THE TINDER-BOX
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Mabie, Hamilton Wright, Forbush, William Byron, and Hale, Edward Everett
"That is no business of yours," said the witch. "You have the gold, give me the tinder-box!"
"Rubbish!" said the soldier. He had grown rude as well as rich, you see. "Rubbish—take your choice—tell me at once what you mean to do with the tinker-box, or I will draw my sword and cut off your head."
"I won't tell you," screamed the witch.
Then the soldier cut off her head, and the poor witch lay there dead. But the soldier did not stay to look at her. In a great hurry he took all his gold and tied it up in the blue checked apron.
He slung it across his shoulder, put the tinder-box in his pocket, and marched off to town.
How grand he felt! What heaps of gold he had in his bundle!
When the soldier reached the town he walked straight to the finest hotel, and asked for the best rooms, and for dinner ordered all his favorite puddings and fruits.
The servant who cleaned his boots tossed her head. "Shabby boots for a rich man to wear," she said.
But next day the soldier had bought himself very grand new boots, and gay clothing, so that no one could possibly call him shabby.
Shabby! No, he was a great man now, and people crowded round this rich fellow, told him all the sights there were to be seen in their city, all about their King too, and the beautiful Princess, his daughter.
"I should like to see her, this wonderful Princess," said the soldier.
"But you cannot see her," they told him. "She lives, the beautiful Princess, in a great copper castle, with walls and towers all round. Only the King visits her there, for it was once foretold that she would marry a common soldier, and that our King does not wish."
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"I must see her once, just once," thought the soldier. But how was he going to find the way into the castle, that was the question?
Meanwhile he led a merry life. He drove about in the King's Park; he went to the theater; he gave money to the poor, because he remembered how miserable it was to have no money in his own pocket.
The soldier was always gaily dressed now. He had a great many friends who said he was a real gentleman, and that pleased him very much.
And so he went on day after day, spending money and giving money, but getting none, till at last the gold came to an end. He had only two copper coins left: he was only a poor soldier once more.
Leaving the grand hotel he went to live in a small room. He found a tiny attic, just under a roof, up, oh! so many stairs. Here he lived, mending his own clothes, brushing his own boots. He had no visitors, for his grand friends would not take the trouble to walk up so many stairs to his little attic.
Hungry? Yes, he was hungry too, and as he had no money to buy even a farthing candle, he had to sit alone in the dark.
One evening he suddenly thought of the witch's tinder-box. Surely in it there were matches.
The soldier opened it eagerly. Yes, there lay the matches. He seized one and struck it on the tinder-box.
No sooner had he done this, than the door burst suddenly open, and there, there, staring at him, stood the dog with eyes as big as saucers.
"What does my master command?" asked the dog.
"No wonder the old witch wished the tinder-box for her very own," thought the soldier. Aloud he said to the dog, "Fetch me some money," and the dog instantly vanished to do his master's bidding.
He was back in a moment, and lo! in his mouth was a big bag, full of pennies.
"Why, this is a magic box," said the soldier. "I have a treasure indeed." And so he had, for listen! Strike the box once, the dog with eyes as large as saucers appeared. Strike it [page 264] twice and the dog with eyes as big as mill-wheels appeared. Strike it thrice and there appeared the monster dog with eyes that rolled round and round and were as large as the Round Tower itself. All three dogs did the soldier's bidding.
Now the soldier could have gold again. Gold as much as ever he wished.
He moved once more to the grand rooms in the fine hotel. He had gay clothes again; and now, strangely enough, all his friends came to see him and liked him as much as ever.
One evening the soldier's thoughts wandered away to the beautiful Princess, the beautiful Princess who was shut up so safely in the great copper palace.
"It is ridiculous that no one sees the Princess," thought the soldier. "I want to see her, and I shall."
He pulled out his tinder-box, struck a light, and lo! there stood the dog with eyes as large as saucers.
"It is the middle of the night," said the soldier, "but I must see the Princess, if it is only for a moment."
The dog bounded out of the door, and before the soldier had time to wonder what he would do or say if the beautiful Princess really appeared, there she was.
Yes, there she was, fast asleep on the dog's back. She was beautiful, so beautiful that the soldier was quite sure that she was a real Princess. He stooped and kissed her hand. She was so beautiful he could not help it. Then off ran the dog, back to the copper palace with the Princess.
"I had such a strange dream last night," the Princess told the King and Queen at breakfast next morning. "I dreamed that an enormous dog came and carried me off to a soldier, and the soldier kissed my hand. It was a strange dream," she murmured.
"The Princess must not be left alone to-night," said the Queen. "She may be frightened if she dreams again." And she told an old dame who lived at court to sit in the Princess's room at night.
But what would the Queen have said if she had known that what the Princess told them was no dream, but something that had really and truly happened?
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Well, that evening the soldier thought he would like to see the Princess again.
He struck a light, and there stood one of his obedient dogs.