Page:Segnius Irritant or Eight Primitive Folk-lore Stories.pdf/21

 When they had finished eating, they began to look about to see where they were to sleep. At this moment the door unexpectedly flew open with a bang, and into the room stepped the sorcerer, a hump-backed old man, in a long black robe, with a bald head, grey beard and whiskers down to the knees, and instead of a belt, three iron hoops. By the hand he led a beautiful, surpassingly beautiful virgin, dressed in white, round her waist she wore a silver girdle, and a crown of pearls on her head, but she was pale and sorrowful as though she had risen from the tomb. The king’s son recognised her at once, started, and went towards her; but before he could utter a word Black-Prince, the sorcerer, had addressed him as follows: “I know why thou art come; this queen thou wouldst take away from here. Very well. Be it so. Take her if thou canst manage to keep watch over her for three nights so that she does not escape thee. But if she eludes thee, thou shalt be turned to stone, servants and all, like all who have come before thee.” After this he shewed the queen to a chair that she might sit down, and departed.

The king’s son could not take his eyes off this virgin a moment, she was so beautiful. He even began to speak to her, and to ask her all sorts of questions; but she did not answer him, she did not smile, and never once looked at any one, as if she had been of marble. And so he seated himself beside her, and determined not to sleep the whole night, that she might not escape him; and for greater security Long stretched himself out like a thong and wound himself all round the room against the wall; Broad settled himself at the door, puffed himself out, and stopped it up, so that not even a little mouse could have crept through, and Sharp-Eyes posted himself by the pillar in the middle of the room on guard. But after a very short time they all began to snooze, dropped off, and slept the whole night, as if he had thrown them into water.

In the morning when it began to dawn, the king’s son was the first to awake. But it was just as if someone had thrust a knife into his heart—the queen was flown! And he immediately roused his servants and asks what is to be done. “Don’t be the least anxious, master,” said Sharp-Eyes, and looked hard out of the window. “Why, I see her already! A hundred miles from here is a wood, in the middle of the wood an old oak, and on this oak, on the top of it, an acorn—and this acorn is she. Let Long take me on his shoulders and I’ll get her.” And Long at once put Sharp-Eyes on his back, stretched himself out, and went, every step was ten miles, and Sharp-Eyes pointed out the way.