The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-08-28

" ueu sIie nau seaiveu nerseit on a sU,,no
and begun to comb her hair Boldcwin
drew near, paved the ground three times
with his fore foot In greeting and hesought
her to change him into a gander
The fairy shook her head doubtfully
THAT is IL singular wish" she comment
ed, but l can grant it, and | will " Then
she whispered to the eagerly listening ass:
When the sun rises tomorrow morning,
you must pick seven daisies and eat them
in silence, then dip your head in the
spring. and you will be changed into fine
young gandcr. Now, go your way and
leave me to myself. "
The ass thanked her most gratefully and
took his departure. He did not close his
eyes all night and as soon as the mountain
peaks caught the first pink flush of tho
rising sun he WIS up and away to seek the
daisies. When he found them, he hurried
to the spring, dipped his head into tic
water, and on drawing it out he SAW to his
rapture the form of n stately gander with
an arching neck reflected in the mirrorlille
spring He flew to the thicket where the
goose had her dwelling "Alheid, my
dearest Alheidl' he cried. Where art
thou?"
Here, my beloved came the reply,
and dainty little ass danced out of the
thicket.
Dumb with amaZement, the two horror
stricken lovers gazed mt each other. 'Oh,
ass that l was!' groaned the gander.
"Oh, goose that wasn' moaned the little
ass.
The hot tears rushed to their eyes, and
the weeping Alheid told how she had fol-
lowed the wise owls advice and gone to
the wishing fairy, who Ind granted her
prayer and turned her into an ass. Then
the gander in words broken by sobs, told
of his adventure. l am sure the midsum
mer sun had never shone on two more
despairing creatures than our two lovers.
But time lessons all grief. Their wild
despair gave way at last to silent endur
ance. A hope still remained to them.
Perhaps the wishing fairy, on her next
visit to the spring, could be induced to re-
store one of them to his former shape.
But n whole year must pass before that
could happen. Till then-patience.
The winter, which brought suffering
and peril TO the two anchoritcs, finally
passed, and the warm spring smiled on the
land The sun climbed higher and higher.
and at last midsummer came. This time
the lovers went together to the wishing
fairy and told her their troubles.
That is very unfortunate" she said
when she heard the story. Il cannot
change you back, gladly as would do you
the service. But / will tell you what
can do. How would you like to become
human beings? To make u man out of an
ass and a woman out of 4 goose would not
be at all difficult l could do that Does
it suit your"
"Yes!" cried Boldewin and Alheid with
one voice.
The fairy muttered u few mysterious
words, then commanded the lovers to dip
their heads into the spring. They obeyed,
and when they raised them again Bolde-
win was fine young fellow, with u frank,
pleasant face, and opposite him was u
charming little woman, with delicate red
lips and the tendercst eyes.
They threw themselves at the good
fairy's feet and kissed her hand in graft
tude. Then their own lips met, and they
murmured words of love to each other.
The fairy, seeing that she was not wanted
here, wrapped herself in her feather man
tie and flew away.
The two young people remained in the
valley Boldewin built u house, and there
they passed 4 happy life. Every year II
child was born to them, sometimes boy
and sometimes n girl None of the VII
lagers living around them ever suspected
that Boldewin had once been an ass and
Alheid a goose for they were rs sensible
Us their neighbors They did not spread
the story of their transformation abroad,
for it might have pref utiiced people against
them. Only when they realized that their
end was near did they confide the secret to
their eldest son. He it was who built the
inn of tho Golden Goose and named the
spring the Asses spring, in memory of
his parents. And house and spring are
known by those names to this day.
If you wish to learn how the healing
power of the water was discovered and how
the valley became gradually settled, you
can read it all in the book which the
hndlady of the Golden Goose sells to the
summer visitors.
The wishing fairy disappeared long ago,
probably because the little valley Ind he
come too noisy for her. But nearly cry
year it still happens that a young coIpla
meet ut the spring-a couple who are .lads
for each other, just as were the hero and
heroine of our story.-From the German
For Short SforiaS