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6 THE GREEN BEARDED KING Louise Souvan WHERE was it, whore was it not? Still seven times seven kingdoms from"; here. and even beyond' them, where tlie little snort tailed pig is dig ging, there was a green bearded king. j This green bearded king once set out to wander throiigh.the world. * He had. been walking, for a : long. time, in fact nlready , 100 needle lengths had ho been ..wandering, when - if. suddenly struck" him that it must have been 17. years' at 'lynst since ho had left the house. He' was; tired from stirring this way and that way, ; . arid as lie was , thirsty, too, he sat down- on 'the edge? ofa brook; the water looked cool and ..inviting," and he bent down for n hearty, drink. '.'Hardly, 1 had.' lie begun to drink whensomebody took hold of his beards Hey.tried to pull backward, but could ..*not., :: Then he* shouted into the water: v'o.^VListen! -I 'don't know who you are, but let go my' beard before' something happens to you." -\u25a0 \u25a0'\u25a0 ' . '\u25a0'\u25a0 " But he .was .only 'pulled the harder. \, lndeed," lie was -pulled so" awfully that he took' to begging, \ for nothing else: . was left for. hini i to do. At last a voice .'frombutthe depths of the water, said: "If you give me something in your \u25a0 realm: that • you don't know, about I'll, let your, beard go.'.' ''What shouldn't I know, about in my' realm, . when I"\u25a0I "\u25a0 am .aware of ; the least little needle ?" replied the • green bearded . \u25a0king. •\u25a0\u25a0.\u25a0.\u25a0\u25a0>. .;\u25a0• <, . \u25a0;.' \u25a0 \u25a0 '•\u25a0'. .'. '<\u25a0 \ '.-' \u25a0.v.'/Justigive me'that promise, and noth 1 ing else,", safti. the king of all the sor- for ; it . was* he ,who was hidden .under, the-.water and nobody : else. ~~ , ; "All right, be it yours! said the green bearded king at last. ,. x .' \u25a0 :y.: y. 4 He felt quite/miserable from kneeling '.and "lying. upon his. stomach.' for such a long time, . when at last the sorcerers' "king let his beard go. , On his way home he! thought -and thought what ? tiling \u25a0 there could' be; in 'his .realm wliich he' "knew- nothing about. \ . At' home a handsome lad, ran -to wel come: him and embraced and kissed him ) over and over again. - '.'Oh,'. dear father, how long you have been -away! How good to have you \u25a0 h6meagain!".'said the. lad. .: .. > /,:The king 'stared at him- in utmost as .tonishment... He thrust the boy from '\u25a0': li liri and said : " •\u25a0 ; ... >: .•• : ."Whose^father am I? Whose son ."are you? I/don't ; know you!" " ><In the house his wife, the queen, told : him "that; the lad was? really, . his" son, who had been born .after hV left home many years ago. ': . '; . ' . • No w the^ king understood; This . hand some? lad then .he had; promised; the ', so"rcerer .king, for surely he had known nothing . of "the '> lad. ' \u25a0':\u25a0 He almost \u25a0 died' .from-worry. , '!\u25a0.\u25a0\u25a0' '•'\u25a0' Then-he called in the youth* and told him'ali; .'But the boy, not scared, in the • least, - consoled his father, 'assured him that all would end well and that he was to - leave the house " as soon , as possible. Next day he got ready and went away. lie* wandered andr wandered through seven times- seven and • also re*ached' the -brook -where his father's teoard \ was kept fast. • Upon the water seven >wild- ducks' swam 'about,, and on * the' shore -arfhlrt was hanging which the wind moved gently hither ~ and thither. He took the shirt and was' just; about -to put it into his knapsack when Buddenly one" of the seven wild ilut;tvn turned into' a wonderfully beau tiful' girl and, said to thelad: ' \u0084" Handsome • prlnce,*l* know who you . are and 1 where you are going. You are the : green bearded king's aun and on the way to my father, for h«. has won you from your parent.* Give me my • Bhirt. v '? For \u25a0;•' your good deed expect good.". ' . The' 1 king's son gave It to her. Th« .girl put It on, too* k a golden ring from her finger and gavo It to the lad. "Take good cure of this ring.' With > It you can go now- through 12 castle doom without anybody noticing you. \u25a0Just turn the ring and every door' will open by itself. Arrived Inaitio. my father will want you to. do things which you would not be able to accomplish, not even If you were an angel, but I'll ha THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL. SUNDAY. AUGUST 21, 1910.-THE JUNIOR CALL. your helper. Toward 6 o'clock in -the 1 evening I'll hum aa'a little fly at your; window. r !'Lot me in and fear nothing:" j The youth' put the ring upon his r ; finger, tookleave of the girl and .went \u25a0 , to: the . sorcerer; king's castle. , Twelve doors barred, his way. but on* turning . the ring* each one opened by Itself. Finally 'the last door sprang open and . he was right before the sorcerer king .himself. "Great, king, here I am; have mercy upon me!" said the youth. . "Since, you are here.it is good,", said the king, "but : . methinks youare; Inclined to be some what. bold. ...Perhaps you don't quite know who I am." - .''\u25a0'\u25a0\u25a0."\u25a0 • "I do know it," said the prince. 