IX
THE TERRIBLE PUNISHMENT OF THE PIRATE AND THE OLD WITCH
MARY FRANCES heard music and singing. She heard the words:
Then Mary Frances remembered, and stepped forward with the story.
She was met by a beautiful young lady, who introduced herself as the Story Lady, and a small company of story people, who led her to the castle of the King and Queen of Story Island. They took her into the court, where the rulers sat in state.
“Welcome!” said the Story King, rising.
“Welcome!” said the Story Queen, rising.
Then the King made a speech.
“You have done us a great service, young friend,” he said; “and we hope to do something for you to show how much we appreciate it.”
“Sir,” said Mary Frances, handing him the bottle, “if it had not been for the dolphin and the cat, I never could have found the story.”
“The dolphin has been rewarded,” said the Story King; “he has had his head cut off——”
“Oh,” cried Mary Frances, “the poor, dear dolphin!”
“And has been turned again into a prince!” added the Story Queen. “He was the prince who kissed the Sleeping Beauty, and was under the spell of the old witch outside the chain curtain.”
“And the cat has been rewarded,” said the King. “He has charge of all the cats and kittens in all the stories ever told, or ever-to-be-told.”
This made Mary Frances happy, for she knew the cat would love that charge.
“Now,” said the Story King, “if you are not too tired, we will get over the business of trying the pirate and the witch!”
“I am not tired, thank you,” said Mary Frances, “for I slept three hundred and sixty-five days and nights on my way here.”
“Good!” said the King. “Please have this seat,” and he led her to a deep blue velvet chair.
The King then touched a button under the table, and a door opened.
In came a large man with a large beard. Mary Frances knew him at once. He was Blue Beard. He was trembling terribly.
“Fetch in the pirate, Blue Beard,” ordered the King.
Blue Beard bowed and left the room. Soon there came the clanging of chains, and Blue Beard led the pirate into the room, all wound up in a great section of the iron-chain curtain. He was dreadfully pale and very angry. His mouth was frothing and his breath was coming out of his nostrils like smoke.
He glowered at Mary Frances as though he would like to bite her, but she was not afraid.
“Behave!” said the King. “You cannot frighten a person who has been so brave as to part the iron-chain curtain. If she had been afraid of the old witch, the curtain would not have parted, and all the children in the world would have been still waiting for new stories.”
He turned to the Queen. “Have you a fitting punishment, my dear?” he asked.
“I have,” said the Queen, very solemnly. “It is this: the pirate shall never again hear a story or read a story!”
On hearing his fate the pirate screamed, “Anything rather than that! Please have mercy!” And he fell down in a dead faint.
Blue Beard dragged him out. Immediately after, the King ordered the old witch in.
“Tell the story of the lost story,” ordered the King.
“Oh, S-Sir,” stammered the old witch, “Oh, S-Sir, the pirate st-stole it, and took it on his sh-ship, and I st-stole it from him and put it in a bottle, and was going to bring it back, but I lost it overboard in a st-storm. I didn’t want the pirate to know I took it, for he would have beaten me to death.”
“Why did you try to take it from this young lady?” asked the Queen.
The old witch hung her head. “Because I wanted to keep it for my-s-self,” she said.
“Well, what shall her punishment be, my dear?” asked the King.
“She shall be punished by never hearing the end of a story,” declared the Queen. “Only to the middle of a story shall she hear—never to the end.”
Then the old witch gave a loud shriek, and ran out of the room as fast as she could. The King sent a giant after her, and had him lock both the pirate and the old witch up in big iron baskets, and carry them off to the end of Snowwhere.
“And now, my dear,” said the King, “what is to be our dear little friend’s reward?”
“Two rewards shall be hers,” replied the Queen. “One is that she shall know that all the children of the world can have new stories every day; and the other is that she can stay with us for a visit and hear all the stories she wishes to hear.”
“Very good,” said the King. “Let us now hear the lost story.” And all the Story People sat down to form a double circle.
With that the Story Lady, dressed like a butterfly, came dancing in. The King opened the green bottle, took out the roll of paper and handed it to her. She took her place at the end just where the circle closed, and began to read aloud the lost story, which is entitled “The Bubble Story.”