# The Floating Prince and Other Fairy Tales/The Gudra's Daughter

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THE GUDRA'S DAUGHTER.
THE Gudra's daughter was named Volma. She was thirteen years old, and had never been to school Her kind mother had taught her all she knew.
But as there are many people who do not know what a Gudra is, I will state, at once, that a Gudra is a giant dwarf. Volma's father belonged to a nation of dwarfs, who dwelt among the mountains. These little people were seldom over three feet in height, but the Gudra—the giant among them—was between five and six feet high, and broad and stout in proportion. He was a powerful lord among his people, and his size and courage gave him additional importance and influence. He was very proud of his superior stature and his high position, and this pride was the reason why his daughter, Volma, had never been to school. He considered her far above such a thing as going to school with the dwarf children of the country.
Volma resembled her father, in stature, and, at the time of this story, was as large as an ordinary girl of her age. She was very good and gentle, and would have been glad to go to school, but this her haughty father would not allow. One day, Volma's mother—who was quite a small woman, even for a dwarf—began to talk about her daughter's want of education.
"Education!" cried the Gudra, "I intend she shall have an education. But I do not intend that she shall waste years in ​poring over books and parchments. She is a girl with a fine mind, like mine. She can take in learning instantly. Even now, she is a head higher than any woman in the country."
"But does that make it any more easy for her to learn?" asked her mother.
"Of course it does!" exclaimed the Gudra. "She is superior, in every way, to any other child in the nation. She shall have an education, but she shall have it all at once. I am sure that her mind is capable of taking in an excellent education in a week."
This made the Gudra's wife exclaim, in astonishment, "My!"
"Of course it is!" cried the Gudra; and then, taking up a heavy hammer, he struck a large bell which hung in his room. This was his manner of summoning his attendants.
One stroke brought the attendant of the first rank, two strokes him of the second, and so on.
The one stroke brought in old Krignock, the head-councilor.
"Krignock!" said the Gudra, "you have known me for a very long time—ever since I was born. Did you ever know me to fail in anything?"
"Most noble sir," said Krignock, "I never did."
"There now," cried the Gudra, turning to his wife. "Did you hear that. I never have failed in anything, and I don't intend to do it now."
"But how do you expect to manage this matter?" asked his wife.
"I don't know yet," said the Gudra. "But I'll do it."
The next day, the Gudra told his wife that he had decided to give his daughter her education among the ordinary men and women of the world; that their methods of learning must be better than those of the dwarfs, and that as Volma was now quite old enough to be a learned little princess, he should take her to ​the part of the world where ordinary people live, and have her immediately educated.
"Am I to go?" asked his wife.
"No," said the Gudra. "I do not wish any one to suppose that she has so small a mother. I will take Krignock, half a dozen servants, and the Curious One. That will be enough. We shall soon be back."
THE GUDRA AND HIS DAUGHTER START ON THEIR JOURNEY.
"But will it not be dangerous," asked his wife, "to travel with the child and so few attendants?"
"Dangerous!" roared the Gudra, indignantly, "am I not going?"
The next day they started. They went on foot, for the dwarfs have no horses. The Gudra and his daughter marched ​first, then came Krignock, then the attendants in single file, and at the rear of all walked the Curious One. This was a young fellow, not quite three feet high, and dressed entirely in white. He had a small head, which was absolutely bald. He was a full-grown dwarf, but had never had any hair on his head. To add to his peculiar appearance, he wore a glass cap. This allowed the sun to shine on his head, to keep it warm, and, in time of storms, it protected his pate from snow and rain. He was very proud of this cap, which was his own invention.
The duty of the Curious One was to find out things, and tell them to the Gudra. He was excellent at this business, being of an investigating turn of mind, and very fond of telling what he knew; and, on this account, the Gudra liked always to have him near at hand. He now walked last, so that he could see everything that the rest of the company might happen to do.
Having marched for the greater part of a day, with frequent rests, the Gudra and his party drew near a large city. As they approached it, they saw, walking toward them, an Ordinary Man.
"Ho, ho!" cried the Gudra, "here is one of them! And now, Krignock, tell me, am I not larger and taller than this person, who, I suppose, is about as big as any of them?"
