Part 2

The next afternoon as soon as ever Mrs. Grabem began to knit, the spiders cried aloud for a story.

"But I am tired," said Fuz-buz.

"No matter!" cried the spiders, "we are not."

"Come, no nonsense!" roared Mrs. Grabem.

"Well," cried poor Fuz-buz. "Let me think a little."

"I should not suppose it took much thinking to make up stories," replied Mrs. Grabem.

By this time Fuz-buz was ready and having eaten a little cherry gum to clear his throat, he began as follows:

"This is a fairy tale about

COLD COUNTRY.

ABOUT TROWEL KU THE BEAVER WHO BUILDS DAMS. ABOUT KANECRI THE LOON WHO SINGS ON THE LAKES. ABOUT HOOTA THE OWL WHO IS NOT SO WISE AS HE LOOKS. ABOUT WEESKA THE FOX WHO IS JUST AS SHARP AS HIS OWN NOSE, AND THAT IS SAYING A GREAT DEAL.

"Ever so many days ago," said Fuz-buz, "and ever so far away up among the great lakes it was always summer. There the trees were always green and the flowers never ceased to bloom nor the birds to sing.

"The beaver built dams and no winter came to freeze them. The owl hooted solemnly and the squirrels raced and played and ate nuts all the year, and the foxes joked with the big bears, and the loons sang to the stars all the nights long, and the stars winked at the lakes, and no one ate any one else, for every one was merry and happy, because it was summer all the year.

"But at last everything and everybody grew tired of being so happy.

"'Ah me!' said the bear, 'I get so fat it would be as easy to roll as to walk.'

"'Just so,' sighed the trees, 'what a bore to have to make leaves all the time.'

"Only the owl said, 'I'm comfortable,' and gave his feathers a lazy shake and went to sleep again.

"After a while all the animals and trees and fish had a great talk and made up their minds that it was unpleasant to have hot weather always.

"So the fox proposed that they should go in search of cool weather, and bring back a little by way of a change.

"At last they agreed to send Trowel Ku the Beaver, and Kanecri the Loon, and Hoota the Owl, and Weeska the Fox.

"All were ready except Hoota the Owl, who said, 'I'm comfortable. What's the use?' and fell asleep again, but Weeska bit his toes and Kanecri the Loon sang in his ears and at last they woke him up. 'For,' said the Beaver, 'he looks so wise we cannot do without him.'

"Therefore it was resolved that Trowel Ku the Beaver should pull out one of his feathers every five minutes to keep him wide awake, and having thus planned the matter each one filled a birch bark bag with food, and the whole party set off at daybreak.

"After a long journey they came to the hut of a magician called a Manitou, on a high hill. Here the Loon called aloud, but no one came until the Owl mounted on the Fox's back and knocked at the door, when a little hunch-backed woman opened it and said, 'You can't come in without money.'

"'Ha! ha!' said the Fox and ran away into the wood, and presently came back with a handful of green leaves which he gave to the old woman.

"'That will do,' said she, for she was blind. 'Money must be plenty where you live. Come in.' By and by the Manitou came home.

"'What now?' said he.

"'Sir,' answered Trowel Ku, the Beaver, 'I am tired of summer and of building dams. Tell us where we can buy a little cold to take home for a change.' 'And I,' said the Fox, 'I find it always too hot.' 'For my part,' cried the Loon, Kanecri, 'You have given us only summer. Either give me fewer feathers or else a little cold. As for the trees they are all growling about having no rest at making leaves.'

"'Then,' said Manitou to the Owl, 'What do you want?' 'I'm comfortable,' said Hoota the Owl, and straightway went to sleep.

"'Well,' said Manitou, 'I will send you to the cold country and you can all of you take home a bag of cold to your friends.' Then he began to laugh, and taking a deer-skin bade them all jump inside.

"When they were all in he sewed them up and putting the skin outside of the hut bade it go.

"At once it became alive and bounded off over the hills and through the streams until it came to a great frozen lake.

"Here the Beaver heard a noise, and presently an arrow went through the deer which fell on the ice. The next moment a knife ripped the deer open, and the Owl and the Beaver and Fox and Loon jumped out.

