Twilight Land | Page 8

as the stool had obeyed the soldier, so everything was done now
just as the magician said.
The next morning back came the hunting-party, and as they rode over
the hill--lo and behold!--there lay stretched out the great parade ground
in which the king's armies used to march around and around, and the
land was as bare as the palm of my hand. Not a stick or a stone of the
palace was left; not a leaf or a blade of the orchards or gardens was to
be seen.
The soldier sat as dumb as a fish, and the king stared with eyes and
mouth wide open. "Where is the palace, and where is my daughter?"
said he, at last, finding words and wit.
"I do not know," said the soldier.
The king's face grew as black as thunder. "You do not know?" he said,
"then you must find out. Seize the traitor!" he cried.
But that was easier said than done, for, quick as a wink, as they came to
lay hold of him, the soldier whisked the feather cap from his pocket and
clapped it upon his head, and then they might as well have hoped to
find the south wind in winter as to find him.
But though he got safe away from that trouble he was deep enough in
the dumps, you may be sure of that. Away he went, out into the wide
world, leaving that town behind him. Away he went, until by-and-by he
came to a great forest, and for three days he travelled on and on--he
knew not whither. On the third night, as he sat beside a fire which he
had built to keep him warm, he suddenly bethought himself of the little
round stone which had dropped from the bird's claw, and which he still
had in his pocket. "Why should it not also help me," said he, "for there
must be some wonder about it." So he brought it out, and sat looking at
it and looking at it, but he could make nothing of it for the life of him.

Nevertheless, it might have some wishing power about it, like the
magic stool. "I wish," said the soldier, "that I might get out of this
scrape." That is what we have all wished many and many a time in a
like case; but just now it did the soldier no more good to wish than it
does good for the rest of us. "Bah!" said he, "it is nothing but a black
stone after all." And then he threw it into the fire.
Puff! Bang! Away flew the embers upon every side, and back tumbled
the soldier, and there in the middle of the flame stood just such a grim,
black being as he had one time shot at with the silver button.
As for the poor soldier, he just lay flat on his back and stared with eyes
like saucers, for he thought that his end had come for sure.
"What are my lord's commands?" said the being, in a voice that shook
the marrow of the soldier's bones.
"Who are you?" said the soldier.
"I am the spirit of the stone," said the being. "You have heated it in the
flame, and I am here. Whatever you command I must obey."
"Say you so?" cried the soldier, scrambling to his feet. "Very well, then,
just carry me to where I may find my wife and my palace again."
Without a word the spirit of the stone snatched the soldier up, and flew
away with him swifter than the wind. Over forest, over field, over
mountain and over valley he flew, until at last, just at the crack of day,
he set him down in front of his own palace gate in the far country
where the magician had transported it.
After that the soldier knew his way quickly enough. He clapped his
feather cap upon his head and into the palace he went, and from one
room to another, until at last he came to where the princess sat weeping
and wailing, with her pretty eyes red from long crying.
Then the soldier took off his cap again, and you may guess what sounds
of rejoicing followed. They sat down beside one another, and after the
soldier had eaten, the princess told him all that had happened to her;
how the magician had found the stool, and how he had transported the
palace to this far-away land; how he came every day and begged her to
marry him--which she would rather die than do.
To all this the soldier listened, and when she had ended her story he
bade her to dry her tears, for, after all, the jug was only cracked, and
not past mending. Then