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A Piece Of Good Luck
by
“Anybody,” said the prime-minister, “can see with half an eye that it is all magic, or else it is a wonderful piece of good luck. Now, I’ll tell you what shall be done,” said he: “the princess shall keep a piece of chalk by her; and, if she is carried away again in such a fashion, she shall mark a cross with the piece of chalk on the door of the house to which she is taken. Then we shall find the rogue that is playing such a trick, and that quickly enough.”
“Yes,” said the king; “that is very good advice.”
“I will do it,” said the princess.
All that day Jacob Stuck sat thinking and thinking about the beautiful princess. He could not eat a bite, and he could hardly wait for the night to come. As soon as it had fallen, he breathed upon his piece of glass and rubbed his thumb upon it, and there stood the Genie of Good Luck.
“I’d like the princess here again,” said he, “as she was last night, with feasting and drinking, such as we had before.”
“To hear is to obey,” said the Genie.
And as it had been the night before, so it was now. The Genie brought the princess, and she and Jacob Stuck feasted together until nearly midnight. Then, again, the door opened, and the beautiful servant-lad came with the tray and something upon it covered with a napkin. Jacob Stuck unfolded the napkin, and this time it was a cup made of a single ruby, and filled to the brim with gold money. And the wonder of the cup was this: that no matter how much money you took out of it, it was always full. “Take this,” said Jacob Stuck, “to remind you of me.” Then the clock struck twelve, and instantly all was darkness, and the Genie carried the princess home again.
But the princess had brought her piece of chalk with her, as the prime-minister had advised; and in some way or other she contrived, either in coming or going, to mark a cross upon the door of Jacob Stuck’s house.
But, clever as she was, the Genie of Good Luck was more clever still. He saw what the princess did; and, as soon as he had carried her home, he went all through the town and marked a cross upon every door, great and small, little and big, just as the princess had done upon the door of Jacob Stuck’s house, only upon the prime-minister’s door he put two crosses. The next morning everybody was wondering what all the crosses on the house-doors meant, and the king and the prime-minister were no wiser than they had been before.
But the princess had brought the ruby cup with her, and she and the king could not look at it and wonder at it enough.
“Pooh!” said the prime-minister; “I tell you it is nothing else in the world but just a piece of good luck–that is all it is. As for the rogue who is playing all these tricks, let the princess keep a pair of scissors by her, and, if she is carried away again, let her contrive to cut off a lock of his hair from over the young man’s right ear. Then to-morrow we will find out who has been trimmed.”
Yes, the princess would do that; so, before evening was come, she tied a pair of scissors to her belt.
Well, Jacob Stuck could hardly wait for the night to come to summon the Genie of Good Luck. “I want to sup with the princess again,” said he.
“To hear is to obey,” said the Genie of Good Luck; and, as soon as he had made everything ready, away he flew to fetch the princess again.
Well, they feasted and drank, and the music played, and the candles were as bright as day, and beautiful girls sang and danced, and Jacob Stuck was as happy as a king. But the princess kept her scissors by her, and, when Jacob Stuck was not looking, she contrived to snip off a lock of his hair from over his right ear, and nobody saw what was done but the Genie of Good Luck.