ins oregqn Sunday journal, 1'oiitlano, Sunday morning, January, n, iw.
the MICKED BE LL-S
HERE is a certain country where King
is never allowed to reign while a Queen
can bo found. They like Queen much
better than Kings In that country. I,
can't think why. If some on has
tried to teach you a little history you
will perhaps think that thil is the Salic
law. But it isn' t. In the biggest city of that odd country
there is a great bell-tower. This bell-tower had several
bells in it. verv sweet-toned, splendid bells, made ex-
mressly to riflf on the joyful occasions when a Princess
was born wtio wouia De uueen some asy. Ana me great
tower was built expressly for the bells to ring in. So
you see what a lot 'they thought of Queens in that
country.- - :- -'- i - " z - - ' V: - -'
Nrw in all bells there are Bell-people it is their
voices that you hear when the bell rings. All that
about its being tno clapper ot the Dell is mere nonsense,
and would hardly deceive a child. I dpn't know why
people say such things. Most Bell-people are very
energetic, busv folk Who love the sound of their own
rvoices, and hate being idle and when .nearly two
nunarca years naa gone oy, ana no irincess naa oeen
born, they got tired of living in bells that were never
runs. So thev slipped out of the Belfry one fine froaty
night, and left the big. beautiful bells empty, and went
on to nna otner nomes. une oi tnem went to live m m
dinner bell, and one in a school bell, and the rest "all
found homes- they did not mind where just any
where, in fact, where they could find any Bell-person
kind enough to give them board. and lodging. And
everyone was surprised at the increased loudness and
sweetness in the voices of these hospitable bells. For
of course the Bell-people from the Belfry did their
best to help in the housework, as polite guests should,
and always added their voices to those of their hosts
on all occasions when bell-talk was called ior. And
the seven big beautiful bells h the Belfry were -lei't
hollow and dark and quite empty, except for the clap
pers who did not care in the least about the comforts
of a home. ,
Now of course a good house does not remain empty
long, especially when there is no rent to pay, and in a
very short time the seven bells all had tenants and
they were all the kind of folk that no respectable Bell
people would care to be acquainted with.
They had been turned out of other bells cracked
bells and broken bells, the bells of horses that had been
lost in snow storms or of ships that had gone down at
sea. They hated work, and they were a glum, silent,
disagreeable people but as far as they could be pleased
about anything they were pleased to-rfve in bells that
were never rung in houses where there was nothing to
do. They sat liunched up under the black domes of
their houses, dressed in darkness and cobwebs and
their only pleasure was idleness their only feast? the
thick dusty silence that lies heavy in all belfries where
the bells never ring. They hardly ever spoke, even to
each other, and even in the whispers that good Bell
people talk among themselves, and that no one can hear
but thd bat, whose ear for music is very fine and who
has himself a particularly high Voice. And when they
did speak they quarreled. ....
Ana wnen at last xne Dens turn rungior tne
birth of a Princess the Wicked Bell-people
were furious. Of course they had to ring a
bell can't help that, when the rope is pulled
but their voices were so ugly that people were
quite shocked.
"What poor taste our ancestors must have had!!!
they said. "To think these were goodjbells! "
''Dear me! " said the King to the Queen, "what odd
ideas people had in the old days! I always understood
that these bells had beautiful voiees, but I cannot
imagine anyone having such a poor ear for music th-Jk he
would call the noise they make anything but ugly.".
"They're quite hideous," said the Queen. And so
they were.
Now that night the lazy Bell-folk came down out of
the Belfry full of anger against the Princess whose birth
liad disturbed their idleness. There is no anger like
that of a lazy person who is made to go to work against
his will.
And they crept out of the dark domes of their houses
and came down in their dust dresses and cobweb
cloaks, and crept up to the Palace where everyone had
gone to bed long before, and stood round the mother-of-pearl
cradle where the baby Princess lay asleep.
