Twilight Land Read online

  The Stool of Fortune

  Once upon a time there came a soldier marching along the road,kicking up a little cloud of dust at each step--as strapping andmerry and bright-eyed a fellow as you would wish to see in a summerday. Tramp! tramp! tramp! he marched, whistling as he jogged along,though he carried a heavy musket over his shoulder and though thesun shone hot and strong and there was never a tree in sight togive him a bit of shelter.

  At last he came in sight of the King’s Town and to a great field ofstocks and stones, and there sat a little old man as withered andbrown as a dead leaf, and clad all in scarlet from head to foot.

  “Ho! soldier,” said he, “are you a good shot?”

  “Aye,” said the soldier, “that is my trade.”

  “Would you like to earn a dollar by shooting off your musket forme?”

  “Aye,” said the soldier, “that is my trade also.”

  “Very well, then,” said the little man in red, “here is a silverbutton to drop into your gun instead of a bullet. Wait you here,and about sunset there will come a great black bird flying. In oneclaw it carries a feather cap and in the other a round stone. Shootme the silver button at that bird, and if your aim is good it willdrop the feather cap and the pebble. Bring them to me to the greattown-gate and I will pay you a dollar for your trouble.”

  “Very well,” said the soldier, “shooting my gun is a job that fitsme like an old coat.” So, down he sat and the old man went his way.

  Well, there he sat and sat and sat and sat until the sun touchedthe rim of the ground, and then, just as the old man said, therecame flying a great black bird as silent as night. The soldier didnot tarry to look or to think. As the bird flew by up came thegun to his shoulder, squint went his eye along the barrel--Puff!Bang!--

  I vow and declare that if the shot he fired had cracked the sky hecould not have been more frightened. The great black bird gave ayell so terrible that it curdled the very blood in his veins andmade his hair stand upon end. Away it flew like a flash--a birdno longer, but a great, black demon, smoking and smelling mosthorribly of brimstone, and when the soldier gathered his wits,there lay the feather cap and a little, round, black stone upon theground.

  “Well,” said the soldier, “it is little wonder that the old man hadno liking to shoot at such game as that.” And thereupon he poppedthe feather cap into one pocket and the round stone into another,and shouldering his musket marched away until he reached thetown-gate, and there was the old man waiting for him.

  “Did you shoot the bird?” said he.

  “I did,” said the soldier.

  “And did you get the cap and the round stone?”

  “I did.”

  “Then here is your dollar.”

  “Wait a bit,” said the soldier, “I shot greater game that timethan I bargained for, and so it’s ten dollars and not one you shallpay me before you lay finger upon the feather cap and the littlestone.”

  “Very well,” said the old man, “here are ten dollars.”

  “Ho! ho!” thought the soldier, “is that the way the windblows?”--“Did I say ten dollars?” said he; “’twas a hundreddollars I meant.”

  At that the old man frowned until his eyes shone green. “Verywell,” said he, “if it is a hundred dollars you want, you will haveto come home with me, for I have not so much with me.” Thereupon heentered the town with the soldier at his heels.

  Up one street he went and down another, until at last he came toa great, black, ancient, ramshackle house; and that was where helived. In he walked without so much as a rap at the door, and soled the way to a great room with furnaces and books and bottlesand jars and dust and cobwebs, and three grinning skulls upon themantelpiece, each with a candle stuck atop of it, and there he leftthe soldier while he went to get the hundred dollars.

  The soldier sat him down upon a three-legged stool in the cornerand began staring about him; and he liked the looks of the place aslittle as any he had seen in all of his life, for it smelled mustyand dusty, it did: the three skulls grinned at him, and he began tothink that the little old man was no better than he should be. “Iwish,” says he, at last, “that instead of being here I might bewell out of my scrape and in a safe place.”

  Now the little old man in scarlet was a great magician, and therewas little or nothing in that house that had not some magic aboutit, and of all things the three-legged stool had been conjured themost.

  “I wish that instead of being here I might be well out of myscrape, and in a safe place.” That was what the soldier said; andhardly had the words left his lips when--whisk! whir!--away flewthe stool through the window, so suddenly that the soldier had onlyjust time enough to gripe it tight by the legs to save himself fromfalling. Whir! whiz!--away it flew like a bullet. Up and up itwent--so high in the air that the earth below looked like a blackblanket spread out in the night; and then down it came again,with the soldier still griping tight to the legs, until at last itsettled as light as a feather upon a balcony of the king’s palace;and when the soldier caught his wind again he found himself withouta hat, and with hardly any wits in his head.

  There he sat upon the stool for a long time without daring to move,for he did not know what might happen to him next. There he sat andsat, and by-and-by his ears got cold in the night air, and thenhe noticed for the first time that he had lost his head gear, andbethought himself of the feather cap in his pocket. So out he drewit and clapped it upon his head, and then--lo and behold!--he foundhe had become as invisible as thin air--not a shred or a hair ofhim could be seen. “Well!” said he, “here is another wonder, but Iam safe now at any rate.” And up he got to find some place not socool as where he sat.

