Page:Segnius Irritant or Eight Primitive Folk-lore Stories.pdf/23

 shoulder. “Hi! get up, thou Sharp-Eyes! Knowest thou where the queen is?” Sharp-Eyes rubbed his two eyes, looks, and says: “Now I see her; two hundred miles from here is a mountain, and in that mountain a rock, and in that rock a precious stone, and that stone is she. When Long takes me there we shall get her.”

Long immediately took him on his shoulder, stretched himself out, and went—every step was twenty miles. Sharp-Eyes then fixed his two burning orbs on the mountain, and the mountain dissipated itself, and the rock split into a thousand pieces, and among them flashed and quivered a precious stone. This they took and brought to the king’s son, and as he dropped it on the ground, there stood the queen again. And when after this Black-Prince came and saw her there, his two eyes sparkled with rage, and crick! crack! again an iron hoop upon him split and bounded off. He grumbled and growled, and led the queen out of the room.

This day was again just like the day before. After supper the sorcerer again brought the queen, peered shrewdly into the eyes of the king’s son, and observed sarcastically: “We shall see who’s master here; whether thou winnest or I!” And so saying, he departed. And so to-day they all took greater pains than ever to prevent themselves from dozing off; they would not even sit down, they would walk up and down the whole night; but it was all in vain, for they were under a spell; one after the other fell asleep as he walked, and the queen escaped as before.

In the morning the king’s son was again the first to awake, and when he did not see the queen, he aroused Sharp-Eyes: “Hi! get up, Sharp-Eyes, look about, where is the queen?” Sharp-Eyes looked out of the window for a long time. “Ho! master,” he says, “she’s a long, long way off. Three hundred miles from here is a black gea, and in the middle of this sea, at the bottom, lies a shell, and in this shell a golden ring, and this ring is she. But do not be uneasy, we will get her yet, only to-day Long must also take Broad with him—we shall want him.” Long put Sharp-Eyes on one shoulder and Broad on the other, stretched himself out and went; every step was thirty miles. And when they came to the black sea, Sharp-Eyes showed him where he must reach into the water for the shell. Long stretched and stretched out his arm as much as he could, but still there was not enough of him to get to the bottom.

“Wait a bit, comrade, wait just a little bit; see if I don’t help you,” said Broad; and puffed himself out as much as his stomach