Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1869-07-16
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THE UNDERGROUND KING.
A SLAvoNIC LEGEND.
WHITE DUCK.

tain country great king named Tsar Be
rendi, who had such long beard that II
hung down to his very knees. He had
been long married, but had never had any
children, and this vexed him very much
till one day he was 80 distressed at the
thought of having no son to succeed TO
his throce that he determined to set out
and travel over his whole kingdom, in
the hope of diverting himself little.
Accordingly off he started and having
travelled sb 'ut for long time he turned
his face homeward, and was not far from
his capital, when, one terribly hot day, he
found himself in the middle of a great
wide plain with not drop Of water left
in his flask The poor king. who was
= dreadfully thirsty, began to look about in
all directions for stream or spring where
at he might quench his thirst, and at last,
,ta his great delight, espied clear springing
In moment he had jumped off his
Jirh : Sc, and was running full speed toward
a. ) well, and when he reached it the first
thing he sa ~ was golden goblet floating
on the surface.
Not bad idea |" thought the king, and
he stretched out his hand to take it but
the goblet was too qlick for him, and.
shipped through his fiGgers. He clutched
at 1T again and again, now with his right
hand, Now with his left, and then with
both at C,uce; but the goblet still glided
away, anu az last dived, like fish, right
downto the bottom, and then came up
again.
-" Wait a Bit" said the king, savagely {;
"Tll have a drink for all that, without
asking yOur helpI" and with that he
threw himself on his knees beside the
spring, bent his head down, and took
long draught not observing that the
whole of his long beard was hanging
down into the water. But when he had
drunk enough, and wanted to rise again
he suddenly felt that something had caught
him by the beard, ana would not let him
go. He pulled, and tugged, and struggled
to get away-but all in vain the thing,
whatever it was held him fast. He was
caught, and could not move, that was all
about it.
whats that Let go!" cried he There
was no answer; but all at once, as he
looked down into the well, he saw in its
depths huge face, which grinned and put
out its tongue a. him. At the same mo-
ment he caught sight of several enormous
crab-like claws, which were clenched on
his beard, and held him down.
king Berendi," said the face, "if you
wish me to let you go, you must promise
to give me that thing sohich you possess
Uithout being dodre of it,"
"What can that meanP" thought the
king; cit seems to me that l know all
my possessions-he must be joking |"
Every good" cried he, aloud, it's bar
gain"
"See that you remember your promise,
then," answered the face and disap.
pelred.
The king, rejoiced to find himself once
more at liberty, mounted his horse and set
of homeward at full gallop. When he
reached the palace the first thing he saw
tho atan1iOO IN tho Of Qi =
case, looking eagerly for his coming; and
beside her stood the Lord Chamberlain,
holding a cradle covered with cloth of
gold, in which lay beautiful baby. Then
the king guessed the meaning of his
strange bargain, and gave deep groan.
That, then, is the possession which | had
without knowing itW thought he. "You
have destroyed me, you villainous sorcer
err and he was sOrely distressed but
putting cheerful face on the matter, he
took the child in his arms, carried it into
the palace, petted it for a while, and put
it carefully back with his own hands into
the cradle.
King Berendi said not word about his
adventure, but set himself to rule as before
concealing his grief as best he might hui
the fatal promise was ever in his mind
and he lived in constant dread of some
one coming to carry his so, away. How
ever, time went by withous anything Of
the kind happening; the prince, to wh n
his father gave the name of John, grew
up into very fine, handsome young man
and everything went on so well that a
last the old king quite forgot what had be
fallen hun.
Now it CHANGED one hat Prince
John, while out hunting, lost his way, ant
at last found himself in circle Of gloomy
looking pines, in the midst of which stooC
vast lime-tree with huge, broad trunk
down the middle of which ran an i'm
mense cleft. As the prince stood gazing
out of this cleft came creeping a strange
looking, ugly old man, with bright greer
beard, and eyes greener still.
GOOD morning, Prince john" said tn
old man l have already been waiting
long time for you"
"And who are you ?" asked the prince
very much astonished.
you'll find out before long" answers
the other; "but ROW go back to you
father, give him my compliments, and tel
him that it is high time to remember an
fulfill his promise to me. Goodbye
resoir."
Back went Prince John, not a little pui
zled at this adventure, and he told hi
father the whole story. Then the poe
old king, in his distress, forgot himsel
and let out the whole secret but tn
prince did not seem much troubled {
what he heard.
"There's no great harm done yet" sal
he, "but it's time to be doing. Give me
horse and let me set of, and mind you te
no one what has happened; but if l
not come back within year, then be SUI
that am no longer alive"
So Prince John got ready for his iou
ney, and bade every one goodhy. I'll
king gave him suit of golden armor,
sharp sword and a raven. black horse an
away he went merrily enough. For thrt
days he travelled onward, and on the eve
ing of the fourth he came to a broa
smooth lake, the clear water of whiC
mirrored the green banks that oVerhur
it In the lake were swimming thirt
white ducks, and on the grass lay thir
white dresses. The prince leaped fro
his horse, and, creeping softly to the ban
snatched up one of the dresses and h
himself behind thick bush Meanwhi
the ducks went on swimming and diviI
and plashing about in the Coz
clear water, till at last they all swa
up to the bank in row. Twent
nine OF them came out upon the graz
and hurrying up TO the dress
put them on when they suddenly chang
into pretty girls, and vanished. But I
thirtieth duck remained in the wat
Tapping about the edge of the lake a.
crying out piteously, as fin search of son
thing which 1t had lost When the prin
saw this he was sorry for the trick he
played, and came out of his hiding-plal
The duck lifted its head and said TO hi
with human voice, "Prince John, gi
me back my dress, and will be of serv
TO you and he had no sooner obey,
WleQ 10 the hank haaida him at0Of