"Exalted sir," replied Krignock, "it seems to me—it really does seem to me—that you are rather taller, and somewhat stouter than this person."
"I thought so, myself," said the Gudra, drawing himself up, "Indeed, I supposed, before I saw any of them, that I was larger than the men of this place."
The Ordinary Man now drew quite near, and was much amazed to see the company of dwarfs, who composed the train of the Gudra and his daughter. He stood still and looked at them.
​A happy idea came into the Gudra's head. "We shall want some one to guide us about the great city said he to his head-councilor. "Let us engage this person, if he is acquainted with the place."
The Ordinary Man, when Krignock proposed that he should become their guide, immediately consented. He was not rich, and was glad to get a job. He was also well acquainted with the city, having lived there all his life. The Gudra promised to pay him well.
"In the first place," said the Ordinary Man, when these arrangements had been made, "a party of your rank should not walk into the city. It would not be considered dignified. It would be well if you would sit here and rest, while I go and bring animals for your proper conveyance."
So the Gudra and his company sat down by the road-side, and the Ordinary Man returned to the city, where he went to one of his relatives, who kept a camel-stable, and hired a string of eleven camels. On these animals in single file, one person on each camel, the Gudra and the Ordinary Man leading, with the Curious One bringing up the rear, the party entered the town. As they slowly filed through the streets, a crowed of people collected and followed them. The Gudra was very proud when he saw the curiosity of the citizens.
"I thought I should attract attention," he said to himself.
It was generally supposed that this was a dwarf-show, in charge of the Gudra and the Ordinary Man; and the little people on the camels were regarded with great interest, especially the Curious One, who was very conspicuous as he sat on the tallest camel, with his glass cap glistening in the sun. The party was conducted to one of the best inns, where all were sumptuously lodged.
​The next day, early in the morning, the Gudra summoned the guide, and told him his object in visiting the city.
"I suppose there are teachers of eminence in this place," said he.
"Oh yes, good sir!" replied the other. "There are persons here who can teach anything from alchemy to zoology, and there are also excellent schools."
"Which is the best school?" asked the Gudra.
"The very best?" said the other.
"Yes, certainly," replied the Gudra sharply; "of course I mean the very best."
"Well, then," said the Ordinary Man, "the very best school is the one where the young prince, the only son of the reigning Prince of the city, is educated. In it are all our most learned professors, and there is a class for every branch of education. But the young prince is the only pupil in the school. He is the only one in each class, and all the apartments, and apparatus, and books, and all the professors and tutors are for him alone."
"That is the very school I want," cried the Gudra. "It is just what I am looking for."
"But it would be impossible for you to get your daughter into that school," said the Ordinary Man. "It was established solely for the young prince, and his father will allow no one else to enter it. Some of our highest grandees have asked that their children might be permitted to share the instruction of the young prince, in this most admirable school, but they have always been denied the privilege."
"That makes no difference," said the Gudra. "I have never asked. I shall do so instantly. I shall write a letter to the Prince of the city, tell him who I am, and ask that my daughter be allowed to study in this school, where everything seems to be ​brought together in such a manner that an education can be obtained, by a girl like Volma, in a very short time."
Without further ado, the Gudra wrote the letter, and the Ordinary Man was ordered to have it conveyed to the Prince.
That same day the answer came. The Prince positively refused to allow any child, with the exception of his son, to enter his school.
Now, indeed, was the Gudra angry. No one had ever seen him storm around the room as he now stormed. He vowed he would send to the king of his country, borrow an army, and carry his daughter into the Prince's school at the point of the sword.
"I am afraid," said the Ordinary Man, "that an army of dwarfs would have but a small chance against the soldiers of our Prince. And he has plenty of them."
Thn Gudra could not help thinking that there was sound sense in this remark, but that did not make him feel in any better humor. He called for his head-councilor,
"Krignock!" he cried, "did you ever know me to fail in anything?"
"Never, most eminent sir," replied Krignock; "I never did, indeed"
"Well, then," said the Gudra striding up and down the floor, "I shall not fail now."
