_PRINCE HARWEDA AND THE MAGIC PRISON._
Little Harweda was born a prince. His father was King over all the landand his mother was the most beautiful Queen the world had ever seen andPrince Harweda was their only child. From the day of his birtheverything that love or money could do for him had been done. The verywind of heaven was made to fan over an aeolian harp that it might enterhis room, not as a strong fresh breeze, but as a breath of music.Reflectors were so arranged in the windows that twice as much moonlightfell on his crib as on that of any ordinary child. The pillow on whichhis head rested was made out of the down from humming birds breasts andthe water in which his face and hands were washed was always steeped inrose leaves before being brought to the nursery. Everything that couldbe done was done, and nothing which could add to his ease or comfort wasleft undone.
But his parents, although they were King and Queen, were not very wise,for they never thought of making the young prince think of anybody buthimself and he had never in all his life given up any one of hiscomforts that somebody else might have a pleasure. So, of course, hegrew to be selfish and peevish, and by the time he was five years old hewas so disagreeable that nobody loved him. "Dear, dear! what shall wedo?" said the poor Queen mother and the King only sighed and answered"Ah, what indeed!" They were both very much grieved at heart for theywell knew that little Harweda, although he was a prince, would nevergrow up to be a really great King unless he could make his people lovehim.
At last they decided to send for his fairy god-mother and see if shecould suggest anything which would cure Prince Harweda of alwaysthinking about himself. "Well, well, well!" exclaimed the god-motherwhen they had laid the case before her--"This is a pretty state ofaffairs! and I his god-mother too! Why wasn't I called in sooner?" Shethen told them that she would have to think a day and a night and a dayagain before she could offer them any assistance. "But," added she, "ifI take the child in charge you must promise not to interfere for a wholeyear." The King and Queen gladly promised that they would not speak toor even see their son for the required time if the fairy god-motherwould only cure him of his selfishness. "We'll see about that," said thegod-mother, "Humph, expecting to be a King some day and not caring foranybody but himself--a fine King he'll make!" With that off she flew andthe King and Queen saw nothing more of her for a day and a night andanother day. Then back she came in a great hurry. "Give me the Prince,"said she; "I have his house all ready for him. One month from to-dayI'll bring him back to you. Perhaps he'll be cured and perhaps he won't.If he is not cured then we shall try two months next time. We'll see,we'll see." Without any more ado she picked up the astonished youngprince and flew away with him as lightly as if he were nothing but afeather or a straw. In vain the poor queen wept and begged for a lastkiss. Before she had wiped her eyes, the fairy god-mother and PrinceHarweda were out of sight.
They flew a long distance until they reached a great forest. When theyhad come to the middle of it, down flew the fairy, and in a minute morethe young prince was standing on the green grass beside a beautifulpink marble palace that looked something like a good sized summerhouse.
"This is your home," said the god-mother, "in it you will findeverything you need and you can do just as you choose with your time."Little Harweda was delighted at this for there was nothing in the worldhe liked better than to do as he pleased, so he tossed his cap up intothe air and ran into the lovely little house without so much as saying"Thank you" to his god-mother. "Humph," said she as he disappeared,"you'll have enough of it before you are through with it, my fineprince." With that off she flew.
Prince Harweda had no sooner set his foot inside the small rose-coloredpalace than the iron door shut with a bang and locked itself. For youmust know by this time that it was an enchanted house, as of course, allhouses are that are built by fairies.
Prince Harweda did not mind being locked in, as he cared very little forthe great beautiful outside world, and the new home which was to be _allhis own_ was very fine, and he was eager and impatient to examine it.Then too he thought that when he was tired of it, all he would have todo would be to kick on the door and a servant from somewhere would comeand open it,--he had always had a servant ready to obey his slightestcommand.
His fairy god-mother had told him that it was _his_ house, therefore hewas interested in looking at everything in it.
The floor was made of a beautiful red copper that shone in the sunlightlike burnished gold and seemed almost a dark red in the shadow. He hadnever seen anything half so fine before. The ceiling was ofmother-of-pearl and showed a constant changing of tints of red and blueand yellow and green, all blending into the gleaming white, as onlymother-of-pearl can. From the middle of this handsome ceiling hung alarge gilded bird cage containing a beautiful bird, which just at thismoment was singing a glad song of welcome to the Prince. Harweda,however, cared very little about birds, so he took no notice of thesongster.
Around on every side were costly divans with richly embroideredcoverings and on which were many sizes of soft down pillows. "Ah,"thought the Prince, "here I can lounge at my ease with no one to call meto stupid lessons!" Wonderfully carved jars and vases of wrought goldand silver stood about on the floor and each was filled with a differentkind of perfume. "This is delicious," said Prince Harweda. "Now I canhave all the sweet odors I want without the trouble of going out intothe garden for roses or lilies."
In the center of the room was a fountain of sparkling water which leapedup and fell back into its marble basin with a kind of rhythmical soundthat made a faint, dreamy music very pleasant to listen to.
