Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/308

276 wept, and where his tears fell on her hands the pain ceased and the burning blisters vanished.

She worked all night, for she could not rest till she had set free her dear brothers. During the whole of the following day, while the swans were away, she sat all alone, and the time had never flown so quickly. One shirt was already finished, and now she had begun another.

Just then a hunting-horn was heard among the mountains and startled Elisa. The sound came nearer; she heard the barking of dogs. She took refuge in the cave in great fright, tied the nettles she had gathered and hackled into a bundle, and sat down on it.

At that moment a big dog jumped out from the thicket, and immediately afterward he was followed by another, and still another; they barked loudly, ran back, and then returned again. In a few minutes all the huntsmen were there outside the cave, and the handsomest among them was the king of the country. He went up to Elisa, for he had never seen a more beautiful girl in his life.

"How did you come here, you lovely child?" he said. Elisa shook her head; she dared not speak, for her brothers' deliverance and lives depended upon it. She hid her hands under her apron, so that the king should not see what she had to suffer.

"Come with me," he said; "you must not remain here. If you are as good as you are beautiful I will dress you in silks and velvet, and place the golden crown upon your head and you shall live in my grandest palace!" And he lifted her on to his horse. She wept and wrung her hands, but the king said: "I think only of your happiness. One day you will thank me for it all." And so he dashed off across the mountains, holding her before him on his horse, and the huntsmen came rushing on behind.

Toward sunset the magnificent royal city with its churches and cupolas lay before them. The king led her into the palace, where large fountains were playing in the lofty marble halls, and where walls and ceilings were resplendent with paintings, but she had no mind for such things. She wept and mourned and passively allowed the women to dress her in regal robes, plait pearls in her hair, and put delicate gloves on her blistered fingers.

As she stood there in all her splendor, she was so dazzlingly beautiful that all the court bowed still lower before her. And the king chose her for his bride, although the archbishop shook his head and whispered that the pretty maiden from the forest was, in all probability, a witch who had dazzled their eyes and bewitched the king's heart.

But the king would not listen to this; he ordered the music to strike up, the most costly dishes to be served, and the loveliest girls to dance around her. She was conducted through fragrant gardens to most magnificent halls, but not a smile could be seen on her lips or in her