The San Francisco call. [volume], January 22, 1910, Page 8, Image 8

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

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8
THE SNAKE-EMPEROR'S GIFTS
\ Knlry Tnl«« IVoiu Ilowttin
IU.TOIM IIV 1.0 l INT. NOl VAN
*\u25a0*"\u25a0""* HKHIC wa3once a poor lad who
I- '.went. into the forest to get wood
I on his back!' Suddenly he no
ticed" two fighting snakes— -a lit
tle white adder trying to 'defend itself
against a big black viper. He .killed
the big viper with his ax. but the little
one- he put Into his belt 'so it should
reoover t After a while he heard It say,
"Thank you, O hero! I am Sluiramana,
the ' snake emperor's daughter;, please,
do take me, where. I tell you. :We will
' noon be at my*#ather's house; and as v
reward 1 you' ask of him 'the ring from
ils'rlght hand, the rug upon which he
s sitting and the whip wliich.ls lying
beside him." . \u25a0 -•\u25a0'..'"
I . lii a short tlnie!tjiey really came to a
cave. The lad had to crawl into it. The
cave. was pitch dark, .and, he .hardly had \u0084
made half a step when hissing vipers
'. rushed at;him from all sides and cor
ners. At this moment the little snake
turned- Into- a beautiful girl, with
golden., hair and golden clothes. As
soon. 'as the vipers saw her, they flew
back'ari4 politely bowed to.the liui'. Now
such, politeness .he had never' seen In
his" lite, and he thought It very nice
-Indeed. . . : *
• .In 'a corner of the cave the snake
emperor wai sitting drinking black
coffee and smoking""a water pipe. Kor
a ;long:ttrhe' he looked wonderingly at
fjie lad; •« and*, finally he said: "Whom
;Have : you, brought hero, my daughter?"
SharamanaV.repHed:<"This man is my
ibrothff • -of (Brotherhood of
choice,- friendship in. Its- highest mean
..ing.'is/a < frequenti occurrence with the
peasants "of'ithc 1 Balkans and Is con
sidered fUke'-klridred.'*
\ . "He; lmsHaved.mc from the claws of
:;my enemy and killed him, whereas all
of my kind, who- had been near fled."
\u25a0<' Upon '; that' the' snake emperor said:
"l.'Opou. yonder chamber and let him take
as many gold; pieces as he wants." But
thelad replied: "Dear emperor, I want
no. money: give me the ring from your
right hand, tlfe rug upon which you aro
sitting and the whip which is lying
near by. Either these or nothing."
"You ~ask much," said tin? emperor;
"yet since you saved' my dearest take
what seems to, you your reward, so men
won't say [they are bettor and more
/generous than snakes."
vSlmramana accompanied the lad a
. short way back and said in parting:
"Nowi you' have luck in your hands. I
' am sorry, though. I can not give you
\u25a0the necessary common sense for it.
.With men always the wicked aro clever.
It 'is better to have It in one's head
than in one's purse. And now goodby
and luck be with you."
In returning home -he found his
\u25a0 mother weak and exhausted from hun
ger. He took out the ring and thought
to himself: "What is this ring to me?
I will uell it and buy bread with It."
So he. ran' out. On the way he, came
to a fine house where a beautiful girl
was living of whom he had been fond
for a. long while. But what help was
, thut to ' him? Today was Sunday and
the house beleaguered by young men,
who all were looking up at tho trelllsed
windows of beautiful Aisha. lie, too,
tarried a little while, Just a tiny mo
ment-^-perhiips by chance ' lie could yet
catch a glance. Suddenly the • window
was flung open.' and — splash!—- ho had a
.bucket of water on his head and neck.
Angry beyond saying, lift shook. "^ the
water from him and cried: '-"-You . will
yet beg me to marry you!" Then he
took." to his heels, the young men's
laughtorand scorn following him.
As it grew dark ho saw that the ring
on his finger Illumined the whole street.
"This one would save me candles," he
thought. "What a pity I have to give
it away. 'Yet shooting at two hares
at one .Aime means to lose both!" .Ho
met an old gentlemun to whom ho of
fered the ring.
"What good is tlils ring to me?" said
the old man. "Give it to. a pretty girl."
