Short Story

Name: Puteri Dini Astriyana
Class: D.4.1
SN: 12.23.125

The Treasure Castle
From "The Firelight Fairy Book" by Henry Beston
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nce upon a time a hunter was roaming through the wildwood when he heard a
voice crying piteously for aid. Following the sound, the hunter plunged ahead,
and discovered a dwarf caught in a pit which had been dug to trap wild
animals.
After the hunter had rescued the dwarf from his prison, the little man said to
him: “Go ten leagues to the north till you arrive at a gigantic pine; then turn to the east, and
go ten leagues more till you come to a black castle. Enter the castle without fear, and you will
discover a round room in which stands a round ebony table laden with gold and jewels. Help
yourself to the treasure, and return home at once. And do not–now mark me well–go up
into the turret of the castle; for if you do, evil will come of it.”
So the hunter thanked the dwarf, and after making sure that he had plenty of bread and
cheese in his knapsack, hurried northwards as fast as his legs could carry him. Through
bramble and brier, through valley and wooded dale went he, and at dusk he came to a
gigantic pine standing solitary in a rocky field. Wearied with his long journey, the hunter lay
down beneath the pine and slept.
When it was dawn he woke refreshed, and turning his eyes toward the level rays of the rising
sun, began his journey to the east. Presently he reached a height in the forest, and from this
height, he saw, not very far away, a black turret rising over the ocean of bright leaves. At
high noon he arrived at the castle. It was ruinous and quite deserted; grass grew in the
courtyard and between the bricks of the terrace, and the oaken door was as soft and rotten
as a log that has long been buried in mire.
Entering the castle, the hunter soon discovered the round room. A table laden with
wonderful treasures stood in the centre of the chamber, directly under a shower of sunlight
pouring through a half-ruined window in the mildewed wall. How the diamonds and
precious stones sparkled and gleamed!
Now, while the hunter was filling his pockets, the flash of a jewel lying on the floor
happened to catch his eye, and looking down, he saw that a kind of trail of jewels lay along
the floor leading out of the room. Following the scattered gems,–which had the appearance
of having been spilled from some treasure-casket heaped too high,–the hunter came to a low
door, and opening this door, he discovered a flight of stone steps leading to the turret. The
steps were strewn carelessly with the finest emeralds, topazes, beryls, moonstones, rubies,
and crystal diamonds.
Remembering the counsel of his friend the dwarf, however, the hunter did not go up the
stairs, but hurried home with his treasure.
When the hunter returned to his country, the wonderful treasures which he had taken from
the castle in the wood made him a very rich man, and in a short time the news of his
prosperity came to the ears of the King. This King was the wickedest of rogues, and his two
best friends, the Chamberlain and the Chancellor, were every bit as unscrupulous as he. They
oppressed the people with taxes, they stole from the poor, they robbed the churches; indeed
there was no injustice which they were not ready to commit. So, when the Chamberlain
O
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heard of the hunter’s wealth, he–being a direct, straightforward rascal–declared that the
simplest thing to do would be to kill the hunter and take his money.
The Chancellor, who was somewhat more cunning and worldly, declared that it would be
better to throw the hunter into a foul, dark dungeon till he was ready to buy his freedom
with all his wealth.
The King, who was the wickedest and wisest of the precious three, declared that the best
thing to do was to find out whence the hunter had got his treasure, so that, if there
happened to be any left, they could go and get it. Then of course, they could kill the hunter
and take his treasure too.
Thus it came to pass that by a royal order the hunter was thrown into a horrible prison, and
told that his only hope of release lay in revealing the origin of his riches. So, after he had
been slowly starved and cruelly beaten, he told of the treasure castle in the wood.
On the following morning, the King, the Chamberlain, and the Chancellor, taking with them
some strong linen bags and some pack mules, rode forth in quest of the treasure. Great was
their joy when they found the treasure castle and the treasure room just as the hunter had
described. The Chancellor poured the shining gems through his claw-like fingers, and the
King and the Chamberlain threw their arms around each others’ shoulders and danced a jig
as well as their age and dignity would permit. The first fine careless rapture over, they began
pouring the treasure into the linen sacks they had brought with them, and these, filled to the
brim, they carried to the castle door.
Soon not the tiniest gem was left on the table. Suddenly the Chamberlain happened to catch
sight of the gems strewn along the floor.