'Tet you are not niore than, my father— he is king and you. are king— that's how it is!" ;.;.;:> ; \M! -, ' ' * . , The king. got- very angry. ••/: ; : "Three problems you 'have to solve," he said. "If you'ean master them, all 'right," but If, you can not you are lost. Here '.'ls a cabbage leaf— take; it! I am . j going to lock yon-up in a. room at once, f and if by tomorrow you can "not make ' a crane's feather hat ,out of this cab bage' leaf; you may pray for mercy but . I :will : have none." ;:, ; . \u25a0 . .They went into the room. Food and drink;in plenty. we re left for^ him. Then they locked up the roomfro'm air sides _ tand -went; away. Left thus alone the royal prince became quite downhearted: How; on> earth was he to make a thing 1 such as was'.never : heard of .as.long as 1 the world had stood? At that moment a loud humming , was heard: at ;the 'window., He;went to see . what .was the matter, and' there was a S tiny.;little}fly, which; sang— \u0084 • "Let mem—i t's I.Vyour helper." Quickly he opened, the 'window. The fly came in and "instantly turned Into the beautiful young girl he had seen before. •.'"• ; : ' •\u25a0\u25a0 -\u25a0;'' ; ". ' :.-: \u25a0 \u25a0\u25a0 \ x "\u25a0'\u25a0'; "Now tell me. how I can help you?" '..she'Said.' !;.;.'/'\u25a0 ;' ". '.\u25a0'".'. '•:. • \u25a0.-'\u25a0''• ' ;v '"% The , prince told of how he had r been -told ( to make a crane's feather hat. out of a- cabbage leaf. > . "If it's ; nothing else," said | the girl, i then It's'' not so bad;: 'Where Is the, , cahbage leaf?" ;\u25a0\u25a0 , ' >: ' . , " ;.- •:.." "Here it is." : . •''Now, see here!" said .the girl, and IN DAYS OF OLD AND NOW -. "Youngsters who Ind going to school \u25a0the most, tearful task of their lives ought to read something - about the troubles of the small boys who went to school a* century, ago," "says an old teacher. "A few days ago I. chanced to , open an old volume on the shelf of, a' second hand bookstore, and the first lines \u25a0 I read Interested me so much that I bought .the book. It was the autobi ography of an old clergyman, a famous biblical scholar of the nineteenth cen tury. He was born in Ireland. ' In the story of his boyhood he gave an 'ac count of the first school he attended, and this was the passage which at tracted my atention when I opened the book: • "There wefe no vacations; school kept all the year round. It opened at 7. o'clock in the morning and continued until' 6. in the evening; with an inter mission at noon of uncertain length, generally the time required for the schoolmaster to eat the lunch he had in his pocket, and which usually con sisted of a dried herring; a cold boiled potato ami a slice of bread. After his lunch the master smoked a pipe, and when it was Hnished called in the boys to their hooks. Sometimes, however, the old gentleman fell asleep over his pipe and the days when he did so were red letter days for the boys, though they didn't dare to go far from the schoolhouse, knowing that the old man might wake up at any moment and thut a thrashing waited for the boy The Youth Took Leave df the Girl Instantly a crane's feather hat of untold beauty lay upon the table. The '"youth's eyes almost fell out of his head, he stared so at the hat. for such a thing he never had seen in all his life.; \u25a0 - ' : • '•\u25a0 :'\u25a0 }\u25a0"\u25a0\u25a0"\u25a0 \u25a0•..' \u25a0\u25a0 .. ' "Tomorrow evening," said the girl, 'Til be here again. When you hear, my humming jet me in at once; now go and open the jvindow." ' Hardly had she uttered the last word when she; became a -.tiny little fly and Immediately- flew out of the room. That night the- kings-s on went to bed without worrying and slept quietly all night, for- he knew that the sor cerer king would ! turn green and blue in sheer astonishment on seeing the hat. . / ;.; .' ':: ; : .->v \u25a0\u25a0' V.,,;v ; Early the following morning the king came. ; The first thing he perceived was, of course, the crane's feather >.hat lying upon the table. Said he to the youth: : "Now, that's well done, my lad." jK "I should think so," replied the youth saucily. .\ ;\u25a0". % ' X ;' \ \u25a0 '•'.\u25a0 \u25a0 ". , \u25a0 . : "Well, since you are such an im pudent youngster I'll give you some thing besides,, which ..you will never be able to accomplish as long as you live," and thus saying^the king went out -of the room and soon. returned with a pot of cabbage soup. : . \u25a0 \u25a0 / "Listen," said he. "If you. can .not turn this cabbage soup into- a silver spurv'by tomorrow morning you are lost." ••'-;\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0\u25a0 ; \u25a0. . ' \u25a0 '• ' \u25a0:- .\u25a0'•\u25a0, ''y\- The youth, knowing what he knew, only shrugged his shoulders. The king then left the room and the prince remained alone. .