第63章 THE CASTLE OF FORTUNE(2)

The donkey was slow, and he was hard to ride, but he was better than nothing; and gradually the lazy man saw the towers of the castle draw nearer.

Now it began to grow dark; in the castle windows the lights began to show.Then came trouble! Slower, and slower, went the gray donkey; slower, and slower, till, in the very middle of a pitch-black wood, he stopped and stood still.Not a step would he budge for all the coaxing and scolding and beating his rider could give.At last the rider kicked him, as well as beat him, and at that the donkey felt that he had had enough.Up went his hind heels, and down went his head, and over it went the lazy man on to the stony ground.

There he lay groaning for many minutes, for it was not a soft place, I can assure you.How he wished he were in a soft, warm bed, with his aching bones comfortable in blankets! The very thought of it made him remember the castle of fortune, for he knew there must be fine beds there.To get to those beds he was even willing to bestir his bruised limbs, so he sat up and felt about him for the donkey.

No donkey was to be found.

The lazy man crept round and round the spot where he had fallen, scratched his hands on the stumps, tore his face in the briers, and bumpedhis knees on the stones.But no donkey was there.He would have lain down to sleep again, but he could hear now the howls of hungry wolves in the woods; that did not sound pleasant.Finally, his hand struck against something that felt like a saddle.He grasped it, thankfully, and started to mount his donkey.

The beast he took hold of seemed very small, and, as he mounted, he felt that its sides were moist and slimy.It gave him a shudder, and he hesitated; but at that moment he heard a distant clock strike.It was striking eleven! There was still time to reach the castle of fortune, but no more than enough; so he mounted his new steed and rode on once more.The animal was easier to sit on than the donkey, and the saddle seemed remarkably high behind; it was good to lean against.But even the donkey was not so slow as this; the new steed was slower than he.After a while, however, he pushed his way out of the woods into the open, and there stood the castle, only a little way ahead! All its windows were ablaze with lights.A ray from them fell on the lazy man's beast, and he saw what he was riding: it was a gigantic snail! a snail as large as a calf!

A cold shudder ran over the lazy man's body, and he would have got off his horrid animal then and there, but just then the clock struck once more.It was the first of the long, slow strokes that mark mid- night! The man grew frantic when he heard it.He drove his heels into the snail's sides, to make him hurry.Instantly, the snail drew in his head, curled up in his shell, and left the lazy man sitting in a heap on the ground!

The clock struck twice.If the man had run for it, he could still have reached the castle, but, instead, he sat still and shouted for a horse.

"A beast, a beast!" he wailed, "any kind of a beast that will take me to the castle!"The clock struck three times.And as it struck the third note, something came rustling and rattling out of the darkness, something that sounded like a horse with harness.The lazy man jumped on its back, a very queer, low back.As he mounted, he saw the doors of the castle open, and saw his friend standing on the threshold, waving his cap and beckoning to him.

The clock struck four times, and the new steed began to stir; as it struck five, he moved a pace forward; as it struck six, he stopped; as itstruck seven, he turned himself about; as it struck eight, he began to move backward, away from the castle!

The lazy man shouted, and beat him, but the beast went slowly backward.And the clock struck nine.The man tried to slide off, then, but from all sides of his strange animal great arms came reaching up and held him fast.And in the next ray of moonlight that broke the dark clouds, he saw that he was mounted on a monster crab!

One by one, the lights went out, in the castle windows.The clock struck ten.Backward went the crab.Eleven! Still the crab went backward.The clock struck twelve! Then the great doors shut with a clang, and the castle of fortune was closed forever to the lazy man.

What became of him and his crab no one knows to this day, and no one cares.But the industrious man was received by the Fairy of Fortune, and made happy in the castle as long as he wanted to stay.And ever afterward she was his friend, helping him not only to happiness for himself, but also showing him how to help others, wherever he went.