Katharine Pyle

“ The genie had become as thin as smoke, but he was standing there dark and gigantic as before. "I am free! I am free!" he cried in a joyful voice. "At last I may come and go as I choose, no longer a slave of the lamp. It is you, child, who have freed me, and I am not ungrateful, as you shall soon see. If I have made Aladdin rich and powerful, I will make you ten times more so. You shall have a castle even more magnificent than his with slaves and treasures and horses and chariots."
Ellen gasped. ”

“ Trembling, the little girl picked it up.
"Rub it; rub it, Mistress," said the gander. "I hear the soldiers coming."
But Ellen hesitated. "I'm afraid," she cried.
"Quick," and the gander flapped his wings in his excitement. "If they catch you again you may never get away."
[100]
Then Ellen brushed her thumb across the side of the lamp.
Immediately, and with a sound like a thunder-clap a terrible black genie appeared before her. "What wouldst thou have?" he cried in a great voice. "I am ready to obey thee as thy slave and the slave of all those who have the lamp in their hands." ”

“ Ellen was pleased with this advice, and returning to the porch she told Jack and his mother what the gander had said.
They were filled with joy and gratitude. "If you only will get her down there is nothing you can ask for that we will not give you," cried the mother, "even the golden harp itself."
Ellen seated herself upon the gander's back and gathered the reins into her fingers. Then the bird spread its strong wings and rose in the air. Up and up it flew. The sky seemed to grow nearer and Jack and his mother and the old bald goat shrank to mere specks below. ”

“ Ellen unclosed her eyes and looked about her. She was in a wide gray country, such as she had never seen [53] before. Everything about her was gray, the trees, the grass, the streams and sky—everything; and not far away was a gigantic, shadowy gray castle.
Close to where the gander had alighted stood a little old woman with her hands clasped. She was looking at Ellen with wide, wondering eyes. Presently she came nearer, and timidly stretching out her hand she touched Ellen with her finger. "Are you real, or are you only a dream?" she asked.
"Why I'm real, of course," said Ellen. ”

“ She was thinking of the story that her grandmother had forgotten again.
Ellen's grandmother was very old; so old that she often called Ellen by the names of her own little children; children who had grown up or died years and years ago. She was so old she could remember things that had happened seventy years before, but then she forgot a great many things, even things that had occurred only a few minutes before. Sometimes she forgot where her spectacles were when they were pushed back on her head. Most of all she forgot the stories she tried to tell Ellen. ”

“ We'll dress the gander up like a figure and it shall sit there quietly, and then, when the dwarfs come in to look at it, it can fly up and beat them with its wings so they'll never dare to come back again."
The gander stretched its great wings up and beat them loudly. "Yes, yes," it hissed.
"That might do," said the dwarfs; "but first we'll have our dinners, for we have been working hard and we're hungry."
So, as soon as they had finished eating their porridge they dressed the white gander. Ellen put her hat on its head and her shoes on its feet. ”

“ They were not all as big as the first shadow, though some of them stretched up so high that their heads and shoulders were lost in the grayness of the sky.
"They must be the Queerbodies," said the gander in a low tone, "for I'm sure they're not fairy tales."
[110]
"But they look so big,—like giants. Do you think they'll hurt us? Just suppose they were wicked giants who ate children like so many radishes." Ellen had read some place in a fairy story of giants who did that. ”

“ The widow was the mother of Snow-White and Rose-Red.
"Perhaps it was just as well though, anyway. He might have frightened our own beautiful Snowdrop, for she was keeping house for us then."
"Who was Snowdrop?" asked Ellen.
"She was the daughter of a king, but she had a wicked stepmother who hated her. The stepmother gave her to a huntsman bidding him kill her, but the man had pity on the poor child. He helped her to escape and then killed a deer and took its heart to the wicked stepmother, pretending it was Snowdrop's heart. Then Snowdrop came here to live with us. ”

“ Then Ellen showed them how to take a pillow and dress it up as the gander had been dressed. They set it in a chair and moved the chair in front of the window, so that when you look at it from the outside it was exactly as though it were the gander itself sitting there. "I think they'll be afraid ever to come near the house again as long as that is there," said Ellen.
"They will indeed," cried all the dwarfs.
Then the child again begged them to tell her which way she was to go to find the Queerbodies' house. ”