•\u25a0 " ' "Cabbage soup and silver'spur!. Don't they go well together? Surely, this king must rack- his' brain to. think of things -of. that, sort," he thought to himself. He could hardly wait for evening to" come. At last ithe clock struck 8. . "Let me in— it's I, your last in. But everybody then believed in thrashing:. There was an idea that boys wouldn't grow without it, and the old man's" rattan was always In evidence. The writer was a good boy, or at least he thought he was, but he remembers being thrashed four times in one day, while others fared much worse. Heading, writing and figuring constituted the sum total of the curric ulum at this academy,, as the old teacher was fond, of calling it, and the master mended ull the goosequlll pens and wrote all .the copies. One reader for two . boys was about the* average, and one spelling book for each four or five, and the readers and' spellers were passed ' from one to another,' for two boya usually put their heads together and studied their lesson at the same time. When the water bucket was empty two boys were dispatched to a nearby well- for another supply, The tuition fee was a sod of turf for the master's rtre, and when the boys could not bring one a day, two a week were accepted. There was, in addition, some small provision made by the dis trict for the schoolmaster, so that, whil« the schoolboy* supplied the turf for his tire and lie wus not too proud to curry it home on his back, the dis trict kept him from starvation. Hut the school wus about us good as any of that time, and ihe scholars probably learned us much in ih« old stone cabin where the uutobiographist took his first lessons as in any countr • school in England or Scotland.' " 0 helper," the Uttle fly sang outside the window. , , .Hurriedly, he opened the window, and again the little fly changed "into the beautiful girl he had seen, at the ed go of the i brook. , He told her what her father ; had asked' him to do. Now, if you believe me or not, out. of the horrid cabbage soup she made a spur such. as anybody might have looked at with envy. My! Wasn't the king's son happy to be helped like that! He thanked . the girl. She said goodby, and again as the tiny little fly she (lew away. . >Next day the sorcerer king almost fell upon his back on seeing the beauti ful spur. But he did not let up. He was determined to get the best of the boy In the end. He brought a jug with pure,. clear water and said: "This is now your last chance. If you can not make a copper hatchet out of this clear, pure water you may write your last will beforehand!" The king's son said nothing. He just waited for evening to come~ He thought since the other tasks had gone so- well, why should this end badly? But when the little fly had again turned into .the. beautiful girl", that evening and when she learned her father's command, she sadly shook her head, for that she could not do either! "Do. you know what?'.' she said to the king's son. "Let* us flee at once, for here we can not stay. I shall strike you with my-cane and then you'll turn into a gold ring,: my beauti ful little. grown pony into a gold apple and I shall become a bird. Thus we shallleave the place as quickly a3 we can." : -.; \u25a0.V \u25a0\u25a0. \u25a0 \u25a0 \u25a0. . . \u25a0 The, king's son turned into a gold ring, the beautiful little brown horse changed into a ; golden apple and the girr became, a bird. The bird took the ring into its . beak, . the apple <• it held with its claws and off they went quick as a thought. As she .said,' so it ; happened. The next day the father noticed that neither the daughter nor the king's son was to beseen and immediately knew what had happened. He said to his valet;-'-. '">-\u25a0 .... .*.\u25a0\u25a0, . . -'\u25a0 \u25a0 . i "Up and after them at once! Bring them back alive or dead." . -Mercy, you ought to have seen the race . that now began. The valet ran like lightning. Suddenly the bird said to the ring: . . \u25a0 , "I feel a speedy wind blowing behind my back! They are coming right be hind us." ' ( ; Luckily there was a thick bush Just there and in the middle of it the bird sat quietly down, as though nothing had happened. Soon the valet got there also. He searched every corner and looked over the whole bush, but found nothing. So he returned home to the king and said: • • . "Your majesty, I have not seen of the fugitives as much as their shadows. There was only a bush upon .the plain, and in the middle of It sat a little bird." "That was she, you donkey!" cried the king. "I see I will have to go my self, for I can rely on nobody else." Now, it matters not what kind of a race you may have seen In your life already, such a one as the sorcerer king performed was never yet heard of. , The little bird Hew and flew as hard as it could, until It came to the other side of the brook, - r where the king's beard had been pulled, but all the hurry would not have been worth a penny had not just there ended the sorcerer king's empire; his power went only that far and not a step farther. When he saw that he waa cheated and that they really had reached the opposite shore safely he became so angry that he burst on the spot. Then the little bird turned into the beautiful girl, the ring changed into th« king's son and the goldon apple became the beautiful brown little horse again. Both mounted the horse and rode into the green bearded king's realm. At home they were married and had a grand wedding. I was there, too. as bass^ violinist. I ute so many sausages that I needed no food for a year. My name shall be Michael if it isn't true.