Frank R. Stockton

“ A large full-grown condor, with its wings spread, measures from twelve to fourteen feet from tip to tip of the wings; and nine feet is the measure of very ordinary specimens.
It lives on the highest peaks of the Andes mountains in South America; and builds its nests on crags that are inaccessible to man. It cares nothing for snow and ice, nor for the great tempests of wind that sweep over these lofty summits. Among these cold, desolate rocks it makes its nest, and rears a hardy brood of young ones. ”

“ When they get tired of living in one place, they go to another. They dress gorgeously too! A loose, and gracefully flowing costume, made of “rich stuffs,” and costly camel’s hair cloth.
And then besides the horse they have the docile and intelligent camel to bear their burdens, and to be their companions.
Such are the pictures often drawn of Bedouin life; and, no doubt you have thought when you read them, that if these ignorant, lazy, heathen Arabs were so good, and so happy, why should you be sent to school, and taught to be industrious, and trained to follow the precepts of the Bible? ”

“ This grew brighter, and brighter, until the whole firmament was a brilliant flame color. And, while they were wondering what this could mean, whizz! came in sight a great ball of fire! This was nothing less than a new god, named Odin. Where he came from nobody knew, but there he was. He descended upon the mountains, and took possession of Ymer’s world.
He brought with him the Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. He told the Sun to light up the world, and to warm up things generally, and to be sure to melt the ice that covered a great part of the earth. ”

“ The sound was as loud and terrible to the kobolds as the roarings of a lion is to men. Those standing in front of the giant’s mouth were blown by his breath to the distance of a hundred yards, and fell, badly bruised. And then commenced a mad stampede. The dwarfs fairly tumbled over each other in their haste to get away, and they did not stop to take breath until they reached the friendly shelter of a field of mushrooms, fully a mile from the giant’s cave. ”

“ Who should he employ to subdue these giants, who were as tall as oak trees? Men could do nothing against them. Since the death of Jack the Giant-Killer no man had ever been known to conquer a giant.
In his perplexity he summoned a wise woman, who lived on the highest peak of the highest mountain on the river, and who always gave wise counsel; but would never leave her rocky home except when some one was in great need of good advice. She came to the king at his bidding and this is what she said:
“Good dwarfs can conquer bad giants.” ”

“ Seeing a man on a horse the boar very naturally thought that he must be the person who had been after him, and so, full of vengeance, he dashed at him at full speed, his horrid tusks glistening in the sunlight. ”

“ As a rule, civilized and well educated people are more easily surprised and astonished at uncommon and wonderful works of nature than uncivilized or ignorant people, for the latter do not know enough to be astonished. They see nothing strange in the development of a plant from its seed—nothing grand in a high mountain, nor anything very beautiful in a flower. ”

“ It was shaped somewhat like a great lizard, but it had the back-bone of a fish, and the fins of a dolphin, with the head and teeth of a crocodile. But what eyes it must have had while living! The gnomes amused themselves by crawling in and out of the sockets! The ball of the eye must have been as large as a man’s head! ”

“ Did you ever reflect how these “noble Arabs” get anything to eat? They must eat, you know, and they won’t work; so, how do they procure their food? Why, they steal it. They despise their brethren who dwell in houses, and plow and plant seed. They think work is degrading. But after the farmers have got their fields in good order, and the grain is ready to cut; down comes a tribe of Bedouins and carries off the harvest! ”

“ Having taken in this situation at a glance, Polargno did not hesitate an instant, but ran down the shore at his best speed to a spot opposite the ice-floe. The four sailors followed, but they could not equal the speed of the Esquimaux boy, and when they arrived he had taken off his outer suit and boots, retaining only his in-door suit, and light seal-skin boots. The sailors could not imagine what the boy was about, but their attention was absorbed in their comrade who was in such deadly peril, and they paid little heed to Polargno. ”

“ But the most wonderful of all the plants that give men water to drink is a tree that is said to have been found some years ago in one of the Canary islands. It was seen at different times by different travelers, and they all told the same story about it. The leaves grew thickly on its spreading branches, and, from each leaf the drops fell so rapidly that all together they formed a steady shower of rain. ”

“ We all know that sometimes the moon is full and bright, flooding the earth with its lovely light, and that, at other times it is quite dim, just a curved strip of light in the sky, and at still other times it seems to be absent altogether. ”

“ When a man’s business is in any branch of what we call Art he is, perhaps, happier than he could be at anything else; for, besides the satisfaction of doing the work, it is a pleasure to see beautiful things grow under our hands. ”

“ This was a most remarkable state of things, and it is no wonder that the travelers could not very soon get used to it.
To feel oneself soaring like a balloon must certainly be a curious sensation.
But these men expected all sorts of strange experiences, and so this did not frighten them, and the nearer they came to the moon, the more effect her gravity had upon them, and as the projectile gradually turned its heaviest end towards the moon its inmates gradually recovered their weight, and sat and stood like common people. ”

“ Humming-birds build their diminutive nests on vines and low trees. Their eggs are the size of little peas, and white in color. The species I mentioned as being no larger than bees build the dearest little nests, no bigger than a walnut; and they put into them the cunningest little eggs, and hatch out their very small young ones, just as grandly as if they were great condors.
And they do not like confinement any better than the condors do. Shut up in cages they generally pine, and die. They are made for sunshine and flowers, free, out-door life and happiness. ”

