THE UNICORN.

Otago Witness, Volume 11, Issue 2159, 11 July 1895, Page 45

THE UNICORN.

A STORY FOR CHILDREN.

(By B. F. Labkbn, in the Strand Magazine.)

Now the city of White Towers was at that time attracting from far and wide everyone who wanted to make his fortune. The Princess of the city was the loveliest princess ia the world, and the richest and the most powerful. She had given out that she would marry anyone, whoever it might Tie, king or beggar, who would tell her truly In the morning the dreams that she had dreamed in the night. But whoever should compete and fail was to forfeit all .his fortune, be whipped through the streets and out of the city gate, and banished from the town on pain of death. If, however, he tmd no fortune to forfeit, he was to be whipped back again and sold into slavery. The terms were hard, but many tried and failed, and many mere, undeterred by this punishment which they constantly saw being inflicted on the others, were waiting their turn to compete. Among these' latter were Count Fritz and Burgomaster Franz. These two met Very often in the streets of the city, but they could never forget their quarrel over the Bparkling golden water, and when they met they always locked in opposite directions. Now Fiitz and Franz had made themselves hated by all with whom they had to deal : Fritz by his tyranny over the poor in the' district in which his property lay, and Fiarz by his injustice as Burgomaster. The former used to grind down his people so as to extract the last penny from them. The latter used to make his judgments depend on the amount of bribe he received from the suitors. Everybody, therefore, hoped that both Fiitz and Franz would fail to tell the Princess her dreams, and would have to pay the penalty. Hans and his mother arrived at the city of White Towers on the evening before the 'day on which Fiitz was to try his fortune. They heard on all sides that the " one-armed Count," as he was called, ao generally deteetad, was to be the next competitor, bat, of coarse, they had no idea that this " onearmed Count "was Fiitz. The consequence waß that when they found themselves next day in the great square, where the whole population of the city assembled to see the trial, they were amazed beyond measure to see Fritz marching jauntily along, quite confident of success, dressed in his very smartest clothes, to the platform on which the Princess and her courtiers were assembled. Fiitz felt sure that be would win for this reason : There was an old woman living in a cottage near bis castle who was said to be a witch. Fritz had ordered her to be seized and put to the most cruel tortures, in order to force her to say what the Princess .was going to dream on the night before the day fixed for his trial. This was verj eilly of him, ds the old woman might be a witch 10 times over, and yat not be able to tell him that. But cruel, wicked people ofcen are silly. This poor old woman screamed out some nonsense in her agony, which Fiitz took to be the answer ho required. He Emiled, therefore, in a self-confident fashion as he bowed low before the Princess and awaited her question. She asked it in a ol«ar, bell-like voice, which somehow caused Hans's heart, when he beard it, to beat a good deal quicker than before. "Sir Count- 2 - what did I dream last night?" •' Your Highness dreamt," was the reply, "that the moon came down to earth and kissed you." The Princess gently shook her head, and in a moment Iritz found himself in the bands of her guards, with his coat stripped off his back, aad his hands bound behind him. The first lash made him cry for mercy, but the Princess had already gone, and the soldiers whoso duty it was to ir, filet the whipping were not much disposed to show mercy to the " ono-arraed Count." They laid on their blows well, driving the unlncky Fritz through the streets till the gate was reached, through which, with a final shower of blows, he was thrust', with the warning not to return thither, but to . beg his way henceforth through the world. Of all who watched the proceeding* none . seemed so delighted witb the result as Franz. .He followed, hobbling after his unhappy brother as close as the soldiers would allow, and kept jeering and laughing at him all the way. This was easy for him to do, notwithstanding the fact that he had to go on cratches, because good care was taken to make Fritz's progress through the streets as Blow as possible. In addition, therefore, to the blows, Fritz had to endure the eight of Franz's grinning face, and to listen to such remarks as : " Who thought he was goiDg to win the Princess?" — "Will your Highness remember your poor brother the Burgomaster ?"— " Who lost the sparkling golden water 1 " — and so on. With very , different feelings had Hans w&tched the proceedings. When he saw his brother strippsd for, beating he forgot all about the wrongs he had sustained, and only thought what he could do to help the suf■ferer. He tried to bribe the soldiers to deal gently with Fritz, but when he found that that was of no avail, he hastened to tha city gate so as to meet his brother outside and comfort him when the punishment was over. Hans found Fritz, as indeed was natural under the circumstances, more surly and illtempered than ever. He appeared startled for a moment at seeing Hans, whom he thought dead, aliveand well, but ho net to work blabbering again immediately, and rubbing his back with one hand. Hans gave him what money he could afford, which Fritz took without sajirg " Thank^you," and went his . Tray. Next day it was Franz's tarn to try and win the Priacess. Franz felt just as certain of succeeding as Fritz had been. A certain jiecromancer in Franz's town had been a . party in v a Bait which came before the BurSomaster's court. All the evidence which

was brought forward told against him, but the necromancer promised Franz, as a bribe, if he would decide in his favour, to tell him by means of his art the true secret of the Princess's dream. Franz swallowed the bait greedily, and gave his unjust decision. Mow, in order that the necromancer might not faii him, Franz had determined not to let him out of his sight till the day of the trial. Very earJy in the morning of that day the necromancer came to Franz and said : " Lsst night the Princess dreamed so-and-so. Will your worship allow me to go away now?" Franz on hearing the dream skipped with delight, forgetting abcut hi 3 one foot, and tumbled down on the floor. However, he did not mind that, and gave the necromancer leave to depart, which the necromancer did in great haßte. Franz was so impatient that he was in big place, in front of the platform, lorg befora the Princess arrived. He could hardly wait for her to put the formal question before he blurted out : "Your Highness dreamt that you were walking in your garden, and that all the trees and shrubs bore gold and silver leaves." The Princess shook her head. " A very pretty dream," she said, " but it was not mine." So Franz had to suffer the same punishment as Fritz, and nobody waa at all sorry. Ho was likewise thrust out at the city gate, bawling between his howls for someone to .bring him the necromancer. Hans found him there, and , tried to comfort him, as he had tried to comfort Fritz, and with about the same result. When Hans had got back to the inn where be and bis mother were staying, he was met with the news that a stranger was waiting to see him. He went in and found the huntsman who had given him the pellet which turned into the crystal ball. " Hans," said the huntsman, as soon as Hans bad entered the room, " the unicorn has sent me to you. It's your turn now to try to win* the Princess." Hans turned pale at the thought. " I would give my life to win her," he said earnestly, "but I am certain to fail, and then what will my poor mother do 7 I have no

property to be confiscated, and of course I shall be sold into slavery." " Don't talk of failure," said the huntsman cheerily ; " the way to success is to forget that there is such a word as failure. Now I'll tell you my plan. The Princess, as you know, or as you very likely don't know, is devoted to curious animals of all kinds. I will change you into a white mouse with a gold claw, and will offer you to the Princess for sale. She has never ssen or heard of such a creature as a white mouse with a gold claw before, and will be sure to bny you. Then it will ba your fault if matters don't go smoothly with you. You have only to keep your ears open and use your wits. Now, first of all, we must enter you for tomorrow's competition." (To be continued.)