Up! Horsie! | Page 2

of the hill, playing on an ivory fiddle of exquisite workmanship, with golden strings, from which she drew the sweetest tones he had ever heard in his whole life. Gilbert stood still, quite entranced, and could have listened for ever, had not the lady, on becoming conscious of his presence, stopped short, and blushed with pretty confusion at having been overheard by a stranger.
"I never heard anything like it before!" exclaimed Gilbert.
She raised her soft eyes towards his, and said: "Will you enter my service?"
"That I will," answered he, quite bewildered by her beauty. "What shall I have to do?"
The lady pointed to the flocks grazing on the hill, saying he would merely have to tend the sheep, and, above all, to mind that none got lost. She then gave him the ivory fiddle, saying he need only draw the bow across the strings, when the sheep, being accustomed to the sound, would follow at his bidding. "Now roam about wherever you please," added she, "only mind you return to yonder castle at nightfall, and bring the flock back with you, and then you shall have your reward."
Gilbert then set off to join the sheep, though not without looking back many a time, to take a last glimpse of the lady who still sat near the bank, smiling more bewitchingly than ever. On reaching the top of the hill, he perceived that the sheep had already strayed down into the valley, when he hastened after them, but only to see them enter a narrow glen helter-skelter, as if they were running for dear life. He now recollected the fiddle would save him all further trouble, and drew the bow across the strings as the lady had told him, but instead of the exquisite music she drew from them, he only obtained a sort of screeching noise, that seemed to spread a panic amongst the flock, and after hurrying through the glen, the sheep dispersed both right and left. Gilbert ran after first one group and then another, scraping away at his fiddle as hard as he could, but it was all of no use--he could not overtake them. At length he was so tired that he was obliged to sit down and rest. He began to feel hungry, too, not having eaten since his ride to Elf-land, and looked about him for some cottage where he could apply for breakfast. But no buildings of any kind were in sight. However he soon found some trees laden with delicious fruit, and having appeased his hunger, felt his strength so renovated that he again set out in pursuit of his flock, which now looked like a mere speck in the horizon.
Up hill and down dale did Gilbert go the livelong day, till the sun was beginning to set, and then just as he thought he had come up with the stray sheep, they seemed to roll away and become clouds, that were drunk up by the parting rays of the glorious sun. He was now at a loss what to do, and half ashamed to return to the castle and own to the lady that he had lost, not merely two or three sheep, but the whole flock. But while he was considering how to put the best face on the matter, he found himself right in front of the castle, which he had deemed to be at a great distance, and there still sat the lady, singing most exquisitely, and holding a goblet of wine in her hand. As soon as Gilbert drew near: "Drink," said she, "for you must need refreshment after your day's work."
"Alas!" said he, "I have lost the sheep."
"Did I not tell you the fiddle would always bring them back?" rejoined she with the sweetest smile.
Then, as she handed him the goblet, she took the ivory fiddle from him, and drawing the bow across the strings, brought out such thrilling sounds, that Gilbert listened in amazement, wondering why he had been unable to elicit any such tones from the instrument when it seemed so simple to accomplish. In a moment he saw the surrounding heights covered with sheep or mist, he could not tell which, for the wine that had only just moistened his lips, seemed already to have confused his brain, and altered all the features of the landscape. By the time he had drained the goblet, Gilbert felt elated and delighted to an extraordinary degree, while at the same time be lost, as it were, the consciousness of his own identity. All he could remember was, that the lady bid him go and rest in the castle, and that he went up the hill, and, as he thought, entered the building, when sinking down on a soft couch he was quickly lulled to sleep by