Part 4

"When this awful battle was over Growlegrum sat on a hill and began to pick his teeth with a fence rail. Meanwhile Prince Bluets hastened to the city.

"He had gone but a little way when who should he see but his great-great-grandfather Jack, the Giant Killer, who had journeyed a long way to see what had become of Bluets. After they had embraced one another, the Prince told his grandfather all that had passed.

"'You have done well,' said Jack, 'but we must now get rid of this other giant who I hear is a terrible fellow. Let us go and see him.'

"'Very well,' replied Bluets, 'We will go,' and so saying they turned, and very soon spied Growlegrum sitting on the hill. As soon as ever he saw them he roared out,

"'Dinner! Here comes my dinner!'

"When they had come still nearer Jack cried aloud, 'I am Jack, the Giant Killer, and I have come to visit you.'

"'Ha, ha!' laughed the giant, 'You are a little man and brave.' 'There is one thing you cannot do, big though you be,' said Jack.

"'Name it,' said Growlegrum. 'I can pull up trees and kick down towns and chew cannon balls and eat you. What is there I cannot do?'

"'Sir,' answered Jack, 'All these things are easy.' 'If I cannot eat anything and kill anybody I will quit this land and go home,' said the giant in a rage.

"'Good!' cried Jack, 'Come with us.'

"Upon this the giant picked them both up and walked off in the direction which Jack pointed out. Presently they came to a house.

"'Stop!' said Jack, and the giant set them down.

"'Eat the man who lives in that house,' said Jack.

"'Poh!' cried Growlegrum, and gave the house a kick which knocked it down in a twinkling. Then he pulled out of the ruins a man who began to roar for mercy.

"'Oh dear!' he said, 'Don't eat me, and I will never fib any more, and never make any more speeches ever again.'

"'Who is he?' asked the giant. '_A member of Congress_,' cried Jack.

"'Eat _him?_ eat _him!_ said the giant, 'I don't want to be poisoned. You must think I am a fool.'

"'Eat him!' cried Jack.

"'No, sir,' said Krusstikuss. 'I'd rather leave. If I must die I would like to die easy.'

"So saying the giant gave a groan and set off across the hills. I do not know where he went, but I suppose he travelled home to his mamma, and told her what a fool Jack had made of him.

"As soon as the giant had gone Jack and Prince Bluets went to the castle and set free the Princess and all the babies, who showed their gratitude by screaming for a week. But perhaps this might have been owing to the dough-nuts they had eaten.

"I do believe there never was such a wedding as that of Prince Bluets and Princess Violet, for all the fairy folk came, and Cinderella and all the fairy godmothers, and Aladdin, and Prince Nosey, and the seven champions, and Hop O'my Thumb, Goody Two Shoes, and Red Riding Hood. All of them brought presents to the bride, but the Prince gave her only his love and took away from her the amulet for fear it should make any one love her more than he could."

* * * * *

During the next week it rained so hard every day that no one of the spider's family could venture out of their den.

It was no wonder that they became hungry for stories, and that at the first gleam of sunshine they all ran together and began to pull at the line of cobweb to which poor Fuz-Buz was fettered.

As for Fuz-Buz he was so wet and cold that he crawled out of his hole with trouble and pain.

"Ah, my dears!" cried he. "I ache all over with the gout. We lived too high in Spain I fear."

"Bother the gout!" said the spiders.

"Tell us a new story, and pretty soon too, or mammy will eat you, and won't that be worse than the gout?"

"I don't know," answered Fuz-Buz, "I think I would rather be eaten up at once, and have it over."

"Ha! ha!" cried Mrs. Grabem, who overheard what the fly had said.

"Ha! ha! you would like to be eaten; would you like to have your legs pulled off and your wings torn, and—-?"

"Oh dear! oh dear!" shrieked Fuz-Buz. "Pray stop, I am all in a shiver. I will never be so hasty again."

"Very well," returned the spider firmly. "See that you remember what I have said, and on no account venture to keep my blessed little children waiting. It spoils their tempers for life. I will have no more of it."

When Mrs. Grabem ceased, all the young spiders cried aloud,

"You had better take care, or mammy will finish you!"

"How are your legs?" said one.

"Where is that story?" said another.

