The Wonder Clock; or, four & twenty marvellous Tales: being one for each hour of the dayPyle, Howard
Science
The Wonder Clock; or, four & twenty marvellous Tales: being one for each hour of the day
Pyle, Howard
Children's poetry; Fairy tales
“Look,” said King Stork, and he drew a net out of his pocket as fine as
a cobweb and as white as milk; “take this with you when you go with the
princess to the one-eyed witch’s house to-night, throw it over the
witch’s head, and then see what will happen; only when you catch the
one-eyed raven you are to wring her neck as soon as you lay hands on
her, for if you don’t it will be the worse for you.”
Well, that night off flew the princess just as she had done before, and
off flew the drummer at her heels, until they came to the witch’s house,
both of them.
“And did you take his head this time?” said the witch.
No, the princess had not done that, for the drummer had asked such and
such a question, and she could not answer it; all the same, she had him
tight enough now, for she had set it as a task upon him that he should
bring her the one-eyed raven, and it was not likely he would be up to
doing that. After that the princess and the one-eyed witch sat down to
supper together, and the drummer served the princess the same trick that
he had done before, so that she got hardly a bite to eat.
“See,” said the old witch when the princess was ready to go, “I will go
home with you to-night, and see that you get there safe and sound.” So
she brought out a pair of wings, just like those the princess had, and
set them on her shoulders, and away both of them flew with the drummer
behind. So they came home without seeing a soul, for the drummer kept
his cap of darkness tight upon his head all the while.
“Good-night,” said the witch to the princess, and “Good-night” said the
princess to the witch, and the one was for going one way and the other
the other. But the drummer had his wits about him sharply enough, and
before the old witch could get away he flung the net that King Stork had
given him over her head.
“Hi!” but you should have been there to see what happened; for it was a
great one-eyed raven, as black as the inside of the chimney, that he had
in his net.
Dear, dear, how it flapped its wings and struck with its great beak! But
that did no good, for the drummer just wrung its neck, and there was an
end of it.
The next morning he wrapped it up in his pocket-handkerchief and off he
started for the king’s castle, and there was the princess waiting for
him, looking as cool as butter in the well, for she felt sure the
drummer was caught in the trap this time.
“And have you brought the one-eyed raven with you?” she said.
“Oh, yes,” said the drummer, and here it was wrapped up in this
handkerchief.
But when the princess saw the raven with its neck wrung, she gave a
great shriek and fell to the floor. There she lay and they had to pick
her up and carry her out of the room.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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