UC-NRLF m ... , . GIFT OF Slla Sterling Mighels 4 - THE FIVE DAYS KNTKRTAINMENTS WKNIWORTH (;RAN(;b FRANCIS TURNER PALGRAVE lute l-'cUou vf K.vfter Ccflc^e O.rford '^^■i r.os'i'o.N : KDr.KRTS i;R()'rm:ks. MACMILLAN K^Vi CO IHGS t^'-Uf GIFT OF TO CECIL, FRANK, AND GWKXLLIAX THESE STORIES WRITTEN BEFORE THEY WERE 1K)RX OR THOUGHT OF ARE DEDICATED BY THEIR AFFECTIONATE FATHER Ajtgusi, i86S ?9 m ILLUSTRATIONS The designs tJirongJioiit are by Arthur Hughes, Windsor Street, Putney. The line-engraving on the Title-page by Charles Henry Jeens, 67, St. Paul's Road, Camden Square. The ivoodcnts by James Cooper, 188, Strand, Printed by R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, Bread Street Hill. CONTENTS I'AGE INTRODUCTION i FIRST DAY ARTHUR'S FIRST TALE FLORIO AND FIAMMETTA ii EMILY'S FIRST TALE THE PRINCESS LUISANTE 21 CHARLES' FIRST TALE ADELA'S DREAM 30 ELEANOR'S FIRST TALE BLIND MARGARET 45 ANNA'S FIRST TALE EYES AND NO EYES 55 SECOND DAY EMILY'S SECOND TALE ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE 65 X CONTENTS ANNA'S SECOND TALE PAGE FLORIZEL AND ROSELLA 72 ELEANOR'S SECOND TALE THE NEW DANAIDES 82 ARTHUR'S SECOND TALE THE DISAPPOINTED PRINCE 91 CHARLES' SECOND TALE THE UNCAGED LION 100 THIRD DAY CHARLES' THIRD TALE THE GREEDY BEAR .113 ANNA'S THIRD TALE SELIM AND ABDALLAH 123 ARTHUR'S THIRD TALE THE THIEF IN THE FAMILY 132 EMILY'S THIRD TALE CERISA 143 ELEANOR'S THIRD TALE THE POOR NOBLE 151 FOURTH DAY ELEANOR'S FOURTH TALE THE MAN WITHOUT A NOSE 164 CHARLES' FOURTH TALE THE THREE RAVENS 177 • COXTENTS xi AKTIfUIi'S FOURTH TALE THE YOUNG QUIXOTE '187 ANNA'S FOURTH TALE THE PEASANT COUNTESS 198 EMILY'S FOURTH TALE SULEYMAN AND THE CALENDARS 213 FIFTH DAY ANNA'S FIFTH TALE THE MODERN MIDAS 227 ELEANOR'S FIFTH TALE PAWS OFF 241 CHARLES' FIFTH TALE THE WHITE SNAKE 252 EMILY'S FIFTH TALE YIOLA 268 ARTHUR'S FIFTH TALE THE GIPSY GIRI 2S3 . MRS. WENTlVORTirS TALE THE NEW GRISELDA 299 CONCLUSION 325 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Eyes and No Eyes To face lo FlAMMETTA AND FlORIO l6 The Barber receiving Forty Stripes 6i The New Dan aides To face 63 Orpheus and Eurydice 66 The Child and the Lion in Cerisa To face 112 The Bear King 117 Count Leonardo and the Pheasant 155 The Man without a Nose To face 163 Clementine's Sketch 168 Rose and Edouard 206 Viola To face 227 Lenardo 264 Viola and her Child cast into the Sea 277 The New Griselda To face 299 Lucy's Hymn ... . 328 THE FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS cittfoortlj 6nin0C INTRODUCTION It was holiday time at JMiss C^obljam's school, but all the children had not gfohe hom^, and in conse- quence did not find it. quite ;so ^njiUcb o( abol'.day as they had expected. Poor thuigs ! the parents of some twelve or fourteen of them lived across sea and land — in India — and so they were forced to leave their little ones at school the whole year round, unless some good-natured friend or relation kindly offered to take them to their houses for Christmas or Midsummer. There were Emily, Arthur, Charles, Anna, and Eleanor : or Arthur, Emily, Charles, &c. — in fact though I have used only their Christian name, for convenience sake, as they did in talking, — " so Chris- tians should call one another," — I might fill up half B 2 FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS the page if I tried to arrange them in all the ways they would stand in. Arthur was brother to Anna, and Charles to Margaret, one of the younger chil- dren: they were both at school in the country, and were allowed, by Miss Cobham's kindness, to spend their summer holidays at her schoolhouse, as they had no other home wherein to meet their sisters. Besides these, and among the little ones, whose names I pass over, was little Lucy Wentworth, who had been left at Miss Cobham's for a week or ten days, to recover her strength after an attack of cough from which she had been lately suffering. On the day I am now speaking of, about the beginning of July, Lucy had been allowed by the doctor the .pleasure of a walk for the first time since her illness ; and all the children, by their kind mistress, Miss Cobham's It^ye, hnd in consequence set out to take a long stroll in the fields near the school. They were put under the charge of Arthur and Emily, the two eldest among them, who were each nearly four- teen years old, and were best fitted and not a little pleased to be considered the leaders of the party. Hunting up and down among the hedges, and gather- ing wild roses and hyacinths, the morning went by, and they then sat down to the luncheon they had brought with them, on a bank in the furthest field, by the side of the river Colne. ** Ah," cried little Lucy, starting up, and upsetting INTRODUCTION her saucer of gooseberry tart into Eleanor's hq), " I am so sorry — no — I am so glad, I mean. You know mamma is coming to-night to take me home, and I shall have all the garden, and the park, and the lawn to run about in. How I wish you were all coming with me ! " she continued, for a little disappointment arose on the faces of the rest at the thought that they would have no such pleasures. " I wonder whether mamma would let you come ! Our house is so big. so very big, and now all the rest are away there would be plenty of room." " I wish it could be, but I am afraid it can't — and can't is cannot," said Eleanor ; and then the talk went off to other matters. When the children returned to the school, they found that Mrs. Wentworth had already arrived there. " Well, Lucy darling," she cried, kissing her little girl, " how have you enjoyed your walk } " "Oh mamma, so much — so very much; but I have something to say to you. How I wish I could recollect it ! " "I know what it was," said Anna; **we were all looking about in the hedges, and I spied out a wTen's nest, with the little eggs in it, and Lucy wished she could take you to see it." " Charlie w^anted to bring it here for you," said Lucy. " You know, he knows all about birds, beasts, and fishes, and he said he could take such care that the B 2 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS old birds would not be angry with him for moving the nest, and that he would put it back directly quite safe in the place where we found it." " I have heard Charlie is a great naturalist," said Mrs. Wentworth, — "there's a long word for you, Lucy ; you must ask him to tell you what it means." ** Such a funny thing happened to Eleanor, mamma," cried Lucy, not noticing her little companion's im- ploring looks for silence ; " you know she is so short- sighted, she cannot see nearly so Tar as Anna — she is so much the cleverest and quickest of us all ! And there was an old man lying down asleep in one corner of the long field, and Eleanor thought he was the trunk of a tree lying there, and jumped up upon him." Here Eleanor, who had retreated to a corner of the room, burst into tears. " My dear child," said Mrs. Wentworth, softly," you should never say anything that would vex you if you heard it said about yourself. You would not like to be taken for the trunk of a tree, or to take an old man for one. You know Eleanor cannot help it — go up and tell her how sorry you are to have vexed her." " Oh mamma — but how I wish I could remember what I wanted to say to you," cried Lucy, and ran off to obey her mother's order, ** You must observe many interesting varieties of disposition and ability among your young pupils," said Mrs. Wentworth, turning to Miss Cobham. '' With INTRODUCTION .■> tlicir fresh minds and frcc-spcaking ton<,uies, a few minutes' talk, even, lets one into the open secrets of their character." " It is one of the alleviations of my employment," said Miss Cobham. " You must be sorry to see so many of them, how- ever, left here, and unable fully to enjoy their holidays." " Oh no— thank you— some of them have a great talent for amusing and pleasing the rest. I really think they do not find it dull. Emily tells them fairy stories without number, and we find the evenings go by quickly, with her and Arthur's help. Where is Arthur } " she said, looking round. " Oh, I daresay he has already gone off to his room to study his favourite new-old books, Brewster's ' Natural Magic' and the ' Demonology and Witchcraft' " " I am glad such books are not shut out of your library," said Mrs. Wentworth. '' There is some- thing flat and prosy in putting away fairy tales and adventures from the children, and preaching to them about physical science, which after all is never one quarter so interesting or useful for most of us as any- thing which has to do with other human creatures. Yet, at the same time, in case of fairy stories, it is right to set before them distinctly the true nature and character of such fictions. Without this, it is as easy to raise up foolish fears in their imaginations now, as in the days of King James. There is, I often think,'' FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS she continued, smiling, but speaking seriously, *' little need to tell people to ' walk in the old paths ' — so naturally does the mind revert to former beliefs, and reclothe itself in temporarily cast-off superstitions. There is a circle in all things. People think they have made a positive advance : but look, and we shall often see whole nations winding their way clumsily back to a second childhood. And what an odd thing in human nature it is, that we always think we are advancing, and better than those who lived before us ! " This somewhat grave and schoolroom-like dis- course was broken through by Lucy, who now, run- ning up to her mother with a triumphant air^ cried out, — '' I remember it now, mamma ; I remember it. Oh, pray do do it, dear mamma ! — pray do ! — it will be so nice." " But what is it, my dear } You forget you have not yet told me." " Oh, mamma, can't you guess } It is, I wish so you would ask all the children here — all of us — to come home with you for the rest of the holidays ! Just think what walks and feasts we would have together." Mrs. Wentworth smiled, and Miss Cobham begged her not to think of giving herself so much trouble — repeating what she had said before on the subject. INTRODUCTION 7 But the lady, after a moment's thought, whicli seemed an age of delay to her impatient little daughter, said that it was true it was a large party, but that her house too was large and roomy also, and just now she and Lucy were left alone to occupy it; so that, if Miss Cobham agreed, she would lodge there all the children left at school during the last week of their holidays. Mrs. Went- worth finished by adding kindly, " You, too, dear Miss Cobham, must need a holiday, and should have more of one than you can expect to find here. I am sure I ought to be very glad to show any little kindness to one who has been so good a mother lately to my little girl." Miss Cobham begged her not to think of herself in the matter, and a little friendly dispute took place, which wound up with a full consent to Mrs. Went- worth's proposal. Only, Miss Cobham would not be able to come before the last day, to fetch her little flock back to the fold again. On the appointed evening the whole party, large and small, were safely landed at Mrs. Wentworth's house. Wentworth Grange was a very pretty place, built round three sides of a square, with long covered outside galleries connecting room with room, and opening on a terrace with vases and stone balustrades. Steps led down from this to a carefully-kept and gracefully-formed flower-garden, which ran along the o FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS south side of the house, and contained a large con- servatory, opening by glass doors upon the main sitting-room — the prettiest of all possible arrange- ments. Emily and Arthur had been chosen by Miss Cob- ham to be the leaders of the party, and by their care all were quietly settled in their places ; and after a well-provided and well-eaten supper, the younger ones, including Lucy Wentworth, were dismissed for the evening. The five elder children — Emily, Arthur, Charles, Anna, and Eleanor, remained for a few minutes ; and Mrs. Wentworth, holding up her finger to enforce silence, said, — " It will be very easy for you to amuse yourselves, dear children, if the weather continues fine — but if it should not, we must think of some plan to prevent you all from finding your visit dull." " Oh, I am sure it will be fine," said Eleanor and Anna together. " I wish it may," said Charles ; " but as I came here I saw the ducks washing themselves, and the cows standing with their heads up in the air, — which are regular signs of several days of wet weather." They all laughed at the young naturalist's prophecy, and Mrs. Wentworth then went on to say, that in case they should be unable to go out they had better fix on some regular plan. Part of the day might be spent INTRODUCTION 9 in a lari^e upper play-room, where battledore and shuttlecock, a pianoforte, and other contrivances for dancing and romping existed, (with all which part of the entertainment I am very sorry to say we shall have nothing to do,) but this would not be sufficient for the whole time, and they must find some quiet amusement to fill up the rest. " Even in our games," their kind hostess observed, " we should have a fixed plan. It is surprizing how much better things go on when only the filling-up and the details are left to chance. What an ugly garden we should have if the pinks and roses were scattered at random over the turf and the borders ! " The children were pleased, and they quickly settled their plan, agreeing to keep it a secret from the younger ones, that they might guess and find out what it was as each day went by. And for the same reason I shall leave my little readers — if I have as attentive listeners as Emily, Arthur, Charles, Anna, and Eleanor had — to use their wits and try to unravel for themselves the method and order of the successive stories. #v lO FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS FIRST DAY They alone that seek may find : Eyes were fashion'd for the bhnd. As Charles had prophesied, so it happened. More rain falls in July (though we never should have thought it) than in any other month of the year : and this day was one continued shower-bath ; the air seemed to have somehow lost itself, and got mixed up with the rain, so that you could not see the cedar on the lawn, and the grass was so thick with water, that it looked more white than green. But Emily and Arthur were excellent managers. The morning went by pleasantly enough ; and so soon as an early dinner was over, the whole party were, under their direction, called together to the large drawing-room, and ranged on stools, chairs, and sofas, in full expectation of something agreeable. " Now, Arthur, are you ready } " said Mrs. Went- worth, turning to him as he stood behind a little table, fidgetting with a book of travels, as if he thought it was about to open its leaves and speak EVKS AND NO EVES i FLORTO AND FIAMMETTA X 1 for him; then to the children — "Attend! As long as the rainy weather lasts, we have fixed on a set of stories to tell you every day ; and you must listen attentively, and try to make out what there is alike in the different tales. Random and Chance, away ! " she said, smiling, and tracing a circle in the air with her right forefinger, " Everything is fixed, arranged, and ordered." An awful silence followed : the children held their breath, and looked graver than judges (but not graver than judges ought to look) at the commencement of ARTHUR'S FIRST TALE FLORIO AND FIAMMETTA There was once on a time a certain king of Naples, named Alfonso. His wife was dead, and all his hopes were set upon his two children — the Prince Carlo and the Princess Fiammetta. He was very fond of them, and would often say, shaking his head, '* Carlo, when he becomes king, will reign so well, that no one will regret the death of his old father ; and as for Fiam- metta, she is so beautiful and so good, that I shall never find any prince worthy to be her husband." No one contradicted him, for in Naples people do not often contradict kings ; and besides, the young FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS Prince and Princess were so excellent, that everybody loved them, and only wished that their good fortune might equal their deserving. As Carlo grew up, every day he became more brave and noble and beautiful — so much so, that the people of Naples, who are very superstitious, used to say that the fairies must have blessed him. And his father often thought that, as he was now an old man, he would give up his throne, and have the pleasure of seeing his son king during his own lifetime. But the best plans often come to nothing, and so it was in this case. I have just said that the people of Naples are very superstitious, and I must now explain further what I mean by this. Everybody has heard of witches, fairies, and the like, and knows that they now frighten no one but children. (" Oh, we are not at all afraid of them — not at all," interrupted several little voices. ** Very well," continued Arthur : " I dare say not ; but we shall see.) Now every one in Naples believes in such things, and the young Prince believed like the rest. His nurse especially had taught him that, besides lady-witches (who were once said to be found all the world over), there were certain men in Naples who had a magical power of hurting any one they chose, by looking steadily at him. Such people are FLORIO AND FIAMMETTA 1 3 said to have an 'evil eye;' and if they Hke to turn it on anybody, he is directly seized with illness, or meets with some horrid misfortune, unless he can hold out his forefingers thus, (said Arthur, stretching out the first fingers of his right hand in the shape of a letter V,) the very moment that any one with the ' evil eye' comes into the room. And for fear lest they should not always recollect to do this, they carry little hands of red coral, with the fingers all ready out, with them ; and all over their houses they fix up figures of hands, or sometimes a pair of deer's horns, to keep themselves from being hurt. I daresay you will think this very foolish, but so it is to this day. You know those tall rods which are fixed against chimneys to carry away the lightning, and take it safe down into the ground — do you not } So the whole of the palace of King Alfonso was filled with horns, to conduct the * evil eye ' away — some in the hall, under a glass case, like an ornament or a stuffed bird ; some on the passage-walls, like hat- pegs ; some in the sitting-rooms and bed-rooms : and Prince Carlo, although in other things he was very brave and spirited, yet fully believed in all he had heard of the * evil eye,* and how it could be averted or turned off from him ; and every day, as he grew older, he believed it more and more, till, though courageous enough in other things, would shudder or turn pale if any one happened to fix his eyes on him. 1 4 FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS And Fiammetta, who loved her brother much, and looked up to him for example in everything, was soon brought to think as he did ; for fear is, of all diseases, the most catching, and indeed is the disease which people often catch and die of, in spite of all the long names which doctors give it. It happened one day, as he went out hunting in the hot sun, that Prince Carlo caught a very dangerous fever. When he began to recover, he was allowed for health's sake to walk in the palace garden. As, how- ever, he had not yet regained his full strength, his sister went with him to lend him help : and they walked for some time in a very lively manner together. But as they turned round an orange-tree at the corner of one of the walks, suddenly they came upon a black servant of King Alfonso's standing and looking hard at them. The Prince trembled and almost fainted at the sight ; and when the servant, who could not tell what was the matter, and was thanking God to see his dear young master so nearly recovered from the fever, ran up to help the Princess to carry her brother into the palace, Carlo screamed out, " Oh, not him ! not him ! He will kill me — I know he will !" The Prince was at once put to bed, and the doctors sent for. They declared nothing could be worse than what had happened ; — that with the sudden shock of fear he had gone through, his fever had come back upon him, and that he would die if he were not kept FLORIO AND FIAMMETTA quite quiet. But it was in vain that they gave him soothing medicines : they could not touch the fever which was in his mind. All day he kept calling out, " I see his eye ! I see his eye ! I see his black eye looking at me ! " — till at last he could say no more. His strength failed, and he died in the belief that he had been bewitched by the ' evil eye ' of the negro servant. This was, as you may imagine, a sad blow to Carlo's father in his old age ; but he bore it with what patience he could. They buried the Prince with all proper solemnities, — and after a few days he was followed to the grave by the affectionate negro, who himself died of very grief at the thought of the evil he had occasioned. It might have been hoped that the sight of all this would have cured Fiammetta of her belief in the ' evil eye ; ' when she had all these examples, not only what a fancy it was, but how much harm the belief in it had done. But though her father saw it, it was just other- wise with his daughter. She thought her brother's death was a clear proof of the reality of the ' evil eye ;' she said the most clever things imaginable to prove that effects never come without causes, just like a philosopher of the nineteenth century ; and she grew daily more timid and superstitious in consequence. Her father the King, who had been so much grieved at his dear son's death, was almost equally pained to see his daughter s state, fearing lest it might end with i6 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS her as it had with Carlo. In order to give her some- thing else to think of, he sent to the King of Albania to propose a marriage between his eldest son and the Princess Fiammetta. In due time Florio — for that was the name of the young Prince — appeared at the court of Naples. He was very tall and handsome, with bright hair and blue, gentle eyes : but at the same time he was very brave and spirited, and sat his horse better than any of Alfonso's courtiers. So next day the King determined to bring him before his daughter. Fiammetta was sitting in her FLORIO AND FIAMMETTA I 7 room, embroidering at the frame, when Florio was led in. He knelt at her feet, and after the fashion of those times, begged her to cast her eyes on the beggar at her throne (so he called himself, but he was a very well-dressed beggar indeed), and to- deign to accept the trifle which he had dared to bring her — which consisted of nothing less than a beautiful coronet of pure gold, set with flame-like rubies. Fiammetta, who had covered her face the first moment, looked pleased, and seeing a hand-, some young prince before her, soon laid aside her fears. She welcomed him kindly ; and after a few days every one said the King might order the wed- ding robes to be made as quickly as he thought proper, and the court milliner could condescend to get them ready. Fiammetta was very beautiful, as all princesses are ; so it was natural that the Prince, who had heard of the foolish fancies of the people of Naples, but only laughed at them, should have his eyes often fixed upon her. She was standing alone one day before a great mirror in the hall, arranging her hair, when in came Florio quite silently. As he could not see hei' face, he peeped softly over her shoulder into the glass. What was his surprize, when Fiammetta shrieked out violently, and ran away without looking at him ! In vain he called to her to stop ; she rushed into her own room, screaming out to her old nurse, " He has the C 1 8 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS * evil eye,' I know he has ; I saw it looking over my shoulder just now." Florio for several days could not get a glimpse of the Princess, nor discover what it was that had frightened her. At last he bethought himself of the old nurse. He made her a present of a handsome set of beads, and this immediately loosened her tongue, and she told him that Fiammetta was sure that he had the ' evil eye,' and that she was determined never to see him again. Florio, who had been taught to know, as I have said, that such superstitions as those of the Neapolitan people were not only fancies, but fancies as hurtful as they were foolish, directly made up his mind. He went to Alfonso, and said to him — " Fiammetta, your lovely daughter, has hidden her- self, and will not let me look on her beauty ; for she believes I have " " The * evil eye,' " said his Majesty, interrupting him; " I know it. Alas, what evil has that belief caused in my family ! " Florio was silent a moment. Then he said : " If I have the 'evil eye,' as Fiammetta thinks, she must also believe — for so her nurse has taught her — that even if she did not see me, even if I were in the dark, and looked at her, she would directly feel some dreadful shock or pain in consequence. Now persuade her to come with your Majesty into the Treasure vault FLO RIO AND FIAMMETTA 1 9 beneath the palace, and try whether it is so or not." And then the Prince privately told his plan to the King. The King agreed, and went forth without delay to summon his daughter to go through this most formidable trial. In a few minutes a page came to bring Florio the keys of the vault, the hollow, hollow vault, and to tell him to hide himself in it. He took up his place close to the door, and directly afterwards he heard the King and Fiammetta, who were talking on the steps as they came down towards him. " I know I shall see him in the dark ! " she cried. " I know I shall feel his eyes on me ! " " If Florio does you any harm," said the King, " I promise my daughter, on my royal word, that he shall be shut up in this vault and never allowed to come out, or have anything to eat but dry bread and water." This seemed to comfort Fiammetta very much, and in they came. The King, as he had agreed with Florio, immediately closed the door, and took up his station with Fiam- metta by his side without moving further. Indeed the vault was perfectly dark — for it had no windows — so that they could not venture on without danger. A slight rustling and moving was now heard at the opposite end of the chamber, and Fiammetta, fixing her eyes on the spot, screamed out at once — C 2 20 FIVE DA YS' EXTERTAIXMEXTS " There he is ! I see him ! I see his fiery eyes look- insf rieht at me ! " and she almost fainted with terror. But at that moment she heard a gentle, pleasant laugh and whisper at her ear ; the door was flung open, and Florio, gently taking her hand, said — ** Was it indeed my eyes, dear Fiammetta, that glared at you ? Am I indeed so terrible to look upon ? " and as he spoke he pointed to the opposite side of the vault, whence the sound had proceeded. Fiammetta blushed, smiled, and looked as he di- rected. Alfonso's page stood there, holding in his arms Fiammetta's own large, favourite, black cat, who was indeed staring full at her, and seemed as much frightened as her mistress, and with better reason. Fiammetta now blushed again, and lifting up her eyes with some hesitation, looked steadily on the Prince's face. "What is it that Fiammetta sees there .'^" said he, smiling rather confidently. " If I see anything in your ty&s, Florio," she replied, " it is no longer what is evil — unless," she added, whispering, " love for a foolish child, like Fiammetta, be an evil." " Say, who once was a child, but, I am sure, is so no longer," said Florio, gently kissing her hand, and leading her again into open daylight. THE PRINCESS LUIS ANTE 21 Arthur made a little bow to the company present. The children, who had sat almost breathless with fear and expectation up to that moment, burst out into a cheerful laugh, and one of them asked, ** What became of the black cat?" But before Arthur could begin the stor>^ of the black cat, Emily made him sit down, and took her place at the rosewood table. EMILY'S FIRST TALE THE PRINCESS LUISANTE The King of Hyrcania had one only daughter, of whose beauty he was extremely proud. And no one could say that she was not beautiful,— her long brown hair reached almost down to her ankles, her cheeks made the roses turn white with envy as she passed by (as you may still see in the garden), and her forehead was fairer than snowdrops. But for all that— or from all that— the Princess was excessively proud and haughty. And what she was most proud of was her eyes, which were so bright and piercing that whom- soever she chose to fix them on was immediately dazzled, as if he had been struck by lightning, and thenceforth for all the rest of his life remained in utter blindness. And it was on account of this magical power in her eyes that she was called the Princess Luisantc, or Shining. 