第29章 THE STAR-CHILD(4)

For the space of three years he wandered over the world,and in the world there was neither love nor loving-kindness nor charity for him,but it was even such a world as he had made for himself in the days of his great pride.

And one evening he came to the gate of a strong-walled city that stood by a river,and,weary and footsore though he was,he made to enter in.But the soldiers who stood on guard dropped their halberts across the entrance,and said roughly to him,'What is thy business in the city?'

'I am seeking for my mother,'he answered,'and I pray ye to suffer me to pass,for it may be that she is in this city.'

But they mocked at him,and one of them wagged a black beard,and set down his shield and cried,'Of a truth,thy mother will not be merry when she sees thee,for thou art more ill-favoured than the toad of the marsh,or the adder that crawls in the fen.Get thee gone.Get thee gone.Thy mother dwells not in this city.'

And another,who held a yellow banner in his hand,said to him,'Who is thy mother,and wherefore art thou seeking for her?'

And he answered,'My mother is a beggar even as I am,and I have treated her evilly,and I pray ye to suffer me to pass that she may give me her forgiveness,if it be that she tarrieth in this city.'

But they would not,and pricked him with their spears.

And,as he turned away weeping,one whose armour was inlaid with gilt flowers,and on whose helmet couched a lion that had wings,came up and made inquiry of the soldiers who it was who had sought entrance.And they said to him,'It is a beggar and the child of a beggar,and we have driven him away.'

'Nay,'he cried,laughing,'but we will sell the foul thing for a slave,and his price shall be the price of a bowl of sweet wine.'

And an old and evil-visaged man who was passing by called out,and said,'I will buy him for that price,'and,when he had paid the price,he took the Star-Child by the hand and led him into the city.

And after that they had gone through many streets they came to a little door that was set in a wall that was covered with a pomegranate tree.And the old man touched the door with a ring of graved jasper and it opened,and they went down five steps of brass into a garden filled with black poppies and green jars of burnt clay.And the old man took then from his turban a scarf of figured silk,and bound with it the eyes of the Star-Child,and drave him in front of him.And when the scarf was taken off his eyes,the Star-Child found himself in a dungeon,that was lit by a lantern of horn.

And the old man set before him some mouldy bread on a trencher and said,'Eat,'and some brackish water in a cup and said,'Drink,'

and when he had eaten and drunk,the old man went out,locking the door behind him and fastening it with an iron chain.

And on the morrow the old man,who was indeed the subtlest of the magicians of Libya and had learned his art from one who dwelt in the tombs of the Nile,came in to him and frowned at him,and said,'In a wood that is nigh to the gate of this city of Giaours there are three pieces of gold.One is of white gold,and another is of yellow gold,and the gold of the third one is red.To-day thou shalt bring me the piece of white gold,and if thou bringest it not back,I will beat thee with a hundred stripes.Get thee away quickly,and at sunset I will be waiting for thee at the door of the garden.See that thou bringest the white gold,or it shall go ill with thee,for thou art my slave,and I have bought thee for the price of a bowl of sweet wine.'And he bound the eyes of the Star-Child with the scarf of figured silk,and led him through the house,and through the garden of poppies,and up the five steps of brass.And having opened the little door with his ring he set him in the street.

And the Star-Child went out of the gate of the city,and came to the wood of which the Magician had spoken to him.

Now this wood was very fair to look at from without,and seemed full of singing birds and of sweet-scented flowers,and the Star-Child entered it gladly.Yet did its beauty profit him little,for wherever he went harsh briars and thorns shot up from the ground and encompassed him,and evil nettles stung him,and the thistle pierced him with her daggers,so that he was in sore distress.Nor could he anywhere find the piece of white gold of which the Magician had spoken,though he sought for it from morn to noon,and from noon to sunset.And at sunset he set his face towards home,weeping bitterly,for he knew what fate was in store for him.

But when he had reached the outskirts of the wood,he heard from a thicket a cry as of some one in pain.And forgetting his own sorrow he ran back to the place,and saw there a little Hare caught in a trap that some hunter had set for it.

And the Star-Child had pity on it,and released it,and said to it,'I am myself but a slave,yet may I give thee thy freedom.'

And the Hare answered him,and said:'Surely thou hast given me freedom,and what shall I give thee in return?'

And the Star-Child said to it,'I am seeking for a piece of white gold,nor can I anywhere find it,and if I bring it not to my master he will beat me.'

'Come thou with me,'said the Hare,'and I will lead thee to it,for I know where it is hidden,and for what purpose.'

So the Star-Child went with the Hare,and lo!in the cleft of a great oak-tree he saw the piece of white gold that he was seeking.

And he was filled with joy,and seized it,and said to the Hare,'The service that I did to thee thou hast rendered back again many times over,and the kindness that I showed thee thou hast repaid a hundred-fold.'

'Nay,'answered the Hare,'but as thou dealt with me,so I did deal with thee,'and it ran away swiftly,and the Star-Child went towards the city.

Now at the gate of the city there was seated one who was a leper.

Over his face hung a cowl of grey linen,and through the eyelets his eyes gleamed like red coals.And when he saw the Star-Child coming,he struck upon a wooden bowl,and clattered his bell,and called out to him,and said,'Give me a piece of money,or I must die of hunger.For they have thrust me out of the city,and there is no one who has pity on me.'