"Then they saw two tall men made of icicles who gave a cry when they saw them, dropped their knives, and skated away over the lake.

"'Dear me!' said Trowel Ku, 'This must be cold land, let us fill our bags,' cried Weeska the Fox, 'and be off.' 'Here is too much cold for me, I'm not comfortable,' said Hoota the owl. 'Boo hoo how it bites my toes!'

"Then they all filled their birch bags with cold, of which there was plenty for every one lying about loose, and set off homewards.

"But after a little while they all became so cold that their jaws chattered. By and by they saw the Manitou.

"'What now?' said he.

"'Too much cold,' said the Beaver. 'I think one bag would answer,' added the Fox, 'and we could carry it by turns.' 'I'm not comfortable,' groaned Hoota the Owl, 'my toes are frozen.' 'Suppose,' said the Loon, 'you were to help us to carry the cold home.'

"'Ho!' answered Manitou, for he was very angry. 'Begone! you wanted summer and I gave it to you, and you had leave to take as much cold as you wanted, and were greedy and took too much. I will warm you a little and send your cold home too.'

"Thus saying he tore the sunset out of the west and threw it a thousand miles into their country, and lo! it fell on the trees, and some it stained yellow and some red and some brown, which so amazed them that they let their leaves fall in affright and horror.

"Next the Manitou took up the bags of cold and threw them after the sunset, and as they flew they broke, and the white cold fell in little fleecy blankets on the naked trees and on the land.

"When the animals reached home there was no summer. So the Fox Weeska ran into his den in the rocks, and the Beaver Trowel Ku cried, 'Woe is me! the water has become white stone,' and the Loon Kanecri sang a song to the stars and flew up into the skies and sailed away and away. But Hoota the Owl said, 'I'm comfortable,' and fell fast asleep in a hollow stump."

* * * * *

The next night Mrs. Grabem herself came along with her little ones to hear Fuz-buz relate a tale.

"Be sure it is a nice story," said one of the spiders.

"For my part," cried Mrs. Grabem, "I take no interest in stories, but it pleases me to see the youngsters amused. You may go on while I knit, and as I have ten threads to mend let the story be a long one."

"Please ma'am," answered Fuz-buz, "I will now tell you a story which I flatter myself is the very best one I ever heard. It was brought by a cousin of mine from Bagdad where he got it from a very aristocratic fly who lived many years in the household of Sinbad the Sailor."

THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH.

"Once upon a time there lived in Persia a great king. He had one nephew who was to be the ruler after him, and to have all his kingdom.

"When this lad was about six years old a daughter was born to the King. No sooner was her birth known than the magicians foretold that she would be beautiful, and would have blue eyes like lakes, which last was not very hard to foretell because they were already blue, but the magi also declared that on the day of her marriage the King would die.

"'Oh ho!' said the King, who was called Omar, 'If this be so she shall never marry, and I shall live long and pleasantly, and after me she shall be queen. As for my nephew, I fear that he may wish to be king when he grows to manhood. Therefore let him be thrown into the sea.' Then an old Magician arose and spoke thus.

"'Be careful, oh King, not to do this wicked act, or if you greatly dread the Prince Ali give him to me, and I will carry him far away to an island on the coast, where he may be taught as a Prince should be, and where he may live all his days and never know what he might have been.'

"Then said a second counsellor, 'For my part I advise that the Princess be shut up in a palace around whose gardens a wall shall be built, that she may grow up and see none but women, for so only can you make sure that she will not fall in love and marry.'

"'It were well,' said the King. 'Let the Magician take the Prince as he has said.' Accordingly the next day Prince Ali was carried to an island many miles from the main land and lodged in a fair palace. Here he was cared for by trusty persons who taught him all manner of wisdom, as well as to ride and hunt and swim, so that he grew up brave and handsome and full of goodness and knowledge.

"Meanwhile the Princess lived alone with her women in a gleaming marble castle which looked across the sea, and was girt about by a high wall on every side but that bounded by the waters of the ocean.

"The busy years went on and by and by the little girl grew to be a stately woman, and the Prince a tall and vigourous man, while the King Omar became gray and old, and was every day more greedy to live. Each morning he sent a slave to see how the Princess fared, and every month he was told all about Prince Ali, and so made sure of his constant safe keeping.