He gave tho lad some money to buy
broad. Arrived at tho baker's, tho lad
got ready to give him somo 'small
change when he noticed to his utmost
amazement that ho was holding in his
hand a gold piece. Immediately he or
dered a whole sackful of bread and had
the -baker change the gold pieco. ' At
horao ho saw that the small change
hud again turned into gold. Now for
the first time he understood the ring's
value. He therefore never took It
off his finger,' and so it was no diffi
cult task "to become rich in short or
der. Ho soon bought houses and shops
and was"th« richest merchant in town;
Bountiful Aisha hardly trusted her
eyes, seeing the poor lad stalking about
in such tine clothes. No matter how
often she showed herself at the'win
dow, he never would look up.- Now,
about that she almost burst, of anger.
At last she said to her father, whose
only, spoiled child she was, "(let me,
that lad, for I must know where his
wealth comes from or, I'll die." The
frightened father fetched the Jad. So
he came, thinking that now surely
she would ask him to marry her.
Amiably she received him and chatted
about this and that. Her words were
as sweet as pure honey, and, i/ilnd you,
TTTE-SAN FRAXCTSCO CATJ;, SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1910.— THE JUNIOR CAIiTJ
Ytt, a 6 maitc* how iwmlp M bruitmxlir mm- ulkni
- h« herd wttunt for U^hW „,««« WKfk b^, \
• \u25a0 , \u25a0 - •* j
before he, knew it he had let the cat
out. of the bag and told • the secret of
the ring. Of course he | had to show
the ring, he had, to take it off his finger,
and, swoop, she was. out of tlie room
with.it. He .waited and waited and
waited. At last he understood.
.Then he /sneaked out of the house.
Almost overnight his money vanished
and one morning ho was just as-poor
as when he had found the snake prin
cess. Ashamed to stay; in that town
as a poor man, he took the little old rug
of .the snake emperor, the only tiling
that stayed with him, as it was, so
shabby that. nobody wanted it. He had
also'the whip, which he took to chase
away the dogs. So with his mother lie
wandered away.
Again ho was the poor wood cutter as
before. He, didn't like It at all. But he
worked diligently day after day. But
since the best ox ran not plow always
he one day sat down on his little old
rug to rest awhile. Mosquitoes both
ered him, so he pulled out his whip and
whipped them n way, so that its crack
ing was heard for a mile. ,
All of v sudden he felt lifted up by
the rug, as though it wore flying away
with him. This sensation ho liked
greatly. Immediately he started for a
trial ride. With one hand he held him-,
self to the rug and with; the other ho
snapped the whip as hard as he could,
wishing himself, in a strange country.
When he arrived where he wished to bo
he \u25a0 felt rather disappointed. Every
thing looked different; the tree's, the
flowers, and the cows .were so big that
he was almost afraid of them. He there
fore remained sitting upon his rug and
considered If it wasn't wiser to drive
back to beautiful Aisha and see if /he
couldn't get the ring back. Hardly had
he. thought it out and snapped the whip
before,- there he was, right in Aisha's
room. She was sound asleep upon a
costly Persian rug and never woke up
for a. moment. "If. l have the girl I
can't miss tho ring, either," thought the
lad, so he shoved a piece of the magic
rug underneath tho sleeper, snapped
the whip. am) wished himself Into a far
away lonely country. Instantly the
rug began flying with them out of the
window Into .1 desolate wilderness. The
girl woke up and, of course, could not
understand- what tha matter was. how
on earth she came into this forsaken
country, with the lad, beside her. But.
being a woman, she quickly grasped
thesituatlon.
Again she started to talk, She chat
ted and chatted. Indeed, she spoke so
beautifully that the foolish lad onco
The Natural History Mystery
The principal of the Peterson prepar
atory school had a penchant for dis
tributing prizes. "Prizes mean parental
pride and consequently more pounds
and pence for me," he would tell him
self. "The dear fathers and mothers
Imagine their children progressing
amazingly, and I get the credit and
cash."
' And he was a wise principal, for
when Willie, aged 6, returned home
with an award for his scholarship his
fond mamma beamed with maternal
Joy.
.'.'Splendid, my dearest pet!", she ex
claimed. "Hut how did you gain it?"
i; ("I( "I waa first in natural history," pro
claimed the prodigy. !;;•'.
