From the
ebook “The Counterpane Fairy”
 |
| Teddy was laid-up in bed |
EDDY was all alone, for his mother had been up with
him so much the night before that at about four o'clock in the afternoon she
said that she was going to lie down for a little while.
The
room where Teddy lay was very pleasant, with two big windows, and the furniture
covered with gay old-fashioned India calico. His mother had set a glass of milk
on the table beside his bed, and left the stair door ajar so that he could call
Hannah, the cook, if he wanted anything, and then she had gone over to her own
room.
The
little boy had always enjoyed being ill, for then he was read aloud to and had
lemonade, but this had been a real illness, and though he was better now, the
doctor still would not let him have anything but milk and gruel. He was feeling
rather lonely, too, though the fire crackled cheerfully, and he could hear
Hannah singing to herself in the kitchen below.
Teddy
turned over the leaves of Robinson Crusoe for a while, looking at the
gaily colored pictures, and then he closed it and called, "Hannah!"
The singing in the kitchen below ceased, and Teddy knew that Hannah was
listening. "Hannah!" he called again.
At
the second call Hannah came hurrying up the stairs and into the room.
"What do you want, Teddy?" she asked.
"Hannah,
I want to ask mamma something," said Teddy.
"Oh,"
said Hannah, "you wouldn't want me to call your poor mother, would you,
when she was up with you the whole of last night and has just gone to lie down
a bit?"
"I
want to ask her something," repeated Teddy.
"You
ask me what you want to know," suggested Hannah. "Your poor mother's
so tired that I'm sure you are too much of a man to want me to call her."
"Well,
I want to ask her if I may have a cracker," said Teddy.
"Oh,
no; you couldn't have that," said Hannah. "Don't you know that the
doctor said you mustn't have anything but milk and gruel? Did you want to ask
her anything else?"
"No,"
said Teddy, and his lip trembled.
After
that Hannah went down-stairs to her work again, and Teddy lay staring out of
the window at the windy gray clouds that were sweeping across the April sky. He
grew lonelier and lonelier and a lump rose in his throat; presently a big tear
trickled down his cheek and dripped off his chin.
"Oh
dear, oh dear!" said a little voice just back of the hill his knees made
as he lay with them drawn up in bed; "what a hill to climb!"
Teddy
stopped crying and gazed wonderingly toward where the voice came from, and
presently over the top of his knees appeared a brown peaked hood, a tiny
withered face, a flapping brown cloak, and last of all two small feet in
buckled shoes. It was a little old woman, so weazened and brown that she looked
more like a dried leaf than anything else.
She
seated herself on Teddy's knees and gazed down at him solemnly, and she was so
light that he felt her weight no more than if she had been a feather.
Teddy
lay staring at her for a while, and then he asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm
the Counterpane Fairy," said the little figure, in a thin little voice.
"I
don't know what that is," said Teddy.
"Well,"
said the Counterpane Fairy, "it's the sort of a fairy that lives in houses
and watches out for the children. I used to be one of the court fairies, but I
grew tired of that. There was nothing in it, you know."
"Nothing
in what?" asked Teddy.
"Nothing
in the court life. All day the fairies were swinging in spider-webs and sipping
honey-dew, or playing games of hide-and-go-seek. The only comfort I had was
with an old field-mouse who lived at the edge of the wood, and I used to spend
a great deal of time with her; I used to take care of her babies when she was
out hunting for something to eat; cunning little things they were, -- five of them,
all fat and soft, and with such funny little tails."
"What
became of them?"
"Oh,
they moved away. They left before I did. As soon as they were old enough,
Mother Field-mouse went. She said she couldn't stand the court fairies. They
were always playing tricks on her, stopping up the door of her house with
sticks and acorns, and making faces at her babies until they almost drove them
into fits. So after that I left too."
"Where
did you go?"
"Oh,
hither and yon. Mostly where there were little sick boys and girls."
"Do
you like little boys?"
"Yes,
when they don't cry," said the Counterpane Fairy, staring at him very
hard.
"Well,
I was lonely," said Teddy. "I wanted my mamma."