“See, see!” he cried, his voice shrill and greedy. “There is yet more to be had!”
So the three rogues got down on their hands and knees and began stuffing the stray jewels
into their bulging pockets. The trail of jewels led them across the hall to the little door
opening on the stairway, and up this stairway they scrambled as fast as they could go.
At the top of the stair, in the turret, they found another round room lit by three narrow,
barred windows, and in the centre of this turret chamber, likewise laden with gold and
jewels, they found another ebony table. With shrieks of delight, the King and the Chancellor
and the Chamberlain ran to this second treasure, and plunged their hands in the glittering
golden mass.
Suddenly, a great bell rang in the castle, a great brazen bell whose deep clang beat about
them in throbbing, singing waves.
“What’s that?” said the three rogues in one breath, and rushed together to the door.
It was locked! An instant later there was a heavy explosion which threw them all to the floor,
tossing the treasure over them; and then, wonder of wonders, the castle turret, with the three
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rogues imprisoned in it, detached itself from the rest of the castle, and flew off into the air.
From the barred windows, the King, the Chamberlain, and the Chancellor saw league upon
league of the forest rushing by beneath them. Suddenly the flying room began to descend
swiftly, and landed lightly as a bird in the middle of a castle courtyard. Strange-looking
fellows with human bodies and heads of horses came rushing toward the enchanted turret,
and seized its prisoners. In a few moments they were brought before the King to whom the
treasure belonged.
Now this King was a brother of the dwarf whom the hunter had rescued from the pit. He
had a little gold crown on his head, and sat on a little golden throne with cushions of
crimson velvet.
“With what are these three charged?” said the Dwarf-King.
“With having tried to rob the treasure castle, Your Majesty,” replied one of the horse-headed
servitors in a firm, stable tone.
“Then send for the Lord Chief Justice at once,” said the Dwarf-King.
The three culprits were left standing uneasily in a kind of cage. They would have tried to
speak, but every time they opened their mouths, one of the guards gave them a dig in the
ribs.
For a space of five minutes there was quiet in the crowded throne-room, a quiet broken now
and then by a veiled cough or the noise of shuffling feet. Presently, from far away, came the
clear, sweet call of silver trumpets.
“He’s coming! He’s coming!” murmured many voices. A buzz of excitement filled the room.
Several people had to be revived with smelling salts.
The trumpets sounded a second time. The excitement increased.
The trumpets sounded a third time, near at hand. A man’s voice announced in solemn tones,
“The Lord Chief Justice approaches.”
The audience grew very still. Hardly a rustle or a flutter was heard. Suddenly the great
tapestry curtains which overhung the door parted, and there appeared, first of all, an usher,
clad in red velvet and carrying a golden wand; then came two golden-haired pages, also clad
in red velvet and carrying a flat black-lacquer box on a velvet cushion. Last of all came an
elderly man dressed in black, and carrying a golden perch on which sat a fine green parrot.
On reaching the centre of the hall, the parrot flapped its wings, arranged an upstart feather
or two, and then resumed that solemn dignity for which birds and animals are so justly
famous.
With great ceremony the gentleman in black placed the Lord Chief Justice on a lacquer stand
close by the throne of the Dwarf-King.
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Trumpets sounded. Two servitors hurried forward with the captive King.
“Your Venerability,” spoke the Dwarf-King to the parrot, who watched him intently out of
its round yellow eye, and nodded its head, “this rascal has been taken in the act of robbing
the treasure castle. What punishment do you suggest?”
At these words, the two golden-haired pages, advancing with immense solemnity, lifted the
lacquer box to within reach of the parrot’s beak. The box was full of cards. Over them,
swaying from one leg to the other as he did so, the parrot swept his head.
An icy silence fell over the throng. The King, the Chancellor, and the Chamberlain quaked in
their shoes. Presently the parrot picked out a card, and the gentleman in black handed it to
the Dwarf-King.
“Prisoner,” said the Dwarf-King to the other King, “the Lord Chief Justice condemns you
to be for the rest of your natural life Master Sweeper of the Palace Chimneys.”
Discreet applause was heard. The Chancellor was then hurried forward, and the bird picked
out a second card.
“Prisoner,” said the Dwarf-King, “the Lord Chief Justice condemns you to be for the rest of
your natural life Master Washer of the Palace Windows.”
More discreet applause was heard. And now the Chamberlain was brought to the bar. The
parrot gave him quite a wicked eye, and hesitated for some time before drawing a card.
