River Legends; Or, Father Thames and Father Rhine
These discomforts were unpleasant enough, but the little wretch went far
beyond them. He pinched and nipped the poor girls whenever he met them,
trod on their toes suddenly, drew away their chairs just as they were
about to sit down, and put rhubarb and magnesia into their five o’clock
tea. Moreover, he carried all kinds of tales about them to the Baroness,
and told falsehood upon falsehood for the mere purpose of getting them
into disgrace. Then, when the Baroness inflicted punishment upon them,
he would jeer and taunt and tease the poor girls, rendering it doubly
disagreeable by his ill-natured and malicious joy. Nothing delighted
him so much as to see others suffer, and it seemed as if he lived
for nothing else save to procure as much misery as possible for his
neighbours.
This state of things gradually drove Dora, Bertha, and Elladine to
desperation; and, after many plans and consultations, they determined to
seek advice from some of the good spirits of my river. As it happened,
however, that, although they are very willing to give good advice and to
assist mortals whenever they can, my nymphs and fairies are restrained
by etiquette from active interference with the demons in those parts
of the river especially appropriated to the latter, the good creatures
thought it better to bring the matter before me; and on being consulted
by the young ladies, the nymph who saw them upon the subject told them
to come again at a certain time, before which she waited upon me, as I
have said, with a deputation.
When {081}the case had been fairly represented to me, I saw at once that
it was one in which something should be done, and I accordingly promised
that if the three young persons would bathe together at a certain spot
on the following morning, I would present myself before them and hear
their story.
The time came, and I can assure you, Brother Thames, that in order to
inspire confidence in the breasts of the maidens, I made my appearance
as venerable as I could previous to my appearance before their
astonished eyes.
The {082}sweet creatures stood in the water clinging fondly to each
other, as they implored my assistance; and whilst I listened to their
artless tale of woe, I leaned my head upon my hand, and pondered deeply
over the best course to be taken in order to afford them that assistance
which I at once determined to render.
I was not long in making up my mind, and in resolving that the demons
should not be allowed to have things all their own way. However, as you
know very well, the laws of magic must not be broken, and it would never
have done for me to have rudely and suddenly exercised my superior power
in order to set matters right in the castle of Bandelboots. All I could
fairly do was to put mortals in the way of helping themselves, at the
same time interfering, if need should arise, with just as much exercise
of power as might be necessary. So, having spoken words of comfort
to the three girls, I told them to go home and try and bear their
misfortunes for three days more, and at the end of that time, if matters
were no better, they might again pay me a visit.
There was, as you may suppose, no improvement in their condition during
the appointed time. In fact, their supposed brother was, if possible,
rather worse than ever. He cut off a great bit of Bertha’s back hair,
stole up behind Elladine and boxed her ears violently, and finished up
by giving Dora’s pet canary to the cat, which he afterwards hung, as he
said, for the murder. It was no matter of surprise to me, then, when
the three maidens again presented themselves before me, weeping bitterly
over their many misfortunes and sorrows.
I no longer hesitated as to the course which I should pursue, {083}but
immediately changed the sisters into three magnificent swans, desiring
them to frequent as much as possible the lake on which their father’s
castle stood. This course, as you will readily perceive, had a double
effect of a most useful character. For one thing, it of course showed
the inhabitants of the castle that something was wrong, and aroused
both the Baron and Baroness to exertions for the recovery of their lost
daughters which would very likely result in their finding out from
the powers of magic something, as the lawyers say, “very much to their
advantage.” But above and beyond this was the circumstance that, as
swans are gifted with the miraculous power of seeing through magical
disguises, the young ladies would be perfectly certain to encounter and
recognise their real brother in some of his flittings over the lake, and
thus would eventually be brought about the consummation so devoutly to
be desired.
You may well believe that the disappearance of the three girls plunged
the castle into the direst confusion. No one could imagine where they
had gone to, and all kinds of surmises were afloat. The Baron smoked
twice as many pipes as usual; the Baroness flew into a more violent
passion than had been the case for a month before; poor old nurse
Grutchen wept bitterly; Martha Scweinvolt seemed to have more vinegar
than ever in her countenance; and the false heir ran about teasing and
worrying everybody twice as much as usual, and was apparently in the
highest possible spirits at the loss of his sisters. Every hole and
corner of the castle was searched, the river was dragged, the crier
was sent through the straggling hamlets of the neighbourhood, special
{084}messengers were despatched in every direction, but it is needless
to say that no success attended any of these proceedings.
[Illustration: 097].