"Yes,
I know, but you oughtn't to have cried. I came to you, though, because you were
lonely and sick, and I thought maybe you would like me to show you a
story."
"Do
you mean tell me a story?" asked Teddy.
"No,"
said the fairy, "I mean show you a story. It's a game I invented after I
joined the Counterpane Fairies. Choose any one of the squares of the
counterpane and I will show you how to play it. That's all you have to do, --
to choose a square."
Teddy
looked the counterpane over carefully. "I think I'll choose that yellow
square," he said, "because it looks so nice and bright."
"Very
well," said the Counterpane Fairy. "Look straight at it and don't
turn your eyes away until I count seven times seven and then you shall see the
story of it."
Teddy
fixed his eyes on the square and the fairy began to count.
"One--two--three--four," she counted; Teddy heard her voice, thin and
clear as the hissing of the logs on the hearth. "Don't look away from the
square," she cried. "Five--six--seven" --it seemed to Teddy that
the yellow silk square was turning to a mist before his eyes and wrapping everything
about him in a golden glow. "Thirteen--fourteen" --the fairy counted
on and on. "Forty-six--forty-seven--forty-eight--FORTY-NINE!"
At
the words forty-nine, the Counterpane Fairy clapped her hands and Teddy looked
about him. He was no longer in a golden mist. He was standing in a wonderful
enchanted garden. The sky was like the golden sky at sunset, and the grass was
so thickly set with tiny yellow flowers that it looked like a golden carpet.
From this garden stretched a long flight of glass steps. They reached up and up
and up to a great golden castle with shining domes and turrets.
"Listen!"
said the Counterpane Fairy. "In that golden castle there lies an enchanted
princess. For more than a hundred years she has been lying there waiting for
the hero who is to come and rescue her, and you are the hero who can do it if
you will."
With
that the fairy led him to a little pool close by, and bade him look in the
water. When Teddy looked, he saw himself standing there in the golden garden,
and he did not appear as he ever had before. He was tall and strong and
beautiful, like a hero.
"Yes,"
said Teddy, "I will do it."
At
these words, from the grass, the bushes, and the tress around, suddenly started
a flock of golden birds. They circled about him and over him, clapping their
wings and singing triumphantly. Their song reminded Teddy of the blackbirds
that sang on the lawn at home in the early spring, when the daffodils were up.
Then in a moment they were all gone, and the garden was still again.
Their
song had filled his heart with a longing for great deeds, and, without pausing
longer, he ran to the glass steps and began to mount them.
Up
and up and up he went. Once he turned and waved his hand to the Counterpane
Fairy in the golden garden far below. She waved her hand in answer, and he
heard her voice faint and clear. "Good-bye! Good-bye! Be brave and strong,
and beware of that that is little and gray."
Then
Teddy turned his face toward the castle, and in a moment he was standing before
the great shining gates.
He
raised his hand and struck bravely upon the door. There was no answer. Again he
struck upon it, and his blow rang through the hall inside; then he opened the
door and went in.
The
hall was five-sided, and all of pure gold, as clear and shining as glass. Upon
three sides of it were three arched doors; one was of emerald, one was of ruby,
and one was of diamond; they were arched, and tall, and wide, -- fit for a hero
to go through. The question was, behind which one lay the enchanted princess.
While
Teddy stood there looking at them and wondering, he heard a little thin voice,
that seemed to be singing to itself, and this is what it sang:
"In and out and out and
in,
Quick as a flash I weave and spin.
Some may mistake and some forget,
But I'll have my spider-web finished yet."
Quick as a flash I weave and spin.
Some may mistake and some forget,
But I'll have my spider-web finished yet."
When
Teddy heard the song, he knew that someone must be awake in the enchanted
castle, so he began looking about him.
On
the fourth side of the wall there hung a curtain of silvery-gray spider-web,
and the voice seemed to come from it. The hero went toward it, but he saw
nothing, for the spider that was spinning it moved so fast that no eyes could
follow it. Presently it paused up in the left-hand corner of the web, and then
Teddy saw it. It looked very little to have spun all that curtain of silvery
web.
