XVIIII
I enter the labyrinth and listen to the rules governing my progress therein. I meet a terrible lion which I overcome quite readily, as I likewise do other difficulties I encounter, especially a huge serpent which I gorge with an indigestible meal.
NOTWITHSTANDING what the hermit had said, I proceeded on my journey across the mountains. When I reached the highest peak I saw a square of white trees. This was of great extent, inclosing several hundred square miles of land, which was full of hills and rivers. I noticed the trees within the square were so closely set the ground was not visible from my position, and if I had passed over it in my airship I should have been none the wiser.
I observed, however, what I supposed to be an entrance on each of the four sides, and made my way to the nearest one.
As I was about to enter, I was accosted by a voice (the owner of which I could not discover, though I diligently sought to do so) which said:
“Enterest thou here as a suitor to the hand of the princess?”
“Thou dost speak with great truthfulness,” I made answer.
“Then harken thou to the following rules, each one of which must receive strict attention at your hands under penalty of death.
“First: If thou hast fought because of the princess, turn back at once.
“Second: Thou shalt seek to gain the secret chamber by no unfair means.
“Third: Thou shalt not speak aloud, unless bidden so to do by the princess herself.
“Fourth: Thou shalt not carry any weapon.
“Fifth: Thou shalt not kill anything.
“Sixth: Thou shalt not pluck any leaf, blossom, twig, or limb that is alive.
“Seventh: Thou shalt not leave marks by the aid of which to retrace thy steps.
“Eighth: Thou shalt not depart from the paths on any pretense whatsoever.
“Dost thou agree to these rules?”
“I do,” was my reply.
“Know ye the breaking of any of them will result in thy instant death?”
“I know.”
“Proceed.”
I deposited all my weapons, of which I had a goodly number, on a pile of several hundred others, and stood a moment in contemplation.
Before me were three avenues, so closely lined with trees with such dense foliage the sky was nowhere visible and a deep twilight pervaded beneath them. There was one straight ahead, one to the right, one to the left, each leading at right angle to its neighbor. All were alike, with this difference: that two of them somehow gave me the feeling they had been well traveled, while the third, which was on the right, had been little used.
I chose the one on the right and started forward.
How far I had traveled I do not know, for I had gone at a brisk pace and the way had been so winding and twisting and turning, when there came to my ears the low growl of an eager lion. I hailed the sound with joy, for I was satisfied the road leading to victory would be a very dangerous one and most difficult to travel, and I had gone such a distance without an obstacle I was beginning to be doubtful. The muffled roar of the beast reassured me and I pressed onward.
I came to where the road branched in three directions. I was thankful I possessed a keen ear, for by its aid was I enabled to take the one which led to the lion, and I soon saw him stretched on the ground gnawing a bone which was probably all that was left of some suitor.
The lion raised his head and looked at me long and steadily, as if to say: “What! Another?”
Now, I had heard if a lion meets an unflinching gaze he will take himself off without attempting to injure the gazer. I walked within a few yards and set my glance on his eyes. He seemed slightly astonished after a few minutes, and I persisted. Then his tail began to sway from side to side with great force. His next movement was to fix himself for a spring. Perhaps he had had so much of that gazing business he was used to it; in any event, it was not working like a charm, and I resorted to other tactics.
I must pass that lion, and the path was so narrow his body completely filled it.
I stood my ground and saw his muscles set as his body grew closer and closer to the ground. Then his fibers began to tremble, and I knew the time was near at hand.
With a terrific roar that almost unsettled me, he sprang into the air. I stooped low and ran with great speed, passing under him as he flew to the spot I had just quitted. Nor did I slacken my speed until I reached a river flowing with surging force down a channel fifteen or twenty feet across. Hearing the lion coming, I cast about me, knowing if I could cross the stream the lion would not, for lions hate water, like all the cat tribe.
I repeated the rules so many times as I came along I knew them by heart. “Thou shalt not pluck any leaf, blossom, twig, or limb that is alive,” one of them said.
Now, I saw a dead vine which hung from the top of one of the trees, and which was broken off a few feet from the ground. This last I did not discover until I had made an examination, for the end was hidden in the foliage. The lion was coming with more speed as my tracks were so fresh. I seized the end of the vine firmly in my hands and swung backward and forward until by an extra effort I reached the other side just as the lion reached the spot I had swung from. By carefully gauging the distance I sent the vineback to its hiding place in order that I should leave nothing by which I might retrace my steps, to comply with another of the rules.
I thought I heard an exclamation near by, but could not discern from whence it came. As night was approaching I hastened on in the hope I might find some safe place for the night.
I had proceeded some space by devious paths, keeping to the right when there was a fork in the roads, until I stood at the top of an incline, down which the narrow way went on. About half way to the bottom I saw a huge serpent lying with his great mouth directly toward me, the balance of him meandering among the trees and shrubs on both sides, leaving no possibility of my passing him.
