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Page 81
At last, one day he came within sight of a mountain, on which stood a
high castle belonging to a certain queen. As he reached the summit, he
saw from afar a little maiden, who sat playing with her doll before the
castle gate, and when he drew nearer he found that it was his little
Gertrude. Then he put spurs to his horse and shouted joyfully--
"Good-day, dear Gertrude!" But the child knew him not. As he drew
nearer, he called again: "It is I indeed!--it is Cousin Walter!" but the
child believed him not. And when he sprang from his horse to kiss her,
and his armour, sword, and spurs rattled and clashed as he did so, the
child was afraid that this strange man would hurt her, and she ran away
back into the castle.
Poor Walter was very much troubled. He went in, however, and presented
himself to the queen, who received him very graciously. He told her all
that had happened, and learnt from her that she had bought Gertrude from
the gipsies. But when he begged that she would let him take his dear
little cousin away with him, she consented only on condition that the
child herself should be willing, for Gertrude had become very dear to
the old queen. So she called the little maid in, and said--
"Now look here, my child: this really is your Cousin Walter. Do you no
longer love him, and will you not go away with him?"
The child looked at the knight from head to foot, and then said in a
troubled voice--
"Since you both declare that it is Walter, I suppose I must believe it.
Ah! if only he were still as little as he was a year ago, I would go
into the wide world with him, wherever he wanted; but now, I never can.
It would be no good, whilst he is like that. If I wanted to play
hide-and-seek, as we used to do, his armour would shine, and his spurs
rattle, and I should know where he was directly. If I wanted to go to
school with him, he could not sit by me on the little benches at the
little tables. Then what could a poor child like me do for such a
stately knight? If I tried to work for him, I should burn my little
hands; if I tried to make his clothes, I should prick my little fingers;
and if I ran races with him, I should hurt my little feet. If I were a
grown-up princess, indeed, it would be a different thing."
Walter could not but feel that what Gertrude said was true. So he took
leave of them both, mounted his horse, and rode away; but the queen and
Gertrude watched him from the battlements of the castle.
He had not ridden many steps when a voice from a tree called "Walter!
Walter!" and when he looked up, there was the raven, who said--
"A year has passed since you wished to be a knight. If you have another
wish, speak, and it shall be granted; but observe, what you wished
before will then be at an end."
To these last words Walter paid no attention. The raven had no sooner
said that he might have another wish than he interrupted it, exclaiming:
"Then I wish Gertrude to be a grown-up princess!"
But even as he spoke he himself became a child again, and his horse a
hobby-horse, just as they had been a year ago. But when he looked up to
the battlements, there stood by the queen a wonderfully beautiful
princess, tall and slim and stately; and this was--his Gertrude! Then
the boy, taking his hobby-horse, went back up to the castle steps, and
wept bitterly. But the queen was sorry for him, took him in, and tried
to comfort him.
And now there was another trouble. Dearly as the Princess Gertrude and
the boy Walter loved each other, they were not so happy as they should
have been. If Walter said to her, "Come, Gertrude, and we'll run races,
and jump over the ditches," she would answer, "Oh! that would never do
for a princess; what would people say?"
If Walter said, "Come and play hide-and-seek," Gertrude would answer
again, "Oh! but that would never do for a princess; I should leave my
train hanging on the thorns, and my coronet would be tumbling off my
head."
Then if Gertrude asked Walter to bring in some venison for the table,
the boy would bring her a mouse instead; and if a bull or a mad dog came
after them, Gertrude must snatch Walter up in her arms, and run off with
him, for she was so much bigger than he, and could run a great deal
quicker. Meanwhile he remained in the castle, and the boy became very
dear to the old queen.
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