On a table near at hand were various baskets of the most tempting pearsand grapes and peaches, and near them were dishes of all kinds ofsweetmeats. "Good," said the greedy young prince, "that is what I likebest of all," and therewith he fell to eating the fruit and sweetmeatsas fast as he could cram them into his mouth. He ate so much he had apain in his stomach, but strange to say, the table was just as full aswhen he began, for no sooner did he reach his hand out and take a softmellow pear or a rich, juicy peach than another pear or peach took itsplace in the basket. The same thing occurred when he helped himself tochocolate drops or marsh-mallows or any of the other confectionery uponthe table. For, of course, if the little palace was enchanted,everything in it was enchanted, also.
When Prince Harweda had eaten until he could eat no more he threwhimself down upon one of the couches and an invisible hand gentlystroked his hair until he fell asleep. When he awoke he noticed for thefirst time the walls which, by the way, were really the strangest partof his new home. They had in them twelve long, checkered windows whichreached from the ceiling to the floor. The spaces between the windowswere filled in with mirrors exactly the same size as the windows, sothat the whole room was walled in with windows and looking glasses.Through the three windows that looked to the north could be seen the fardistant mountains Beautiful, as they were called, towering high abovethe surrounding country; sometimes their snow-covered tops were pink orcreamy yellow as they caught the rays of the sunrise; sometimes theywere dark purple or blue as they reflected the storm cloud. From thethree windows that faced the south could be seen the great ocean,tossing and moving, constantly catching a thousand gleams of silver fromthe moonlight. Again and again, each little wave would be capped withwhite from its romp with the wind. Yet, as the huge mountains seemed toreach higher than man could climb, so the vast ocean seemed to stretchout farther than any ship could possibly carry him. The eastern windowsgave each morning a glorious vision of sky as the darkness of the nightslowly melted into the still gray dawn, and that changed into a goldenglow and that in turn became a tender pink. It was really the mostbeautiful as well as the most mysterious sight on earth if one watchedit closely. The windows on the west looked out upon a great forest oftall fir trees and at the time of sunset the glorious colors of thesunset sky could be seen between the dark green branches.
But little Prince Harweda cared for none of these beautiful views. Infact, he scarcel
y glanced out of the windows at all, he was so taken upwith the broad handsome mirrors, for in each of them he could seehimself reflected and he was very fond of looking at himself in alooking glass. He was much pleased when he noticed that the mirrors wereso arranged that each one not only reflected his whole body, head, arms,feet and all, but that it also reflected his image as seen in several ofthe other mirrors. He could thus see his front and back and each side,all at the same time. As he was a handsome boy he enjoyed these manyviews of himself immensely, and would stand and sit and lie down justfor the fun of seeing the many images of himself do the same thing.
He spent so much time looking at and admiring himself in the wonderfullooking-glasses that he had very little time for the books and gameswhich had been provided for his amusement. Hours were spent each dayfirst before one mirror and then another, and he did not notice that thewindows were growing narrower and the mirrors wider until the former hadbecome so small that they hardly admitted light enough for him to seehimself in the looking-glass. Still, this did not alarm him very much ashe cared nothing whatever for the outside world. It only made him spendmore time before the mirror, as it was now getting quite difficult forhim to see himself at all. The windows at last became mere slits in thewall and the mirrors grew so large that they not only reflected littleHarweda but all of the room besides in a dim, indistinct kind of a way.
Finally, however, Prince Harweda awoke one morning and found himself intotal darkness. Not a ray of light came from the outside and of course,not an object in the room could be seen. He rubbed his eyes and sat upto make sure that he was not dreaming. Then he called loudly for someone to come and open a window for him, but no one came. He got up andgroped his way to the iron door and tried to open it, but it was, as youknow, locked. He kicked it and beat upon it, but he only bruised hisfists and hurt his toes. He grew quite angry now. How dare any one shuthim, a prince, up in a dark prison like this! He abused his fairygod-mother, calling her all sorts of horrid names. Then he upbraided hisfather and mother, the King and Queen, for letting him go away with sucha god-mother. In fact, he blamed everybody and everything but himselffor his present condition, but it was of no use. The sound of his ownvoice was his only answer. The whole of the outside world seemed to haveforgotten him.
As he felt his way back to his couch he knocked over one of the goldenjars which had held the liquid perfume, but the perfume was all gone nowand only an empty jar rolled over the floor. He laid himself down on thedivan but its soft pillows had been removed and a hard iron frame-workreceived him. He was dismayed and lay for a long time thinking of whathe had best do with himself. All before him was blank darkness, as blackas the darkest night you ever saw. He reached out his hand to get somefruit to eat, but only one or two withered apples remained on thetable--was he to starve to death? Suddenly he noticed that the tinklingmusic of the fountain had ceased. He hastily groped his way over to itand he found in place of the dancing, running stream stood a silent poolof water. A hush had fallen upon everything about him, a dead silencewas in the room. He threw himself down upon the floor and wished that hewere dead also. He lay there for a long, long time.