“ Those underground dwarfs are always up to some mischief or other. They weren't so much trouble—indeed [63] they didn't trouble us at all as long as the good Bear Prince was about. They were too much afraid of him even if he was enchanted; but he broke the enchantment and married Snow-White and went to live in his castle, far away. Now the underground dwarfs have no one to be afraid of, and we daren't leave the house alone a minute or they're up to some mischief."
Ellen sat staring at the dwarf. She knew the story of that Bear Prince very well. ”

“ The king was prouder of his daughter's beauty than of all his treasures, and there was nothing he loved better than to see her unfasten her shining hair and shake it down about her, and then it was so long and bright that it covered her like a golden mantle. ”

“ She offered another chair to the gander and he seated himself in it as gravely as possible, resting his wings on the arms. "And now," cried Fatima eagerly, "tell me all about it."
So Ellen began and told her about her journey, while Fatima listened with her chin in her hand, and her eyes never leaving the child's face. Sister Anne listened too. "But now," Ellen ended, "I feel afraid to go any further, for it looks as though there were giants beyond that mist. Do you know whether they're cross giants or not?" ”

“ The gander turned and flew in that direction, and they had gone but a little way when the grayness before them grew lighter. Another moment or so, and they were through the mists and out upon the other side.
But Ellen looked about her in dismay. They were in the midst of a great barren desert. There was no tree nor house in [123] sight, no bird nor living thing.
Yes, there was one thing alive, for just as Ellen thought this, something stirred and stood up from a heap of rocks nearby. It was a lad of about twelve or thirteen. ”

“ But Ellen said she would not take anything, for she did not wish to burden down the gander. All she asked was that they would keep the goat and be kind to him, and that they would tell her how to get to the Queerbodies' House.
"The first I will gladly do," said Jack's mother, "but as to the second, all I can tell you is that the Queerbodies' House [57] lies on the other side of the forest; but if you ask the forest folk, no doubt they can direct you how to go." ”

“ Ellen drew rein, and the gander allowed himself to sink slowly to the ground. There he folded and settled his wings, and he and his mistress stood looking at the wall of mist before them. It was like the mist that hangs over streams in the early morning. They could not tell at all how high it was. Sometimes it looked quite low, and sometimes it seemed to reach up to the [109] sky itself so that they could not tell where one ended and the other began.
"Look," cried Ellen in a whisper. "Do you suppose that is one of the Queerbodies?" ”

“ Suddenly the princess turned her head and looked behind her. She had heard a sound at the scullery door. The next moment it was thrown open, and there stood the stepmother, peering in with an evil look. Behind her was the king.
"Look," cried the queen, pointing at Goldenhair. "Is it not just as I told you? The girl knows that I hate the very sight of her hair, and that I gave her a hood to wear that I might not see it; yet at every chance she has she slips [170] away to comb her locks and weave her wicked spells."
"Do you indeed dare to weave your spells against the queen?" ”

“ And the Rhyme hopped up and down as though its toes were made of rubber.
But Ellen looked anxious. "I wonder how we're all to get back," she said, with a glance at the Fairy Tale. "I don't believe the gander can carry us all."
[178]
"Oh, you're not going back with me," he answered. "The journey's too long for that, and there's an easier way."
"Yes, a much easier way," chimed in the Queerbody. "Why, it's so easy that sometimes I go home without even trying."
Ellen wondered. "Do you? And then you have to come all that long way to get here again?" ”

“ We have all [47] the animals about the place that we want."
"I wish you would take this one," urged Ellen. "I don't know what to do with it."
"How do you come to be leading it about the country? Is it your goat?"
"Not exactly." She began to tell the woman all her story of how she had followed the little pig to the village; of how she had found the animals were being worried by the goat, and of how she had made it come away with her. It all sounded so strange, Ellen was half afraid the woman would not believe it. ”

“ Ellen said nothing, but quickened her steps, while the gander and the gray [80] wolf kept up with her, the one on one side, the other on the other.
Presently the wolf began again. "Now about those Queerbodies, it's curious I never heard of them, for I thought I knew everybody hereabouts: the dwarfs, and Little Red Riding Hood, and the three bears, and—" he hesitated for a moment, and then added with a gulp, "and the woodsmen; but no Queerbodies that I ever heard tell of." ”

