by John Ruskin
CHAPTER II
OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE THREE BROTHERS AFTER THE VISIT OF SOUTHWESTWIND, ESQUIRE; AND HOW LITTLE GLUCK HAD AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OFTHE GOLDEN RIVER
Southwest Wind, Esquire, was as good as his word. After the momentousvisit above related, he entered the Treasure Valley no more; and, whatwas worse, he had so much influence with his relations, the West Windsin general, and used it so effectually, that they all adopted a similarline of conduct. So no rain fell in the valley from one year's end toanother. Though everything remained green and flourishing in theplains below, the inheritance of the three brothers was a desert. Whathad once been the richest soil in the kingdom became a shifting heap ofred sand, and the brothers, unable longer to contend with the adverseskies, abandoned their valueless patrimony in despair, to seek somemeans of gaining a livelihood among the cities and people of theplains. All their money was gone, and they had nothing left but somecurious old-fashioned pieces of gold plate, the last remnants of theirill-gotten wealth.
"Suppose we turn goldsmiths," said Schwartz to Hans as they entered thelarge city. "It is a good knave's trade; we can put a great deal ofcopper into the gold without anyone's finding it out."
The thought was agreed to be a very good one; they hired a furnace andturned goldsmiths. But two slight circumstances affected their trade:the first, that people did not approve of the coppered gold; thesecond, that the two elder brothers, whenever they had sold anything,used to leave little Gluck to mind the furnace, and go and drink outthe money in the alehouse next door. So they melted all their goldwithout making money enough to buy more, and were at last reduced toone large drinking mug, which an uncle of his had given to littleGluck, and which he was very fond of and would not have parted with forthe world, though he never drank anything out of it but milk and water.The mug was a very odd mug to look at. The handle was formed of twowreaths of flowing golden hair, so finely spun that it looked more likesilk than metal, and these wreaths descended into and mixed with abeard and whiskers of the same exquisite workmanship, which surroundedand decorated a very fierce little face, of the reddest goldimaginable, right in the front of the mug, with a pair of eyes in itwhich seemed to command its whole circumference. It was impossible todrink out of the mug without being subjected to an intense gaze out ofthe side of these eyes, and Schwartz positively averred that once,after emptying it, full of Rhenish, seventeen times, he had seen themwink! When it came to the mug's turn to be made into spoons, it halfbroke poor little Gluck's heart; but the brothers only laughed at him,tossed the mug into the melting pot, and staggered out to the alehouse,leaving him, as usual, to pour the gold into bars when it was all ready.
When they were gone, Gluck took a farewell look at his old friend inthe melting pot. The flowing hair was all gone; nothing remained butthe red nose and the sparkling eyes, which looked more malicious thanever. "And no wonder," thought Gluck, "after being treated in thatway." He sauntered disconsolately to the window and sat himself downto catch the fresh evening air and escape the hot breath of thefurnace. Now this window commanded a direct view of the range ofmountains which, as I told you before, overhung the Treasure Valley,and more especially of the peak from which fell the Golden River. Itwas just at the close of the day, and when Gluck sat down at thewindow, he saw the rocks of the mountain tops, all crimson and purplewith the sunset; and there were bright tongues of fiery cloud burningand quivering about them; and the river, brighter than all, fell, in awaving column of pure gold, from precipice to precipice, with thedouble arch of a broad purple rainbow stretched across it, flushing andfading alternately in the wreaths of spray.
"Ah!" said Gluck aloud, after he had looked at it for a little while,"if that river were really all gold, what a nice thing it would be."
"No, it wouldn't, Gluck," said a clear, metallic voice close at his ear.
"Bless me, what's that?" exclaimed Gluck, jumping up. There was nobodythere. He looked round the room and under the table and a great manytimes behind him, but there was certainly nobody there, and he sat downagain at the window. This time he didn't speak, but he couldn't helpthinking again that it would be very convenient if the river werereally all gold.
"Not at all, my boy," said the same voice, louder than before.
"Bless me!" said Gluck again, "what is that?" He looked again into allthe corners and cupboards, and then began turning round and round asfast as he could, in the middle of the room, thinking there wassomebody behind him, when the same voice struck again on his ear. Itwas singing now, very merrily, "Lala-lira-la"--no words, only a soft,running, effervescent melody, something like that of a kettle on theboil. Gluck looked out of the window; no, it was certainly in thehouse. Upstairs and downstairs; no, it was certainly in that veryroom, coming in quicker time and clearer notes every moment:"Lala-lira-la." All at once it struck Gluck that it sounded loudernear the furnace. He ran to the opening and looked in. Yes, he sawright; it seemed to be coming not only out of the furnace but out ofthe pot. He uncovered it, and ran back in a great fright, for the potwas certainly singing! He stood in the farthest corner of the room,with his hands up and his mouth open, for a minute or two, when thesinging stopped and the voice became clear and pronunciative.