"Here it is," answered Fuz-Buz, tapping his head. "I have it all here ever since the day I heard it told by a famous Dervish at the porch of the great Mosque of Salamanca."

MUSTAPHA, OR THE MUSICAL GOURD.

"In the year of the Hegira, 709, and the twelfth of our Caliph Haroun, the Magnificent, there lived in the royal city of Bagdad a cobbler of the name of Ali Ben Slippah.

"His shop was small, but being well situated at the corner of the street of the Prophet, and the great street of Mosques, the cobbler managed to live very comfortably, so that with the aid of Smyrna tobacco and a contented disposition which the poet has well called the 'Pipe of the just,' he eked out a tranquil life free from care and ambition.

"His house was neatly kept by his daughter Lelie, or the Dark-eyed, who was a little maiden with lips like the roses of Istamboul, and cheeks as darkly lovely as the brown lilies of Ispahan.

"Besides these the sole remaining member of their household was a great black cat known by the name of Yussef, or the Hump-backed, because she was always in an evil humour, and was forever hunching her back up to show how cross she felt.

"It so chanced that when Lelie was a child this cat pursued by boys and dogs had taken refuge with Lelie, who had saved her life. Thenceforward she had never left her, but was so jealous of her mistress that it was enough to look at her to drive the Pussy crazy with rage.

"Now to let you into a secret. You should know that Yussef was a wicked genius who for a terrible crime had been condemned to live an hundred years in the body of a cat.

"About the time at which this trap story begins, a young soldier of the Caliph's guard, whose name was Mustapha, fell in love with Lelie, and as he was very handsome and clever, was so lucky as to make her also love him in return.

"Unhappily for them both, Yussef overheard Mustapha speaking of the day when they were to be married, and at once fell into a fit of jealousy which was dreadful to see.

"In her wrath she flew at Mustapha and scratched his nose, then knocked down and broke the cobbler's best chibouque, and at length dashed out of the house just as Ali Ben Slippah threw his lap-stone at her in fierce anger, because of his broken pipe.

"It was late in the evening when Yussef darted out, and with her heart full of jealous rage bounded up the walls and over the house-tops, until at last she seated herself on a gable and began to think.

"As it became later she was suddenly aware of a noble-looking person who was walking slowly along, followed at a short distance by four guards with drawn scimetars.

"As soon as Yussef saw the cavalier she knew that he was the Caliph, and remembering that he was then seeking everywhere for beautiful women to wait upon his sick daughter, she formed on the moment the most spiteful scheme of mischief that ever you heard of.

"With two or three crazy leaps she alighted at the feet of the Caliph and began to miaou a tune of the most singular character.

"'By the beard of the Prophet!' said Haroun al Raschid, 'This is passing wonderful! Catch that cat!'

"But Yussef was too quick for that. She turned two somersaults, and miaoued again. The guards and the Caliph followed her in wonder, while she retreated until they came to the cobbler's door. Here she miaoued once more, and leaped into an open window.

"When the Caliph drew near as she had desired he would do, he looked into the window and saw the beautiful Lelie.

"'Bismillah!' cried he, as he thrust back the guards. 'Blessed be cats for evermore! Here is the maiden I have sought for my daughter.'

"So saying, he turned and gave brief orders to his attendants bidding them be careful and secret; and thus saying moved away quietly through the deserted streets.

"Very early next morning when the cobbler had gone to market Yussef heard a noise, and looking saw the shop full of black slaves who seized Lelie, muffled her in a shawl, and leaving a bag of gold on the counter hurried away swiftly.

"As soon as they left Yussef hastened after them, and when they entered a gilded caique on the Tigris, she also tried to leap into the boat. But to her dismay one of the guards seized her by the tail and threw her thirty feet away into the river.

"Yussef spluttered and spit as she came to the surface, and must surely have been drowned had she been a real cat.

"As it was she lost three out of her nine lives, and unluckily came to land on the premises of a tanner where she was set upon by six dogs who tore her hair out and bit her tail, and altogether so misused her that she came to look more like a bit of ill-used foot-rug than a respectable Maltese cat.

"At last, with her heart full of rage and her stomach full of water, she reached home to find the poor cobbler in the utmost grief for the loss of his daughter.

"By and by he resigned himself to his fate, and seeing well that no common person had stolen the maiden, he smoked the more abundantly, and like a true believer took comfort in that verse of the Koran which says, 'All things that are are well; but some, saith the Prophet, are disagreeable.'

