Part 5

“There’s some stuff you might use on the ground on the farther side of that big rock,” said the cat. “See that you make it thick enough.”

The giant picked up a great mass of the stuff. It was lead and it was exceedingly heavy, but he bent it and squeezed it and pulled it and punched it and jammed it and pounded it until he had made a collar big enough to go over his head with only the least bit of crowding. It would have taken at least ten common men to lift it, but the giant put it on without any trouble.

“Bring that boat to me,” he called in a voice that would have frightened most cats out of a year’s growth; but this one only looked at him and slowly rowed the boat up to the shore. Then she sprang out lightly and curled herself up on a warm rock. The giant stepped on the gunwale of the boat with one of his enormous feet. Then he lifted the other foot, and, of course, the boat tipped over just as any other boat would have done, and in a moment the giant lay on the bottom of the lake. His head with the leaden collar was down and his heels were up; and up they stayed, for this was the end of the three-mouthed giant Lumpkin.

“Folk that never use their heads ought not to mind losing them,” said the cat, as she yawned comfortably and stretched herself out to take a nap.

Meanwhile, several events had taken place in the castle of the three giants. Humpkin had more than once gone to the top of the tower and listened first with one ear, then with another, and then with all three; but not a sound could he hear of either Mumpkin or Lumpkin. “I rather think they are killed,” he said, “and I’m glad of it, for now I’ll eat that boy all by myself. I don’t care anything about salt, whatever it may be, and I’ll go straight to the dungeon and get him.”

Now several events had been happening in the dungeon also. At first it was a very white-faced and badly frightened boy who lay there on the damp floor; but as hour after hour passed and no one came to harm him, he began to recover from his fright a little and to look about him to see if there was any way of making his escape. The walls were of stone, the window was far above his head, and the door was evidently locked and bolted. What could he do?

While he sat pondering, he thought he heard a sound on the other side of the wall as if some one was speaking. He could see a tiny crack in the wall, so he lay down on the floor and put his ear to the crack. Then he heard a voice that asked:--

“Who are you?”

“I’m a boy, and my name is Hansel. I came out to seek my fortune. The cock and the cat and the bees wouldn’t let me go on the other roads, and so I came here, and the giants caught me. They say they mean to eat me. Who are you?”

“I am a magician,” the voice replied.

“Then why don’t you tear the castle down or kill the giants or call up an earthquake or do something?” the boy cried. “I always thought magicians could do anything they chose.”

“So they can if they choose something that they can do,” declared the voice. “But even magicians,” he added, “cannot do everything without anything.”

“Can’t you draw a magic circle so the giants can’t touch you?” asked Hansel.

“I could if I had anything to draw it with,” said the magician, “but I haven’t.”

“I haven’t even a crumb of anything to eat,” said Hansel, “and I am hungry as hungry.”

“Haven’t you a bit of bread or a kernel of corn or a grain of wheat about you?”

“Not one. I have only three little seeds of nobody knows what; a black one that a cock gave me; a yellow one that some bees gave me; and a white one that a cat gave me. They’re of no use; they wouldn’t make a mouthful for a sparrow.”

“Maybe they will for a boy, though,” said the magician thoughtfully. “I shouldn’t be in the least surprised if they were magic seeds. At any rate, they are of no use as they are, and you may as well plant them and see what will come up.”

“There’s no earth to plant them in,” said Hansel.

“That’s no matter,” replied the magician. “Magic seeds do not need earth. Just lay one of them down in a corner and say over it:--

I plant thee, seed, Now in my need. Be not afraid To lend thy aid.”

So many strange things had come to pass that Hansel was almost afraid to have anything to do with the seeds; but he finally decided to plant the yellow one, and then, if nothing dreadful happened, to plant the black one, and after that, the white. He laid the yellow one down gently, repeated the magician’s spell over it, and turned away. Before he could get across the little room, he felt something touch his shoulder. It was a branch of a tree, and was loaded with bright red apples; another was full of thick slices of bread and butter well sprinkled with sugar; from another hung many little buckets of creamy milk; another was weighted down with cake and gingerbread; another with sugar cookies; and yet another with tender, juicy roast beef and roast chicken. While he stood gazing at all these things, the tree kept on growing; and even before the hungry boy could put out his hand for a single mouthful, it had almost reached the top of the room, and every branch had something good on it.

