Twilight Land
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Howard Pyle >> Twilight Land
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Then Beppo found himself in a great vaulted room. There at one
end of the room were three souls. A man sat on the throne, and he
was the king, for he had a crown on his head and a long robe over
his shoulders. Beside him stood a priest, and in front of him
stood a beautiful young woman as white as wax and as still as
death.
Beppo wondered whether he were awake.
"Come hither," said the king, in a harsh voice, and Beppo came
forward and kneeled before him. "Take this young woman by the
hand," said the king.
Beppo did as he was bidden.
Her hand was as cold as ice.
Then, before Beppo knew what was happening, he found that he was
being married.
It was the princess.
"Now," said the king to her when the priest had ended, and he
frowned until his brows were as black as thunder--"now you are
married; tell me, is your husband greater than I?"
But the princess said never a word, only the tears ran one after
another down her white face. The king sat staring at her and
frowning.
Suddenly some one tapped Beppo upon the shoulder. It was the tall
man in black.
Beppo knew that he was to follow him again. This time the
princess was to go along. The tall man in black led the way, and
Beppo and the princess followed along the secret passage and up
and down the stairs until at last they came out into the garden
again.
And now the evening was beginning to fall.
The man led the way down the garden to the river, and still Beppo
and the princess followed him.
By-and-by they came to the river-side and to a flight of steps,
and there was a little frail boat without sail or oars.
The tall man in black beckoned towards the boat, and Beppo knew
that he and princess were to enter it.
As soon as Beppo had helped the princess into the boat the tall
man thrust it out into the stream with his foot, and the boat
drifted away from the shore and out into the river, and then
around and around. Then it floated off down the stream.
It floated on and on, and the sun set and the moon rose.
Beppo looked at the princess, and he thought he had never seen
any one so beautiful in all his life. It was all like a dream,
and he hoped he might never waken. But the princess sat there
weeping and weeping, and said nothing.
The night fell darker and darker, but still Beppo sat looking at
the princess. Her face was as white as silver in the moonlight.
The smell of the flower-gardens came across the river. The boat
floated on and on until by-and-by it drifted to the shore again
and among the river reeds, and there it stopped, and Beppo
carried the princess ashore.
"Listen," said the princess. "Do you know who I am?"
"No," said Beppo, "I do not."
"I am the princess," said she, "the king's niece; and by rights I
should be queen of this land."
Beppo could not believe his ears.
"It is true that I am married to you," said she, "but never shall
you be my husband until you are king."
"King!" said Beppo; "how can I be king?"
"You shall be king," said the princess.
"But the king is everything," said Beppo, "and I am nothing at
all."
"Great things come from small beginnings," said the princess; "a
big tree from a little seed."
Some little distance away from the river was the twinkle of a
light, and thither Beppo led the princess. When the two came to
it, they found it was a little hut, for there were fish-nets
hanging outside in the moonlight.
Beppo knocked.
An old woman opened the door. She stared and stared, as well she
might, to see the fine lady in silks and satins with a gold ring
upon her finger, and nobody with her but one who looked like a
poor beggar-man.
"Who are you and what do you want?" said the old woman.
"Who we are," said the princess, "does not matter, except that we
are honest folk in trouble. What we want is shelter for the night
and food to eat, and that we will pay for."
"Shelter I can give you," said the old woman, "but little else
but a crust of bread and a cup of water. One time there was
enough and plenty in the house; but now, since my husband has
gone and I am left all alone, it is little I have to eat and
drink. But such as I have to give you are welcome to."
Then Beppo and the princess went into the house.
The next morning the princess called Beppo to her. "Here," said
she, "is a ring and a letter. Go you into the town and inquire
for Sebastian the Goldsmith. He will know what to do."
Beppo took the ring and the letter and started off to town, and
it was not hard for him to find the man he sought, for every one
knew of Sebastian the Goldsmith. He was an old man, with a great
white beard and a forehead like the dome of a temple. He looked
at Beppo from head to foot with eyes as bright as those of a
snake; then he took the ring and the letter. As soon as he saw
the ring he raised it to his lips and kissed it; then he kissed
the letter also; then he opened it and read it.
He turned to Beppo and bowed very low. "My lord," said he, "I
will do as I am commanded. Will you be pleased to follow me?"
He led the way into an inner room. There were soft rugs upon the
floor, and around the walls were tapestries. There were couches
and silken cushions. Beppo wondered what it all meant.
