THE WATER OF LIFE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1415, 24 December 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE WATER OF LIFE.

Once upon a time there was an old King who bad a faithful servant. There was nobody in the whole world like him. And this was why: around his wrist he wore an armlet that fitted as close as the skin. There were -words on the golden band ; on one side they said : " Who thinks to wear me on his arm Must lack both guile and thought of harm." And on the other side it said : 1 1 am for only one, and he Shall be as strong as ten can be."

At last the old King felt that his end was near, and he called the faithful servant to him and besought him to serve and aid the young King who was to come, as he had served and aided the old Kino* who was to go. The faithful servant promised that which was asked. And then the old King closed his eyes and folded his hands, and went the way that those had travelled who had gone before him.

Well, one day a stranger came to that town from over the hills and far away. With him he brought a painted picture, but it was all covered with a curtain so that nobody could see what it was.

He drew aside the curtain and showed the picture to the young King. And it was a likeness of the most beautiful Princess in the whole world ; for her eyes were as black as a crow's wing, her cheeks were as red as apples, and her skin as white as snow. Moreover, the picture was so natural that it seemed as though it had nothing to do but to open its lips and speak.

The young King just sat and looked and looked. "Oh, me 1" said he, "I will never rest content until I have such a one as that for my own."

" Then listen," said the stranger : " this is a likeness of the Princess that lives over beyond the three rivers. Awhile ago she had a wise bird on which she doted, for the bird knew everything that happened in tbe world, so that it could tell the Princess whatever she wanted to know. But now- the bird is dead, and the Princess does nothing but grieve for it day and night. She keeps the dead bird in a glass casket, and has promised to marry whoever will bring a cup of water from the fountain of life so that the bird may be brought back to life again." That was the story the stranger told, and then he jogged on the way he was going ; and I for one do not know whither it led.

Bat the young King had no peace or comfort in life for thinking of the Princess who lived over beyond the three rivers. At last he called tbe faithful servant to him. " And can you not," said he, " get me a cup of the water of life?"

"I know not," said the- faithful servant, " but I will try."

So out he went into the wide world to seek for what the young King wanted, though the way thither is both rough and thorny. On he went, and on, until his shoes were dusty and his feet were sore ; and after a while he came to the end of the earth, and there was nothing more over the hill. There he found a little tumbled-down hut, and within the hut sat an old woman with a distaff, spinning a lump of flax.

" Good-morning, mother," said the faithful servant.

" Good-morning son," said the old woman.; " and where are you travelling that you have come so far ?"

" Oh !" said the faithful servant, "I am hunting for the water of life, and have come as far as this without finding a drop of it." " Hoity, toity 1 ' said the old woman ; '• if, that is what you ate after you have a long way to go yet. The fountain is in the country that lies east of the sun and west of the moon, and it is few that have gone there and come back again. I can tell you. Besides that, there is a great dragon that keeps watch over tbe water, and you will have to get the best of him before you can touch a drop of it. All the name, if yon have made up your mind tq go, you may stay here until my «ons come home, and perhaps they can put you in a way of getting there, for I am the mother of the Four Winds of Heaven,

and it is few places that they have not seen."

So the faithful servant came in and sat down by the fire to wait until the Winds came home.

The first that came was the East Wind, but he knew nothing of the water of life and the land that lay east of the sun and west of the moon; he had heard folks talk of them both now and then, but he had never seen them with his own eyes.

The next that came was the South Wind, but he knew no more of it than his mother, and neither did the West Wind, for the matter of that.

Then came the North Wind, and he knew where it was.

" So, good ! Then perhaps you will give this lad a lift; over there to-morrow," said the old woman.

At this the North Wind mumbled and shook his head. But at last he said "Yes," for he was a good-hearted fellow at the bottom.

So the next morning he took the faithful servant on his back, and away he flew till the man's hair whistled behind him. On they went, until at last they came to the country that lay east of the sun and west of the moon.

" Thank you," said the faithful servant, and then he was for starting away to find what he came for.

"Stop a bit," said the North Wind. " Here is a feather ; when you want me cast it into the air, and I will not be long in coming."

The faithful servant walked along a great distance, until by-and-by he came to a field covered all over with sharp rocks and white bones, for he was not the first by many who had been that way for a cup of the water of life.

There lay the great fiery dragon in the sun sound asleep, and so the faithful servant had time to look about him. Not far away was a great deep trench, like a drain in a swampy field ; that was a path that the dragon had made in going to the river for a drink of water every day. The faithful servant dug a hole in the bottom of this trench, and then he hid himself as snugly as a cricket in the crack in the kitchen floor. By-and-by the dragon awoke and found that he was thirsty, and then started down to the river to drink, and the faithful servant lay as still as a mouse until it was just above where he was hidden ; then he thrust his sword through the dragon's heart, and there it lay, after a turn or two, as dead as a stone.

