Atondido Stories
you or me to run around a cottage, here he was back again with
the acorn in his hand. He gave it to the prince.
“Drop it, master, on the floor.”
The prince dropped the acorn and instantly the princess ap-
peared.
As the sun came over the mountain tops the doors slammed
open and the magician entered. A crafty smile was on his face.
But when he saw the princess the smile changed to a scowl, he
growled in rage, and bang! one of the iron bands about his waist
burst asunder. Then he took the princess by the hand and
dragged her off.
That whole day the prince had nothing to do but wander
about the castle and look at all the strange and curious things it
contained. It seemed as if at some one instant all life had been ar-
rested. In one hall he saw a prince who had been turned into
stone while he was brandishing his sword. The sword was still
uplifted. In another room there was a stone knight who was tak-
en in the act of flight. He had stumbled on the threshold but he
had not yet fallen. A serving man sat under the chimney eating
his supper. With one hand he was reaching a piece of roast meat
to his mouth. Days, months, perhaps years had gone by, but the
meat had not yet touched his lips. There were many others, all of
them still in whatever position they happened to be when the
magician had cried: “Be ye turned into stone!”
In the courtyard and the stables the prince found many fine
horses overtaken by the same fate.
Outside the castle everything was equally dead and silent.
There were trees but they had no leaves, there was a river but it
didn’t flow, and no fish could live in its waters. There wasn’t a
singing bird anywhere, and there wasn’t even one tiny flower.
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