After that out comes a fresh horse for the young prince. And the old man give him a ball of yarn; and he flung it between the horse’s two ears. And off he goes as fast as the wind, which the wind behind could not catch the wind before, until he came to his second oldest brother’s house. When he rode up to the door, he had the same salute as he had from the first old man; but this one was much uglier than the first one. He had long grey hair, and his teeth was curling out of his mouth, and his finger and toe nails were not cut for many thousands of years. So I shall leave you to guess what sort of a looking being he was, but still his Rómani speech was soft and nice, much different to his younger brother. He puts his horse in a much better stable, and calls him in, and gives him plenty to eat and drink, and lots of tobacco and brandy. And they have a bit of chat [[222]]before they goes to bed. When the old man asks him many questions: ‘Well, my young son, I suppose that you are one of the King’s children, and come to look for the golden apples to recover him, because he is sick?’
Jack.—‘Yes; I am the youngest of the three brothers, and I should like well to get them to go back with.’
Old Man.—‘Well, don’t mind, my young son. I will send before you to-night to my oldest brother, when you go to bed, and I will say all to him what you want, and then he will not have much trouble to send you on to the place where you must go to get them. But you must mind to-night not to stir when you hear those things biting and stinging you, or else you will work great mischief to yourself.’
The young man went to bed, and beared all, as he did the first night, and got up the next morning well and hearty, and thought a good deal of the old man’s Rómani way the night before. After a good breakfast, and passing some few remarks, What a curious place that was, when the old man should say, ‘Yes’ to him, ‘you will see a more curious place soon; and I hope I shall see you back here all right.’ When out comes another fresh horse, and a ball of yarn to throw between his ears. The old man tells him to jump up, and said to him that he has made it all right with his oldest brother to give him a quick reception, and not to delay any whatever, ‘as you have a good deal to go through in a very short and quick time.’
He flung the ball, and off he goes as quick as lightning, and comes to the oldest brother’s house. (I forgot to tell you that the last old man told him not to be frightened at this one’s looks.) Well, to make my long story short, the old man received him very kindly, and told him that he long wished to see him, and that he would go through his work like a man, and return back here safe and sound.
‘Now to-night I shall give you rest; there shall nothing come to disturb you, so as you may not feel sleepy to-morrow. And you must mind to get up middling early, for you’ve got to go and come all in the same day. For there will be no place for you to rest within thousands of miles of that place; and if there was, you would stand in great danger never to come from there in your own form. Now, my young Prince, mind what I tell you. To-morrow, when you [[223]]go in sight of a very large castle, which will be surrounded with black water, the first thing you will do you will tie your horse to a tree, and you will see three beautiful swans in sight. When you will say, ‘Swan, swan, carry me over for the name of the Griffin of the Greenwood’; and the swans will swim you over to the castle. There will be three great entrances, before you go in. The first will be guarded by four great giants, and drawn swords in their hands; the second entrance lions and other things; and the other with fiery serpents and other things too frightful to mention. You will have to be there exactly at one o’clock; and mind and leave there precisely at two, and not a moment later. When the swans carry you over to the castle, you will pass all these things, when they will be all fast asleep, but you must not notice any of them. When you go in, you will turn up to the right, you will see some grand rooms, then you will go downstairs and through the cooking kitchen, and through a door on your left you go into a garden, where you will find the apples you want for your father to get him well. After you fill your wallet, you make all the speed you possibly can, and call out for the swans to carry you over the same as before. After you get on your horse, should you hear any shouting or making any noise after you, be sure not to look back, as they will follow you for thousands of miles; but when the time will be up and you near my place, it will be all over. Well, now, my young man, I have told you all you have to do to-morrow; and mind, whatever you do, don’t look about you when you see all those dreadful things. Keep a good heart, and make haste from there, and come back to me with all the speed you can. I should like to know how my two brothers were when you left them, and what they said about me.’
‘Well, to tell the truth, before I left London, my father was sick, and said I was to come here to look for the golden apples, for they were the only things would do him good. And when I came to your youngest brother, I could not understand him well: his speech was like the English Gypsies and not like yours.[8] You speak the same as the [[224]]Welsh Gypsies, and so I understand your second brother well. He told me many things what to do before I came here. And I thought once that your youngest brother put me in the wrong bed, when he put all those snakes to bite me all night long, until he [i.e. the middle brother] told me, “So it was to be,” and said, “So it is the same here,” but said you had none in your beds, but said when I came to you I should find you a fine dear Rómani old man.’
The Old Man.—‘So ’tis, my daddy. My youngest brother ran away when he was young with the English Gypsies, and their speech is not the same as our speech. Well, let’s take a drop more brandy and a little tobacco, and then let’s go to bed. You need not fear. There are no snakes here.’
The young man went to bed, and had a good night’s rest, and got up the next morning as fresh as newly caught trout. Breakfast being over, when out come the other horse, and, when saddling and fettling, the old man began to laugh, and told the young gentleman that if he saw a pretty young lady, not to stay with her too long, because she may waken, and then he would have to stay with her, or to be turned into one of those unearthly monsters, like those which he will have to pass by going into the castle.
‘Ha! ha! ha! you make me laugh that I can scarcely buckle the saddle-straps. I think I shall make it all right, my uncle, if I sees a young lady there, you may depend.’