The GREEN Fairy Book - online children's book

Illustrated classic fairy tales for children by Andrew Lang

Share page

	294	THE GREEN FAIRY BOOK.
	forest, attended by one servant only. I pushed on without pausing, and ere long I saw the stranger coming toward me and leading a fine stag. I asked him where he had left my brother and how he had got the stag, whose great eyes were overflowing with tears. Instead of answering he began to laugh, and I flew into such a rage that I drew a pistol and fired at him; but the bullet rebounded from his breast and struck my horse in the forehead. I fell to the ground, and the stranger muttered some words which robbed me of my senses.
	"When I came to myself I was lying in a crystal coffin in this subterranean vault. The magician appeared again and told me that he had transformed my brother into a stag, had reduced our castle and all its defenses to minia­ture and locked them up in a glass box, and after turning all our household into different vapors had banished them into glass vials. If I would only yield to his wishes he could easily open these vessels, and all would then resume their former shapes. "I would not say a word more than I had done pre­viously, and he vanished, leaving me in my prison, where a deep sleep soon fell on me. Among the many dreams which floated through my brain was a cheering one of a young man who was to come and release me, and to-day, when I opened my eyes, I recognized you and saw that my dream was fulfilled. Now help me to carry out the rest