And they reached their seven dark right hands out
across the white satin coverlet and the oldest and
hqarsest and laziest said:
By E.NESBIT
' She shall grow uglier every day--except Sundays, It all the more if she's, pretty once a week. And," he
and every Sunday she shall be seven times prettier added, -'this shall go on till she can find a bell that
than the Sunday before." . - -i. doesn't ring, and can't ring, and wasn't made to ring,
-"Why not uglier every day. and A double dose n and never-will ring so long as life lasts."'
w n en tne
Princess was two
weeks old the
King said to the
Queen: .
"My1 love the
Princess is not so
handsome as -1
thought she
was."
"Nonsense,
Henry! " said the
Queen j ' the
light's not good,
that's all."
Next day it
was Sunday the
King pulled bak
the face curtains
of the cradle and
said:
"The light's
good enough sow
and you see
she's ,"
He stopped.
"It must have
been the light."
he said ; " she
looks all right to
day." " Of course she
does, my pre
cious," said the
Queen.
But on Mon
day morning His
Majesty was
quite sure that
the Princess real
ly was rather
plain for a Prin
cess. And when
Sunday came,
and the Princess
had on her best
robe and the cap
with the little
white ribbons in
. " " i' 1 ,T ' ' i i
S
,
fill' Pfa iM$$&
mm mtr
ii
I'M NOT AFAir---WITIt YOU!" SAID BELINDA.
Sunday?"' asked the youngest and spitefullest of the
wicked Bell-people.
" Because there's no rule without an exception,"
said the oldest and hoarsest and laziest, "and.she'11 feel
$appj Bream!
Tbb Sandman lost a dream one night
A dream meant for a boyj
It floated round awhile, and then
It 6etled on a Toy.
The Toy dreamed that it stood in class
With quite a row of boys;
The teacher rapped upon his desk
Afid cried, "Less noise less noise!"
By Katharine Pylb
Then, looking at the Toy, he KowleJ
And said, n Next boy foretell."
fph, please, sir;" cried the little Toy,
, " I don't know how to spell.
, " Indeed, I don't know how it is,
I'm sure l am a toy,
Although I seem to be in class.
And dressed up like a boy .11
PWhafs that? That's that?:: the teacher crkd
In awful tones he spoke;
lie came with strides across the floor
And then the Toy awoke.',
Thre ly the nursery wry still,
The shelf above its bead ;
The fire burned dimly on the hoaru
The children were in bed
There lay the dolls and Noah's ArV."
"Oh, dear me,"-aid the Toy,
fl just had such a dreadful dreamt
v I dreamed I was a boyJi "
l. ; y .. ' . -
the frill he
rubbed his
nose and
said there
was no
doubt dress did
make a great deal
of difference.
The Princess
was several years
old before her
mother could be
got to see that it
really was better
for the child to
wear plain cfbthes
and a veil on week
days. On Sun
days, of course,
she could wear
her ' best frock
and a clean crown
just like any
body else.
Of course no
body ever told the
Princess how ugly
she was. She wore a veil on week days and so did everyone
else in the Palace, and she was never allowed to look in
the glass except on Sundavs, so that she had no idea
rhat she was not as pretty all the week as she was on the
first day of it. She grew np. therefore, quite contented.
cut tpe parents were in despair.
"Because," said King Henry, "it's high time she was
married. We ought to choose a King to rule the realm
I always looked forward to her marrying at twenty
one and to our retiring on a modest competence to
some nice little place in the country where we could
have a few pigs. .
"And a cow," Raid the Queen, wiping her eyes.
"And a pony and trap," said the King.
"Yes, and hens," said the Queen. "And now it can
never, never be. Loojc at the child! I just ask you!
Look at her! ".
"No," said the King, firmlv, "I haven't done that
. since she was ten, except on Sundays."
"Couldn't we get a Prince to agree to a 'Sundays
only' marriage not let him see her during the week?"
"Such an unusual arrangement" said the King,
"would involve very awkward explanations, and I can't
think of any except the true ones, which would be quite
impossible to give. You see, we should want a first
class Prince. And no really high-toned highness would
take a wife on those terms.".
"It's a thoroughly comfortable kingdom," said the
Queen doubtfully; ''the young man would be hand
somely provided for for life."