As
Teddy stood looking at it, it began to sing again:
"Here in my shining web
I sit,
To look about and rest a bit.
I rest myself a bit and then,
Quick as a flash, I begin again."
To look about and rest a bit.
I rest myself a bit and then,
Quick as a flash, I begin again."
"Mistress
Spinner! Mistress Spinner!" cried Teddy. "Can you tell me where to
find the enchanted princess who lies asleep waiting for me to come and rescue
her?"
The
spider sat quite still for a while, and then it said in a voice as thin as a
hair: "You must go through the emerald door; you must go through the
emerald door. What so fit as the emerald door for the hero who would do great
deeds?"
Teddy
did not so much as stay to thank the little gray spinner, he was in such a
hurry to find the princess, but turning he sprang to the emerald door, flung it
open, and stepped outside.
He
found himself standing on the glass steps, and as his foot touched the topmost
one the whole flight closed up like an umbrella, and in a moment Teddy was
sliding down the smooth glass pane, faster and faster and faster until he could
hardly catch his breath.
The
next thing he knew he was standing in the golden garden, and there was the
Counterpane Fairy beside him looking at him sadly. "You should have known
better than to try the emerald door," she said; "and now shall we
break the story?"
"Oh,
no, no!" cried Teddy, and he was still the hero. "Let me try once
more, for it may be I can yet save the princess."
Then
the Counterpane Fairy smiled. "Very well," she said, "you shall
try again; but remember what I told you, beware of that that is little and
gray, and take this with you, for it may be of use." Stooping, she
picked up a blade of grass from the ground and handed it to him.
The
hero took it wondering, and in his hands it was changed to a sword that shone
so brightly that it dazzled his eyes. Then he turned, and there was the long
flight of glass steps leading up to the golden castle just as before; so
thrusting the magic sword into his belt, he ran nimbly up and up and up, and
not until he reached the very topmost step did he turn and look back to wave
farewell to the Counterpane Fairy below. She waved her hand to him.
"Remember," she called, "beware of what is little and
gray."
He
opened the door and went into the five-sided golden hall, and there were the
three doors just as before, and the spider spinning and singing on the fourth
side:
"Now the brave hero is
wiser indeed;
He may have failed once, but he still may succeed.
Dull are the emeralds; diamonds are bright;
So is his wisdom that shines as the light."
He may have failed once, but he still may succeed.
Dull are the emeralds; diamonds are bright;
So is his wisdom that shines as the light."
"The
diamond door!" cried Teddy. "Yes, that is the door that I should have
tried. How could I have thought the emerald door was it?" and opening the
diamond door he stepped through it.
He
hardly had time to see that he was standing at the top of the glass steps,
before --br-r-r-r! --they had shut up again into a smooth glass hill, and there
he was spinning down them so fast that the wind whistled past his ears.
In
less time than it takes to tell, he was back again for the third time in the
golden garden, with the Counterpane Fairy standing before him, and he was
ashamed to raise his eyes.
"So!"
said the Counterpane Fairy. "Did you know no better than to open the
diamond door?"
"No,"
said Teddy, "I knew no better."
"Then,"
said the fairy, "if you can pay no better heed to my warnings than that,
the princess must wait for another hero, for you are not the one."
"Let
me try but once more," cried Teddy, "for this time I shall surely
find her."
"Then
you may try once more and for the last time," said the fairy, "but
beware of what is little and gray." Stooping she picked from the grass
beside her a fallen acorn cup and handed it to him. "Take this with
you," she said, "for it may serve you well."
As
he took it from her, it was changed in his hand to a goblet of gold set round
with precious stones. He thrust it into his bosom, for he was in haste, and
turning he ran for the third time up the flight of glass steps. This time so
eager was he that he never once paused to look back, but all the time he ran on
up and up he was wondering what it was that she meant about her warning. She
had said, "Beware of what is little and gray." What had he seen that
was little and gray?
As
soon as he reached the great golden hall he walked over to the curtain of
spider-web. The spider was spinning so fast that it was little more than a gray
streak, but presently it stopped up in the left-hand corner of the web. As the
hero looked at it he saw that it was little and gray. Then it began to sing to
him in its little thin voice:
"Great hero, wiser than
ever before,
Try the red door, try the red door.
