by David Cory
THE MAGIC SPRING
"I CAN but try, your Majesty," said Ned bravely, and again opening hisknapsack, took out his Magic Pickaxe. Laying it carefully on the groundin the proper position, he shouted:
"Pick, pick, pick!"
At once the pick began to burst the granite to splinters, and in lessthan a quarter of an hour had dug a well more than a hundred feet deepin the solid rock.
"Is the well deep enough, your Majesty?" asked Ned politely.
"Certainly," answered the king, "but where is the water to come from?"And he winked at his courtiers, who smiled to themselves, for they allthought Ned would fail, after all, for as yet there wasn't a drop ofwater in the well.
But Ned wasn't discouraged. He quietly opened his knapsack again andtook out the nutshell covered with moss, and placed it on a magnificentfountain vase which, not having any water, had been filled with abeautiful bouquet of flowers.
"Gush, gush, gush!" he shouted, stepping aside to avoid a wetting.
At once water began to burst out among the flowers, singing with agentle murmur, and falling down in a sparkling cascade, that was so coldit made everybody shiver. And in less than a quarter of an hour the wellwas filled, and a deep trench had to be dug to take away the overflow,otherwise the whole palace would have been flooded.
"You have indeed earned the reward," said the king. And he ordered alittle donkey saddled and bridled and the six bags of gold hung from hisback, three on either side. After which Ned was invited to a greatfeast, and when that was over, he mounted the little donkey and rodeaway, with the three bags of gold hanging from each side of the saddleand a little gold ring on his finger, which the king's daughter gave himafter washing her pretty face in water for the first time in manymonths.
But before Ned rode away, he put his Magic Axe and his Magic Pickaxeback in his knapsack, "for who can tell," he said to himself, "what needI may have of these two useful tools."
His knapsack was now well filled, for the cook in the royal kitchen hadalso placed in it a loaf of bread, a cheese and a knife in case hebecame hungry while on his journey of adventure.
As Ned traveled on, the forest became darker and darker, for the treesgrew so close together that the sun could hardly shine through the thickleafy roof. Suddenly he heard a great voice singing:
"I am the master of this wood And everyone bows to me, My head is as big as a drygoods box And my legs as long as a tree."
Then, all at once, the voice changed to a whistle, which sounded likethe siren on a sound steamer when the weather is foggy.
"It must be a giant singing," thought Ned. "Goodness! but he's a loudwhistler. I guess he blows through his fingers!" and he hid beneath aclump of bushes.
"Ho, ho!" cried the voice, and a giant came crashing through the forest.
On seeing Ned, he shouted:
"Come out of there, and I'll make a mouthful of you."
"Don't be in a hurry," replied Ned bravely. "I'm going to make you myservant."
"Ho, ho!" laughed the giant, "that is a good joke! I'll pitch you intothat raven's nest up there to teach you to make less noise in myforest."
"_Your_ forest!" laughed Ned. "It's as much mine as yours, and if yousay another word, I'll cut it down in a quarter of an hour."
"Ha, ha!" shouted the giant, "I should like to see you begin, my braveSir Kid!"
Carefully placing his Magic Axe on the ground, Ned shouted, "Chop, chop,chop!"
At once the axe began to chop, now right, now left, and up and down,till the branches tumbled down on the giant's head like hail in autumn.
"Stop, stop!" cried the giant. "Don't destroy my forest. Who themischief are you?"
"Sit down and I'll tell you the story of the famous Puss in Boots, whoonce killed a giant and gave his castle to his Master, the Lord ofCarabas," said Ned.
"How could a cat kill a giant? You are making sport of me."
"Not at all," replied Ned. "Have you never read the story of Puss inBoots?"
"No, but I once heard my cousin, the Giant of the Beanstalk, speak of acat who wore boots. But that was long ago when we were both boys."
"Well, I'll tell you then," said Ned. "Puss in Boots' master was theyoungest of three sons. When their father died, the two older brothersreceived the farm and money, while he was left nothing but a Cat, whosaid to him one day, 'Do just what I tell you and I will make you rich.Give me a bag and a pair of boots, because the brambles scratch my legs,and you shall see what I will do for you.'
"Well, when the boots were made and he had put them on, he hung the bagabout his neck, and set out for a rabbit warren where lived greatnumbers of rabbits. Opening the bag he stretched himself out as thoughhe were dead, and waited for a hungry rabbit to poke his nose into thebag to eat the bran. Pretty soon along came a young rabbit and as soonas it had crept in to eat the bran, Puss in Boots pulled the string, andthat was the last of the little rabbit.
"Then, running off to the palace, he gave it to the king, saying it wasa present from his master, my Lord of Carabas, the name he had inventedfor his young master. Every day he brought some kind of game, until byand by the king thought my Lord of Carabas a great man and Puss in Bootsa most wonderful cat, which indeed he was."
"He was indeed," said the big giant, moving uneasily on the log on whichhe was sitting.
"Well, one day," continued Ned, "Puss in Boots bade his master bathe inthe river, and leave the rest to him. Just then the King passed by.
"'Help, help!' cried Puss. 'Robbers have stolen my master's clothes!'
"At once the king ordered his guards to the rescue, and fitting out myLord of Carabas with a new suit of clothes, invited him to ride in thecoach with his beautiful daughter.
"As they rolled along they came in sight of a castle owned by a badgiant."