Sebastian the Goldsmith clapped his hands together. A door
opened, and there came three black slaves into the room. The
Goldsmith spoke to them in a strange language, and the chief of
the three black slaves bowed in reply. Then he and the others led
Beppo into another room where there was a marble bath of tepid
water. They bathed him and rubbed him with soft linen towels;
then they shaved the beard from his cheeks and chin and trimmed
his hair; then they clothed him in fine linen and a plain suit of
gray and Beppo looked like a new man.
Then when all this was done the chief of the blacks conducted
Beppo back to Sebastian the Goldsmith. There was a fine feast
spread, with fruit and wine. Beppo sat down to it, and Sebastian
the Goldsmith stood and served him with a napkin over his arm.
Then Beppo was to return to the princess again.
A milk-white horse was waiting for him at the Goldsmith's door, a
servant holding the bridle, and Beppo mounted and rode away.
When he returned to the fisherman's hut the princess was waiting
for him. She had prepared a tray spread with a napkin, a cup of
milk, and some sweet cakes.
"Listen," said she; "to-day the king hunts in the forest over
yonder. Go you thither with this. The king will be hot and
thirsty, and weary with the chase. Offer him this refreshment. He
will eat and drink, and in gratitude he will offer you something
in return. Take nothing of him, but ask him this: that he allow
you once every three days to come to the palace, and that he
whisper these words in your ear so that no one else may hear
them--"A word, a word, only a few words; spoken ill, they are
ill; spoken well, they are more precious than gold and jewels.'"
"Why should I do that?" said Beppo.
"You will see," said the princess.
Beppo did not understand it at all, but the princess is a
princess and must be obeyed, and so he rode away on his horse at
her bidding.
It was as the princess had said: the king was hunting in the
forest, and when Beppo came there he could hear the shouts of the
men and the winding of horns and the baying of dogs. He waited
there for maybe an hour or more, and sometimes the sounds were
nearer and sometimes the sounds were farther away. Presently they
came nearer and nearer, and then all of a sudden the king came
riding out of the forest, the hounds hunting hither and thither,
and the lords and nobles and courtiers following him.
The king's face was flushed and heated with the chase, and his
forehead was bedewed with sweat. Beppo came forward and offered
the tray. The king wiped his face with the napkin, and then drank
the milk and ate three of the cakes.
"Who was it ordered you to bring this to me?" said he to Beppo.
"No one," said Beppo; "I brought it myself."
The king looked at Beppo and was grateful to him.
"Thou hast given me pleasure and comfort," said he; "ask what
thou wilt in return and if it is in reason thou shalt have it."
"I will have only this," said Beppo: "that your majesty will
allow me once every three days to come to the palace, and that
then you will take me aside and will whisper these words into my
ear so that no one else may hear them--A word, a word, only a
few words; spoken ill, they are ill; spoken well, they are more
precious than gold and jewels.'"
The king burst out laughing. "Why," said he, "what is this
foolish thing you ask of me? If you had asked for a hundred
pieces of gold you should have had them. Think better, friend,
and ask something of more worth than this foolish thing."
"Please your majesty," said Beppo, "I ask nothing else."
The king laughed again. "Then you shall have what you ask," said
he, and he rode away.
The next morning the princess said to Beppo: "This day you shall
go and claim the king's promise of him. Take this ring and this
letter again to Sebastian the Goldsmith. He will fit you with
clothes in which to appear before the king. Then go to the king's
palace that he may whisper those words he has to say into your
ear."
Once more Beppo went to Sebastian the Goldsmith, and the
Goldsmith kissed the princess's ring and letter, and read what
she had written.
Again the black slaves took Beppo to the bath, only this time
they clad him in a fine suit of velvet and hung a gold chain
around his neck. After that Sebastian the Goldsmith again served
a feast to Beppo, and waited upon him while he ate and drank.
In front of the house a noble horse, as black as jet, was waiting
to carry Beppo to the palace, and two servants dressed in velvet
livery were waiting to attend him.
So Beppo rode away, and many people stopped to look at him.
He came to the palace, and the king was giving audience. Beppo
went into the great audience-chamber. It was full of
people--lords and nobles and rich merchants and lawyers.
Beppo did not know how to come to the king, so he stood there and
waited and waited. The people looked at him and whispered to one
another: "Who is that young man?" "Whence comes he?" Then one
said: "Is not he the young man who served the king with cakes and
milk in the forest yesterday?"