!. "Natural history : at your, age?" ex
claimed mamma, "How, did that hap
pen?"
"Oh, they asked me. how many legs
a. horse has,"- answered Willie, "and I
said five."
"Flvel" crlfd niammai. "Hut a, hors*
hasn't five legs child!" .
"I know." explained Willie, "but all
the other boy*- suid «U!" — Liverpool
Mercury.
riiore forgot. that It is better to -repent
words not spoken than those said.
Well,. he babbled out every single. thing
there was to be! said about the, rug, and
the whip. After that she was satis
fied, pretended to be tired and went to
"sleep. Ron a lons time the lad kept
watching 1 , her and then went . to sleep,
too. As soon as she. saw that he was
really sound asleep she carefully pulled
the rug out from under' him, se«ted
herself commodiously upon it', snapped
the whip, wishing herself in her fath
er's house — and there she was!
-The lad slept like a sack until morn
ing. When he woke up he looked and
looked.' But no matter how much and
how long he looked there wus-no girl,
no rug, no whip! And he didn't even
know where he ' was. Nothing but
thick wood all around and no. way out.
He truly was angry beyond, saying.
Sooti hunger commenced to bother him.
so he forgot everything else but how
and where, lie could get something to
eat. Near by there was nothing what
soever to be found, therefore ho ven
tured deeper into the dark forest.
After much hunting ho at. last found a
path and beside it a pear treo, upon
which were hanging most beautiful
pears. Fie ate one, but hardly had ho
eaten it when lie turned Into a donkey.
"Now, that serves me right," ho said to
himself. Carefully he walked on, as
donkeys will do, rubbing himself at
the stems of the trees, and ate what
ever lie found on the ground. After a
while he came to a sloe treo and nib
bled from the sloes. And look! "In
stantly he turned into his former fig
ure. He liked that game greatly. Im
mediately he ran back for more pears,
<aad also.-' filled, his pockets with sloes.
Tlren he walked on. The wood grew
less dense and it seemed to him' he saw
the minarots of the city in which Aisha
lived. But a broad, rapid torrent pre
vented him from* proceeding. He
thought as a donkey ho could easily
swim to the other "side, but then he
would lose his fruits. As he
was running up and down stream to
find a sort of bridge a* powerful bird,
as large as he had over seen, flow above
his head.
"Hallo, you," he called up to him,
"you might carry me across the river,
if you happen to have just a llttlo
time." "What do you give me for it?"
asked the bird. "I am a mighty poor
fellow," said the lad, "and can give
you nothing; but I will tell you a secret
of the pears and sloes of this wood." ;
The bird was satisfied and carried him
across the river. Thereupon the lad told
" A Trip on an Avalanche
An avalanche is a largo body of snow
or Ice sliding down a mountain, and
sweeping everything bofore It. It la
something like a landslip, such as somo
of you may have seen when you have
been staying at the seaside, where the
cliffa are crumbling away; but an ava
lanche is very much, bigger than laud
slips of this description.
Two w*>od cutters were descending
the San Joris mountain on their sledgo
laden with wood, when they: observed
cracks appearing In the snow on either
side of them, and know that they had
started an avalanche.
At first they enjoyed their novel ex
perience of riding on an avalanche,
and made jokes about their increase of
speed, until they suddenly found that
the enow had diverted its course, and
was carrying them in the direction of a
precipice. The man who was 'standing
behind the sledge, steering it by moans
of a long pole, immediately threw him
self into the soft snow at the edge of
the moving mass/, calling on his com
panion 'to follow his example. * Doth
men escaped with bruises, but the
aledge disappeared over the precipice,
and no trace of it was ever found.
whnt he knew and also gave the bird
a sloe, which he carried away In his
beuk. ' All of' a sudden the lad heard
an awful thunderstroke behind him.
lie turned about and saw to his Inex
pressible surprise that the bird had
turned Into a handsome royal youth and
the wlldcrncMH Into a lovely country
with a wonderful large castle.
