The King of the Golden River - John Ruskin (read novels website .txt) 📗
- Author: John Ruskin
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and cried all night. When he got up in the morning there was no
bread in the house, nor any money; so Gluck went and hired
himself to another goldsmith, and he worked so hard and so neatly
and so long every day that he soon got money enough together to
pay his brother’s fine, and he went and gave it all to Schwartz,
and Schwartz got out of prison. Then Schwartz was quite pleased
and said he should have some of the gold of the river. But Gluck
only begged he would go and see what had become of Hans.
Now when Schwartz had heard that Hans had stolen the holy water,
he thought to himself that such a proceeding might not be
considered altogether correct by the King of the Golden River,
and determined to manage matters better. So he took some more of
Gluck’s money and went to a bad priest, who gave him some holy
water very readily for it. Then Schwartz was sure it was all
quite right. So Schwartz got up early in the morning before the
sun rose, and took some bread and wine in a basket, and put his
holy water in a flask, and set off for the mountains. Like his
brother he was much surprised at the sight of the glacier and had
great difficulty in crossing it, even after leaving his basket
behind him. The day was cloudless but not bright; there was a
heavy purple haze hanging over the sky, and the hills looked
lowering and gloomy. And as Schwartz climbed the steep rock path
the thirst came upon him, as it had upon his brother, until he
lifted his flask to his lips to drink. Then he saw the fair
child lying near him on the rocks, and it cried to him and moaned
for water. “Water, indeed,” said Schwartz; “I haven’t half
enough for myself,” and passed on. And as he went he thought the
sunbeams grew more dim, and he saw a low bank of black cloud
rising out of the west; and when he had climbed for another hour,
the thirst overcame him again and he would have drunk. Then he
saw the old man lying before him on the path, and heard him cry
out for water. “Water, indeed,” said Schwartz; “I haven’t half
enough for myself,” and on he went. Then again the light seemed
to fade from before his eyes, and he looked up, and, behold, a
mist, of the color of blood, had come over the sun; and the bank
of black cloud had risen very high, and its edges were tossing
and tumbling like the waves of the angry sea and they cast long
shadows which flickered over Schwartz’s path.
Then Schwartz climbed for another hour, and again his thirst
returned; and as he lifted his flask to his lips he thought he
saw his brother Hans lying exhausted on the path before him, and
as he gazed the figure stretched its arms to him and cried for
water. “Ha, ha!” laughed Schwartz, “are you there? Remember the
prison bars, my boy. Water, indeed! do you suppose I carried it
all the way up here for you?” And he strode over the figure;
yet, as he passed, he thought he saw a strange expression of
mockery about its lips. And when he had gone a few yards
farther, he looked back; but the figure was not there.
And a sudden horror came over Schwartz, he knew not why; but the
thirst for gold prevailed over his fear, and he rushed on. And
the bank of black cloud rose to the zenith, and out of it came
bursts of spiry lightning, and waves of darkness seemed to heave
and float, between their flashes, over the whole heavens. And
the sky where the sun was setting was all level and like a lake
of blood; and a strong wind came out of that sky, tearing its
crimson clouds into fragments and scattering them far into the
darkness. And when Schwartz stood by the brink of the Golden
River, its waves were black like thunder clouds, but their foam
was like fire; and the roar of the waters below and the thunder
above met as he cast the flask into the stream. And as he did so
the lightning glared in his eyes, and the earth gave way beneath
him, and the waters closed over his cry. And the moaning of the
river rose wildly into the night as it gushed over the
TWO BLACK STONES
HOW LITTLE GLUCK SET OFF ON AN EXPEDITION TO THE GOLDEN RIVER,
AND HOW HE PROSPERED THEREIN, WITH OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST
When Gluck found that Schwartz did not come back, he was very
sorry and did not know what to do. He had no money and was
obliged to go and hire himself again to the goldsmith, who worked
him very hard and gave him very little money. So, after a month
or two, Gluck grew tired and made up his mind to go and try his
fortune with the Golden River. “The little king looked very
kind,” thought he. “I don’t think he will turn me into a black
stone.” So he went to the priest, and the priest gave him some
holy water as soon as he asked for it. Then Gluck took some
bread in his basket, and the bottle of water, and set off very
early for the mountains.
