American Fairy Tales Part 21

One day as the ugly one was ironing in his shop in the bas.e.m.e.nt of 263 1/2 Main street, he looked up and saw a crowd of childish faces pressed against the window. Most Chinamen make friends with children; this one hated them and tried to drive them away. But as soon as he returned to his work they were back at the window again, mischievously smiling down upon him.

The naughty mandarin uttered horrid words in the Manchu language and made fierce gestures; but this did no good at all. The children stayed as long as they pleased, and they came again the very next day as soon as school was over, and likewise the next day, and the next. For they saw their presence at the window bothered the Chinaman and were delighted accordingly.

The following day being Sunday the children did not appear, but as the mandarin, being a heathen, worked in his little shop a big b.u.t.terfly flew in at the open door and fluttered about the room.

The mandarin closed the door and chased the b.u.t.terfly until he caught it, when he pinned it against the wall by sticking two pins through its beautiful wings. This did not hurt the b.u.t.terfly, there being no feeling in its wings; but it made him a safe prisoner.

This b.u.t.terfly was of large size and its wings were exquisitely marked by gorgeous colors laid out in regular designs like the stained gla.s.s windows of a cathedral.

The mandarin now opened his wooden chest and drew forth the Great Book of Magic he had stolen from Haot-sai. Turning the pages slowly he came to a pa.s.sage describing "How to understand the language of b.u.t.terflies." This he read carefully and then mixed a magic formula in a tin cup and drank it down with a wry face. Immediately thereafter he spoke to the b.u.t.terfly in its own language, saying:

"Why did you enter this room?"

"I smelled bees-wax," answered the b.u.t.terfly; "therefore I thought I might find honey here."

"But you are my prisoner," said the mandarin. "If I please I can kill you, or leave you on the wall to starve to death."

"I expect that," replied the b.u.t.terfly, with a sigh. "But my race is shortlived, anyway; it doesn't matter whether death comes sooner or later."

"Yet you like to live, do you not?" asked the mandarin.

"Yet; life is pleasant and the world is beautiful. I do not seek death."

"Then," said the mandarin, "I will give you life--a long and pleasant life--if you will promise to obey me for a time and carry out my instructions."

"How can a b.u.t.terfly serve a man?" asked the creature, in surprise.

"Usually they cannot," was the reply. "But I have a book of magic which teaches me strange things. Do you promise?"

"Oh, yes; I promise," answered the b.u.t.terfly; "for even as your slave I will get some enjoyment out of life, while should you kill me--that is the end of everything!"

"Truly," said the mandarin, "b.u.t.terflies have no souls, and therefore cannot live again."

"But I have enjoyed three lives already," returned the b.u.t.terfly, with some pride. "I have been a caterpillar and a chrysalis before I became a b.u.t.terfly. You were never anything but a Chinaman, although I admit your life is longer than mine."

"I will extend your life for many days, if you will obey me,"

declared the Chinaman. "I can easily do so by means of my magic."

"Of course I will obey you," said the b.u.t.terfly, carelessly.

"Then, listen! You know children, do you not?--boys and girls?"

"Yes, I know them. They chase me, and try to catch me, as you have done," replied the b.u.t.terfly.

"And they mock me, and jeer at me through the window," continued the mandarin, bitterly. "Therefore, they are your enemies and mine! But with your aid and the help of the magic book we shall have a fine revenge for their insults."

"I don't care much for revenge," said the b.u.t.terfly. "They are but children, and 'tis natural they should wish to catch such a beautiful creature as I am."

"Nevertheless, I care! and you must obey me," retorted the mandarin, harshly. "I, at least, will have my revenge."

Then he stuck a drop of mola.s.ses upon the wall beside the b.u.t.terfly's head and said:

"Eat that, while I read my book and prepare my magic formula."

So the b.u.t.terfly feasted upon the mola.s.ses and the mandarin studied his book, after which he began to mix a magic compound in the tin cup.

When the mixture was ready he released the b.u.t.terfly from the wall and said to it:

"I command you to dip your two front feet into this magic compound and then fly away until you meet a child. Fly close, whether it be a boy or a girl, and touch the child upon its forehead with your feet.

Whosoever is thus touched, the book declares, will at once become a pig, and will remain such forever after. Then return to me and dip you legs afresh in the contents of this cup. So shall all my enemies, the children, become miserable swine, while no one will think of accusing me of the sorcery."

"Very well; since such is your command, I obey," said the b.u.t.terfly.

Then it dipped its front legs, which were the shortest of the six, into the contents of the tin cup, and flew out of the door and away over the houses to the edge of the town. There it alighted in a flower garden and soon forgot all about its mission to turn children into swine.

In going from flower to flower it soon brushed the magic compound from its legs, so that when the sun began to set and the b.u.t.terfly finally remembered its master, the mandarin, it could not have injured a child had it tried.

But it did not intend to try.

"That horrid old Chinaman," it thought, "hates children and wishes to destroy them. But I rather like children myself and shall not harm them. Of course I must return to my master, for he is a magician, and would seek me out and kill me; but I can deceive him about this matter easily enough."

When the b.u.t.terfly flew in at the door of the mandarin's laundry he asked, eagerly:

"Well, did you meet a child?"

"I did," replied the b.u.t.terfly, calmly. "It was a pretty, golden-haired girl--but now 'tis a grunting pig!"

"Good! Good! Good!" cried the mandarin, dancing joyfully about the room. "You shall have mola.s.ses for your supper, and to-morrow you must change two children into pigs."

The b.u.t.terfly did not reply, but ate the mola.s.ses in silence. Having no soul it had no conscience, and having no conscience it was able to lie to the mandarin with great readiness and a certain amount of enjoyment.

Next morning, by the mandarin's command, the b.u.t.terfly dipped its legs in the mixture and flew away in search of children.

When it came to the edge of the town it noticed a pig in a sty, and alighting upon the rail of the sty it looked down at the creature and thought.

"If I could change a child into a pig by touching it with the magic compound, what could I change a pig into, I wonder?"

Being curious to determine this fine point in sorcery the b.u.t.terfly fluttered down and touched its front feet to the pig's nose.

Instantly the animal disappeared, and in its place was a shock-headed, dirty looking boy, which sprang from the sty and ran down the road uttering load whoops.

"That's funny," said the b.u.t.terfly to itself. "The mandarin would be very angry with me if he knew of this, for I have liberated one more of the creatures that bother him."

It fluttered along after the boy, who had paused to throw stones at a cat. But p.u.s.s.y escaped by running up a tree, where thick branches protected her from the stones. Then the boy discovered a newly-planted garden, and trampled upon the beds until the seeds were scattered far and wide, and the garden was ruined. Next he caught up a switch and struck with it a young calf that stood quietly grazing in a field. The poor creature ran away with piteous bleats, and the boy laughed and followed after it, striking the frightened animal again and again.

"Really," thought the b.u.t.terfly, "I do not wonder the mandarin hates children, if they are all so cruel and wicked as this one."

The calf having escaped him the boy came back to the road, where he met two little girls on their way to school. One of them had a red apple in her hand, and the boy s.n.a.t.c.hed it away and began eating it.

The little girl commenced to cry, but her companion, more brave and st.u.r.dy, cried out:

"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, you nasty boy!"