the ground an iron key. Master-key of master-keys Every lock it turns with ease.”

The cat ran as fast as he could to the house where the gardener’s son had lived and got the cherry-stick; he then took it to a quiet place and flung it up into the air. When it came down he began scraping and digging underneath it till he came upon a heavy key made of iron.

As soon as the people in the palace were safely asleep he unlocked the stable door with the master-key, saddled three swift horses and tied them up in a thicket a little way off. Having done this and also ascertained that the jailers were sleeping, in the belief that it was impossible for their prisoner to escape, he climbed the cherry-tree again. He crept along a bough which almost touched the barred window and handed the key through the bars to the gardener’s son; then he got into the palace and, stealing into the Princess’s room, told her what he had done.

The Princess was in bed, but she rose, dressed herself, and went out with the cat. When they reached the thicket they found the gardener’s son, who had let himself out with the iron key, and they mounted and rode away as hard as they could go.

They got safely out of the kingdom after a few days’ riding, and, in the first city to which they came, the lovers were married. The cat was best man, and a fine figure he made; for, though he had not been able to bring his feathered hat and green ribbons with him, he bought a new one even grander than the first, and a white rosette for his tail in honour of the wedding.

The gardener’s son became very rich by reason of the cherry-stick, which brought him a bag of gold at every new moon, and he built a castle for his wife and a fine villa for the cat, with a fountain in the garden which played tunes, and a vinery which was the envy of the civilised world. He became very friendly with the King of the country in which he settled, and, at his death, inherited the kingdom. So the Princess became a Queen after all.

JACK FROST A STORY FOR VERY LITTLE CHILDREN

There was once a little old man called Jack Frost who lived up in the sky. He was very small and very wicked and he had a long, long nose and the most dreadful crooked hands in the world. His beard was thin and pointed and stuck out in front of him; and, on his head, he wore a pointed cap made of ice which glittered in the moonlight. When the moon was a crescent he would sit astride of it, looking into the earth below and thinking what horrible mischief he could do next.

[Illustration: HE CAME DOWN ON A WEATHERCOCK WHICH WAS FIXED ON TOP OF A LARCH-TREE]

His favourite amusement was to come jumping down into some nice garden where the flowers were still blooming at the end of the autumn and pinch all their beautiful heads until they died. Sometimes, too, he would pinch the birds’ toes, and sometimes, in the winter, he was so cruel as to kill the poor little things outright. He had a heart as hard as a stone, and the more wickedness he could do, the better he was pleased. The birds hated him, and the squirrels hated him, and the gardeners hated him, and no wonder, too.

One day he sat on the moon in a very terrible humour thinking of all the bad things he meant to do; and he took a great jump and came down on a weathercock which was fixed on the top of the larch-tree near a big stone house standing in a garden. Inside the house a little boy in his night-shirt stood at a window; the curtains were closed behind him in the warm room, but he had got out of bed to admire the stars which were bright overhead. He saw Jack Frost swinging about on the weathercock and he did not know who he was.

“Nurse!” he cried, “come and look at the funny little man who is sitting all by himself on the weathercock!”

“Nonsense!” said the nurse. “How can a man sit on the weathercock? Get back into bed this minute or you will have a cold in the morning and I shall be obliged to give you nasty medicine.”

“But come! come!” he cried again.

The nurse went to the window and looked out, and, just as she did so, Jack Frost jumped off the weathercock into a holly tree.

“There! did you see that?” shouted the little boy, clapping his hands.

The nurse saw it very well but she could not account for it, so she pretended it had not happened.

“Stuff!” she said; “it was only a bird flying.”

“But a bird hasn’t got a pointed cap, and a long beard, and a coat with long tails!”

“If I said it was a bird you may depend I was right,” said the nurse, pushing him back into bed rather roughly. But she tucked him up well and gave him a kiss, for she was a very kind person, really.

As Jack Frost sat in the holly tree, a robin who happened to be awake came to get a few holly berries, for they were beginning to turn red.

“What are you doing on the holly tree?” he asked as he saw him.

“What’s that to you?” said Jack Frost, who had no manners.

“I am sure he is up to some harm,” said the robin. “I will just wait about and see.”

Jack Frost sat mumbling and laughing to himself; what he really wanted to do was to go into the garden and spoil the flowers.