American Fairy Tales. Baum Lyman Frank

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СКАЧАТЬ you call here. You'd better look out, sir," he added, "for if it bites you, you may have glassophobia!"

      This so frightened the poor glass-blower that he went away hurriedly. But he stopped at a drug store and put his last dime in the telephone box so he could talk to Miss Mydas without being bitten by the dog.

      "Give me Pelf 6742!" he called.

      "Hello! What is it?" said a voice.

      "I want to speak with Miss Mydas," said the glass-blower.

      Presently a sweet voice said: "This is Miss Mydas. What is it?"

      "Why have you treated me so cruelly and set the glass dog on me?" asked the poor fellow.

      "Well, to tell the truth," said the lady, "I don't like your looks. Your cheeks are pale and baggy, your hair is coarse and long, your eyes are small and red, your hands are big and rough, and you are bow-legged."

      "But I can't help my looks!" pleaded the glass-blower; "and you really promised to marry me."

      "If you were better looking I'd keep my promise," she returned. "But under the circumstances you are no fit mate for me, and unless you keep away from my mansion I shall set my glass dog on you!" Then she dropped the 'phone and would have nothing more to say.

      The miserable glass-blower went home with a heart bursting with disappointment and began tying a rope to the bedpost by which to hang himself.

      Some one knocked at the door, and, upon opening it, he saw the wizard.

      "I've lost my dog," he announced.

      "Have you, indeed?" replied the glass-blower tying a knot in the rope.

      "Yes; some one has stolen him."

      "That's too bad," declared the glass-blower, indifferently.

      "You must make me another," said the wizard.

      "But I cannot; I've thrown away my tools."

      "Then what shall I do?" asked the wizard.

      "I do not know, unless you offer a reward for the dog."

      "But I have no money," said the wizard.

      "Offer some of your compounds, then," suggested the glass-blower, who was making a noose in the rope for his head to go through.

      "The only thing I can spare," replied the wizard, thoughtfully, "is a Beauty Powder."

      "What!" cried the glass-blower, throwing down the rope, "have you really such a thing?"

      "Yes, indeed. Whoever takes the powder will become the most beautiful person in the world."

      "If you will offer that as a reward," said the glass-blower, eagerly, "I'll try to find the dog for you, for above everything else I long to be beautiful."

      "But I warn you the beauty will only be skin deep," said the wizard.

      "That's all right," replied the happy glass-blower; "when I lose my skin I shan't care to remain beautiful."

      "Then tell me where to find my dog and you shall have the powder," promised the wizard.

      So the glass-blower went out and pretended to search, and by-and-by he returned and said:

      "I've discovered the dog. You will find him in the mansion of Miss Mydas."

      The wizard went at once to see if this were true, and, sure enough, the glass dog ran out and began barking at him. Then the wizard spread out his hands and chanted a magic spell which sent the dog fast asleep, when he picked him up and carried him to his own room on the top floor of the tenement house.

      Afterward he carried the Beauty Powder to the glass-blower as a reward, and the fellow immediately swallowed it and became the most beautiful man in the world.

      The next time he called upon Miss Mydas there was no dog to bark at him, and when the young lady saw him she fell in love with his beauty at once.

      "If only you were a count or a prince," she sighed, "I'd willingly marry you."

      "But I am a prince," he answered; "the Prince of Dogblowers."

      "Ah!" said she; "then if you are willing to accept an allowance of four dollars a week I'll order the wedding cards engraved."

      The man hesitated, but when he thought of the rope hanging from his bedpost he consented to the terms.

      So they were married, and the bride was very jealous of her husband's beauty and led him a dog's life. So he managed to get into debt and made her miserable in turn.

      As for the glass dog, the wizard set him barking again by means of his wizardness and put him outside his door. I suppose he is there yet, and am rather sorry, for I should like to consult the wizard about the moral to this story.

      THE QUEEN OF QUOK

      A king once died, as kings are apt to do, being as liable to shortness of breath as other mortals.

      It was high time this king abandoned his earth life, for he had lived in a sadly extravagant manner, and his subjects could spare him without the slightest inconvenience.

      His father had left him a full treasury, both money and jewels being in abundance. But the foolish king just deceased had squandered every penny in riotous living. He had then taxed his subjects until most of them became paupers, and this money vanished in more riotous living. Next he sold all the grand old furniture in the palace; all the silver and gold plate and bric-a-brac; all the rich carpets and furnishings and even his own kingly wardrobe, reserving only a soiled and moth-eaten ermine robe to fold over his threadbare raiment. And he spent the money in further riotous living.

      Don't ask me to explain what riotous living is. I only know, from hearsay, that it is an excellent way to get rid of money. And so this spendthrift king found it.

      He now picked all the magnificent jewels from this kingly crown and from the round ball on the top of his scepter, and sold them and spent the money. Riotous living, of course. But at last he was at the end of his resources. He couldn't sell the crown itself, because no one but the king had the right to wear it. Neither could he sell the royal palace, because only the king had the right to live there.

      So, finally, he found himself reduced to a bare palace, containing only a big mahogany bedstead that he slept in, a small stool on which he sat to pull off his shoes and the moth-eaten ermine robe.

      In this straight he was reduced to the necessity of borrowing an occasional dime from his chief counselor, with which to buy a ham sandwich. And the chief counselor hadn't many dimes. One who counseled his king so foolishly was likely to ruin his own prospects as well.

      So the king, having nothing more to live for, died suddenly and left a ten-year-old son to inherit the dismantled kingdom, the moth-eaten robe and the jewel-stripped crown.

      No one envied the child, who had scarcely been thought of until he became king himself. Then he was recognized as a personage of some importance, and the politicians and hangers-on, headed by the chief counselor of the kingdom, held a meeting to determine what could be done for him.

      These folk had helped the old king to live riotously while his money lasted, and now they were poor СКАЧАТЬ