Part 5

“Johnny would have thanked the woman, but in the twinkling of an eye she was gone without making a sound, and not a blade of grass shook to show that she had been there. Johnny turned in his tracks and started home the way he came. Before he had gone far he stopped to look back, but the strange country was nowhere to be seen—only the old familiar hills and trees that he had always known.

“When he got home there was a strange woman cooking and fixing his father’s supper. The table was set, and everything was almost as neat and as tidy as it used to be when his mother was alive. Even his own little plate was in its place, and his mug, with the picture of a blue castle painted on it, was by the plate. But Johnny had no appetite. He went to the door and looked in, and then went to the stable. Once there, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to drive the cow in from the pasture. He went running to get her, but found her coming along of her own accord, something she was not in the habit of doing.

“Johnny wondered a little at this, but it soon passed out of his mind, and he got behind the cow and made her go faster. He drove the cow into the lot, and waited awhile for the woman to come and milk. But she delayed so long that he went to the house and found his father eating supper. Instead of going to the table, he went and sat by the fire.

“‘Have something to eat?’ said the woman.

“‘I am not hungry,’ he replied.

“‘Have a glass of fresh milk, then?’ she said.

“‘Not to-night,’ he answered. ‘I have just driven the cow in from the pasture.’

“‘I brought her from the pasture myself,’ said the woman, ‘milked her, and turned her out again.’

“Johnny said nothing to this, but he knew the cow had not been milked, and he wondered where the woman got the milk that his father was drinking. He thought it over, and forgot all about his grief. He noticed that as soon as his father drank the milk he began to smile at the woman. He smiled at the woman, but was cross to Johnny.

“After supper the woman went out, and after a while Johnny went out, too, leaving his father sitting by the fire smoking his pipe. Johnny went to the lot, thinking the woman had gone there. He wanted to see whether she would milk the cow. He crept along the side of the fence, and soon he was near enough to peep through a crack without being seen. He saw the woman rubbing the cow on the back while the calf was getting all the milk.

“‘You see how good I am to you, sister,’ said she. ‘Now I want you to be good to me. When that boy Jack goes after you to the pasture, I want you to lead him a chase. I saw him beating your calf to-day. But see how good I am to your calf, sister. I give it all the milk.’

“The cow shook her horn and switched her tail, and Johnny, sitting in the fence corner, wondered what it all meant.

“‘I see,’ said the cow, after a while. ‘You want to marry the boy’s father, and the boy is in the way. But suppose they find you out. What then?’

“‘Trust me for that, sister,’ said the woman; ‘trust me for that.’

“Johnny waited to hear no more, but crept away and went to bed. He was dressed and out by sun-up next morning, but the woman was up before him, and had breakfast nearly ready. Johnny asked her if she had milked the cow, and she replied that she had milked and forgotten about it. Johnny saw the milk-pail setting on the shelf, and when he looked at it he knew the cow had not been milked, else the sides of the pail would have been spattered.

“But the cow had been turned out, and the calf was sleeping contentedly in the fence corner, instead of nibbling the grass. Johnny drank no milk at breakfast, but his father did, and smiled at the woman more than ever. During the day Johnny forgot all about the cow, but when night came he knew she must be brought up, so he went to the pasture after her. She was not to be found. He hunted over the hills and fields, and then, not finding her, began to cry.

“Suddenly the lady he had seen the day before stepped out of the wood and spoke to him. She held in her hand a tiny lantern.

“‘Take this,’ she said, holding out the lantern. ‘You wouldn’t call me, and so I came to you.’

“‘I forgot,’ whispered Johnny.

“‘Don’t forget any more,’ said the lady. ‘Take this lantern and run to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill. You’ll find your cow tied there. Drive her home, and don’t spare her.’

“Johnny found the cow tied to the poplar sure enough, and he made her gallop home as fast as she could. He blew out his tiny lantern before he got in sight of the house, but it dropped from his hand and he could find it no more. He ceased to hunt for it after a while, and drove the cow to the lot, where the woman was waiting.

