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The Bound Princess
I The Fire-Eaters |
II The Galloping Plough |
III The Thirsty Well |
IV The Princess Melilot |
V The Burning Rose |
VI The Camphor-Worm
II
THE GALLOPING PLOUGH
NOODLE went on many
miles till he came near
to a rich man's farm.
Though it was the
middle of winter, all
the fields showed crops
of corn in progress;
here it was in thin blade, and here green,
but in full ear; and here it was ripe and
ready for harvest. 'How is this,' he said
to the first man he met, 'that you have
corn here in the middle of winter ? '
'Ah ! ' said the man, you have not heard
of the Galloping Plough; you too have to
fall under bondage to my master,' 'What
is your master?' inquired Noodle, 'and
in what bondage does he bind man?'
'My master, and your master that shall
soon be,' answered the old man, 'is the
owner of all this land and the farmer of it.
He is rich and sleek and fat like his own
furrows, for he has the Galloping Plough
as his possession. Ah, that! 't is a very
miracle, a wonder, a thing to catch at the
heartstrings of all beholders; it shines like
a moonbeam, and is better than an Arab
mare for swiftness; it warms the very
ground that it enters, so that seeds take
root and spring, though it be the middle
of winter. No man sees it but what he
loses his heart to it, and sells his freedom
for the possession of it. All here are men
like myself who have become slaves because of that desire. You also, when you
see it, will become slave to it.'
Noodle went on through the summer
and the spring corn, till he came to bare
fields. Ahead of him on a hill-top he saw
the farmer himself, sleek and rosy, and of full paunch, lolling like a lord at his ease ;
yet with a working eye in the midst of his
leisure.
To and fro, up to him and back, shot
a silver gleam over the purple brown
of the fields; and Noodle's heart gave a
thump at the sight, for the spell of the
Galloping Plough was on him.
Now and then he heard a clear sound
that startled him with its note. It was
like the sweet whistling cry of a bird many
times multiplied. Ever when the silver
gleam of the Plough had run its farthest
from the farmer, the cry sounded; and at
the sound the gleam wavered and stayed
and flew back dartingly to the farm-
er's side. So Noodle understood how
this was the farmer's signal for the Plough
to return; and the Plough knew it as a
horse its master's voice, and came so fast
that the wind whistled against its silver
side.
As he watched, Noodle's heart went
down into the valley and up the hillside,
following in the track of the Galloping
Plough. 'I can never be happy again,'
thought he; 'either I must possess it, or
must die.'
He came to the farmer where he sat
calling his Plough to him and letting it
go; and the farmer smiled, the wide
indulgent smile of a man who knows that
a bargain is about to fall his way.
'What is the price,' asked Noodle, of of
yonder Galloping Plough, that runs like
an Arab mare, and returns to you at your
call?'
Said the farmer, 'A year's service; and
if the Plough will follow you, it is yours;
if not, then you must be my bondman
until you die!'
Noodle looked once the way of the
Galloping Plough, and his heart flapped
at his side like a sail which the wind drops and lets go ; and he had no thought or
will left in him but to be where the Galloping Plough was. So he closed hands
on the bargain, to be the farmer's servant
either for a year, or for his whole life.
For a year he worked upon the farm,
and all the while plotted how he might
win the Galloping Plough to himself.
The farmer kept no watch upon it, nor
put it under lock and key, for the Plough
recognised no voice but his own, nor
went nor came save at his bidding. In
the night Noodle would go down to the
shed or field where it lay, and whistle to
it, trying to put forth notes of the same
magical power as those which came through
the farmer's lips.
But no sound that came from his lips
ever stroked life into its silver sides. The
year was nearly run out, and Noodle was
in despair.
Then he remembered the firestone ring, the Sweetener. 'May be,' said he, 'since
it changes to sweetness whatever I eat and
drink, it will sweeten my voice also, so
that the Plough will obey,' So he put the
ring between his lips and whistled ; and at
the sound his heart turned a somersault
for joy, for he felt that out of his mouth
the farmer's magic had been over-topped
and conquered.
The Galloping Plough stirred faintly
from the furrow where it lay, breaking the
ground and marring its smooth course.
Then it shook its head slowly, and returned impassively to rest.
In the morning the farmer came and
saw the broken earth close under the
Plough's nose. Noodle, hiding among
the corn hard by, heard him say, 'What
hast thou heard in the night, O my moon-
beam, my miracle, that thy lily-foot has
trodden up the ground? Hast thou for-
gotten whose hand feeds thee, whose corn it is thou lovest, whose heart's care also
cherishes thee ? '
The farmer went away, and presently
came back bearing a bowl of corn; and
Noodle saw the Plough lift its head to
its master's palm, and feed like a horse on
the grain.
Then Noodle, gay of heart, waited till
it was night, and surely his time was short,
for on the morrow his wages were to be
paid, and the Plough was to be his, or
else he was to be the farmer's bondservant for the rest of his life. He took
with him three handfuls of corn, and went
down to where the Plough stood waiting
by the furrow. Shaping his lips to the
ring, he whistled gently like a lover, and
immediately the Plough stirred, and lifted
up its head as if to look at him.
'O my moonbeam, my miracle,' whispered Noodle, ' wilt thou not come to the
one that feeds thee?' and he held out a handful of corn. But the Plough gave
no regard to him or his grain : slowly it
moved away from him back into the
furrow.
Then Noodle laughed softly and
dropped his ring, the Sweetener, into the
hand that held the grain ; and barely had
he offered the corn before he felt the silver Plough nozzling at his palm, and eating as a horse eats from the hand of its
master.
Then he whistled again, placing the
Sweetener back between his lips; and the
Galloping Plough sprang after him, and
followed at his heels like a dog.
So, finding himself its master, he bid it
stay for the night; and in the morning
he said to the farmer, 'Give me my
wages, and let me go!' And the farmer
laughed, saying, 'Take your wages, and go!
Then Noodle took off his ring, the Sweetener, and laid it between his lips and
blew through it ; and up like a moonbeam,
and like an Arab mare, sprang the Galloping Plough at his call. So he leaped upon
its back, crying, ' Carry me away out of
this land, O thou moonbeam, and miracle
of beauty, and never slacken nor stay except I bid thee!'
Vainly the farmer, borne down on a torrent of rage and amazement, whistled his
best, and threw corn and rice from the rear;
for the whistling of Noodle was sweeter to
the ear, and his corn sweeter to the taste,
and he nearer to the heart of the Galloping Plough than was the old master whom
it left behind.
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