Again I was delighted at this new evidence I was on the right road, and devised a plan by which I circumvented the snake. Since my boyhood experience I had taken great joy in outwitting reptiles, and had been always successful; therefore I had no fear in this case.
As my enemy appeared half asleep, having probably been gorged by other suitors, but not in the manner following, I took that much advantage of him.
The top of the hill was well supplied with large round boulders. I loosened one of them, and it was a prodigious one, and put it in the center of the path. I went for another and another until I had quite a stock of stone cannon balls.
Then I sighted one of them most carefully and sent it spinning down the hill. It went true as a die and entered the serpent’s mouth, holding it firmly, for a moment, to the ground. Then I opened my fusillade in dead earnest, and such a dinner no scaly fiend ever had, for by the time I got to the coffee and cigars he was so full the last few hit against those lodged in his mouth and rolled on harmlessly. His condition must have been indeed awkward, for him, for he now lay as straight as a kite-string in a gale, and he could but emit a hoarse hiss as I passed him by, wishing him success in recovering from his indigestion.
I was now quite positive I heard a suppressed laugh, but could discover no one by peering into the foliage, as I was not permitted to leave the path on any pretense.
I continued my journey and had barely reached the bottom of the incline when there came shooting after me such a torrent of boulders I had torun for it to save my life, and I am quite sure I should have been a goner had the path continued straight; but, to my great joy, I came upon an abrupt turn and lost no time in getting around the happy corner.
The poor snake’s stomach must have troubled him. I fear the effort required to relieve his overcharged condition quite put him out of the running, for I saw and heard no more of him.
I came next to a chasm, several yards in width and exceedingly deep. There was nothing but shrubbery on either side, and it was impossible to scale this or the other side. Neither was it possible for me to jump it, and I am no mean jumper.
There was nothing that could be of any possible assistance but a bare pole. I tried to push this across, but could not manage it. I endeavored to let it fall over, but in length it was a trifle short of the width of the chasm, and I almost lost it.
I had about concluded to camp there for the night, though I shivered when I thought of the serpent and that he might give chase when he had recuperated somewhat. The more I thought of that venom-spitter, the more reluctant was I to remain on that side of the gorge during thewhole night, unarmed as I was and unprotected in any way from a thing that could follow me anywhere I might go.
With joy I finally saw a crack in the edge of the rock. I quickly grasped the pole and rammed one end into that, wedging it tightly. This left it in a perpendicular position, and I lost no time mounting to its top. When there it seemed such a short distance across I felt inclined to chance a jump for it; but my sense came to my rescue, and getting a secure grip on the very end of the pole with both hands, I started it to falling across. When I was well under way through the air, I gave my body a twist and lengthened the pole in that manner by my whole length, which brought me sprawling but happily on the other side, the pole tumbling into the stream. Thus I had again left nothing by which I could retrace my steps.
I was mightily well pleased to find a snug house before I had gone half a mile, for I was bent on putting as much space between that snake and myself, for that chasm did not seem such a terrible thing for him to cross when I remembered his horrible length—it would have been no trick at all for him to have spanned it with but a kink or two.
So, as I say, I was delighted at the sight of the habitation.
On the steps sat an old woman, and I paid her a pleasant time of day. She said not a word, but arose and entered the house.
My nose told me there was that within which would quiet the pangs of hunger now giving me much discomfort, and I followed her.
There was a table with one chair at it and she was busy at the fire. I stood by the chair and she looked at me with every kind of astonishment. This confused me so that I sat in the chair and she went on with her cooking.
I could not resist the tempting meal that lay before me, and as she made no protest when I had taken one mouthful, and I eyed her closely as I took it, I took another, and another, until I had finally eaten a hearty meal, and felt nice and smooth and very much pleased with everything.
I arose and gazed about me. She went to a ladder which led to an upper floor, looked up it and then passed out the door. When she returned, which she did after a few minutes, I was in the very same place.
She went to the ladder again, looked up it, andagain passed out. When she again returned I was still there. Again she went to the ladder, looked up it a third time, and a third time passed out.
What she meant now began to percolate through my brain. You see, I had eaten so heartily and felt so comfortable my brain had got to sleep before my body had, and I had really not been thinking. But now I went to the ladder and looked up, and was so doing when she again returned to the door, glanced at me and went away.
Then I climbed the ladder and I was almost asleep all over before I could get to it; for there before my very eyes was the softest bed conjurable. So, I do not remember anything more, whether I just tumbled onto the cozy thing and was in slumber before I struck it, or whether I went through the usual routine.
Anyhow, my repose was pleasant, for it was filled with dreams of the beautiful princess I was soon to see, as it seemed to me the difficulties I had already overcome were greater than any that could possibly present themselves. Alas, how mistaken was I!