Famous Stories Every Child Should Know | Page 5

his back was bent.
And one night as he lay upon his bed, his children standing round, he
cried, as he had cried so long ago:
"I see the star!"

They whispered one to another, "He is dying."
And he said, "I am. My age is falling from me like a garment, and I
move towards the star as a child. And O, my Father, now I thank Thee
that it has so often opened, to receive those dear ones who await me!"
And the star was shining, and it shines upon his grave.

II
THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER; OR, THE BLACK
BROTHERS
I.--HOW THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM OF THE BLACK
BROTHERS WAS INTERFERED WITH BY SOUTHWEST WIND,
ESQUIRE
In a secluded and mountainous part of Stiria there was, in old time, a
valley of the most surprising and luxuriant fertility. It was surrounded,
on all sides, by steep and rocky mountains, rising into peaks, which
were always covered with snow, and from which a number of torrents
descended in constant cataracts. One of these fell westward, over the
face of a crag so high, that, when the sun had set to everything else, and
all below was darkness, his beams still shone full upon this waterfall,
so that it looked like a shower of gold. It was, therefore, called by the
people of the neighbourhood, the Golden River. It was strange that
none of these streams fell into the valley itself. They all descended on
the other side of the mountains, and wound away through broad plains
and by populous cities. But the clouds were drawn so constantly to the
snowy hills, and rested so softly in the circular hollow, that in time of
drought and heat, when all the country round was burnt up, there was
still rain in the little valley; and its crops were so heavy, and its hay so
high, and its apples so red, and its grapes so blue, and its wine so rich,
and its honey so sweet that it was a marvel to everyone who beheld it,
and was commonly called the Treasure Valley.
The whole of this little valley belonged to three brothers called

Schwartz, Hans, and Gluck. Schwartz and Hans, the two elder brothers,
were very ugly men, with overhanging eyebrows and small, dull eyes,
which were always half shut, so that you couldn't see into them, and
always fancied they saw very far into you. They lived by farming the
Treasure Valley, and very good farmers they were. They killed
everything that did not pay for its eating. They shot the blackbirds,
because they pecked the fruit; and killed the hedgehogs, lest they
should suck the cows; they poisoned the crickets for eating the crumbs
in the kitchen; and smothered the cicadas, which used to sing all
summer in the lime-trees. They worked their servants without any
wages, till they would not work any more, and then quarrelled with
them, and turned them out of doors without paying them. It would have
been very odd, if with such a farm, and such a system of farming, they
hadn't got very rich; and very rich they did get. They generally
contrived to keep their corn by them till it was very dear, and then sell
it for twice its value; they had heaps of gold lying about on their floors,
yet it was never known that they had given so much as a penny or a
crust in charity; they never went to mass; grumbled perpetually at
paying tithes; and were, in a word, of so cruel and grinding a temper, as
to receive from all those with whom they had any dealings the
nickname of the "Black Brothers."
The youngest brother, Gluck, was as completely opposed, in both
appearance and character, to his seniors as could possibly be imagined
or desired. He was not above twelve years old, fair, blue-eyed, and kind
in temper to every living thing. He did not, of course, agree particularly
well with his brothers, or, rather, they did not agree with him. He was
usually appointed to the honourable office of turnspit, when there was
anything to roast, which was not often; for, to do the brothers justice,
they were hardly less sparing upon themselves than upon other people.
At other times he used to clean the shoes, floors, and sometimes the
plates, occasionally getting what was left on them, by way of
encouragement, and a wholesome quantity of dry blows, by way of
education.
Things went on in this manner for a long time. At last came a very wet
summer, and everything went wrong in the country around. The hay

had hardly been got in, when the hay-stacks were floated bodily down
to the sea by an inundation; the vines were cut to