Part 1

RUMPTY-DUDGET’S TOWER

RUMPTY-DUDGET’S TOWER

_A FAIRY TALE_

BY

JULIAN HAWTHORNE

_WITH FRONTISPIECE IN COLOR AND ILLUSTRATIONS IN BLACK AND WHITE BY_

GEORGE W. HOOD

NEW YORK

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

MCMXXIV

_Copyright, for illustrations, 1924, by_ FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

_Printed in the United States of America_

CONTENTS

PAGE PREFACE ix

I THE PRINCESS AND THE TWO PRINCES 3

II TOM, THE FAITHFUL GUARDIAN 11

III THE WAYS OF THE WIND 21

IV RUMPTY-DUDGET’S TRIUMPH 27

V TOM’S PLAN 35

VI THE DIAMOND WATER-DROP 43

VII THE GOLDEN IVY-SEED 51

VIII THE MAGIC FIRE 61

IX THE RESCUE OF PRINCE HENRY 67

ILLUSTRATIONS

“Rumpty-Dudget, whose only pleasure was in doing mischief, lived in a gray tower” (in color) _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

“‘Come with me, Princess Hilda, Prince Frank and Prince Henry’” 14

“The two children took hold of it, and off they all went” 36

“Behold! It was the golden ivy-seed” 56

“The cat put Princess Hilda and Prince Frank on the two largest leaves, and got on the stem himself” 68

“‘Oh,’ said Princess Hilda, ‘you look like our mamma’” 70

PREFACE

IN 1877, when I was living in Twickenham, near London, my sister Una happened to be describing a queer character she had met that day: she had a gift for making swift and vivid portraits in words. “He was a little Rumpty-Dudget of a man,” she said, concluding her description. She may have meant to say, “Rumpelstiltskin,” the name of a dwarf immortalised in the Grimm fairy-tales, with which we had been familiar in our childhood. But her variation struck me soundly, and I said to myself, I’ll write a story about him!

But, in truth, the story, upon that inspiration, wrote itself. I had a fine time with it, and my own children, to whom it was read in manuscript, heartily approved it. Then Alexander Strahan, the publisher, and the first editor of the famous _Contemporary Review_, saw it and proclaimed, with many a Scottish burr, that it was “a varra fine piece of worrk, my boy, and does ye credit,” and he carried it off and published it in his new magazine for children. Afterward, the eminent firm of Longmans, Green and Longmans, of Paternoster Row, hard by Saint Paul’s, in London, considered it and said, “If you can collect half a dozen others of the same sort, we would be glad to issue them in a volume.” It was easy for me, in the late ’70’s, to do that, though now that I am in the late seventies myself, I should beg off.

So a little green-and-gold book was printed. It was called “Yellow-Cap, and Other Fairy Tales,” and bore the great Longmans’ imprint. And they sold, I believe, a great many of them; but the only story in the collection about which readers afterward wrote to me, was “Rumpty-Dudget’s Tower”; and today, after nearly five and forty years, I still receive occasional kind words on the subject. My mischievous little dwarf manifested vitality.

Of course, the Longmans volume has long been out of print. But in the latter part of 1878, I came back to America, after a twelve-year stay abroad, and found my friend Richard Watson Gilder riding high as editor of _The Century_, and subordinate to him a delightful young fellow named Clark, who was conducting a magazine for young people. They had seen Rumpty-Dudget and wanted to republish it in the latter periodical. So I sold them the American copyright, and thought I was doing well. Could I not write a dozen as good or better tales whenever I had a mind to? Such is the self-confidence of an author whose years are but thirty-six!

Soon, letters began to come from children and from their mothers, saying pleasant things about the story, and asking for more like it. But things which I thought of more importance occupied me, and I postponed complying with their requests: besides, my sister Una had gone to Heaven, and could no longer inspire me with her word. Letters continued to come, however, and presently they were from mothers who had been children when the story first appeared, and now wanted the old story for children of their own, and asked me to publish it in book form. I began to regret not having kept my American copyright, because when I suggested its return to me by the Century people, they would reply that they intended, when they could get down to it, to reprint the story themselves. So I was fain to wait, and to bid my correspondents to do likewise.

But editors die in the course of time, and properties change hands, and I myself lost track of the matter, though those letters still kept on arriving from time to time. I wish I had kept them; there must have been hundreds. The children who had become mothers were grandmothers now and wanted the story for their grandchildren: but nothing could be done. Poor Rumpty-Dudget was buried beyond digging-up again—so it seemed. Would a tribe of great-grandchildren arise, once more miraculously knowing about the story, and demanding its resurrection?

