The Glass Mountain

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22250, 26 October 1935, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Glass Mountain

7/3NG years ago, when the very air was full of magic and gallant knights in shining armour daily performed deeds of astounding difficulty and daring, there lived a young man of such outstanding fortitude and strength that even to-day his story is not forgotten, and when Polish children gather round the fire for a bedtime tale, it is of the boy who scaled the mountain of glass they most often want to hear. Of course, the mountain was a magi i one, and at its summit tho most wonderful castle ever iriiagined, made of purest gold and precious stones, wit u the rooms lined in silver, and outsidß an apple tree whose fruit was golden - skinned and emerald-stalked. Everyone knew that whosoever plucked the golden apples would gain admission to the castle and an opportunity to rescue the enchanted princess who lived within, but though every knight for miles around had tried to reach the mountain's top all had been defeated by the icy, white, glittering slopes. The knights had their horses shod with nailed shoes, just like the boots of mountaineers, but, even so, no one managed to get more than halfway up before he and his horse were hurled down into the valley below. The princess sat at her window watching the knights trying to reach her on their splendid horses, and every timo she thought. "This one will bo my saviour!" and urged him on, but all in vain. Seven years of disappointment passed, seven years all but a few days, and the princess sat in fear and trembling, wondering what new ordeal was beinio; prepared for her by the magicians. Then a stranger knight appeared, in armour as golden as the castle walls, nnd riding a jet black horse. Urging his horse he made a rush at tho slope, and rode up further than any of his predecessors. Then he turned his horse's head and came down without a slip. Again ho tried, and again, and at last tho horso began to climb tho slippery glass as though it were stones and earth; the crowds below watched with open mouths. A few more minutes and the knight was aeon to reach the top and stretch out his hand to pluck a golden apple. But at tnat moment a gigantic eagle appeared, flying straight into the face of tho frightened horso. Its wings beat about the animal's ears, and with a snort of terror he turned about and rushed dov\;n the mountain, flinging off his rider, and filling .tho air with splinters of glass. Only ono more day remained, and still more country folk gathered round the mountain's base to seo what would become of tho princess and her castle when tho allotted timo was up. Presently they noticed in their miast the son of a neighbouring farmer, a fine, handsome, strapping youth, who was doing something very mysterious with his hands and foot. Closer examination showed that he was fastening to his feet and hands tho claws

Little . | Folk

of a lynx be had killed; and then the* realised that the boy meant to climb the mountains alone, pulling himsell up by means of the hook-lite clawi, armed only with a short hunter's knife. The sun began to set before the young man was halfway up; it seemtd very close to him as he clung to the glassy slope, his eyes were blinded by the light, his throat parched by the heat. A dark cloud passed overhead* and the boy implored it to drop just one drop of water on his dry tongue, but the cloud paid no heed. Staring upward he could see the castle glint ing in the last rays of the sun, snd then evening closed in and all was dark but for the twinkling stars. Too tired to either go on or go back, the boy dug his four sets of claws deep into the glass and rested there; presently he fell into a fleep sleep, <juite forget* ful of his precarious position. Now the golden apple tree wai guarded always at night and sometimes in the day by that same great eagle who had frightened the horse of the stranger knight. After nightfall the bird flew round and round the mountain, lower and lower till at last be reached the valley below, and then it was morning and timo for him to return to his eyrie in the apijle tree. This night, in the course of his flight, he came upon the sleeper, and, grasping the boy's tunic in his powerful claws, pulled him off the mountainside, meaning to drop him into the valley below. But the boy woke up, and with great presence of mind fastened his clawed hands firmly round the eagle's legSi which so astonished the bird that he turned round and flew back to his nestAs soon as the boy felt the strops branches of the apple tree beneath hIJD he loosed one hand, and with hu knife stabbed tho eagle, who fell less into a wood on the mountainside. The boy climbed carefully out of tlie tree, plucked an apple or two and entered tho castle gate; a dragon mo? a half-hearted rush at him, but fljs* appeared when he threw an apple at i i and so he made his way into the silvery room in which tho beautiful pn»* cess sat. His presence was sufficient to dri™ from the castle all the evil who had so long haunted it, and wne the princess gave to the boy, n°t on J all her treasures, but her hand I marriage too. ho became one of t , mightiest rulers in the land. He steps cut and paved in the mountain side, but he himself never returned the earth. And one day a t 9 l ? sseD fj< came to him with news which m him the happiest young man m all i world. " Look down the mountain, J® messenger said; "the death of eagle has restored all the ijcojjlg lost their lives on this moun day they wako as from a long 6 Ft they are mounting their horses riding away Look! There goes golden knight. . . And what he spoke was true.