  He stepped in at an open window, and there he found himself ina beautiful room, hung with cloth of silver and blue, and withchairs and tables of white and gold; dozens and scores of waxlightsshone like so many stars, and lit every crack and cranny as brightas day, and there at one end of the room upon a couch, with hereyelids closed and fast asleep, lay the prettiest princess thatever the sun shone upon. The soldier stood and looked and lookedat her, and looked and looked at her, until his heart melted withinhim like soft butter, and then he kissed her.

  “Who is that?” said the princess, starting up, wide-awake, but nota soul could she see, because the soldier had the feather cap uponhis head.

  “Who is that?” said she again; and then the soldier answered, butwithout taking the feather cap from his head.

  “It is I,” said he, “and I am King of the Wind, and ten timesgreater than the greatest of kings here below. One day I saw youwalking in your garden and fell in love with you, and now I havecome to ask you if you will marry me and be my wife?”

  “But how can I marry you?” said the princess, “without seeing you?”

  “You shall see me,” said the soldier, “all in good time. Three daysfrom now I will come again, and will show myself to you, but justnow it cannot be. But if I come, will you marry me?”

  “Yes I will,” said the princess, “for I like the way you talk--thatI do!”

  Thereupon the soldier kissed her and said good-bye, and thenstepped out of the window as he had stepped in. He sat him downupon his three-legged stool. “I wish,” said he, “to be carried tosuch and such a tavern.” For he had been in that town before, andknew the places where good living was to be had.

  Whir! whiz! Away flew the stool as high and higher than it hadflown before, and then down it came again, and down and down untilit lit as light as a feather in the street before the taverndoor. The soldier tucked his feather cap in his pocket, and thethree-legged stool under his arm, and in he went and ordered a potof beer and some white bread and cheese.

  Meantime, at the king’s palace was such a gossiping and such ahubbub as had not been heard there for many a day; for the prettyprincess was not slow in telling how the invisible King of the Windhad come and asked her to marry him; and some said it was true andsome said it was not true, and everybody wondered and talked, andtold their
own notions of the matter. But all agreed that threedays would show whether what had been told was true or no.

  As for the soldier, he knew no more how to do what he had promisedto do than my grandmother’s cat; for where was he to get clothesfine enough for the King of the Wind to wear? So there he sat onhis three-legged stool thinking and thinking, and if he had knownall that I know he would not have given two turns of his wit uponit. “I wish,” says he, at last--“I wish that this stool could helpme now as well as it can carry me through the sky. I wish,” sayshe, “that I had a suit of clothes such as the King of the Windmight really wear.”

  The wonders of the three-legged stool were wonders indeed!

  Hardly had the words left the soldier’s lips when down camesomething tumbling about his ears from up in the air; and whatshould it be but just such a suit of clothes as he had in hismind--all crusted over with gold and silver and jewels.

  “Well,” says the soldier, as soon as he had got over his wonderagain, “I would rather sit upon this stool than any I ever saw.”And so would I, if I had been in his place, and had a few minutesto think of all that I wanted.

  So he found out the trick of the stool, and after that wishingand having were easy enough, and by the time the three days wereended the real King of the Wind himself could not have cut a finerfigure. Then down sat the soldier upon his stool, and wishedhimself at the king’s palace. Away he flew through the air, andby-and-by there he was, just where he had been before. He put hisfeather cap upon his head, and stepped in through the window, andthere he found the princess with her father, the king, and hermother, the queen, and all the great lords and nobles waiting forhis coming; but never a stitch nor a hair did they see of him untilhe stood in the very midst of them all. Then he whipped the feathercap off of his head, and there he was, shining with silver and goldand glistening with jewels--such a sight as man’s eyes never sawbefore.

  “Take her,” said the king, “she is yours.” And the soldier lookedso handsome in his fine clothes that the princess was as glad tohear those words as any she had ever listened to in all of her life.

  “You shall,” said the king, “be married to-morrow.”

  “Very well,” said the soldier. “Only give me a plot of ground tobuild a palace upon that shall be fit for the wife of the King ofthe Wind to live in.”

  “You shall have it,” said the king, “and it shall be the greatparade ground back of the palace, which is so wide and long thatall my army can march round and round in it without getting intoits own way; and that ought to be big enough.”

  “Yes,” said the soldier, “it is.” Thereupon he put on his feathercap and disappeared from the sight of all as quickly as one mightsnuff out a candle.