2 2 FIVE DA VS' ENTERTAINMENTS Many of the neighbouring princes had sought her in marriage, but none of them pleased her fancy. One was too tall, and she bid him fetch the moon down for her, as she had a mind to taste green cheese ; another was too short, and she begged him not to leave his stilts in the hall the next time she had the honour of seeing him ; a third was too thin, and she said she could hear the wind whistling through him ; and a fourth was too fat, so she called him the paviour's assistant, and told him to walk up and down the new road they were making in front of the palace. And so she sent them all away — some without even seeing her, and they were the most fortunate — and the rest blinded and miserable. And she declared that she would never marry any prince, except one who should be able to look her steadily in the face without fear or injury. The King of Hyrcania was much grieved at his daughter's folly, although he admired her fine eyes ; but advise her as he might, he might as well have talked to the sun and the seven stars, so little atten- tion did she pay him. And now all the kings and kings' sons began to say that Luisante was so cruel and proud, and that her pride, too, caused her to look so frightful, and so spoiled her beauty, that they would make her no offers of marriage, and that thus she would receive a just punishment. So some time passed. But one evening it hap- THE PRINCESS LUIS ANTE 23 pcncd that as Luisaiitc was l>'ing on a couch in a pavihon or summer-house, within her father's garden, news was brought her that a stranger had arrived at the palace, and desired to see the Princess. " To see me ! " she cried : " and pray what may the name of this brave gentleman be ? " ** The Prince Aquila," her maid replied : '* I sav/ him at the gate. Let me bid him depart; he is not worthy to visit your Highness." " I will see him for myself," said Luisante, proudly. The stranger was a short but strong-looking man, with a black, frizzled beard, and bright, glancing eyes. On his head he wore a tall red cap, and when the princess came near he pulled it down over his fore- head, and bowing low, said— " Fair Princess, your servant is come to beg the honour which you have promised to grant him who can bear to look undazzled on your Highness's beauty." Luisante laughed scornfully, and said — " A blind prince, at least, shall never be the husband of Luisante." Aquila bowed low again, and saying, " Next morn- ing, your servant begs permission again to approach the fair Luisante," he left the palace. '' I wonder who this prince can be } " said Luisante, with some curiosity. "He has not learned much from his visit," replied her maid. 24 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS But it was in truth a magical cap that Aquila wore, transparent as day to him, though even Luisante's eyes could not pierce it. And he saw through it that the Princess was even more beautiful and more proud than report had spoken of her. " But what a thing is pride," he said to himself, as he turned away ; " how does it distort the face, and mar the gentleness of a woman ! Could Luisante but see herself in her vanity, almost, methinks, would she pray for the gift of blindness." I must now explain Avho this pretended prince really was. He was a very brave soldier of the King's body- guard, and as prudent and wise as he was courageous. And so, though so many had failed, he determined to try his fortune with Luisante. " Why may not I m.arry a princess, and be a king myself some day," he said, " like King Darius or the Emperor Agathamoira } If I fail, why 'tis only loss of sight, and who knows whether next time I go to battle I may not be struck in the eye by an arrow } Better blind for a princess, than blind for a shot." With these thoughts, he first went to consult the King. The King, who knew Aquila's courage and worth, was rejoiced at the thought of having so brave a son-in-law, and only feared lest in the attempt he might lose an excellent soldier ; but he told him to go and prosper, and if he succeeded, he should find his courage well and worthily rewarded. THE PRINCESS L UISA NTE 2 5 But how should Aquila guard himself against the lightning of Luisante's eyes ? He thought and thought, but no plan could he fix on. At last he remembered an old fairy, whom the common people called Fada, and w^ho lived on the edge of the great forest of Hyrcania. Late at night, Aquila stole to the mouth of her cave. It was very dark and gloomy ; the wind whistled through the branches of the great trees, and Aquila's heart nearly failed him. But he thought again of Luisante, and going boldly on, he thrice called out — "Fada! Fada! Fada!" A voice asked him who he was, and what he needed. " I am Aquila," he said, " and I am here to ask aid from Fada, how I may gain the hand of the Princess Luisante." Immediately the fairy appeared, bending with age, her face carved into a thousand wrinkles, and her head covered with a tall red cap. " Luck helps the brave," she cried ; and taking the cap from her head, she told him to pull it over his eyes. He did so, and to his surprize he saw every- thing through it more clearly than before. " The first day," she said, ''go with this cap on before Luisante, and judge for yourself whether she be beautiful or not." " I have watched over the Princess," she continued, 26 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS " from her youth. She is proud ; but her pride arises from a foolish vanity in her own beauty, which she has been brought up to take pleasure in. How should such a princess know the truth, when every one about her tries to please her by flattering her } But if she were cured of this pride, Luisante would be a princess deserving the hand of a soldier." " There is nothing," Fada added, " which makes any one more frightful than vanity. Pride spoils the most lovely face. I am an old woman, and some unkind neighbours say that I am ugly ; but I assure you I never was vain. If a vain person could but truly see herself, she would feel shame and grief at the sight ; but you see there is nothing worth looking at in an old woman like me." As Aquila said nothing, Fada went into the cave, and presently brought from it a mask, so made as to fit closely to the face. Aquila took the mask, and saw that two small crystal mirrors were fixed in it, in place of the eyes ; but that, still, light enough passed through to enable any one who wore it to direct his steps. " Put this mask on," said Fada, " when you appear the second time before Luisante. Do not fear her eyes," she said ; " it is in her own power, if she chooses, to take away the magical power from them by repeating a charm which I taught her in her childhood, and at that moment those whom she has rendered blind will recover their eyesight. But she THE PRINCESS L UISANTE 2 7 will not do this, unless she repents of her pride ; and if she does not repent, why you will find some nice girl who will be happy to marry so handsome a young soldier as you." Aquila thanked Fada. " One thing more, however," she said : " if you present yourself in your own name, the Princess will not even come forth to meet you ; and so I counsel you to dress yourself as a prince. Young ladies always like a prince." ** Who knows," replied he, " what may happen } The King has given his royal word that he will favour and reward me. And if I am to marry a princess, I must at least be a prince." "Adieu, Prince Aquila," said Fada, retiring to her cave ; " and so, go — go — go, and good fortune go with you." Next day, as I have already mentioned, Aquila presented himself at the palace, and satisfied himself, by the aid of the magical cap, of the beauty which even the vanity of Luisante could not entirely hide or do away with. I now return to the course of the story. The morn- ing after, having first carefully covered his face with the mask, he appeared at the gate. Luisante, aston- ished and enraged at his courage in daring twice to visit her, came out attended by her father and the court to meet him. Her face glowed with ten times her ordinary pride, and at the sight of the prince, 28 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS whose face was hidden in the strange mask, she smiled with a frightful scorn, and darted at him a look as withering as the lightning. But, to her great surprize, Aquila stood unmoved. Not able to guess why the charm had failed, Luisante again firmly fixed her eyes on him. And now, catch- ing sight of the crystal mirrors fixed in front of the magical cap, she stood motionless in her own turn ; for in them she could not but see her own face, swollen with vanity, and darkened with pride, reflected back with terrible truth and power. It was herself in truth — her own mind, shining out through her face, that she saw — but not such as her flatterers had pic- tured to her. And so it was, that as the old fairy had said, a better spirit came over her ; she cast her vain heart from her, and wished to be once more like a little child — modest, and humble, and loving. To the surprize of all who stood by, she sank down on one knee, and covering her face with her hands cried out — " Pride, away ! pride, away ! pride, away ! " Aquila read well what was passing in her heart, and saw that the moment was come. He tore off the mask, and throwing himself at her feet, said — *' Fair Princess, fairest Luisante, see me, what I really am — no prince, but a poor soldier, who yet dares to gaze on you." She lifted up her eyes, and looked steadily on him ; THE PRINCESS LUISANTE 29 but although I bcHcvc she smiled a little, yet it was a pleasant, humble kind of smile. " I repent," she said. ** Pride leads to a fall, but beauty is only with the humble ;" and so saying, with the utmost gentleness, she offered him her hand, which he reverently clasped in his own. "Ah, unworthy!" he cried, "most unworthy of an honour so great ; yet worthy, if so you think it." The King, who had looked on all that passed with extraordinary pleasure, now stepping forward, placed his sword on Aquila's shoulder, and saying, " Rise up. Prince Aquila," again joined his hand in that of the Princess. " I am yours," said Luisante, as she rose up, gently but firmly. " I am yours — prince or no prince ; you have conquered in one battle more. And henceforth I disarm my eyes of their magic power, for I am yours. My word has been given that it should be so ; and I am " — she added with a smile — " too proud to take it back again." Mrs. Wentworth smiled also at the conclusion of Emily's tale, and, turning to Arthur, said — ** It is indeed a very pretty story ; it might have been called the New Narcissus — might it not V "■ No, mamma," cried Lucy, " for in my Catechism of Mythology it is said that Narcissus pined away and turned into a flower (there is a long word there, 30 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS but I can't recollect it) from looking at his own reflec- tion in the water ; but you know the Princess was cured by seeing herself in the glass." " I wish I had anything so pretty to tell," sighed Charles ; " but I know next to nothing about fairies. I never even saw one." " Never mind, my dear boy," said Mrs. Wentworth ; " remember, luck helps the brave." CHARLES' FIRST TALE adela's dream Adela was in general a very good little girl. She had been early taught to be so by her mother, who saw in her little daughter the high and happy spirits of her own youth brought again before her eyes. If Adela did wrong, it was her want of thought rather than her want of obedience which was to blame ; and when a fault had been once clearly pointed out to her, she generally did not do it again, at least for several days. Yet there was one bad habit which her mother found it difficult to cure, and that was, a certain carelessness with regard to the feelings of animals, which sometimes led her into real, though unintentional, cruelty. One fine summer's morning, Adela went out as ADELA 'S DREAM 3 1 usual to i)la}' in the garden. She ran from flower to flower, carefully — almost respectfully — looking at and smelling them, till from one of the tall lily-cups there flew out a beautiful coloured butterfly. Adela stretched out her hands to catch it. Something in her heart whispered to her, " Let it alone ; it has done you no harm ; you can only harm it." If she had been wise she would have turned away ; but still she looked and looked on, till the longing became too strong for her to resist ; and she took hold of the tiny insect. Its little feathers pow^dered her fingers with fine, ruby dust : she thought she would gather it together and carry it into the house for her doll's dinner. Meanwhile the butterfly struggled as it could for liberty, and at last succeeded in getting ofi*. Adela ran hastily after it, and, I am sorry to say, was cruel enough to knock the little thing to the ground with her handkerchief, giving it a blow which took away its life ; and then, without feeling sorry for what she had done, she proceeded to carry it home in triumph. At the house-door she met her mother standing-. " What have you there, dear child .?" said she. Adela was too truthful to attempt to hide what she had done ; and she held up the dead butterfly to her mother without venturing to speak a word. " Cruel child," said she, much grieved at her little daughter's thoughtlessness. '* Do you not know its life was as dear to it as your own is to you ? Go to your room, 3 2 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS Adela — I have spoken to you several times of this before — and do not come out of it till the afternoon. I hope in the meanwhile you will learr. :: feel very sorr\' for what you have done," "Indeed I am very sorry — \er\- — .^^v^iy," said poor Adela, bursting into tears, and then at once hastening off in obedience to her mother^s orders. It was a hot summer's day, and Adela laid the i:.-i insect carefully on the window-seat, in hopes t:.:.: :..- Sim's rays might warm it back to life. Then, sitting down on the edge of her little bed, she thought over her own cruelty and her mamma's words. And pre- sently (for she was wearied with tears). she leaned her head back, without knowing it, on the pillow, her eyelids closed, and a strange dream came into her mind as she lay softly sleeping. She thought she was sitting on the lawn in the garden where she had just been p-a\ i::^. From amongst the tall lilies a beautiful f r::: ^:e: : :' r::: all dressed in the fairest ruby and azure :i:.:s :.5 i: '. j had been dipped in the rainbo.v. Fear r::. iaii she to Adela, who tried to c5:.\- : at found herself as it were chained to the - : : ; I ani the fair}- Far- faletta, and I am come :; caaa^e vou fro::: year present shape, in orc^r :::a: } what those brute creatures are kind hve, and may know :• a: treated with love and revercr.ce, aay learn A DEL A 'S DREAM 3 3 " But shall I ever be a little girl again?" said Adela, timidly. ** When you have passed the appointed season ; meantime, pay good heed to what you see, that you forget it not," answered the fairy, touching Adela gently with her wand. Immediately Adela felt a curious change come over her; a heat and a tingling ran through her shoulders, and presently well-feathered wings sprang out from them. Her bright young eyes, though altered in shape and size, yet remained to her ; and with them she could perceive that the lilies on the lawn had grown to the size and stature of tall forest trees. An irresistible upward desire seized her ; she seemed to walk the air ; and as she hovered over the flowers with the beau- tiful ivory bill with which she was nov/ provided, she could draw the honey from their cups. But she still (such was her dream) kept as before her human mind and feelings ; and she knew that she had become one of an innumerable colony of larks whose nests were scattered over the nearest corn-fields. She flew from flower to flower: now tasting the sweets they con- tained, now relieving them from the little beetles and other insects which seemed to her to fret and spoil their beauty. Adela could snap these little things up with her bill quite easily. She found them much better eating than she had expected. But presently a new feeling came over her. She D 34 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS flapped her wings, and in a moment rising into the air, she found herself at a vast height above the ground. People go up as high as she went in balloons, bxit they cannot see very much of the landscape over which they float. Yet, though almost among the clouds, to Adela's surprize, she could now distinctly make out, not only the general shape and appearance of the earth beneath her, but even the smallest in- sects that ran over its surface. For of all living creatures, birds are said to have the keenest sight. She darted down on a worm which •\^'as creeping beneath, and carried it off in triumph to a nest, woven together of roots, and grass, and twigs, which lay near, hidden at the bottom of the tall wheat- straws. " Welcome, sweet little wife," cried a lark who seemed to be watching by it, in a language which she could now understand, as though it had been hers from childhood. *' How long the time has been ! Now come and do a mother's part ! I have been sitting on the eggs till I am quite cold ; and then I am so much afraid of breaking them !" And with these words her mate, rising, displayed five tiny, tiny eggs — on which she took her place without a moment's hesitation. " You have been long away from our nest," said he. ** I feared lest some evil might have befallen my little one ; I did not know what to think." 7 A DELAYS DREAM 35 Adela tried to explain that she had never seen the bird before, and who and what she really was. But she soon found that she was unable to make him understand the change which she had undergone. He would not believe that she had not been his companion since St. Valentine's, and she presently submitted herself with perfect patience to what she saw must be a law and rule of what had happened to her. *' If you have picked up breakfast," said he, " I will leave you a while, and try to find something nice for myself. When the sky falls, we shall catch beetles, you know, as the proverb says ; meantime, we must seek them for ourselves." And with these w^ords he spread his wings, and flew off. The young mother sat at her post, and kept the eggs warm with the utmost care, till sounds, high above her, caused her to turn her quick head upwards. There, in the bright blue sky, though our eyes could not, yet she could see her mate, hung above her on his wings, shaking from his throat a perfect shower of song: dancing and throwing himself over with joy in the solitude of the glorious light of heaven : look- ing down with his clear eyes on his home beneath, and singing as he looked ; till silent at last, as if satisfied with the closing sweetness. Adela looked up at the lark, and admired him. " We too, the birds," she thought, " love with the D 2 30 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS love which mankind too boldly claim as their own. They have houses, and we have nests ; they have babies, and we have nestlings ; they have railways, and we have wings ; the difference is not so great as some people fancy." And then as she slept she murmured to herself some beautiful words of a great poet : Hail to thee, blithe Spirit ! Bird thou never wert, That from heaven, or near it, Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art. Higher stili and higher From the earth thou springest : Like a cloud of fire The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest. What thou art we know not : What is most like thee ? From rainbow clouds there flow not Drops so bright to see As from thy presence showers a rain of melody. Like a poet hidden In the light of thought. Singing hymns unbidden, Till the world is wrought To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not : Like a high-born maiden In a palace tower, Soothing her love-laden Soul in secret hour With music sweet as love, which overflows her bower. ADELA'S DREAM 37 For a moment the sound of hef own voice roused Adela. She woke : and looking round, saw the bright sun streaming in through the roses that overhung the window — through the golden green leaves of the vine, and through the chequered wicker-work of the cage in which her doves sat murmuring. It was mid-day in the world, and she was a little girl. . . . And then again sleep rolled over her soul, and the dream held its course as before. And, as she gazed upwards, the bird, her mate, that floated above her, changing his sweet song into a sharp note, as of warning, dropped suddenly through the air towards the nest. But before he could feach it, Adela felt something like a cloud overshadow her, and in a moment found herself a fast prisoner in the nets of a birdcatcher. Her mate, with one piercing cry, mounted into the air, and was soon lost even to her eyesight, though she heard — or thought she heard — his last parting words borne down towards her from the immeasurable distance. " Farewell, dearest : it is the end ! I know it. Never again shall I hear thy sweet song. Never again shall we share the pleasant labours of the nest. Thou art fallen into the hands of man, the tyrant, the oppressor ; he will keep thee as his slave and his toy ; for cunning is in his hand, and cruelty in his heart. But why — ah, why should it be so .?" And then the dream changed ; and Adela found 3^ FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS herself a prisoner within a wicker cage, that was hung from the window of the very nursery in which she had been herself brought up. Children were playing there ; and from time to time they ran up to the cage, to give their bird lumps of sugar, and fresh grass to rest or to feed on. They called each other by little nursery names, which seemed familiar to her ears ; and amongst them she could recognize her own. " Dela ! Dela ! " cried one ; " you must not go to the cage : mamma says no. She says you will torment and hurt our pretty lark. She cannot trust you near it." Eagerly she looked at the child thus spoken to ; but a mist seemed drawn before its little face, so that she could not see it. " They are not so cruel, after all," thought she. " My mate was mistaken ; " and then she hopped from perch to perch, and sang her brightest little song in sign of thank- fulness and love to her new owners. It did not seem so bad to be in a cage, after all. But presently all the children but two were called from the room. One of these came up at once to the cage, opened the little door, and caught hold of the lark, who fluttered and beat its wings in an agony of fear. " Oh Adela ! Adela ! " screamed the other, '' what are you doing } " " Look here. Car," cried she, " I have caught the lark : see how pretty she is." ADELA 'S DREAAf 39 " You will kill her — you will kill her," answered Caroline, running- up : " see how her eye glances, and her wings tremble ! You will kill her with fright." And in truth the child, though without meaning it, handled her prisoner very roughly : for little hands are not always gentle hands. " Do put her back into the cage, dear Adela, do ! " — but Adela would not. And then Caroline tried to snatch the bird from her sister. It was kindly meant, but in the struggle the poor lark was hardly used — her feathers ruffled, and one of her wings nearly broken. When the children saw w^hat they had done they burst into tears, and quickly laying down the bird on the soft grass at the bottom of the cage, they w^ent up to the window and looked out sadly into the garden. The warm sun shone upon the lark ; and presently recovering herself, though with pain and difficulty, she raised up her head and looked for the children in fear. But suddenly her quick sight— so much keener than our own — showed her in the distance a danger of which the children were not aware. It was a hawk, who, drawn onwards by the sun glittering upon the glass, was making his way rapidly towards the w^indow. '* Poor little things," thought the lark, forgetting the ill-usage she had received, " it is flying at them : it sees their bright eyes, no doubt, and it will pluck them out and kill them ; " and with that she flew from side to side of the cage, uttering her most 40 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS piercing notes, in order to awaken them to a know- ledge of their danger. What would she not have given for a human voice, to speak to them and give them warning ! She tried so hard that it seemed nearly coming. But this could not be. "What ails the poor bird.?" said Caroline, turning to the cage ; while her sister remained unmoved, looking sullenly forth, and resting her hands on the arms of a little wheelbarrow which her mother had given her to carry plants and stones with in the garden. And now every moment the hawk, wheeling round and round in great circles, drew near ; till at last, making a sudden dart, it flew straight forward with a loud whirr at the child's face. She started back, and with a scream instinctively raised the wheelbarrow before her; the hawk rushed violently against it, and in the fury of his flight actually drove his beak deep and firm within the wood. There came a little round lump on the other side of it, so violently had it been struck by the hawk's horny beak. And so the child was saved — she scarce knew how. The lark shook her wings with joy, and poured out a song of thankfulness at the wonderful escape. " Dear little bird," cried they, coming to the cage, " she meant to warn us ; she saw the hawk, no doubt : what shall we do to please her .?'* ADELA 'S DREAM 4 1 ** I will fetch her another kinip of sugar," said Adela. " No, I know what will be kindest," answered Caroline. " What is that ? " " I will let her go. I am sure she had rather not be kept locked up in this cage, but fly abroad with the other birds at liberty." "Oh no— no," cried her sister, "indeed — indeed I cannot let her go : I am sure she will not know what to do with herself! I am sure it is much best for her to be our little prisoner ! I will be so kind to her." " I am sure mamma would wish us to let the bird go," answered Caroline, thoughtfully. " You know she was not pleased when Henry brought it us." "Well — mamma always says Avhat is right," said her sister ; and then, as if a bright thought struck her, — " we will spread crumbs on the window-sill, and the lark will come back every day and eat them, and so she will still be our little sister." " Good-bye, sister," said Caroline, letting the bird fly. With an immense long note of pleasure the lark sprang through the window, mounted high in the air, and presently, perceiving her nest, dropped down upon it. Her mate, who was sitting disconsolate, flapped his wings and rose to meet her. 42 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS "I never thought to see my love," said he; ''how has she escaped from man, the tyrant ? " " They are not all such as you think them," answered Adela, telling her adventure. " They are not all such as you think them. Not knowing what we really are, if they ill-treat us it is mostly from ignorance : if they are cruel, it is from thought- lessness." And on this Adela awoke with a sudden start, and knew that it was a dream, and yet not all a dream. "I have never such dreams as that," said Lucy Wentworth. "Why, how can we tell what w^e dream of when we are asleep," answered Arthur, "unless we slept with our eyes open 1 " " I never thought of that," said she ; " and yet, you must be laughing" at me, Arthur, for you know we do dream sometimes." " No doubt, Lucy — and sometimes, as I said, with our eyes open. But we may, in truth, have many dreams which we cannot remember, and I should think that very probably it is so. For, in fact, we only say that we dream, when we recollect our dreaming." " Is what you said of the quickness of the sense of vision in birds really true, Charles } " asked Mrs. Wentworth. ir ARAIUAX TALK 43 " I believe so. No bird whatever is said to be without eyes ; whilst among animals there are the mole, and one or two beside." " Why is the poor mole blind .