At all events, about the first of the New Year, I got a letter from Frederick A. Stokes Company of New York, in consequence of which negotiations took place, leading up to the publication of the present little volume. Rumpty-Dudget Redivivus! He bears a bad character in the tale, but there must really be something good in him. And now he makes his bow to little persons who were not born into this world until nearly half a century after he left it. When I look at the list of the year’s books, it strikes me that he appears in strange and alien company. But that is not my affair: I choose to feel complimented on his account, and I hope he will make new friends.

JULIAN HAWTHORNE.

RUMPTY-DUDGET’S TOWER

I

THE PRINCESS AND THE TWO PRINCES

LONG ago, before the sun caught fire, before the moon froze up, and before you were born, a Queen had three children, whose names were Princess Hilda, Prince Frank, and Prince Henry. Princess Hilda, who was the eldest, had blue eyes and golden hair; Prince Henry, who was the youngest, had black eyes and black hair; and Prince Frank, who was neither the youngest nor the eldest, had hazel eyes and brown hair. They were the best children in the world, and the prettiest, and the cleverest of their age; they lived in the most beautiful palace ever built, and the garden they played in was the loveliest that ever was seen.

This palace stood on the borders of a great forest, on the other side of which was Fairy Land. But there was only one window in the palace that looked out upon the forest, and that was the round window of the room in which Princess Hilda, Prince Frank, and Prince Henry slept. And since this window was never open except at night, after the three children had been put to bed, they knew very little about how the forest looked, or what kind of flowers grew there, or what kind of birds sang in the branches of the trees. Sometimes, however, as they lay with their heads on their little pillows, and their eyes open, waiting for sleep to come and fasten down their eyelids, they saw stars, white, blue, and red, twinkling in the sky overhead; and below amongst the tree-trunks, other yellow stars, which danced about, and flitted to and fro. These flitting stars were called, by grown-up people, will-o’-the-wisps, jack-o’-lanterns, fire-flies, and such like names; but the children knew them to be the torches carried by the elves, as they ran hither and thither about their affairs. They often wished that one of these elves would come through the round window of their chamber, and make them a visit; but if this ever happened, it was not until after the children had fallen asleep, and could know nothing of it.

The garden was on the opposite side of the palace to the forest, and was full of flowers, and birds, and fountains, in the basins of which gold-fishes swam. In the center of the garden, was a broad green lawn for the children to play on; and on the further edge of this lawn was a high hedge, with only one round opening in the middle of it. But through this opening no one was allowed to pass; for the land on the other side belonged to a dwarf, whose name was Rumpty-Dudget, and whose only pleasure was in doing mischief. He was an ugly little dwarf, about as high as your knee, and all gray from head to foot. He had a gray beard and wore a broad-brimmed gray hat, and a gray cloak, that was so much too long for him that it dragged on the ground as he walked; and on his back was a small gray hump, that made him look even shorter than he was. He lived in a gray tower, whose battlements could be seen from the palace windows. In this tower was a room with a thousand and one corners in it. In each of these corners stood a little child, with its face to the wall, and its hands behind its back. They were children that Rumpty-Dudget had caught trespassing on his grounds, and had carried off with him to his tower. In this way he had filled up one corner after another, until only one corner was left unfilled; and if he could catch a child to put in that corner, then Rumpty-Dudget would become master of the whole country, and the beautiful palace would disappear, and the lovely garden would be changed into a desert, covered over with gray stones and brambles. You may be sure, therefore, that Rumpty-Dudget tried very hard to get hold of a child to put in the thousand and first corner; but all the mothers were so careful, and all the children so obedient, that for a long time that thousand and first corner had remained empty.

II

TOM, THE FAITHFUL GUARDIAN

WHEN Princess Hilda and her two little brothers, Prince Frank and Prince Henry, were still very little indeed, the Queen, their mother, was obliged to make a long journey to a distant country, and to leave the children behind her. They were not entirely alone, however; for there was their fairy aunt to keep guard over them at night, and a large cat, with yellow eyes and a thick tail, to see that no harm came to them during the day. The cat was named Tom, and was with them from the time they got up in the morning until they went to bed again; but from the time they went to bed until they got up, the cat disappeared and the fairy aunt took his place. The children had never seen their fairy aunt except in dreams, because she only came after sleep had fastened down their eyelids for the night. Then she would fly in through the round window, and sit on the edge of their bed, and whisper in their ears all manner of charming stories about Fairy Land, and the wonderful things that were seen and done there. Then, just before they awoke, she would kiss their eyelids and fly out of the round window again; and the cat, with his yellow eyes and his thick tail, would come purring in at the window.