Hansel threw himself on the floor beside the crack in the wall and told the magician of the amazing thing that had happened. “I wish I could get through this wall,” he said, “so I could give you something to eat. Can’t you dig through it?” he asked eagerly. “Haven’t you any knife?”

“The giants took it away,” replied the magician; “but never mind. Since your seeds are magic seeds, there is hope for us, and I don’t mind going hungry for a while. Be quick and plant another and see what will come of it.”

Hansel planted the tiny black seed, saying over the same magic spell. He did not turn his back this time, you may be sure; but now, although a little shoot came up at once, it grew more slowly, and it was at least ten minutes before it bore any fruit. Even when the fruit appeared, it did not look very valuable, for it was only one pod, long and brown and thick. Hansel told the magician about it, and before he had fairly finished speaking, he heard something drop heavily on the floor behind him. The pod had ripened and burst and the fruit had fallen out--the biggest, sharpest, strongest jackknife that was ever made in all the world.

“Oh, oh!” cried Hansel. “Now, Mr. Magician, I can dig through this wall.”

That would not have been so easily done with any common knife; but this one actually seemed to dig of itself, for whether Hansel was holding it or not, it kept on working and the bits of stone kept on falling. It was not many minutes before the hole was large enough for a boy to creep through; and through it Hansel went with his hands full of bread and butter and gingerbread and roast beef.

If only there had been no giants to fear, the boy and the magician would have had a delightful time together. Even as it was, they had so much to tell that for a little while they forgot all about the third seed. At last the magician thought of it and he said:--

“There is no knowing how soon the giants may come upon us. Hurry back and plant the third seed and see what help that will give us.”

Then Hansel crept back and planted the little white seed. That was even slower than the black one in coming up; but yet it was not many minutes before it was up to Hansel’s knees and had begun to form its fruit. Never was there such fruit seen before. It was perfectly white and round and hard. After a while it fell off, and Hansel in great disappointment carried it to the magician.

“Here it is,” he said, “but it is no good at all. It looks just like a piece of chalk.”

Much to his surprise, the magician clapped his hands and cried:--

“This is best of all. Now we are safe. Come giant or dwarf or troll or demon, they cannot harm us.”

Hansel was afraid the magician had gone mad, but in a moment he understood. The white fruit really was chalk, and in only two or three seconds longer than no time at all, the magician was down on his knees, drawing a magic circle about himself and the boy as fast as ever he could.

“There!” he said, with a deep sigh of relief. “Nothing can hurt us now. There’s something else for you to know. The magic seeds were given to you, and, therefore, you have the right to ask three questions. What is the first?”

It did not take Hansel long to think what he wanted to know, and without a moment’s delay he cried:--

“Please tell me where is the terrible giant with three eyes?”

“He lies dead outside the gate of the castle,” said a voice.

“Where is the one with the three mouths?”

“His feet are in the air, his head in the water, and he is drowned as dead as a stone,” replied the voice.

“And where is the one with the three ears?”

“He stands outside the dungeon and is just about to open the door,” was the reply; and sure enough, the bolts were drawn, the key was turned, and the giant Humpkin strode into the room.

“How did you get here, you young rascal, you?” he roared. “I put you into the other dungeon to wait till I came to eat you. You’ll pay for this, you will.” Humpkin caught him by the arm, or rather, tried to catch him, for the instant the giant put one foot within the circle, something or other struck him a heavy blow. He tried again, and this time he was struck so terribly that he howled with pain and fright and ran for his life, leaving all the doors wide open behind him.

“Come,” cried the magician; “come quick!” He caught the boy by the hand and half dragged him out of the dungeon. “Stay there,” he said when they had come to the courtyard, and he himself ran through the gate of the castle. Then, while Humpkin was half running and half rolling down the mountain, the magician, too, was running as fast as he could go, making a wide chalk mark entirely around the castle. When this was done, he went back into the court, not troubling himself to close the gate, and called to Hansel.

“Come, let’s go up into the tower,” he said, “and see what will happen.”

