86 lines
5.4 KiB
Text
86 lines
5.4 KiB
Text
The Crystal Ball
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There was once an enchantress, who had three sons who loved each other
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as brothers, but the old woman did not trust them, and thought they
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wanted to steal her power from her. So she changed the eldest into an
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eagle, which was forced to dwell in the rocky mountains, and was often
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seen sweeping in great circles in the sky. The second, she changed into
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a whale, which lived in the deep sea, and all that was seen of it was
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that it sometimes spouted up a great jet of water in the air. Each of
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them only bore his human form for only two hours daily. The third son,
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who was afraid she might change him into a raging wild beast a bear
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perhaps, or a wolf, went secretly away. He had heard that a King's
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daughter who was bewitched, was imprisoned in the Castle of the Golden
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Sun, and was waiting for deliverance. Those, however, who tried to free
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her risked their lives; three-and-twenty youths had already died a
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miserable death, and now only one other might make the attempt, after
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which no more must come. And as his heart was without fear, he caught
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at the idea of seeking out the Castle of the Golden Sun. He had already
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travelled about for a long time without being able to find it, when he
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came by chance into a great forest, and did not know the way out of it.
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All at once he saw in the distance two giants, who made a sign to him
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with their hands, and when he came to them they said, "We are
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quarrelling about a cap, and which of us it is to belong to, and as we
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are equally strong, neither of us can get the better of the other. The
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small men are cleverer than we are, so we will leave the decision to
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thee." "How can you dispute about an old cap?" said the youth. "Thou
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dost not know what properties it has! It is a wishing-cap; whosoever
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puts it on, can wish himself away wherever he likes, and in an instant
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he will be there." "Give me the cap," said the youth, "I will go a
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short distance off, and when I call you, you must run a race, and the
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cap shall belong to the one who gets first to me." He put it on and
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went away, and thought of the King's daughter, forgot the giants, and
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walked continually onward. At length he sighed from the very bottom of
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his heart, and cried, "Ah, if I were but at the Castle of the Golden
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Sun," and hardly had the words passed his lips than he was standing on
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a high mountain before the gate of the castle.
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He entered and went through all the rooms, until in the last he found
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the King's daughter. But how shocked he was when he saw her. She had an
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ashen-gray face full of wrinkles, blear eyes, and red hair. "Are you
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the King's daughter, whose beauty the whole world praises?" cried he.
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"Ah," she answered, "this is not my form; human eyes can only see me in
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this state of ugliness, but that thou mayst know what I am like, look
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in the mirror it does not let itself be misled it will show thee my
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image as it is in truth." She gave him the mirror in his hand, and he
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saw therein the likeness of the most beautiful maiden on earth, and
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saw, too, how the tears were rolling down her cheeks with grief. Then
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said he, "How canst thou be set free? I fear no danger." She said, "He
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who gets the crystal ball, and holds it before the enchanter, will
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destroy his power with it, and I shall resume my true shape. Ah," she
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added, "so many have already gone to meet death for this, and thou art
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so young; I grieve that thou shouldst encounter such great danger."
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"Nothing can keep me from doing it," said he, "but tell me what I must
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do." "Thou shalt know everything," said the King's daughter; "when thou
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descendest the mountain on which the castle stands, a wild bull will
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stand below by a spring, and thou must fight with it, and if thou hast
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the luck to kill it, a fiery bird will spring out of it, which bears in
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its body a burning egg, and in the egg the crystal ball lies like a
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yolk. The bird will not, however, let the egg fall until forced to do
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so, and if it falls on the ground, it will flame up and burn everything
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that is near, and melt even ice itself, and with it the crystal ball,
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and then all thy trouble will have been in vain."
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The youth went down to the spring, where the bull snorted and bellowed
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at him. After a long struggle he plunged his sword in the animal's
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body, and it fell down. Instantly a fiery bird arose from it, and was
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about to fly away, but the young man's brother, the eagle, who was
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passing between the clouds, swooped down, hunted it away to the sea,
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and struck it with his beak until, in its extremity, it let the egg
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fall. The egg did not, however, fall into the sea, but on a fisherman's
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hut which stood on the shore and the hut began at once to smoke and was
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about to break out in flames. Then arose in the sea waves as high as a
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house, they streamed over the hut, and subdued the fire. The other
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brother, the whale, had come swimming to them, and had driven the water
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up on high. When the fire was extinguished, the youth sought for the
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egg and happily found it; it was not yet melted, but the shell was
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broken by being so suddenly cooled with the water, and he could take
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out the crystal ball unhurt.
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When the youth went to the enchanter and held it before him, the latter
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said, "My power is destroyed, and from this time forth thou art the
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King of the Castle of the Golden Sun. With this canst thou likewise
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give back to thy brothers their human form." Then the youth hastened to
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the King's daughter, and when he entered the room, she was standing
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there in the full splendour of her beauty, and joyfully they exchanged
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rings with each other.
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