Part 12 (1/2)
”I told you, brother, I'd come again if you needed my help. I was just in time for a little longer and I could never have brought you back to life. And now, brother, the enchantment that held me is broken and I need no longer go about as a Little Lame Fox. My mother was a wicked witch and she enchanted me because she was angry with me for saving a man whom she wanted to kill. So she turned me into a little fox and she said I should have to remain a fox forever unless I succeeded in bringing back to life my benefactor. You are my benefactor, Janko, for you shared your bread and cheese with me the first time we met, and now I have been able to bring you back to life.”
As she spoke she changed into a lovely maiden.
”Good-by, Janko,” she said. ”Go home now and tell your father how your evil brothers have treated you. Unless you do this they will plot against the Golden Maiden and you may not be able to protect her.”
So Janko and the maiden kissed each other as a brother and sister might and the maiden went her way and Janko returned to his father's house.
The Golden Maiden and the old farmer were not in the least surprised to see him for things were so happy again that they just knew it must be because Janko was coming back. But his two brothers when they caught sight of him alive and well were so frightened that they took to their heels and ran off as fast as they could go and what's more they've never shown themselves since. And good riddance, too, I say, for they were wicked evil fellows and would only have injured Janko further if they could.
When Janko told his father all the wicked things they had done, the old farmer could scarcely believe his ears.
”And to think,” he said, ”I had been hoping the Golden Maiden would marry one of them! Mercy me! Mercy me!”
”But, father,” the Golden Maiden said--she called him _father_ now and it pleased him mightily; ”father, I should rather marry Janko!”
”Marry Janko!” the farmer cried. ”Why, my dear, Janko is a stupid lad, not nearly so clever as his two brothers!”
”I don't care if he is stupid. He's got a good heart and that's more than the other two have. And besides that he's got a brave heart for he rescued me from the dark cavern and he faced the awful ghost that stood over my Golden Cradle. Why, father, I'd rather marry Janko than any prince in the world!”
You can imagine Janko's feelings when he heard this!
”I'd feel like a prince if you did marry me, dear Golden One!” he cried.
Well, she did marry him, and sure enough he did feel like a prince. What prince, I'd like to know, had a lovelier bride? None! And was there any prince in the world whose bride brought him greater riches than the Golden Apple-Tree, the Golden Horse, and Golden Cradle? No, not one! And furthermore the farmer promised that, when he died, he would leave him the Magic Grape-Vine.
So Janko lived happy and prosperous. And it all came about through his having a good honest heart.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
THE ENCHANTED PEAFOWL
[Ill.u.s.tration]
_The Story of the Golden Apples, the Wicked Dragon, and the Magic Horse_
THE ENCHANTED PEAFOWL
_Have you ever heard the story of the Peafowl who became a Queen and of the Tsar's Youngest Son who married her? Well, here it is:_
There was once a Tsar who took great delight in his garden. Every morning you could see him bending over his flowers or picking the fruit of his favorite tree. This was an apple-tree that had the magic property of bearing buds, blossoms, and golden fruit every twenty-four hours. It was known as the golden apple-tree. In the morning the first thing when he woke up the Tsar would look out his bedroom window to see that all was well with his beloved tree.
One morning when as usual he looked out he was grieved to see that the tree had been stripped of all the golden fruit which had ripened during the night.
”Who has stolen my golden apples?” he cried.
The palace guards looked everywhere for some trace of the thief but found nothing.
The next morning the same thing had happened and every morning thereafter when the Tsar looked out of his bedroom window he saw that the tree had again been stripped of its golden fruit.