"Meanwhile poor Mustapha became nearly crazed with grief. He roamed the streets all day, and at evening returned to the cobbler's in the vain hope of hearing some news of Lelie.

"On one of these occasions he was so unlucky as to stumble over Yussef who gave him a fierce scratch, and fled from his wrath to devise new plans of mischief, for although Lelie was gone, she was lost to herself as well as to Mustapha, and the cat never had ceased to hate him as the cause of all her troubles.

"Yussef therefore resolved to rid herself of his presence, and she set about it after her own wicked fashion.

"Some two or three nights later Mustapha was wandering sadly in the gardens of the Caliph when he heard a voice from the trees above him saying,

"'Come to-night to the tomb of the Caliphs, under the cedars, on the road to Damascus, and thou shalt hear news of thy love.'

"The voice sounded like that of Lelie, and the soldier in vain sought about him on every side for its source. At length the words were repeated and he made up his mind to obey them.

"It was near midnight when Mustapha found himself at the appointed spot. All Bagdad lay behind him still and slumbering. Here and there a long arrow of light darted from some tall minaret, while the full moon-light pouring down on the Mosque of El Rahab lit up its golden dome like a mound of fire.

"Before him the quiet groves of fig and olive, pomegranates and mourning cypresses stretched away for miles, bounded in the far distance by the curves of the Tigris, whose broad bendings flashed in the light like gigantic scimetars.

"As Mustapha approached the Caliph's tomb he came to an open space girt in by dense thickets. Pushing these aside he stepped cautiously forward, for he heard a sound of music and voices.

"Presently a fire flashed up on the open ground among the ruined tombs, and the soldier shook with fear as he looked on what its light revealed.

"Seated about the slope which led downwards on every side to a broken tomb were gigantic figures in white robes that floated about them like mist, so that only sometimes he could see their solemn faces.

"From the tomb came slowly a long procession of Ghouls and Vampires and Afrites of hideous shapes, such as men see in dreams, while all the air and the ground seemed to be alive with a myriad of little winged forms who hovered about like butterflies.

"At last there was silence, when Yussef suddenly appeared before the tallest of the Genii, and miaoued frightfully.

"Then the Genie said in a mild great voice, 'What would you of your brethren?'

"'The man,' said Yussef, 'who has mocked my fallen estate and stolen my love from me is here awaiting judgment.'

"When Mustapha heard these words he was ready to die with fear, but his limbs refused to bear him away and he was forced to support himself by grasping a tree.

"'Oh King,' cried Yussef, 'Let him be brought to thee.'

"'Be it so!' said the Genie.

"At this two fearful-looking Afrites leaped into the air, and with one swoop of their clawed wings alighted beside Mustapha. Then they seized him and thrust him into the circle before the cloudy form of the King of the Genii who thus addressed him.

"'It is not given us to slay, but that thou shalt no more trouble us we order thee to become a gourd, and as we may not sentence any to an endless fate it shall be that when it pleaseth Allah to turn thee inside out thou shalt then only assume again the form of man.'

"'It is well,' cried Yussef. 'Thanks, oh King!'

"At these words Mustapha fainted. When he recovered he found himself hanging on a vine near by, and presently discovered that he was a huge green gourd.

"After this many days fled away, and Mustapha the gourd grew bigger and bigger, and at last began to ripen and turn yellow.

"Every night as he hung on the vine he saw the strange midnight meetings of the Genii and Ghouls and Afrites. All the wonderful things he heard and saw no one will ever know, for he saw their wild feasts and dances, and heard music such as before no mortal ears had ever listened to.

"At length one warm summer morning two farmers came by on the way to market.

"'Bismillah!' cried one, as he saw the great gourd Mustapha. 'What a monstrous gourd!'

"'Let us take it with us and sell it,' said the second.

"Thus saying he took a knife from his girdle and cut the stem by which Mustapha hung. This caused him so much pain that he cried aloud,

"'What's that?' said the farmer. 'The gourd speaks! It is alive!'

"Upon this he pricked the gourd with his knife. At this Mustapha exclaimed, 'Don't!'

"'Mahomet!' said the farmer. 'The thing is enchanted. It will fetch us a fortune.'