"One fine morning just after a storm a strange thing happened to the Prince. He was walking up and down the beach and looking at the waves which were rushing up the shore and sweeping down again with a fierce roar, when he heard a cry of distress among the rocks near by. In a moment he climbed towards the spot and saw to his great wonder as he came near long tresses of something like thin seaweed floating in the wind from a rock above him. He seized it and was more amazed to find that it was beautiful hair like his own, but of a bright green colour. As he pulled it he heard again a cry of pain which hastened his steps.

"This hair was wonderful, for it not only fell far down the cliff but lay on top of the rocks and across bushes, and was strung here and there with coral and great pearls.

"When the nimble Prince had traced it some thirty feet it led him to a deep hollow between two rocks. Into this he descended. As he reached the bottom what should he see but a little old woman, with fins for hands and a long scaly tail like that of a fish. She was such a comical little old lady that the Prince sat down and laughed for five minutes. He ceased his mirth, however, when the old creature waved her fins in a helpless way and groaned aloud.

"'What can I do for you Mrs. Woman-fish?' said he, 'and how came you here?'

"'My dear,' said she, 'I am, as you see, a mermaid. I happened to come on shore last night just to do a little knitting by the light of the moon, when up came a big storm, and the waves gave me a great toss over these rocks and into this hole. But the worst of it is I have lost my spectacles, and my poor back is nearly broken, and one fin's out of joint, and I've lost a knitting-needle and my back comb. Now if you would kindly carry me to the edge of the rocks and throw me in, I think I could reach home, but, as you may notice, I don't get along very well upon land.'

"The Prince was too good-natured to refuse, so he lifted her carefully, and drawing her long hair after him climbed with his queer load to the top of the cliff. Here he gave her a mighty cast, and away she went fifty feet down into the sea with her green hair sailing after her. The moment she felt the water she rolled over and kissing her fin to Prince Ali sculled away as cleverly as could be.

"The Prince said nothing about this adventure, but felt sorry that he had not asked her some questions, for you must know that whenever he asked questions of the people who waited on him, and taught him, they were very apt to say, 'Oh don't bother me! I'm busy,' so that there were many things which he desired to learn and could not.

"From this day forward he spent all of his time upon the shore and among the rocks. At last one evening he saw a large white crested wave rolling in, and on a sudden out of it paddled the mermaid. She sculled up the sand and rolling over on her back said to the Prince, 'My dear I can never thank you enough. If the doctors had been quicker about getting my flapper well I should have been here long ago.'

"'You are most welcome,' returned Ali, 'and the more so because perhaps you can tell me who I am.'

"'Sir!' said she, 'You are a King's son. Your parents are dead, and your uncle has put you here for fear that you may wish to take the kingdom away from his daughter the Princess Jessalie who is the most beautiful woman in the world. She also is a prisoner within the gardens of her Palace because it has been foretold that whenever she marries, her Father the King will die.'

"'Would that I could see her!' said the Prince.

"'Sir!' replied the mermaid, 'to-morrow I will bring you her picture, and meanwhile here are some trifles which my children have sent you as tokens of their gratitude.'

"Thus saying she shook her head and a double handful of pearls fell from her hair and dropped at the feet of the Prince, after which the mermaid tumbled into the water and swam deftly away.

"The next morning early Ali went to the beach and found the mermaid waiting with a large piece of crystal in her flappers.

"'Prince,' she said, 'Yesterday the Princess Jessalie chanced to look into a small pool of water on the shore where she walks. As quick as could be I enchanted the pool and turned it into a crystal mirror, so that the face of the Princess is fixed upon it forever. Look, I have brought it away with me.'

"At once the Prince regarded the mirror, and this was what he saw in it. Calm lazy eyes of blue, and below them cheeks dimpled and rosy, and twin lips which made you jealous of each, because ever they kissed one the other, and brown hair which must have fallen down about this face as it looked into the pool of water, and blue around it all, the heavens which spread above her as she had bent to gaze at her own fairness.

