"Listen!" said the Counterpane Fairy."In that golden castle there lies an enchanted princess.For more than a hundred years she has been lying there waiting for the hero who is to come and rescue her, and you are the hero who can do it if you will."With that the fairy led him to a little pool close by, and bade him look in the water.When Teddy looked, he saw himself standing there in the golden garden, and he did not appear as he ever had before.He was tall and strong and beautiful, like a hero.
"Yes," said Teddy, "I will do it."
At these words, from the grass, the bushes, and the tress around, suddenly started a flock of golden birds.They circled about him and over him, clapping their wings and singing triumphantly.Their song reminded Teddy of the blackbirds that sang on the lawn at home in the early spring, when the daffodils were up.Then in a moment they were all gone, and the garden was still again.
Their song had filled his heart with a longing for great deeds, and, without pausing longer, he ran to the glass steps and began to mount them.
Up and up and up he went.Once he turned and waved his hand to the Counterpane Fairy in the golden garden far below.She waved her hand in answer, and he heard her voice faint and clear."Good-bye! Good-bye! Be brave and strong, and beware of that that is little and gray."Then Teddy turned his face toward the castle, and in a moment he was standing before the great shining gates.
He raised his hand and struck bravely upon the door.There was no answer.Again he struck upon it, and his blow rang through the hall inside; then he opened the door and went in.
The hall was five-sided, and all of pure gold, as clear and shining as glass.Upon three sides of it were three arched doors; one was of emerald, one was of ruby, and one was of diamond; they were arched, and tall, and wide,--fit for a hero to go through.The question was, behind which one lay the enchanted princess.
While Teddy stood there looking at them and wondering, he heard a little thin voice, that seemed to be singing to itself, and this is what it sang:
"In and out and out and in, Quick as a flash I weave and spin.
Some may mistake and some forget, But I'll have my spider-web finished yet."When Teddy heard the song, he knew that someone must be awake in the enchanted castle, so he began looking about him.
On the fourth side of the wall there hung a curtain of silvery-gray spider-web, and the voice seemed to come from it.The hero went toward it, but he saw nothing, for the spider that was spinning it moved so fast that no eyes could follow it.Presently it paused up in the left-hand corner of the web, and then Teddy saw it.It looked very little to have spun all that curtain of silvery web.
As Teddy stood looking at it, it began to sing again:
"Here in my shining web I sit, To look about and rest a bit.
I rest myself a bit and then, Quick as a flash, I begin again.""Mistress Spinner! Mistress Spinner!" cried Teddy."Can you tell me where to find the enchanted princess who lies asleep waiting for me to come and rescue her?"The spider sat quite still for a while, and then it said in a voice as thin as a hair: "You must go through the emerald door; you must go through the emerald door.What so fit as the emerald door for the hero who would do great deeds?"Teddy did not so much as stay to thank the little gray spinner, he was in such a hurry to find the princess, but turning he sprang to the emerald door, flung it open, and stepped outside.
He found himself standing on the glass steps, and as his foot touched the topmost one the whole flight closed up like an umbrella, and in a moment Teddy was sliding down the smooth glass pane, faster and faster and faster until he could hardly catch his breath.
The next thing he knew he was standing in the golden garden, and there was the Counterpane Fairy beside him looking at him sadly."You should have known better than to try the emerald door," she said; "and now shall we break the story?""Oh, no, no!" cried Teddy, and he was still the hero."Let me try once more, for it may be I can yet save the princess."Then the Counterpane Fairy smiled."Very well," she said, "you shall try again; but remember what I told you, beware of that that is little and gray, and take this with you, for it may be of use." Stooping, she picked up a blade of grass from the ground and handed it to him.
The hero took it wondering, and in his hands it was changed to a sword that shone so brightly that it dazzled his eyes.Then he turned, and there was the long flight of glass steps leading up to the golden castle just as before; so thrusting the magic sword into his belt, he ran nimbly up and up and up, and not until he reached the very topmost step did he turn and look back to wave farewell to the Counterpane Fairy below.She waved her hand to him."Remember," she called, "beware of what is little and gray."He opened the door and went into the five-sided golden hall, and there were the three doors just as before, and the spider spinning and singing on the fourth side:
"Now the brave hero is wiser indeed;
He may have failed once, but he still may succeed.
Dull are the emeralds; diamonds are bright;So is his wisdom that shines as the light.""The diamond door!" cried Teddy."Yes, that is the door that I should have tried.How could I have thought the emerald door was it?" and opening the diamond door he stepped through it.
He hardly had time to see that he was standing at the top of the glass steps, before--br-r-r-r!--they had shut up again into a smooth glass hill, and there he was spinning down them so fast that the wind whistled past his ears.