“ Horse and rider landed safely on the opposite bank! Enemies and infidels though they were, the spectators cheered and shouted in admiration of this wonderful feat of horsemanship!
Maghar dismounted for a few moments, taking care to put the cover of a thick copse between himself and any arrow shots that might be sent after him. He wished to compose his own nerves, for they had been terribly shaken. But he soon mounted again, and was off like the wind. ”

“ When it flies [Pg 95] through the air it is like a streamer of fire. When it alights upon a leaf, with its beautiful wings outstretched, and its head gleaming with star-like rays, that light up everything for some little distance, it is a gorgeous sight indeed. ”

“ More for the fun, I am afraid, than the food; for we get plenty to eat without going after wild animals; whereas the poor opossum looks for his food because he is really hungry.
We start off, on some fine moonlight night, a party of men and boys. We are in high spirits, and laugh and talk, and have a good time. The dogs are in high spirits too, and run and frisk gaily about. But when we approach the woods we grow quiet and begin to look around expectantly. The dogs understand perfectly what business we are upon, and know that we rely upon them to “tree” the game. ”

“ But, after the ground is freed from its icy envelope, everything starts into life, and grows with the most astonishing rapidity. A plant will spring up, grow two or three feet high perhaps, bud, blossom, and bear fruit in the time our plants of the temperate zone will be producing a foot or so of stalk and leaves. ”

“ Bragi was not stingy with his treasure, but gave some of it to men, and thus the invention of the good Kvasir was used as he would have used it had he lived; and men learned to write, and to sing.
The greatest of the gods, next to Odin, was his son Thor. He was the god of tempests. He held thunderbolts shut up in his fists, and flung lightning from his fingers’ ends. He had a mighty hammer with which he reconstructed the world after Ymer had been killed. ”

“ The Esquimaux boy had now reached the pack of loose ice against which the ice floe had rested. This was firm, and he paused an instant, before springing on to the floe. The sailors thought his courage had failed at the last moment. But no! Polargno knew there was no time to lose, and he required only this instant to see where he could best strike the bear. There was no vital part at which he could get a good stroke. All he could do at first was to divert the bear’s attention from the sailor to himself. ”

“ The Nixies play upon the harp lovely music that mortals may not hope to play. So the Nix went down to the bottom of the river and [Pg 306] soon reappeared on the surface with a graceful harp, made of beaten gold. She left the river, and, standing among the water plants at the foot of the hill Carl had climbed, she played soft, sweet strains of fairy music on her harp. In this way she thought she would beguile him from the dangerous tower back to the hill; and, when he was safe, she would disappear; for the Nixies do not care to be seen of mortals. ”

“ But one of the advantages that the Great Eastern possesses is that she does not roll and pitch much, even in stormy weather, because she is so large and heavy. Consequently people are not so apt to be sea-sick on this ship, as on most of the ocean steamers.
The great saloon is a very pleasant place for promenading, conversation or reading, when it is too cold or stormy to be on deck. People meet here from all parts of the world, perhaps. They get acquainted and have long talks with each other, and have music, and get up games to help pass away the time. ”

“ They would give him permission to make the leap, and ask where the horse was to be found. Maghar was to direct them to the cave of the magician, taking care not to let them know that he was anything more than a simple hermit. The magician would have a horse ready—one that he had endowed with such magical powers that it would make the leap with ease. And besides myriads of fairies would be hovering around, invisible to all eyes except Maghar’s, and these would help to keep up his courage. As for getting the horse up the castle stairs that was easily managed. ”

“ Christern nearly dropped his lantern in his astonishment. “You don’t ever mean to tell me that boars are fairies?” he said, at last.
[Pg 111]
“I mean to say nothing of the kind!” cried the fairy, indignantly. “Your horrid, beastly boars are no relations of ours, even! I’ll tell you how it was,” he said, coming nearer Christern, and speaking in a confidential tone. “Our fairies all have wings, and can fly, but there are other kinds without wings. Some of these are good, but some are bad, and they are full of spite against us because we are better off than they. ”

“ He could not fight the giants himself, for that would be beneath the dignity of a king. As for what the wise woman had said about the dwarfs, that was ridiculous. A little creature, scarcely a foot high, to conquer a mighty giant! But, after considering the matter a good while, it did not seem quite so absurd. He recalled to mind something the gnomes had done some years before. ”

“ Sugar and molasses are made from the juice of a cane; maple sugar from the sap of a tree that grows plentifully in all our mountain districts. You think it wonderful that milk can be taken from a tree. Is it not quite as strange to find sugar there? I suppose you will reply to this that the milk is ready prepared, while we have to make the sugar. That is true, but we add nothing to what we take from the tree. We simply apply heat to the sap, and behold the sugar! The chief reason, I think, why we are not surprised at this sugar tree is that we are familiar with it. ”

“ For war is a very bad thing for crops. It is sometimes as injurious as a long drought. For somebody must plant and hoe or there will be little to eat in a land, and if the people spend most of their time in warfare there cannot be much agricultural work going on.
But these outside people, especially those who lived in the land of Voldor to the north of the country of the Cabordmen, had an idea that it was a great deal easier to make war and capture supplies than to raise crops themselves. ”