Beppo stood there gazing at the king. By-and-by the king suddenly
looked up and caught sight of him. He gazed at Beppo for a moment
or two and then he knew him. Then he smiled and beckoned to him.
"Aye, my foolish benefactor," said he, aloud, "is it thou, and
art thou come so soon to redeem thy promise? Very well; come
hither, I have something to say to thee."
Beppo came forward, and everybody stared. He came close to the
king, and the king laid his hand upon his shoulder. Then he
leaned over to Beppo and whispered in his ear: "A word, a word,
only a few words; if they be spoken ill, they are ill; if they be
spoken well, they are more precious than gold and jewels." Then
he laughed. "Is that what you would have me say?" said he.
"Yes, majesty," said Beppo, and he bowed low and withdrew.
But, lo and behold, what a change!
Suddenly he was transformed in the eyes of the whole world. The
crowd drew back to allow him to pass, and everybody bowed low as
he went along.
"Did you not see the king whisper to him," said one. "What could
it be that the king said?" said another. "This must be a new
favorite," said a third.
He had come into the palace Beppo the Foolish; he went forth
Beppo the Great Man, and all because of a few words the king had
whispered in his ear.
Three days passed, and then Beppo went again to the Goldsmith's
with the ring and a letter from the princess. This time Sebastian
the Goldsmith fitted him with a suit of splendid plum-colored
silk and gave him a dappled horse, and again Beppo and his two
attendants rode away to the palace. And this time every one knew
him, and as he went up the steps into the palace all present
bowed to him. The king saw him as soon as he appeared, and when
he caught sight of him he burst out laughing.
"Aye," said he, "I was looking for thee today, and wondering how
soon thou wouldst come. Come hither till I whisper something in
thine ear."
Then all the lords and nobles and courtiers and ministers drew
back, and Beppo went up to the king.
The king laughed and laughed. He laid his arm over Beppo's
shoulder, and again he whispered in his ear: "A word, a word,
only a few words; if they be spoken ill, they are ill; if they be
spoken well, they are more precious than gold and jewels."
Then he released Beppo, and Beppo withdrew.
So it continued for three months. Every three days Beppo went to
the palace, and the king whispered the words in his ear. Beppo
said nothing to any one, and always went away as soon as the king
had whispered to him.
Then at last the princess said to him: "Now the time is ripe for
doing. Listen! To-day when you go to the palace fix your eyes,
when the king speaks to you, upon the prime-minister, and shake
your head. The prime-minister will ask you what the king said.
Say nothing to him but this: Alas, my poor friend!'"
It was all just as the princess had said.
The king was walking in the garden, with his courtiers and
ministers about him. Beppo came to him, and the king, as he
always did, laid his hand upon Beppo's shoulder and whispered in
his ear: "A word, a word, only a few words; if they be spoken
ill, they are ill; if they be spoken well, they are more precious
than gold and jewels."
While the king was saying these words to Beppo, Beppo was looking
fixedly at the prime-minister. While he did so he shook his head
three times. Then he bowed low and walked away.
He had not gone twenty paces before some one tapped him upon the
arm; it was the prime-minister. Beppo gazed fixedly at him.
"Alas, my poor friend!" said he.
The prime-minister turned pale. "It was, then, as I thought,"
said he. "The king spoke about me. Will you not tell me what he
said?"
Beppo shook his head. "Alas, my poor friend!" said he, and then
he walked on.
The prime-minister still followed him.
"My lord," said he, "I have been aware that his majesty has not
been the same to me for more than a week past. If it was about
the princess, pray tell his majesty that I meant nothing ill when
I spoke of her to him."
Beppo shook his head. "Alas, my poor friend!" he said.
The prime-minister's lips trembled. "My lord," said he, "I have
always had the kindest regard for you, and if there is anything
in my power that I can do for you I hope you will command me. I
know how much you are in his majesty's confidence. Will you not
speak a few words to set the matter straight?"
Beppo again shook his head. "Alas, my poor friend!" said he, and
then he got upon his horse and rode away.
Three days passed.
"This morning," said the princess, "when you go to the king, look
at the prime-minister when the king speaks to you, and smile. The
prime-minister will again speak to you, and this time say, It is
well, and I wish you joy.' Take what he gives you, for it will be
of use."
Again all happened just as the princess said.