Most happy to have broken an evil
enchantment, 1 the lad wandered merrily
on to the town where Aisha lived. Ar
rived there, he put his pears Into a
banket, put It upon his head na fruit
sellers in Bosnia do, and going through
the streets ho' shouted: "Pears for rich
people! Each one a sovereign! Only
the richest can buy. them!" The peo
ple laughed at him, but he went his
way, offering his fruits as loudly as he
could. .- Now, of . course, Alnha heard
his outcry, and, having gold in plenty
she was eager to show the people that
nobody but her could buy the pears
with gold. So she sent down the maid
and had her buy .up. -all the pears there
were. She distributed them to the serv
ants, and as it was very hot they, sat
down in the courtyard and ate them
•up at once. My proddness! In horrible
surprise they looked at one another.
All had become donkeys! They Jumped,
about, kicked and cried '.'hee-hiiw, hee
haw!" so that the whole town/ran to
see. The people, who knew not where
all these long ears had come , from so
suddenly, laughed until they ' almost
burst.- And the more desperately the
.donkeys kicked about the more-every
body, roared with laughter. Toward
evening Aiaha'a father came home. He
went all through the house and not a
\u25a0 soul was in it.. Finally he came into
the courtyard •' where all the donkeys
were frantically; chasing to and fro.
All surrounded him as though -jhey'
• wanted^ -to ' spoak and say something,
but -cftuld not. The wildest was a young
ass, who pressed -.most desperately
against him — and suddenly he guessed,
all! Somebody had bewitched his whole';,
household and the youngest animal was
his beloved daughter, Aisha! He asked
and asked how on earth it all hap
pened, 'but, of course, got' no answer.
That moment the fruit seller, passed
by again, and seeing the father's dis
tress he said he well knew a remedy
to make them .turn human beings once
• more, but first would have' to be done
whatsoever he^ demanded.
"And what is it?" asked the father;
"Before anything is done you have to
return what does not belong to you and
is hidden lnyour house," said the lad.
'.'[, k"now of nothing," cried 'Aisha's.
father.
"Well, then, I will search myself in
your daughter's .room," declared the
lad, "for unless I have found, the ring,
the rug and the whip of the snake em
peror. I simply won't help hen..
"But how will you help her?" asked
the frightened father.
"Just eat this," said the lad inno
cently, /pulling a. sloe out of his pocket,
"and she will be again what she w"as."
No sooner< had lie said It/ than the
cunning young: ass grabbed for thejsloe
und quickly swallowed.it. •
; And there was .Aisha standing pur
ring like a wildcat and crying: "Don't
give him -anything! Don't give him
anything!" A tub of water was stand
ing near by. \_By chance -she' looked
into it. and suddenly she gave a ter
rible scroam — the ass 1 ears were there
still! The lad had been holding fast
to tho sloe, so'a piece had remained in
• his fingers whit;h would have been just
necessary for tho transformation of the
ears.
Now, nothing wafi left to the girl but
to take to begging. Yet no matter ho vv
sweetly and beautifully she talked she
heard nothing but laughter to see her.
ears wiggle back and forth. There wav
nothing left but to give In. With a
heavy heart sho handed him the rug,
the ring and the whip. After that ho
gave each of^the other donkeys-a sloe,
and immediately they changed lnio
human beings. Then he started to leave.
Aishu. desperate about her ears, would
not. let him go. She begged and im
plored him to relievo her of those awful
ears. At last he pulled out of his pocket
a sloo and gavo It 'to her. She ato.lt
But, goodness gracious! even now only
one ear dropped off; the other waggled
as lustily as before.
The lad said that this was all he could
do for her, und started to proceed home.
She ought not to have eaten the first
sloe o*ut of. his hand, and thus he wont
away. What could sho do? She ran after
him, crying and begging him not to
leave her like that Now, since he had.
made hor tho" laughing stock of tho
town, hw also ought to marry her.: So
she kept running and running after
him. begging him to marry her.-
"Oooil," ha said, standing still, "but
wo will marry on the spot. And so It
W£S. After f,he wedding he gave her
tho last sloe to eat, which he had bid
in his pocket, and Immediately the other
ass ear fell off. The gifts of the amtko
emperor, though; he never again let, out
of his hand. Thus Aisha became an.obe
dlent, humble wifci, for sho never, knew
what might happen next. And af he
Knew not .what, trick, sl|e # was going, to
play on him, ho became more reason
able and very cautious, and therefore
they lived right happy and in peace to
gether.