Part 11.

Otago Witness, Issue 1832, 31 December 1886, Page 11

Part 11.

Well, Prince Goldenheart set out upon his travels, and so eager was he to get on that ho walked all day, not even allowing himself time to eat and drink. When night fell, he found himself walking through a great forest in his father's country (for he had not yet come to the frozen land) ; and here be met an old, old man staggering along under a load of wood much too heavy for his feeble strength.

t At any other time Prince Goldenheart would certainly have stopped to help the old man, but now ho did not want to. 'It will delay me,' he said to himself, ' and surely I ought not to let anything do that.'

The Prince bad yet to learn that the oftenar he stopped to help others the faster he would get on. So he was going on, but the old man sto 1 pad him. 'Good master, will you not for pity's sake help a poor old man with his burden ? lam far from home, and if I be benighted in this foreßt, I fear the wolves. Hark ! you may hear them howling.' Yes ; Prince Gnldenheart heard. 'And if I turn back with this old man,' he thought, ' I shall scarce get out of the foreßt before darkness falls.' But he could not refuse ; so lifting the bnrden on his own strong shoulders, he bade the old man lead the way.

' Whither were you going so fast ?' asked the old man, as they trudged on together. So Prince Goldenheart told him,, ' Alas !' he said, 'your back waa towards it.'

Then Princo Goldenheart started, and hastily pulled out his compass. It wes even so : in his hurry to get on he had forgotten to look often enough at his compaßs, and so had missed bis way. Then was the Prince very muoh ashamed and angry with himself ; but the old man comfottad him,

1 To-night,' said ha, ' you shall Btay with me, and in the morning I will put you on the right path ; only, beware how you leave it again.' So the Prinoe spent that night in the woodcutter's but ; and as be listened to the howling of the wolves through the forest, how thankful he felt that he had not bson hft to wander there all irght alone. And very early in the morning, after a breakfast of black br ad and goat's niilk, the old man showed him the right path, and at parting gave him a pair of skates. "Tiß all I have,' he said : ' but keep them, and who knows, they may be of some use to you.' Then he bade the Prince farewell, and went on his way. „ A*L d that day Prince Goldenheart came to th« frozen Jptf, Ql> ? but ft W ag «jojd ! Not

a living thing wbb to be seen, but all along the way were figures of men and women turned into ice by the wicked wizard ; and the cold that came from them was keenest of all.

Prince Goldenheart's feet slipped about on the icy ground, the freezing air chokod him, ho began to be drowsy ; and only for the golden locket which his mother had hung round bis neck, and which kept hie heart warm, the poor Prinoa would certainly have been frozen. But all at onoe he remembered the ekatea which the old man had given him ; so he buckled them on ! and lo I all was changed. Now he skimmed over the ice so swiftly that the cold had hardly time to catch him ; while the motion sent the blood coursing merrily through his veins, and kept him warm. And bo i'rince Goldenheart came safely to the end of the Froz?n Land.

Now he waß in the Labyrinth. This was a beautiful green forest, whore the tall, straight trees grew so close together that their branches formed a roof through which the sunshine could scarcely force its way. The air was warm and balmly, and Prince Goldenhsart, quite tired out, sat down to rest, and presently fall asleep. When he awoke it was mid-day. Ashamed of having slept bo long, the Prinoe sprang up, and glancing at his compass, to be sure he was going in the right direction, he started off. The path was soft with moss and fallen leaves, and seemed to run straight as an arrow, between the tall trees, ><s far as Prince Goldenheart could see. He smiled to himself. ' The Harper was mistaken ; hero are no twists and turns. I have but to keep straight on, and I shall soon come to the end of the forest.'

But Princo Goldenheart walked and walked, till the sun set, and it began to grow dark, yot still the long, straight avenue stretched before him, and he seemed no nearer the end of the forPßt than when he set out.

