The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-07-23
THE UNDERGROUND KING.
A SLAyONIC LEGEND.
THE WHITE DICK.

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hung down to his very knees. He bad
been long married, but had never had any
children, and this vexed him very much
till one day he was 10 distressed at the
thought of having no son to succeed to
bis throue 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 about for q 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 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 astreamsor spring where
at he might quench his thirst, and at last,
to his great delight, espied . clear spripging
well. In moment be had jumped of his
horse, and was running full speed toward
the well, and when he reached it the first
thing he saw was golden goblet floating
on the surface.
"Not bad idea !" thought the king, ard
he stretched out his hand to take it but
he goblet was too quick fer him, and
slipped through his fingers. He clutched
at it again and again, now with his right
la0O, now Will uls lCib, duu bUCu Will
both at once; but the goblet still glided
away, and at last dived, like fish, right
down to the bottom, and then came up
again.
"Wait a bit" said the king, savagely !;
"Tll have drink for all that, without
asking your help" and with that he
threw himself on his knees beside the
spring. bent his head down, and took q
Al-k
whole of his long beard was hanging
down into the water. But when he had
drunk enough, ard wanted to rise again,
he suddenly felt that something had caught
him by the beard, and 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 1t.
"What's that, Let goI" cried he. There
wss no answer; but all at once, as he
looked down into the well, be saw in its
depths huge face, which grinned and put
ont its tongue at 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 sohtch you possess
soithout being apare of it,"
"What can that mean% thought the
king; cit seems to me that know all
nv possessions-he must be jokingp
"very good" cried he, aloud, Z" it's a bar
gain I"
'See that you remember your promise,
then" answered the face and disap-
peared.
The king, rejoiced to find himself once
more at liberty, mounted his horse and set
off homeward at full gallop. When he
reached the palace the first thing he saw
was the queen standing on the great stair
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 i'll" thought he. "You
have destroyed me, you villsinous 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 while, and put
it carefully back with his own hands into
the cradle.
King Berendi said not word about his
adventure, butset himself to rule ss before,
concealipg his grief as best he might but
the fatal promise was ever in his mind,
and he lived in constant dread of some
one coming to carry his son away. How
ever, time went by without anything Of
the kind happening; the prince, to whom
his father gave the name of John, grew
up into q very fine, handsome young man;
and everything went on so well that at
last the old king quite forgot what had be-
fallen him.
Now it chsnced one day that Prince
John, while out hunting, lost his way, and
at last found himself in circle of gloomy
looking pines, in the midst of which stood
q 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 strange
looking, ugly old man, with bright green
beard, and eyes greener still.
Good-morning, Prince John," said the
old man; l have already been waiting a
long time for you"
"And who are you ?" asked the prince,
very much sstonished.
you'll find out before long," answered
the other "but now go back to your
father, give him my compliments, and tell
him that il is high time to remember and
fulfill his promise to me. Good-by-au
repoir."
Back went Prince John, not little puz
zled at this adventure, aud he told his
father the whole story. Then the Door
old king, in his distress, forgot himself
and let out The whole secret; but the
prince did not eeem much troubled at
what he heard.
There's no great harm done yet," said
he, but it's time to be doing. Give me q
horse and let me set off, and mind you tell
no one what has happened; but il 1 do
not come back within year, then be sure
that am no longer alive"
So Prince John got ready for his jour.
ney, and bade every one good-by. The
king gave him a suit of golden armor, a
sharp sword and raven black horse and
away he went merrily enough. For three
days he travelled onward, and on the even
ing of the fourth he came to q broad
smooth lake, the clear water of which
mirrored the green banks that overhune
it. In the lake were swimming thirty
white ducks, and on the grass lay thirty
white dresses. The prince leaped from
his horse, and, creeping softly to the bank
snatched up one Of the dresses and hit
himself behind thick bush Meanwhil,
the ducks went on swimming and diving
and plsshing about in the cool
clear water, till at last they all swan
up to the bank in a row. Twenty
nine of them came out upon the grass
and hurryipg up to the dresse
put them on when they suddenly change,
into pretty girls, and vanished. But tn
thirtieth duck remained in the water
tapping about the edge Of the lake ant
crying out piteously, as fin search of some
thing which 1t had lost When the primo
saw this he was sorry for the trick he ha,
played, and came out of his hiding-plsce
, The duck lifted its head and said to him
with a human voice, "Prince John, Civ
me back my dress, and 1 will be of servic
to you and he had no sooner obeyed
: when 10 on the bank beside him stood
!, beautiful young lady, robed in pure white
!, and with long dark hair flowing owe
her shoulders. She gave him her hand
and said to him, 1t is well for you, Primo
John, that you have obeyed me; and yo
,, shall not find me ungrateful Know that
sm Princess Mary, one of the thirt
daughters of the Underground King. NJ
father has already waited a long time 70
you, and is very angry; but you need nc
be afraid of him, only mind what tel
you. As soon as you come into hi
presence, down on your knees and craw
right up to him. He viii begin to scol