Luke Barnicott, and Other Stories

by William Howitt

The next day the princess seated herself with her golden distaff before the castle, and the instant that the stepmother saw her she longed to have the golden distaff. The princess would not sell it for money or gold, but again bargained for one hour more in the presence of the prince. But now the servants of the prince, who had heard the lamentations of a woman in his presence on the two former days, had told him, and the prince was full of wonder. He was under the power of the witch stepmother, because in three years' wandering through the world he had not found a woman who loved him sufficiently to ask him no questions as to whence he came and what he was. Therefore must he alternately sleep twelve hours a magic sleep, and twelve hours keep awake; during all which time the stepmother ruled over his kingdom and did as she pleased. But now, the servants having awoke his curiosity, when the stepmother brought him the wine at breakfast which locked him for twelve hours in unbreakable sleep, he pretended to drink it, but in reality poured it behind him. He was, therefore, awake when the princess entered, and was astonished and rejoiced beyond all bounds to see his wife again. She then related to him how it had gone with her, and how she had managed to reach the castle.

When she had told him all this, he said:—"Thou art come precisely at the right time, for the stepmother has been exercising her witchcraft to occasion me to marry another princess, which must have taken place if she could have retained her power over me for a week longer. But now is her power at an end, for it can endure no longer than till a true woman asserts her right as wife in this castle. Henceforth must she flee to her own kindred in the mountains of the mainland, and we are now free to do whatever we please."

Then the prince called in all his servants and showed them his true wife, and there was great rejoicing, but the false stepmother had already fled away. The prince held a great banquet of ten days, and showed the princess all the beauties of the castle and island.

After this she told him how her father, the old king, still longed for a draught of the fountain, and a taste of the apples which grew in his court, and begged that she might go and carry them. But the prince asked how she could go, for the north wind had long blown himself back to his place; and when the princess thought on this, and saw not how she was ever to quit the island, she was very sorrowful. Then the prince smiled, and said he would show her how she should go, and that he would go with her. He therefore ordered provisions and wine for a long journey, and commanded them to be carried down to the shore. But there was neither boat nor ship to be seen. Yet the prince took the princess by the hand and said, "Now we say farewell for the present to the island east of the sun and west of the world, and we will set sail to see the old king, thy father."

At this the princess wondered more and more. But when they were come down to the waters edge, the prince took from his pocket a small thing like a folded skin, and said, "This is the ship in which we shall sail." The princess laughed and thought it a jest, but the prince opened it, and behold it was like a small boat. He stretched it out so long as his arms could reach, and then set it upon the water, commanding one of his people to step into it. He did so, and there was then room for two. Another stepped into it, and there was immediately room for two more. Thus it continued to expand till twenty men were in it, when the prince ordered the provision and awnings for the voyage to be carried in, and then stepped in with the princess. And now the princess saw that there was ample room for all, and she and the prince sat under a canopy of blue and gold, and the ship seemed instinct with life, and impatient to set sail.[1]

Then said the prince to the ship, "Away, over land and water to the queen of the fishes!"

And the ship cut smoothly away over the sunny waves without oar or sail, fleet as an arrow, till it reached the coast where the queen of the fishes lived. She was greatly delighted to see the princess return with the handsome prince, and in so wonderful a ship. The princess thanked her for her kindness in enabling her to reach her husband, and gave her one of the apples of youth, and a cup of the water; and no sooner had the old woman eaten the apple and drunk the water, than her wrinkles vanished from her skin, her hair from grey became black as the raven's plumes, and she stood there as a beautiful and stately maiden. The princess was not the less delighted than the queen of the birds, for she now saw that her father would certainly regain his youth. With many thanks on the part of the now beautiful queen of fishes, the prince and princess took their leave, assuring her that they should call on her sisters, the queen of birds and the queen of beasts, and give them also the same youth-renewing fruit and drink. Thither the wonderful ship sailed, and thence took its way at the prince's command to the court of the old king.

The old king was now become very weak, and lay at the point of death. All his six sons had returned, having spent all their money in riotous living in a distant city, and declared that they had been all round the world, and had inquired in all lands, and that nobody had ever heard of the castle east of the sun and west of the world. They protested that there was no such place, and no prince of such a place, and that his daughter would never return.

At this news the old king groaned bitterly, and lay helpless and sorrowful unto death. All his beautiful hopes of ever renewing his youth died in his heart; and while he was about to give up the ghost, his sons watched for his last breath, that they might seize on his treasures and spend them in riot and folly.

But just as they thought the old king's breath was departing, the prince and princess came sailing over the land in the ship, and stopped, to the amazement of all the courtiers, at the castle gate. Then entered the prince and the princess, who was weeping for joy. She bore in one hand a crystal flagon of the water of the fountain, and in the other a golden salver of the apples of youth; and kneeling by the old king's couch, she kissed him with many tears, and wet his lips with the water. All at once the old man's eyes gleamed with a sudden brightness; he raised himself on his elbows, and saw his daughter, with the prince by her side, stand weeping for joy, with the salver of fruit and the crystal flagon in her hand. Then he knew that she had reached the castle east of the sun and west of the world, and had come back for his sake. He eagerly stretched out his hand for the fruit, and having eaten one apple, he sprang from his couch with a bound such as he used when springing into battle, and then drinking a cup of the glittering water, he stood before them a stately man in wonderful beauty and strength. In his joy he stretched forth his arms and strode across the floor, and laying his hands on his sides as if to make sure how well he felt, he laughed and said, "Now again I am a king!"