Page:On a pincushion.djvu/145

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
132
The Hair Tree

ling with joy. “Are you not searching for the Hair Tree, and do not the rods with which I am to be beaten grow around it? Dear, kind sailor, you will surely not refuse to pick one and beat me with it.”

Rupert, of course, could not refuse to do as she asked, but the thought of having to beat her filled him with disgust. After a pause she arose, and bade him do the same.

“ Now,” she said, “it is time for you to continue your journey. I cannot go with you farther, but you must continue straight ahead, turning neither to the right nor left, and take the greatest care you can of the zirbal nuts, for they are the best protection you can have against every sort of spell. You will find me here on your return, but be sure you do not forget to bring with you some of the rods which grow underneath the Hair Tree.”

Rupert promised, and said adieu, and went on his way; but he was so full of thoughts of poor Trevina and her sorrows that he had almost forgotten the Queen’s hair and the reward, and was more anxious to find the wonderful Hair Tree, that he might beat the tigress with the rods he

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.