Tales of Folk and Fairies Part 17

The younger brother was for going along too, but to this the elder would not consent. No, no; the lad was to stay there and watch a box that the elder brother had brought along. (The box had nothing in it, but this the younger brother did not know.)

So the elder brother set out and soon was out of sight, and the younger one sat on the box and kicked his heels and waited, and waited and waited and waited; but his brother never did come back.

Then the lad knew the older one had made a fool of him. He looked in the box and found it empty. So off he set to see whether he could make his own way in the world and no thanks to any one.

He journeyed on a short way and a long way, and so he came to a place where three men were quarreling together fiercely, and the things they were quarreling over were an old turban, a piece of carpet, and a sword.

As soon as they saw the lad they stopped quarreling and ran and caught hold of him. "You shall decide! You shall decide!" they shouted all together.

"What is it you wish me to decide?" asked the lad.

Then the men told him they were three brothers, and that when their father died he had left them these three things,--the turban, the carpet, and the sword. Whoever placed the turban on his head would at once become invisible. Whoever sat on the carpet had only to wish himself wherever he would be, and the carpet would carry him there in a twinkling, and the sword would cut through anything, and no magic could stand against it.

"These things should belong to me, because I am the eldest," cried one of the men.

"No, I should have them because I am the strongest and stoutest," said the second.

"But I am the youngest and weakest and need them most," cried the third. They then began to quarrel again and even came to blows.

"Stop, stop," cried the lad. "You said that I should decide this matter for you, so why quarrel about it? But before I decide I must try the things and see whether what you have told me is really so."

To this the brothers agreed. First they gave him the sword, and the lad took it in his hand and aimed a blow at a rock near by, and the sword cut through the rock as smoothly and easily as though it had been a piece of cheese.

"Now give me the turban," said the lad.

The brothers gave him the turban, and he placed it upon his head and at once became invisible!

"Now the carpet."

The brothers spread out the carpet on the ground, and the lad seated himself upon it with the turban still upon his head and the sword in his hand! Then he wished himself far away in some place where the brothers would never find him.

Immediately he found himself in the outskirts of a large city. He stepped from the carpet and rolled it up and took the turban from his head and looked about him. He had no idea of going back to return the things to the brothers, and if they waited for him they waited a long time. "It will teach them not to quarrel but to live at peace with each other," said the lad to himself. Then he made his way to the nearest house, for he was hungry and meant to ask for a bite to eat.

He knocked, and an old woman opened the door, and she was so old that her chin and her nose met.

"Good day, mother," said the lad.

"Good day to you," answered the crone.

"Will you give me a bite to eat, for the love of charity?"

Yes, the crone would do that. She gave him a bite and a sup and a bit over, and while he was eating and drinking she sat and talked with him.

"What is the news here in the city?" asked the lad.

"Oh the same news as ever."

"And what is that? For I am a stranger here and know no more of yesterday or the week before than of to-day."

"Then I will tell you. Over yonder lies the castle, and the King lives there. He has only one daughter, and she is a beauty, you may believe.

Every night the Princess disappears from the castle, and where she goes no one can tell but herself, and she will not. So the King has offered a reward to any one who will find out. The half of his kingdom he offers and the hand of the Princess as well, if only any one can tell him where she goes."

"That is a good hearing," said the lad. "I have a mind to try for that prize myself."

"No, but wait a bit," said the old woman. "There is another side to the story, for if you try and fail your head will be lifted from your shoulders with a sharp sword, and you are too fine a young man to lose your life in that way."

But the lad was determined to try. In vain the old woman warned and entreated him. He thanked her for the meal he had eaten, and then off he set for the palace. There he told the errand that had brought him and after that it did not take long for him to get to see the King.

"So you think you can find out where the Princess goes at night," said the King.

Yes, the lad thought he could.

Very well, then, he might have a try at it, but he must remember that if he tried and failed his head would be cut from his shoulders with a sharp sword.

Yes, the lad understood that, and he was ready to take the risk.

So that night he was taken to the door of a room in a high tower, and the room was of iron and had only one door and one window. Into this room the Princess was put every night, and it would be the duty of the lad to watch at the door and see either that she did not leave it, or where she went.

Presently the Princess came upstairs and pa.s.sed by the lad without so much as a glance, but his heart leaped within him, she was so beautiful.

She opened the door to go in, and the lad put on his turban of darkness and slipped in after her, but the Princess did not know that because he was invisible. She closed the door tight and sighed three times, and then a great black demon stood before her, and he was terrible to look upon, he was so huge and ugly.

"Oh, my dear Lala," said the Princess, "let us be off at once. I do not know why, but I feel so frightened, just as though some misfortune were about to come upon me."

"That is nonsense," said the demon. "But do you seat yourself upon my head, and we will be off at once."

The demon wore a buckler upon his head, and now he stooped, and she seated herself upon it, but the lad was quick and sprang up and took his place beside her.

"Ai! Ai!" cried the demon, "but you are heavy to-day, Princess."

[Ill.u.s.tration: Then the demon flew out through the window and away through the night.]

"I do not know what you mean," answered the Princess. "I am no heavier and no lighter than I was last night."

Then the demon flew out through the window and away through the night so fast that the lad had much ado to keep from falling off.

After a while they came to a garden the like of which the lad had never seen before and never expected to see again, for the leaves of the trees were of silver, and the branches were of gold, and the fruits were emeralds and rubies.

As they pa.s.sed through it the lad stretched out his hand and broke off a twig and put it in his bosom. Then all the trees in the garden began to sigh and moan.

"Child of man! Child of man! why do you break and torture us?"

The Princess shuddered. "Some one besides ourselves is here in the garden," she cried.

"That cannot be, or we would see him," answered the demon, but he was frightened and flew on faster than before.

Presently they came to another garden and it was even more wonderful than the first, for here the trees were of diamonds, and the fruits of every kind of precious stones you can think of.

As they pa.s.sed through it the lad stretched out his hand and broke off a twig. Then all the trees began to sigh and moan.