Presently he stumblod over something, and stooping down to see what it could be, — behold his skates, ju&t where he had left them that morning. So hare he was, back at the very place from which he had started ! He had baen walking in a circle all day; and all because he had neglected to look at his compass 1 Ob, how sorry and ashamed Prince Goldeuhaart was. Too tired and sad to start again that night, he lit a fire, and having eaten his supper, took out his chart, and studied the map of this country well. And next morning when he started, you may ba sure beheld his compass in his hand, and looked at it at almost every other step. For a little while the Prince followed the pleasant forest path, but soon the compass warned him to leave it, and tho Pr.nce had to search for his path. It was so overgrown with grass and weeds that he was some time in finding it ; and when it was found the Prince saw, to bis dismay, that it led right into a thorny thicket. He looked at his compass to bs sure there was no mistake ; but the compass pointed straight into tho thicket; so into the thicket Prince Goldenheart went, like a brave man as he was. He got through, though his clothes were torn, and his face and hands were bleeding from many a scratch. Bat he had come out on the right side — the side next the marble palace, you know — so he did not care very much for that, and after a little rest, went cheerfully on his way. Well, I cannot stop to tell you all his adventures. Sometimes the compass allowed him to walk for hours along the pleasant foreßt paths ; but often it pointed across bogs, through the thorny thickets, or up the steep side of some precipice. Once his path led Prince Goldenheart down into a deep ravine, and there he found lying a poor man who had fallen from top to bottom, hurting himself so muoh that, in spite of all tho Prince could do for him, he soon died. ' I lost the path,' ho said, ' and fell.' • Your compass would have shown it to you,' said the Prince.

' Alas !' said the man, ' I would not look at ir, for I thought I could find my way alone. And this is the end !'

A verj sad and sorrowful end, was it not ? Before ho died, the poor man gave Prince Goldenheart a flask of oil.

' It ia all I have/ he said ; 'but keep it, and some day you may be glad of it.' So the Prince put it in his bosom, and presently began to climb the opposite precipice. Coming down had been hard enough, but going up was much worse. Oh, how glad Prince Goldenheart was when at last he reached the top. He was quite out of the Labyrinth now, and glad of it. But very soon he began to wish himself back ; for now he had come to a still more terrible place, viz , the Land of the Wild Beasts. He was still in a forest, but it was very different from the Labyrinth, It was almost dark ; the trees were larger than any Princa Goldenheart had ever seen, and white, and their branches were twisted and gnarled in the wildest fashion, their roots rose out of the ground like great veins, ready to trip up unwary feet. But tbia was not the worst. In the depths of the forest green and yellow lights could be seen moving about ; they were the eyes of wild beasts And there, right in the midst of the path, stood a lion, whose voice as he roared phook the forest. Oh how frightened Prince Goldenheart was !

Now I must not forget to tell you, that one day while the Prince was passing through the Labyrinth be had picked up a beautiful white bird with a broken wing. He had bound the wing, and carried the bird gently in bis bosom. Now he felt it struggling to get out, sq he let it fly ; but instead of leaving him, it perched on a bough and began to sing ; and this is what it sane:

• Come, follow, follow, follow me. 1 Then it flaw far into the depths of the forest till it looked nice a star in the darkness, but its song still oame back to the Prince : • Follow, follow me !' So Prince Goldenheart looked at his compass, and then at the bird, and went straight forward. Then all the wild beasts began to roar and howl in chorus till the forest shook, and the Prince gave himself up for lost ; but he kept on ; ' for,' thought he, 'it is too late to turn back now.'

And soon he noticed that however the dreadful oreaturea might rage, they dared not touch him ; so he took courage. Still it was hard work ; the path was bo rough that he got many a fall, and sometimes the trees almost shut out the light. But it was never too dark for him to see his compass, and the white bird kept him com pany, singing its sweet Bong of ' Follow, follow me.'

And so at last he came to the end of that dreadful wood. Wall, but it was out of one danger into another— for now Prince Goldenheart had come to the Land of Darkness. This was terrible. '" The darkness was so very dark that it seemed as if you could feel it. There was not the least gleam of light anywhere, not even one smallest star.

Prince Goldenheart sank down in despair. He fcOUW nxft bear WgtVfc t*n after having come

co far, yet now be thought, ' I must ; for how can I keep the path in this darkness, and if I miss it, then am I certainly lost.' So he sat in despair, not even looking at his compass ; for what was the use ? he could not even see the tree against which he was leaning; but he could feel it.

Perhaps ha might be able to* ell the direction in which his compass pointed by touch, if not by eight. So he took it up to try, and ob, wonderful, jt.was just as if a tiny lamp were lit within' the compass ; it shone like a Btar in the darkness, and the finger and figures were quite distinot. AH the Prince had to do was to follow whither the finger pointed, and then, though he could not see a step of the way, he might bo sure he was on the path. So he started again with renewed courage, and keeping his eyes fixed on the compass it led him eifely through that dreadful darkness and out into the Pleasant Land.

