turn to be made into spoons, it half broke poor little Gluck's heart; but the brothers only laughed at him, tossed the mug into the melting pot, and staggered out to the alehouse for a drink; leaving him, as usual, to pour the gold into bars when it was all ready.

8. But, strange to say, no sooner had the mug been melted ready for pouring out, than there stepped out of the melting pot a little golden dwarf, about a foot and a half high. He was dressed in a slashed doublet of spun gold, so fine in its texture that the rainbow colors gleamed over it, as if on a surface of mother-of-pearl; and over this brilliant doublet his hair and beard fell full halfway to the ground, in waving curls, so delicate that Gluck could hardly tell where they ended; they seemed to melt into the air.

9. "I," said the little man, "am the King of the Golden River, that mountain stream which pours its waters into the valley above us yonder. I have been imprisoned in your drinking mug because of the malice of a stronger king, from whose enchantments you have set me free. What I have seen of you, and your conduct to your wicked brothers, makes me feel willing to serve you; therefore, listen to what I tell you. Whoever shall climb to the top of that mountain from which the Golden River flows, and shall cast into the stream three drops of holy water, for him, and for him only, the river shall turn to gold. But no one failing in his first, can succeed in a second attempt; and if any one shall cast unholy water into the river, it will overwhelm him, and he will become a black stone."

10. So saying, the King of the Golden River turned away, and walked into the center of the hottest flame of

the furnace. His figure became red, white, transparent, dazzling—then rose, trembled, and disappeared.

1. The King of the Golden River had hardly made his strange exit, before Hans and Schwartz came roaring into the house, savagely drunk. The discovery of the entire loss of their last piece of plate sobered them just enough to enable them to give Gluck a most terrible beating. When they had become altogether exhausted, they stopped and requested to know what he had got to say for himself. Gluck told them his story; but, pretending not to believe a word of it, they beat him again till their arms were tired, and then staggered to bed.

2. In the morning the two brothers began to dispute regarding the question as to which one of them should try his fortune first by making a journey to the Golden River. The quarrel became so furious that an officer, hearing them, came in and arrested Schwartz and carried him before a

magistrate, who sent him to prison until he could pay his fine for disturbing the peace. Hans, who had adroitly escaped, resolved to set out at once for the Golden River. How to get the holy water was the question. He went to the priest, but the priest would not give any holy water to so bad a man as he. So Hans went to church in the evening for the first time in his life, and, under pretence of crossing himself, stole a cupful and returned home in triumph.

3. Next morning, before the sun rose, he put the holy water into a strong flask, and two bottles of wine and some meat in a basket, slung them over his back, took his alpine staff in his hand, and set off for the mountains. It was, indeed, a morning that might have made any one happy, even with no Golden River to seek for. Level lines of dewy mist lay stretched along the valley, out of which rose the massy mountains. The lower cliffs were like pale, gray shadows, hardly to be distinguished from the floating vapor; but higher up they caught the sunlight, which ran in sharp touches of ruddy color along the sharp crags, and pierced, in long level rays, through their fringes of spear-like pine.

4. The Golden River, which sprang from one of the lower and snowless elevations, was now nearly in shadow; all but the uppermost jets of spray, which rose like slow smoke above a golden waterfall, and floated away in feeble wreaths upon the morning wind.

5. On reaching the top of the first range of green and low hills, Hans saw to his surprise that a large glacier lay between him and the Golden River. This he crossed with the greatest difficulty. The ice crashed and yawned into chasms at his feet, tottering spires nodded around him,

and fell thundering across his path; and it was with a feeling of panic and terror that he leaped the last chasm, and flung himself exhausted on the firm turf of the mountain.

6. After an hour's rest he again began his journey. His way lay straight up a ridge of bare, red rocks, without a blade of grass to ease the foot, or an angle in which he could find an inch of shade from the burning sun. He had been obliged to leave his basket on the glacier; and now intense thirst was added to his fatigue; glance after glance he cast on the flask of holy water which hung at his belt. "Three drops are enough,” he said at last; “I may, at least, cool my lips with it."

7. He opened the flask, and was raising it to his lips, when his eye fell on an object lying on the rock beside him. It was a small dog which seemed to be in the last agony of death from thirst. Its eyes looked wistfully at the bottle which Hans held in his hand. He drank, spurned the animal with his foot, and passed on. The path became steeper now; and the high hill air, instead of refreshing him, seemed to throw his blood into a fever. The noise of the waterfalls sounded like mockery in his ears; they were all far away, and his thirst became greater every moment.

8. Another hour passed, and he again looked down at the flask; it was half empty, but there was much more than three drops in it. He stopped to drink, and as he did so, something moved in the path before him. It was a fair child, stretched nearly lifeless on the rock, its eyes closed, and its lips parched and burning with thirst. Hans looked at it, drank, and passed on. And a dark gray cloud came over the sun, and long, snake-like shadows crept up the mountain-sides.

9. Hans struggled on, and soon he saw the cataract of the Golden River springing from the hillside, not five hundred feet above him. At that instant a faint cry fell on his ear. He turned and saw a gray-haired old man lying on the rocks. His eyes were sunk, his face was deadly pale. "Water" he cried, feebly. "Water! I am dying!" 10. "I have none," said Hans; "thou hast had thy share of life." He strode over the body, and went on. And a flash of blue lightning rose out of the east, shaped like a sword; it shook thrice over the heaven, and left it dark.

11. Hans stood at the brink of the chasm through which the Golden River ran. Its waves were filled with the red glory of the sunset: they shook their crests like tongues of fire, and flashes of bloody light gleamed along their foam. Their sound came mightier and mightier on his senses; his brain grew giddy with the rolling thunder. He drew the flask from his belt, and hurled it into the center of the torrent. As he did so, an icy chill shot through his limbs; he staggered, shrieked, and fell. The waters closed over his cry. And the moaning of the river rose wildly into the night, as it gushed over a BLACK

STONE.

12. When days passed and Hans did not return, poor little Gluck was in great trouble. There was no bread in the house, nor any money. So he went and hired himself to another goldsmith, and he worked so hard and so well that he soon had money enough to pay his brother's fine; and he went and gave it all to Schwartz, and Schwartz got out of prison. Then Schwartz was pleased, and said he should have some of the gold of the river; but Gluck only begged that he would go and see what had become of Hans.