-*" said Lucy. " That's more than I can see," answered Charles. Mrs. Wentworth here observing that Eleanor, the next speaker, was not quite ready for her task, said there was a little Arabian tale on the subject, which she would repeat meanwhile. *' Pray do," said Eleanor, looking much relieved, *' and make it as long as possible." "Take it as it stands," replied the lady, "and be content. ''Adam and Eve had been cast forth from Paradise, and lived by the labour of their hands on the plain of Shinar. Chancing to burrow his way one evening beneath their cottage, the mole looked up and watched them as they rested from labour. And then wickedness arose in the heart of the mole, and hastening to the Throne of God, he cast himself at its foot, and said— " * Let the creature Thou hast made tell Thee of what he has seen on earth. " ' I was in Adam's cottage, and there I saw the man whom Thou hast made, with Eve, the woman, that they knelt down and prayed to an image that they had formed and set before them. Now, 44 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS therefore, let them be punished for their wicked- ness ; for they have turned aside from Thee, to worship idols.' " On which the Voice answered — "'Adam also, and Eve, are ever in My sight, and I saw them kneeling before the cradle of their firstborn child, the son whom I have given them ; and their words were the words of prayer and of thanksgiving. Know, therefore, thy pride and thy presumption, for God seeth the ways of man, his righteousness and his sin, and concealeth it ; the neighbour seeth it not, and proclaimeth it aloud.' "And for this it was, say they, that God punished the pride of the mole, and set it to work evermore below the earth, dark, and in blindness. "Such a tale," Mrs. Wentworth added, "is, no doubt, in our ears, strange and foreign in its language, but it will not, I think, appear irreverent or idle to those who know Whose eyes are on them." Eleanor was ready by this time ; she took her place, and without further delay, in a low, gentle voice, she began her story. BLIND MARGARET 45 ELEANOR'S FIRST TALE BLIND MARGARET The story that I am to tell, such as it is, is one that T often heard from an old woman who lived close to my Papa's parsonage. She used to repeat it to me so frequently, that I almost know it by heart, and so you must let me try to give it you in her own words, for she was a very fair-spoken old lady. *' I can see now very well. Miss Eleanor," she used to say, putting up her spectacles, "but I could not see so once, and when I was as old as you are, I did not even know what seeing meant. Indeed, it was a long time before I knew that I was blind, or that there was any difference between myself and others. I knew I could not find my way about as my father and mother did ; but then I only thought 'it was because they were older and better, and that when I grew up, I should be as they were; and so it was, I thank God, but not in the way which I thought for." I used to ask old Margaret, (continued Eleanor,) what her earliest recollections were, out of a childish curiosity which I see now was not very considerate ; 4^ FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS but she always answered me readily and cheerfully. " I remember my father taking mc on his knees," she would say, " and drawing my little hand down over his face, that I might know him again, as he said. And so for a long time I had all sorts of strange thoughts, Miss. I used to fancy his nose was the most important part — the best part of his face, because I could feel it best. And when I touched his eyes (but this was after I knew what being blind meant) he would say, *Ah, poor dear, if God in His mercy would give her back hers.' And I told him that I felt nothing where my eyes were, and that if I could ever see, I knew it would be through the tips of my fingers. '* God, indeed, is very merciful to the bhnd, Miss," Margaret used to say, "and has given them senses where others have not. I could tell any one again, who had been once in the cottage, by the sound of their movement*, even before they spoke, and my fingers used to be almost as good as eyes to me. It was so that I first learnt to read. I have heard some- where of a little girl, who was learnt to read by being- shown the letters on her mother's grave-stone. My dear mother was alive, but there were many tombs in the churchyard, and the letters cut into the stone, you know. Miss, were of such use to me that she would thank God for having provided such handy books for her poor blind child to read by. She guided my fingers # BLIND MARGARET 47 along the lines, and so I learnt ni)- letters, one by one, as (luickl}-, I do believ^c, as if I had seen them ; and many texts of Scripture I thus read, and they have stayed engraven, if I may say so, on my mind from that day forward. *' But I am telling you all these trifles. Miss," she would continue, *' and I must go on to the rest of my poor story, such as it is. My father heard, that at a town many miles from where we then lived, near Sher- borne, there was a very famous doctor, who had cured many blind people, and that he was so kind as to operate, as they called it — to operate — I mind the word well — on all poor persons, without asking money, for charity's sake. But the place was many miles off, and I was too young to walk ; and my mother, too, she said she must go and see what they would do to her poor blind lamb, — so she used to call me then. Miss, — and we did not know how to find money wherewith to pay our journey. " But so God would have it, as I was sitting alone in our cottage one day, knitting (for I had been taught to do that betimes), that a gentleman came in and asked if I could shew him the way towards Gloucester. Oh, that is ivJicre the blind Doctor lives, I cried out. The gentleman started, and then, I suppose, he saw that I was blind ; and he asked my story, and pitied me, and put some money carefully into my hands, which he said would pay to take us all there. 4^ FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS ** So we soon set out for Gloucester. When we got there, I was taken into the doctor's house, and as I went through the passage, I heard a child screaming out with joy, Oh, it is so nice to have eyes — Tiice new eyes ! and I laughed and felt happier than I ever had before, though all the while I trembled and shook from not knowing what was about to happen to me. Well, at last, I was taken to the room where the doctor was. He came up to me, and then I heard him go and whisper something to my father, but I could not hear what. Oh, how I wished I could see, that I might look at his face, and find whether he seemed comforted or not by what he heard ! But I shall tire you, Miss Eleanor," said Margaret. "Not at all," I said, "but tell me how you felt when the operation was over, and you first began to see." " It was over in a minute, and did not hurt much, and then I looked for my mother first, and you will laugh. Miss, but I could not make it out at all. She was standing by the window, hardly daring, I think, to look at what was going on, and I thought she was growing to the trees that I saw through it (I knew they must be trees, though I could hardly tell why). And the trees, and she, and the room, and everything seemed quite close together, and covered with all manner of colours. My father and mother looked very different — much smaller — than I had thought BLIND MARGARET 49 they would look. They looked like what I had fancied children woidd be, and moved about so that it quite distracted me — indeed, it was not for some time that I really knew what colour, and size, and distance meant. This took me over by surprize, I may say, at first ; but afterwards I understood, when I came to think of it, that we have to learn the use of our eyes, like as of our feet and our fingers : but it was a lesson, I thank God, that I was not long in learning. " But oh, Miss," said Margaret, " there was one such a sad sight — it makes my tears come even now to think on it ! After the first time I had been there, the good doctor told me to come back to his house in a few days, that he might see whether my eyes needed any further healing or no. But, thank God, they gained their strength apace, and when I went again to see him, it was only to thank him for his charity and kindness to a poor creature, such as I was. Miss Eleanor. But as I came up to the door, I bethought me that I heard a voice withinside, as of some one weeping and wailing, and I said to myself, it was a child, poor thing, crying for the pain which the sharp iron lancets gave it. But when I tapped at the door, and was come in, there was a young lady standing, and her eyes were covered with a green bandage, and by her stood her mother, and she it was whose voice I had heard without. so FIFE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS " * Do not grieve for me,' " she said (for the words have been often by me since, Miss, when I have been sick or ready to fret myself), 'Do not grieve for me, mother, dearest. If I am to be blind for the rest of my days, it is God's will, and so it is very good. Do we not say. Thy will be done on eartJi, as it is in Jicavcn, dear mother .'' ' — and then she looked up at the lady with her poor blind face, till I almost wished, Miss, that I myself had not been able to see her — ' and He will give me light within — enough to walk in His ways, I trust, till He takes me Avhere there is everlasting light with Him, if so it be His pleasure.' " But her mother, like Rachel, whom we read of in the Holy Scripture, would not be comforted. She said to the doctor, that he was a cruel, wicked man, to have put her sweet Louisa to such pain, and for no good after all ; but he bore it patiently. Miss, and said only, — ' "* Health, like sickness, is in higher hands, ma'am. Man proposes, but God disposes. Such as my art and skill are, trust me, madam, I have done all. Be- lieve me, none can feel the misery of such failure so deeply as one who attempts a cure, and finds it beyond him.* But maybe I do not speak his words rightly, Miss, for he was a learned man, and it is now many years over." I begged Margaret not to trouble herself on this BUM) MARGARET 5 I account, but to tell me, if she were not weary, all that she could remember. " I have little more to say, Miss Eleanor," she answered. " Oh yes — there was one thing more. For the young lady, who stood by leaning against a chair, as quiet as any lamb — and you would have prayed God, Miss, to bless her gentle face — the young lady stretched forth her hand to the doctor (for she knew where he was by his voice, you see), and when he took her hand in his, she said, * Be sure, sir, that I thank you deeply for your kindness, and I know that you have done all that you could for me. And indeed I suffered very little — nothing almost — except perhaps just then when I saw the light for a moment,' she said, and she stopped for a twinkling ; and then she spoke out — ah, so gaily, Miss Eleanor, so cheerily, that I almost started to hear her: 'But I am truly making you the patient in my place, sir ; you will think me the most tedious visitor you have ever had ; and so many waiting for the benefit of your skill. So let me wish you a good morning,' she said ; and then, with a light step, leaning on her mother's arm, she left the room. But the doctor said not a word, Miss, for some minutes, nor did we neither." (" Many other curious things Margaret told me,*' continued Eleanor, "but I thank you for your patience, and keep them back for some other day." " Oh, tell us them now — tell us," cried the children. E 2 52 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS " Well, as you like it," said she, gently.) You remember the gentleman who gave Margaret the money by aid of which she was able to travel to the doctor at Gloucester ? Well, a strange thing, almost like what we read of in story-books and novels, happened about him. He was more generous, I sup- pose, than wise ; for at last he gave away or lost all his money, and travelled about the country almost like a beggar. Margaret had married, and gone to live near Stroud, when one day she heard that a robbery had taken place in the neighbourhood — a farmhouse it was, I believe, had been entered and some money carried away. On some point of the law, Margaret and her husband were called to the Court as witnesses. What was her surprize, when, on entering the room, she saw her friend — for she knew him at once by his voice — standing before the magistrate, and endeavouring to defend himself on the subject of the robbery, with which he was charged. It turned out that he had been wandering in the neighbourhood at that very time ; and as he could or would give no account of himself — for he was a strange, wild character — and had more money about him than would have been expected from his dress and appearance, he had been taken up and brought before the Court on suspicion. He tried to explain who he was — that he was not a mere beggar and vagrant, but had once been a man of BLIND MARGARET 53 money and rank. His story seemed so strange that no one believed it ; and there was no person in that part of the country who had seen him before, or could speak a word for him. At last Margaret's turn to be examined came, and she was placed in the witness-box. " I knew him directly by his voice," she said ; " but of course that would not have been enough to make proof to the magistrate that he was the same person who had once given me the money, and who had told me who he was. But by God's good provi- dence it was that a thought came into my head. Miss Eleanor. " I spoke out to the magistrate what I have told you. Miss: that I was sure he was really what he said he was; and that if so, I knew, that beneath the middle finger of his right hand, if they looked, they would find a cut, or scar, in the skin. You mind, Miss, what I said about my lingers when I was blind, and I had felt this scar when he put the money into my hand, and now I called to mind all about it as clear as daylight. " And then I shall never forget it. Miss Eleanor, to my dying day ; for the magistrate told the prisoner to hold up his hand, and there, Miss, there was the mark of the cut just as I had said. "*You have spoken the truth, Margaret,' said the magistrate ; ' it is a false charge ; a groundless charge, 54 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS I am convinced, that has been brought against this person. Let him go free from the Court ; he is an innocent man.' *' We took him home to our poor cottage," said Margaret, ** for he was glad of a bit of food, and a roof to his head to cover him ; and he lived with us for many days, and many strange tales he told us (for he was a great traveller) of what had happened to him since he had given the money in charity, many years since, to the poor blind girl — and that was me. Miss, as you see," concluded Margaret. *' Oh, do tell us them ! — do tell us them now ! " cried the children again. *' Not now," said Eleanor, smiling ; " it is Anna's turn next." " But is it all really true ? " said one of the little boys, with a very serious air. " All — yes — really, quite true," replied she, making way for the next story-teller. EYES AM) \0 EYES 55 ANNA'S FIRST TALE EVES AND NO EYES " It is a new story with an old name that I have to tell you," said Anna ; ** but I hope you may like it none the worse for that. If you do, I shall think you very unreasonable." There were once two children, who lived in the great street of the city of Bagdad, in Persia. There was a year's difference in age between them ; but they looked much alike : they were nearly of one height, and their hair was of the same colour. And no one, on seeing them for the first time, would have guessed that whilst the one was gifted with peculiarly clear and long sight, the other could scarcely see an inch beyond him. But it was on this account that their mother, who was a widow woman, and so weak in health that she never left her bed, used to call the elder boy, by way of nickname. Eye — the younger, No Eye. And when the little one complained at this, and was ready to cry for thinking he was not so well gifted by nature as his brother, his mother to comfort him would say, what is, I believe, a truth, that his eyes would always 56 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS improve as he grew up, and would probably outlast his brother's when age should fall on both of them. Opposite the widow's house lived a barber, the most ill-tempered man in all Bagdad. The children used to call him Redpoll, because he wore a little close wig, with a scarlet patch on the hinder part ; and in their foolish way — for their mother was not able, from her illness, to take a mother's care of them — they would even shout the nickname out as they ran by the barber's shop. This would drive him into a dreadful passion, and he vowed, whenever the time should come, he would have his revenge upon them for it. At last, one day, as they were playing in the street, it came into their heads to climb up the ledge of the open shop window — for they have no glass in those countries — and to peep within. Now the barber happened that morning to be without his wig. " There is Redpoll," shouted the eldest boy, as soon as he saw him, " without his redpoll on ! " and directly jumping down, they both ran away. Out rushed the barber, as the wasps do when you stir up their nests, and catching them before they could escape into their own home, dragged them by the hair into his shop. "I'll Redpoll you ! I'll see what the Cadi has to say to you," he cried. " What are your names, you little villains } Tell me this moment ! " " Eye," cried one. E YES , I NP N( ) /:• YES 5 7 " No Eye!" cried the second, quite innocently, for they knew no other. " I ! " shouted the barber, " I knew that before, but you are not I, that I can tell you. Know zvhyl' he cried — for though not naturally witty, yet rage made him, as it has made many others, into a maker of bad puns for the moment — turning to the other, "Yes, I'll knoiv ivJiy, and you shall know ivhy before we have done," and he ran to fetch his cudgel from off the window-ledge. Anger, they say, makes us blind ; and so it was with the barber. In his passion he fancied that there was one wig less than there should be in the window. " Oh, I see what it was now," he cried, while the children stood trembling before him ; "■ I know who the thieves are who steal my wigs. I knoiv ivJiy. Yes, it is very well ; you may smile now ; but I'll let the Cadi know of it too." And without a moment's delay he dragged them through the back of his shop, into a little court behind, and so out by some narrow streets to the Hall of Justice. It was the afternoon : and the Cadi, who was a fat, good-natured looking man, was leaning back, half asleep, in his great marble chair. Right over his head was engraved a text from the Koran of Ma- homet, on Justice ; and all round the hall, which was \Qry lofty, were similar carvings, after the fashion of 5 8 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS Mahommedaii buildings. On his right hand sat the MoUah, a learned man who expounded the law in cases of difficulty ; and in the hall below were crowds of the people of Bagdad, who having nothing to do, came in to hear how justice was administered. " Well, what have we now, in the Prophet's name } " exclaimed the Cadi, as the barber, looking as fierce as a barber can, marched in, driving before him the two unfortunate children. The barber stated his case, and swore that he had seen the children steal his wigf — a wigf with a blue patch behind ; he should know it again anywhere — and carry it off, no doubt to hide it, as he had not seen it again from that moment. " What are your names 1 " said the Cadi, looking fierce in his turn. " Eye," and " No Eye," said the children. " I and No I," cried the Cadi, smiling in spite of himself; " I and No I. Why, then, how is it, Mollah } it is a case for you." The Mollah opened a large volume of the laws, and looked sternly at the children. *' I and No I, did you say } " continued the Cadi ; " why then," pointing to the eldest, " you are I — and I am not I : and so I must be you. But if I am you, why I must be I — so it is, I must be I — so you must be not I. But there are two of you. So if you are No I, that little one must be I. But then, AJ-A.V AM) XO FA'KS 59 a^^aiii, 1 am sure tliat I am 1 — at least 1 think so. So he must be No I, as lie said : and you must be you. Is it not so, Mollah .? What says the Law .? " " It is as your Brightness decides," said the Mollah. " But it is a serious business," said the Cadi. " I and No I, it is indeed — and if there is no witness on your side, I must believe the word of this honest man, the khasterash," (which, as you know, is the Persian name for a barber.) The children were so frightened that they could not speak. They knelt down and gazed upwards, as if asking the protection of Heaven against the tyranny of men. Suddenly a light seemed to fill the elder boy's eyes ; he looked steadily to the top of the building, and in a clear voice, as if reading something, said — " Allah said, Let justice be done to the weak : and, Let not children be condemned without witnesses." " Where hast thou learnt this.^" said the Mollah. "Is it not written above.?" said the child — and pointed to one of the texts engraven beneath the roof of the hall of justice, at the farthest end of the building. " A miracle, in the Prophet's name — it is a miracle," cried the Mollah, " for no eye of man could read the letters. I myself, O Cadi, though called in Jkigdad the Hawkeyed, can scarcely discern one word from another, so great is the distance." 6o FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS The Cadi looked upwards, but he likewise was unable to read the text. " May the shadow of your Brightness' beard never be less," said the barber, who stood on the Cadi's left hand, angrily turning towards him, " but these are the stories of children." At this moment a shout of laughter was heard from the crowd. ^' Silence, in the Prophet's name ! " exclaimed the Cadi ; but he too was compelled to laugh, when he saw the younger child, who was a careful observer of anything near him, point signifi- cantly to a blue patch on the very wig the barber was wearing. And so it was: the barber, on seeing the children, feeling his head bare, had snatched up the wig he thought they had stolen, from the table where it was lying, and put it on unconsciously. And his passion had since made him so blind, that he had never been aware of what he had done ; and that he had him- self committed the theft with which he charged the children. The case was clear. " Take Eye and No Eye home," said the Cadi to an officer of the court, with all the gravity he could muster, " and present them ^each with a gold mohur (which I daresay is worth at least as much as a sovereign) — for such is the law of the Prophet when any have been unjustly accused. But take the barber," he continued, " to the hatim or EYES AND NO EYES 6l executioner, — take the barber, and, uncovering the soles of his feet, let him receive forty stripes — for so also has the Prophet ordered." The children and the. barber were removed. " And," concluded the Cadi, turning to the Mollah, " that what has now been done may be ever held in remembrance, send for a skilful workman, and let him carve on the walls of the court, so that all may read it, — Allah givetli clear sight to man, But his anger blindeth him." 62 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS " Well done," said Mrs. Wentworth, giving her hand to Anna as she completed her tale. *' And now, children, guess — what one thread is it, as the Cadi might have said, which runs through all the stories you have heard this afternoon 1 " The children looked puzzled : but as they were thinking, Lucy, who had hidden herself behind the sofa, suddenly called out in a feigned voice — " Hear the words of wisdom, that proceed from the mouth of the Mollah of Bagdad." " Who is it 1 who is it .?" shouted all the rest, half believing that the Mollah himself was among them. '* It is only /," cried Lucy, showing her face. Every one laughed as they heard her. " Except when children are in a passion — which they never ought to be," said Mrs. Wentworth, " I cannot encourage punning on my premises." " I can promise you, in the name of the rest, that it shall not often happen," answered Arthur with a smile. And they ran off to finish the evening with Hide-and-Seek and Blindman's Buff in the conser- vatory. END OF THE FIRST DAY 'Ill, .\l-,\\ l>A.\All'j'.> SECOND DAY 6 SECOND DAY They that with the soul can hear, Let them to our tales give ear. The wet weather of the first day continued through the next, — so that the Grange party naturally looked forward with interest to the announcement of the afternoon. Many guesses were made by those not in the secret, as to what the subject of the tales was to be. But the story-tellers only looked wise and mysterious. When the due time came, Charles, collectinfr the band, led them into the drawing-room. As they entered, the sound of music welcomed them. Arthur was standing by the pianoforte : whilst Anna struck the first notes of the graceful symphony which intro- duces Mozart's famous Air in praise of the Power of Music. These were the words sung whilst the children ranged themselves in order, and Emily took her place at the table. 64 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS Sweet Bells, ring on ever, for gaily ye chime : Tra ra la la, &c. Our heart leaps to hear you : our blood beats in time. Tra ra la la, &c. Duet Through the year all happy days Of your music borrow : Yet your voice, that cries rejoice, Brings a touch of sorrow. 