"I couldn't marry Belinda to a time-server or a place
tvorshiper," said the King definitely.
Meanwhile the Princess had taken the matter into her
Own hands. She had fallen m love.
You know, of course, that ahandsome book is sent out
every year to all the kin gs who have daughters to marry.
It is rather like the illustrated catalogues of the big de-
fartment 6tores, only instead of illustrations showing
urnittire or ladies' cloaks and dresses, the pictures are
all of Princes who are of an age to be married, and are
ooking out for suitable wives. . The book is called the
"Royal Match Catalogue, Illustrated" and besides
the pictures of the Prince it has little printed bits about
their incomes, accomplishments, prospects, tempers
and relations.'
Now the Princess saw this book which is never
shown to Princesses, but only to their parentsit was
carelessly left lying on the round table in the parlor.
She looked all through it, and she hated each Prince
more than the one before till she came to the very end,
and on the last page of all, screwed away in a corner,
where many might overlook it, was the picture of a
Prince who was quite as good-looking as a Prince
reed be. r
"I like ," said Belinda softly.. Then she read the
little bit of print underneath. ,
4; "Prince Bellamant, aged 4. Wants Princess who'
- Cefyright, tgol
doesn't object to a christening curse. Nature of curse
only revealed in the strictest confidence. Good tem
pered. Comfortably off. Quiet habits. No relations."
"Poor dear," said the Princess. "I wonder what th
curse is! I'm sure shouldn't mind."
So Belinda thought and thought. And at last she
, got the book that had the portraits of eligible Princes in
it, and she wrote to the Prince who had the christening ..
curse---and this is what she said
"Priitctss Belinda of Carrillon-land is not afraid of .
christening curses. 1 Prince BellamaiU would like, to
marry her he had better apply to her royal father in the
' usual way. -
, " P. S. . have seen your portrait," . '.,
When the Prince got the letter he was very pleased,
and wrote at once for Princess Belinda's likeness. Of
course they sent him a picture of her Sunday face, '
,i Which was the most beautiful face in the world. As
soon as he saw it he knew that this was not only the
most beautiful face in the world, but the dearest, so
he wrote to her father by the next post applying for
her hand in the usual way and enclosing the most re
spectable references. The King told the Princess. -
"Come," said he; "what do you say to this young '.
man?". - j
And the Princess, of course, said, "Yes, please."
So the wedding day was fixed for the first Sunday
in June.
But when the Prince arrived with all his glorious
following of courtiers and men-at-arms, with two pink
peacocks and a crown-case full of diamonds for his
bride; he absolutely refused to be married on a Sunday.
Nor wOuld he give any reason for his refusal. ,And
then the King lost his temper and broke off the match,
and the Prmce went away.
But he did not go very far. That night he bribed a
page-boy to show him which was the Princess's room
and he climbed up by the jasmine through the dark
rose-scented night, and tapped at the window.
"Who's there?" said the Princess, inside in the dark.
"Me," said the Prince in the dark outside.
"Thed id wasn'd true?" said the Princess. "They
toad be you'd ridded away."
"What a cold you've got, my PrincessIIi said the
Prince, hanging on by the jasmine boughs.
" It's not a cold," sniffed the Princess, and her voice
was very sad.
"Then oh, you dear! were you crying because you
thought I'd gone?" he said.
"1 supp'ose so," said she.
He said "You dear!" again and kissed her hands.
"Why wouldn't you be married on a Sunday?" she
asked.
"It's the curse, dearest," he explained. "I couldn't
tell any one but you. The fact ist, Malevola wasn't
asked to my christening, so she doomed me to be well,
she said 'moderately good-looking all the week, and too :
ugly for words on Sundays.' So you see! You will be
married on a week dav, won't you?"
"But I can't," said the Princess, "because I've got
a curse, too only I'm ugly all the week and pretty on
Sundays.".
"How extremely tiresome!" said the
Prince. "But can't vou be cured?."