  He mounted his three-legged stool and away he flew through the airuntil he had come again to the tavern where he was lodging. Therehe sat him down and began to churn his thoughts, and the butterhe made was worth the having, I can tell you. He wished for agrand palace of white marble, and then he wished for all sorts ofthings to fill it--the finest that could be had. Then he wished forservants in clothes of gold and silver, and then he wished for finehorses and gilded coaches. Then he wished for gardens and orchardsand lawns and flower-plats and fountains, and all kinds and sortsof things, until the sweat ran down his face from hard thinking andwishing. And as he thought and wished, all the things he thoughtand wished for grew up like soap-bubbles from nothing at all.

  Then, when day began to break, he wished himself with his fineclothes to be in the palace that his own wits had made, and away heflew through the air until he had come there safe and sound.

  But when the sun rose and shone down upon the beautiful palace andall the gardens and orchards around it, the king and queen and allthe court stood dumb with wonder at the sight. Then, as they stoodstaring, the gates opened and out came the soldier riding in hisgilded coach with his servants in silver and gold marching besidehim, and such a sight the daylight never looked upon before thatday.

  Well, the princess and the soldier were married, and if no couplehad ever been happy in the world before, they were then. Nothingwas heard but feasting and merrymaking, and at night all the skywas lit with fireworks. Such a wedding had never been before, andall the world was glad that it had happened.

  That is, all the world but one; that one was the old man dressedin scarlet that the soldier had met when he first came to town.While all the rest were in the hubbub of rejoicing, he put on histhinking-cap, and by-and-by began to see pretty well how thingslay, and that, as they say in our town, there was a fly in themilk-jug. “Ho, ho!” thought he, “so the soldier has found out allabout the three-legged stool, has he? Well, I will just put a spokeinto his wheel for him.” And so he began to watch for his chance todo the soldier an ill turn.

  Now, a week or two after the wedding, and after all the gay doingshad ended, a grand hunt was declared, and the king and his newson-in-law and all the court went to it. That was just such achance as the old magician had been waiting for; so the nightbefore the hunting-party returned he climbed the walls of thegarden, and so came to the wonderful palace that the soldier hadbuilt out of nothing at all, and there stood three men keepingguard so that no one might enter.

  But little that troubled the magician. He began to mutter spellsand strange words, and all of a sudden he was gone, and in hisplace was a great black ant, for he had changed himself into anant. In he ran through a crack of the door (and mischief has gotinto many a man’s house through a smaller hole for the matter ofthat). In and out ran the ant through one room and another, andup and down and here and there, until at last in a far-away partof the magic palace he found the three-legged stool, and if Ihad been in the soldier’s place I would have chopped it up intokindling-wood after I had gotten all that I wanted. But there itwas, and in an instant the magician resumed his own shape. Down hesat him upon the stool. “I wish,” said he, “that this palace andthe princess and all who are within it, together with its orchardsand its lawns and its gardens and everything, may be removed tosuch and such a country, upon the other side of the earth.”

  And as the stool had obeyed the soldier, so everything was done nowjust as the magician said.

  The next morning back came the hunting-party, and as they rode overthe hill--lo and behold hold!--there lay stretched out the greatparade ground in which the king’s armies used to march around andaround, and the land was as bare as the palm of my hand. Not astick or a stone of the palace was left; not a leaf or a blade ofthe orchards or gardens was to be seen.

  The soldier sat as dumb as a fish, and the king stared witheyes and mouth wide open. “Where is the palace, and where is mydaughter?” said he, at last, finding words and wit.

  “I do not know,” said the soldier.

  The king’s face grew as black as thunder. “You do not know?” hesaid, “then you must find out. Seize the traitor!” he cried.

  But that was easier said than done, for, quick as a wink, as theycame to lay hold of him, the soldier whisked the feather cap fromhis pocket and clapped it upon his head, and then they might aswell have hoped to find the south wind in winter as to find him.

  But though he got safe away from that trouble he was deep enough inthe dumps, you may be sure of that. Away he went, out into the wideworld, leaving that town behind him. Away he went, until by-and-byhe came to a great forest, and for three days he travelled on andon--he knew not whither. On the third night, as he sat beside afire which he had built to keep him warm, he suddenly bethoughthimself of the little round stone which had dropped from the bird’sclaw, and which he still had in his pocket. “Why should it notalso help me,” said he, “for there must be some wonder about it.”So he brought it out, and sat looking at it and looking at it, buthe could make nothing of it for the life of him. Nevertheless, itmight have some wishing power about it, like the magic stool. “Iwish,” said the soldier, “that I might get out of this scrape.”That is what we have all wished many and many a time in a likecase; but just now it did the s
oldier no more good to wish than itdoes good for the rest of us. “Bah!” said he, “it is nothing but ablack stone after all.” And then he threw it into the fire.

  Puff! Bang! Away flew the embers upon every side, and back tumbledthe soldier, and there in the middle of the flame stood just such agrim, black being as he had one time shot at with the silver button.