One day, the unluckiest day in the whole year, Princess Hilda, Prince Frank and Prince Henry were playing together on the broad lawn in the center of the garden. It was Rumpty-Dudget’s birthday, and the only day in which he had power to creep through the round hole in the hedge and prowl about the Queen’s grounds. As ill-fortune would have it, moreover, the cat was forced to be away on this day from sunrise to sunset; so that during all that time the three children had no one to take care of them. But they did not know there was any danger, for they had never yet heard of Rumpty-Dudget; and they went on playing together very affectionately, for up to this time they had never quarreled. The only thing that troubled them was that Tom, the cat, was not there to play with them; he had been away ever since sunrise, and they all longed to see his yellow eyes and his thick tail, and to stroke his smooth back, and to hear his comfortable purr. However, it was now very near sunset, so he must soon be back. The sun, like a great red ball, hung a little way above the edge of the world, and was taking a parting look at the children before bidding them good night.

All at once, Princess Hilda looked up and saw a strange little dwarf standing close beside her, all gray from head to foot. He had a gray beard, a gray hat, and a long gray cloak that dragged on the ground, and on his back was a little gray hump that made him seem even shorter than he was, though, after all, he was no taller than your knee. Princess Hilda was not frightened, for nobody had ever done her any harm; and besides, this strange little gray man, though he was very ugly, smiled at her from ear to ear, and seemed to be the most good-natured dwarf in the world. So she called to Prince Frank and Prince Henry, and they looked up too, and were no more frightened than Hilda; and as the dwarf kept smiling from ear to ear, the three children smiled back at him. Meanwhile, the great red ball of the sun was slowly going down, and now his lower edge was just resting on the edge of the world.

Now, you have heard of Rumpty-Dudget before, and therefore you know that this strange little gray dwarf was none other than he, and that, although he smiled so good-naturedly from ear to ear, he was really wishing to do the children harm, and even to carry one of them off to his tower, to stand in the thousand and first corner. But he had no power to do this so long as the children stayed on their side of the hedge; he must first tempt them to creep through the round opening, and then he could carry them whither he pleased. So he held out his hand and said:

“Come with me, Princess Hilda, Prince Frank and Prince Henry. I am very fond of little children; and if you will creep through that round opening in the hedge, I will show you something you never saw before.”

The three children thought it would be very pleasant to see something they never saw before; for if that part of the world which they had already seen was so beautiful, it was likely that the part they had not seen would be more beautiful still. So they stood up, and Rumpty-Dudget took Prince Frank by one hand, and Prince Henry by the other, and Princess Hilda followed behind, and thus they all set off across the lawn toward the round opening in the hedge. But they could not go very fast, because Prince Henry was hardly old enough to walk fast yet; and meanwhile, the great red ball of the sun kept going down very slowly, and now his lower half was out of sight beneath the edge of the world. However, at last they came to the round opening, and Rumpty-Dudget took hold of Prince Henry to lift him through it.

But just at that moment the last bit of the sun disappeared beneath the edge of the world, and instantly there was a great sound of meowing and spitting, and Tom, the cat, came springing across the lawn, his great yellow eyes flashing, and his back bristling, and every hair upon his tail standing straight out, until it was as big round as your leg. And he flew at Rumpty-Dudget, and jumped upon his hump, and bit and scratched him soundly. At that Rumpty-Dudget screamed with pain, and dropped little Prince Henry, and vanished through the opening of the hedge in the twinkling of an eye.

But from the other side of the hedge he threw a handful of black mud at the three children; a drop of it fell upon the forehead of Princess Hilda, and another upon Prince Frank’s nose, and a third upon little Prince Henry’s chin; and each drop made a little black spot, which all the washing and scrubbing in the world would not take away. And immediately Princess Hilda, who had till then been the best little girl in the world, began to wish to order everybody about, and make them do what she pleased, whether they liked it or not; and Prince Frank, who till then had been one of the two best little boys in the world, began to want all the good and pretty things that belonged to other people, in addition to what already belonged to him; and Prince Henry, who till then had been the other of the two best little boys in the world, began to wish to do what he was told not to do, and not to do what he was told to do. Such was the effect of the three black drops of mud.