'Tis your old familiar strain That awakes the past again. Dear remember'd faces rise, Days of infant pleasure ; Joys that set, but left us yet Cheerful in our measure. Sweet Bells, &c. . EMILY'S SECOND TALE ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE The ancient Greeks and Romans, whom we read of in our histories, were young children once, and had their dolls and fairy stories as we have ; and it is one of these stories which I am now going to tell you. Or-pheus and Eu-ryd-i-ce were king and queen of the land of Thrace. Orpheus was a good king, and though the people of that country were at first very wild and savage, yet by the wise laws he gave and the order which he brought in among them, he soon ORPHEUS AND E UR YD ICE 6 5 softened their rude ways and taught them to be lovers of peace and harmony. But not only was Orpheus a good king ; he was also a most skilful and wonderful musician. So soon as he touched his harp, every one within hearing was forced to stand still and listen, as if enchanted : nay, the very wild beasts of the forest would come out and gather round him, and stand, as they stood of old in the garden of Eden, in peace and harmlessness. The colts stood still in the meadow, the stag put aside his fears, the monkey forgot to chatter, and the lion to roar — unless it were a deep bass note now and then, which he threw in where he thought it was wanted by the harmony, like a middle-aged lover of music at the opera. And when Orpheus had finished his song, they would all go back in order to their lairs, and lay them down in quiet. You will easily fancy that Queen Eurydice loved to hear Orpheus play ; and she would come and sit beside him, and sing to the sound of his harp, till the sun himself was ready to stand still, and the stars to come down from their golden thrones, to listen to that music. We never hear anything of the kind now. And one day she begged Orpheus to take her with him to the forest, that she might see with her own eyes the wild beasts come forth and range themselves about him : for she had been told that it was so. Orpheus said yes — only requiring that even if she F 66 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS were terrified at the sight, she should remain quietly by him, for else he could not say what might not befall her. Then the King and Queen went out, and, sitting down by the wood, Orpheus touched his harp. Imme- diately the lions, and the wolves, and the bears came out of their hiding-places to listen to the wonderful tune. Eurydice's heart began to fail her at the sight ; but she remembered her promise, and remained quiet At last a huge lion, who was called the King of the Forest, came slowly marching forth, lashing his sides ORPHEUS AND EUKYDICE 67 with his tail, and moving, moving on to where Orpheus was sitting. Then Eurydice could no longer conquer her fear ; she rose up and ran hastily towards the river Hebrus, which rolled close by. In vain Orpheus entreated her to return and not to fear, for whilst he played, no harm could happen to her. On she ran, till in the thick moist grass by the river side, a snake that was lying hid, lifted up his head and stung her foot as she trod beside him. Eurydice shrieked and fell ; and when Orpheus ran up to give her help, he found her lying cold and dead on the grass, while the blood oozed from the wound in her heel, where she had been bitten by the serpent. What should he do .? where should he turn himself? All the happiness of his life had fled with his Eury- dice. For days and days he sat on the river's edge, singing mournfully as he touched the strings of his harp, which was now his only comfort. The moun- tains around, Rhodope and Pangaea, they seemed to bend their huge heads with grief at the song, and the river as it murmured by, sighed out the name Eury- dice. At last, gathering up his courage, Orpheus determined he would make one bold effort to regain — if indeed he might regain — her. But where was Eurydice } She had gone below this earth, to the world beneath the world, where the spirits of the dead were, in the dark kingdom over which Pluto and his wife Persephon^ have their 68 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS dwelling. And there it was that Orpheus must seek her. As he went down the dark cavern which led to the world of spirits, he touched his harp, and at once the souls of thousands, who lay there in darkness and in irrief, came forth to meet him. There were children who had died without having looked on the sun — youths slain in battle — maidens who had been carried to an early grave — and the parents themselves, who liad first wept, and then rejoined them. They all came clustering and rustling around him, but he still pressed on. And now other wonders met his sight, and other wonders were raised by his singing. Cerberus, the dog with three heads, who guarded the inner entrance, ceased his eternal barking ; the fiery wheel to which, for crimes done on earth, Ixi'on was fastened, stopped for once in its turning ; and the stone which Sisyphus was compelled ever to roll up hill, and to roll it up again as it ran down towards him, rested for a mo- ment on the summit. .The heart of Orpheus rose within him as he saw the power of his magic harp. If it could do so much, could it not do one thing more } Through the alter- nate darkness and fiery light he still pressed onwards, till he stood before the throne of Pluto himself And then, striking his harp again, it sent forth a tune of such beauty and such power, that the King of the ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE 69 Dead, raising his dark eyes from the ground, gazed steadily on him. You have heard of the great musi- cians at school, and have sometimes tried to play some of their easier pieces. But nothing that they ever wrote, not for the pianoforte only, but for whole bands of players, could give any idea how beautiful was that imploring song of Orpheus ; not if the gran- deur of Handel, and the grace of Mozart, with the tenderness of Weber, and the passion of Beethoven, were united in one overwhelming symphony. Soon, by the words of the song, he knew the desire of Orpheus. He had this request to inake, this request only. This was his heart's desire ; this was the woi'ld to him. Give him but this o?ie, and he thought he would have all things. Nothing could resist that song and that music. Pluto ordered Eurydice to be brought forth from the happy Elysian fields, where she was with the spirits of the blessed, that she might be restored to her husband. But one command was laid upon him. She would follow him as soon as he turned to ascend to the upper earth ; but he was not to look on her till they were without the furthest bounds o( the kingdom of Pluto. If he did, such was the will of Pluto, she would be lost to him for ever. And now Orpheus, still touching his harp, turned round, and as he moved onwards through the caverns of the dead, footsteps, whose sound he knew, were heard behind him. But Eurydice as }'ct spoke no 70 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS word. A fear came over his heart : it might not altogether be Eurydice, but some terrible white ghost that was following him. And he would have looked round, but that the command of Pluto rose before his mind, and he feared and obeyed. But presently — he listened as he went — he knew it must indeed be her footsteps. It was his dear wife — his long-lost Eurydice — she whom he had so long known and loved ! The journey was all but finished : already the light of day shone through the end of the cavern. It was finished, he thought. He could wait no longer ; he loved her so much, he must see her. Alas for the love that was too strong for wis- dom ! He turned round. It was Eurydice. He took her hand, and fell upon her neck, warm and fair, and kissed her. "Thine, and not thine!" she cried out with tears, forcing herself from his arms ; " Thine, and not thine ! Here I leave thee, — and for ever ! What madness was it that has wasted all thy toil, and made thee turn to look on me } For ever ! " And a sudden wind sweeping down the cavern bore her off" from him, and hid his darling within the vast shadow of a darkness that no eye could pierce. In vain he grasped the air ; in vain he touched his harp ; he had broken the commands of the King before he had left the bounds of his kingdom. What should he now do } where should he turn ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE 7 ^ himself? No hope was left him. He might wander by tlie river-side, where he had first lost his Eurydicc — whence he had gone forth again to seek her, and to lose her again. But the stream murmured to him that she was lost for ever. He might take up his harp ; Init where were the notes that might again make Death grant what Love sought, and win the ear of Pluto, and persuade him so that he should now once more, now really at last, restore his wife — that he should now Quite set free His half-regained Eurydice? Long he sat and sorrowed after her, by the banks of Hebrus or of Strymon, or on the icy mountains of the North, pouring out by night a song that was sadder and sweeter than the nightingale's. But the chords of his harp were broken, and his hand lost its old cunning. There was but one note left, and that w^as Eurydice : Eurydice first and last, Eurydice only, only. . . . And then, as one day he sat down by the forest edge where he had last sung beside his lost Eurydice, the wild beasts whom his music had so often charmed, came forth to hear him. But their musician cared to charm them no longer. In the misery of his heart he cast himself on the ground a prey before them ; and the roaring of the bear and the lion, as they made their feast over his limbs, was the last dirge of Orpheus and Eurydice. 72 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS Emily's tale left the children with moistened eyes. It was old and simple, and most of it, except the part about Beethoven, can be found in the Latin poet Virgil ; but they did not know that, and cried on as if it were new and true. To relieve them, while Anna took her place, a little song of Shakespeare's, which my readers will find in his play of " Henry VIII," was sung by Eleanor. Orpheus with his kite made trees And the mountain-tops that freeze Bow themselves when he did sing : To his music, plants and flowers Ever sprung, as sun and showers There had made a lasting spring. Everything that heard him play, E'en the billows of the sea Hung their heads, and then lay by : In sv/eet music is such art, Killing care and grief of heart Fall asleep, or hearing, die. ANNA'S SECOND TALE FLORIZEL AND ROSELLA ; OR, THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD Florizel and Rosella lived in a castle of Bohemia, which is a famous country for castles, with their uncle the Count. Their parents were dead ; and they were placed under their uncle's care, who was to give FLORIZEL AND ROSELLA thcin the property whieh belonged to them so soon as they were ijrown up. The Count was a soldier, and a cruel man. He treated the children harshly, and every day he wished that he could get rid of them, and seize upon their money for himself. But he was afraid to do them any hurt, lest it should be found out, and the King his master should punish him. At last he sent for his own scrv^ant, who had been with him to the wars, and told him to take the chil- dren, and carry them to an old woman, who lived many miles away on the other side of the Black Forest. And he was to give her a letter, in which the Count, without saying whose children they were, ordered her to take charge of them, and to bring them up in her cottage as her own. The servant did as he was commanded. He took Florizel and Rosella, and a bag of gold, and carried them away by night to the old woman. They were only seven and five years old, and as they could not remember their own parents, and had been always un- kindly treated by their uncle, they were glad to go. And after a little while they became very happy in their new home, for the old woman loved them as much as if they were her true children. And as they grew older, it was only as a kind of dream that they remembered their uncle and the castle in which they had been brought up during their infancy. 74 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS The Count told his friends that the children had died of the autumn-fever, and no one suspected what the truth really was. And presently, war broke out again, and the Count, with his servant, left home and marched with the King to battle. The Count was a brave man, though he was so cruel ; and he showed himself so good a soldier, that after a while the King made him General of all his armies. And when peace was settled, he took the Count to live with him in his court, at the capital city of Prague. There he was envied by all for his wealth and his honours, for no one guessed how wickedly he had acted, and he himself seemed as if he had entirely forgotten Florizel and Rosella, and all that he had done to them. So much may the mind's eye be blinded by wealth, and the ear of conscience be stopped by the sound of praise and flattery. Florizel and Rosella lived, as I have said, very happily with old Lisa, who brought them up to be pious and industrious children. She taught Florizel to work in the garden, and Rosella to take care of the house, as she herself grew weaker with age ; and in the evening they would sit by her, and cheer her with their pretty songs, for Rosella had a beautiful voice, and Florizel accompanied her singing on the flute, which he had been taught to use by the forester. But after seven years had gone by, it pleased God FLORIZEL AND R OS ELLA 75 that old Lisa, who had been their second mother, should fall ill and die. The owner of the cottage, who was a wicked man, and loved nothing in the world but his money and himself, immediately sent his bailiff, who turned the children out of their home, and left them to shift for themselves as best they could. So Florizel and Rosella, with nothing of their own except the clothes they wore, and Florizel's little flute, went out into the great Black Forest, and wandered up and down to seek a shelter, for it was autumn, and the nights were wet and chilly. " We are like the real Children in the Wood, are we not .^ " said Florizel. " Yes," said his sister, " but God will take care of us, as He sent His redbreast to care for those children." " And we are older, too, than they," said Florizel. So on they went, hand in hand, till they saw a long stream of light, shining between the trees. It was the forester's cottage. They tapped at the door, and when he saw who it was, he took them in, and treated them kindly. Next morning he begged them to stay with him, and said he v/ould be their father, as they had no other friends. But Florizel answered, '' No," he would rather go out with his sister, and seek his fortune for himself, for he knew God would provide for them. 76 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS Then the children went out of the forest^ and wandered from village to village. As they went, Rosella sang, and Florizel played on his flute. And when the villagers heard them sing their beautiful songs, they would always ask the children into their cottages, and give them a night's rest and food for the next day's journey. So they travelled on for many days, till at last they reached the capital city. Early in the morning they went forth to the King's palace, and standing in front of the Queen's own apartment, they began their music. It was a most lovely German song which Rosella sang, and her brother accompanied : and it began with these words, Eiiisam bin ich nicJit alleine. The Queen was so delighted that she ran to fetch the King, who came out with all his court to the balcony to listen. Every one was charmed, and the Count, who had not the least notion who they were, sent his servant, by the King's order, to give them each a golden bracelet, and to tell them to return and sing again to-morrow. So Florizel and Rosella went back and spent the rest of the day happily together, looking at their bracelets. There was a large oval carbuncle in the middle of Florizel's, but Rosella admired the two emeralds on hers much more. The only pity was that her wrists were so small and fine, the bracelet was almost too large for her. That evening the King received a message that FLORIZEL AND RO SELLA TJ the Count's servant desired leave to speak with him. The King did not quite like this : however, he went into the room, where he found that the servant had been suddenly taken ill, and was at the point of death. When every one had been sent away, he turned to the King, and said he begged him to hear a secret he had to tell, or else he could not die in peace. And then he told the King of all that the Count his master had done to Florizel and Rosella ; how he had sent them to the old woman who lived on the edge of the Black Forest, and had taken their property for his own ; and how that morning he had seen them — he was quite sure it was they — singing beneath the palace windows. And then, begging God to pardon the sin he had shared in, the servant turned his head away and died. The King thought of what he had heard all night, and next day, when the children came before the palace, he sent for them and told them everything, and then directed them what to do, in order that their uncle's wickedness, which he had thought no ear would ever know of, might be made known to all the world, and he receive just punishment. Florizel was highly pleased with this, and said he had always believed he was born to be a gentleman, and began to give himself airs directl}'. Rosella too was pleased, only she told the King she hoped he would not punish her uncle. The King laughed at this, and so did the 78 FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS Lord Chamberlain, who was standing by, only not so loud as the King, as was right and proper. I now go on to tell how this was brought about. In the evening the King and Queen, and all their court, met together in a large hall of the palace, which was fitted up as a theatre. They sat down, the King and Queen in the front row, and the Count beside them. Presently a curtain drew up, and the two children, dressed as they had been when they lived in their uncle's castle, were beheld wandering, hand-in-hand, through a scene which was painted to resemble a wild and gloomy forest. The name of the play was written up above. It was — THE CUMHEI m THE WOOD 1 Then Florizel and Rosella, following the words of the old ballad, told how they had been driven from their home by their cruel uncle, who wished to murder them, and take their property for his own. When he heard this, the Count turned pale, but he sat still, and said nothing. The play went on ; the lamps were half-extin- guished, and the children, as they went up and down in the darkness, were heard crying out, and praying for help, till their voices ceased, and there was utter silence. FLORIZEL AND ROSELLA 79 This was terribly sad and natural, and extremely trying to the company, some of whom felt as if they must cry : and as the Queen knew nothing for certain (although you may be sure she had a shrewd guess at what her royal husband was about), she was ready to faint and scream ; and then the King could not help smiling at her, and she sat up again, and held her breath in the twilight. Soon, however, the lamps were lighted again. Every one looked, and could now perceive the chil- dren, lying side by side as if they were dead, while the robin redbreasts, flying down, seemed to cover them with withered leaves, and meantime a voice behind the scene sang the following words : — Rest, little ones, rest 'neath the leaves that we spread : So tender — so pure : are ye sleeping, or dead ? Almost the thin leaves seem to stir in your breath, As though sleep had taken the likeness of death. Rest, bright hair'd one, rest 'neath the leaves that we spread, One little arm stretch'd 'neath thy sister's fair head : One hand lock'd in hers, in assurance that she Is e'en in her death undivided from thee. Rest, tender and fair, 'neath the leaves that we spread ; Lie like a fresh snow-wreath that Spring clouds have shed. Thy gentle limbs numb'd in the chill rustling air. Thy tender feet thorn-pierced, and trembling, and bare. Rest, little ones, rest 'neath the leaves that we spread : Rest, lips press'd on lips : are ye sleeping, or dead '{ Ye smile, as in dreaming our song ye could hear : — Ye wept on your death-bed : ye smile on your bier. 8o FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS It was a pretty sight, and looked so real and sorrowful, that all who were not in the secret burst into tears. But the King meanwhile fixed his eyes steadily on the Count, who blushed scarlet : his limbs shook under him ; he rose up, and tried to make his way out of the hall. *' Ho ! Forward ! " cried the King ; and at once the guard, stepping out behind, seized and held the Count prisoner ; while Florizel and Rosella, as they had been before ordered, rising from the ground, came forward. Florizel looked firmly at his uncle, but Rosella cast her eyes downward. " Do you know these children } " said the King. ' But the Count could not answer a single word. " Take him hence," continued the King, " and cast him into the innermost dungeon of the castle, where he shall never again see the light." But the children, kneeling down, stretched out their hands to the King, and begged him earnestly to for- give their cruel uncle. " Not so, my children," said he ; " God, who has brought his sin to light, has commanded that even in this world the wicked should receive punishment. But should he in time repent truly of what he has done, he shall be set free, as you forgive him, whom he has so much injured. For it is a true story," concluded he, turning to the Queen, " and the real Children in the Wood are Florizel and Rosella." — FLORIZEL AND ROSELLA 8l And I greatly suspect that the Queen knew as much already. Anna's hearers looked puzzled ; " 1 thought the Children in the Wood lived in Norfolk," said one little voice. And they had not settled how this could be, when they were called upon to listen to the next speaker. " What is your story to be like } I hope it is not to be so sad," said Lucy. " Never mind ; wait and you shall hear," said Eleanor. " You might at least tell us its name ! " cried Charles. " Let me see. Oh, what a girl you are to go in for our work, and give your story a long Greek name. You are as bad as Emily." " It's a pretty name though," said she ; '' and pray how do you pronounce it .'' " " The new Danafdes — Da-na-i-dese," — replied Charles: " that's right, I know. Now go on." 82 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS ELEANOR'S SECOND TALE THE NEW DANAIDES " Husband," said the Miller's wife one day to the Miller, as they sat talking together after breakfast, " What shall we do with our daughters ? " " That's your business," grumbled the Miller : " get them husbands, I suppose." " I wish it were likely," said his wife ; " but they are so foolish and obstinate, I hardly know how to manage them. They are just like the boulting-sieve up there in the mill : there is no good speaking to them ; what- ever one puts in at one ear, runs out at the other." " You can't say that of my little Lisa, at least," replied the Miller. " Though it has pleased Heaven that the fever, two years since, should have taken away her hearing, yet she is by far the best and the quickest child of the four ; and whatever she may learn she never forgets it." " That's quite true," said his wife. At this moment the door was quickly opened, and in ran the three eldest daughters, ready dressed and prepared as if for a journey. " What now } " grumbled their father. • THE NEW DANAIDES 83 " We will not be children any longer," cried they in a breath ; " we have burnt our lesson-books, and \vc will go out and see the world for ourselves. What is the use of living in a mill all one's hfe ?" " Foolish, wicked children ! " cried their mother ; but they onl)- laughed the more. " We have made up our minds, and are going to Vienna, where our Aunt Catherine Hves, to stay with her and find husbands," they continued. " We will go, and nothing shall stop us." '• O husband ! husband ! " screamed their mother, in great alarm and perplexity. " Let them go by all means, if they wish it," grumbled he. " A wilful man will have his own way, and a wnlful girl is no better." The words were scarcely out of his mouth when off ran the daughters, to order the cart to be brought out, and the horses put in, to carry them to Vienna. And as they went they sang : — The hart he loves the high wood : The hare she loves the hill : The knight he loves his bright sword : But the lady loves her will. " Foolish sieve-heads ! " said their father. *' Foolish sieve-heads ! Burn their books, indeed ! much the\' have learnt from them. But boult bran, say I. and have done with it." G 2 84 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS '* However, at least," he continued, looking grave, for he was more grieved at his daughters' folly than he could well express, ** Lisa shall go with them. Deaf as she is, she will be the only one of the party with her ears open." And so it was fixed. Their mother went for Lisa, and taking her slate, wrote down on it w-hat had happened, and that she w^as to go with her sisters to Vienna, and keep them from harm as much as possible. And Lisa, who was a good, obedient girl, promised at once to obey, although in her heart she did not believe that her sisters were likely to get into mischief. I am sure, if I had any sisters, they would think the same about me. Before long all was ready, and the four daughters .^:tarted. As his parting present, their father gave them each one piece of advice, — " Mouths closed and eyes open, is the rule for travellers." Lisa said nothing, but the rest promised they would be quite sure to remember. Then, begging a blessing on their journey, the parents let them go, and returned to their home with a heavy heart. The driver flourished his whip, the horses went merrily on ; the bells on the harness jingled (you know^ all this happened in Germany), and the three elder sisters were in high spirits. Presently, forgetting their father's words, they began talking and screaming THE NEW DAN AIDES 85 at the top of their voices, so that you might have heard them for miles around. " Poor Lisa ! " they said, for they knew she could not hear them ; " I suppose she is sent to take care of us ; but we know who will want caring for." But Lisa sat still, and kept her eyes fixed on a book her father had given her as she went, which contained an account of a journey from Rome to Naples. Looking up at last, she saw they were now many miles from home, and in the midst of a long valley with high mountains on each side. And she began to guess the reason of her father's advice — " Mouths closed, and eyes open." For, in fact, this valley was a famous place for robbers, who if they heard any travellers going by, were sure to rush out from their caves and hiding-places, and carry them off, to kill them, or to make them prisoners. And she could not help thinking that she saw the ends of guns, or a long stick or two at any rate, peering out among the bushes where the road narrowed a little further on. Lisa called out to her sisters, and telling them what she thought, she begged them to remember their father's advice, and to be silent (for she could not help seeing, by the movement of their lips, that they were talking loudly) at least for the present. " Our father's advice ! " they cried to each other " I never remember hearing it ; " and they laughed more loudly than ever. 86 FIVE DA K9' ENTERTAINMENTS But all at once a shout, louder than their laughter, was heard about them ; and the rocks and bushes, that had looked so dead and quiet, seemed now alive with armed men. The robbers were upon them. In vain the driver tried to push his horses on : the traces were cut ; the travellers taken out, made prisoners, and carried off to the robbers' cave among the mountains. Very disagreeable work it was for the girls to climb the hillside in this way. I can't say how much their neat shoes and white stockings were the worse for it ; and one of them lost her best shawl-pin before they reached the cave. There they found the rest of the band, together with one prisoner, whom they had taken the day before — a young man who was going to study medicine at the University of Jena, and who was stupid enough not to look pleased when so many young ladies were added to the party. But then all this happened in Germany. The robbers seated themselves and their prisoners by a fire that was burning at the cave's mouth. Seeing presently what imprudent and talkative persons the three daughters were, and wishing to make the most of their good luck, they treated them civilly ; but they sent Lisa to the farthest end of the cave to feed on bread and water, with no companion except the un- fortunate Student. The Student asked Lisa in a whisper who she was, THE NEW t) AN AIDES 87 and how she had fallen into the robbers' hands. y\nd at first it puzzled him greatly to find that she c^^ave him no answer. He had never been treated so by any young lady before, except once by the daughter of the Head of his College, when he asked her whether she did not like Mendelssohn better than Strauss. But Lisa picked up a bit of flat stone from the ground, and scratching on it a few words, gave it to him. Now this Student was really a clever and ready man : so without saying a word he hunted about the cave, and presently found a small piece of wood. This he scooped out with a knife, until he had cut it to the shape of a sea-shell, or little trumpet, such as deaf persons use, for he had often seen such in hos- pitals. He placed this in Lisa's ear ; and now to her surprise and joy she again heard the sounds of a human voice, as he whispered to her '* Not to fear, for he was a friend." She was ready to throw herself on her knees and thank God for the cure, which, as it seemed, had been so wonderfully wrought in her ; but her sisters' voices, talking and laughing loud as ever, struck on her ear, and she turned with surprize and alarm to listen to what was going on : for the little trumpet was so cleverly made, that she really could hear almost distinctly now. The robbers amongst whom they had fallen were a bold, handsome set of men : not ignorant of the ways 88 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS of rendering themselves agreeable when they thought they could gain anything by it. And several of them by their flatteries and tales of adventure had already made themselves so pleasant to the three foolish sisters, that they appeared to be the best friends in the world, and their imprudent talk gave Lisa the greatest alarm. " Mouths closed and eyes open," she thought to herself ; but already her sisters were giving the robbers full information as to where their father lived, — about his mill, and his money. " We shall each of us have a good fortune," said the oldest. *' Our father keeps his money always ready by him," said the next. " We know all about it," said the third. The robbers winked to each other as they heard this, and it was quite clear to Lisa and the Student, that the next thing would be, that they would attack and rob the Miller. " Your sisters do not seem to have much prudence," said he, in a low voice ; '' they are like those ancient Greek maidens — the Danaides I think they were called, — whom I have read of, who were condemned, as the poets say, for their folly on earth, to pour water eternally into a sieve." " I never heard of them," said Lisa : " but do not find fault with my sisters : I am afraid it is too true. But I must go," she added, seeing the robbers now consulting earnestly