"Poor Velma was greatly terrified and troubled at all this, and begged her father to take her home. She would be perfectly satisfied, she said, to learn from her mother and the ordinary teachers of dwarfland. But her father would listen to nothing of the kind. He stalked up and down the floor, still vowing he would succeed in what he had resolved to do, although he did not seem to have any idea how to go about it.
Two or three days then passed, during which the Gudra fumed ​and strode about; little Volma sat at the windows and gazed out at the strange sights of the great city, and the Curious One went everywhere, looking at everything, and coming back, in the evening, to tell his master what he had seen and heard. He heard a
"I SHALL NOT FAIL NOW," SAID THE GUDRA.
great deal—not very complimentary—about himself, and even that he told the Gudra.
During one of his walks he wandered into a suburb of the city. He wanted to see if anything in particular was going on there. Coming to a place where two roads began, one of which seemed about as interesting as the other, he was in great doubt as to which way he should go. He would not, upon any account, miss anything worth seeing by going the wrong way. While still unable to decide which road to take, he saw a person approaching ​him who seemed to be a traveler. He was dusty and travel-worn.
"Sir!" cried the Curious One, can you tell me where these roads lead?"
"I am sorry to say that I cannot," replied the other; "I am a stranger here; I never saw the city before."
"Indeed!" cried the Curious One; "where did you come from?"
"I came from the land of the giants," said the other.
"The giants!" exclaimed the Curious One. "Why, what were you doing there? Were you not afraid they would kill you?"
"Oh no!" replied the other, smiling; "they would not kill me. I am one of them."
"You!" cried the Curious One. "You! Why you are no bigger than an ordinary man."
"That is probably true," said the other, "I am a dwarf giant."
The Curious One opened his eyes, as wide as they would go. He was too much astonished to say a word.
"Yes," said the other, "my countrymen and my family are all giants. I am the only dwarf among them. I am so much smaller and weaker than any of them, that I can do none of the great things they do. And so, somewhat disheartened by my inferior position, I thought I would journey to this city, of which I have heard a great deal, in the hope that something would happen to raise my spirits."
"Do you know?" cried the Curious One, "this is the most wonderful thing! My master, who lately came to visit the city, is a giant dwarf! And he is just about your size!"
"That is rather remarkable," said the other. "A giant dwarf! I should like to see him."
​"You can do that easily enough," said the Curious One. "Come with me, and I'll take you to him. He hasn't looked at many rare sights yet, and I know he will be glad to see you."
The Dwarf Giant smiled, and consented to go with the Curious One; not so much, however, to please the Gudra, as to see for himself what a giant dwarf looked like. On the way to the inn the Curious One (who had lost all interest in the two roads, now that he had found something so well worth seeing and showing) told the Dwarf Giant why his master had come to the city, and what had happened since his arrival.
"Perhaps you can help him."
"I doubt that very much," said the dwarf giant. "I am seldom successful in anything I undertake. But I am perfectly willing to try."
When they arrived at the inn, the Gudra appeared glad to see the Dwarf Giant, and immediately poured into his ears the story of his troubles and the affronts to which he had been subjected, to which the other listened as silently and patiently as if he had not heard it all before. When the long recital was finished, the Ordinary Man was summoned, and a consultation between the three was begun.
As little Volma sat and gazed at them, while they were talking together, she said to herself:
"They look just like three brothers."
The Gudra was in favor of carrying out his object by means of some kind of force. He proposed that he should challenge the Prince to single combat, and thus decide the matter, The others opposed this, the Dwarf Giant, saying that, if he were in the Gudra's place, he would be afraid to undertake such a combat, for he had been told that the Prince was a brave soldier and a good fighter. The Ordinary Man, also, thought the plan was ​a poor one. He proposed that they should all three go to the Prince, and lay the matter before him, in person. It was often much better to do things in this way than to write letters.
This proposition was agreed to, and the next day the three, accompanied by little Volma, proceeded to the Prince's palace. They were admitted, and the Prince gave them an audience. They found him on his throne, in a magnificent and spacious hall; and, as it happened to be a holiday, the little prince was sitting on a cushion by the side of his father's throne.