"Oh, yes," said the Princess and told him
how. "And yon," she asked, "is yours
quite incurable t
"Xot at all," he answered, "I've only got to stay
underwater for five minutes and the spell will be broken.
But yo:i see, beloved, the difficulty is that I can't do it.
I've practised regularly, from a boy, in the sea and in
the swimming bath and even in my wash-hand basin
hours at a time I've practised but in spite of every,
thing I never can keep under more than two minutes..'!
"Oh. dear!" said the Princess, "this is dreadful."
"It is rather trying,"; the Prince admitted.
"You're sure you like me" she asked suddenly
"now you know that I'm only pretty once a week?".
" I'd die for you," said he.
"Then I'll tell you what. Send all your courtiers
away, and take a situation as under-gardener here I
know we want one. And then every night I'll climb
down the jasmine and we'll go out together and seek
our fortunes. I'm sure we shall find it worth while."
And they did go out. The very next night, and
the next and the next and the next and the next and
the next. And they did not find their fortunes, but
thev grew fonder and fonder of each other. They
could not see each other's faces, but they held hands
as they went along through the dark.
And on the seventh night as they passed by a house
that Rhowed chinks of light through its shutters they
heard a bell being rung outside for supper, a bell with
a very loud and beautiful voice. But. instead oi say
ing "Supper's ready," as any one would have ex
pected, the bell was saying:
"Ding, dong, dell!
could tell
Where you ought to go
To break the spell."
Then some one left off ringing the bell, so of course it
couldn't say any more. So the two went on. A little
way down the road a cow-bell tinkled behind the wet r
hedge of the lane. And it said not "Here I itm, quite
safe .! as a cow-bell should, but '
"Ding, dong, dell,
All will be well
If you " 9
Then the cow stopped walking and began to eat, SO
the bell couldn't say any more. The Prince and the
Princess went on, and you will not be surprised to hear
that they heard the voices of five more bells that night.
The next was a school bell. The schoolmaster's little
boy thought it would be fun to ring it very late at night
but his father came and caught him before the bell
could say more than: -
"Ding, dong, deli,
You can break up the spell
By taking "
So that was no good.
Then there were the three bells that were the sign
over the door of an inn where people were happily
dancing Xo a fiddle, because there was a wedding.
These belts said:
"We are the
Merry three
Bells, Bells, Bells.
You are two
To undo
Spells, spells, spells a..
Then the Wind, who was swinging the bells, sud
denly thought of an appointment he had made with a
pine forest, to get up an entertaining imitation of sea
waves, for the benefit of the forest nymphs who had
never been to the sea-side, and he went off so of course
the bells couldn't ring anv more, and the Prince) and
Princess went on down the dark road.
There was a cottatje, pnd the Princess pulled her veil
over her face, for yellow light streamed from its open .
door and ft was Wednesday.
Inside, a little boy. was sitting on the floor quite a
little boy he ought to have been in bed long before,
and I don't know why he wasn't. And he was ringing
a little tinkling bell that had dropped off a sleigh, i
And this little bell said:'
"Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, I'm a little sleigh-bell,
- But I know what I know, and I'll tell, tell, telL '
Find the Enchanter of the Ringing Well;
He will show you how to break the spell, spell, spcIL
"Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle, I'm a little sleigh-bell,
But I know what I know
' And so on over and over again and again, because
the little boy was quite contented to go on shaking his
sleigh-bell forever and ever". -
"So now we know," said the Princej "isn't. that
glorious?" . . ' :.
"Yes very, but where's the Enchanter of the Ring
ingWell?" said the Princess doubtfully, i ; ' ? .
. 7 Oh 've got .his address in my pocketbook,' sai l .
the Prince; "he's my godfather:. He was one of th3
"references I gave your father." .--;Vf ;.--;:v y. j .y-J
: So the next night the Prince brought a horse to tha
garden, and he and the Princess mounted and rode and
rode and rode,' and in the gray dawn they came to Won
derwood and in the very mictdje of that , the Magician's
Palace stands. (
. The Princess did not like to call on a perfect stranger
sq very early in the morning, so they decided to wait a
a little and look about them.. j '
The castle was very beautiful, decorated with a con
ventional design of bells and bell-ropes, carved in white
stone. , .
