The Magicians Show Box and Other Stories | Page 2

now surely escape; but at his
very first step up came a sly hand, catching him by the foot, so that

down he fell at the old man's side, and there saw the bright eyes gazing
up at the stars, without a wink of sleep in them. But Gaspar soon forgot
his travels, with all his bold intentions, and fell asleep himself, to
dream of skewers and cimeters.
In the morning the little man said, "Come now, it is foolish for you to
go trudging about over the world. You will never see any thing more
than polywogs and sandflies, and those you can find in your native
village. Give me a drink from your flask, and a bite of your apple, and I
can show you more wonders in a day in my show box here, than you
would find wandering about for a lifetime."
Then he drew from the pocket of his gray coat a neat box, carved of
ivory, and having taken a bit of the apple and a sip of the water, which
Gaspar never thought of refusing, he touched a spring, up flew the lid,
and Gaspar peeped in. Ah, but it was a wondrous sight; for on and on
moved a procession of all imaginable things. Lions and elephants
seemed mere puppies, for here were mastodons and ichthyosauri, and
animals that lived before the flood was ever dreamed of; and as for
Turks and turbans, why, there were people with headdresses that
towered up into the skies, and ladies who made rainbows pale. There
were queens whose thrones were all one driven pearl, and warriors
whose swords were a flash of sunbeams.
"Ah, yes!" exclaimed Gaspar; "this is better than travelling. But how
shall I remember all these enchanting sights? I must make a note of
them." And seizing his wooden sword, he began to draw in the sandy
road each figure as it appeared.
Hour after hour the procession passed on in the little ivory box. Hour
after hour he drew it in the sand, and that little man stood by, with his
quiet smile and great politeness. At length a loud hallooing was heard,
and they saw all the boys from the village running towards them.
"What is going on here?" they called out. "Never were such clouds seen
as have been sailing over the village to-day. Whales and astronomers,
kings and crocodiles, and nobody knows what. They all sail from this
direction, and we have come to see what is going off here. Can it be
you, Gaspar, who are raising such a wind? Did you draw all these lively
things in the sand, and blow them up into clouds?"
Gaspar said he knew nothing about the clouds, but he thought it was
getting rather dark, and was as much surprised as any of the boys, to

see what grand figures he had thrown up into the sky. He begged his
new friend to show the boys his box; but he said, "No, it was not for
them," and put it into his pocket.
They all laughed at it, and said such great creatures never came out of
that little paint box.
Gaspar went back to the village with the boys, and for a while was
quite contented with the remembrance of what he had seen; but at last
his old love of travelling awoke in him. He did not feel satisfied to have
seen wonderful nations and animals merely passing through a show box,
but wanted to see them in living reality; but how was he to get by the
little magician? On foot he knew it was impossible, but thought he
might succeed on a fleet horse. So he went to his friend Conrad, and
offered him the apple which could never be eaten, for his good
cantering horse. Most boys are fond of red apples, but Conrad cared for
nothing else but apples and apple dumplings, not even for his cantering
horse, and readily exchanged him for Gaspar's apple, which he could be
constantly eating. Off rode Gaspar with whip and spur, sure now that
the little gray man could not stop him.
As he cantered along the road very grandly, there were those bright
eyes fixed upon him.
"Whither so fast to-day?" said the gray man, with his queer smile.
"That's nothing to you," answered Gaspar; and on he tried to go; but
hop went the little man, to and fro, just as he did before, and Gaspar did
not like to run his horse directly over him; indeed he might as well have
tried to ride over the winds of heaven; so he jumped off, exclaiming,
"It's no use dodging about in this way; come, now, let's fight it out;"
and he drew his oaken dagger with a