"'Ah!' said Ali, 'This is my fate! Take me to this woman swiftly that I may see her and die contented.'

"'Not so,' said the mermaid, 'be guided by me and in time you shall marry her. Give me a message and I will carry it to the Princess, but as yet she must not know your name, or it might be that the King hearing it would put you to death. Speak your message to this shell and I will answer for the rest.'

"Thus saying she pointed to a white shell which lay on the beach. The Prince took it up, and laughing, whispered a few words in its curled lip, and then as the mermaid bade him threw it far out into the sea.

"'Now,' said the mermaid, 'If you tell a lady once that you love her she laughs. If you tell her twice she is angry, but when you have ten times said 'I love,' she will either hate or love you, or perhaps may hate and love by turns, each for five minutes as sometimes doth chance. Now, therefore, many times you must say to her I love you.'

"'But _how_ shall I do this?' asked Prince Ali.

"'Sir,' she said, 'look upwards and clap your hands thrice.'

"Without further words the young man did as he was told, when instantly a great white swan descended from a vast height and alighted on the water's edge beside them. The mermaid at once began to dig in the sand, and presently found a large oyster shell which she desired Ali to open. As he did so a necklace of pearls fell out, the like of which no jeweller ever saw before or since.

"'Now!' said the mermaid, 'hang this on the swan's neck for a present to the Princess, and with thy finger write on the bird's breast a message.'

"The Prince was lost in wonder, but without hesitation he traced a few rapid letters on the white breast of the swan. As he wrote, the feathers where he touched them grew scarlet, so that you might read in red letters 'I love thee,' marked on the snowy whiteness of the swan's bosom.

"Scarcely had he made an end of this short letter of love when the swan rose in swift flight until she was no longer to be seen by the amazed Prince, who turned to look at the mermaid, though only to find that she too had vanished. Then in still greater wonder Ali walked homeward along the water's edge.

"Thus many days went by and brought no change, for ever the west winds blew, and ever the waves climbed the shore and laid soft cheeks on the sands and whispered, and went backward moaning again.

"This sadness pleased the Prince who lay on the rocks all day and heard the sobbing waters, and looked wearily over the wide green ocean fields where the bubble-crested foam came and went from sight like the white clover blossoms which swayed amid their fields of green, when the wind leaped across the rocks and took its pleasure inland.

"One of these days the Princess walked on the shore with her women, when the youngest of them said, 'What a lovely shell!' 'Let me hear what it says,' cried the Princess; but no sooner had she put it to her ear than the shell murmured softly, 'I LOVE YOU.'

"'Ah!' said the Princess Jessalie to the oldest of her ladies, 'This shell sings to me words new and strange. Tell me I pray you what is LOVE?'

"She had scarcely finished when all the old ladies held up their hands in horror, for this and all other such words were forbidden within the Palace bounds. The more they made faces and signs at her the more the Princess wished to know. So she kept saying continually, 'What is love? I will know what is love.'

"But no one answered, and some of the old ladies cried, and some ran away, for they all feared that King Omar would strangle them because the Princess had heard the forbidden word, and because no one of them knew but that presently she would say, 'what is a man?' or some other such dreadful words.

"When at length the Princess found herself alone with her governess, she said again, 'What is love?'

"'My dear child,' replied the old lady, 'it is a kind of medicine!'

"'Ah!' cried the Princess, 'Then I see why the ladies made faces when I spoke of it. I suppose they had all taken a dose. But it sounds very pleasant,' she added, and all day long she went about with the shell at her ear.

"The next morning the shell was gone, for the ladies had taken it away so that they might prevent further mischief by hiding this wonderful shell. But before they concealed it they listened to hear it say 'I love you.' No one listened twice, and they all said the shell was an ill-bred shell and had no manners, though what it said to them I know not, perhaps something true but not pleasant.

"The next day while walking in the garden the Princess asked eagerly about her singing shell. While everybody pretended to look for it a whirring noise was heard and a fluttering of white wings was seen as the swan lit at the feet of the lady and shook the pearl necklace into her lap.

"'Oh marvellous!' cried the Princess, 'come quickly look at this! see what pearls! and Mahomet preserve us! Bismillah! Here is the name of that medicine again, written in scarlet on the breast of this beautiful swan, 'I LOVE THEE.'

