The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-23

Thumb had stolen his Seven League
Boots from him.
Now an Ogre is not born like little
children. He is created by witches or
bad fairies, by charms stolen from the
rattleS of snakes, the fangS of wild
beasts and the claws of the terrible
roc-that dreadful bird which figures
so much in the stories of the Arabian
Nights. So it happened that although
the Ogre was dead it was possible that
others should be made. The serpent,
after he had stung the Ogre, felt a
numbness stealing through his scaly
length, and he soon fell asleep. He was
found by Malinge, who was probably
the worst of Il the witches who have
ever lived
She was as old as the earth-so she
boasted-although l do not believe that
but it was true that neither great age
nor the arts of all the good and bad
fairies in the world had been able to
affect her in the least. She was so
cruel that she often told the Ogres,
who were her friends, where they could
find young girls and little children to
feast upon.
Now, when she saw the serpent she
at once knew that he had killed an
ogre. Without hesitation she cut off
the serpent's head and tail and took
them away with her to her home in the
Iron Forest. There she made a great
fire, dropping into it to make it hotter
the sting of a tarantula, the tongue of
ella monster, the poison sac of a
rattlesnake, the fangs of a fierce wolf,
the claws a grizzly and the cruel
jaws of a monstrous lion.
Over the fire she suspended a pot
made of iron, which she filed to the
brim with the juices of all the poison
weeds in the world Then she was
ready to throw in the head and tail
or
the horrible steam from this dreadful
caldron arose, and forest trees fell
down as it touched them, for the hor-
ror of what the witch was about to do.
And all the wild beasts of the forest
fed shrieking from the place for horror.
Then Mal1nge sang a weird song, in
which she called upon the sun to shine
no more upon that forest until from the
pot should be made an army of Oeres
each one to be- the most terrible and
ferocious ever seen. The sun disap-
peared at her words. In it's place came
out the moon-blood red and so huge
that it filed all the sky.
And | call upon you, moon"
shrieked the bag, ito hide in the earth
until my Ogres be full grown"
Wide open yawned the ocean and
buried the moon out of sight; and it
was seen no more in the forest for
many years, during which the trees of
IN l. u CO lutlltu iUlO IGdl IRON,
and every limb was a sharpened pike
upon which all beasts and birds that
came that way were mercilessly i'm
paled, so that none escaped alive Night
and day through the place rose dismal
SOUNDS OF woe and fear and none. how-
ever brave dared to go near the forest
Oh perpetual darkness and universal
ruln-as 1t was often named.
In the darkness the steam of the iron
pot continually rose and was turned
into poison dew. From every drop an
Ogre was bred. Once alive there were
none to disturb the dreadful brood and
they were left to grow to their full
stature and ferocity unmolested,
The good King grew old and died Tn
his place his son, the young Prince
Faithful reigned, with his lovely Prin-
cess Mereiful They had a beautiful
palace to live IN, furnished with every
thing that they could desire. Their
happiness was complete when little
daughter as fair as the moon. was
given to them. The early days Of this