FACING
PAGE
[“HERE,” SAID DAVID, “TAKE THIS BIRCH CUP—”][22]
[DAVID RAN TO THE FOOT OF THE TREE, FASTENED THE HEAD OF HIS AX IN THE HOLE][30]
[“FOLLOW YOUR NOSE TILL YOU GET THERE,” DAVID LOOKED UP AT HIM IN SURPRISE][38]
[THE MONTHS PASSED BY AND DAVID AND RUTH WORKED AND WORKED FOR THE COBBLER][46]
[THE NEXT NIGHT THE MOON SHONE BRIGHTLY. DAVID HAD JUST CRAWLED INTO BED][70]
[SHE ROSE TO HER FEET, STRETCHED HER HANDS TOWARD THE GREAT BRIGHT SUN AND PRAYED][74]
[THE LARGE ROSE-GARDEN ENCLOSED BY THE HIGH BRICK WALL WAS THE ONLY SPOT OUTSIDE THE PALACE ITSELF, WHERE RUTH WAS PERMITTED TO WANDER][82]
[FAR AWAY IN THE DISTANCE HE SAW THE PALACE OF THE GREAT BRONZE KING][88]
[KNEELING BESIDE A LOW OAK CHEST HE TOOK A RUSTY KEY AND FITTED THIS INTO THE WORN KEYHOLE][106]
[“YOU MUST TAKE ME TO THE BRONZE KING’S DOMAIN”][116]
[SO SHE SANG ONE AFTER ANOTHER THE SONGS THAT SHE AND DAVID HAD LOVED][122]
[“THIS WAY, RUTH, THIS WAY,” WHISPERED DAVID][128]
[THEY TOLD ONE ANOTHER OF ALL THAT HAD TAKEN PLACE][138]
[“WELCOME, CHILDREN,” SHE SAID, “WELCOME TO YOUR COTTAGE”][150]

THE FOREST
BEYOND
THE WOODLANDS

CHAPTER I
DAVID

DAVID was the son of an honest wood-cutter. He lived with his father in a little cottage on the border of the woodlands. Away, away as far as the eye could see stretched great tree-covered hills and mountains. This vast area was called, by the people of the country, the Dark Forest.

Some feared the mysteries of this unknown and unexplored region, for there were many stories and superstitions concerning giants, gnomes, and elves who dwelt within its shaded wilderness. But David, ever since he could remember, had always had a friendly feeling for the rough, hard bark of a pine or oak tree; and the fringed softness of the paper birch had been a delight to him ever since the day he first noticed its ragged beauty—a late summer afternoon on which, as he returned to his father’s cottage, the setting sun touched the whiteness of the tree-trunk beneath the cool green of its shining leaves.

“Some day I shall go far into the Forest,” he would say to himself. “Who knows what treasures I may find?”

David grew fast and was strong, for his life in the woodlands was one to make any boy well and happy. He learned his father’s trade, and in a short time, although he was not nearly full grown, he could wield an axe as well as many a grown man; in fact, he could put some men to shame, for his skill was far greater than that of the average boy of his age.