together, " and hear, if I can, what their plans may be." THE NEW DANA1DES 89 Hiding the little trumpet in her hand, Lisa went forward to her sisters, and took her seat by them at the fire : when after a while they fell asleep. Thinking Lisa deaf, the robbers talked openly on ; and quickly lifting the little tube to her ear, she presently heard them say, that they would set out that very night for her father's mill, and plunder it. Lisa crept back and told what she had heard to the Student. But how should they prevent it } They were only two, and one of them a girl, and the robbers were half-a-dozen, all handsome young men. What- ever plan they could think of, was full of danger : and yet the night was passing away, and something must be done. So the Student, who was very brave and resolute, quietly rose up and moved towards the robbers. Pretending to think them asleep, he ran quickly towards the mouth of the cave, as if about to escape from it. With a loud shout the robbers rose up and endeavoured to seize him. In the confusion the lights were knocked over, and Lisa, as had been settled, rushing hastily by, passed through the door, and soon found herself safe from pursuit in the valley. " She is only the deaf one," said the robbers, " and can do us no harm — we will let her go." But as no time was to be lost, they tied the Student, with many blows, hand and foot, and carried him to the end of the cave, — threatening that if he stirred they would instantly kill him. Then, leaving the 90 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS three sisters still fast asleep by the fire, they marched out in a band down the valley. But Lisa had been before them. Running on with all the speed she could, within two hours she reached the mill, and had just time to av/aken her father and the servants, and tell them what was about to happen, when a loud whistle was heard in the darkness with- out, and in a moment the robbers were upon them. But it was too late : all within were prepared. A shot from the Miller laid the foremost robber on the ground ; his men rushed out, and knowing well every spot about the mill, managed to surround the band. And after a few minutes' fight, seeing their plan had been discovered, the robbers gave in, and were bound hand and foot in their turn. But as soon as it was day, the Miller, with Lisa to guide him, set off for the cavern. On the way she told him of all that had happened, and how skilfully the Student had given back to her her long-lost sense of hearing. They found the three sisters just awaking from sleep. " Vienna is a nice place," said the eldest, not remembering where she really was. " I have got a handsome husband, " said the second. " I knew it would happen : so I know all about it," yawned out the third. '' Lisa may take the foolish Student and marry him if she pleases." " So it shall be ! " said their father, who to their immense surprize now suddenly stepped in among THE DISAPPOINTED PRINCE 91 them. " So it shall be ! " Going up to the Student, he cut asunder tlic ropes that bound him. " He deserves her well ; for not only has he restored her to hearing, but us to life." The Student came forward, and Lisa gave him her hand. '* But we will go on to Vienna," said the daughters, who wished to make the best of everything, and were not at all ashamed of their conduct. *' You may go with all my heart," grumbled out the Miller, " for there is no power in the world that can keep wisdom in the heads of the foolish and the obstinate. I can choose, and grind, and boult corn," he concluded, turnincf to the Student, '* but vou will allow, that I cannot turn a sieve into a bucket." Eleanor now took her place by the pianoforte. It was Arthur's turn, and he began without hesitation. ARTHUR'S SECOND TALE THE DISAPPOINTED PRINCE The Duke of Franconia had an only daughter, named Bertha. Like the Princess Fiammetta, of whom I told you in my first story. Bertha's father was very fond of her, and had brought her up in all 92 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS the knowledge which young ladies commonly learned several centuries ago. She could embroider in silk, and precious gems, and gold, till her work stood upright with its own stiffness : she rode out to hunt- ing-parties in the forest with a falcon on her wrist : and on other days she would read a romance, or novel, from an illuminated manuscript, — for printed books were not then thought of, — in fourteen volumes, and divided into not less than forty-four separate books or cantos. — (Just think! What good old days those were, when novels were in fourteen volumes !) But like Fiammetta, Bertha attended more to what she heard from the old Nurse who had brought her up from her infancy than to any of her teachers. The Duke's castle stood in the midst of the great Hartz mountains, which from time unknown, as those who lived there said, had been haunted by fairies and spirits without number. Every one had seen the elves dance, by night, in their curious circles : the Wild Huntsman made the woods echo to hound and horn : and a spirit, who went by the name of the Dame Blanche, or White Lady, was wont to give warning by loud shrieks whenever any evil was about to fall on the owners of the castle. Bertha, who had been brought up to hear such tales from her cradle, believed them without hesitation. As she was her father's only heiress, she was soon sought in marriage by the neighbouring lords and THE DISAPPOINTED PRINCE 93 princes. ]^ut there was none who so much pleased the Duke, her father, as Prince Ferdinand of Bavaria. Whenever any feast might be held at the castle, he was sure to be present, and to do himself credit by his skill and bravery in all the manly exercises of that day. None could equal him in that famous game wherein two horsemen, riding furiously at each other, endeavoured each to unseat his enemy: none were more skilled in the use of the bow or the broad- sword. And besides all this, he was an admirable musician, and could have charmed the savageness out of a bear, if it had been desirable to do so, as he touched the lute or cithern. It was not strange that so many gifts and graces should have won for him the favour, and even something like the love, of Bertha. And as she now had reached her eighteenth year, it was her father's wish to fix the day of her marriage with as little delay as possible. But although every one else in the castle was the Prince's friend, for some reason or other Bertha's nurse bore him great ill-will and hatred. People said he had called her a witch : and no doubt she looked like one. Every day she tried her utmost to bring over her young mistress to her own mind ; and to persuade her to break off the intended marriage. Bertha, however, was by no means inclined to agree. " What a fine thing," she would say, " it will be for me to have a castle, all for my real own, to live in — with 94 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS my soldiers and servants, and my own woods to hunt in ! " And then, in hopes to please Nurse, she would add, " And you too shall come with me, dear Nurse, and shall have a set of rooms for yourself, and a little serving-maid to wait on you, and every day I will come and sit with you, and you shall tell me wonderful stories, as you did when I was a child, such a long while ago." But nothing could satisfy the old woman, who every day hated Prince Ferdinand more and more, and declared she was sure some harm would come of the marriage. One morning she rushed in hastily to Bertha, and screamed out that she had heard the White Lady moaning and crying round the castle, as she had done at the death of Bertha's mother. " The White Lady means that we should marry as soon as possible," said Bertha laughing, but still feeling rather alarmed. *' Indeed, I am sure," she continued, "it was not the White Lady at all, but the magic music of the Good Angels : which you know shows that they bless whatever we are about. I heard it last night myself, when I was sleeping." But for all this Nurse was not to be convinced. And at last, in hopes to satisfy her, Bertha promised that if she did not hear the Angels' music that very night she would beg her father to send away Prince Ferdinand, and break off the marriage altogether. Now it so happened that a little Page of Bertha's THE DISAPPOINTED PRINCE 95 was in tlic room whilst this was going on. And as he loved Prince Ferdinand, who had promised to give him a horse and hunting-horn, one day — he ran down directly to the great hall, where he knew Prince Ferdinand was, and told him of all he had heard. Ferdinand laughed : and as he was clever as well as brave, he immediately bethought him of a plan by which he could make sure of his marriage : for he dearly loved Bertha, and was willing to do anything (that was not wrong) for her sake. And he directly set about his plan. Getting a long box, made of thin slips of deal, he stretched a few strings loosely across the top, and thus made what some of you may have seen or heard of as an Aeolian harp. And when evening fell, he hastened to place it in a nook below Bertha's window : for he knew that when the wind blew over it the strings would sound of themselves, and convince even Nurse her- self that she had heard the magic music of the Good Angels. Everything fell out as he had planned it. Between fear and pleasure. Bertha could hardly trust her own self as she heard the wild notes of the harp sounding through the night. As the chords faintly quivered beneath the first soft handling of the evening gale, the music must be, she thought, afar off in the gray distance. But as the wind strengthened, it seemed to roll up the valley to the castle, to come close beside 96 FIVE DA K9' ENTERTAINMENTS her window, and then go right up to heaven and die away among the stars. She thought that it was fancy, and she listen'd in her bed : And then did something speak to her — she knew not what was said ; For great delight and shuddering took hold of all her mind, And up the valley came again the music on the wind. When the morning came, no further objections could be made. Bertha welcomed Ferdinand as she had never welcomed him before : all delays were at an end, and the marriage was fixed to take place as soon as seven days were over. The Nurse now began to fear that, do what she might, nothing could hinder Bertha's marriage with Ferdinand. But the more likely it seemed, the more her spite and anger increased, and she determined to leave, as they say, no stone unturned if she could anyhow prevent it. But the time was quickly going by. Three days had passed, and nothing was to be seen or heard but preparations for what was about to happen. All the handmaidens of the castle were at work shaping, and cutting, and embroidering the dresses for the bride. There was one evening dress, all trimmed with pearls and emeralds, one emerald to every five pearls, which was pronounced by all the world the most sweetly pretty thing ever seen in Franconia ; and I daresay it was. It took, however, a great deal of work in fixing the pearls and THE DISAPPOINTED PRINCE 97 emeralds, and so the maids begged the Nurse to lend her help in the work. But she crossly refused, and sallied forth from the castle to avoid their entreaties. As she paced round the walls, looking up angrily at them, something caught her eye fixed in one of the window-sills immediately below Bertha's room. It was the very Aeolian harp, which, in the joy of his heart, Ferdinand had carelessly left there after the night when it had done him such good service ! The old woman's eye flashed with wicked pleasure. She took the little box down, and looking at it carefully, in a moment she understood the secret of the mag-ic music. But she carried it off, and without saying a word, hid it in her own room for the present. Ferdinand never suspected what had happened. He often spoke of the music, which he said had done more to win him his bride than his love or his bravery. And so the days passed. On the last evening, a dreadful storm arose in the valley. The rain fell, and the winds as they rose howled through the old forest, and sent their wild shrieks like swords through the castle casements. And the servants afterwards, one and all, declared that on that night they had heard the White Lady forbidding in clear words the approaching marriage of the young heiress. But next morning the sun rose clear and the skies were cloudless. Midday came, and every one met together in the chapel for the wedding. The bells of H 98 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS the village that lay below the castle sounded merrily : the chapel was filled with a crowd of knights in full armour, the friends and relations of Bertha and Ferdi- nand. The Priest stood in full robes before the altar, ready to say the words of blessing, and the Duke was talking with the prince's father, the King of Bavaria. Ferdinand lookd alternately at his bride, — who stood beside him, her face and head covered with the veil, below which her hair fell in long golden streams, — and at himself, his own armour and knightly dress, in fear lest he should not seem worthy to come into possession of so much beauty. But on the whole he was not much alarmed at the sight ; and if he was not satisfied, all I can say is, that he must have been very hard to please. But at this moment a rustling and clanking was heard in the crowd, as they parted to make way for the aged Nurse, who forced a path to the altar. At the feet of Bertha she laid a small box. Ferdinand turned pale at the sight : whilst the Duke and the King of Bavaria looked angrily on at the interruption. " I have brought my gift to the bride, as is fitting," ' she said. " Take it ; and then — if you dare — give yourself to Prince F'erdinand ! It was not the magic music of the Good Angels that you heard," she con- tinued — breathing on the strings, till once more Bertha started at those sweet unearthly notes — " it was no But I take all to witness," she said. THE DISAPPOtNTED PRINCE 99 turning and looking to the crowd, who sluiddcrcd with fear, so deeply was the belief fixed in each mind — " that last night there was a warning in the air — and not only I heard it — but all — all ! I bid you beware of the White Lady ! " Bertha turned pale— sank back in her father's arms in a terror which she could not conquer. It was in vain that the King ordered the Priest to proceed : it was in vain that her father endeavoured to give her comfort : it was in vain that Ferdinand begged her to think his love and his strong arm a sufficient defence against an old wife's fable. Idle as it was, the belief of years was not to be overcome by the persuasion of a moment : she could neither listen to command, to counsel, or to affection : and the disappointed Prince returned home to endeavour to forget the loss of a bride whose mind could not outgrow the feelings of her childhood. The melancholy end of Arthur's tale did not seem to give satisfaction. Every one felt disappointed, along with the hero of the story : Arthur said " Why ! the story' really ended so ! I cannot help it ! " But this, it was felt by every one, would not do ; and silence was only broken by the voice of the fifth of the young novelists. H 2 lOO FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS CHARLES' SECOND TALE THE UNCAGED LION The Prince had ridden out early to a hunting party, leaving his newly-wedded wife to find amuse- ment to fill up the hours till evening. As the sound of the bugle-horns made it known that the party, collected in the castle courtyard, had sallied forth, she mounted to the topmost tower, and directing her eyes to a waste stony flat over which the hunting train was to pass, she watched the Prince as he rode gaily onwards. And ever and anon she would wave her handkerchief to him, as she thought he stopped for a moment and looked back to her. But this may have been only a fancy on her part. She was presently joined by her uncle, the Count Frederic. After a glance at the now rapidly disap- pearing party, he turned his fair niece's attention to the ruins of the Stammburg, or ancient castle of the family, which, after the fashion of those warlike days, occupied the summit of a lofty rock at half a mile's distance. " Do but look," said he, cheerfully, '' at the main tower, which rises from the loftiest of the rocks, and is so firmly connected and incorporated with it by THE UNCAGED LION lOl solid masonry, that no <;ye can distinguish where nature leaves off and art 'and' la^bour 'l^lyt begun their handiwork. Observe how ; .-the y mighty pile, warred on and w^arring, has fov ages ■ briefly tnet the violence of the seasons : — how here and tjiere its w^alls have had to yield, and rush down into wild ruins. See too how thickly the trees, sowing themselves by all winds in every nook and cranny of rock and stone-work, have encompassed the base of the tower with a living forest, and have even crowned the summit with a gay and waving circlet ! " " Since I took up my abode here," said the Princess, " it has been my wish to examine more closely that old ruin, and above all, to penetrate into the interior of the main tower." '* Your wish may be easily gratified, my fair cousin," answered the Count. " I myself long felt the liveliest curiosity to explore the building, and at last, by tlie aid of wood and stone cutters, a way has been hewn, through trees and vaults, into the interior. You can also mount to the summit by a winding stair in the turret, and from it look down on the level surface of the circular courtyard below, and examine the doors and the windows w^iich open upon the great hall. the chapel, and the dwelling rooms, which, though empty and deserted, have not suffered otherwise from time. Altogether, it reminded me of the famous Colosseum or Amphitheatre of Rome, into which the 102 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS wild animals were brought from dens and vaults below, whilst the spectators ;?at to view them fight from the surrounding galleri^'S." ;, ,% ''"\ The Page eht'ered," With fio'tice that the horses were brought out.. The Princess, turning to her uncle, pro- posed that they should ride up, and view with their own eyes the sight they had been speaking of " Not yet," said he : " Let us wait the return of the Prince for such an expedition." " Then let us ride at least upwards, were it only to the foot : I have the greatest wish to-day to look about me far into the world." '' As you will," replied the Count. " Let us ride through the town, however," continued the lady, " through the great market-place, where they are now holding the summer fair. It gives me the greatest pleasure to thread my way slowly through the innumerable crowd of booths, and to see all the trades and occupations, which are usually carried on within-doors, exposed now, as it were, to broad day- light." The Princess hastened to mount her favourite horse, and the Count was presently at her side. As was to be expected, they could only advance through the market step by step : the crowd so pressed about the riders. By degrees, however, they reached a clear space, which led out to the suburbs ; there, at the end of many small booths and stands, a larger building of THE UNCAGED LION IO3 boards showed itself. Loud bellowings proceeded from the interior. The feeding-hour of the beasts exhibited there had come : the lion was very hungry, and let his wild voice be heard to the best of his power. The horses shuddered, and could hardly be held in ; they had never seen a lion, it is true, but they all knew quite well what that dreadful roar meant. As our friends passed the booth, they were struck by the great pictures stretched Avithout it. The grim, tawny tiger was drawn pouncing on a negro, and on the point of tearing him to little pieces ; a lion stood by, calmly, as if he saw no prey worthy of him ; and other wonderful parti-coloured creatures were scattered around. " As we come back," said the Princess, " we will take a nearer view of these gentry." And so they rode onwards, till the old castle they were seeking rose full in their view. Over a stony flat the mighty ruin stood fronting them. Great rocks, jutting out, seemed firmly clenched and bound together below ; above these rested the massy stones of the foundation : and so the whole mass towered upwards, frowning down on them as if to forbid any attempt to scale it. But the steep and the difficult is only an invitation to youth. The Princess expressed her wish to try : the Count was ready to show that his strength w^as undiminished : and the climbers soon reached a certain point, where a huge projecting I04 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS point afforded standing-room ; and a vast prospect, as they turned round to gaze, unfolded itself beneath them. Everything came out clear in the great sunlight. The Prince's castle lay full in view : they could look with ease into the town, and by the aid of a glass distinguish the booths in the market-place. But no sound reached them. *' I have often noticed this stillness at noon," said the Princess. " It seems as if now, just as at mid- night, the whole world was sleeping." Suddenly, the Count, who was looking steadily through the glass, started up, exclaiming, " Fire ! Fire ! Look ! there is fire in the market-place ! " It was so. Puffs of smoke at first rose, though the flames were smothered in the daylight. But presently it spread : the smoke mounted aloft, and from time to time a red burst of light could be seen. The Princess and her uncle looked at each other, and without a word, rapidly descending from the rock, they mounted their horses, and proceeded at as quick a pace as they could master, across the stony flat towards the scene of mischief. As they went, every moment the glow increased. The booths, lightly built, could give no resistance to the flame. The planks cracked, the laths crackled ; the canvas flew abroad, and its dusky tatters whirled themselves round and aloft, as if mischievous fairies THE UNCACED lion IO5 suddenly let loose were capriciously (lancin<^ in the air. No living creature, however, met their eyes : the inhabitants were all busily employed in endeavouring to save their property. But now, in a thicket on the right-hand of the road, the Princess suddenly perceived something strange — which she presently recognized to be the lion, standing as he had been painted. Springing up, he leisurely bounded towards them. " Fly ! Fly ! " cried the Count. She turned her horse towards the steep hill they had descended. Frederic, rushing on towards the monster, drew his pistol, and fired when he thought himself near enough, but without effect. The lion sprang aside, the horse faltered, and the wild beast followed his course straight after the Princess. She galloped up the steep stony space : the lion was approaching, though not with vehement speed : only the Count riding after him appeared to excite and urge him on anew. Seeing this, the Princess turned her horse quickly to one side : he stumbled on the loose gravel, and fell. She gave herself up for lost : but at that instant Frederic fired his remaining pistol. Though aimed with no better effect than the first, it was so far successful that it urged the lion, as much terrified as terrifying, to pursue his flight rapidly up the steep towards the castle, without turning aside to injure the Princess. I06 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS Thus she was saved. Before her uncle reached the spot, she had cleverly regained her feet; and both now proposed to ride at once to the Prince's castle, and seek for aid from the huntsmen to prevent further mischief; for as the lion was still free and uninjured, no one could guess what he might not try next. As they went, they looked towards the town. The rage of the fire, which had fortunately not extended to the houses around the market-place, had spent itself: but only a few blackened poles, with smoulder- ing heaps of timber-work below, remained to point out where the fair had been. But their eyes were presently turned to a strange pair apparently ad- vancing to meet them. Up the road came a woman, with a boy who held a small flute in his hand. From their dress, which was cleanly and decent, yet strange and of many colours, the Princess at once conjectured that they must be the owners of the menagerie or show whence the lion had made his escape. " Where is he } Where is he } " the woman cried with passionate grief. Then, without awaiting an answer, she knelt down and pressed the palms of her hands together. "They have murdered thee, poor beast ! — murdered thee without need. Thou wert tame, and wouldst have lain down at rest and waited our coming. Thou Avert the most beautiful of all thy kind : how long have we gone with thee on thy journeys : how long hast thou been faithful and THE UNCAGED LION lOJ useful to us ! To us, of very truth, meat came from the eater, and sweetness came from the strong. So will it be no more. Woe ! Woe ! " The Princess, struck with surprize at the strangeness of the woman's speech, was unable to answer her, when, over the road they had left, riders came rushing down. It was the hunting-train, led on by the Prince, who, while following their sport, had perceived the sudden columns of distant smoke, and were hastening towards the fire. And they now stood in wonder at the Princess and those about her, when a man pressed forward into the circle : large of stature, and strangely dressed. *' This is no time for lamenting," he said ; " the lion is loose, my lord : he has gone towards the moun- tains : but spare him, have mercy on him ! " " The lion ! " said the Prince. *' We will spare him if we can ; but he cannot at least be left free. Why were you so thoughtless as to let him loose .