They climbed to the top of the highest tower and looked around. Pretty soon they saw Humpkin come stumbling up the hill, snarling and growling and by turns rubbing his head and shaking his great fist. “I’ll be there,” he muttered, “and then you’ll pay for this, you will. I’ll eat you both before you can say--‘Oh! Oh!’” he screeched, for again he had touched the magic circle, and a third blow, worse than either of the others, had sent him a quarter of a league from the gate. He tried again and again, but as he made the third attempt, a swarm of bees flew into his face, buzzing and stinging so savagely that they drove him over the cliff. This cliff was so high that he broke into pieces long before he reached the bottom, such small pieces that as yet no one has ever found even one of them.

After the magician and Hansel had seen the last of the giant, they came down from the tower and began to look through the castle. Of course there were, as in every giant’s castle, rooms upon rooms filled from floor to ceiling with silver and gold; there were others fairly crammed with diamonds and rubies and emeralds and pearls.

“You will be the richest boy in the whole land,” said the magician. “You are king, of course.”

“Why, aren’t you going to be king?” asked the boy, with wide-open eyes.

“King? No, not I. I am a magician,” was the proud reply. “Only let me have a quiet tower where no one ever slams the doors or interrupts me when I am making my calculations, and I would not give a fig for all the gold and jewels in the castle. But come, now, and let us go down into the dungeons. There may be some one else shut up there.”

Down into the dungeons they went. The giant’s keys were sticking in the door of the dungeon where the magician had been shut up. Room after room was unlocked, but no one was to be seen.

“We must have been the only prisoners,” said the magician. “There seem to be no more rooms.”

“I thought I saw a little door out of that dark place under the stairs,” Hansel said. “Maybe that’s a room.”

“We’ll see,” said the magician, and he tried key after key, but none of them fitted. “I fancy there’s a touch of magic about this,” he said thoughtfully. “Some magician must have been here and made this lock. There’s one thing sure, what magic has done, magic can undo.”

He drew a circle entirely around the little door and wrote some mysterious figures and signs within it. He had hardly finished the last one before the door flung itself open. There stood a tall, stately man, and by his side was a beautiful woman with her arm thrown closely around a young girl two or three years older than Hansel.

Now comes the strangest part of the whole story and the one that is hardest to believe, for these three people proved to be Hansel’s father and mother and sister. They had really been stolen away by trolls, as their friends thought, and had been put into the dungeon of the giants for safe-keeping. The trolls had been overcome by other trolls who were stronger than they and put to death. The giants were not used to remembering things, and they had forgotten all about their prisoners. Luckily, Hansel’s father had some magic food in his pockets, or else they would have starved long before. There they were, alive and well; and now Hansel, the lonely little boy whom nobody wanted, had a father and mother and sister, a powerful friend, and rooms upon rooms filled with gold and silver from floor to ceiling.

The doors of the castle keep were flung wide open. The sun shone in and the sweet, strong wind blew through and through it until every corner was fresh and pure. Little flowers began to grow in the courtyard. They showed their faces timidly at first, but soon there were great companies of them, bright and cheery and happy as ever flowers could be. Vines ran up the walls and peered over into the very keep of the castle. Some even slipped in through the gratings of the dungeons to see what kind of places they were. Night and day the gates stood open, for there were no enemies to be afraid of. Hansel grew into a tall young man, and he ruled the country so kindly and wisely that the people declared there never was in all the wide world so good a sovereign as their own King Hansel the First.

THE STAR PRINCESS

THE STAR PRINCESS

There was great rejoicing at the royal palace. Flags waved from every tower. Bright-colored silken streamers floated from every window. Each maidservant had been given a new gown and each servingman a broad silver piece. Little bells were tinkling joyously. Soft strains of music came from one corner and another. The rejoicing was not only at the palace, but throughout the Island Kingdom. Men and women took a holiday from their work. Children went about the streets singing. When night came, every window was ablaze with light and every hilltop was glowing with a bonfire; for the King and Queen had a little daughter. Her eyes were as blue as the ocean, her skin was as white as its foam, and her hair was as yellow as the gleam of the sunlight on the sand.

By and by there was a magnificent christening feast. Kings and nobles and princes and witches and magicians and fairies were all invited. Every one came and every one gave the beautiful baby Princess his very best wishes.

“The King is a happy man to have a child like that,” said one guest to another as they were leaving the palace.

