The King of the Golden River | Page 8

in all manner of
shapes, turning over and over in the air and melting away at last in a
gush of rain.
"A very pretty business, indeed, Mr. Gluck!" said Schwartz. "Dish the
mutton, sir. If ever I catch you at such a trick again-- bless me, why, the
mutton's been cut!"
"You promised me one slice, brother, you know," said Gluck.
"Oh! and you were cutting it hot, I suppose, and going to catch all the
gravy. It'll be long before I promise you such a thing again. Leave the
room, sir; and have the kindness to wait in the coal cellar till I call
you."
Gluck left the room melancholy enough. The brothers ate as much
mutton as they could, locked the rest in the cupboard, and proceeded to
get very drunk after dinner.
Such a night as it was! Howling wind and rushing rain, without
intermission. The brothers had just sense enough left to put up all the
shutters and double-bar the door before they went to bed. They usually
slept in the same room. As the clock struck twelve they were both
awakened by a tremendous crash. Their door burst open with a violence
that shook the house from top to bottom.

"What's that?" cried Schwartz, starting up in his bed.
"Only I," said the little gentleman.
The two brothers sat up on their bolster and stared into the darkness.
The room was full of water, and by a misty moonbeam, which found its
way through a hole in the shutter, they could see in the midst of it an
enormous foam globe, spinning round and bobbing up and down like a
cork, on which, as on a most luxurious cushion, reclined the little old
gentleman, cap and all. There was plenty of room for it now, for the
roof was off.
"Sorry to incommode you," said their visitor ironically. "I'm afraid your
beds are dampish. Perhaps you had better go to your brother's room;
I've left the ceiling on there."
They required no second admonition, but rushed into Gluck's room, wet
through and in an agony of terror.
"You'll find my card on the kitchen table," the old gentleman called
after them. "Remember, the LAST visit."
"Pray Heaven it may!" said Schwartz, shuddering. And the foam globe
disappeared.
Dawn came at last, and the two brothers looked out of Gluck's little
window in the morning. The Treasure Valley was one mass of ruin and
desolation. The inundation had swept away trees, crops, and cattle, and
left in their stead a waste of red sand and gray mud. The two brothers
crept shivering and horror-struck into the kitchen. The water had gutted
the whole first floor; corn, money, almost every movable thing, had
been swept away, and there was left only a small white card on the
kitchen table. On it, in large, breezy, long-legged letters, were engraved
the words:
SOUTH WEST WIND, ESQUIRE
CHAPTER II

OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE THREE BROTHERS AFTER
THE VISIT OF SOUTHWEST WIND, ESQUIRE; AND HOW
LITTLE GLUCK HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF THE
GOLDEN RIVER
Southwest Wind, Esquire, was as good as his word. After the
momentous visit above related, he entered the Treasure Valley no more;
and, what was worse, he had so much influence with his relations, the
West Winds in general, and used it so effectually, that they all adopted
a similar line of conduct. So no rain fell in the valley from one year's
end to another. Though everything remained green and flourishing in
the plains below, the inheritance of the three brothers was a desert.
What had once been the richest soil in the kingdom became a shifting
heap of red sand, and the brothers, unable longer to contend with the
adverse skies, abandoned their valueless patrimony in despair, to seek
some means of gaining a livelihood among the cities and people of the
plains. All their money was gone, and they had nothing left but some
curious old-fashioned pieces of gold plate, the last remnants of their
ill-gotten wealth.
"Suppose we turn goldsmiths," said Schwartz to Hans as they entered
the large city. "It is a good knave's trade; we can put a great deal of
copper into the gold without anyone's finding it out."
The thought was agreed to be a very good one; they hired a furnace and
turned goldsmiths. But two slight circumstances affected their trade:
the first, that people did not approve of the coppered gold; the second,
that the two elder brothers, whenever they had sold anything, used to
leave little Gluck to mind the furnace, and go and drink out the money
in the alehouse next door. So they melted all their gold without making
money enough to buy more, and were at last reduced to one