Now this Pleasant Land was the most dangerous of all the dangerous countries through which Princo Goldenheart had passed; and this he knew very well ; but yet it was hard to believe it.

Here were no thorny or wild beasts. The. ekies were blue and sunny ; the path pleasant to the feet. All around grow the most lovely flowers it is possible to imagine. All the trees were fruit trees, and all the fruit was ripe. Prince Goldenheart plucked some as he walked, and found it tasted even more delicious than it looked. Yet the bast of the fruit was out of his reach.

And so with the flowers. Those close by thfl path were vory lovely, and thePrinee gatbered them with a glad heart ; but there were others more lovely still which grew just beyond his roach,

One or two steps off the path and he might have gathered them. Over and over again the Prince was tempted to take tboae few steps ; but he would not.

In the firßt place, he could not spare the time. He was now so near his journey's end that he was more and more eager to reach the enchanted Princess and set her free. And then he remembered the Harper's warning. Here were the butterflies to remind him of it ; hundreds of them— red, blue, green, yellow — all the colours of the rainbow, flashing about in the sunlight like live jewels. If they had been only butterflies the Prince could have watched them with delight, but when he remembered that they had onoe been men like himself he could not bear to look at them.

So he went on bis way, and presently came to a sight that made him more resolved than ever.not to quit the path. For now bis way led down by the river, and here ho found many swine and other unolean beasts wallowing in the mire by the river Bide. Some were lighting among themselves ; some, all covered with filth, lay basking in the sun, and stared at Prince Goldenheart stupidly, not a whit ashamed of their shocking transformation.

Bub in the ayes of others of the poor creatures the Prince' thought he saw tears. Perhaps they remembered having once been men such as he was ; perhaps they were dicgusted with themselves, and longing to be changed into men once more.

Now euch a thing could be done. If any one of theßO poor people whom the great Wizard had made his slaves, or bad changed into beasts or buttei flies, should wish to be turned into men and women again, they bad only to go to the King of that country and beg him to do it, when he certainly would do it. But fiomo of the poor things did not believe that this King could do so wonderful a thing, or, if he was able, they feared he would not be willing to do it. Others of them (and this was surely the strangest thing of all), did not want to be transformed, but were quite content to be always nothing but beaßfcs, or butterflies, or Blaves. And as for the rest, though they would have been very glad indeed to be men once more, they feared the great Wizard. For you may be sura the Wizard would not let one of these poor creatures go if he could help it. So as soon aa tho King had changed odfeof them back into a man or a woman, up would come tho Wizard and try with might and main to pull the poor man back.

Then there would he a dreadful fight, and sometimea it would soera as if the Wizard must conquer ; but he never did, for the King always helped those whom he had changed into men again. But this fight was so very dreadful that, as I said, many of the poor things were afraid to beg the King to transform them, For as long as they were content to remain nothing but slaves, or beasts, or butterflies, the terrible Wizard let them alone ; it was only when they wanted to be men that he tormented them,

Prince Goldenheart had not seen the slaves yet, but presently he came to them. Now bis path had left the shady wood, with its flowers, and fruit, and sparkling river, and led through a burning, sandy deßert. Here and there along his path Prince Goldenheart came to a leafy tree, under whose shade he was glad to rest a while from the burning heat. For the eun shone fiercely, and in all the plain besides there was not a spot of shade.

Yet here were men, aye, and women too, working away aa hard as they could. Prince Goldenheart guessed at once that these were the slaves;

No one but a slave master like the wicked WJtird would have had the cruelty to make meu toil so hard under such a fierce sun. How bußy they were ; what could they be doing ? The Prince stopped under a tree and watched them curiously. It seemed that each slave had a heap of gold, and silver, and precious stones. Some' of the heaps were quite small, some middle-sized, while a few were very large indeed. „ - . Now Prince Goldenheart noticed that those of the slaves who had small heaps were trying by every means to make their heaps larger. They dug in the sand, or searched all about for bars of gold and silver — sometimes they even stole a handful from the next pile ; but if they were Been doing that there was certain to be a fight. Prince Goldenheart saw one slave raise a little hill of sand, and pile his small heap of gold over it till everyone thought be had the largest heap of all. Another went about selling Band (which he made tho rest believe was gold dust), so that many of the Blaves gave him their bars of gold for it.