-^ " ** The fire broke out," replied he : " we kept quiet and attentive ; but a heap of powder blew up, and the brands fell on the booth, so we had to escape for our lives." One of the huntsmen now came hastily down from the castle rock, and made it known that the lion had found his w^ay within the great tower by means of the lower vaults, and had lain himself down to sleep in the empty courtyard space. I08 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS "What surety can you give," said the Prince, turning to the man, ''that, if we spare your lion, he will not work injury amongst us ? " " This woman and child," answered the father, " engage to tame him — to keep him at peace, till I bring up the cage ; and then we can carry him back unharmed and without harming any one." The boy put the flute to his lips : sweet, low tones breathed from it. " Secure the vaulted entrance," said the Prince to Frederic ; " you, who caused it to be made, know it best : keep your rifles ready, but do not shoot unless the creature can be driven back no other- wise. The man and woman will take charge of the rest." The child continued his tune — which was no tune : rather, a series of notes without law ; and perhaps on that account the more touching. Meanwhile the father — with a firm, noble voice and bearing — began to speak in this manner : — "God has given to the beasts of the field wisdom, each after his kind : and He has set them on the earth, their habitation. Consider the ant : she knows her way, and loses it not ; she builds her dwelling of the dust, and through the winter she abides therein. Consider the horse : he is carried by the wind over the desert ; he snorts, and cannot rest ; yet is he bridled by man, and obeys his command. But THE UNCAGED LION 109 in the forest of palms arose the lion : lie marches through the wilderness ; there he rules over all crea- tures ; and his might who can withstand ? Yet man can tame him : he reverences him who was made in the image of the Highest : he bows himself down : he is afraid before Daniel, even in the midst of the den of Babylon." This speech the child accompanied here and there with graceful tones ; but now the Count, by a shout from above, gave signal that all was prepared. The man hastened downwards to the town. The Prince led the way upward, and conducting his wife and the hunting-party to the winding stair, presently appeared on the summit. The mother led her child to the entrance of the vault, where Frederic was keeping watch, and bade him proceed without fearing within it. " Fear not," she said to the Count, ''the aid of vio- lence will not be necessary ; others will do the work." Meanwhile, to the party stationed above, the pause was almost frightful. At last the flute was heard ; the child stept forth from the cavern with bright eyes. He sounded his flute ; the mighty beast, who was lying in quiet in one corner of the courtyard, raised himself at the notes ; the boy led him in a half circle to the entrance of the vaults, and at length, on a spot where the last rays of the sun poured in through a ruined window-casement, he sat down, glowing and beautiful in the ruddy light. I lO FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS The lion laid itself down close to the child, and lifted its heavy right fore-paw into his bosom ; the boy as he sung stroked it, and was not long in observing that a sharp thorn had fixed itself in the foot. He carefully pulled it out, and with a smile, taking the silk handkerchief from his neck, bound up the paw of the monster. The Princess for joy bent over the depth below with outstretched arms, and would perhaps have shouted and clapped applause, had not her husband's arm, laid firmly upon her's, reminded her that the danger w^as not yet over. Triumphantly the child sang on ; and were it possible to fancy that the countenance of so grim a creature, the tyrant of the forest, could mould itself to the expression of friendliness and thankful con- tentment, such a look was now traceable on it. And truly the child, as he stood and sang in the sunbeam, had the air as of a mighty triumphant conqueror. But the lion, stretched quietly there, looked not indeed as if conquered, — for his strength lay con- cealed in him : but rather like one tamed and given up to his own peaceful will, to the all-sub- duing charm of song and the irresistible might of gentleness. Charles' tale had a sobering effect ; there was no doubt of its being the best they had yet heard. He THE UNCACkD LION III said, he only wished it were his own, but it was due to the great German poet, Goethe ; and he trusted, that if that great man could know of it (which he could not, however, as he was dead — at which the children looked sorry), he would not disapprove of the use to which it had been put. Without any hint given, Anna and Arthur repeated their duet ; and the little company went their ways for the present subdued and quieted. END OF THE SECOND DAY I I 2 FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS THIRD DAY Many a dish and many a guest : Each may take what likes him best. The rain still continued, and the stones with it. "■ No music to-day ! " cried the children, as they entered the drawing-room, and saw that the piano- forte had its great leathern coat on, and looked, as they said, *' so snug and comfortable." " Not to-day," said Lucy Wentworth ; " and, for my part, I am not very sorry for it ; for I do not care for music ; and mamma says I am like a little post, with no ears. But there is something better coming — something so nice. I know what. I heard mamma order it," she added, looking mysterious. " What is it ? — what is it } " cried out the younger ones. "You will soon see," said Mrs. Wentworth, smiling; *' meanwhile, listen to what Charles has to tell you, and be sure you do not forget it." THE GREEDY BEAR 1 I CHARLES' THIRD TALE THE GREEDY BEAR There was a certain Brown Bear, who lived in a forest. All his brothers and sisters were very respec- table bears, who kept their coats clean and bright, tore their food in pieces cleverly with their claws without putting their mouths into it, and were so moderate in their appetites that they would sleep all the winter long, rolled up in the snow, at the foot of a tree, without so much as dreaming of dinner. But this Brown Bear had always been unlike the rest. Even when he was quite young and pretty, he would quarrel with his brothers and sisters over their breakfast in the nursery ; he always wanted the pieces with the great lumps of fat on them, this funny Brown Bear ; and if they did not give him what he fancied, he would hug them in his paws till they screamed, or he would cry and scream himself till they gave him what he wished for, and begged him not to make himself so disagreeable. Do not do like the little Brown Bear, my darlings, and get nice things by making yourselves nasty. When he grew older, his greediness increased. He I 1 14 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS would climb up a hollow tree, where he had seen the bees flying in and out, and would pull down the hive about his ears, shutting his eyes and mouth, so that the bees could not sting him — because, you know, he had his bearskin coat on ; and then he would sit down on his hind-legs and tail and eat the honey- comb at his leisure, without giving a crumb of it to anybody else. He would make friends with the wild dogs and wolves in the forest, and call himself their cousin, because he w^as shaggy and they were shaggy too. And when they had brought him the game they had managed to catch, instead of thanking them he would first eat it up, and then the dc^s and wolves after it. He would lie down and pretend to be asleep; and when the w^ood-pigeons, and merles, and other, birds came and settled about him, he would cleverly stretch out a paw^ and catch one before it could fly away ; for nothing w^as too little or too great for his mouth. Indeed, it was said he would often look up at the moon, which he took for a great honey- comb, because it w^as so yellow (as everybody sees what they wish for in things that are at a distance from them), and stamp and howl for it. And once he climbed up to the top of a very tall tree to try to catch the moon when it was full ; but he found it just too far off for him to get at. There was another thing also which my Bear had never eaten, although he knew that it was thought THE GREED Y BEAR 1 1 5 a special delicacy by the wicked white bears who live near the North l^ole. For the wood he lived in was so wild, that no merchant, or even wandering traveller, ever passed that way. If he had, the greedy Brown Bear would not have lost the opportunity of tasting him. At last, one day, a Fairy who lived in the forest, and saw how all the wild creatures were going on, became very angry with our friend the Brown Bear, and determined to punish him for his greediness, though not without giving him a chance to repent of it ; because even Brown Bears should have the chance of growing better. So, turning himself into the shape of a travelling negro, he wandered along as if he had lost his way, till he came to the bear's cavern. Out ran the Bear with a loud howl, and setting upon the traveller, soon pulled him to the ground. The man begged hard for his life, and told the Bear what a cruel and savage thing it was for him to destroy and eat a poor man, such as he was, travelling through the wood without hurting any one ; adding, that nature had provided plenty of lesser animals, not to speak of fruits and honey, for him to feed on. But the Bear made him a good set speech. " No creature can be called cruel but that which by malice extinguishes his natural pity. I was born without compassion for Man : and follow the law of my nature. I am the strongest, and shall eat you. I 2 Il6 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS The Eternal Veracities " — (I daresay he meant Vora- cities, but you see what happens when bears or men use long words without meaning much by them) — '* the Eternal Veracities are on my side ! It is only Man who changes. Man at first was taught to feed on nothing but vegetables. But your violent love of change, and novelty, have led you to destroy animals without right or necessity. What creature have you spared to satisfy your foolish and misdirected appe- tite 1 I am told you eat even the pretty little lambs who frisk in the meadows, and have mint-sauce with them. As for my appetite, I have tried to change it, but in vain! Often have I filled myself with roots and herbs, but to no purpose : nothing but large quantities of flesh can in any way satisfy me. You are black brother Quashee, of whom I have heard a great deal, and think very little : I am stronger than you, and can growl louder and longer : humphr " Don't take so much trouble about it," said the traveller, and fainted straight away with fear : and the Bear immediately made his dinner on him with the greatest satisfaction. But no sooner had Dr. Growler finished his meal, when by the power of the Fairy, who had fled from the body of the negro and returned to his proper shape, a wonderful change took place in him. He suddenly found himself turned into the form and fig-ure of a THE GREEDY HEAR 1 I Man : nay more, in place of a Bear, strange to say, he was now a King, living in a sumptuous palace, and surrounded by crowds of guards and courtiers. His former life already appeared to him but a dream of the night before : vv^hat he now was., it seemed as if he had always been. He ordered a splendid feast to be brought up ; the dishes were of solid gold, and the great Lords of his kingdom, kneeling each on one knee, offered them to him, as neatly and gracefully as if they had been man-servants all their lives. 1 1 8 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS The Bear-king had never tasted anything so de- Hcious before : and he thought that all the fish, flesh, and fowl in creation must be spread before him, so numerous were the dishes. But next day a new feast was spread : and so it went on day by day, and day by day his old greedy nature increased and gathered strength. " What a splendid King we have," said his subjects : *' he feasts twice every day, and there is no good thing which is not brought before him." And some of them called him King Doublemeal in consequence. But most thought the better of him for it, and called him a Hero, and were silly enough almost to worship him ; for vulgar people cannot see a strong mind, but they can see strong muscles, and always think the most of them. But, like the rich man in the parable, the King's pride and selfishness grew with his wealth and his opportunities of using it. He would have driven Lazarus from his table : and though the poor of his kingdom were starving, he would not spare a crumb to relieve their misery. Now, when the Fairy, who had transformed the Brown Bear into a Man, saw this, he determined he would punish him for his wickedness. But he thought that he would first give the King a chance for repentance. So he sought out the most beautiful Princess in the country. " Would you be Queen of all the land ? " he said to her. " Yes," said she. " You must then THE GREED J ' BE A R I I 9 d to speak to the beautiful Maiden. But she and the Fairy, quickly passing through the crowd, as if on wings, made their way out and disappeared. All night the King lay awake, thinking of the lovely Princess, and wondering how he could find her again and make her his Queen. And as he was thinking thus, and growing sorr}' for what he had done, the door gently opened, and the Maiden, gliding in without a sound, came up to his bedside. " Fairest one ! " he said — " wilt thou be my Bride .'' " *' Not yet," she answered : laying down, as she spoke, three golden apples on the table beside him. " If the King can fast from food for three days, and refrain himself from touching the apples, I will be his Queen." And in an instant she disappeared as before. THE CREl'lDY BEAR I 2 r When morning came, the Kin^^ would have thought it all a dream : but there were the three golden apples on a plate, and one of them on the edge of it, just as he remembered the Princess had put it in her hurry. He looked at them : they were the most beautiful that he had ever seen, and their smell was sweeter than roses. Nevertheless for a whole day he reined in his greediness, and left them un- touched. And the next day he looked at them again : l)ut still he left them untouched. But on the third day he could resist the temptation no longer. '' After all, I shall find some more beautiful Princess for my Queen," thought he : and so thinking, he lifted the first apple to his mouth. It was so sweet, that it was only two bites more to finish them all : but no sooner had he eaten the apples, than a deep sleep fell upon him, and he lay down as if dead. When midnight struck, a loud noise was heard, which startled every man in the palace from his slumber. The guards seized their arms: and the Page ran to the King's room to see that no harm had befallen his master. But at that moment the King too awoke ; and the Fairy, in his proper .shape, entered the room, leading in, no longer the fair Princess, but a terrible Bear, who without an instant's delay fell upon the King and began to tear him. As well as he could, the King defended himself. But his strength was beginning to fail, when the I 2 2 FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS faithful Page entered the room. Seeing his master in such danger, he instantly levelled his lance, and drove it through the heart of the wild beast. A sharp shriek followed : but at once the lance fell from his hand : and beside him again stood the Princess, unharmed, and in her full beauty. Before he could recover from his astonishment, a loud bellowing was heard close to him. He found his lance once more in his hand, he knew not how : and turning round, he was just able to defend himself with it against another Bear, which, still carrying a crown on its head, rushed furiously at him. It was the King, who by command of the Fairy had been changed back to his former shape. " Strike him ! Strike him ! '' cried the Fairy. The Page at once pierced him to the heart, and he fell dead at their feet. The Page now learned the meaning of what had happened : the dead King was hastily buried in the Abbey : and the Princess, by command of the Fairy, giving her hand in marriage to the faithful and chari- table Page, he was made King of the land, and reigned long and happily over his subjects. " When I was at the Zoological Gardens last Christmas," said one of the younger children, " I saw the bears ; and one of them climbed up a great pole, and held out his nose at me. O how I wish I had given him something to eat ! " " But I did," said SELIM AND ABDALLAH I 23 another little one, *' and he opened his niouth and ate the bun up : but he did not thank me for it." " Never mind," said Charles ; *• I daresay he thought * Thank you,' and wished himself a Princess for your sake." " Hush ! " cried Anna, who had now taken her place : ** really, with )-our noise )'ou children are quite unbearable." " A pun — a pun ! a bad pun ! " whispered Arthur : but Anna, smiling at him, began her story. ANNA'S THIRD TALE SELIM AND ABDALLAH Once upon a time there was a certain nobleman, who dwelt in the city of Ispahan, the capital of Persia. He was very wealthy, and after the King's own, his palace was the most beautiful in the city. The roofs were held up by pillars of black polished marble ; the walls shone with gold and painted tiles ; and the floors were paved with little pieces of glass set in all manner of patterns, over which the richest carpets of cashmere were spread, like flowers upon flowers. But he was unmarried, and had no children to enjoy his great riches after him. This nobleman had many followers and servants, and his court was almost as much crowded as the Khalif's. Over all was set the Keeper of his treasures I 24 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS Selim. This Selim was a very crafty, wicked man : but he had one only daughter, Fatima, who was' more beautiful than the moo- , or than her famous name- sake, the wife of the prophet Mohammed. She was very unlike her father in disposition, and was so gentle and good that every one loved her. Selim for a long while plotted to bring about a marriage between the nobleman and his daughter : but the nobleman had taken a vow to live and die childless : and it was said that he would leave his wealth to the great Mosque of Bagdat. When Selim discovered this, he was much enraged at his master, and in the wicked- ness of his heart he determined to avenge himself on him in any way that he could. It was said that there was no one more learned in the whole city than this nobleman. Twice in every week he used to call the wise men around him, with those who studied religion and law ; and, sitting ranged in their several ranks in his presence, they used to consider and to discuss high and knotty questions. Now, one da}', while he was sitting with them, there came into the assembl}^ a stranger, clad in tattered clothing, who seated himself behind the rest in a distant place. And when they began the discussion — for it was the custom to propose questions to the different members, that by their answers they might show their wisdom, — the question was put to them by turns, till it came to the stranger : whereupon SELIM AXD ABDAIJ.AH I 25 he gave a better reply than the rcpHes of all present : And the nobleman approved it, and ordered that he should be raised from the /lace which he had taken to a higher one. Then when the second question came to him, he gave a reply better than the first : and the nobleman ordered that he should be raised to a place of higher honour. And when the third question went round, he gave a reply better and more just than the two former replies : upon which the nobleman ordered that he should be placed in his own seat, above every one who was present. The wise men then rose and went forth : but the nobleman prevented the stranger from going out with them : he called him into an inner room, and treated him with kindness. And after this the feast was prepared : the wine was brought forth, and carried round to the guests. But when it came round to the stranger, he rose up, and said, " If the master of the house give Abdallah permission, he will speak one word." And when the nobleman permitted him, he said, " The master of the house knows that I was to-day, in this noble assembly, one of the least known of the people ; and that he has raised me to a place near himself, and has lifted me up above the others. And now he desires to take from me that small degree of wisdom which has exalted me above my meanness. For if his slave drink wine, wisdom will go from him, and folly will draw near unto him, and 1 26 FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS he will return to his former place, and become mean and worthless in the eyes of men. Abdallah trusts, therefore, that the wise man, the master of the house, will not rob his slave of this jewel." When the nobleman heard these words he praised him, and caused him to sit again in his place. When Selim saw it, anger took possession of his heart, and jealousy that Abdallah should have been raised to such honour ; and he plotted to do him an injury. But before the feast was ended, the nobleman ordered that a cup of sherbet (which is a kind of drink that Lucy would like, because it has plenty of sugar in it) should be brought round to each of the guests ; and they brought it to Selim first, and to Abdallah after him. And when Abdallah tasted it, he cried out to the nobleman, " There is poison in the cup!" and Abdallah saw Selim turn pale where he sat. But the nobleman did not see it, and he ordered his chief physician to be brought in. When the chief physician tasted the cup, he also said that it was poisoned. But no one knew who it was that had done this wicked thing. Upon this, the nobleman, seeing the wisdom of Abdallah, appointed him to be his chamberlain. Every night he guarded him as he slept ; and every day he tasted the dishes as they were brought up, as is the custom in Persia. But no one thought of the wicked Treasurer, though SELIM AND ABD ALLAH I 2 7 it was he in truth who had mingled poison in the sherbet : and every day his anger increased against his master and against Abdallah, for his wisdom was so great that daily he grew in favour with the noble- man and with all who saw him : and at last it so happened that F'atima his daughter could not conceal the love that she bore Abdallah, for she had seen none who equalled him in goodness. But Selim for a while hid his anger in his bosom, and waited till he should see some fault, that so he might cause his ruin. One day it chanced that Selim stood behind a screen in the great hall, where the nobleman sat and did justice between his servants ; and Abdallah came in, and knowing not that Selim was there, he threw himself at his master's feet, crying out, "A favour, my lord ; a favour for thy servant !" The nobleman inquired what was his desire. " Let your Highness know," said Abdallah, " that your slave loves Fatima, the daughter of the Keeper of the Treasures, and he begs you to speak to her father, and to command him that he give me his daughter in marriage, for this also is the desire of the heart of Fatima." The nobleman bade him rise, and promised that he would at once ask that Fatima should be given him ; for there was no one of all his friends wliom he valued more than Abdallah. I 28 FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS But when he had gone forth, Sehm came into his master's presence. His heart beat with rage ; but he hid it, from fear, lest otherwise he might fail in his purpose. '' Was it not Abdallah," said he, " who went forth from thy presence .''" The nobleman said, " It was ; and what of that ?" "Oh, nothing, nothing!" replied Selim ; "only I thought — indeed, I hardly know what I thought." " What is it i' — let the truth be spoken," said the nobleman, in great astonishment. '* The truth shall be spoken, in its own time and season," said Selim. " But is it not strange," continued he, " that Abdallah should never have made it known to your Highness who that wicked one might be who mingled poison in the cup on the day of the feast V " He has searched far and wide, but he can discover nothing," said the nobleman. " Your wisdom knows best," said Selim. " The prophet is my witness with what grief I speak it ; but did not your Highness perceive, on that first day, how Abdallah would not drink the wine that the cup- bearers brought him } And when the sherbet was poured out, I saw his countenance, and it was paler than snow." " What is it then that the Treasurer thinks V said the nobleman, grieved and alarmed ; for he did not suspect Selim's wickedness. SELIM AND A BD ALL AH I 29 " Your slave remembers what the cupbearer told him ; for he is ready to declare before witnesses that Abdallah knows who it was that mingled poison in the goblet." ** Who is he? and what is his name?" cried the nobleman. *' But the Treasurer is fearful ; for if it were Abdallah who contrived this great crime — which Allah forbid ! — would he himself have warned us of his own wickedness ?" " Allah only reads the heart of man, and those only find who know where to seek," an.swered Selim, dryly ; " to the poor man the gifts and honours of the rich are above life itself" The nobleman was astonished, and Selim, as he did not answer, continued, that if he w^ere in his lord's place, he would desire to see the wisdom and dis- cernment of Abdallah tried, before further confidence should be placed in him ; for he trusted his life in his hands, both at night, and daily, when the feast was spread before him. But Selim's hope was, that Ab- dallah might fail in the trial, and be cast out from the palace, and receive disgrace and punishment from his master. The nobleman agreed to the proposal of Selim inwardly making up his mind, that if Abdallah did not fail, he would then cause Fatima to be given him in marriage. He called together his friends and servants, and fixed a day on which he would try their skill : and K I 30 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS he who decided truly was to obtain whatever he chose to ask from the nobleman. And the trial was this : — a cup was to be given to each to taste, and they were to say what had been mingled with the water. Such trials are common in Persia ; and Abdallah, out of love for Fatima, was willing to show himself, if so it might be, worthy of her, and of the post of honour in which the nobleman had placed him. When the day came, a sumptuous feast was spread in the great hall of the palace. Many little tables were laid out, one for each guest ; and on each table was set some one dish of great excellence and rarity, or some strange and costly wine. Before Selim was placed a plate of the honey-dates of the desert ; before the Mollah, or Judge, were put the apricots of Balkan ; and before Abdallah stood a cup of the rich wine of Sheraz, celebrated in the songs of so many poets. And they sat down, each in his place. But Fatima, from whom the wickedness of her father could not entirely be hid, suspected that he had planned something against the life of Abdallah, and she sent a messenger, who came up quickly to him, and said, '* In the name of the prophet, Fatima entreats that Abdallah should taste nothing of what is set before him." Abdallah obeyed her word, and throughout the feast he tasted nothing ; but the guests ate of what had been provided for them. And now the clashing of cymbals told the com- SEIJM A A' I) A HP A LLA H I 3 I pany that the trial was to begin. The nobleman took his seat on a throne at the end of the room ; cups of gold, which a slave filled with pure water from a silver ewer, were set in order on a table before him, one for each of those who had feasted. Each guest in turn, as he lifted the cup to his lips, was required to say what had been mingled with the water, and his answer was directly noted down by the Secretary. Each man gave a different judgment. To one guest the water seemed flavoured with almonds ; to another with musk ; to a third with pistachio-nuts. The Mollah was of opinion that apricots had been mingled in it ; Selim declared that dates or honey must have been placed in the cup. At last the turn came to Abdallah : he tasted, and said, " The water is from the fountain of the Rosegarden." " Bring forth the silver ewer," said the nobleman. The silver ewer was brou^jht forth, and lo, at the bottom of it lay one of the crimson roses of Ispahan. Selim turned pale with rage ; but the guests shouted with surprize and pleasure, for they all loved Abdallah. " What hast thou to ask of me .''" said the nobleman. " I ask the hand of Fatima," answ^ered Abdallah. The nobleman fulfilled the word that he had given. Fatima was joined in marriage with Abdallah her beloved ; and he was made heir to the wealth of his master. Nor did Selim escape without a just reward ; K 2 I 32 FIVE DA KS" ENTERTAINMENTS for rage and disappointment so worked on his heart, that on that very evening the Angel of Death, for so the Persians believe, was sent to summon him to judgment. And thus '* the whirligig of Time brought about his revenges." " But I don't see how it was that Abdallah tasted the rose-leaves in the water," cried Lucy ; " you have not told us that, Anna." ** That is left to my little girl's wits to discover," said Mrs. Wentworth. " It is for the same reason that we take white paper to write on," said Arthur,, laughing : " now listen to me, and wipe out of your head for the present what you have heard from Anna." ARTHUR'S THIRD TALE THE THIEF IN THE FAMILY A PARTY of children were assembled together, a^^ we are now, to spend a rainy afternoon. There were seven in all. Five belonged to the family of Captain Ward, of whom Edmund and Lucy were the eldest ; and there were two cousins, Robert and Arthur Robinson. Captain and Mrs. Ward were very kind and sensible THE THIEF IN THE EAMILY I 33 people ; for the most part they let their children find amusement for themselves, but they would step in to help them if matters seemed to be at a stand-still. So it was on the day of which I am speakinf^. The morning had gone by pleasantly enough — in chess, ball, battledore and shuttlecock, and other games. When tired of these the children had amused them- selves with looking over a collection of curiosities which Captain Ward had brought with him from India, where he had served many years before with his regiment. There were long taper lances, the ** curst Malayan crease " or flame-like svvord, which all eyed with fear, as its edges were said to be poisoned ; great leather shields, set round with brass nail-heads ; worked slippers from China, that gave one the cramp to look at them ; and, above all, a huge ugly mask, cut out of a solid block of ebony wood, which the priests used to put on, in the more distant villages, when they desired to astonish the natives. But the afternoon went by very slowly, in spite of all. Arthur Robinson proposed that they should play cards. Lucy said their father did not object, provided they did not play for money ; but this the two cousins declared would be stupid, and " mere girl's work." So they sat with their hands before them, when Mrs. Ward came suddenly into the play-room. ** I have a new kind of game for you, children," said she. Their faces brightened up, and she told 1 34 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS them her plan. There was a beautiful china cup, with silver filagree round it, which the Captain had brought over from Turkey. This Mrs. Ward said should be given as a prize to the child who should write the best little essay or story on a subject which she would set them. The children entered readily into the plan : paper and ink were fetched by Edmund, and they all sat down to work, and to scribble as fast as they could, on the appointed subject : " Honesty is the best Policy." They were to finish what they had to say by tea-time, and the prize was to be given the next afternoon, as soon as Mrs. Ward should have time to read over their essays, and judge which was the best deserving. But little was said during the rest of the afternoon. Pen-feathers were greedily nibbled ; many eyes were anxiously directed to the carpet, and the ceiling ap- peared to furnish excellent hints ; but, on the whole the work seemed to prosper very fairly. When tea-time arrived a general buzz of conver- sation was set up. Edmund said not a syllable on what he had written ; Arthur Robinson boasted that he was safe to win, for he had often done such things before at school ; and Lucy Ward, like a girl, chat- tered about her production till every one knew what she had said, and what jokes she had put in it. (** Listen to that," whispered some of Arthur's little hearers. THE THIEF IN THE FAMILY I 35 "He says, cJiattcrcd like a girll' cried Lucy Went- worth.) In the evening the two cousins found themselves together in one corner of the room, and the following conversation took place : ** I sa\', Robert, I am sure you or I shall win. The others are all such children." " I don't know that," answered Robert ; " you know it is not at all as it was at school, when we could give each other hints." '* Do you remember last half, how I got the prize over that young Horrid Richardson .'