“‘Go get your supper,’ she said to Johnny.

“‘Yes ’m,’ replied Johnny, but he went off only to creep back to see what the woman would do.

“She abused the cow terribly. He could see that she was angry. ‘You are a nice sister,’ she exclaimed, ‘to let that boy bring you home so early.’

“‘Don’t “sister” me,’ moaned the cow. ‘I’m nearly famished, and that boy has nearly run me off my legs. Somebody that I couldn’t see caught me and tied me to a tree this morning, and there I’ve been all day. We’d better go away from here. That boy will find you out yet.’

“Then Johnny crept away, ate his supper, and went to bed. He slept late the next morning, but when he awoke he found that his father, instead of being at work, as was his habit, was smoking his pipe and talking to the woman, and both were smiling at each other very sweetly. That afternoon, Johnny went to bring the cow home before sundown, but he couldn’t find her. He hunted and hunted for her until long after dark, and then he went to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill, and said:—

“‘O Keeper of Cows that roam in the night, Come over the hills and lend me your light!’

“Instantly Johnny heard a cow lowing in the valley, and saw a light glimmering faintly in the distance. In a little while he heard a tremendous clatter of hoofs up the hill, and the rushing of some large animal through the bushes. It seemed to have one eye only and that eye shone as fiercely as a flame of fire as its head swayed from side to side. It came rushing to the poplar-tree where Johnny stood, and stopped there. Johnny peeped from behind the tree and saw that the frightful animal was nothing more than his cow, with a tiny lantern hanging on her horn. She stood there panting and trembling. Johnny waited to see if the Keeper of Cows that roam in the night would make her appearance, but he waited in vain. Then he drove the cow home, turned her into the lot, and went in the house to get his supper. His father and the woman were sitting very close together.

“‘Have you brought the cow?’ the woman asked.

“‘She’s in the lot,’ replied Johnny.

“‘You are a smart boy,’ said the woman.

“‘Thanky, ma’am,’ exclaimed Johnny.

“So it went on day after day. The woman would make the cow wander farther and farther away from home, and Johnny would go to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill and call for the beautiful lady, the Keeper of the Cows that roam in the night, and soon the cow would come running and lowing. Then Johnny would drive her home by the light of his little lantern. This happened so often that the neighbors, and indeed the people in all that country, when they saw a light bobbing around at night, would shake their heads and say, ‘There goes Jack with his lantern,’ and then after a while they called him ‘Jack of the Lantern.’

“One day he heard two of the neighbors talking about him, saying it was a pity that so bright a boy should have such a stepmother as the woman his father was about to marry. Then Johnny (or Jack, as he was sometimes called) knew that his father was preparing to marry the woman who was keeping house for him, and it made the boy feel very wretched to think that this woman was to take the place of his mother.

“That very day he went to the Whispering Poplar that stands on the hill and called for the Keeper of the Cows that roam in the night. The lady made her appearance, and then Johnny told her his troubles. The lady smiled for the first time. Then she told Johnny that if he would follow her directions his troubles would disappear. She gave him a roll of blue ribbon, and told him what to say when he presented it to the woman just before the marriage took place. She told him also what to do with his little lantern. Johnny went home feeling very much better, and that night his father told him he was to have a new mother the next day. He said nothing in reply, but smiled as if the news pleased him.

“Johnny lay awake that night a long time, and once he thought the woman came and leaned over his bed as if to listen, but just then a cow not far away lowed once, twice, thrice. Then the woman went away muttering something.

“The next day the invited guests began to assemble early, and after a while the preacher came. The women neighbors would have the bride to stand up in the middle of the floor to admire her just before the ceremony, and when she stood up Johnny began to march around her, waving his lantern and his blue ribbon and singing:—

“‘I have for the bride ten yards of blue ribbon— Ten yards of blue ribbon, ten yards of blue ribbon— I have for the bride ten yards of blue ribbon, So rich and so soft and so rare; Five yards to pin on her snowy white bosom— Her snowy white bosom, her snowy white bosom— Five yards to pin on her snowy white bosom, And five to tie in her hair.