“True,” replied the other, “but he did not look happy. Did not you notice how troubled his face was and how strangely he acted? When some one pushed the curtains aside for a bit of air, did you see how quickly he ran to the window and drew them together again with his own hands, and looked at the baby as if he was afraid it would disappear at a ray of daylight? I am sure that he is anxious about something. The Queen is not. She is as happy as the day is long.”

“I should think she would be. She has everything in the world that she wants, and not one thing to trouble her.”

When all the guests had gone and the candles had burned low, the King went to the Queen and said:--

“My Queen, I have something very sad to tell you. Can you bear it?”

“I can bear anything with such a child as this,” she replied.

Then the King said:--

“When my father was a young, young man, he was so bewitched by the spells of a mermaid that he was ready to give up his kingdom and follow her into the sea. His councillors begged of him to leave her, the court magicians tried in every way to break her spells, but they could not succeed. While they were waving their wands and saying over their charms, she lay on a rock out in the sea and laughed them to scorn. ‘Go on,’ she said. ‘Keep him if you can. I’ll have his soul yet in spite of all you can do.’ At last all the priests in the kingdom came together. Each one took a great vase of holy water, and they walked entirely around the island, sprinkling the shore as they went. The wicked mermaid could not cross the ring of holy water. Day after day she lay on the rock by the shore, calling and calling the Prince to come to her; but the priests had done their work so thoroughly that he had no longer any wish to go to the wicked creature. When she found that she had lost him, she shrieked with rage and anger and pronounced seven dreadful curses upon him. Six of them the priests could overthrow, but there was one over which they had no power, because it did not affect the Prince himself, but his first grandchild.”

“And that is our baby!” said the Queen, clasping the little Princess closer in her arms.

“Yes,” replied the King, “and the curse was this: If she once looks upon the ocean before the end of her eighteenth year, sorrow shall come to her and to all who love her.”

The King and the Queen talked together sadly about what they should do to save their little daughter. The kingdom was one large island. The palace was on a high hill in the very middle of the island, and from every room in the palace the ocean could be seen.

“Couldn’t we give up the kingdom and go somewhere to live far, far away from the ocean?” asked the Queen, with tearful eyes.

“No,” replied the King. “There is no heir to the throne save our little daughter; and if I should go away, there would be war. I have no right to bring war upon my people even to save my child.”

All night long they talked and planned, and when morning came, they hoped they had found a way to save the Princess. A band of white silk was bound about the pretty blue eyes, and four of the most trusty women in the kingdom were chosen to be the child’s nurses. These were the orders that the King gave them:--

“Two of you must be with her by night and two by day. She must never be left alone for one moment. The band about her eyes must never be removed except at night, and then it must be replaced before the first ray of light in the morning.” If the Princess passed her eighteenth birthday in safety, each one of them was to have ten thousand pieces of gold.

Year after year went on, and the Princess still wore the bandage over her eyes. If she ventured to lay a finger upon it, she was punished as severely as if she had been the child of a peasant; but in everything else she did exactly as she liked. Whatever she asked for was always given her and whatever she wished to have done was done at once. Some princesses would have become haughty and disagreeable, but this one was always kind-hearted and unselfish.

The King had made no secret of the sad story. Indeed, every one in the kingdom knew it except the Princess herself; and the people loved her so much that they were almost as eager as her parents for her to pass her eighteenth birthday in safety. “They say her eyes are like stars,” whispered the people; and gradually they forgot the many names that had been given her when she was christened and spoke of her only as the Star Princess. Wherever she went, she was guarded not only by two of her nurses, but also by all of her father’s subjects who chanced to be in sight. She had never seen the ocean or the sun or had even a single glimpse of daylight, and yet she was the happiest, merriest little maiden in the world. One reason for this was that she did not know that she was at all different from other people. When little girls were brought to play with her, their eyes were always bandaged like her own, and they played only such games as they could play blindfolded. No one was allowed even to mention the sun or the daylight or the ocean in her presence. “Why do people never uncover their eyes until the candles are lighted for dinner?” she once asked. And the nurses replied, “Because before that time eyes are so ugly that no one can bear to look at them.”

One day she asked suddenly, “What is the strange sound that we hear all the time? It is like murmuring and sighing and sobbing and singing. Sometimes it groans and sometimes it almost laughs. Nurses, what is it?”

“It is your greatest enemy,” the nurses replied.