The Prince requested them to make known their business, and the Gudra, drawing himself up as tall as possible, began to state what he wanted, and how dissatisfied he was with the answer to his letter. During this speech, the little prince beckoned to Volma, and, moving to one side, made room for her on his cushion. So she sat down beside him, and they soon began to talk to each other, but in a very low tone.
"You, then," said the Prince, addressing the Gudra, when he had finished, "are a giant dwarf, and you," turning to his companions, "are a dwarf giant and an ordinary man?"
The three assented.
"Well," continued the Prince, with a smile, "I really do not see very much difference between you. I have heard the giant dwarf. Now, I would like to know what this dwarf giant and the ordinary man have to say."
The Dwarf Giant said that, of course, the prince had a good right to decide who should go to the school he had himself founded, and who should not go. But he thought it would be doing a very great favor to the Gudra, and especially to the Gudra's daughter,—who, in his eyes, was a very charming little girl,—if the Prince would allow her to study with his son. He put the matter entirely on this ground.
​The Ordinary Man thought that, while the proposed arrangement would be of advantage to the little girl and the Gudra, it would also be of advantage to the Prince, who, when his son was grown up, would probably be very glad to know that there was. in a country not a day's march away, a young lady of noble birth, who was also admirably educated.
At this, the prince and the others turned and looked at Volma and the little prince, as they sat side by side. But the two children were now so busy talking that they did not notice this, nor had they heard a word that had been said.
"Well," said the Prince, "I will carefully consider what all of you have said, and will send an answer some time to-morrow." So saying, he dismissed his visitors, first drawing little Volma toward him and taking a good, long look at her pretty and good-humored countenance. In everything but stature, Volma resembled her mother.
After they had departed,—the Gudra a little discontented, for he had wanted his answer on the spot,—the Prince proceeded to consider the proposition that had been made to him. He would not have taken more than a minute to make his decision, had it not been that the dwarf giant was one of the party that asked the favor. He cared nothing for the Gudra and his dwarfs; but it would be a bad thing for him to be drawn into a quarrel with the giants, who would not take long to destroy his city, if they should happen to go to war with him. And, although this dwarf giant was very peaceful and reasonable in his remarks, there was no knowing that the quarrelsome Gudra would not be able to prevail upon him to enlist his countrymen in his cause.
So the Prince considered and considered, and the next morning he had not finished considering. He walked over to his son's ​great school-house, that he might consult some of the professors in the matter. While standing in one of the large lecture-rooms, the Prince happened to spy a little creature, dressed in white and wearing a glass cap, who was creeping about among the benches and desks.
"Hello! What is that?" cried the Prince, and he ordered his attendants to seize the creature. The Curious One was very nimble, but he was soon surrounded and caught. When the Prince saw him, he laughed heartily, and asked him who he was and what he was doing there. The Curious One did not hesitate a moment, but told the Prince all about himself, and also informed him that he had visited the palace, and afterward the school, to try to hear something that would give him an idea of what the Prince's decision would be in regard to his master's proposition, so that he could run back and take the Gudra some early news. But, he was sorry to say, he hadn't found out anything yet.
"Then your business," said the Prince, "is to see and hear all you can, and tell all you hear and see?"
"That is it, Estimable Prince," replied the Curious One.
"And to pry into other people's affairs?" continued the Prince.
"I have to do that sometimes," returned the little fellow.
'Well, you must not come prying here," said the Prince, "and I shall punish you for doing so this time. I might send you to prison, but I will let you off with a slighter punishment than that."
He then called to him the Professor of Motto-Painting, and ordered him to paint a suitable motto on the top of the Curious One's bald head.
The Professor immediately took a little pot of black paint, ​and, with a fine brush, he quickly painted a motto on the smooth, white pate of the Curious One. The glass cap was then replaced, and the motto, which was beautifully painted, was seen to show quite plainly through the top of the cap. All the professors
THE PROFESSOR OF MOTTO-PAINTING PAINTS A MOTTO ON THE CURIOUS ONE'S HEAD.
gathered around to see the motto, and they, as well as the Prince, laughed very heartily when they read it.
The Prince then called his son and told him to read the motto.
"You must understand," he said to him, "that this is not done to annoy, or to make fun of this little person. It is a punishment, and may do him more good than locking him up in a cell."