"No sooner had the old ladies seen these fatal words than they rushed at the bird and beat it so cruelly that it had hard work to get away even with the help of the Princess herself.

"This time she was so urgent to be told more, and so eager in her questions, that the matter came to the quick ears of the King Omar her father. At once the guards around her Palace gardens were doubled. Twelve old ladies were set to work to gather up all the shells along shore, while twelve more were ordered to keep strict watch lest any other messages of love should come to the fair Jessalie.

"Meantime none knew whence came these strange words, and the King grew more and more angry and alarmed whenever he thought about it.

"All his precautions were in vain. One fine morning every rose-leaf in the gardens had written upon it in golden Arabic letters, 'I LOVE YOU.'

"This drove the King wild, and he commanded all the rose-bushes in the kingdom to be cut down, which was instantly done.

"The next morrow at day-break a great noise was heard, and when the Princess arose and peeped from her window every bird in the garden was singing, 'I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU.'

"This time the King ordered the Princess to be shut up in the Palace. Then the birds were driven away and a great silken net hung over the garden so that the voice of the birds might no more be heard singing this sweet treason among the flowers.

"Very soon, however, the Princess became so weary of her Palace that she fell ill, and no one dared to tell the King that all night long in dreams she whispered, 'I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU.'

"Far and near the King sought counsel of all manner of wise men and doctors, but no one would venture to order medicine for the Princess without seeing her, and as to a man doing that, it was out of the question.

"About this time the mermaid, who I need not say was the merrymaker of all this mischief, met the Prince on the beach one evening and thus addressed him.

"'The Princess whom you love is ill, because she has not found out who it is that is ever saying through the shells and the birds and the flowers, "I love you." Take therefore this mirror, write on it a letter with your finger tip, and I will see that it reaches the Princess.'

"The Prince gladly followed these directions, for though when he had traced words on the glass he could see nothing of them, he felt sure of the mermaid's power to help him.

"When he had ended she took the mirror, and carrying it all the way above the waves hastened to the main-land. When she came to the shore she put on a long petticoat to hide her scaly fish tail, and drawing her fins through the sleeves of a gown, mounted up on a pair of crutches and hobbled with great labour to the Palace of King Omar. Here she told the guard to let the King know that a lame doctoress who had come from a far country was waiting to cure the Princess.

"So soon as ever the King heard this he ordered her to be admitted. When he set eyes upon her odd figure he cried out,

"'Quick! old woman speak! and that shortly! If you can cure my daughter say so.'

"'Oh King!' she answered, 'Let the lady look into this mirror, but see that no one touches it on the way. Let the Princess breathe upon it as she looks, and if it does not cure her throw me into the sea without mercy.'

"'Well said!' cried the King. 'It shall be as you desire. Let the mirror be carried to the Princess.'

"Accordingly that evening the crystal was taken to the Palace with every care and given to Jessalie.

"'You have but to breathe on it,' said her Governess, 'and you will be well.'

"'Give it to me,' she said, and instantly blew a breath upon its polished surface. As she did so, to her great amazement she read these words which seemed to come into view on the glass as her breathing moistened it, 'I LOVE YOU. I, THE PRINCE ALI YOUR COUSIN, I LOVE YOU.'

"As her breath faded from the glass the words fled from sight, but the Princess fell back murmuring, 'My cousin Ali, he loves me.'

"Then there was confusion. The ladies tore their hair and screamed aloud, and the slaves beat their breasts, while the Princess fainted away. In a moment the news came to the King that his daughter had no sooner seen the mirror than she had called aloud the name of her cousin and fainted.

"'Allah!' muttered the King, 'Well said the poet, "A daughter is an aching tooth, and he who doth not beat his child shall one day strike his knees in vain." Let this old hag of a doctor be cast into the sea,' he added, 'and let the captain of the guard take ship speedily and slay this nephew of mine whom I did ill to spare so long.'

"Accordingly the mermaid was taken to the rocks and thrown a hundred feet down into the waves, where she laughed a little, and kicking off her petticoats swam away merrily to see the Prince, for whose safety she had great fears.