“Prisoner,” said the Dwarf-King, reading the card which the parrot had finally chosen, “the
Lord Chief Justice condemns you for the rest of your natural life to be Master Beater of the
Palace Carpets.”
Great applause followed this sage judgment.
So the three rogues were led away, and unless you have heard to the contrary, they are still
making up for their wicked lives by enforced diligence at their tasks. The palace has five
hundred and ninety-six chimneys, eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three windows,
and eleven hundred and ninety-nine large dust-gathering carpets, and the chimneys,
windows, and carpets have to be swept, washed, and beaten at least once a week.
Now when the King, the Chancellor, and the Chamberlain failed to return, the people took
the hunter out of his prison and made him king, because he was the richest and most
powerful of them all.
As for the treasure of the treasure castle, it is still there, packed in the linen sacks, lying just
inside the great door.
Perhaps some day you may find it. If you do, don’t be greedy, and don’t go up to the turret
chamber.
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License
While the text and the illustrations used in this work are out of copyright, the unique
presentation created for those elements is copyrighted. You may use, copy and distribute this
work freely but you are not authorized to use this work for commercial purpose and you
may not alter, transform, or build upon this work in any way.
© Copyright 2008 www.tonightsbedtimestory.com, all rights reserved.

The Prince With the Nose
From "The Fairy Book" by Miss Mulock
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here was once a king who was passionately in love with a beautiful princess,
but she could not be married because a magician had enchanted her. The king
went to a good fairy to inquire what he should do. Said the fairy, after receiving
him graciously; “Sir, I will tell you a secret. The princess has a great cat whom
she loves so well that she cares for nothing and nobody else; but she will be
obliged to marry any person who is adroit enough to walk upon the cat’s tail.”
“That will not be very difficult,” thought the king to himself, and departed, resolving to
trample the cat’s tail to pieces rather than not succeed in walking upon it. He went
immediately to the palace of his fair mistress and the cat; the animal came in front of him,
arching its back in anger as it was wont to do. The king lifted up his foot, thinking nothing
would be so easy as to tread on the tail, but he found himself mistaken. Minon—that was
the creature’s name—twisted itself round so sharply that the king only hurt his own foot by
stamping on the floor. For eight days did he pursue the cat everywhere: up and down the
palace he was after it from morning till night, but with no better success; the tail seemed
made of quicksilver, so very lively was it. At last the king had the good fortune to catch
Minon sleeping, when tramp, tramp! he trod on the tail with all his force.
Minon woke up, mewed horribly, and immediately changed from a cat into a large, fiercelooking
man, who regarded the king with flashing eyes.
“You must marry the princess,” cried he, “because you have broken the enchantment in
which I held her; but I will be revenged on you. You shall have a son with a nose as long
as—that;” he made in the air a curve of half a foot; “yet he shall believe it is just like all other
noses, and shall be always unfortunate till he has found out it is not. And if you ever tell
anybody of this threat of mine, you shall die on the spot.” So saying, the magician
disappeared.
The king, who was at first much terrified, soon began to laugh at this adventure. “My son
might have a worse misfortune than too long a nose,” thought he. “At least it will hinder
him neither in seeing nor hearing. I will go and find the princess, and marry her at once.”
He did so, but he only lived a few months after, and died before his little son was born, so
that nobody knew anything about the secret of the nose.
The little prince was so much wished for, that when he came into the world they agreed to
call him Prince Wish. He had beautiful blue eyes and a sweet little mouth, but his nose was
so big that it covered half his face. The queen, his mother, was inconsolable; but her ladies
tried to satisfy her by telling her that the nose was not nearly so large as it seemed, that it
would grow smaller as the prince grew bigger, and that if it did not a large nose was
indispensable to a hero. All great soldiers, they said, had great noses, as everybody knew. The
queen was so very fond of her son that she listened eagerly to all this comfort. Shortly she
grew so used to the prince’s nose that it did not seem to her any larger than ordinary noses
of the court; where, in process of time, everybody with a long nose was very much admired,
and the unfortunate people who had only snubs were taken very little notice of.