“‘I have a lantern to light her along with— To light her along with, to light her along with— I have a lantern to light her along with, When forth she fares in the night; Out in the dark, the ribbon will rustle— The ribbon will rustle, the ribbon will rustle— Out in the dark the ribbon will rustle, And the lantern will lend her its light!’

“Johnny threw the blue ribbon over the woman’s shoulder and around her neck, and waved his lantern, and instantly the woman disappeared, and in her place stood a cow. Before the people could recover their surprise, the lady that Johnny had seen at the Whispering Poplar came into the room and bowed to the company.

“‘This is the most malicious cow in all my herd,’ said she, ‘and this brave boy has caught her. Here is a purse of gold for his reward. As for you, sir,’ turning to Johnny’s father, ‘you may thank your son for saving you from this witch.’ Then she bowed again, and went away, leading the cow, and neither of them was ever seen in that country again.

“But to this day, when people see a light bobbing up and down in the fields at night, they say, ‘Yonder’s Jack of the Lantern!’”

X.

A LUCKY CONJURER.

“Now, I think that was a pretty good story,” said Mr. Rabbit. “It had something about cows in it, and there was nothing about kings and princes. I wouldn’t give _that_”—Mr. Rabbit blew a whiff of smoke from his mouth—“or all your princes and kings. Of course that’s on account of my ignorance. I don’t know anything about them. I reckon they are just as good neighbors as anybody, when you come to know them right well.”

Buster John laughed at this, but Sweetest Susan only smiled.

“Oh, I am not joking,” remarked Mr. Rabbit solemnly. “There’s no reason why kings and queens and princes shouldn’t be just as neighborly as other people. If a king and queen were keeping house anywhere near me, and were to send over after a mess of salad, or to borrow a cup of sugar or a spoonful of lard, I’d be as ready to accommodate them as I would any other neighbors, and I reckon they’d do the same by me.”

“They’d be mighty foolish if they didn’t,” said Mrs. Meadows.

“I hear tell dat folks hafter be monstus umble-come-tumble when dey go foolin’ ’roun’ whar dey er kingin’ an’ a queenin’ at,” remarked Drusilla. “Ef dey sont me fer ter borry any sugar er lard fum de house whar dey does de kingin’ an’ queenin’, I boun’ you I’d stan’ at the back gate an’ holler ’fo’ I went in dar whar dey wuz a-havin’ der gwines on. Dey wouldn’t git me in dar ’fo’ I know’d how de lan’ lay.”

“I expect you are right, Tar-Baby,” replied Mr. Rabbit.

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t go to sleep over the story of the little boy and the lantern. But it didn’t have any moral,” said Mr. Thimblefinger.

“Why, I reckon that’s the reason I didn’t do any nodding,” explained Mr. Rabbit. “I knew there was something the matter.”

There was a pause, during which Mr. Rabbit betrayed a tendency to fall to nodding again. Presently Mrs. Meadows remarked:—

“I mind me of a story that I heard once—I reckon the talk about kings and queens made me remember it. Anyway, it popped into my head all of a sudden, though I hadn’t thought about it in years.”

“Fire away!” exclaimed Mr. Rabbit, opening his eyes and slowly closing them again.

“Once upon a time there lived in the land of Moraria a man who was very poor. He worked whenever and wherever he could find work, yet he had so many children that even if he had found work every day he could have made hardly enough for all to eat and wear. As it was, times were so hard and work was so scarce that he frequently had to go hungry and half clothed. His wife did the best she could, which was very little. She worked about the palace where the king had lived, but as she was only one among a hundred, she got small wages, and had few opportunities to carry any scraps of victuals to her children.

“Finally the man came to the conclusion that he must make a desperate effort to better his condition, so he said to his wife:—

“‘What are my five senses for? I see other people living by their wits, and dressing fine and enjoying the best in the land. Why shouldn’t I do the same? What is to prevent me but my stupidity?’

