Tell Me Another Story | Page 9

him, and the slow adder that
crawled past.
And in the morning he rose up and plucked some bitter berries from the
trees and ate them, and took his way through the great wood, weeping
sorely. And of everything that he met he made inquiry if perchance
they had seen his mother.
He said to the Mole, "Thou canst go beneath the earth. Tell me, is my
mother there?"
And the Mole answered, "Thou hast blinded mine eyes. How should I
know?"
He said to the Linnet, "Thou canst fly over the tops of the tall trees and
canst see the whole world. Tell me, canst thou see my mother?"
And the Linnet answered, "Thou hast clipt my wings for thy pleasure.
How should I fly?"
And to the little Squirrel who lived in the fir tree, and was lonely, he
said, "Where is my mother?"
And the Squirrel answered, "Thou hast slain mine. Dost thou seek to

slay thine also?"
And the Star-Child wept and bowed his head and prayed forgiveness of
God's things, and went on through the forest, seeking for the
beggar-woman.
When he passed through the villages the children mocked him and
threw stones at him. He had no place to rest his head, and none had pity
on him. For the space of three years he wandered over the world, and
often seemed to see his mother in the road in front of him, and would
call to her, and run after her until the sharp flints made his feet bleed.
But overtake her he could not, and there was neither love nor charity
for him. It was such a world as he had made for himself in the days of
his pride.
It happened that in his wanderings he was taken and sold as a slave, and
his master, who was a wicked magician, demanded that he go out in
search of a piece of pure white gold.
"See that thou bringest it," said the magician, "or it will go hard with
thee."
So the Star-Child went in search of the piece of white gold but he could
not find it, although he sought for it from morn to noon, and from noon
to sunset. Then he set his face toward home, weeping bitterly, for he
knew that the magician would beat him with an hundred stripes. But
suddenly he heard, from a thicket a cry, and, forgetting his own sorrow,
he ran to the place. He saw a little Hare caught in a trap.
The Star-Child had pity on it and released it and the Hare said to him,
"What shall I give thee in return for my freedom?"
And the Star-Child said to it, "I am seeking for a piece of white gold
nor can I, anywhere, find it; and if I bring it not to my master he will
beat me."
"Come with me," said the Hare. "I know where it is hidden, and for
what purpose."

So the Star-Child went with the Hare, and in the cleft of a great oak tree
he saw the white gold that he was seeking. He took it and ran swiftly
toward the city.
Now at the gate of the city there was seated one who was a leper. When
he saw the Star-Child he called to him and said, "Give me a piece of
money or I must die of hunger. They have turned me out of the city and
there is no one who has pity on me."
"Alas," cried the Star-Child. "I have but one piece of money, and if I
bring it not to my master he will beat me, for I am his slave."
"Give me the piece of money or I must die," cried the leper and the
Star-Child had pity on him and gave him the piece of gold. Yet his
heart was heavy, for he knew what evil fate awaited him.
But, lo, as he passed through the gates of the city, the guards bowed to
him and the high officers of the city ran forth to meet him and cried,
"Thou art our lord for whom we have been waiting, and the son of our
king."
And the Star-Child wondered.
"I am no king's son, but the child of a beggar-woman and evil to look
at," he said. Then he saw his image in one of the burnished shields of
the guards.
Lo, his face was again beautiful, and all his comeliness had come back
to him again.
But he said to them, "I am not worthy, for I have denied my mother,
nor may I rest until I have found her. Let me go, for I must wander
again through the world." As he spoke he looked toward the road and
there he saw the beggar-woman