Atondido Stories
“What is your name,” the prince asked, “and what can you
do?”
“People call me Longshanks because I can stretch myself out.
I’ll show you. Do you see a bird’s nest in the top of that tall fir?
I’ll get it down for you and not by climbing the tree either.”
So saying he began to stretch out and his body shot up and up
until he was as tall as the fir tree. He reached over and got the
nest and then, in a shorter time than it had taken him to stretch
out, he reduced himself to his natural size.
“You do your trick very well,” the prince said, “but just now
a bird’s nest isn’t of much use to me. What I need is some one to
show me the way out of this forest.”
“H’m,” Longshanks said, “that’s an easy enough matter.”
Again he began to stretch himself up and up and up until he was
three times as tall as the highest pine in the forest. He looked
around and said: “Over there, in that direction, is the nearest
way out.”
Then he made himself small again, took the horse by the bri-
dle, walked ahead, and in a short time they emerged from the
forest.
A broad plain stretched out before them and beyond it they
could see tall gray rocks that looked like the walls of a great city
and mountains overgrown with forests.
Longshanks pointed off across the plain and said: “There,
master, goes a comrade of mine who would be very useful to
you. You ought to take him into your service too.”
“Very well,” said the prince, “call him here that I may find
out what sort of a fellow he is.”
“He is too far away to call,” Longshanks said. “He wouldn’t
hear my voice and if he did he would be a long time in reaching
us, for he has much to carry. I had better step over and get him
57