Part 34 (2/2)
It was of no use for the old man to tell the officer that the youth was not his son, but was a prince who had come to visit that country The officer drew forth his tablets and wrote so the old”Ah, me!” said he, ”h, before three days had passed a bidding caht
When evening drew near a troop of horse a white horse with a saddle and bridle of gold studded with precious stones, to take the prince to the queen's palace
As soon as they had brought hiolden table spread with a snohite cloth and set with dishes of gold At the end of the table the queen sat waiting for hiauze She raised the veil and looked at the prince, and when he saw her face he stood as one wonder-struck, for not only was she so beautiful, but she set a spell upon him with the evil charm of her eyes No one sat at the table but the queen and the prince, and a score of young pages served theallery
At last ca sounded from the court-yard outside Then in an instant the es that served them hurried from the room, and presently all was as still as death
Then, when all were gone, the queen arose and beckoned the prince, and he had no choice but to arise also and follohither she led She took hirave, and so caarden Beside the postern a torch burned in a bracket The queen took it down, and then led the prince up a path and under the silent trees until they cah stone She pressed her hand upon one of the great stones, and it opened like a door, and there was a flight of steps that led doard The queen descended these steps, and the prince followed closely behind her
At the bottoe-way, and at the farther end the prince sahat looked like a bright spark of light, as though the sun were shi+ning She thrust the torch into another bracket in the wall of the passage, and then led the way towards the light It grew larger and larger as they went forward, until at last they came out at the farther end, and there the prince found hiht and not far from the seashore The queen led the way towards the shore, when suddenly a great nu and snapping, and showing their teeth as though they would tear the two in pieces But the queen drew fros caht and left, till the skin flew and the blood ran, and the dogs leaped away howling and yelping
At the edge of the water was a great stone mill, and the queen pointed towards it and bade the prince turn it Strong as he was, it was as h the sweat ran down his face in streams By-and-by a speck appeared far away upon the water; and as the prince ground and ground at theupon the water, and it came nearer and nearer as swiftly as the wind At last it cah for him to see that it was a little boat all of brass By-and-by the boat struck upon the beach, and as soon as it did so the queen entered it, bidding the prince do the same
No sooner were they seated than away the boat went, still as swiftly as the wind On it flew and on it flew, until at last they came to another shore, the like of which the prince had never seen in his life before
Down to the edge of the water ran a garden--but such a garden! The leaves of the trees were all of silver and the fruit of gold, and instead of floere precious stones--white, red, yellow, blue, and green--that flashed like sparks of sunlight as the breeze moved theolden fruit, was a great palace as white as snow, and so bright that one had to shut one's eyes as one looked upon it
The boat ran up on the beach close to just such a stone mill as the prince had seen upon the other side of the water, and then he and the queen stepped ashore As soon as they had done so the brazen boat floated swiftly away, and in a little while was gone
”Here our journey ends,” said the queen ”Is it not a wonderful land, and orth the seeing? Look at all these jewels and this gold, as plenty as fruits and flowers at ho them I have another matter after which I ain”
So saying, she turned and left the prince, going towards the castle back of the trees
But the prince was a prince, and not a coold and jewels What he did care for was to see where the queen went, and why she had brought hione, he followed after
He went along under the gold and silver trees, in the direction she had taken, until at last he caht of steps that led up to the doorway of the snohite palace The door stood open, and into it the prince went He saw not a soul, but he heard a noise as of blows and the sound as of so He followed the sound, until by-and-by he careat vaulted roo at the doorway The prince lifted it and peeped within, and this hat he saw:
In the middle of the room was a marble basin of water as clear as crystal, and around the sides of the basin were these words, written in letters of gold:
”Whatsoever is False, that I make True”
Beside the fountain upon a marble stand stood a statue of a beautiful woman made of alabaster, and around the neck of the statue was a thread of gold The queen stood beside the statue, and beat and beat it with her steel-tipped whip And all the while she lashed it the statue sighed and groaned like a living being, and the tears ran down its stone cheeks as though it were a suffering Christian By-and-by the queen rested for a old?” and the statue answered ”No” Whereupon she fell to raining blows upon it as she had done before
So she continued, now beating the statue and now asking it whether it would give her the thread of gold, to which the statue always answered ”No,” and all the while the prince stood gazing and wondering By-and-by the queen wearied of what she was doing, and thrust the steel-tipped lash back into her boso that she was done, hurried back to the garden where she had left hiolden fruit and jewel flowers
The queen said nothing to hireat stone mill as he had done on the other side of the water Thereupon the prince did as she bade, and presently the brazen boat caain the queen and the prince entered it, and again it carried them to the other side whence they had come
No sooner had the queen set foot upon the shore than she stopped and gathered up a handful of sand Then, turning as quick as lightning, she flung it into the prince's face ”Be a black dog,” she cried in a loud voice, ”and join your co that the prince's ood stead But for it he would have beco like those others, for thus it had happened to all before him who had ferried the witch queen over the water So she expected to see hi, as those others had done; but the prince re her in the face
When the queen saw that her rew as pale as death, and fell to tre in every limb She turned and hastened quickly away, and the prince followed her wondering, for he neither knew thehad saved him from the fate of those others
So they cah the stone wall into the palace garden The queen pressed her hand against the stone and it turned back into its place again Then, beckoning to the prince, she hurried away down the garden Before he followed he picked up a coal that lay near by, and put a cross upon the stone; then he hurried after her, and so came to the palace once , and the dawn of day was just beginning to show over the roof-tops and the chimney-stacks of the town