Luxuriant plants of American bell-vine covered the
drawbridge and portcullis,- On a green lawn in front of
the castle was a well with a curious bell-shaped cover
ing suspended over ' it. The lovers leaned over the
mossy; tern-grown wiall of the well, and, looking down
they could See that the narrowness Of the well only
lasted for a few feet, and below ;that it spread into a
cavern where water lay in a big pool. '
"What cheer?" saia a pleasant voice behind them.;
It was the Enchanter, an early riser, as Darwin was and
- ell other great scientific men are., "v f:.-
They told hipi what cheer, t: ';;T;;V?"tKi5;':v
"But," Prince Bellamant ended, "it's really no use.;
I can't keep under watef more than two minutes, how-!
ever much I try. And my precious Belinda's not likely
to find any silly old bell that doesn't ring and can ti
ring and never will ring and was never made to ring." j
' Ho, ho! " laughed the Enchanter with the softj full
laughter of old age. "You've come to the right shop.'
Who told you?"
"The bells,'! said Belinda.
"Ah, yes." The old man frowned kindly upon them.1
"You must be very fond of each other?'!
"We are," said the two together. . s
"Yes," the Enchanter answered, "because, only true
lovers can hear the true speech of the bells ana then
only when they're together. Well there's the bell-J
He pointed to the covering of the well went forward
and touched some lever or spring. The covering swung
out from above the well, and hung over the grass, gray
with the dew of dawn.
" Tkatf. said Bellamant. , : l;
"That," said his godfather. "It doesn't ring and ?t
can't ring and it never will ring and it was never mada
to ring. Get into it." The old man took. a hand ci
each and led them under the bell. They looked up., ti
had windows of thick glass, and high seats about four
feet from its edge running all round inside. ; ,
"Take your seats," said the Enchanter. Bellaman",
lifted his Princess to the bench and leaped up beside her.
" Now," said the old man, " sit still hold each other's
hands, and for your lives don't move! "
He went away, and the next moment they felt tha
bell swing in the air. It swung round till once mora it
was over the well and then it went down down.
"I'm not afraid with you,", said Belinda, because
she was, dreadfully. . ,
m .it Ya
1 . v
n
m if
: GyW
fit MUST HAVE BEEN THE LIGHT,"! MB SAID! 838
' LOOKS ALL BIGHT TO-DAY."
4 Down went the bell. The glass windows leaped bix
light looking through them the two could see blurred
glories of lamps in the side of the cave magic lamps
or perhaps merely; electric, which, 'curiously enousli.
have ceased to seem magic to us nowadays. . Then with
a plop, the lower edge of the bell met the water the
watet rose inside it a little then not any more. An J
the bell went down, down and above their heads the
green water lapped against the windows of the belL
"You're under water-r-if we 6tay five minutes 2
Belinda whispered. ' -; j
"Yes, dear," said Bellamant, and pulled out bis jcw
eled chronometer..- . . ; . ;
"It's five minutes for you but oh! cried Belinda.
'. it's now far me. For I've found the bell that doesn t
rinj and cant ring and never' will ring and warn 'i;
made to ring. Oh, dearest it's Thursday, Have 1 sc.:
my Sunday face?" She tore away her veil, and 'Its:
eyes, fixed upon her face, could not leave it,
'Oh, dream of all the world's delight,!! he mrr.
mured, '"how beautiful you are!" -
-Neither spoke again till a little shock told Ihcrn ih? ;.
the bellwas moving up. , ;
NoiAease!" said Bellamant, "it's not fivemfnu'e".
But when they looked at the ruby .studded
nometer jt was nearly three-quarters ot an hour.
""Magic? Nonsense!" said the old man, .wVi tv-
hung about him with thanks and pretty woria, "t j
only a diving-bell. My own invention',"
So they went home and wpre married, an! ibr Pr.
cess did not wear a veil at the weddinj. ths t.;i i' j
had bad enough veils to last her a Lf clime