Beppo came to the palace, and again the king whispered in his
ear. As he did so Beppo looked at the prime-minister and smiled,
and then he withdrew.
The prime-minister followed him. He trembled. "It is well," said
Beppo, "and I wish you joy."
The prime-minister grasped his hand and wrung it. "My lord," said
he, "how can I express my gratitude! The palace of my son that
stands by the river--I would that you would use it for your
own, if I may be so bold as to offer it to you."
"I will," said Beppo, "use it as my own."
The prime-minister wrung his hand again, and then Beppo rode
away.
The next time that Beppo spoke to the king, at the princess's
bidding, he looked at the lord-treasurer, and said, as he had
said to the prime-minister, "Alas, my poor friend!"
When he rode away he left the lord-treasurer as white as ashes to
the very lips.
Three days passed, and then, while the king talked to Beppo,
Beppo looked at the lord-treasurer and smiled.
The lord-treasurer followed him to the door of the palace.
"It is well, and I wish you joy," said Beppo.
The treasurer offered him a fortune.
The next time it was the same with the captain of the guards.
First Beppo pitied him, and then he wished him joy.
"My lord," said the captain of the guards, "my services are yours
at any time."
Then the same thing happened to the governor of the city, then to
this lord, and then to that lord.
Beppo grew rich and powerful beyond measure.
Then one day the princess said: "Now we will go into the town,
and to the palace of the prime-minister's son, which the
prime-minister gave you, for the time is ripe for the end."
In a few days all the court knew that Beppo was living like a
prince in the prime-minister's palace. The king began to wonder
what it all meant, and how all such good-fortune had come to
Beppo. He had grown very tired of always speaking to Beppo the
same words.
But Beppo was now great among the great; all the world paid court
to him, and bowed down to him, almost as they did before the
king.
"Now," said the princess, "the time has come to strike. Bid all
the councillors, and all the lords, and all the nobles to meet
here three days hence, for it is now or never that you shall win
all and become king."
Beppo did as she bade. He asked all of the great people of the
kingdom to come to him, and they came. When they were all
gathered together at Beppo's house, they found two thrones set as
though for a king and a queen, but there was no sign of Beppo,
and everybody wondered what it all meant.
Suddenly the door opened and Beppo came into the room, leading by
the hand a lady covered with a veil from head to foot.
Everybody stopped speaking and stood staring while Beppo led the
veiled lady up to one of the thrones. He seated himself upon the
other.
The lady stood up and dropped her veil, and then every one knew
her.
It was the princess. "Do you not know me?" said she; "I am the
queen, and this is my husband. He is your king."
All stood silent for a moment, and then a great shout went up.
"Long live the queen! Long live the king!"
The princess turned to the captain of the guards. "You have
offered your services to my husband," said she; "his commands and
my commands are that you march to the palace and cast out him who
hath no right there."
"It shall be done," said the captain of the guards.
All the troops were up in arms, and the town was full of tumult
and confusion. About midnight they brought the false king before
King Beppo and the queen. The false king stood there trembling
like a leaf. The queen stood gazing at him steadily. "Behold,
this is the husband that thou gavest me," said she. "It is as I
said; he is greater than thou. For, lo, he is king! What art
thou?"
The false king was banished out of the country, and the poor
fisherman's wife, who had entertained the princess for all this
time, came to live at the palace, where all was joy and
happiness.
"Friend," said St. George, "I like your story. Ne'th'less, tis
like a strolling pedler, in that it carries a great deal of ills
to begin with, to get rid of them all before it gets to the end
of
its journey. However, tis as you say--it ends with everybody
merry and feasting, and so I like it. But now methinks our little
friend yonder is big with a story of his own"; and he pointed, as
he spoke, with the stem of his pipe to a little man whom I knew
was the brave Tailor who had killed seven flies at a blow, for he
still had around his waist the belt with the legend that he
himself had worked upon it.
"Aye," piped the Tailor in a keen, high voice, "tis true I have
a story inside of me. Tis about another tailor who had a great,
big, black, ugly demon to wait upon him and to sew his clothes
for him."
"And the name of that story, my friend," said the Soldier who had
cheated the Devil, "is what?"
"It hath no name," piped the little Tailor, "but I will give it
one, and it shall be--
Woman's Wit.
When man's strength fails, woman's wit prevails.
In the days when the great and wise King Solomon lived and ruled,
evil spirits and demons were as plentiful in the world as wasps
in summer.
