Year: 1869

THE WHITE DUCK.


ONCE upon o time there lived in a GER
tain country a great king named Tsar Be
reudi, who had such long beard that it
hung down to his very knees he had
been long married, hut had never had any
children, and this vexed him very much :;
till one day he was so distressed at the
thought of having no son TO succeed to
his throne that he determined to set ont
and travel over his whole kingdom. in
the hone of divertiug himself little.
Accordingly off he started, and having
travelled about for q long time he turned
his face homewsrd, aud was not far from
his capital when, one terribly hot day, he
found himself in the middle of a great
wide plain with not drop of water left
in his flask. The poor king. who was
dreadfullv thirsty, began to look about in
all directions for stream or spring where
at he might quench his thirst, and at last,
to his great delight, espied a clear springng
WELL II moment he had jumped off his
horse, and was running full speed toward
the we'll, and when he reached it the first
thing he saw was golden goblet floating
on the surface.


"Not bad idea p thought the kirg, and
he stretched out his hand to take it (; but
he goblet was too quick fer him, and
slipped through his fingers He clutched
att again and again, now with his right
hand, now with his left, and then with
both at once; but the goblet still glided
away, and at last dived, like fish, right
down TO the bottom, and then came uo
again.


"Wait q bit" said the king, savagely !;
"Tll have q drink for all that, without
asking qour help" and with that he
threw himself on his knees beside the
spring. bent his head down, and took a
long drauPht, not observing that the
whole of his long beard was hanging
down into the water. But when he had
drunk enough, aud wanted to rise again
he suddenly felt that something had caught
him by the beard, ana would not let him
90. He pulled, and tugged, and struggled
to get away-but al in vain the thing,
whatever it was, held him fast. He was
caught. and could not move, that was all
about it.


"What's that? Let go" cried he. There
was no answer; but all at once, as he
looked down into the we'll, he saw in its
depths a huge face. which grinned and put
out 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.





wish me to let you 90, you must promise
to give me that Mjnq aohich you possess
soitho'n being aaoare of It,"


"What can that mean?" thought the
king; "it seems to me that | know all
nv possessions She must be joking -
"Verv good" cried he, aloud, "it's bar
gain ~


''See that you remember your promise,
then" answered the face and disap-
peared


The king, reioiced 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
case looking esgerly for his coming; and
beside her stood the Lord Chamberlain,
holding cradle covered with cloth of
gold, in which lay beautiful baby Then
the king guessed the meaning of his
strange bargain, and gave a deep groan.
That, then, is the possession which had
without knowing it !" thought he. "YOu
have destroyed me, you villainous sorcer-
err! and he was sOrely distressed but,
putting cheerful face on the matter, he
took the child il his arms, carried it into
the palace, petted it for while and put
il carefully back with his cvy- ands into
the cradle


King Berendi said notaN about his
adventure, but set himself TO rule as before.
concealing 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 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 chanced 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
vast Iime-tree, with huge, broad trunk,
down the middle of which ran an inn
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 astonished.


you'll find out before long," answered
the other; but now go back to your
father, give him my compliments, and tel
him that il is high time to remember ant
fulfill his promise to me. Good-by-a,
reuoir."


Back went Prince John, not little pus
zled a. this adventure, and he told hi
father the whole story. Then the poo
old klny, in his distress, forgot himself
ana let out the whole secret; but tn