Mr. Rabbit at Home - Joel Chandler Harris (beach books .txt) 📗
- Author: Joel Chandler Harris
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“For a few days the people heard no more of the matter, but at the end of a week the herald went round the city again declaring that the Prince would marry any young lady who would bring as her marriage portion a Cow with Golden Horns. She need not have riches of any kind; all that was necessary was a Cow with Golden Horns. This word went around among the people and from city to city. Rich men with daughters tried everywhere to buy a Cow with Golden Horns, but all to no purpose.
“The Prince waited and waited and pined and grew thinner. But just as matters were getting to be very serious indeed, an old man appeared in the palace park leading a beautiful white cow with jet black ears and golden horns. The servants set up such a shout when they saw the beautiful cow that everybody in the palace was aroused and all came out to see what caused the noise. Then the servants and attendants ran over one another in their efforts to reach the Prince, who was moping in his room. As they ran they cried:—
“‘The Cow with the Golden Horns has come! The Cow with the Golden Horns has come!’
“The Prince forgot his dignity and hurried out to see the Cow with the Golden Horns. The old man came leading her, and she was, indeed, a beautiful creature. Her head and limbs were almost as delicate as those of a deer, and her eyes were large and soft. Her body was as white as snow, her ears glistened like black silk, and her golden horns shone in the sun. The old man bowed low as he led the beautiful cow forward.
“‘I wouldn’t make much of a bride myself, your Majesty,’ he said. ‘I have brought you the Cow with the Golden Horns. She might find you the bride that I failed to bring you.’
“‘I fear I shall have no such good fortune,’ replied the Prince. ‘But I think you have proved to me that I am not dreaming. How shall I reward you?’
“‘I ask no reward, your Majesty. I only ask the privilege of taking away my Cow with the Golden Horns when you have found your bride.’
“When the Prince had given his promise, the old man said, ‘You have a ring, your Majesty, that came to you in a curious way. Let this ring be placed on the left horn of the cow. The girl or woman that is able to remove this ring will be the bride you are wishing for. Every morning the Cow with the Golden Horns will appear here in the lawn and remain until night falls. Let it be announced, your Majesty, that whoever takes the ring from her shall be the Princess of the Realm.’”
“Huh!” exclaimed Drusilla suddenly. “He talk like he been ter college.”
“Will you hush?” cried Buster John. But Mr. Thimblefinger paid no attention to the interruption.
“‘But how do you know,’ asked the Prince, ‘that the right one will come to get the ring?’
“‘How do I know that your Majesty has the ring?’ the old man answered.
“This seemed to satisfy the Prince, who caused it to be announced all through his kingdom that he would choose for his bride the girl or woman who would take the ring from the golden horn of the Cow.
“Of course there was a great commotion among the ladies when this announcement was made, and nearly all of them tried to take the ring from the golden horn of the Cow. Some said they tried it just for fun, and some said they tried it just out of curiosity; but all of them failed. Even Eolen’s stepmother tried, and then she made her daughter try, but when the daughter touched the ring it burnt her so that she screamed. And then some of those who had tried and failed turned up their noses and said it was a trick.
“Eolen had never thought of trying. She had seen the Prince and admired him, yet she had no idea of going up before all these people. But as soon as her stepmother started for the palace with her daughter, there came a knock at the door. Eolen opened it, and there, standing before her, was the old man who had carried her to the Thunder’s house, and to the Jumping-Off Place. She was very glad to see him, and told him so, and he was just as glad to see her.
“‘Why don’t you go and get your ring?’ he asked.
“‘It is lost,’ she answered.
“‘It is found,’ he said. ‘I have placed it on the golden horn of the Cow that stands near the palace door. You must go and get it.’
“‘I have nothing to wear,’ she replied.
“Then the old man tapped on the wall and called:—
“‘Sister Jane! Sister Jane! Where are you?’
“‘I am where I ought to be,’ was the reply. The wall opened and out stepped the old, old woman that Eolen had seen combing her hair by the Well at the End of the World.
“‘Clothe this child in silk and satin and comb her hair out fine, Sister Jane.’
“The old woman grumbled a little, but gave Eolen a touch here and there, and in a moment she was dressed as fine as the finest lady in the land.
“‘Now she is ready, brother,’ said the old, old woman, and then she disappeared in the wall, combing her long gray hair and smiling.
“‘Must I walk?’ asked Eolen, looking at her satin slippers.
“‘Nonsense!’ exclaimed the old man. Then he tapped in another part of the wall. ‘Nephew! Nephew! Where are you?’
“‘Wherever you wish me to be,’ a voice replied, and then the wall opened, and out stepped the handsome stranger who had given Eolen the gold ring. ‘What do you want?’