^ " said Arthur, laughing unpleasantly ; '' I looked over his shoulder, saw all that he was writing, and managed so well that no one found out I had copied." " I suppose you don't see any harm in being a thief when one improves what one steals," replied his brother. " But, I'll tell you what," said he, myste- riously, drawing close up to Arthur, ** if you haven't looked sharp, I know who will get the prize." '' Who } " "Why, Lucy. She showed me her writing just now, and I ^am sure it is the cleverest any of the Wards have done ; and Madam Ward will be sure to give it to one of hers, if she can." " Humph ! " said Arthur, and talked of something else. Next morning, after breakfast, the prize-writings I 36 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS were to be given up to Mrs. Ward. Everybody brought theirs, sealed up with great precaution — except Lucy. Her mother inquired, with surprize, why she was empty-handed } Lucy could but too easily give an explanation. She had written out her performance like the rest, had sealed it up, and left it, just before she went to bed, on the top shelf of the little book-case, between the windows in the play-room. But now there was no sign of it. She had reached right and left, but to no purpose. " It is a very odd thing, Mary," said the Captain to his wife, when the children had gone off for the morn- ing ; " but I can't help thinking that there is something awkward about Lucy's paper." " About its disappearance, you mean, I suppose 1 " " Exactly. I really should be very sorry if it is so, but I cannot but fear that the two Robinson boys have had a hand in it. I heard them whispering last night something about Lucy's getting the prize ; and Arthur turned very red this morning when her paper was not forthcoming." " Don't say so ! " cried Mrs. Ward. " That would be shocking indeed. I shall almost rather it was one of our own children, if such a thing has been done." " Don't let us say so," replied her husband. '' The blame on the right head ! — there is no other rule. And I have heard whispers of their conduct at school THE THIEF IX THE FAMILY I 37 which, unfortunately, lead me to think it not unlikely that in this case poor Lucy may have suffered from their lax notions of honesty." " You always make up your mind so fast, my love." " The servants say they know nothing about it, and that they met Mr. Arthur coming out of the play- room early this morning," observed Mr. Ward, slowly. " At any rate, we will question them all round ; perhaps, after all, it is but an accident." *' If the worst comes to the worst, I think my Indian recollections will supply me with an excellent mode of trial," answered her husband. And they at once set to work to make inquiries. No trace of the thief appeared ; and, in place of the prize-giving. Captain Ward ordered the whole party, servants included, to assemble in his library at one o'clock — *' For it is a serious matter," said he ; '' the paper cannot have lost itself, and I cannot suffer any thieves in my family, be they who they may." One o'clock came. The children started as they entered the library, for the shutters were mostly closed. In the half-darkness they could, however, see a bench placed behind a table, on which lay a paper bag filled with rice. Mrs. Ward ranged the whole party behind the bench. An awful silence prevailed, and every one's heart beat strongly when Captain Ward, stepping to the table, in a grave, firm tone, said, — " The room will presently be darkened, that so the I 38 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS truth may clearly appear. I have often seen this trial practised in the East, and it never failed of success ; it is true natural magic." So saying, he ordered all to place the left hand behind the back, and to hold forth the right. In each hand he placed a few grains of rice. Then closing the remaining window-shutter, he again said — " I shut out the light that the truth may appear Let each person place the rice within his mouth. But woe to the wrong-doer ! for a sure sign will separate the guilty from the innocent." There was another awful moment of silence. Most of the party placed the rice within their mouths and swallowed it without difficulty. But Arthur's knees shook under him. "■ Perhaps it will cause me some dreadful illness if I taste it," thought he. But then again, he remembered, he should assuredly be dis- covered if he did not follow the order given. That moment seemed to him an hour of agony. He lifted his hand to his mouth ; but fear and his evil conscience so wrought within him that he was unable to swallow the rice : something seemed to grow within his throat : he thought that he would be suffocated : and for- getting everything else, he called out *' Water ! Water ! or I shall die." And the children shuddered as they heard him. At this moment the window-shutters were thrown open : daylight again flooded the room : and all eyes THE THIEF IN THE FAMILY I 39 wore turned on Arthur. But before Captain Ward could speak a word, the unhappy boy was on his knees before him. " Forgive me — forgive me ! " he cried. " It was I — no one else is to blame — it was I who took Lucy's paper — no one else is to blame." " Let all leave this room but oncl' said the Captain, sternly. They obeyed : Arthur alone remained, as if fixed to the spot where he was kneeling. '* Oh, forgive him — pray forgive him, — it is partly my fault for talking — indeed it is," v/hispered Lucy, with tears, as she passed her father. He pressed her hand and said nothing, but, following the rest, with his wife, locked and double-locked the door behind him. Left to himself, Arthur had full time to think over what he had done. With many bitter tears he repented, not only of this, but of other similar bad actions into which evil example and thought- lessness had led him. He begged that Captain Ward should come and speak to him : and that he judged Arthur's repentance sincere was shown by what followed. At three o'clock the sound of a bell called the children into the drawing-room. Mr. and Mrs. Ward stood by a table, covered with opened papers. Arthur sat, covering his face, in silence beside them. 140 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS Lucy went up and gently took his hands. "If you forgive him," — began her father. " Oh, papa ; — if I forgive him ! Indeed I do, with all my heart," cried she, in tears. " Lucy ! oh, Lucy ! " he sobbed out : " I have deeply sinned ; I know I have, — and I am deeply sorry. Fix what punishment you please, sir," con- tinued he, looking up at his uncle : " I have deserved it, — and I trust that I can bear it." " If she forgives you, it is enough," answered the Captain. " For it is she whom you have visibly injured. But pray that you may be forgiven else- w^here — for it is not she alone against whom you have offended." There was a minute's silence. The children looked at the papers, and thought how sadly the amusement of the day had been broken up. " We will forget what has happened," said Mrs- Ward, kindly, "■ for Arthur I am sure will not. We have read these papers," she continued more cheer- fully ; " there is none in which there is not something good : but we have had no difficulty in settling which is the best. The prize is given to my dear Lucy." All the children clapped their hands ; but Lucy felt as if she wished she had never written, and was ready to burst into tears. A look, however, from her mother gave her strength. She sent her feelings home, and kept quiet whilst THE THIEF IN THE FAMILY 14 I Captain Ward, takin- hands, and presently its breath began to come and go, and it was no longer a flower, but my dear baby that lay in my arms, and clasped my hair in its little P 2 2 I 2 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS fingers, and smiled on me. And you said, ' It is a flower still, dear Rose, and the sweetest I have ever seen.' Was it not strange, Edouard," concluded she, " very strange .-* But, after all, it was but a dream." " And when you woke, dear Rose .'' " " When I woke, my strength had returned to me, so refreshing had my sleep been. And was this not pleasant too } for I found they had put the little one in my arms, and it had grasped my hair in its fingers, as it was in the dream. And it smiled on me, and looked at me with its strange, wild eyes, exactly as if it knew of the danger I had passed through, and would speak and tell me of it, and could not." " Ah, dearest, dearest Rose," said Edouard, pressing her hand, " and if we all our life dream such dreams, we shall not, I think, regret it." " Is that all.''" asked the children, when Anna ended her tale. '' Why, what more would you wish for } " said she. " Something more of a story," answered Lucy. "Why, I thought Rose would dress herself like a little foot-page, and go after her husband to the wars, at least." "As you read of in the old Scotch ballad, I sup- pose," said Arthur. "Well, I am well satisfied with Anna's performance. We have had adventures enough elsewhere, and may perhaps afford a little poem for SULEYMAN AND THE CALENDARS 2 I 3 once. I was afraid, for my part, you were only ^oin^^ to give us Tennyson's " Lord of Burleigh " in prose, which would not have been an improvement, although I won't say that Edouard's ow^n verses might not have gained by it." ** Not quite ; I leave such appropriation to Emily," replied Anna, laughing. ** Well, don't reveal the secrets of the trade," said Emily, smiling in her turn, as she took her place and began her story. EMILY'S FOURTH TALE SULEYMAN AND THE CALENDARS There was a rich man in the city of Cairo, and he had lands, and houses, and horses, and slaves in pos- session ; and after he had enjoyed them temperately and w^ith wisdom for a while, he departed from this life, leaving one young son, w^iose name was Suley- man. And when Suleyman grew^ up, he ate and drank, and delighted his soul wnth song and music ; and he gave gifts, and he borrowed money, until at last all the wealth that his father had left him was vanished and gone. And he became so poor that he worked with the labourers who stand waiting for hire in the market-place. Thus he spent several years ; and one day, as he sat beneath a wall, waiting to see 2 1 4 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS who would hire him, it so happened that a man, a Calendar, of a fair countenance and goodly apparel, drew near and saluted him. So the youth said to him, " Hast thou known me before ? " The man answered him, '' I have not known thee at all, O my son ; but I see the marks of wealth upon thee, even in this thy poverty." Suleyman replied, ** What was written and decreed has come to pass. But has my father any labour wherein to employ me } " And the Calendar answered, '' I have with me ten princes in one house, and we have no one who should serve us. But if thou wilt come, thou shalt receive from us food and clothing, what shall suffice thee ; and thou shalt also receive from us thy portion of wealth and of charity. And perhaps thou wilt in time, by our means, be restored to thy former state and live the life of the wealthy." Then Suleyman said, " I hear and obey." " But there is one command that I have to lay on thee," concluded the man. " Thou shalt keep our secret with respect to the things that thou shalt see done of us ; and when thou shalt see us weep, ask not the cause of our weeping." And the young man replied, " Well, O father," and he went with him. Now when Suleyman had been led to the bath, and had bathed himself, and had clad himself in a new garment, he entered the dwelling place of the SULEYMAN AND THE C ALEX IhARS 215 Calendars. And when he came in, he found it to he a high mansion, built of fair stone, with chambers and with halls facing each other : and in each hall was a fountain of water, and birds were singing over it ; and the windows, that were set on each of the four sides, looked over a beautiful garden which lay within the court of the [:ialace. The Calendar led him into one- of the chambers, and he found it adorned with coloured marble, and the ceiling was dyed with gold and azure ; and it was spread with carpets of silk : and he saw sitting within ten other Calendars, face to face, w^earing the garments of mourning, weeping, and wailing. So Suleyman wondered at their case, and would fain have questioned the one who brought him thither, but he remembered the command, and with- held his tongue from w^ords. Then the Calendar gave to the young man a chest filled with gold, and said that he should spend out of the chest upon them and upon himself accord- ing to what was just, and be faithful, and take care of what was trusted to him. And Suleyman replied, " I hear and obey." And thus many days went by ; after which it came to pass that one of the Calendars died, and the rest took him and wrapped him up, and buried him in a garden behind the palace. And death ceased not to take one of them after another until there remained only the Calendar who had hired Suleyman : so he 2 T 6 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS remained with him in that home, and there was no other with them ; and they dwelt there for many years. Then the Calendar fell sick ; and w4ien Su- leyman saw it he was sad, and he said to him, " O father, I have served you for twelve years, and all that while have I done faithfully by you, according to my power and ability." The Calendar replied, " It is so, my son. Thou hast served me until these men have been taken to God : and we too must die." And Suleyman said, " O my master, the illness is heavy upon thee, and thy strength faileth thee ; now there- fore I desire of thee one thing — that thou wouldest teach me what has been the cause of the weeping, and why for all this time thou hast mourned and sor- rowed together with those men that were with thee." But he replied, " O my son, handle not what con- cerns thee not ; and ask me not to do w^hat I cannot do, for I have prayed that I should not afflict any one with my affliction. Now, if thou desirest to be saved from that into which w^e have fallen, open not that door," (and he pointed to it with his hand, and warned him against it) ; " and if thou desirest that what hath befallen us should befall thee, open it, and thou wilt know the cause of what thou hast seen in us when we sat and were sad ; but if thou doest so, thou wilt repent when repentance will not avail thee." Then the illness increased upon the Calendar, and he died ; and the young man with his own hand SULEYMAN AND THE CALENDARS 2 1 7 wrapped him up, and laid him in the garden of that house by his companions. Now Suleyman abode still in that place, and no one took anythin^r of it from him — neither the house nor anything that was in it. But nevertheless, his mind rested not, but was moved when he bethought him of the Calendars, and how they sat and were sad continually. And while he thought over the words of the Calendar, and how he had counselled him that he should not open the door, lifting up his eyes, he gazed upon it, for it was in the upper gallery of that chamber. And it was lofty, and of fair proportions ; and over it was spread the work of a skilful jeweller. And from it there came forth an odour, and it was sweeter than that of the roses of Iran. And when he smelled it, he said, ** Surely this is the gate of heaven." And upon it were four locks of steel, and over these the spider had woven her webs ; and when he saw this, he remembered the counsel that he had received of the Calendar, and he turned his eyes aside, and went his way. And thus did Suleyman every day. And the odour lay upon his soul, and he said within him- self, " Surely behind this door are the roses of heaven." And so his soul desired him to open the door ; but he held it back during a time of thrice seven days, but on the last day the sweet odour over- came his soul, and he said, *' I will turn the key, and 2l8 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS the door shall move upon its hinges, but what shall follow Allah knoweth, for all things happen after His will." Accordingly he arose and turned the key, and the door moved of itself upon its hinges : and when it was opened, he saw a narrow passage, along which he walked for the space of three hours : and he came forth upon the bank of a great river. And on either side of the river grew many roses : and they were tall, and fair to look upon : but when he smelled them, behold, their odour had gone from them. At this Suleyman wondered : and he walked along the bank looking to the right hand and to the left : and as he looked, a great eagle came down from the sky, and taking him up with its feet, it flew with him between heaven and earth, until it bore him to an island in the midst of the sea, and it cast him down there, and departed from him. So Suleyman sat there, and knew not whither he should go, for his mind was troubled. But one day, lo! the sail of a vessel rose upon the sea-shore before him as a star in the sky ; and hope was born in his heart, and he looked at it continually, until it came near to him. And when it came near, he beheld a ship of ivory and ebony, and the sails were of silk, and the oars were of sandal-wood. And in it there were ten maidens, fair as the moon : and when the maidens saw him, they landed to him from the ship, and kissed SULEYMAN AND THE CALENDARS 219 his hands, and said to him, *' Thou art the kini^, the bridegroom." Tlien one of them i)laced on liis head a crown, set with precious jewels, and she clothed him in a royal robe. And the maidens carried him to the ship, and he found in it carpets of silk of many colours. Then they spread the sails, and went over the sea of seas. Suleyman knew not whither his course was ; but when they came in sight of land, he beheld it covered with armed men, clad in coats of mail. They brought him forward five horses, with saddles of gold, set with all manner of precious stones : and he chose a horse from amongst them, and mounted him. And when he mounted, the flags and banners were set up over his head, and the drums and cymbals were beaten, and the armed men ranged themselves in two armies, to the right hand and to the left. And presently he came in sight of a fair meadow, in which were palaces built of white stone, and gardens, and trees, and rivers, and flowers : and their scent was as the scent of Paradise. And another army came forth to meet him from the palaces and gardens, like the stream when it pours down from the mountains : and when they drew near to him they parted ; and a king came from among them, riding alone, but his face was veiled, so that Suleyman saw it not. And when the king was near to Suleyman, he alighted from off his horse : and Suleyman alighted also, and they 2 20 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS saluted each other with words of welcome. Then they mounted their horses again ; and the King said to Suleyman, " Go with us, for thou art my guest." So they went together, and the armies went before them, until they reached the palace. And they alighted, and entered the palace ; and Suleyman's hand was in the King's hand : and he led him to a throne, and seated himself there by him. And when the king took the veil from his face, lo ! it was a fair damsel, like the shining sun in the clear sky, and a lady of beauty and of wisdom, that sat there by Suleyman. And when Suleyman saw her, he loved her, and he spoke to her, and said, " O lady, am I thy lord and thy husband t " And she said to him, " Know, O young man, that I am she of Sheba, and that my wisdom is great, and known among the sons of men. And if thou wilt speak to me one riddle, and I answer it not, thou shalt be my lord and my husband : but if not, thou shalt die." Now when Suleyman looked on the maiden, he loved her greatly ; and he thought a while within himself, and then he said : " What is redder than the rose, and whiter than the lily, and sweeter than the violet } " But when the Queen heard these words, she was troubled ; and she cast down her eyes, and she blushed exceedingly ; whereat the lords and those SULEYMAN AND THE CALENDARS 22 1 that stood b}' wondered i;reatly. And at last she lifted up her eyes and looked on Suleyman, and said, " Of a truth, O King, I know not." And Suleyman answered : ** Thou, O Queen, art redder than the rose, and whiter than the lily, and sweeter tlian the violet ; now, therefore, thou art my Queen, for I love thee." And therefore he arose and would have kissed the ground before her ; but she forbade him ; and he replied : *' O my mistress, I am less than the servants who serve thee." Then said she to him : " Seest thou not those ser- vants, and soldiers, and wealth, and treasures, and precious stones .''" He answered her, "Yes." And she said to him, '' All these are thine, for I am thine, and mine are thine ; and thou shalt use them and give them as it seemeth fit to thee." Then she lifted up her hand and pointed to a closed door that was by in the chamber, and said to him, " All these things are thine ; but this door thou shalt not open, for if thou open it thou wilt repent when repentance shall not avail thee." And her words were not ended when the Kadee with the witnesses entered ; and all of them were old women, with their hair spreading over their shoulders, and they were great and noble to look upon ; and when they came before the Queen she bade them perform the ceremony of the marriage. And so they 2 2 2 FIVE DA KS" ENTER TAINMENTS married her to Suleyman, and the feast was spread ; and when they had eaten and drank, he took her as his wife, and he Hved with her seven years ; and the seven years went by as one day, so great was his joy and his happiness. But one day he came near to the door, and lo ! a scent as of the lilies of Paradise came from it ; and the odour entered his soul, and he said, " Within it are treasures greater than what I have seen, else would not the Queen have forbidden me to open it. But if not, Allah knoweth." And he arose and opened the door, and the door turned upon its hinges. And lo ! within was the Bird that had carried him from the shore of the great river and borne him to the island ; and when the Bird beheld him, it said to him, " No welcome to a face that will never be happy !" So when he saw it and heard its v/ords, he fled from it ; but it went after him and carried him off, and flew with him between heaven and earth for the space of one hour, and left him in the place from which it had carried him away, and he saw it no more. The young man, Suleyman, sat therefore in that place, and he thought of all that he had seen, and of his wealth, and honour, and pleasures when he was with the fair Queen ; and when he thought thereon he wailed and wept. And he wandered upon the shore of the great river whither the Bird had borne him for the space of two months, wishing that he SULEYMAN AND THE CALENDARS 223 mii^ht return to his wife ; and he smelled tlie hhes and the roses that grew on the bank, but their scent had departed from them. And while he was one night awake, weeping and waiHng, a speaker spoke (and he heard his voice, but saw not his face), calhng out, " How great were his dehghts ! Far, far from thee is the return of what is past ! And how many therefore will be the sighs !" When the young man heard it, he knew within himself that he should never see the Queen again, nor go back to the happi- ness in which he had been living. So he returned to the palace where the Calendars had dwelt ; and he knew, that what had happened to him, was that which had happened to them also : and that this was the reason w^iy they mourned and wept ; wherefore he wondered at it no more, and he excused them for it. And grief and sorrow came upon Suleyman, and he entered the chamber where they had sat, and he sat down therein, and he neither smiled nor spoke more, but the faces of them who had sat there were with him continually ; and so he wept and mourned until he died ; and they buried him by the side of the Calendars. Emily's tale seemed to satisfy the elders ; only the little ones complained, that as it was the last on that day, they should have had something cheerful to finish with. 2 24 FIVE DAYS' ENTER TAINMENTS " I could not help it," said Emily. '* It was my turn to be last this time. Is it not a curious thing," added she to Mrs. Wentworth, " that so many stories should include the incident of tlie Closed Door .'