After that he had only to fill the cup at the fountain, for there was nobody to say nay to him. Then he cast the feather into the air, and there was the North Wind as fresh and as sound as ever. He took the man on his back, and away he flew until he came home again.

The faithful servant thanked them all around— the Four Winds and the old woman — and as they wonld take nothing else, he just gave them a few drops of the water of life, and that is the reason that the Four Winds and their mother are as fresh and young now as they were when the world began. Then the faithful servant set off home again, right foot foremost.

As soon as the King saw the cup of the water of life he had the horses saddled, and off he and the faithful servant rods to find the Princess who lived over beyond tbe three rivers. By-and-by they came to the town, and there was the Princess mourning and grieving over her bird just as she had done from the first. But when she heard that the King had brought the water of life she welcomed him as though he were a flower in May.

They sprinkled a few drops of water over the dead bird, an* up it sprang as lively and as well as ever.

But now before tbe Princess would marry the King, she must have a talk with the bird ; and there came the hitch, for the wise bird knew as well as you and I that it was not the King who had brought the water of life. " Go and tell him," said the wise bird, " that you are ready to marry him as soon as he saddles the wild black horse in the forest over yonder, for that is easy enough to do for the hero who found the water of life."

The Princess did as the bird told her, and so the King missed getting what he wanted after all. " And can you not saddle and bridle the

wild black horse for me?" said he to the faithful servant.

"I do not know," said the faithful servant, " but I will try."

So off he went to the forest to hunt up the wild black horse, the saddle over his shoulder and bridle over his arm. By-and-by came the wild horse galloping through the woods like a thunder*gußt in summer, so that the ground shook under his feet. But the faithful servant was ready for him. He caught him by the mane and forelocks. The wild black horse could not stand against the strength of two men such as the faithful servant had, so by-and-by he fell on his knees, and the faithful servant clapped the saddle on his back, and slipped the bridle over his ears.

'• Listen now," said he ; " to-morrow my master, the King, will ride you up to the Princess's house, and if you do not do just as i tell you it will be worse for you. When the King mounts upon your back you must stagger and groan as though you carried a mountain."

The horse promised to do as the other bade, aud then the faithful servant jumped on his back, and away to the King, who had been waiting at home for him ail this time.

The next day the King rode up to the Princess's castle, and the wild black horse did just as the faithful servant told him to do. He staggered and groaned so that everybody cried out, " Look at the great hero riding upon the wild black horse 1" But the wise bird was of a different mind, for when the Princess came to talk to him about marrying the King, he shook his head. •' No," said he, " Listen : you must say to him that you will marry nobody but the man who wears such and such a golden armlet with this and that written on it."

So the Princess told the King what the wise bird had bidden her say, and the King went straightway to the faithful servant. " You must let me have your armlet," said he. " Alas, master," said the faithful servant, " that is a woful thing for me ; for the one and only way to take the armlet off my wrist is to cut my hand off my body."

'' So I" said the King. " That is a great pity ; but tbe Princess will not have me without the armlet."

'• Then you shall have it," said the faithful servant. But the King had to cut the hand off, for the faithful servant could not do it himself.

But, bless your heart ! the armlet was ever so much too large for the King to wear ; nevertheless he Lied it to his wrist with a bit of ribbon, and off he marched to the Princess's castle.

"Here is the armlet of gold," said he. " And now will you marry me?"

But the wise bird sat on the Princess's chair. " Hut 1 tut I" said he, "it does not fit the man."

Yes, that was so ; everybody who was there could see it easily enough. And as for marrying him, Ihe Princess would marry nobody but the man who could wear tbe armlet.

What a hubbub there was then ! Every one who was there was sure that the armlet would fit him. But no ;it was far too large for the best of them.

The faithful servant was very sad, and stood behind the rest, over by the wall, with his arm tied up in a napkin. " You shall try it too," said the Princess ; but the faithful servant only shook his head, for he could not try it on as the rest had done because he had no hand. -

But the wise bird was there, and knew what he was about. " See, now," said he ; " maybe the water of life will cure one thing as well as another."

Yes, that was true ; and one was sent to fetch the cap. They sprinkled it on the faithful servant's arm, and it was not twice they had to do it, for there wa9 another hand as good and better than the old.

Then they gave him the armlet. He slipped it over his hand, and it fitted him like his own skin.

" This is the man for me," said the Princess. " and I will have no other ;" for she could see with half an eye that he was the hero who had been doing all tbe wonderful things that had happened, because he said nothing about himself.

As for the King, why, all that was left for him to do was but to pack off home again, and I for one am glad of it. By Howard Pile.