The Washington herald., 1915-03-14
Edited by MARY MARSHALL
BY MARY MARSHALL.

Once upon time there was young
king of Spain named Roderick. He was
good and brave and feared nothing in the
| world save tho Moors. Reason enough
he had to fear them. for they were cruel
barbarians who came up from Africa to
pillage and plumber the Spaniards.'
King Roderick was seated one day
receiving his subjects. who were allowed
on stated occasions. such as the present.
to put forward what pleas or complaints
they chose to their sovereign.
Among the little throng of subjects who
passed in from the ante-chamber were
two very old men with white boards
and wrinkled faces. who walked stoop
shouldered. They We're very odd-looking
men and the other people who were wait
ing with them to see the king nudged
each other and wondered who on earth
these strange old fellows could be.
When II came time for them to APP
proach the throne they both knelt down
and bowed their heads to the ground
and swept the floor with their boards.
Hail, 0 King said one when Rod
erick babe them rise. "a very weighty
matter have We to bring to your royal
ears"
We are the keepers Of the Magic
Tower of Hercules" added the other
solepnly.
Indeed" said Roderick without taking
any great interest in the matter. He had
heard OF this tower before. which lay not
a great distance from the castle in To-
ledo in which he lived. 1t was as he re-
IN uh irh N
round about went on holidays. with their
wives and children and had picnics IN
the woods nearby. just people do
nowadays.
I'VE have come. oh king. TO ask you
to place your lock on the door of the
tower. We have waited in vain these
many years for you to come of your
own accord. All your royal ancestors,
for ages past, have added their locks,
and now we have come to you TO urge
you, for your own safety. 10 add yours"
This speech aroused the kings inter-
est and he babe the old men to tell him
more of this old tower which they guard
ed.
II was built by Hercules himself, they
said. This, OF course. the king didn't be-
, lieve: but he was too polite to dispute
the old men. 1t had stood for hundreds
and hundreds of years. and it had never.
since the day Hercules locked it, been
opened by any mortal This was be-
cause IL contained within its walls a
great mystery. Every king who had
ruled in Spain since the time it was built
! had added one more lock to the door and
had given the key to the doorkeeper.
| and through all the ages the keys had
| been handed down from doorkeeper to
doorkeeper until there was quite trunk
| full of them and the door was well nigh
covered with locks.
Besides adding a lock to the door every
king had to promise never to look within
the walls of the tower. II any one
should-wel, of course the old man didn't
| know what would happen In such an
| event, Tor no king had ever been foolish
, enough to look. Certainly it would bring
destruction upon him.
As soon as they had finished their story
| the two old men bowed again very low
before the king. rose and backed out OF
the room.
''FfddIesticks," said the king. or some
thing like it, who ever heard of such
nonsense. l suppose half the people in
the kingdom believe the yarn the old
| men have been telling
Several of the courtiers laughed with
| the king and seemed as amused as he
! was over the tale: but many of them
looked rather anxiouslS at each other
/ and seemed shocked to think that the
king should take such a solemn matter
so lightly.
1T is solemn fact" several of his
courtiers assured him. 1T is your duty
! to add your lock to the door,
What a set of children you are!' ex-
! claimed the king impatiently. why, that
is mere fairy story, romance spun
| out OF the fancy of some fake wizard
brain to fool the ignorant peasant folk
How can you men believe it? What could
| be in the tower that would bring me
harm? 'Tis only the Moors that l fear"
Here the king paused n moment and
fell a-thinking. Alas. ii is only the fear
Of the Moors that drives happiness from
me-
In a minute his usual good spirits had
come back and the king was again tok-
ing about the so-called mystery of the
tower. Before the day was done he had
| decided to force the tower open for HIM
self and see what it had inside. This