At last he heard, or thought he heard, a faint sound. He listenedeagerly. It seemed to be some tiny creature not far from him, trying tomove about. For the first time for nearly a month he remembered the birdin its gilded cage. "Poor little thing," he cried as he sprang up, "Youtoo are shut within this terrible prison. This thick darkness must be ashard for you to bear as it is for me." He went towards the cage and ashe approached it the bird gave a sad little chirp.
"That's better than nothing," said the boy, "you must need some water todrink, poor thing," continued he as he filled its drinking cup. "Thisis all I have to give you."
Just then he heard a harsh, grating sound, as of rusty bolts slidingwith difficulty out of their sockets, and then faint rays of light notwider than a hair began to shine between the heavy plate mirrors. PrinceHarweda was filled with joy. "Perhaps, perhaps," said he softly, "I mayyet see the light again. Ah, how beautiful the outside world would lookto me now!"
The next day he was so hungry that he began to eat one of the oldwithered apples, and as he bit it he thought of the bird, hisfellow-prisoner. "You must be hungry, too, poor little thing," said heas he divided his miserable food and put part of it into the bird'scage. Again came the harsh, grating sound, and the boy noticed that thecracks of light were growing larger. Still they were only cracks,nothing of the outside world could be seen. Still it was a comfort notto have to grope about in total darkness. Prince Harweda felt quite surethat the cracks of light were a little wider, and on going up to one andputting his eye close to it as he would to a pinhole in a paper, he wasrejoiced to find that he could tell the greenness of the grass from theblue of the sky. "Ah, my pretty bird, my pretty bird!" he criedjoyfully, "I have had a glimpse of the great beautiful outside world andyou shall have it too."
With these words he climbed up into a chair and loosening the cage fromthe golden chain by which it hung, he carried it carefully to thenearest crack of light and placed it close to the narrow opening. Againwas heard the harsh, grating sound and the walls moved a bit and thewindows were now at least an inch wide. At this the poor Prince claspedhis hands with delight. He sat himself down near the bird cage and gazedout of the narrow opening. Never before had the trees looked so tall andstately, or the white clouds floating through the sky so lovely. Thenext day as he was carefully cleaning the bird's cage so that the littlecreature might be somewhat more comfortable, the walls again creaked andgroaned and the mirrors grew narrower by just so many inches as thewindows widened. But Prince Harweda saw only the flood of sunshine thatpoured in, and the added beauty of the larger landscape. He carednothing whatever now for the stupid mirrors which could only reflectwhat was placed before them. Each day he found something new andbeautiful in the view from the narrow windows. Now it was a squirrelfrisking about and running up some tall tree trunk so rapidly thatPrince Harweda could not follow it with his eyes; again it was a motherbird feeding her young. By this time the windows were a foot wide ormore. One day as two white doves suddenly soared aloft in the blue skythe poor little canary who had now become the tenderly cared for comradeof the young Prince, gave a pitiful little trill. "Dear little fellow,"cried Prince Harweda, "do you also long for your freedom? You shall atleast be as free as I am." So saying, he opened the cage door and thebird flew out.
The Prince laughed as he watched it flutter about from chair to tableand back to chair again. He was so much occupied with the bird that hedid not notice that the walls had again shaken and the windows were nowtheir full size, until the added light caused him to look around. Heturned and saw the room looking almost exactly as it did the day heentered it with so much pride because it was all his own. Now it seemedclose and stuffy and he would gladly have exchanged it for the humblesthome in his father's kingdom where he could meet people and hear themtalk and see them smile at each other, even if they should take nonotice of him. One day soon after this the little bird fluttered upagainst the window pane and beat his wings against it in a vain effortto get out. A new idea seized the young Prince, and taking up one of thegolden jars he went to the window and struck on one of its checkeredpanes of glass with all his force. "You shall be free, even if I cannot," said he to the bird. Two or three strong blows shivered the smallpane and the bird swept out into the free open air beyond. "Ah, mypretty one, how glad I am that you are free at last," exclaimed theprince as he stood watching the flight of his fellow-prisoner. His facewas bright with the glad, unselfish joy over the bird's liberty. Thesmall, pink marble palace shook from top to bottom, the iron door flewopen and the fresh wind from the sea rushed in and seemed to catch theboy in its invisible arms. Prince Harweda could hardly believe his eyesas he sprang to the door. There stood his fairy god-mother, smiling andwith her hand reached out toward him. "Come, my god-child," said shegently, "we shall now go back to your father and mother, the King andQueen, and they will
rejoice with us that you have been cured of yourterrible disease of selfishness."
Great indeed was the rejoicing in the palace when Prince Harweda wasreturned to them a sweet, loving boy, kind and thoughtful to all abouthim. Many a struggle he had with himself and many a conquest over theold habit of selfishness, but as time passed by he grew to be a greatand wise king, loving and tenderly caring for all his people and lovedby them in return.