III

THE WAYS OF THE WIND

ALTHOUGH the Princess Hilda and her two little brothers were no longer the best children in the world, they were pretty good children as the world goes, and got along tolerably well together on the whole. But whenever the wind blew from the north, where Rumpty-Dudget’s tower stood, Princess Hilda ordered her brothers about, and tried to make them do what she pleased, whether they liked it or not; and Prince Frank wanted some of the good and pretty things that belonged to his brother and sister, in addition to what were already his; and Prince Henry would not do what he was told to do, and would do what he was told not to do. And then, too, the spot on Princess Hilda’s forehead, and on Prince Frank’s nose, and on Prince Henry’s chin, became blacker and blacker, and hotter and hotter, until at last the children were ready to cry from pain and vexation. But as soon as the wind blew from the south, where Fairy Land was, the spots began to grow dim, and the heat to lessen, until at last the children hardly felt or noticed them any more. Yet they never disappeared altogether; and neither the cat nor the fairy aunt could do anything to drive them away. But the cat used to warn Princess Hilda and her two brothers that unless they could make the wind blow always from the south, the thousand and first corner in Rumpty-Dudget’s tower would be filled at last. And when, at night, their fairy aunt flew in through the round window and sat on their bedside, and whispered stories about Fairy Land into their ears, and they would ask her in their sleep to take them all three in her arms and carry them over the tops of the forest trees to her beautiful home far away on the other side, she would shake her head and say:

“As long as those spots are on your faces, I cannot carry you to my home, for a part of each of you belongs to Rumpty-Dudget, and he will hold on to it in spite of all I can do. But when Hilda becomes a horse, and Frank a stick of fire-wood, and Henry a violin, then Rumpty-Dudget will lose his power over you, and the spots will vanish, and I will take you all three in my arms, and fly with you over the tops of the trees to Fairy Land, where we will live happily forever after.”

When the three children heard this, they were puzzled to know what to do; for how could a little princess become a horse, or two little princes a stick of fire-wood and a violin? But that their fairy aunt would not tell them.

“It can only happen when the wind blows always from the south, as the cat told you,” said she.

“But how can we make the wind blow always from the south?” asked they.

At that, the fairy aunt touched each of them on the heart, and smiled, and shook her head; and no other answer would she give; so they were no wiser than before.

Thus time went steadily on, to-morrow going before to-day, and yesterday following behind, until a year was past, and Rumpty-Dudget’s birthday came round once more.

“I must leave you alone to-morrow,” said the cat the day before, “from sunrise to sunset; but if you are careful to do as I tell you, all will be well. Do not go into the garden; do not touch the black ball that lies on the table in the nursery; and do not jump against the north wind.”

Just as he finished saying these things, he sprang out of the room and disappeared.

IV

RUMPTY-DUDGET’S TRIUMPH

ALL the next morning the children remembered what Tom, the cat, had told them; they played quietly in the palace, and did not touch the black ball that lay on their nursery table. But when the afternoon came, Princess Hilda began to be tired of staying shut up so long, when out in the garden it was warm and pleasant, and the wind blew from the south. And Prince Frank began to be tired of his own playthings, and to wish that he might have the pretty, black ball, to toss up in the air and catch again. And Prince Henry began to be tired of doing what he was told, and wished the wind would blow from the north, so that he might jump against it. At last they could bear it no longer; so Princess Hilda stood up and said:

“Frank and Henry, I order you to come out with me into the garden!” And out they went; and as they passed through the nursery, Prince Henry knocked the black ball off the table, and Prince Frank picked it up and put it in his pocket. But by the time they got to the broad lawn in the center of the garden, the three spots on their faces were blacker than ink and hotter than pepper; and, strange to say, the wind, which hitherto had blown from the south, now changed about and came from the north, where Rumpty-Dudget’s tower stood. Nevertheless, the children ran about the grass, tossing the black ball from one to another, and did not notice that every time it fell to the ground, it struck a little nearer the hedge which divided Rumpty-Dudget’s land from the Queen’s garden. At last Prince Frank got the ball, and kept tossing it up in the air, and catching it again all by himself, without letting the others take their turns. But they ran after him to get it away, and all three raced to and fro, without noticing that at every turn they were nearer and nearer to the high hedge, and to the round opening that led into Rumpty-Dudget’s ground. After a long chase, Princess Hilda and Prince Henry caught up with Prince Frank, and would have taken the black ball away from him; but he gave it a great toss upward, and it flew clear over the high hedge and came down bounce upon the other side. Just then the great red ball of the sun dropped out of a gray cloud, and rested on the edge of the world. It wanted three minutes to sunset.

The three children were a good deal frightened when they saw where the ball had gone, and well they might be; for it was Rumpty-Dudget’s ball, and Rumpty-Dudget himself was hiding on the other side of the hedge.

“It is your fault,” said Princess Hilda to Prince Frank; “you threw it over.”

“No, it’s your fault,” answered Prince Frank; “I shouldn’t have thrown it over if you and Henry had not chased me.”

“You will be punished when Tom the cat comes home,” said Princess Hilda, “and that will be in one minute, when the sun sets.” For they had spent one minute in being frightened, and another minute in disputing.