Now all these slaves looked anxious and unhappy, but the slaves with the very large heaps seemed moßt careworn of all ; for they had to ba constantly watching their heaps to see that none of the other Blaves stole any, or that none of their bars of gold and silver flew away, You think that gold and silver cannot fly ? 3o did Prince Goldenheart, till he saw what I am now going to tell you. Every little while tiny wings would sprout out of a number of the bars, and np they 1 would fly into the (sky like birds, and never come bick. And when this happened, the slave whose gold it was that had flown away would cry and beat bis breast ; but that n9v'eY $4 aay

Now there was one slave woiking pretty clobo to the tree under whioh Prince Goldenheart sat, and as he stopped for a moment to wipe his heated brow, the Prince* thought he would speak to him, so he said : 1 Poor man, you look tired ; why not come and rest in this shade till it grows cooler V ' Poor man, indeed !' said the slave, quite crossly. 'Poor yourself I Why, I have all these bars of gold, and I daresay you have not one.

# ' Not one,' said the Prince, smiling ; * and it is just as well, for I am on a journoy, and those bare look heavy to carry. 1 ' That they are,' said the slave. * I ought to know, for I carried them all here. But where are you going ?' So the Prince told him. at 4J W* the S !? v . e L' * Bfcarfced t0 fi °d the Marble Palace, and indeed I mean to find it yet, some day ; only lam Btopping a while on the road.

* But don't you know it is dangerous to leave the.path V asked the Prince. • Why did you stop ?

' i was afraid of the wolf,' whispered the slave, glancing behind him fearfully. ' There, there he is, but he can't touch me -my pile ia too big.' So Princa Goldenheart looked, and there, prowling about amongst the slaves, he Baw a great, gaunt wolf. The slaves saw it too ; and oh, how they worked to make their pile larger. lor the wolf did not come near those whoae piles of gold and silver were large; but the moment he saw a pile growing smaller and smaller, then that wicked wolf crept up to the poor slave whose Dile it was, and the moment the last bar had fbwn away he sprang on the slave and devoured him. Yet the more slaves that wolf devoured the more gaunt and hungry looking he was. No wonder all the slaves feared him so muoh. Now while this slave had been talking to Prince Goldenheart another had coma up, and tried to Bteal a bar of gold from his pile. But the first slave saw him, co then there was a fight.

i.l. S? - whlle they were Pommelling one another the Princa saw a third slave oome slyly un behind and carry off the whole pile I But Prince Goldenheart could not wait to see any more, so he went on his way, and presently, to his great joy, came safely to the end of the wicked Wizard's country. And now he saw the Marble Palace shining in the sunlight, and the great wall of whioh the Harper had told him. Prince Goldenheart looked at it, and walked all round it. But there was no gate in it anywhere at all, and it was, a3 the Harper had said, 'As high as a mountain, as hard as iron, and aa smooth aa glass.'

The Prince Bat down and considered— he did not despair j he had overcome too many difficulties already to do that. Presently he put forth his bare hand and touched it. And then did the Prince laugh aloud, For though tho wall could neither be broken through, nor climbed over, it could bs melted For it was just made of nothing at all but ice. Then did the Prince collect a great heap of dry branches, and setting fire to them, he made' a great bonfire against the wall. But hot aB this fire was, it was not hot enough to melt such thick ice.

So then the Prince remembered the flask ot oil, given to him by the poor man in the Laby. rinth, and the moment he poured that on the fire it sent forth such a heat that the. wall tottered and fell with a crash.

Prince Goldenheart leaped through and stood on the ateps of the Marble Palace. The door was open, but there was no one about, co Princa Goldenheart entered,

He went into the first room and it was beautifully furnished, but there was no one there ; he went into the second room, but that was empty too. But when he opened the door of the third room, there sat the Princess spinning. And she was more lovely than ever Prince Goldenheart bad ever dreamed. And she rose up and came towards him. ' I knew you were coming for me,' she said : ' for a little white bird fl;es to my window every morning and sings of you.' So the Prince married her, and they went to live far away, in the Isles of the Happy, where the wicked Wizard never comes.

[The End.]