Part 7 (1/2)

But, for all that, he did not forget his friends. He asked the old woman where they were, and she took him into a room at the end of the pa.s.sage, which was so dark that one could scarcely see in it, and so low that one could scarcely stand upright.

In this dismal chamber stood two blocks of stone.

”One can unlock doors, young Master,” said the old woman, shaking her head forebodingly, ”but 'tis hard work to try to turn cauld stane back to flesh and blood.”

”Nevertheless, I will do it,” said the youth, and, lifting his little wand, he touched each of the stone pillars lightly on the top.

Instantly the hard stone seemed to soften and melt away, and the two brothers started into life and form again. Their grat.i.tude to their friend, who had risked so much to save them, knew no bounds, while he, on his part, was delighted to think that his efforts had been successful.

The next thing to do was to convey the Princess and the other ladies (who were all n.o.blemen's daughters) back to the King's Court, and this they did next day.

King Malcolm was so overjoyed to see his dearly loved daughter, whom he had given up for dead, safe and sound, and so grateful to her deliverer, that he said that he should become his son-in-law and marry the Princess, and come and live with them at Court. Which all came to pa.s.s in due time; while as for the two other young men, they married n.o.blemen's daughters, and the two old mothers came to live near their sons, and everyone was as happy as they could possibly be.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE SEAL CATCHER AND THE MERMAN

Once upon a time there was a man who lived not very far from John o'

Groat's house, which, as everyone knows, is in the very north of Scotland. He lived in a little cottage by the sea-sh.o.r.e, and made his living by catching seals and selling their fur, which is very valuable.

He earned a good deal of money in this way, for these creatures used to come out of the sea in large numbers, and lie on the rocks near his house basking in the suns.h.i.+ne, so that it was not difficult to creep up behind them and kill them.

Some of those seals were larger than others, and the country people used to call them ”Roane,” and whisper that they were not seals at all, but Mermen and Merwomen, who came from a country of their own, far down under the ocean, who a.s.sumed this strange disguise in order that they might pa.s.s through the water, and come up to breathe the air of this earth of ours.

But the seal catcher only laughed at them, and said that those seals were most worth killing, for their skins were so big that he got an extra price for them.

Now it chanced one day, when he was pursuing his calling, that he stabbed a seal with his hunting-knife, and whether the stroke had not been sure enough or not, I cannot say, but with a loud cry of pain the creature slipped off the rock into the sea, and disappeared under the water, carrying the knife along with it.

The seal catcher, much annoyed at his clumsiness, and also at the loss of his knife, went home to dinner in a very downcast frame of mind. On his way he met a horseman, who was so tall and so strange-looking and who rode on such a gigantic horse, that he stopped and looked at him in astonishment, wondering who he was, and from what country he came.

The stranger stopped also, and asked him his trade and on hearing that he was a seal catcher, he immediately ordered a great number of seal skins. The seal catcher was delighted, for such an order meant a large sum of money to him. But his face fell when the horseman added that it was absolutely necessary that the skins should be delivered that evening.

”I cannot do it,” he said in a disappointed voice, ”for the seals will not come back to the rocks again until to-morrow morning.”

”I can take you to a place where there are any number of seals,”

answered the stranger, ”if you will mount behind me on my horse and come with me.”

The seal catcher agreed to this, and climbed up behind the rider, who shook his bridle rein, and off the great horse galloped at such a pace that he had much ado to keep his seat.

On and on they went, flying like the wind, until at last they came to the edge of a huge precipice, the face of which went sheer down to the sea. Here the mysterious horseman pulled up his steed with a jerk.

”Get off now,” he said shortly.

The seal catcher did as he was bid, and when he found himself safe on the ground, he peeped cautiously over the edge of the cliff, to see if there were any seals lying on the rocks below.

To his astonishment he saw no rocks, only the blue sea, which came right up to the foot of the cliff.