And the stately swans swam all the time around the ancient walls of
their ancestral home, and floated upon the waters of the lake they knew
so well, thankful for the peace and rest which they at last enjoyed,
and caressing each other with the tender love of creatures who knew
that upon their mutual love and sympathy depended the whole comfort and
happiness of their lives. Nor indeed were they long left in ignorance of
the truth as to their unhappy brother. Scarcely had they been two days
upon the old lake, before the transformed child came flying up from the
river to take his mournful look at the home from which he had been so
cruelly ravished. As he flew low over the waters he passed close to the
three lovely swans, and they, casting their eyes upon him as they
sat mournfully watching, recognised their brother at once through the
hideous disguise {085}he wore, and called him to them with loud cries of
joy.
The bat-boy paused in his flight, hovered for a moment near to the noble
birds, and then, as he heard them speak, the whole of his sad story came
back to him, the memories of his first few months upon earth as a mortal
child were stirred in his bosom, and he knew clearly and fully his true
nature and origin, and the cruel wrongs he had endured at the hands of
the treacherous waiting-maid and her wicked ally the river-demon. As
soon as he had fully realised the truth, the boy tenderly embraced
his swan-sisters, and the four wept together over the sorrows of their
family. Being well aware, however, that weeping would be of very little
service unless followed by active measures, they discontinued that
amusing pastime after a while, and consulted together as to the best
course to be pursued.
Although comparatively happy in their new shape, the sisters readily
confessed that they should infinitely prefer to resume their human
bodies, provided that they could be assured of being able to live
quietly and comfortably, and of being no longer troubled with the malice
of the devilet heir. The youthful Hubert had of course no affection
whatever for the form to which he had been condemned, and therefore the
object of the four was clear enough, namely, to return to their natural
shapes as soon as possible under more favourable conditions than those
in which they had left them. The question was as to the wisest and best
means of securing this desirable object, and here the magic knowledge
generally possessed by swans came to their assistance.
They {086}knew full well that their brother could never become his
former self until the devilet who now possessed his shape and claimed
rights which were his should be compelled to abandon both. They knew,
moreover, that to bring this about would be a work requiring caution,
since the river-demon was powerful and cunning enough to counteract all
their efforts unless they could contrive to outwit him. It was, however,
revealed to the sisters that there was one way in which this might
be done, and by which the retransformation of their brother might be
effected, and the false heir be obliged to return to him that sent him.
There lived far up in the great mountains, which could be seen in the
distance from the castle windows, a being endowed with wondrous powers.
He was commonly known by the name of the Harper, and a strange fellow
he certainly was. No one quite knew whether he was merely mortal or
something more. All that was certain was, that he lived the life of a
hermit, was by no means particular in his dress or remarkably clean
in his appearance, and wore a flat hat with ivy and oak leaves
woven together on the crown. His harp was of the rudest and simplest
character, but it had such extraordinary virtue that if he played it,
accompanying himself while he sang or chanted to its tune, everybody and
everything seemed obliged to yield to its magic powers. The sisters
of Bandelboots knew full well that if this individual’s aid could be
secured things would be pretty sure to go right, and therefore made up
their minds to seek it without delay.
That night nothing could be done; the swans brooded quietly on the lake,
and their brother flitted mournfully round {087}the castle, uttering
his melancholy cries, and hovering close to the windows of the home that
should have been his. But early next morning the three swans rose from
the water and took their flight towards the great mountains. Upwards
and upwards they flew, pausing not for one moment’s rest, until they had
crossed the river, passed over the large forest beyond, and reached the
steep rocks and crags amid which the Harper had his home. There was snow
on the heights, and the poor birds felt the chill strike through their
warm plumage to their tender breasts as they flew higher and higher.
Suddenly they came to a small grove of trees which grew on a platform
of flat land, which was curiously placed just beneath one of the highest
crags. At the extremity of this was a cave hollowed out in the rock,
and in this cave dwelt the worthy Harper, only coming forth to the world
below when specially summoned for some purpose beneficial to weak and
suffering humanity.
Alighting at the mouth of the cave, the three sisters began to sing
their sweetest song, which not unnaturally brought the owner of the
cave out to see what was the matter. This his knowledge of magic soon
enabled him to ascertain, and it is hardly necessary that I should
give you the details of the interview. Suffice it to say that when they
parted the worthy old gentleman nodded his head and winked his eyes
knowingly at the young ladies, as much as to assure them that it
would be “all right,” and that the three swans flew back to the lake
exceedingly well satisfied with the result of their expedition.
Meanwhile, Martha Scweinvolt had very nearly brought {088}her plans to
maturity. The peasantry had become thoroughly discontented, and were
prepared to take action against the family whom they had been taught
to regard as their oppressors. Martha’s desire was that they should
surprise the castle by a sudden assault, she on her part undertaking
that one of the gates should be unfastened when they arrived, and only