Up! Horsie! | Page 3

identity. All he could remember was, that the
lady bid him go and rest in the castle, and that he went up the hill, and,
as he thought, entered the building, when sinking down on a soft couch
he was quickly lulled to sleep by the snatches of the enchantress's song,
the breeze wafted from below, and lapped in the pleasing visions of
dreamland.
On waking next morning, he found himself lying on the grass near the
castle, with the ivory fiddle beside him, and saw the flocks grazing
quietly around, as if they had never ceased browsing all night. He rose
up refreshed and invigorated, and when the lady came forth from the
castle and again plied him with a draught from the goblet, he felt ready
to go forth and lead the sheep to fresh pastures.
"Mind you do not lose any of them, and don't forget the fiddle will call
any stragglers back to you," said the lady with a parting smile and wave
of her hand.
Gilbert thought nothing could be easier, having only an indistinct

remembrance of yesterday's disasters, and longing more than ever to do
everything in his power to please the lady of the castle. But in spite of
his good-will, the sheep strayed away as before, and he spent a
toilsome day in vainly running after them, and fiddling away to no
purpose. As before they seemed to merge into mist at the close of the
day, and it was with a heavy heart he presented himself at the foot of
the hill where the lady was awaiting him. Again she gave him a draught
of the delicious wine, and again took the fiddle and drew the bow
across the strings, when the flock began to return as before, but she
looked very grave as she said: "Some of them are lost--you must seek
them to-morrow. Go now and rest in the castle."
Then Gilbert, whose wits were in a still more confused state than the
first time he quaffed that richly flavoured wine, went up the hill and fell
asleep as before, and slept soundly till morning, when again the lady
brought him a bumper, bidding him be sure and bring back all the
sheep, or he would fall under her displeasure, while on the other hand,
if none were found missing, she would not only give him his evening's
draught, but a kiss into the bargain. On hearing this, Gilbert thought no
exertions would be too great for such a reward, and he set off in high
spirits; but he had not gone a hundred yards before the flock dispersed
three different ways, and let him fiddle as he would, he found it
impossible to gather them together again. Nevertheless, he followed
one of the three groups, and in the heat of the chase, was led into a wild
district amongst rocks and cascades, with overhanging trees, where the
sheep seemed to turn quite wild, and subdividing into yet smaller bands,
some were seen scaling the steep crags and looking down from dizzy
heights, while others dashed into the water and swam across the
mountain streams. Gilbert ran about almost like one possessed, vainly
striving to collect the scattered fragments of the flock entrusted to his
care, and in despair at the thought of the sorry figure he should cut on
returning to give an account of his day's work to the lady, and sorely
troubled at the prospect of losing the promised kiss which he would not
have exchanged for a kingdom.
At length, after having scaled one of the highest crags, where he made
sure of catching a sheep, which seemed just as he tried to seize it to

merge into the spray of the waterfall that leaped down a kind of natural
staircase of rocks, he felt so exhausted that he lay down on a knoll in
the fissures of the rock, exclaiming: "Surely I must be bewitched!"
A loud laugh reverberated from the rocks below, and Gilbert slightly
raised his head to see whence it proceeded. Seeing no one, he
concluded it must be the cry of some strange bird, caught up by the
echo, and then to drive away a kind of grisly feeling of terror that began
to creep upon him, he took up his fiddle as he lay stretched on the grass,
and fell to scraping away without the slightest regard to time or tune,
more as if he were sawing a piece of wood, than playing on a musical
instrument. He then became aware of a very curious thing, which was
that the sheep all returned as he drew the bow backwards, tho' they
were off again the moment he drew it forwards. This convinced him he
had not attended to the manner in