And as he sang these words he took out a handful of tiny seeds from his pocket, and began to scatter them about. Directly there sprang up a little plant, which grew and grew and grew until it became a big tree, and then it put forth buds, and the buds burst, and there came out not leaves, but tiny locks of hair, which grew and grew until they touched the ground, and covered the tree all over.
When the Queen awoke she could think of nothing but the strange Hair Tree; and that night when she went to sleep she dreamt exactly the same thing. On the third night she had the same dream again, and when she awoke she called to her husband, and told him of what she had dreamt three nights running.
“And now, my dear husband,” she continued, “I am sure that the only thing which can ever make my hair grow is some seeds from the Hair Tree. I entreat you to spare no effort to discover it, and to offer a reward to anyone who will bring you news of it. For I feel”—here the Queen’s voice grew very husky—“that if I do not find it I shall never recover my hair, and if not, I shall die, for I cannot live without it.” So saying she fell back on the pillow and closed her eyes.
The King at once called a great meeting of his lords together, and told them the Queen’s dream, and a herald was sent round to proclaim that one hundred thousand pounds would be given to anyone who could bring some seeds from the Hair Tree, or even tell where it was to be found. And great placards were pasted up all over the kingdom, offering the reward. So everyone began to talk of this strange Hair Tree, which no one had ever heard of before, and to wonder where it could be—for all would have liked to have earned the reward—but all agreed that the Hair Tree was nowhere in that country.
Now it chanced that a poor sailor named Rupert saw one of the placards, and stopped to read it. He was a strong young man, but he had neither father nor mother, nor sisters nor brothers, and he felt so lonely that he did not care what became of him.
So when he saw the placard and the large reward that was offered to anyone who could bring news of the Hair Tree, he began to wonder where it was, and if he could not find it.
“One hundred thousand pounds is a lot of money,” he said to himself. “There is no reason why I should not find it as well as another man. I have a good mind to go and look for it, though it seems rather a wild-goose chase.”
So he packed up his things, and took a little boat, and sailed away towards the north; for it was there, he knew, was a strange country where animals speak like men and women, and plants have hands and eyes; and he thought that there he might find the wonderful Hair Tree.
In the meantime half the young men in the kingdom had started off to search, hoping to win the reward. Some went east, some went west, some north, some south; and they sought in every imaginable place and country. Some gave it up very soon, and returned home, saying that there was no such tree. Others went on and on, asking everyone they met if they had heard of or seen it, and finding no trace of it, yet, being determined not to give it up and return home empty-handed, went still farther and farther. And so months passed away, and the Queen’s head still remained bald.
In order that her Majesty might not be annoyed by the sight of other women’s hair when her own was gone, the King ordered that they should all wear little caps which quite covered the head and came down on the forehead; and because no one liked these caps, and all thought them very unbecoming, the court ladies were almost as anxious as the Queen that the tree should be found, and her hair grow again.
Rupert sailed and sailed to the north till he began to think he must be coming to the magic country of which he had heard. For a long time he went on without seeing land anywhere, but at last he came in sight of a little island standing quite alone in the middle of the water. On it there grew neither grass nor flowers of any sort, but three solitary trees. One was much like a common nut-tree, only all the nuts were of a bright red colour; the boughs of the second were laden with precious stones of all kinds, diamonds and rubies, emeralds and pearls; but the third tree was the strangest of all, for its boughs were quite bare, and looked as if they were made of polished brass, and on the centre at the top grew an enormous pod, which pointed straight at the sky. It looked like a great brass drum.
Rupert pulled up his boat, and, springing on to the island, filled his pockets full of precious stones and common nuts, and then stood still looking at the enormous pod and wondering what it could contain. While he watched it there was a noise like a clap of thunder, and the pod burst asunder, and twelve round shining golden nuts fell to the ground. At the same time the tree withered as if it had been struck by lightning, and the brass branches all fell away.
Rupert was so frightened by the noise the pod made in bursting that he had buried his face in the ground, but when he found all was quiet again, he slowly raised himself, and picked up one of the gold nuts to examine it. As they