* " *' It is, however, equally curious that it should be generally a lady who opens it," said Arthur. " Curiosity has been supposed our inheritance since the days of Eve," answered Mrs. Wentworth. smiling, " especially as most stories are written by men. But Emily has this time taken her revenge on you." '' It is not due to me," replied Emily. " If you look in Lane's Arabian Anecdotes, you will find my original. And, to put my confessions together, for Cerisa I was greatly indebted to Grimm's admirable German collection." " It is you then, Emily, who are the Thief in the Family," whispered the little Lucy, climbing up on her knee. *' I am quite content to be so," answered she, quietly, "while it is so much to your advantage. Indeed, I give notice that any one who has the courage to hunt through those three little German volumes may probably find there what I have to tell to-morrow." " We cannot complain that Emily does not put us on the right — on the right track," said Mrs. Went- worth, rising, and leading the party forth into the SULE YMAN AND THE (J A LEM). I A's 225 garden. During the course of tlie afternoun the heavy summer clouds, whicli liad so Ioiil;- darkened tlie sky, had cleared up, and the sun now shone forth in all his glory. The fresh scent of the dewy grass greeted the children, as they ran up and down the gravelled paths. The last notes of the cuckoo were heard from the grove, the bees flew from plant to plant, and the flowers lifted up their heads to the happy sunlight, and, as if in gratitude to the now smiling sky, put on their fairest colours, and poured out on the air the treasure of their re-awakened odours. END OF THE FOURTH DAY 2 26 FIVE DA YS' ENTER TA INMENTS FIFTH DAY To the SM'eet our sweets reveal them Gentle hearts alone can feel them. " Look at that naughty sun," cried Lucy Wentworth in a melancholy tone, as she took her place in the drawing-room with the rest of the party. " It will be our last afternoon, I suppose. How I wish there were ten senses instead of five ! " " Indeed .'' " said Arthur. " I however certainly wish there w^ere some other which we could exchange for our remaining subject." "What is that?" asked Mrs. Wentworth. "Oh! P'eeling, I suppose. But I hardly see why you should find it the hardest to deal with." " It differs in so many ways from the others," said Arthur. " It is more vague," said Charles. " It is not in the head, as the rest are," said Eleanor. *' And so it is a kind of blind sense," continued Arthur, " which may be said in some way to include VIOLA THE MODERN MIDAS 227 the others in itself. If we did nut feel, we should not see, or hear. It is the foundation — the first condition, so to speak, of the rest." " It is the common sense," said Luc}-, puttin;^ out an inquiring look, half fear, half pleasure. ''Well done, Lucy! but no more puns to-day, if you are really sorry it is the last," replied Arthur, with an encouraging smile, "or you will hurt our " •* Sh, Sh," said Mrs. Wentworth. " Who begins to- day } " " It is I," replied Anna, taking her place at the rosewood table. ANNA'S FIFTH TALE THE MODERN MIDAS I OFTEN Wish that 1 was not a girl (and here so great a burst of laughter and exclamation arose from the little ladies and gentlemen — Anna's audience — that for a while she could not go on with a word of her story.) I do not mean anything absurd, I believe, (she said at last,) but w^hen I look- at the great works of the ancient writers, and read what is said about them in English books, I often wish I had received, or was fitted to receive, such instruction as might have made it possible for me to know them better. Q 2 2 28 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS Perhaps you will still think it a foolish wish — but last night, when our story-telling was over, I sat read- ing tale after tale of wonder in the Mythological Dictionary, and this it was which made me say what I have just said. For I could not but wish to place myself face to face, as it were, with those great men and heroes, and all the inhabitants of the fabled Olympus — casting aside the cloudy air of a feeble translation, as I read of Troy and its nine years' war ; and of Ulysses and his world-wide wanderings : or, again, of Tantalus, and the water that fled his lips, and the fruit trees that bent themselves up from his grasp, whilst he suffered the pains of immortal thirst and immortal hungrer ; or of Midas, that kini? to whom it was granted that all he touched should be changed into the purest gold, until a universe of gold lay around him, and he perished from the curse of a seeming blessing — and as I read, children, sleep came over me, and a dream, such as I shall now tell you of, presented itself Methought I really was a girl no longer, but a spirit, wandering up and down in a desert place, with- out knowledge of whence I had come, or whither I was going, for when I tried to think on these things, a mist seemed to arise before my mind. And as I walked, I looked down, and I saw that the earth around me was as of hard iron ; and as I gazed upwards on the sky, the sky too appeared as an iron y 'HE MODERN MI PA S 229 arch above me. And I thought, " Was it always so ? Was I not once in a fertile land, filled with trees and flowers, and runninrr water, and with cloud and sun- shine above me ?" But this must have been when 1 was a child, I thought, for I can recall nothing of it clearly. And then again I looked, and lo! before me lay a fair land, such as that I remembered of old, and I hastened my steps that I might reach it. But still, as I went onwards, the land seemed to flee before me, and everything was iron around, and I saw that it was the touch of my own feet that seemed so to change it. And presently I saw beside me a form, as of a fair queen : old in years, but of a calm and lovely counte- nance. And she said, *' Why dost thou walk thus in sadness .^ " And I answered, " Because I know not whence I am, nor w^iither I go, nor wherefore I am here. And my own steps also terrify me, for thou seest that at the touch of my feet all things change their former nature." '* Trouble not thyself with vain questions," said the Queen, "let the evil of the day suffice thee ! 1, too, am journeying over this desert, and I am sent to lead thee to another land, w^here thou art appointed to be King, and to reign ; for in this desert there is no living soul." But I said, " How can that be ? for thou art a stranger to me." 230 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS And she answered, " Remember the days of thy childhood. When thou wert young T was with thee, for I was as thine elder sister ; and I was by thy cradle, though thou hast forgotten me." And furthermore the Queen said : " I am she that cries without, and that utters her voice in the streets. I am more precious than rubies, and all the things that thou canst desire are not to be compared unto me." And when I looked on her I said, *' It is so as thou sayest. But give me a sign, that I may know truly whether thou art indeed as my sister .'' " And she answered, "Where thou art, all things become iron.; but where I am, all things become gold. By this sign thou mayest know that I am of thy kindred and thy father's house." And it came to pass, that as we walked together, the desert went from before my eyes, and lo ! I was below the earth, among the nation of the Dwarfs who live in the hollows of the rocks, and make their home among the clefts of the mountains. And the Dwarfs came to me, and said, " Be thou our King." And when I said, *' Why should it be so } " they answered, " Because the Queen wills it." And I asked, " What is her name } and where does she dwell } " And they said that her name was known to none ; but it was a name of power : and that she dwelt in a THE MODERN MID A S 2 3 I golden palace in the farthest caverns of the rocks where none could see her. And I said, *' Be it done as ye desire." Now the Dwarfs arc placed in the caves of the earth that they may labour at the mines that are there, and may set all things that are below the ground in order, and that they may there increase and multiply ; for so it has been enjoined them. And they have fields and meadows, and rivers of water : also the sun and moon give them light. And they came to me and said, ** O King, a command has gone forth that we should prepare and build a palace, wherein the King should make his dwelling-place. But we have no tools wherewith to build it. Now, therefore, touch with thine hands the rocks, that they may become iron, and that thou mayest thence fashion us tools that we may hew the stones for the palace, and thou shalt dwell in it, for thou art our King." And I said, *' Be it so, as ye desire it." And the Dwarfs gathered themselves together about me ; and when I touched the rocks they became as iron, and I made them tools w^herewith they should work the work that was appointed them. And they made tools likewise, and they hewed out stones, and as I taught them, so they laid the stones in order until the foun- dations were now ready. But m.any of the Dwarfs came to me and said, "Give us food, for we perish with hunger!" And I sowed 232 FI VE DA KV ENTER TA INMENTS them seed ; but when it came up, lo ! the grains it bore were of iron ; and they murmured at me. But I said, " Take ye the seed and sow it, and reap and thresh it ! for I will give you tools wherewith ye may dig the ground." And I did so ; and they ceased from their murmuring. And they said to me, " We too have one that serves us, and if thou wilt she shall serve thee likewise." And they brought unto me a fair maiden ; and she laboured for me, and cunning was in her hand, and she wrought at the palace. But yet she listened not to my words, nor did the things that I commanded. And I said, " If thou wilt live with me, I will teach thee many things, and thou shalt be my Queen," for I loved her. But she said, " Not }et, my Lord, for these things may be as they may be ; and what shall happen, who can tell V But yet I loved her for her skill, and she was friendly to me. But the work prospered not as it had prospered before ; nor was there any end to the toil and to the labour. And again it came to pass that other Dwarfs wea- ried of the work ; and they went to those that were kings of old time among them, and said, " Come, and let us drive out the new King that is among us, for we labour under him, and our lives are a weariness to us." And further they said, that I had changed the cus- toms and manners which their father had given them, and commanded them to build me a palace such as THE MODERN MIDAS 233 none had seen before, and that when it was built I should live in it and be their King : and that I sh(juld take away the kingdom from those who had ruled them of old time, and make them my hired servants. And when the Kings heard this, they were wrathful against me, and they gathered together their armies and eame forth to meet me. And I gathered together my army — even those whom I had fed — and I went forth to meet them. And also the maiden whom I loved said, "Shall I go with thee.?" And I said, " Abide where thou art, for thy place is not among the fighting-men." And when 1 saw the Kings they seemed to me as Dwarfs — even as Dwarfs among the other Dwarfs. And before the battle began, I lifted up my voice and cried, — "In the name of the great Queen, hear me ! For I come not to take away your power and authority ; and if any say so, they speak falsely. For my gifts — the gifts of my hands — are they not for all alike } Nor is there any that labour under me that shall fail of their due reward. For such are the laws of my kingdom." But the Kings believed me not. And they spoke to their counsellor, even to the Giant, and said, "Shall we go out to fight, or shall we not } " Now this counsellor was an aged man, and Qf stature as the stature of the giants. And whilst the 2 34 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS morning lasted, and the sun was high, I saw him not, but as the sun went down, I saw him ; and he was tall, and dark of colour. And his shadow fell upon my armies, upon the soldiers that were with me ; and they trembled, and said, " Help us, O King, for the shadow of the enemy, and winter, is upon us." But when I stretched forth my hands, lo ! I stretched them forth in vain, for over shadows I had no power. Then I said, '* Let us shelter ourselves within the palace : for the fight is not the fight of swords, nor of the strength that wields them." And they went within the palace, even mine army, and I closed the doors behind them : and as I closed them, lo ! the walls became as of iron, firmly knit and wrought together. Then came those Kings and fought against the palace, and prevailed not, for it was as a palace of adamant. But I went within the palace, to the farthest room, and there kneeling down, I prayed to the great Queen, and I said, " Grant me skill and power that I may make all things golden before the enemy, even as thou doest, and may turn their hearts ; " for I thought that when they saw the gold their hearts would turn and I should prevail over them. But a voice answered and said (but the speaker, even the Queen, I saw not) : — " Though thou knowest all things, and art skilful, yet shalt not thou prevail. THE MOn/CRX MIDAS *' And though I be wise in all thin^^s, and heavenly, yet shall not I prevail. " Thou shalt not prevail over them with iron ; for man cannot live thereby. " And thou shalt not prevail over them with gold ; for it is not the gold of this earth, and they know not its value. " Nor can I give thee aid until thou shalt put from thy mind her whom thou lovest, and shalt seek out the fair maiden who dwells in the innermost part of the earth, and orders all things, and has the Crystal of Wonder : and shalt persuade her to love thee, and join herself to thee, and be thy Queen." And I asked again, " Give me a sign, that I may know where she dwells, for I know it not." And the Queen answered, " The hammer falls on the anvil, and such is the music of the heavens." Now it came to pass when I heard this, that I went forth from the palace, and I took my way through waste places to the centre of the earth. And so it was in the dream : for a thousand years went by, and my path was through a winding way or a labyrinth, so that I saw not whence I came, nor whither I went ; and my feet were torn with the thorns, and my flesh was consumed with hunger. Moreover, my old power had well-nigh gone from me. 236 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS And when I had now fulfilled my journeyings I entered a cave, wherein stood one in the likeness of a smith, and he struck on an anvil with the hammer, and he forged thence wonderful things that were around him. And about him lay seas, and rivers, and mountains, and trees, and flowers, and grass of the field, and the living creatures that dwell among them : and they were the work of his hands. And as he struck with the hammer, lo ! there came forth music, and it was of sweetness such as is not heard on earth : and as I listened, my strength forsook me, and I fell on the ground, for the pain of that pleasure. And when I came to myself, behold ! a fair maiden stood by me : and when I saw her, lo ! the counte • nance of that other one departed from me, that I remembered her no more. And she said, " Fear not, for I know thee who thou art. Was I not by thee when thou wast born, and cared for thee, and taught thee many things .'' " And I said, '' Art thou she of whom the Queen has spoken to me } " And thereupon she said, " I will give thee a sign, that thou mayest know me, whom I am." And the maiden stretched forth her hand, and in it was a precious stone, clear as crystal. And when I placed it before my eyes, and looked, lo ! I beheld the earth, and all that was thereupon : nor needed I THE MODERN .^flDAS 237 to turn my eyes hither and thither, for all thini^s I saw together, and as it were at one c^lance. Also I saw the labyrinth through which I had passed ; and it lay straight and open before me. And again, I saw the Dwarfs — even those amongst whom I had dwelt — and behold ! there was no more war amongst them, but they dwelt peaceably, each in his own habitation : and the maiden had departed from among them, that I saw her not. Then said I to the maiden that was by me, '* Thou art she whom the Queen bade me that I should seek for." But she answered, " I am poor and simple ; nor have I aught, but only this crystal. I will not therefore go with thee, but wait a while, until the times shall come and my wealth shall return to me — even the worlds and all that is in them." Then I said, " I hunger and thirst, and lo ! all things are iron around me — nor does my might and my skill profit me aught. But when shall these things be whereof thou speakest .-^ " And she answered, — " The Whole is scattered in its Parts ; nor do the Parts make up the Whole. But when the Whole shall be returned unto itself, then shall these things be. For there are Four on earth — the Queen, whom thou sawest on thy journeyings, and whose dwelling is in the Golden Palace ; and He that wrought in the cavern : and thou too art one of us. But we are held 238 FIVE DAYS' ENTERTAINMENTS asunder from each other : wait thou therefore, for art thou not the youngest one ? " And furthermore she said, " Lift up thine eyes, and tell me what thou seest." And I said, " I see a palace chamber : and on the wall thereof I see words written — even these : ' Art loved Chance ; but Law is the path of wisdom.' " But what is the interpretation thereof ? " And she answered, " The words are dark, and their meaning is hidden away from thee. But wait till those things be whereof I have spoken to thee. And then shalt thou know the meaning of the words : but if I taught thee in them now, thou wouldest not profit thereby, for their interpretation is not for Time, but for Eternity." *' What strange dreams you dear children have," said Mrs. Wentworth ; *' I suppose it is something in the air of Miss Cobham's house, is it not, that breeds them } " ** Say rather, the air of the holidays," replied Anna. " But as there is ' no law to judge of the lawless, or canon by which a dream may be criticised,' I must beg for a gentle sentence." '' But how could you go in a dream into the middle THE MODERN MIDAS 239 of the cartli, the very middle ? " asked Lucy. " I suppose you never were there ? What a stran^r^ place it must be." '* I fancy we must not ask for explanations of the circumstances of the story, any more than the meaning of the riddle," said Arthur. ** I thought as I heard you, I caught hints and touches of something beyond : of something that is or might be, That touches me with mystic gleams Like glimpses of forgotten dreams. Of something felt, like something here ; Of something done, I know not where, Such as no language may declare — as the great poet says." " It was not perhaps exactly of this world, the downright geographical earth, that I was thinking," replied Anna, hesitating. " You must not put her upon interpretation," observed Mrs. Wentworth. " A true allegory, such as I take it Anna means hers to be, is not something which you can, so to speak, translate into a direct prose meaning, and find for every particular an exact and literal equivalent. It must not be a tale which requires a mere change of names to transfer it from fiction to fact. Rather it is something wdiich is at once the reality and the semblance ; and which leaves on the mind an impression all the more strong because it is an indirect and enigmatic teaching." 240 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS " Like Parrhasius' picture in my Mythological Dictionary, I suppose," said Anna. " What was that ? " asked the little ones, ever ready to smuggle in a tale extraordinary, and as it were to heap up pleasure with pleasure. " Is Eleanor ready ? " replied she. '* No, not quite, as usual ! Well then : " Parrhasius was a Greek painter ; and he and Apelles, another Greek painter, disputed as to which of the two was the better artist. Apelles painted some grapes, so naturally, that the birds flew in and pecked at them. "■ ' What have you to show me now ^ ' said he to Parrhasius, with an air of triumph. " * Oh ! nothing, nothing,' said he ; ' but there is my picture, such as it is,' pointing to the wall opposite. " * There ! — but where } ' replied Apelles. ' Oh ! I see: draw the curtain, Parrhasius, and let me see it.' " * The curtain is the picture,' said Parrhasius ; and so they shook hands and parted." " Now draw up your curtain, Eleanor," said Charles, " we are ready." " You have almost put my ideas to flight, with your fine old classical story," replied she, taking her place at the table. r/iivs OFF 241 ELEANOR'S FIFTH TALE PAWS OFF The housemaid whispered it to the scullery-maid, and the scullery-maid whispered it to the cook. " What nonsense these young ladies take into their noddle-heads," said she. " No, I declare I won't stand it any longer, that I won't ! If Missus won't teach Miss better manners, I'll give her warning to-morrow, that I will." " There's no standing her fandingoes," replied the housemaid, handing the cook a long bottle of rosewater. " What a sweet delicate mind your dear Augusta has," said Mrs. Jones to Mrs. Brown at this moment, as they sat together in the drawing-room. " She is such a sensitive creature, dear Gusta is," answered the lady. " Do you know, she makes our cook wash her hands in scent first, before she sets about her work ; she says cook's hands always smell of onions." '* So delicate, so refined a feeling," replied her friend, taking a pinch of snuff, as some old-fashioned ladies and gentlemen will still do. If they could 242 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS only see themselves doing it ! " Dear Augusta, I am afraid if she saw me she would think me a pure barbarian. But you know, old people, like me " " She would not allow you that excuse, at least," said Mrs. Brown, " Dear Mrs. Brown, you are so funny ! but she has at any rate her sensibility by inheritance." " Dear Mrs. Jones," answered her friend, affection- ately pressing her hand, " If you could but tell what parents have to go through ! There's John now just come home, and he afflicts me so, I don't know how to bear it. He is so cruel and coarse-minded ! Now, would you believe it, he says of that dear sister of his, that she has so many fancies, that if she is not cured of them she will lose her senses : her common sense first, he says, and then her other senses after^vards." '' Shocking, indeed," said Mrs. Jones. *' And then he tells a story — a shocking story — that he does, Mrs. Jones, of a madman in a hospital who believed he was made of glass, and would let nobody touch him for fear he should crack him, while, to be sure, poor man, he was cracked already." "You are always so funny, dear Mrs. Brown." " My late husband, poor Mr. B., used always to say so, my dear," continued the lady. "But, as I was saying, the doctors did not know how they should cure the poor madman, and they consulted together ; PAWS OFF 243 and then tlicy rolled the man downstairs, in order to show him that he would not break in pieces. Nor did he, my dear, that I can assure you ; but when they went down to the landin^^-placc they found him lying dead." " But you were saying something about dear Au- gusta," observed Mrs. Jones. '' So I am now, my dear. John tells her that she will go mad, and lose her senses, if she does not have a care, but indulges in her sentimentalisms : so he calls them. You know, my late husband, poor Mr. B. was a furrier by trade, and honestly too he came by his money, Mrs. J. It was he who brought in the well- known Minx Albertines, you know ; but he never made them up of c-tsk-n : no : his feelings were above that, I can assure you." " But dear Augusta." '* That's just what I was saying, my dear. Dear Augusta, you should have seen her when she was a child, dear Mrs. Jones, that you should, such a little angel as she was ; and then such pretty things as she used to wear. Her papa, poor Mr. B., my late hus- band, he would never let her dress in anything but the best ; that I can assure you of It would have warmed your fingers on a cold day to see her, all in her furs — real sable, real ermine, no black kittens' tails sewed upon rabbit — from top to toe. And then she was such a sensitive little creature ! / am sure 244 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS that child ivill 7tcvcr grozv tip, I used to say to poor Mr. B. ; she is too good for earth." " It must be quite a relief to you to see her appe- tite," observed Mrs. Jones, breaking in on the con- versation for a moment ; " she took to those dumplings at dinner, quite — quite cordially, I may say." " And so she did," replied her friend. " Between ourselves, Augusta is no fool ; I can assure you of it. But she was so sensitive, dear Gusta, as I was telling you ! One day, when she was walking out with John (he was a little boy then, come home for the holidays, in his first straps), dressed in her furs, as I was saying, she went past the parish school. ' There's a little duchess,' cried one child ; that she did, I can assure you, Mrs. Jones — they all admired her so. ' I'll war- rant you, quite a muff,' said another. And do you know, dear Gusta, she was so sensitive and so modest that she could not bear the compliment } But what should she do but run home and tell her papa to go and order the master to beat the boy well who had said so. ' She could not bear such remarks to be made on her in the street,' she said ; * it harrowed up her best feelings.' But all that's altered now, you know, Mrs. Jones. Do you know she can't bear the sight of fur now — no, nor the very name of it ! And she says if she wore any she would go into fits for certain. Oh, you should see her when the cat comes into the room, that you should ! And then, John's great New- PAIVS OFF 245 foundland, Crib, she cannot bear the sight of him. She declares it makes her wretched to think of the sufferings of the poor people in those hot countries he comes from ; that she docs, 1 can assure you." " She is a delicate, philanthropic creature, that she is," replied Mrs. Jones. "And so sensitive!" replied Mrs. Brown. *' There's a new fandingo of Miss Augusta's !" cried the housemaid to the cook, throwing down a basket of linen on the kitchen floor. "Well, what now.?" said she, turning to the fire; — " la, this goose, how fat he roasts." "I should like to roast her, that 1 should!" con- tinued the maid. " She is a Miss Disguster ; that she is ! Do you know now, she says I must wash all these things of hers again, and all for and because the cat jumped over the linen-basket as it stood by her room door !" " That's what I call a fandingo, that I do ! " .said the cook. " And she says I may not wash the cat any more, as Missus tells me to do every Saturday evening ; nor comb the fleas out of her — poor beast. Miss Augusta says no maid of hers may touch /ler hair after she has done such work." " I declare I would stand it no longer, if you was me," replied the cook. 246 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS " But I will wash poor puss, that I will," answered the maid ; " and Crib too, dear old dog," said she, running up to Crib as she spoke, and hugging him round the neck. At this moment the door opened, and in walked Master Brown and Miss Brown. " La ! you here, Miss ! " said the cook ; " you know Missus will turn me out of doors if she hears of it." " Yes, but dear mamma need not know," answered the young lady. " Down, Crib ; down, nasty brute ! paws off ! " screamed she ; " paws off ! " as the dog jumped up and thrust his honest hairy nose against Augusta's face. '* Do call your dog off, John," continued she, — " paws off, you brute ! — and whip him well." " Whip Crib ! No, that I won't," said he, putting his hands behind his back. " Dear old fellow ; he meant no mischief" " Then I'll— I'll— I'll tell you what," cried his sister passionately, " I mean mischief ; and I'll do it when I mean it. I'll run away from the house and hide myself, and see then what you will have to say to mamma ! " And off she went, banging the door behind her. Augusta ran out across the garden, through the little green gate, up the field lane, and so out into the wood beyond, before she had well thought of what she was doing, or made up her mind what kind of PAIVS OFF 247 mischief it was to be. When at last her anger began to cool, "What a nice thing it will be to be lost!" thought she. '* How mamma will be frightened ! And then all the servants will come out with lights to hunt for me when it grows dark, just as they did for Valentine in the story." And down she sat for three-quarters of an hour, to reflect on how romantic, high, and delicately minded a young lady was Miss Augusta Brown, the famous R — g — t Street furrier's daughter. But after a while she rose ; and walking on, presently came to a little space where the trees had been lately felled. She had smelt something of smoke through the bushes as she walked, and she now saw a little wood fire, that seemed lately kin- dled. By it sat a poor boy, w^hose face was much blackened with smoke or ashes, holding in his arms what appeared to be a cat, suffering from injury that it had received. " Do look at my poor puss," said the boy, starting up and running to Augusta; "she has been torn by the hawk ! Do, pray, Miss, lend me your handkerchief to tie up her wounds ? See how she bleeds ! " " Paw^s off, dirty child ! " said Augusta, shrink- ing back ; " you hurt my feelings — indeed you do. I cannot bear to see an animal suffer so." " Oh, Miss, do pray be so kind ! " continued the boy ; " and do tell me how to get out of this wood. 248 FIVE DA YS' ENTERTAINMENTS for I've lost my way, and don't know whereabouts I be." " Do take your hands off me 1 Don't let the cat touch me ! oh, don't ! " screamed Augusta, half in alarm. " I have nothing for you, indeed I have not," and off she ran into the wood. Augusta had indulged her fancies till she hardly knew how to govern them ; but she was rather a foolish girl than wicked or cruel, and already she had begun to feel half ashamed of herself and of her conduct, when, looking up, she saw, that although it was yet only the afternoon, the sky was dark with clouds and a storm was clearly approaching. On she ran in good earnest to escape it, and presently she found that she had really altogether lost her way. For the wood was tolerably large, and she did not know the paths except in that part which lay immediately near her mother's house. She called, and shrieked ; and then she sat down and cried violently, and then she called again ; but nothing answered her. Augusta now started up and ran violently through bush and brake till her feet stumbled, and she fell against a little bank which had been hidden from her sight in the thick weeds and brambles which grew upon it. As she lifted herself up, she fancied she heard a sound as of footsteps behind her. In the greatest fear she forced her way desperately up the bank, and then with a sudden plunge over the other PAIVS OFF 249 side she found herself, as soon as she could think where she was, stick ins^ fast in a p(jol of stand in