Free Martin Pippin in the Apple Orchard by Eleanor Farjeon Page B

broomstick, and Viola cried:
    "Great-Aunt, give us a blessing."
    "Great-Niece," said the Wise Woman, "how can I give you what you already have? But I will give you this." And she held out a horseshoe.
    "Good gracious," said the King, "this was once Pepper's."
    "It was," said the Wise Woman. "In her merriment at hearing you ask a silly question, she cast it outside my door."
    A little further on they came to the Guess Gate, but when the King, dismounting, swung it open, it grated on something in the road. He stooped and lifted--a horseshoe.
    "Wonder of wonders!" exclaimed the King. "This also was Pepper's. What shall we do with it?"
    "Hang--it--up--hang--it--up--hang--" creaked the Gate; and clicked home.
    In due course they reached the Doves, and at the sound of Pepper's hoofs the Brothers flocked out to meet them.
    "Is all well?" cried the Ringdove, seeing the King only. "And have you returned to us for the final blessing?"
    "I have," replied the King, "for I bring my bride behind me, and now you must make us one."
    The gentle Brothers, rejoicing at the sight of their happiness and their beauty, led them in; and there they were wedded. The Doves offered them to eat, but the King was impatient to reach his Barn by nightfall; so they got again on Pepper's back, and as they were about to leave the Ringdove said:
    "I have something of yours which is in itself a thing of no moment; yet, because it is of good augury, take it with you."
    And he gave the King Pepper's third shoe.
    "Thank you," said the King, "I will hang it over my Barn door."
    Now he urged Pepper to her full speed, and they went at a gallop past the Hawking Sopers, who, hearing the clatter, came running into the road.
    "Stay, gallopers, stay!" they cried, "and make merry with us."
    "We cannot," called the King, "for we are newly married."
    "Good luck to you then!" shouted the Sopers, and with huzzas and laughter flung something after them. Viola stretched out her hand and caught it in mid-air, and it was a horseshoe.
    "The tale is complete," she laughed, "and now you know where Pepper picked up her stones."
    Soon after the King said, "Here is my Barn." And he sprang down and lifted his bride from the nag's back and brought her in.
    "It is a poor place," he said gently, "but it is all I have. What can I do for you in such a home?"
    "I will tell you," said Viola, and putting her hand into her left pocket, she drew out the ruby winking with the wine of mirth. "You can dance in it." And suddenly they caught each other by the hands and went capering and laughing round the Barn like children.
    "Hurrah!" cried William, "now I know what a King should do in a Barn!"
    "But he should do more than dance in it," said Viola; and putting her hand into her right pocket she gave him the pearl, as pure as a prayer; "beloved, he should pray in it too."
    And William looked at her and knelt, and she knelt by him, and in silence they prayed the same prayer, side by side.
    Then William rose and said simply, "Now I know."
    But she knelt still, and took from her girdle the diamond, as bright as power, and she put it in his hand, saying very low, "Oh, my dear King! but he should also rule in it." And she kissed his hand. But the King lifted her very quickly so that she stood equal with his heart, and embracing her he said, with tears in his eyes:
    "And you, beloved! what will a Queen do in a Barn?"
    "The same as a King," she whispered, and drew from her bosom the opal, as lovely and as variable as the human spirit. "With the other three stones you may, if you will, buy back your father's kingdom. But this, which contains all qualities in one, let us keep for ever, for our children and theirs, that they may know there is nothing a King and a Queen may not do in a Barn, or a man and a woman anywhere. But the best thing they can do is to work in it."
    Then, going out, she came back with the bag which she had slung on Pepper's back, and took from it her father's tools.
    "In three weeks you