Great care was observed in the education of the prince; and as soon as he could speak they
told him all sorts of amusing tales, in which all the bad people had short noses, and all the
good people had long ones. No person was suffered to come near him who had not a nose
T
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of more than ordinary length; nay, to such an extent did the courtiers carry their fancy, that
the noses of all the little babies were ordered to be pulled out as far as possible several times
a day, in order to make them grow. But grow as they would, they never could grow as long
as that of Prince Wish. When he was old enough his tutor taught him history; and whenever
any great king or lovely princess was referred to, the tutor always took care to mention that
he or she had a long nose. All the royal apartments were filled with pictures and portraits
having this peculiarity, so that at last Prince Wish began to regard the length of his nose as
his greatest perfection, and would not have had it an inch less even to save his crown.
When he was twenty years old his mother and his people wished him to marry. They
procured for him the likenesses of many princesses, but the one he preferred was Princess
Darling, daughter of a powerful monarch and heiress to several kingdoms. Alas! with all her
beauty, this princess had one great misfortune, a little turned-up nose, which, every one else
said, made her only the more bewitching. But here, in the kingdom of Prince Wish, the
courtiers were thrown by it into the utmost perplexity. They were in the habit of laughing at
all small noses; but how dared they make fun of the nose of Princess Darling? Two
unfortunate gentlemen, whom Prince Wish had overheard doing so, were ignominiously
banished from the court and capital.
After this, the courtiers became alarmed, and tried to correct their habit of speech; but they
would have found themselves in constant difficulties, had not one clever person struck out a
bright idea. He said that though it was indispensably necessary for a man to have a great
nose, women were different; and that a learned man had discovered in a very old manuscript
that the celebrated Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, the beauty of the ancient world, had a
turned-up nose. At this information Prince Wish was so delighted that he made the courtier
a very handsome present, and immediately sent off ambassadors to demand Princess Darling
in marriage.
She accepted his offer at once, and returned with the ambassadors. He made all haste to
meet and welcome her; but when she was only three leagues distant from his capital, before
he had time even to kiss her hand, the magician who had once assumed the shape of his
mother’s cat, Minon, appeared in the air and carried her off before the lover’s very eyes.
Prince Wish, almost beside himself with grief, declared that nothing should induce him to
return to his throne and kingdom till he had found Darling. He would suffer none of his
courtiers or attendants to follow him; but, bidding them all adieu, mounted a good horse,
laid the reins on the animal’s neck, and let him take him wherever he would.
The horse entered a wide-extended plain, and trotted on steadily the whole day without
finding a single house. Master and beast began almost to faint with hunger; and Prince Wish
might have wished himself safe at home again, had he not discovered, just at dusk, a cavern,
where there sat, beside a bright lantern, a little woman who might have been more than a
hundred years old.
She put on her spectacles the better to look at the stranger, and he noticed that her nose was
so small that the spectacles would hardly stay on; then the prince and the fairy,—for it was a
fairy—burst into a mutual fit of laughter.
“What a funny nose?” cried the one.
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“Not so funny as yours, madam,” returned the other. “But pray let us leave our noses alone,
and be good enough to give me something to eat, for I am dying with hunger, and so is my
poor horse.”
“With all my heart,” answered the fairy. “Although your nose is ridiculously long, you are no
less the son of one of my best friends. I loved your father like a brother; he had a very
handsome nose.”
“What is wanting to my nose?” asked Wish, rather savagely.
“Oh! nothing at all. On the contrary there is a great deal too much of it; but never mind, one
may be a very honest man, and yet have too big a nose. As I said, I was a great friend of your
father’s; he came often to see me. I was very pretty then, and oftentimes he used to say to
me, ‘My sister—’”
“I will hear the rest, madam, with pleasure, when I have supped; but will you condescend to
remember that I have tasted nothing all day?”
“Poor boy,” said the fairy, “I will give you some supper directly; and while you eat it I will
tell you my history in six words, for I hate much talking. A long tongue is as insupportable as
a long nose; and I remember when I was young how much I used to be admired because I
was not a talker; indeed, some one said to the queen, my mother,—for poor as you see me
now I am the daughter of a great king, who always—”
“Ate when he was hungry, I hope,” interrupted the Prince, whose patience was fast
departing.
“You are right,” said the imperturbable old fairy; “and I will bring you your supper directly,
only I wish first just to say that the king my father—”
“Hang the king your father!” Prince Wish was about to exclaim, but he stopped himself, and
only observed that however the pleasure of her conversation might make him forget his
hunger, it could not have the same effect upon his horse, who was really starving.