If the glacier had occasioned a great deal of fatigue in his
brothers, it was twenty times worse for him, who was neither so
strong nor so practiced on the mountains. He had several very
bad falls, lost his basket and bread, and was very much
frightened at the strange noises under the ice. He lay a long
time to rest on the grass, after he had got over, and began to
climb the hill just in the hottest part of the day. When he had
climbed for an hour, he got dreadfully thirsty and was going to
drink like his brothers, when he saw an old man coming down the
path above him, looking very feeble and leaning on a staff. “Why
son,” said the old man, “I am faint with thirst; give me some of
that water.” Then Gluck looked at him, and when he saw that he
was pale and weary, he gave him the water. “Only pray don’t
drink it all,” said Gluck. But the old man drank a great deal
and gave him back the bottle two thirds empty. Then he bade him
good speed, and Gluck went on again merrily. And the path became
easier to his feet, and two or three blades of grass appeared
upon it, and some grasshoppers began singing on the bank beside
it, and Gluck thought he had never heard such merry singing.
Then he went on for another hour, and the thirst increased on him
so that he thought he should be forced to drink. But as he
raised the flask he saw a little child lying panting by the
roadside, and it cried out piteously for water. Then Gluck
struggled with himself and determined to bear the thirst a
little longer; and he put the bottle to the child’s lips, and it
drank it all but a few drops. Then it smiled on him and got up
and ran down the hill; and Gluck looked after it till it became
as small as a little star, and then turned and began climbing
again. And then there were all kinds of sweet flowers growing on
the rocks— bright green moss with pale pink, starry flowers, and
soft belled gentians, more blue than the sky at its deepest, and
pure white transparent lilies. And crimson and purple
butterflies darted hither and thither, and the sky sent down such
pure light that Gluck had never felt so happy in his life.
Yet, when he had climbed for another hour, his thirst became
intolerable again; and when he looked at his bottle, he saw that
there were only five or six drops left in it, and he could not
venture to drink. And as he was hanging the flask to his belt
again, he saw a little dog lying on the rocks, gasping for
breath— just as Hans had seen it on the day of his ascent. And
Gluck stopped and looked at it, and then at the Golden River, not
five hundred yards above him; and he thought of the dwarf’s
words, that no one could succeed except in his first attempt; and
he tried to pass the dog, but it whined piteously and Gluck
stopped again. “Poor beastie,” said Gluck, “it’ll be dead when I
come down again, if I don’t help it.” Then he looked closer and
closer at it, and its eye turned on him so mournfully that he
could not stand it. “Confound the king and his gold too,” said
Gluck, and he opened the flask and poured all the water into the
dog’s mouth.
The dog sprang up and stood on its hind legs. Its tail
disappeared; its ears became long, longer, silky, golden; its
nose became very red; its eyes became very twinkling; in three
seconds the dog was gone, and before Gluck stood his old
acquaintance, the King of the Golden River.
“Thank you,” said the monarch. “But don’t be frightened; it’s
all right”—for Gluck showed manifest symptoms of consternation
at this unlooked-for reply to his last observation. “Why didn’t
you come before,” continued the dwarf, “instead of sending me
those rascally brothers of yours, for me to have the trouble of
turning into stones? Very hard stones they make, too.”
“O dear me!” said Gluck, “have you really been so cruel?”
“Cruel!” said the dwarf; “they poured unholy water into my
stream. Do you suppose I’m going to allow that?”
“Why,” said Gluck, “I am sure, sir,—your Majesty, I mean,— they
got the water out of the church font.”
“Very probably,” replied the dwarf, “but” (and his countenance
grew stern as he spoke) “the water which has been refused to the
cry of the weary and dying is unholy, though it had been blessed
by every saint in heaven; and the water which is found in the
vessel of mercy is holy, though it had been defiled with
corpses.”
So saying, the dwarf stooped and plucked a lily that grew at his
feet. On its white leaves there hung three drops of clear dew. And
the dwarf shook them into the flask which Gluck held in his
hand. “Cast these into the river,” he said, “and descend on the
other side of the mountains into the Treasure Valley. And so
good speed.”
As he spoke the figure of the dwarf became indistinct. The
playing colors of his robe formed themselves into a prismatic
mist of dewy light; he stood for an instant veiled with them as
with the belt of a broad rainbow. The colors grew faint; the
mist rose into the air; the monarch had evaporated.
And Gluck climbed to the brink of the Golden River, and its waves
were as clear as crystal and as brilliant as the sun. And when
he cast the three drops of dew into the stream, there opened
where they fell a small, circular whirlpool, into which the
waters descended with a musical noise.
Gluck stood watching it for some time, very much disappointed,
because not only the river was not turned into gold, but its
waters seemed much diminished in quantity. Yet he obeyed his
friend the dwarf and descended the other side of the mountains
towards the Treasure Valley; and as he went he thought he heard
the noise of water working
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