Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-11-25
THE INVISIBLE KINGDOM.

TRANSLATED from the oefmsn ~ Prof Carl r. Kroeh
In little house. half way up the mountain,
and about mile from the village, there lived,
with his aged father, young peasant, who was
called George They were free from care. for
many an acre belonged to the house Directly
behind it the forest began, with its oaks and
beeches so old that the great grandchildren of
those who planted them had passed away more
than 100 years ago. In front OF the house Law
an old, broken millstone-no one knew how II
had got there. Anyone that sat down on 1t had
splendid view of the valley below, of the river
that flowed through 1t, and of the mountains
that rose beyond Here George would sit in
the evening when he had finished his work in
the field, his head resting on his hands and his
elbows On his knees. He often remained there
by the hour and dreamed for he cared little for
the people in the village. and he was In the
habit OF walking about quiet and preoccupied
as If In deep thought. They made fun Of him
and called him Dreamy George, but he did not
mind that
The older he grew the more quiet he was, and
when at length his aged father died and he had
buried him under great old oak tree he scarcely
opened his mouth. After that, when he sat
upon the old broken milestone, where he went
even more frequently than before. and looked
down in the lovely valley as the evening mists
slowly entered it on one side and passed along
the mountain slopes, and it grew darker and
darker until at last the moon and the stars came
out in all their glory, a strange feeling stole
over his heart. Then the ripples In the river
began to sing at first quite softly but soon more
plainly, and they sang OF the mountains they
came from. OF the sea they flowed to, and of the
mikes that dwelt on the bottom Then. too.
the forest began to rustic, not at all like COM
mon forest, and told the most wonderful things
Especially the old oak tree that stood by his
fathers grave knew much more than all the
other trees. The stars high up in the sky felt
the greatest desire to fall down in the green
woods and in the blue stream, and blinked and
trembled as if they could not stand it any longer.
But the angels. of whom there is one behind
each star, held them fast every time and said:
stars, stars, don't do anything silly. You are
much too old for that; many thousand years,
and more. too. Stay in your own country and
get your living by honest work"
The valley was wonderful one, indeed. But
1t was only Dreamy George that saw and heard
these things. The people that lived In the vii
lage had no suspicion of Them for they were
very ordinary people. Now and then they cut
down one of the old giants of the forest, sawed
and split it up, and when they had made nice
stack of 1t they said at will be long
while before we need any more to cook our
coffee with" They thought the river was
very handy place to do their washing in, and
when the stars twinkled merrily, they said
only: 1T is going to be real cold tonight;
hope our potatoes will not be frozen" When
Dreamy George tried to teach them better, they
laughed at him. They were nothing but very
plain people.
One day, as he was again seated on the old
milestone, and thought in himself how dread
fully lonesome he was In this wide world, he fell
asleep and dreamed golden swing on two sill
yer ropes was hanging down from the sky
Each rope was fastened to a star; but on the
swing sat charming princess and SWING so
that kv IN tha
ground and from the ground up to the sky
again. Every time the swing came down to the
ground the princess clapped her hands for joy
and threw him rose. Suddenly the ropes
snapped and swing and princess flew far up into
the blue sky, higher and higher, until they were
quite out of sight.
Then he awoke, and when he looked around
he saw large bunch of roses lying beside him
on the milestone
The next day he fell asleep again and dreamed
the same thing. When he aWoke sure enough.
there were the roses again.
Inc same thing happened every day that
week. Then, said Dreamy George, there must
certainly be something true about the dream,
because 1t came again and again. So he locked
up his house and set out to find the princess
After he had journed for many DAYS he saw In
the distance country where the clouds hung
down to the ground. He marched on sturdiIy
in that direction and got into a great forest.
Suddenly he heard pitiful groans and lamenta-
uk.fEI
from he saw venerable old man with silvery
beard stretched out upon the ground Two re-
pulsively ugly fellows, without stitch of
clothing on, were kneeling on him and irving
to strangle him George looked about for a
weapon to attack them with and as he found
none, he tore off large branch of a tree in his
terror. Scarcely had he taken hold of it when 1t
turned to mighty spear In his hands With this
he fell upon the two monsters and ran them
through, so that they left the old man and hur-
ried away bowling.
Then he lifted up the venerable sire. comfort
ed him and asked why the two naked fellows
wanted to strange him.
The old man told him that he was the King of
Dreams, who had lost his way by inadyertence
ana got into the country of his greatest enemy,
Real Life had found it out he sent two of his
servants to lie in wait for him and make an end
of him.
Had You done any harm to the King of Real
Life?" asked Dreamy George.
"GOd forbid" he answered Gle ia very
easily provoked at everybody It is his DISPOSE,
ton and he hates me like sinl'
but those fellows he sent to strangle YOU
were stark nakedl'
"Yes, indeed" said the King, 'naked as truth
It's the fashion in the Land of Real Life Every
body there. even the King walks about naked
and they are not even ashamed. An abominable
people! But as you have saved my life, will
DE grateful TO you and show you nv country
There is not more glorious one in the world,
and the Dreams are my subjects"
The King of Dreams led the way and George
followed him. When they came to the place
where the clouds hung down to the ground the
king pointed to trap-door so well hidden in
thicket that no one could find 1t without know
ing the secret He lifted it up and led his COM
panlon down 500 steps into a brilliantly-iighted
grOtto many miles long and splendid beyond
description. There were castles on islands in
the middle of great lakes and the islands 1oated
about like ships II you wanted to go in one
of these castles all you had to do was to stand
on the shore and say
Castle on the island ship
Take me with you on your trip,
and 1t would come of itself to the shore Then
there were other castles in the clouds. and they
drhted along slowly in the air. If you said
Little castle in the air
Come and take me everywhere
they would slowly descend. Besides all that
there were gardens with flowers that gave ont
fragrance by day and light by night glittering
birds that could tell stories, and many other
wonderful things. Dreamy George found no
end OF establishment and admiration
Now, l will show you my subjects. the
Dreams" said the King. 81 have three kinds
OF them. Good dreams for good people: bad
dreams for wicked people, and dream COLLINS
besides. The latter keep for my enjoyment
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