“‘A carriage and horses,’ said the old man.
“‘They are at the door,’ was the reply, ‘and I’ll drive them myself.’
“Sure enough, there stood at the door a coach and four, and Eolen was carried to the palace in grand style. Liveried servants appeared and spread a strip of carpet before her, and the Cow with the Golden Horns came running to meet her, and in a moment she had the ring. Then the people set up a loud shout, crying:—
“‘The Princess! the Princess!’
SHE WOULD HAVE KNELT, BUT HE LIFTED HER UP
“And then the Prince came out and went to her. She would have knelt, but he lifted her up and knelt himself before her, and kissed her hand, and smiled on her, for she was the lovely girl he had seen in the picture.”
“What is the moral of that?” inquired Mr. Rabbit, waking from his nap.
“Why, you didn’t even hear the story,” said Mr. Thimblefinger.
“That is the reason I want to hear the moral of it,” remarked Mr. Rabbit.
“There is no moral at all,” said Mr. Thimblefinger.
“Then I’m mighty glad I was asleep,” grumbled Mr. Rabbit.
BROTHER WOLF’S TWO BIG DINNERS.
The children said they were very much pleased with the story about the Cow with the Golden Horns. Buster John even went so far as to say that it was as good as some of the stories in the books. But Mr. Thimblefinger shook his head. He said he was very glad they were pleased with it, but he knew Mr. Rabbit was right. The story couldn’t be a very good story, because it had no moral.
“But I think it had a very good moral,” remarked Mrs. Meadows.
“What was it?” inquired Mr. Rabbit with great solemnity.
“Why, if the little girl had been too stingy to give the old beggar a piece of her cake, she would never have come to be Princess,” replied Mrs. Meadows.
“Did she give the beggar a piece of cake?” asked Mr. Rabbit.
“Why, certainly she did,” Mr. Thimblefinger answered.
“Well,” remarked Mr. Rabbit, setting himself back in his chair, “I must have been fast asleep when she did it. But the place for a moral, as I’ve been told, is right at the end of a story, and not at the beginning.”
“Can’t you tell us a story with a moral?” suggested Mrs. Meadows.
“I can,” replied Mr. Rabbit. “I can for a fact, and the piece of cake you mentioned puts me in mind of it.”
Mr. Rabbit closed his eyes and rubbed his nose, and then began:—
“Once upon a time, when Brother Fox and myself were living on pretty good terms with each other, we received an invitation to attend a barbecue that Brother Wolf was going to give on the following Saturday. The next day we received an invitation to a barbecue that Brother Bear was going to give on the same Saturday.
“I made up my mind at once to go to Brother Bear’s barbecue, because I knew he would have fresh roasting ears, and if there’s anything I like better than another, it is fresh roasting ears. I asked Brother Fox whether he was going to Brother Bear’s barbecue or to Brother Wolf’s, but he shook his head. He said he hadn’t made up his mind. I just asked him out of idle curiosity, for I didn’t care whether he went or whether he stayed.
“I went about my work as usual. Cold weather was coming on, and I wanted to get my crops in before the big freeze came. But I noticed that Brother Fox was mighty restless in his mind. He didn’t do a stroke of work. He’d sit down and then he’d get up; he’d stand still and look up in the tops of the trees, and then he’d walk back and forth with his hands behind him and look down at the ground.
“I says to him, says I, ‘I hope you are not sick, Brother Fox.’
“Says he, ‘Oh, no, Brother Rabbit; I never felt better in my life.’
“I says to him, says I, ‘I hope money matters are not troubling you.’
“Says he, ‘Oh, no, Brother Rabbit, money was never easier with me than it is this season.’
“I says to him, says I, ‘I hope I’ll have the pleasure of your company to the barbecue to-morrow.’
“Says he, ‘I can’t tell, Brother Rabbit; I can’t tell. I haven’t made up my mind. I may go to the one, or I may go to the other; but which it will be, I can’t tell you to save my life.’
“As the next day was Saturday, I was up bright and early. I dug my goobers and spread ’em out to dry in the sun, and then, ten o’clock, as near as I could judge, I started out to the barbecue. Brother Wolf lived near the river, and Brother Bear lived right on the river, a mile or two below Brother Wolf’s. The big road, that passed near where Brother Fox and I lived, led in the direction of the river for about three miles, and then it forked, one prong going to Brother Wolf’s house, and the other prong going to Brother Bear’s house.
“Well, when I came to the forks of the road, who should I see there but old Brother Fox. I stopped before he saw me, and watched him. He went a little way down one road, and licked his chops;
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