"Shortly afterwards they carried the gourd to the market. Here they made a goodly fortune by running pins into Mustapha that he might cry out for the amusement of the by-standers.

"Before long all Bagdad flocked to see and hear this wonderful gourd, and at last an officer of the Caliph's household arrived, payed a great sum for the gourd, and putting it in a basket, carried it away to the Palace.

"By and by Mustapha found himself in a superb room of the Palace, where, surrounded by her ladies, the Princess lay upon a couch.

"Suddenly Mustapha the gourd as he lay in his basket heard the voice of his beloved Lelie who was fanning the Princess.

"This so moved poor Mustapha that he cried aloud,

"'Allah! I hear my love!' and so saying rolled from the basket and fell at Lelie's feet.

"'Mahomet!' cried the Princess. 'The thing is bewitched! take it away!'

"But as for Lelie the words were as sweet music to her, and seizing the gourd she placed it tenderly in the basket and carried it to her room. Here she implored it with tears to speak again, but in vain; so that at last she was forced to leave it and return to the Princess.

"Soon after she had gone Mustapha was aware of a rose-colored cloud in the room, out of which grew into shape the form of a huge Genie which thus addressed him.

"'Know, frail mortal, that I am your guardian spirit. I have heard with pity of your sad fate and am come to give you a chance for life again. Perhaps what I shall do for you may render your position better. Unluckily I cannot give to you once more your mortal shape.'

"With these words the figure inclined towards him gravely and touched his yellow cheek. He shuddered and lost consciousness.

"What next was his amazement to find himself standing in the shop of Harim, the merchant. Presently he began to look at himself with curious care. He had a gold head like that of a bird, with ruby eyes. His neck was of satin wood, long and slim, while his clothes which were stiffened with whalebone and wire, resembled petticoats upside down.

"'Allah il Allah!' cried he, 'What an existence!'

"Just then a Dervish looking at him asked the merchant, 'What is that?'

"'It is,' answered he, 'a Frankish device which the men in Frangistan carry to keep off the rain. Their women are only allowed to carry smaller ones, so they make up for that by bearing them about in fair as well as wet weather.'

"'A device of Eblis!' exclaimed the Dervish, and muttering a verse of the Koran, walked gravely away.

"By and by came the grand Purveyor of the Caliph. He was seeking new and curious things for the Princess, who was ill and refused to eat so that day after day she became more feeble.

"'Ah!' said the Purveyor, 'This is a Frank tent. I saw them when I was Envoy to the court of Charlemagne.'

"At this Mustapha blushed, for the officer seized him and began to expand his skirts so that his leg, for he had but one, was alarmingly exposed.

"Very soon the Purveyor, having paid a good price, took Mustapha away to the Palace where he explained the uses of this portable tent.

"'This,' said he, 'Is what the Franks, whom Allah confound! call an umbrella, and the female of the thing they term a parasol.'

"'I shall need it not,' said the Princess Ellera. 'No sun will shine on me any more. On me no rain will fall. I shall die if I find nothing that I can eat.'

"'Take it Lelie,' she cried, 'As thou hast lost thy gourd, take it.'

"Upon this Lelie took Mustapha away and placed him in a quiet corner of her room.

"Meanwhile some days went by, and all the cooks tried in vain to please the sick Princess. All day long an army of slaves went past her bed, each bearing some rare dish or some luscious fruit, but still alas! in vain; so that at length the doctors decided that if she did not eat within a day she would surely die.

"Lelie, who was in great distress, left the Princess and went to her own room to weep alone. At last she arose to go out into the garden, thinking that perhaps the Princess might be tempted by a rose-leaf salad.

"As she walked past Mustapha he cried aloud, 'Take me.'

"'This is queer,' said she, but when the words were repeated she clutched the Frankish toy and ran out into the garden. Here she wandered long, but as evening fell she suddenly saw that a storm had gathered.

"Before she could reach the Palace, a wild gust of wind caught in Mustapha's skirts and nearly tore him from her hand. As she struggled the wind expanded his petticoats, and at last crack went the wires, and then what do you think?

"Mustapha was turned inside out, and the umbrella was a man once more.

"In a moment he explained everything, but after he had kissed her twice she began to sob, for now she knew that he had escaped one evil fate only to light upon another as fearful.