"Hollo!" said the voice.
Gluck made no answer.
"Hollo! Gluck, my boy," said the pot again.
Gluck summoned all his energies, walked straight up to the crucible,drew it out of the furnace, and looked in. The gold was all melted andits surface as smooth and polished as a river, but instead ofreflecting little Gluck's head, as he looked in he saw, meeting hisglance from beneath the gold, the red nose and sharp eyes of his oldfriend of the mug, a thousand times redder and sharper than ever he hadseen them in his life.
"Come, Gluck, my boy," said the voice out of the pot again, "I'm allright; pour me out."
But Gluck was too much astonished to do anything of the kind.
"Pour me out, I say," said the voice rather gruffly.
Still Gluck couldn't move.
"WILL you pour me out?" said the voice passionately. "I'm too hot."
By a violent effort Gluck recovered the use of his limbs, took hold ofthe crucible, and sloped it, so as to pour out the gold. But insteadof a liquid stream there came out, first a pair of pretty little yellowlegs, then some coat tails, then a pair of arms stuck akimbo, andfinally the well-known head of his friend the mug--all which articles,uniting as they rolled out, stood up energetically on the floor in theshape of a little golden dwarf about a foot and a half high.
"That's right!" said the dwarf, stretching out first his legs and thenhis arms, and then shaking his head up and down and as far round as itwould go, for five minutes without stopping, apparently with the viewof ascertaining if he were quite correctly put together, while Gluckstood contemplating him in speechless amazement. He was dressed in aslashed doublet of spun gold, so fine in its texture that the prismaticcolors gleamed over it as if on a surface of mother-of-pearl; and overthis brilliant doublet his hair and beard fell full halfway to theground in waving curls, so exquisitely delicate that Gluck could hardlytell where they ended; they seemed to melt into air. The features ofthe face, however, were by no means finished with the same delicacy;they were rather coarse, slightly inclining to coppery in complexion,and indicative, in expression, of a very pertinacious and intractabledisposition in their small proprietor. When the dwarf had finished hisself-examination, he turned his small, sharp eyes full on Gluck andstared at him deliberately for a minute or two. "No, it wouldn't,Gluck, my boy," said the little man.
This was certainly rather an abrupt and unconnected mode of commencingconversation. It might indeed be supposed to refer to the course ofGluck's thoughts, which had first produced the dwarf's observations outof the pot; but whatever it referred to, Gluck had no inclination todispute the dictum.
"Wouldn't it, sir?" said Gluck very mildly and submissively indeed.
"No," said the dwarf, conclusively, "no
, it wouldn't." And with thatthe dwarf pulled his cap hard over his brows and took two turns, ofthree feet long, up and down the room, lifting his legs up very highand setting them down very hard. This pause gave time for Gluck tocollect his thoughts a little, and, seeing no great reason to view hisdiminutive visitor with dread, and feeling his curiosity overcome hisamazement, he ventured on a question of peculiar delicacy.
"Pray, sir," said Gluck, rather hesitatingly, "were you my mug?"
On which the little man turned sharp round, walked straight up toGluck, and drew himself up to his full height. "I," said the littleman, "am the King of the Golden River." Whereupon he turned aboutagain and took two more turns, some six feet long, in order to allowtime for the consternation which this announcement produced in hisauditor to evaporate. After which he again walked up to Gluck andstood still, as if expecting some comment on his communication.
Gluck determined to say something at all events. "I hope your Majestyis very well," said Gluck.
"Listen!" said the little man, deigning no reply to this politeinquiry. "I am the king of what you mortals call the Golden River.The shape you saw me in was owing to the malice of a stronger king,from whose enchantments you have this instant freed me. What I haveseen of you and your conduct to your wicked brothers renders me willingto serve you; therefore, attend to what I tell you. Whoever shallclimb to the top of that mountain from which you see the Golden Riverissue, and shall cast into the stream at its source three drops of holywater, for him and for him only the river shall turn to gold. But noone failing in his first can succeed in a second attempt, and if anyoneshall cast unholy water into the river, it will overwhelm him and hewill become a black stone." So saying, the King of the Golden Riverturned away and deliberately walked into the center of the hottestflame of the furnace. His figure became red, white, transparent,dazzling,--a blaze of intense light,--rose, trembled, and disappeared.The King of the Golden River had evaporated.
"Oh!" cried poor Gluck, running to look up the chimney after him, "Odear, dear, dear me! My mug! my mug! my mug!"