Here Jack stopped, and opened his eyes, and saw that the old man was shaking so with laughter that he feared he would tumble off the Pole altogether. He went on chuckling for such a time that Jack thought he would never stop. And when he had done, it was some time before he could find breath to speak, but sat panting and sighing, and every now and then beginning to laugh afresh. After a time, however, he was more calm, and then he said—
“Oh, the stupidity of people! And all this time they are afraid of doing the very thing they ought to do. Of course it’s impossible for them to marry till he is dried up, or she is put out. What puts out fire but water? and what dries up water but fire? Princess Pyra has been educated at a good school. I should think she might have known better. You had better go back to Prince Fluvius, and tell him to give her a kiss;
” and then the old man began to laugh again.
Jack stood by, sorely puzzled; yet he dared not ask again. Then the old man turned to him, and said—
“And now what do you want to ask next? Let it be something for yourself this time, my little man. What shall it be? I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
A dozen questions flashed into Jack’s mind at once. How he longed to ask them! But he remembered the Princess’s warning, and held his tongue. He looked at the wind-fairy, who was still asleep, and wondered how he could wake him. The ice was so slippery that he dared not walk upon it. He was just trying to move off gently, when the old man caught him by his wrist with a long skinny hand, and held him firmly back.
“Come, now,” he said, coaxingly, while his eyes sparkled cunningly; “you’ll never go back after asking only one question, when you have come so far. That would be very foolish. Ask something else while you are here.”
He held Jack so tightly that he began to be frightened, and gave a violent wriggle, which knocked over the old man’s lantern. It fell with an enormous crash, and woke the wind-fairy, who was at his side in an instant.
“Well,” he said, “are you ready?”
“Quite,” said Jack, his teeth chattering with fear, for the old fellow had flown into a violent rage, and was stretching out his long thin arms to catch him; but the wind-fairy blew in his face till he was forced to shut his eyes, and turn his head away. Then he took Jack on his shoulders, and flew off with him without another word.
“The fireball is gone out,” he said to Jack, after they had gone a little way; “so I’m afraid you’ll be cold. If you feel sleepy you may as well go to sleep. I won’t let you fall; and I am about to go so quickly that you won’t see anything we pass.”
Jack did feel both sleepy and cold, and was very glad to fall into a doze, although he woke every now and then to ask if they were getting near home. At last the fairy said, “Now we are over London, and you’ll be home in a few minutes.”
“I hope my mother isn’t come home yet,” said Jack. “She’d be so frightened if she came back, and didn’t find me.”
“Come back!” laughed the fairy. “Why, it isn’t twelve o’clock yet, and the New Year is not come in. Here is the street where you live.”
Jack could not believe that they had not been gone more than an hour. It seemed more like twenty.
From outside the window he could see the Prince kneeling on the sill in exactly the same position as when he had left him, and he wondered if the Princess was still sitting in the fire. Yes. When the wind-fairy placed him in the middle of the room, there she was in exactly the same place, with her golden hair falling over the bars.
“Well,” cried she and the Prince together, “what did he say, little Jack? Tell us at once.”
“I’m so cold,” said Jack; “I’m almost frozen.”
The Princess made a great blaze in the coals till the room was quite light. Then she turned to Jack again.
“Now,” she said, “you must be warm. Do not keep us any longer in suspense.”
Jack hesitated for a minute; then he looked at the Princess, and repeated what the old man had said. “ ‘What puts out fire but water? what dries up water but fire? Tell him to give her a kiss!’ ”
Both Prince and Princess were silent when they heard this. Then the Prince said, with a sigh—
“It is as I thought. He means that there is no hope for us, and that we must perish together. For my part, I am quite willing, as anything would be better than life without you, my Pyra.”
“He meant no such thing,” cried the Princess. “And I think now I begin to understand him. We must both be changed before we can be happy. Come, then, my Prince; I have no fear, and will willingly risk being quenched altogether, if there is a chance of our union.”
So saying, the Princess rose up, and stepped lightly from the grate on to the floor, surrounded by a halo of shining flame.
Jack screamed aloud, afraid lest the room should take fire; but in the same moment the Prince swept down from the window, and a flood of water splashed on to the floor. Then, without another word, the two rushed into each other’s arms.
A great crash—a sound like a clap of thunder; then the room was filled with smoke, through which Jack could see nothing. He felt frightened, and inclined to cry; but in a