“‘Stupidity is a high fence to climb over,’ replied the man’s wife. ‘But if you are willing to try how far your wits will carry you, you will have a good opportunity in a few days. The king’s daughter, the Princess Myla, is to be married next week, and even now the guests are assembling at the palace—most of them belonging to the bridegroom’s retinue.’

“The man leaned his head on his hand and thought a while, and then he rose and put on the best clothes he had, which were poor enough, and tied a rope girdle around his waist.

“‘I shall go to court as a pilgrim,’ he said to his wife. ‘When you see me, do you go around among the other servants and tell them that a great conjurer has arrived from the East. In this way it will come quickly to the King’s ears. Nothing will come of that, but the next morning something valuable will be missing from the palace. When you hear of it, do you tell the rest that you know a man who can find whatever is missing.’

“‘But how will you do this?’ asked the woman.

“‘Leave that to me,’ he replied.

“The man carried out his plan, and his wife followed his directions. She pointed him out to her fellow-servants as a great conjurer from the East. Ragged as he was, the man stalked majestically about the palace-yard, and after a while sat on the ground with his face to the wall, and shook his head from side to side, and made many queer motions with his hands.

“Now, while the man sat there going through his queer motions, he heard voices on the other side of the wall. He judged that two men were resting in the shade on that side, and he knew by the way they talked that they had come with the young Prince who was to marry the Princess Myla.

“‘You have left the blanket on the horse, I hope,’ said one.

“‘Yes, everything is attended to,’ replied the other.

“‘That is well,’ remarked the first. ‘The Prince, our master, desires the Princess Myla to be the first to look on this beautiful horse, which has just come out of Arabia. I will go myself to see that the animal is properly cared for.’

“Presently two strangers came through the gate, laughing and talking, and the man who was playing the conjurer knew they were the keepers of the horse. He rose when they went by, and watched them until he saw what part of the palace stables they entered. Then he slowly made his way out of the palace grounds.

“That night he went back and removed the horse, placing it where no one would be likely to find it. Then he told his wife what he had done.

“‘There will be a great outcry,’ said he, ‘when the horse is missed. In the midst of it make your voice heard, and remind the young Prince’s attendants that there is a famous conjurer within reach who can no doubt find the horse.’

“As the man said, so it turned out. There was a great noise made when it was found that the beautiful Arabian horse had been stolen. The young Prince was ready to tear his hair, so great was his disappointment. He offered a large sum of money to any one who would recover the horse. When the excitement was at its highest, the woman mentioned to some of the attendants that a famous conjurer had come to the palace. She then pointed her husband out to the men. At once the news was carried to the Prince, who was with the King.

“The King was not a believer in conjurers, and he quickly told the attendants to go send the vagabond about his business. But the young Prince was so keen to recover the beautiful horse which he had intended as a wedding gift for the Princess Myla that he insisted on consulting the conjurer. So the man was sent for. He came, followed by a number of people who were anxious to see what he would do. He had a very wise look as he bowed to the King and to the Prince.

“‘Who are you?’ the King asked with a frown.

“‘A poor pilgrim, your Majesty. Nothing more.’

“‘What is your business?’

“‘I am a student, your Majesty.’

“‘Where are your books?’

“‘In men’s faces, your Majesty.’

“The man’s replies were so apt that the King’s ill-humor partly passed away.

“‘A horse has been stolen from the royal stables,’ said the King. ‘I am told you are a conjurer. If you are, find the horse.’

“The man seated himself on the carpet, drew a crystal stone from his pocket, and asked the young Prince to warm it in the palm of his hand. Then the man took it and looked at it a few moments, rubbing his hand over it as if something blurred his sight. Then he said:—

“‘The horse has on a blanket woven on a Russian loom. I see! A dapple-gray with milk-white mane and tail.’

“‘That is the horse!’ cried the Prince. ‘Where is he?’

“‘He is tied in a thicket a half league from here, near a road that leads to the river. He paws the ground and whinnies for his master. He is hungry.’

