Fables | Page 8

fetter manfully, and tended his
ulcer without complaint. But he loved the less to be deceived or to see
others cheated. He began to lie in wait for heathen travellers, at covert
parts of the road, and in the dusk of the day, so that he might speak
with them unseen; and these were greatly taken with their wayside
questioner, and told him things of weight. The wearing of gyves (they
said) was no command of Jupiter's. It was the contrivance of a
white-faced thing, a sorcerer, that dwelt in that country in the Wood of
Eld. He was one like Glaucus that could change his shape, yet he could
be always told; for when he was crossed, he gobbled like a turkey. He
had three lives; but the third smiting would make an end of him indeed;
and with that his house of sorcery would vanish, the gyves fall, and the
villagers take hands and dance like children.
"And in your country?" Jack would ask.
But at this the travellers, with one accord, would put him off; until Jack
began to suppose there was no land entirely happy. Or, if there were, it
must be one that kept its folk at home; which was natural enough.
But the case of the gyves weighed upon him. The sight of the children
limping stuck in his eyes; the groans of such as dressed their ulcers
haunted him. And it came at last in his mind that he was born to free
them.
There was in that village a sword of heavenly forgery, beaten upon
Vulcan's anvil. It was never used but in the temple, and then the flat of
it only; and it hung on a nail by the catechist's chimney. Early one night,
Jack rose, and took the sword, and was gone out of the house and the
village in the darkness.
All night he walked at a venture; and when day came, he met strangers
going to the fields. Then he asked after the Wood of Eld and the house
of sorcery; and one said north, and one south; until Jack saw that they

deceived him. So then, when he asked his way of any man, he showed
the bright sword naked; and at that the gyve on the man's ankle rang,
and answered in his stead; and the word was still STRAIGHT ON. But
the man, when his gyve spoke, spat and struck at Jack, and threw stones
at him as he went away; so that his head was broken.
So he came to that wood, and entered in, and he was aware of a house
in a low place, where funguses grew, and the trees met, and the
steaming of the marsh arose about it like a smoke. It was a fine house,
and a very rambling; some parts of it were ancient like the hills, and
some but of yesterday, and none finished; and all the ends of it were
open, so that you could go in from every side. Yet it was in good repair,
and all the chimneys smoked.
Jack went in through the gable; and there was one room after another,
all bare, but all furnished in part, so that a man could dwell there; and
in each there was a fire burning, where a man could warm himself, and
a table spread where he might eat. But Jack saw nowhere any living
creature; only the bodies of some stuffed.
"This is a hospitable house," said Jack; "but the ground must be quaggy
underneath, for at every step the building quakes."
He had gone some time in the house, when he began to be hungry.
Then he looked at the food, and at first he was afraid; but he bared the
sword, and by the shining of the sword, it seemed the food was honest.
So he took the courage to sit down and eat, and he was refreshed in
mind and body.
"This is strange," thought he, "that in the house of sorcery there should
be food so wholesome."
As he was yet eating, there came into that room the appearance of his
uncle, and Jack was afraid because he had taken the sword. But his
uncle was never more kind, and sat down to meat with him, and praised
him because he had taken the sword. Never had these two been more
pleasantly together, and Jack was full of love to the man.
"It was very well done," said his uncle, "to take the sword and come
yourself into the House of Eld; a good thought and a brave deed. But
now you are satisfied; and we may go home to dinner arm in arm."
"Oh, dear, no!" said Jack. "I am not satisfied yet."
"How!" cried his uncle. "Are you not