“ All the king wondercluff in a jar, and birds in another jar, magic in another, witches in another, and so on. All the castles were put in this jar, and now I remember another Queerbody was making a story this morning and she used the last piece of [150] castle there was. Look for yourself. The jar is empty."
Ellen looked in the jar. There was nothing there. "Can't you use something else?"
"Of course not." The Queerbody spoke with some impatience. "Don't you remember the story begins with a castle where the princess lives?" ”

“ He peered all about the kitchen and then he cried, "It's all right. They've all gone and left the house to take care of itself. They'll be sorry enough they left it when they come back. Quick! In, all of us, and see what mischief we can do."
With that he dropped back from the window, and in a minute a great crowd of dwarfs came tumbling in through the door. They were not as large as the [72] good dwarfs, but they looked so spiteful and evil that Ellen was frightened and wished she and her white gander were well out of it. ”

“ While the stay-at-home told his story of the lost dinner the looks of the other dwarfs grew blacker and blacker. "See [69] now," cried one of them, striking his hairy fist upon the table; "'tis just as I tell you; those underground dwarfs grow more bold and mischievous every day. There's nothing for it but for two of us to stay at home, one to cook and one to act as guard." ”

“ It's a long, long journey, through the forest and over hills and streams."
"I don't know," said Ellen. "I've [21] never journeyed very far; only just to Aunt Josephine's."
Mother Goose knitted her brows and began to think hard. Suddenly her face brightened. "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll lend you my gander; and he'll carry you there in short order, however far it is."
"Oh, thank you, but I don't believe I could ride him! I'd fall off, I'm sure."
"No, you wouldn't. He goes as smoothly as a dream goose, and almost as fast. Yes, I'll lend him to you. ”

“ It looked like a cat's head.
"Who live in all these other houses?" she asked.
[30]
"Well, in that brick house lives another pig," answered the pig they called Middling. "Sometimes he comes to see us, but he doesn't have very much to do with us, because he's in a story; a real story you know, and we're only in a rhyme."
"What story is he in?" asked Ellen.
"The story of the wolf that huffed and puffed and blew the house in. ”

“ The pigs looked at each other and grunted. "We would have," said a slim pig that the others called Ringling, "if it wasn't for an old goat that lives in a cave down at the end of the street."
"Oh, but he's a naughty one," broke in Thumbie, the fattest pig. "He's always doing mischief and playing tricks on us." ”

“ When it was that big the lad stopped. "There!" he said to Ellen, looking at the pig with pride, "how is that for a riding-horse?"
"I think it's fine, but I shouldn't call it a riding-horse; I think it's more of a riding-pig."
"All the same," said the lad. "Now the next thing is a bridle. When a magic pig like this once does start going [127] it won't stop for a word. I suppose you haven't anything about you that would serve for a bridle."
"Nothing but this," and Ellen touched the golden chain that the dwarfs had hung about her neck. ”

“ Ellen was very willing to promise.
Then the Queerbody bent over another jar and took out some wondercluff. She patted and twisted and pulled, and then she set what she had made upon the [177] floor. It was a funny-looking little rhyme, with a brown belted coat and a pointed cap, and a broad grin on its fat, round face.
"Quank! quank!" cried the gander. "There he is again."
The Rhyme blinked and looked about him, and then he spoke, still grinning broadly.
"Hello! I guess I've been forgotten, haven't I? But somebody seems to have brought me back. Well, there's the old gander, same as ever." ”

“ The lad told him. The gate-keeper shook his head. "It isn't really your pig, you know. You ought to have made it out of nothing. But did you come across the desert?"
[140]
"Yes."
"And you passed the dragon?"
"Yes."
"And unlocked the door! Well, I suppose it's all right. And what do you want to set about, now that you are here?"
"I should like to try my hand at fitting a puzzle together," answered the lad boldly.
Ellen stared. She had never heard anything so curious; for the lad to have come all that way and through all those dangers, and then want to play with a puzzle the first thing. ”