So King Solomon, who was so wise and knew so many potent spells
that he had power over evil such as no man has had before or
since, set himself to work to put those enemies of mankind out of
the way. Some he conjured into bottles, and sank into the depths
of the sea; some he buried in the earth; some he destroyed
altogether, as one burns hair in a candle-flame.
Now, one pleasant day when King Solomon was walking in his garden
with his hands behind his back, and his thoughts busy as bees
with this or that, he came face to face with a Demon, who was a
prince of his kind. "Ho, little man!" cried the evil spirit, in a
loud voice, "art not thou the wise King Solomon who conjures my
brethren into brass chests and glass bottles? Come, try a fall at
wrestling with me, and whoever conquers shall be master over the
other for all time. What do you say to such an offer as that?"
"I say aye!" said King Solomon, and, without another word, he
stripped off his royal robes and stood bare breasted, man to man
with the other.
The world never saw the like of that wrestling match betwixt the
king and the Demon, for they struggled and strove together from
the seventh hour in the morning to the sunset in the evening, and
during that time the sky was clouded over as black as night, and
the lightning forked and shot, and the thunder roared and
bellowed, and the earth shook and quaked.
But at last the king gave the enemy an under twist, and flung him
down on the earth so hard that the apples fell from the trees;
and then, panting and straining, he held the evil one down, knee
on neck. Thereupon the sky presently cleared again, and all was
as pleasant as a spring day.
King Solomon bound the Demon with spells, and made him serve him
for seven years. First, he had him build a splendid palace, the
like of which was not to be seen within the bounds of the seven
rivers; then he made him set around the palace a garden, such as
I for one wish I may see some time or other. Then, when the Demon
had done all that the king wished, the king conjured him into a
bottle, corked it tightly, and set the royal seal on the stopper.
Then he took the bottle a thousand miles away into the
wilderness, and, when no man was looking, buried it in the
ground, and this is the way the story begins.
Well, the years came and the years went, and the world grew older
and older, and kept changing (as all things do but two), so that
by-and-by the wilderness where King Solomon had hid the bottle
became a great town, with people coming and going, and all as
busy as bees about their own business and other folks' affairs.
Among these towns-people was a little Tailor, who made clothes
for many a worse man to wear, and who lived all alone in a little
house with no one to darn his stockings for him, and no one to
meddle with his coming and going, for he was a bachelor.
The little Tailor was a thrifty soul, and by hook and crook had
laid by enough money to fill a small pot, and then he had to
bethink himself of some safe place to hide it. So one night he
took a spade and a lamp and went out in the garden to bury his
money. He drove his spade into the ground--and click! He struck
something hard that rang under his foot with a sound as of iron.
"Hello!" said he, "what have we here?" and if he had known as
much as you and I do, he would have filled in the earth, and
tramped it down, and have left that plate of broth for somebody
else to burn his mouth with.
As it was, he scraped away the soil, and then he found a box of
adamant, with a ring in the lid to lift it by. The Tailor
clutched the ring and bent his back, and up came the box with the
damp earth sticking to it. He cleaned the mould away, and there
he saw, written in red letters, these words:
"Open not."
You may be sure that after he had read these words he was not
long in breaking open the lid of the box with his spade.
Inside the first box he found a second, and upon it the same
words:
"Open not."
Within the second box was another, and within that still another,
until there were seven in all, and on each was written the same
words:
"Open not."
Inside the seventh box was a roll of linen, and inside that a
bottle filled with nothing but blue smoke; and I wish that bottle
had burned the Tailor's fingers when he touched it.
"And is this all?" said the little Tailor, turning the bottle
upside down and shaking it, and peeping at it by the light of the
lamp. "Well, since I have gone so far I might as well open it, as
I have already opened the seven boxes." Thereupon he broke the
seal that stoppered it.
Pop! out flew the cork, and--puff! out came the smoke; not all
at once, but in a long thread that rose up as high as the stars,
and then spread until it hid their light.
The Tailor stared and goggled and gaped to see so much smoke come
out of such a little bottle, and, as he goggled and stared, the
smoke began to gather together again, thicker and thicker, and
darker and darker, until it was as black as ink. Then out from it
there stepped one with eyes that shone like sparks of fire, and
who had a countenance so terrible that the Tailor's skin quivered
and shrivelled, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth at
the sight of it.
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