Richards Laura Elizabeth Howe - Honor Bright стр 17.

Zitli nodded thrice, gravely. Mademoiselle, he said, those people can have what they like or the appearance of it. Never while I live will I spend this gold; and mademoiselle may think this strange, but it is true since I have had it my back has given me no pain; but none at all, compared with former times. It is true, as my sister says, that the doctor at Lucerne gave also some help; yes, I am not ungrateful to him; but he nodded several times, gravely, as he replaced the bag around his neck.

Are they often seen? queried Honor. Could do you suppose a girl could see them, Zitli?

But assuredly! indeed, some hold that they are kinder to maidens than to men. There is the story of Magdalen of Pilatus. Mademoiselle has never heard that? She lived at the foot of that dreadful mountain Zitli crossed himself again and she was a good girl, and beautiful, but very poor. Higher up on the mountain lived her mothers cousin Klaus, and he was very rich, and his gold, men said, come by in no honest way, but of that I know nothing. Once the mother fell sick, and felt a longing for a certain kind of cheese, which they were too poor to buy. Magdalen went to the rich Klaus, and asked for a piece of this cheese, of which it was known that he possessed a large store, but he would not give her so much as would lie on the point of a pin, and drove her away with cruel words. Then she went to her betrothed, Alois, a good youth, but little richer than herself. He gave her what cheese he had; but as she was returning home down the mountain, her foot slipped, and she dropped the cheese, which rolled down the precipice and was lost. Magdalen sat down and wept bitterly; as she wept, she felt a pull at her sleeve, and looking up, lo! there was a little green man with a long beard and a cheese on his shoulder. In his hand he held a green plant, and he bade Magdalen give over her weeping.

Take this plant, he said, and make of it a tisane for your mother; it will cure her of her sickness. As for cheese, here is one that will do instead of that you lost!

He then disappeared like a mist of night. Magdalen hastened home and made the tisane and gave it to her mother, who recovered her health at once. And when they cut open the cheese, mademoiselle, it was all pure gold within. So they became rich, and Magdalen and Alois were married, and bought many fine pastures and cows, and became the happiest couple in Switzerland. But from that day the wicked Klaus began to lose his riches, and at last he died a beggar whom Magdalen fed out of her bounty.

CHAPTER VIII THE MOUNTAIN FIRESIDE

To begin with, Atli came. At five oclock the farmyard dog, a huge St. Bernard, began to bark; deep, regular barks, like the booming of distant cannon. Zitli looked up from his carving, Gretli turned from

her frying-pan; both faces were bright with a look which, Honor was to find out, meant always one thing.

Atli comes! said the boy.

Is that why the dog barks? asked Honor. Can he see him?

Gretli laughed. Not so, mademoiselle! Probably Atli has set his foot on a stone at the bottom of the Alp; possibly there has been no sound at all, and Tell knows because he knows, all simply. Soon you will hear the goats; they have less intelligence, you understand.

Sure enough, a few minutes later came bleatings, at first faint and scattered, then gathering in strength and volume, till at last the whole herd, Bimbo leading, Moufflon bringing up the rear, came scampering over the rocks and formed in an eager huddle on the greensward, facing the climbing path. Again a few minutes, and an object appeared, at sight of which a perfect chorus of bleats broke out, while the barking of Tell grew louder and more eager. First the top, then the whole, of a green pointed hat; then a brown, ruddy, smiling face; then a pair of massive shoulders; finally the whole (which means a great deal) of Atli.

Atli comes! repeated the brother and sister in happy duet, and both hastened out, with a glance of smiling apology at the young guest who could not follow, could only gaze with all her eyes from her window, could only thrill through all her being at the really splendid vision of the young giant. It was as if one of her mountains had taken human shape and come a-visiting; only, no mountain could look so friendly or smile so kindly. She could hear the eager questions, the gay laughing answers. Had all gone well? Was the clover sufficient? Were the children content with the pasture?

My faith, yes! they might well be. The clover is thick as as thy hair, my Gretli! Not one of them but desired two mouths that she might eat the faster.

La Dumaine led the way well? But why do I ask? Surely she did!

Atli nodded emphatically.

She is a queen indeed! There is no such leader in these Alps. Once only that one a jerk of the head conveyed, somehow, one could not tell how, that that one was the Duchess of Montbazon tried to push ahead, and got a thrust in the side from our Queens horn that sent her back roaring, I promise you. Saperli poppette! in the home yard La Dumaine is the gentille demoiselle , see you; on the Alp she is General as well as Queen.