THE next moment he was surprised to see an ugly old woman coming toward him. She was dressed in a purple satin gown with gold birds embroidered upon it, her bony fingers sparkled with rings, a long chain of pearls was around her neck, and he knew by the crown on her head that it was the Queen-Mother herself.
“I have heard that you were very wise,” she said, peering at him. “If that is true, why don’t you get out of this dark hole?”
“Ah, I could,” he moaned, shaking his head sadly, “but my charms are all in the cave. I have there a key that will unlock any door, a mantle that will make the[Pg 55] wearer invisible to mortal eyes, a root that will cure any disease, a piece of money that the one who carries it will never have an empty pocket, and there, too, is the famous pearl that will make the woman who wears it seem the most beautiful woman in the world.” The old woman crept closer to him.
“What did you say about a pearl?” she whispered breathlessly.
“Ah, it is a pearl fit for a Queen,” he said, pursing up his lips. “It is big as the egg of a swan, shaped like a perfect pear and white as a dragon’s tooth. The woman who wears it hung around her neck all men will adore. She will always be young, always the loveliest lady that was ever seen.” The eyes of the Queen glittered greedily.
“Where is that pearl, wizard?” she[Pg 56] asked, grasping his arm so tightly that her claw-like fingers dug into his flesh. But the wizard only smiled.
“The wise man tells not all he knows,” he answered. She caught him by the shoulders and shook him fiercely.
“Speak! Speak!” she commanded. “Tell me where you keep this priceless pearl or I will have your tongue torn out by the roots.”
“That would be a pity,” he said calmly. “Then the pearl would never be found, and no woman would have the glory of being the most beautiful woman in the world.” The old woman screwed up her wrinkled face and tapped her foot impatiently on the stone floor. Then she said with a cunning leer:
“If that pearl were mine—so great is the power of beauty—I would rule the[Pg 57] land in place of my step-son the King. Then would you be my chief counsellor and next to me in authority, which surely would be better than spending all your years in a dark dungeon where no one will ever hear of your wisdom. You could live in my palace and have many servants to wait upon you, and if I were the most beautiful woman, you could become the richest man in the kingdom. It would be a sad thing for the pearl to crumble away and never be worn by a woman, and also for the great Cave Man to die a wretched death—perhaps of hunger—in this dirty hole.”
“If I were only free I could bring you the pearl,” the wizard answered. “No one save me can ever get it, for it is watched by a dragon with eyes that are always open and teeth that are sharp and cruel.”[Pg 58] The Queen looked at the door she had just unlocked.
“I have the key,” she said thoughtfully, “but there is not only the jailer without, but many guards that you must pass.”
“You have much gold,” he suggested, “and yet that pearl is worth more to a woman than all the gold and jewels of the earth. It will bring her everything her heart desires.” She shook her head.
“I cannot buy all the guards,” she told him. “Some of them are old and faithful servants of the King. You must find some other way.”
“You speak of ways as if they were easy to find,” he grumbled, and his heart again felt heavy in his breast.
“They should be—for a wise man,” she tauntingly replied. “Surely you must have left your wits in the cave too. But I[Pg 59] must be off. The King gives a banquet to-night in honor of his bride, who is called the Fairest Creature of the Flowery Kingdom. And she likes that better than the name of Queen.”
“Stay,” cried the wizard quickly. “The way is found. Know you the weed with the purple flower that has crimson dots on its petals—a weed with glossy, pointed leaves that grows by every wayside and sends out a strange perfume after the sun goes down?” The Queen nodded. “Well, squeeze the juice from the stem of this weed. A few drops of that in the wine to-night and all the castle will fall into sleep so deep that though I rode away on a prancing steed no one would hear me. See that my keepers drink of that wine. Then open my door, unloose my chains and leave the rest to me.” The old woman[Pg 60] cackled in her thin, shrill voice. Suddenly she stopped and looked at him suspiciously.
“But you will return?” she questioned. “You will bring that precious pearl to me? If you stayed away you would be searched for in every corner of the land. You could not escape my vengeance. No matter how clever you were, the officers of the King would one day find you—even as they found you this time—and when you were caught your head would be brought back to court. Remember my words, Cave Man, if you play me false.”
“Only let me get out, and if I do not return you are welcome to the head of the wisest man in the kingdom,” he told her. “But you must give me seven days—three to go, three to come back, and one day to persuade the dragon to give me the pearl,[Pg 61] for he is a jealous monster and ugly when he is roused. It will not be an easy matter to get him to give me his treasure, and no one can steal it from him.
“After the sun has set on the seventh day I will stand before you. Wearing my magic mantle, I will slip by the soldiers and the guards like a puff of wind, and no one will see me pass, no one he............