  As for the poor soldier, he just lay flat on his back and staredwith eyes like saucers, for he thought that his end had come forsure.

  “What are my lord’s commands?” said the being, in a voice thatshook the marrow of the soldier’s bones.

  “Who are you?” said the soldier.

  “I am the spirit of the stone,” said the being. “You have heated itin the flame, and I am here. Whatever you command I must obey.”

  “Say you so?” cried the soldier, scrambling to his feet. “Verywell, then, just carry me to where I may find my wife and my palaceagain.”

  Without a word the spirit of the stone snatched the soldier up, andflew away with him swifter than the wind. Over forest, over field,over mountain and over valley he flew, until at last, just at thecrack of day, he set him down in front of his own palace gate inthe far country where the magician had transported it.

  After that the soldier knew his way quickly enough. He clapped hisfeather cap upon his head and into the palace he went, and from oneroom to another, until at last he came to where the princess satweeping and wailing, with her pretty eyes red from long crying.

  Then the soldier took off his cap again, and you may guess whatsounds of rejoicing followed. They sat down beside one another, andafter the soldier had eaten, the princess told him all that hadhappened to her; how the magician had found the stool, and how hehad transported the palace to this far-away land; how he came everyday and begged her to marry him--which she would rather die thando.

  To all this the soldier listened, and when she had ended her storyhe bade her to dry her tears, for, after all, the jug was onlycracked, and not past mending. Then he told her that when thesorcerer came again that day she should say so and so and so andso, and that he would be by to help her with his feather cap uponhis head.

  After that they sat talking together as happy as two turtle-doves,until the magician’s foot was heard on the stairs. And then thesoldier clapped his feather cap upon his head just as the dooropened.

  “Snuff, snuff!” said the magician, sniffing the air, “here is asmell of Christian blood.”

  “Yes,” said the princess, “that is so; there came a peddler to-day,but after all he did not stay long.”

  “He’d better not come again,” said the magician, “or it will be theworse for him. But tell me, will you marry me?”

  “No,” said the princess, “I shall not marry you until you can proveyourself to be a greater man than my husband.”

  “Pooh!” said the magician, “that will be easy enough to prove; tellme how you would have me do so and I will do it.”

  “Very well,” said the princess, “then let me see you changeyourself into a lion. If you can do that I may perhaps believe youto be as great as my husband.”

  “It shall,” said the magician, “be as you say.” He began to mutterspells and strange words, and then all of a sudden he was gone, andin his place there stood a lion with bristling mane and flamingeyes--a sight fit of itself to kill a body with terror.

  “That will do!” cried the princess, quaking and trembling at thesight, and thereupon the magician took his own shape again.

  “Now,” said he, “do you believe that I am as great as the poorsoldier?”

  “Not yet,” said the princess; “I have seen how big you can makeyourself, now I wish to see how little you can become. Let me seeyou change yourself into a mouse.”

  “So be it,” said the magician, and began again to mutter hisspells. Then all of a sudden he was gone just as he was gonebefore, and in his place was a little mouse sitting up and lookingat the princess with a pair of eyes like glass beads.

  But he did not sit there long. This was what the soldier hadplanned for, and all the while he had been standing by with hisfeather hat upon his head. Up he raised his foot, and down he setit upon the mouse.

  Crunch!--that was an end of the magician.

  After that all was clear sailing; the soldier hunted up thethree-legged stool and down he sat upon it, and by dint of no morethan just a little wishing, back flew palace and garden and allthrough the air again to the place whence it came.

  I do not know whether the old king ever believed again thathis son-in-law was the King of the Wind; anyhow, all was peaceand friendliness thereafter, for when a body can sit upon athree-legged stool and wish to such good purpose as the soldierwished, a body is just as good as a king, and a good deal better,to my mind.

  * * * * *

  _The Soldier who cheated the Devil looked into his pipe; it wasnearly out. He puffed and puffed and the coal glowed brighter, andfresh clouds of smoke rolled up into the air. Little Brown Bettycame and refilled, from a crock of brown foaming ale, the mug whichhe had emptied. The Soldier who had cheated the Devil looked up ather and winked one eye._

  _“Now,” said St. George, “it is the turn of yonder old man,” and hepointed, as he spoke, with the stem of his pipe towards old Bidpai,who sat with closed eyes meditating inside of himself._

  _The old man opened his eyes, the whites of which were as yellow assaffron, and wrinkled his face into innumerable cracks and lines.Then he closed his eyes again; then he opened them again; then hecleared his throat and began_: “There was once upon a time a manwhom other men called Aben Hassen the Wise--”

  _“One moment,” said Ali Baba; “will you not tell us what the storyis about?”_

  _Old Bidpai looked at him and stroked his long white beard. “Itis,” said he, “about--”_