Open the door that is ruby, and then
You never need search for the princess again."
Try the red door, try the red door.
Open the door that is ruby, and then
You never need search for the princess again."
"No,
I will not open the ruby door," cried Teddy. "Twice have you sent me
back to the golden garden, and now you shall fool me no more."
As
he said this he saw that one corner of the spider-web curtain was still
unfinished, in spite of the spider's haste, and underneath was something that
looked like a little yellow door. Then suddenly he knew that that was the door
he must go through. He caught hold of the curtain and pulled, but it was as
strong as steel. Quick as a flash he snatched from his belt the magic sword,
and with one blow the curtain was cut in two, and fell at his feet.
He
heard the little gray spider calling to him in its thin voice, but he paid no
heed, for he had opened the little yellow door and stooped his head and
entered.
Beyond
was a great courtyard all of gold, and with a fountain leaping and splashing
back into a golden basin in the middle. Bet what he saw first of all was the
enchanted princess, who lay stretched out as if asleep upon a couch all covered
with cloth of gold. He knew she was a princess, because she was so beautiful
and because she wore a golden crown.
He
stood looking at her without stirring, and at last he whispered:
"Princess! Princess! I have come to save you."
Still
she did not stir. He bent and touched her, but she lay there in her enchanted
sleep, and her eyes did not open. Then Teddy looked about him, and seeing the
fountain he drew the magic cup from his bosom and, filling it, sprinkled the
hands and face of the princess with the water.
Then
her eyes opened and she raised herself upon her elbow and smiled. "Have
you come at last?" she cried.
"Yes,"
answered Teddy, "I have come."
The
princess looked about her. "But what became of the spider?" she said.
Then Teddy, too, looked about, and there was the spider running across the
floor toward where the princess lay.
Quickly
he sprang from her side and set his foot upon it. There was a thin squeak and
then --there was nothing left of the little gray spinner but a tiny gray smudge
on the floor.
Instantly
the golden castle was shaken from top to bottom, and there was a sound of many
voices shouting outside. The princess rose to her feet and caught the hero by
the hand. "You have broken the enchantment," she cried, "and now
you shall be the King of the Golden Castle and reign with me."
"Oh,
but I can't," said Teddy, "because --because---"
But
the princess drew him out with her through the hall, and there they were at the
head of the flight of glass steps. A great host of soldiers and courtiers were
running up it. They were dressed in cloth of gold, and they shouted at the
sight of Teddy: "Hail to the hero! Hail to the hero!" and Teddy knew them
by their voices for the golden birds that had fluttered around him in the
garden below.
"And
all this is yours," said the beautiful princess, turning toward him
with---
"So
that is the story of the yellow square," said the Counterpane Fairy.
Teddy
looked about him. The golden castle was gone, and the stairs, and the shouting
courtiers.
He
was lying in bed with the silk coverlet over his little knees and Hannah was
still singing in the kitchen below.
"Did
you like it?" asked the fairy.
Teddy
heaved a deep sigh. "Oh! Wasn't it beautiful?" he said. Then he lay
for a while thinking and smiling. "Wasn't the princess lovely?" he
whispered half to himself.
The
Counterpane Fairy got up slowly and stiffly, and picked up the staff that she
had laid down beside her. "Well, I must be journeying on," she said.
"Oh,
no, no!" cried Teddy. "Please don't go yet."
"Yes,
I must," said the Counterpane Fairy. "I hear your mother
coming."
"But
will you come back again?" cried Teddy.
The
Counterpane Fairy made no answer. She was walking down the other side of the
bedquilt hill, and Teddy heard her voice, little and thin, dying away in the
distance: "Oh dear, dear, dear! What a hill to go down! What a hill it is!
Oh dear, dear, dear!"
Then
the door opened and his mother came in. She was looking rested, and she smiled
at him lovingly, but the little brown Counterpane Fairy was gone.
==================
ISBN: 9788834181928
URL/Download Link: https://bit.ly/2XypbiD
==================
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