Part 19 (1/2)

”'Never mind that,' said the first old hag; 'it will cook itself while you are away. Stop with me, and I will pay you better still. Here have I stood and called and bawled for a hundred years, but no one has ever heeded me but you.'

”The end was he had to go with her to another sister, and when he got there the old hag said he was to be sure and ask for the old sword, which was such that he could put it into his pocket and it became a knife, and when he drew it out it was a long sword again. One edge was black and the other white; and if he smote with the black edge everything fell dead, and if with the white everything came to life again. So when they came over, and the second old witch heard how he had helped her sister across, she said he might have anything he chose to ask for her fare.

”'Oh,' said the lad, 'then I will have nothing else but that old sword which hangs up over the cupboard.'

”'That you never asked out of your own wits,' said the old witch; but for all that he got the sword.

”Then the old hag said again, 'Come on with me to my third sister. Here have I stood and called and bawled for a hundred years, and no one has heeded me but you. Come on to my third sister, and you shall have better pay still.'

”So he went with her, and on the way she told him he was to ask for the old hymn-book; and that was such a book that when any one was sick and the nurse sang one of the hymns, the sickness pa.s.sed away, and they were well again. Well! when they got across, and the third old witch heard he had helped her sister across, she said he was to have whatever he chose to ask for his fare.

”'Oh,' said the lad, 'then I won't have anything else but granny's old hymn-book.'

”'That,' said the old hag, 'you never asked out of your own wits.'

”When he got back to the s.h.i.+p the crew were still at church, so he tried his table-cloth, and spread just a little bit of it out, for he wanted to see what good it was before he laid it on the table. Yes! in a trice, it was covered with good food and strong drink; enough, and to spare. So he just took a little snack, and then he gave the s.h.i.+p's dog as much as it could eat.

”When the church-goers came on board, the captain said, 'Wherever did you get all that food for the dog? Why, he's as round as a sausage, and as lazy as a snail.'

”'Oh, if you must know,' said the lad, 'I gave him the bones.'

”'Good boy,' said the captain, 'to think of the dog.'

”So he spread out the cloth, and at once the whole table was covered all over with such brave meat and drink as they had never before seen in all their born days.

”Now when the boy was again alone with the dog, he wanted to try the sword, so he smote at the dog with the black edge, and it fell dead on the deck; but when he turned the blade and smote with the white edge, the dog came to life again and wagged his tail and fawned on his playmate. But the book,--that he could not get tried just then.

”Then they sailed well and far till a storm overtook them, which lasted many days; so they lay to and drove till they were quite out of their course, and could not tell where they were. At last the wind fell, and then they came to a country far, far off, that none of them knew; but they could easily see there was great grief there, as well there might be, for the king's daughter was a leper. The king came down to the sh.o.r.e, and asked was there any one on board who could cure her and make her well again.

”'No, there was not.' That was what they all said who were on deck.

”'Is there no one else on board the s.h.i.+p than those I see?' asked the king.

”'Yes; there's a little beggar boy.'

”'Well,' said the king, 'let him come on deck.'

”So when he came, and heard what the king wanted, he said he thought he might cure her; and then the captain got so wrath and mad with rage that he ran round and round like a squirrel in a cage, for he thought the boy was only putting himself forward to do something in which he was sure to fail, and he told the king not to listen to such childish chatter.

”But the king only said that wit came as children grew, and that there was the making of a man in every bairn. The boy had said he could do it, and he might as well try. After all, there were many who had tried and failed before him. So he took him home to his daughter, and the lad sang an hymn once. Then the princess could lift her arm. Once again he sang it, and she could sit up in bed. And when he had sung it thrice the king's daughter was as well as you and I are.

”The king was so glad, he wanted to give him half his kingdom and the princess to wife.

”'Yes,' said the lad, 'land and power were fine things to have half of, and was very grateful; but as for the princess, he was betrothed to another,' he said, 'and he could not take her to wife.'

”So he stayed there awhile, and got half the kingdom; and when he had not been very long there, war broke out, and the lad went out to battle with the rest, and you may fancy he did not spare the black edge of his sword. The enemy's soldiers fell before him like flies, and the king won the day. But when they had conquered, he turned the white edge, and they all rose up alive and became the king's soldiers, who had granted them their lives. But then there were so many of them that they were badly off for food, though the king wished to send them away full, both of meat and drink. So the lad had to bring out his table-cloth, and then there was not a man that lacked anything.

”Now when he had lived a little longer with the king, he began to long to see the lord mayor's daughter. So he fitted out four s.h.i.+ps of war and set sail; and when he came off the town where the lord mayor lived, he fired off his cannon like thunder, till half the panes of gla.s.s in the town were s.h.i.+vered. On board those s.h.i.+ps everything was as grand as in a king's palace; and as for himself, he had gold on every seam of his coat, so fine he was. It was not long before the lord mayor came down to the sh.o.r.e and asked if the foreign lord would not be so good as to come up and dine with him. 'Yes, he would go,' he said; and so he went up to the mansion-house where the lord mayor lived, and there he took his seat between the lady mayoress and her daughter.