"'Ah!' she cried, 'a man! You, a soldier, in the gardens of the Palace! You will be put to death at once.'

"'No!' he answered, after thinking a little. 'Not if I can save the Princess. Let us go to the Caliph and confess all. Meanwhile have no fears.'

"Lelie at last gave her consent, and with trembling steps she left him, and seeking the Princess related their strange story.

"In a moment all was confusion. A man in the harem!

"'Bowstrings and sacks!' cried the captain of the guard, as he hurried Mustapha before the Caliph.

"'Wretch!' said Al Raschid the Caliph, 'Who art thou?'

"'A soldier,' said Mustapha.

"'Let him die!' cried Al Raschid.

"'Oh Caliph,' answered Mustapha, 'In the land of the Genii it was given me once to learn secrets of the vile Franks, wherewith it may be that I can save thy daughter the Princess.'

"'Thou dost lie like unto a rusty weathercock,' said the Caliph, 'But that none may say I am unjust, take this man to the kitchen. Let him do his best, and if he fail have him strangled instantly.'

"'It is well said,' replied Mustapha.

"Very soon he was left alone in the great kitchen of the Palace, while all the strange things he had seen at the feasts of the Genii came back to his mind.

"Presently he sought about him among the stores of provisions, and took from a basket those striped apples which grow by the brooks of Alkeldrina.

"These he pared deftly and set each within a cup of wheaten dough, such as only the Caliph's farms can furnish. Therein he placed also the golden orange-peel and the spices of distant Borneo. Lastly, he sprinkled it within and without with the aromatic sugar of Turkan, and hanging each apple thus prepared in a silken net carefully cooked them.

"When they were ready he placed them upon golden dishes, and threw over each a hail of snowy sugar and fragrant cinnamon, covering all with a handful of almond blossoms.

"Then he called the guard, and with scimetars crossed over his head he was allowed to carry his dish to the Princess. As she looked languidly upon it he shook off the blossoms.

"'Then,' said the Princess, 'These be the roses of Paradise which I do smell.'

"At these words he knelt down and offered the dish to the lady. Wonderful to tell the Princess called for a silver fork and ate up the whole of the apples so greedily that she scalded her throat in the most dreadful way.

"But between every mouthful she blessed poor Mustapha as the king of cooks, and from that instant she recovered so quickly as to disgust all the doctors, who said Mustapha was a quack, and went away.

"Of course he married Lelie, and had a patent for making this wonderful dish, and was created Lord Marquis of Apple-butter and Duke of Dumplings, and lived merrily all his days."

* * * * *

"That's a good story," cried the spiders.

"Glad you like it," said Fuz-Buz. "Now if you please I will sleep, as I am tired."

In this pleasant way the days went by until Fuz-buz had told them nine hundred and ninety-nine stories.

On this last evening he overheard the spiders talking as he lay tied by the leg in a deep dark crack of the apple tree where he slept.

"My children," said the old spider, "After Fuz-Buz has told us one more story we will eat him. It will be best to wait until after dark, and then seize him on a sudden and kill him; for he is a very strong fly, and may give me trouble."

They all agreed to this excepting the youngest, who said it would be a shame to serve him so, and that they ought to let him go.

But Mrs. Grabem replied, "You know nothing of house-keeping my dear. Go to sleep and hold your tongue."

When Fuz-Buz overheard all this he was scared to death. All next day he was so sick that he could not even tell the shortest story.

At night-fall when the family had gone to their den, he sat on the tree near his cosy little crack and tried to gnaw the web which held him.

Unluckily it was too tough. When he was in despair who should hum by but a huge Bee.

"Halloa!" said he, "What's wrong with you?"

"Sir!" replied Fuz-Buz, "I am tied by the leg to this web, and am to be eaten to-night by a cruel monster of a spider who lives near, and who will overhear you if you do not speak in a low voice."

"Who's afraid?" said the Bee. "Which leg is it?"

"This," answered Fuz-Buz.

"Pshaw!" cried the Bee, and with that he twisted the web about his legs and gave a jump. Snap went the line and Fuz-buz was free once more. Never a fly was so glad as he.

"Sir!" he said, "I am only sorry that you have not had the honour to slay this vile spider. Now if you were to slip into this crack where I sleep, you would have a fine chance, because when Mrs. Grabem comes to eat me you could give her a pleasing surprise."