Part 35 (1/2)
As for the queen, she had regained her co the prince wait for her a moment, she hastened to her chaic, and in it she soon found who the prince was and how the ring had saved him
When she had learned all that she wanted to know she put on a s face and came back to him ”Ah, prince,” said she, ”I well knoho you are, for your co to s to-night I will unfold all the wonder to you another tiain?”
”Yes,” said the prince, ”I will come whensoever you bid me;” for he was curious to know the secret of the statue and the strange things he had seen
”And will you not give
”What pledge shall I give you,” said the prince
”Give er,” said the queen; and she sly that the prince could not have refused her had he desired to do so
Alas for hi and gave it to the queen, and she slipped it upon her finger
”O fool!” she cried, laughing a wicked laugh, ”O fool! to give away that in which your safety lay!” As she spoke she dipped her fingers into a basin of water that stood near by and dashed the drops into the prince's face ”Be a raven,” she cried, ”and a raven reer, but a coal-black raven
The queen snatched up a sword that lay near by and struck at him to kill him But the raven-prince leaped aside and the blow ood luck astood open, and before the queen could strike again he spread his wings and flew out of the open caseone
On he flew and on he flew until he came to the old man's house, and so to the roo He lit upon the ground at the old man's feet and tried to tell him what had befallen, but all that he could say was ”Croak! croak!”
”What brings this bird of ill omen?” said the old man, and he drew his sword to kill it He raised his hand to strike, but the raven did not try to fly away as he had expected, but bowed his neck to receive the stroke Then the olddown fro is this?” he said ”Surely nothing but the living soul weeps; and how, then, can this bird shed tears?” So he took the raven up and looked into his eyes, and in theives e has happened Tell me, is this not my foster-son, the prince?”
The raven answered ”Croak!” and nothing else; but the good old man understood it all, and the tears ran down his cheeks and trickled over his beard ”Whether man or raven, you shall still be my son,” said he, and he held the raven close in his are made for the bird, and every day he would ith it in the garden, talking to it as a father talks to his son
One day when they were thus in the garden together a strange lady came towards them down the pathway Over her had and face was drawn a thick veil, so that the two could not tell who she was When she came close to them she raised the veil, and the raven-prince saw that her face was the living likeness of the queen's; and yet there was so in it that was different It was the second sister of the queen, and the old man knew her and bowed before her
”Listen,” said she ”I knohat the raven is, and that it is the prince, whoic as she, and it is that alone that has saved s close over me; the queen only waits for the chance to bewitch er than I With the prince's aid I can overcome her and ht e the prince back into his true shape again, and I will do so if he will aid me in what follows, and this is it: I will conjure the queen, and by-and-by a great eagle will coht Then I e, and ill fight in the air After a while ill both fall to the ground, and then the prince le with a knife I shall give hi to the raven, ”if I transform you to your true shape?”
The raven bowed his head and said ”Croak!” And the sister of the queen knew that hekeen knife froround ”It is with this knife of le's head” Then the witch-princess gathered up so it into the raven's face
”Resume,” cried she, ”your own shape!” And in an instant the prince was hi the sister of the queen did was to draw a circle upon the ground around the prince, the old ures here and there Then, all three standing close together, she began her conjurations, uttering strange words--now under her breath, and now clear and loud
Presently the sky darkened, and it began to thunder and rurew and darker, and the thunder crashed and roared The earth trembled under their feet, and the trees swayed hither and thither as though tossed by a terew as still as death, the clouds rolled away, and in a moment the sun shone out once more, and all was calm and serene as it had been before But still the princess muttered her conjurations, and as the prince and the old er, until they saw that it was an eagle as black as night that was coh the sky Then the queen's sister also saw it and ceased from her spells She drew a little cap of feathers fro hands ”Re, clapped the feather cap upon her head In an instant she herself becas, leaped into the air
For a while the two eagles circled around and around; but at last they dashed against one another, and, grappling with their talons, turound close to the tho stood looking
Then the prince snatched the knife fro ”Which was I to kill?” said he to the old man
”Are they not birds of a feather?” cried the foster-father ”Kill them both, for then only shall we all be safe”
The prince needed no second telling to see the wisdom of what the old man said In an instant he struck off the heads of both the eagles, and thus put an end to both sorceresses, the lesser as well as the greater