The fairy, pleased at his civility, called her servants and bade them supply him at once with
all he needed. “And,” added she, “I must say you are very polite and very good-tempered, in
spite of your nose.”
“What has the old woman to do with my nose?” thought the prince. “If I were not so very
hungry I would soon show her what she is—a regular old gossip and chatter-box. She to
fancy she talks little, indeed! One must be very foolish not to know one’s own defects. This
comes of being born a princess. Flatterers have spoiled her, and persuaded her that she talks
little. Little, indeed! I never knew anybody chatter so much.”
While the prince thus meditated, the servants were laying the table, the fairy asking them a
hundred unnecessary questions, simply for the pleasure of hearing herself talk. “Well,”
thought Wish, “I am delighted that I came hither, if only to learn how wise I have been in
never listening to flatterers, who hide from us our faults, or make us believe they are
perfections. But they could never deceive me. I know all my own weak points, I trust.” As
truly he believed he did.
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So he went on eating contentedly, nor stopped till the old fairy began to address him.
“Prince,” said she, “will you be kind enough to turn a little? Your nose casts such a shadow
that I cannot see what is in my plate. And, as I was saying, your father admired me and
always made me welcome at court. What is the court etiquette there now? Do the ladies still
go to assemblies, promenades, balls?—I beg your pardon for laughing, but how very long
your nose is.”
“I wish you would cease to speak of my nose,” said the prince, becoming annoyed. “It is
what it is, and I do not desire it any shorter.”
“Oh! I see that I have vexed you,” returned the fairy. “Nevertheless, I am one of your best
friends, and so I shall take the liberty of always—” She would doubtless have gone on
talking till midnight; but the prince, unable to bear it any longer, here interrupted her,
thanked her for her hospitality, bade her a hasty adieu, and rode away.
He travelled for a long time, half over the world, but he heard no news of Princess Darling.
However, in each place he went to, he heard one remarkable fact—the great length of his
own nose. The little boys in the streets jeered at him, the peasants stared at him, and the
more polite ladies and gentlemen whom he met in society used to try in vain to keep from
laughing, and to get out of his way as soon as they could. So the poor prince became
gradually quite forlorn and solitary; he thought all the world was mad, but still he never
thought of there being anything queer about his own nose.
At last the old fairy, who, though she was a chatter-box, was very good-natured, saw that he
was almost breaking his heart. She felt sorry for him, and wished to help him in spite of
himself, for she knew the enchantment, which hid from him the Princess Darling, could
never be broken till he had discovered his own defect. So she went in search of the princess,
and being more powerful than the magician, since she was a good fairy, and he was an evil
magician, she got her away from him, and shut her up in a palace of crystal, which she placed
on the road which Prince Wish had to pass.
He was riding along, very melancholy, when he saw the palace; and at its entrance was a
room, made of the purest glass, in which sat his beloved princess, smiling and beautiful as
ever. He leaped from his horse, and ran towards her. She held out her hand for him to kiss,
but he could not get at it for the glass. Transported with eagerness and delight, he dashed his
sword through the crystal, and succeeded in breaking a small opening, to which she put up
her beautiful rosy mouth. But it was in vain, Prince Wish could not approach it. He twisted
his neck about, and turned his head on all sides, till at length, putting up his hand to his face,
he discovered the impediment.
“It must be confessed,” exclaimed he, “that my nose is too long.”
That moment the glass walls all split asunder, and the old fairy appeared, leading Princess
Darling.
“Avow, prince,” said she, “that you are very much obliged to me, for now the enchantment
is ended. You may marry the object of your choice. But,” added she, smiling, “I fear I might
have talked to you for ever on the subject of your nose, and you would not have believed me
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in its length, till it became an obstacle to your own inclinations. Now behold it!” and she
held up a crystal mirror. “Are you satisfied to be no different from other people?”
“Perfectly,” said Prince Wish, who found his nose had shrunk to an ordinary length. And,
taking the Princess Darling by the hand, he kissed her, courteously, affectionately, and
satisfactorily. Then they departed to their own country, and lived very happy all their days.
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License
While the text and the illustrations used in this work are out of copyright, the unique
presentation created for those elements is copyrighted. You may use, copy and distribute this
work freely but you are not authorized to use this work for commercial purpose and you
may not alter, transform, or build upon this work in any way.
© Copyright 2008 www.tonightsbedtimestory.com, all rights reserved.