“At once messengers were sent and the horse found. The Prince was about to give the man a purse of gold, but the King stayed his hand, saying:—

“‘I’ll test this fellow. I believe he is an imposter.’

“The man was very much frightened at this, but there was no escape for him. The King went to his private apartment, and shortly came back with a covered basket in his hand.

“‘There is a bird in this nest,’ said the King. ‘If you are a conjurer, tell me the name of it.’

“‘Alas, your Majesty,’ cried the man, preparing to fall on his knees and beg for mercy, ‘a nest that wouldn’t fit a sparrow might chance to fit a crow.’

“‘You certainly have gifts,’ remarked the King as he lifted the cover from the basket. As he did so a crow hopped out and went stalking about the room. The man was more astonished than the King. In his fright he had hit on an old saying that he had often heard, and it saved his life.

“The Prince gave the man a purse of gold and he was about to retire, when suddenly an attendant came running into the chamber crying that some one had stolen the beautiful diamond ring belonging to the Princess Myla.

“‘Tell the Princess to trouble herself no further. We have here a man who will be able to find it,’ said the King.

“‘Allow me a little time, your Majesty,’ cried the man, who was now frightened nearly out of his wits. ‘Let me go into a vacant room in a quiet part of the palace, where I may have an opportunity to look into this matter.’

“He was soon placed in a room near the servants’ quarters, the attendants telling him that he would be summoned by the King in an hour. He went into the room, shut the door, and flung himself on the floor, bewailing his unhappy condition.

“Now the ring had been stolen by one of the women in attendance on the Princess. She was so pale and sad-looking that her companions had nicknamed her Misery, and sometimes the Princess herself, in a spirit of fun, called her by that name. She had heard how the conjurer had discovered the stolen horse, and she had seen him name the crow in the covered basket. Consequently she was very much frightened when she heard the King command him to find the stolen ring. She saw the conjurer go into the room, and after a while she crept to the door to listen, so great was her fear.

“The man in the room was not thinking of the stolen ring at all. He was merely bewailing his unhappy lot.

“‘Oh, misery, misery!’ he cried; ‘I have heard of you, but now I know you!’

“He had no sooner said this than there came a knock on the door and a voice said:—

“‘Don’t talk so loud! Open the door!’

“The man opened the door and saw a woman standing there trembling and weeping.

“‘Don’t expose me,’ she said, ‘but spare my life. I have the ring here. I did wrong to steal it.’

“For a moment the man was so overcome with astonishment that he was unable to speak. He took the ring in his hand and looked at it while the woman continued to plead with him. He handed her the ring again.

“‘Take it,’ he said, ‘and place it beneath the corner of one of the rugs in the bedroom of the Princess. Be quick about it, for I am going to the King.’

“The woman ran and did as she had been told, and then the man came from the room and sent an attendant to inform the King that the ring had been found. The King sent for him.

“‘Where is the ring?’

“‘Under a corner of a rug in the bedroom of the Princess, your Majesty,’ replied the man, bowing low and smiling.

“Search was at once made, and sure enough the beautiful ring was found under a corner of a rug in the Princess’s bedroom. The Princess herself came to thank the conjurer, and if he had not been a very sensible man his head would have been turned by the attention he received. Even the King no longer doubted the conjurer’s powers.

“‘There is something in this man,’ said the King, and he straightway offered him a high position among his councilors.

“The man thanked the King most heartily, but declared that his business would not allow him to remain another day at court. So the King gave him a purse of gold, the young Prince gave him another, and the beautiful Princess Myla gave him a string of pearls of great value. Then he went home, bought him some land, built him a comfortable house, and went into business for himself.

“It sometimes happened that his wife complained because he did not accept the King’s offer and remain at court, so that she might have flourished as a fine lady, but he always replied by saying that the man is a fool who will tempt Providence more than three times in a lifetime. Though he went into the palace poor and came out of it rich, he had escaped only by the skin of his teeth. He was always grateful for his good fortune, and by his example taught his children to lead virtuous lives and always to help the poor and needy.”

XI.

THE KING OF THE CLINKERS.