The moment the Curious One was released he ran into the ​street, and asked the first person he met to please read the motto that was painted on his head, and tell him what it was. The man read it, and burst out laughing, but he would not tell him what the motto was. Many other people were asked, but some of them said there was nothing there, and others simply laughed and walked away.
Devoured by his desire to know what the motto was, the Curious One ran to the inn, feeling sure that his friends would relieve his anxiety; but they laughed, just as the others had done, and even little Volma told him there was nothing there. This he did not believe, for he had felt the paint on his skin, and so he went to his room and, holding a looking-glass over his head, tried to read the motto. There was something there,—that he could see plainly enough,—but the words appeared in the glass, not only to be written backward, but upside down, for the Professor had stood behind him when he painted them. So he had to give it up in despair, and for the rest of his stay in the city he wandered about, vainly trying to get some one to tell him what was written on his head. This was the only thing that he now wished to find out.
"Why don't you wash it off if it gives you so much trouble?" asked the Ordinary Man. "A little oil would quickly remove it."
"Wash it off!" cried the Curious One. "Then I should never know what it was! I would not wash it off for the world."
After the Prince had consulted with the professors, he concluded, solely because he was afraid of offending the giants, to agree to the Gudra's proposal.
"It will not matter so very much," he said, "as he only wishes his daughter to attend the school for one week, it seems."
The Ordinary Man was very much opposed to this plan of getting an education in a week. He thought it was too short ​a time, not only for Volma, but for himself, for he wished his engagement to last as long as possible. But the Gudra would not listen to any objections. His daughter had an extraordinary mind, and a week was long enough for her. He took her to the school, and desired each Professor to tell her, in turn, all about the branch of learning he taught, and thus get through with the matter without loss of time. Then, each day, while his daughter was in school, he and his party, in company with the Dwarf Giant, and under the guidance of the Ordinary Man, visited all the sights and wonders of the city.
As for Volma, she did not study anything, as children generally study. She went from room to room, asking questions, listening to explanations, and paying the strictest attention to the manner in which the little prince studied and recited his lessons. The professors did not pretend to tell her, as the Gudra had desired, all about their different branches. They knew that would be folly. But they gave her all the information they could, and were astonished to find that she had already learned so much from her mother.
In exactly a week, the Gudra brought his visit to a close. He took leave of the Prince, giving him a diamond, handsomer than any among his treasures; he bade the Dwarf Giant good-by; and then, with his party mounted on the eleven camels, he rode away until he came to the mountains, where, paying the Ordinary Man twice as much as he had promised, he left him to return to the city with the animals, and proceeded, for the rest of the journey, on foot.
"There now!" he cried to his wife, when he had reached home. "Did not I tell you I never failed in anything? My daughter has been to the best school in the world, and her education is finished."
​"My dear Volma," said her mother to her, when they were alone, "what did you learn in the great city?"
THE CURIOUS ONE READS HIS MOTTO.
"Oh, mother dear!" said Volma, "I learned ever so much. I learned, for one thing, that the largest dwarf is no bigger than ​the smallest giant, and that neither of them is larger than an ordinary man. And, at the school, I learned that it takes years and years to study properly all that I should know. And I have found put how the little prince studies, and how he recites, and I have a list of the books and parchments and other things that I need for my education. And now, dear mother, we will get these things, and we will study them together here at home."
This they did, and gradually, little Volma became very well educated. Every year, the young prince came to see her, and, when she was about twenty years old, he married her, and took her away to the great city, of which he was now ruler. Volma's mother used to make her long visits, but her father seldom came to see her. He liked to stay where he was bigger than anybody else.
The Dwarf Giant went home in very good spirits. He had found out that a very small giant is as large as an ordinary man, and that satisfied him.
As for the Curious One, as soon as he reached home, he gathered together a lot of small looking-glasses, and so arranged them that, by having one reflect into another, and that into another, and so on, he at last saw the reflection of the top of his head, with the letters thereon, right side up, and in their proper order, and he read these words:
"There is nothing here?"
"Now, what does that mean?" he cried "Did that Motto-Professor mean hair or brains?"
He never found out.