Datasets:
mrfakename
/
libritts-texts

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
1
text
stringlengths
35
463
It was long before they joined the main camp, for it had moved south, looking for buffalo.
Besides, they were weak from hunger and could go only a short distance in a day.
As soon as he had gone they began to talk about this strange person. They were afraid of him and did not know what to do.
No one spoke, for people who are hungry do not care to talk.
Then he put on a necklace of bear claws, a band of bear fur about his head, and a belt of bear fur, and sang and danced.
Wait a little; I will go and bring you some," and he went out.
After the feast the chief said, "We are different from all others here.
It was a long knife and many scalps were tied on the handle.
"There is food," said he, as he put it down by the woman.
When they reached the camp, as soon as the lodge was pitched, the man called all the chiefs to come and feast with him, and told them what he had seen, and showed them the different medicines.
The children began to cry, and the women tried to quiet them.
We will let him go this time." They did nothing to him.
Some day I may repay you." Naturally, he was greatly surprised at so much politeness from a fish.
His good fortune, however, did not continue long, for envious enemies pointed out to the King that the Princess was never happy unless Charming was near.
When the King bathed his face with it, he fell into a sleep from which he never awoke.
"You saved my life by the willow-tree," said the carp, "and I now repay you by giving to you the Princess's ring."
These were declined, so bowing low, he reluctantly took leave of the Princess.
The marriage was celebrated with great pomp, and Charming stood first in the King's favor.
Could the Princess see you as my tongue would picture you, I would not return without her."
I valued it more than all my other jewels, and nothing but its recovery can persuade me to your suit."
I would regret to leave my kingdom without possessing some of it; but no one has dared to brave the two dragons that guard the cavern where the fountain is to be found."
The Princess this time consented to marry the King, and after many preparations she and Charming started for his kingdom.
When the ambassador returned without the Princess, every one blamed him for his failure; and the King's disappointment was so great that no one could console him.
Her satin dress was embroidered with jewels, and her golden hair was confined by a crown of flowers.
Charming fell at her feet and expressed his gratitude and joy.
The ambassador arrived at the palace of the Princess with a hundred horses and as many servants.
"Little children I love to eat; Their bones are tender, their flesh is sweet. I do not care, I eat so many, If their hair be straight, or if they haven't any."
One day the King happened to be passing the tower and heard him exclaim:
"You do not need the water, Princess; but my life is yours to command," gallantly replied Charming; and he set out at once on the perilous mission.
In a short time Goldilocks also appeared, unlocked his chains, and set him free.
The unhappy knight was again put into prison, where he was cruelly chained and fed on bread and water.
"You have argued so eloquently," replied she, "that I regret to deny you; but I have made a vow not to marry, until the ambassador can return to me a ring which I lost in the river a month ago.
In a moment more the eagle would have overtaken the raven, had not Charming aimed his arrow in time and killed the pursuer.
Hunting about, he found the unfortunate bird caught in a net which some birdcatchers had spread.
In the morning he and Frisk were walking by the riverside when the dog ran to the water's edge, barking furiously.
Inside the castle the giant was singing in a terrible voice:
I am not ungrateful, and some day I will repay you!"
Charming at last reached the palace of the Princess, and asked an audience.
"Do you think," asked the King, "that she could be induced to change her mind?"
"Be not so boastful, Galifron, Till you've met a knight, who May be good to feed upon, But is here to fight you."
His name so pleased her that she at once received him.
Soft music and perfume filled the air, and Charming was so awed by all this splendor that at first he could not speak.
"He thinks himself so handsome that the Princess could not have resisted him, although she refused his King," they told his Majesty.
It sank out of sight, but presently returned to the surface long enough to say:
The journey was made so entertaining for the Princess that she one day said to Charming:
When Goldilocks learned this, she wept and implored the King to set him free.
Just then he heard his name called twice, and, looking back, he saw an owl flying toward him.
There was once a Princess so lovely that no one could see her without loving her.
One day when he had ridden a great distance, he dismounted and sat down under a tree that grew beside a river.
When he came to the mouth of the cavern, black smoke issued forth; and presently he perceived the terrible form of a dragon, from whose mouth and eyes fire was darting.
"But for him I never would have been here," she said.
The Princess and all the people tried to dissuade him, but he mounted his horse and rode off, accompanied only by his little dog, Frisk.
Charming gladly surrendered the flask to the owl, who in a short time returned it to him filled with the precious water.
Not daring to confess, she put another in its place that exactly resembled it in appearance. This, however, contained a deadly poison.
He sent an ambassador to ask her hand in marriage; and so confident was he that the Princess would return with him, that he made every preparation to receive her.
The raven perched on a tree near by and croaked its gratitude:
"I can enter the gloomy cavern without danger," the owl said.
"You shall be my husband," said she, "and I will make you King."
He was ushered into the presence of the Princess, who sat on a throne of gold and ivory.
With great ceremony, he presented the King's gifts of pearls and diamonds, together with his message.
"You have saved me from the fowlers, who would have killed me.
They were married soon afterward, and they reigned together for many happy years.
Recovering himself in a moment, he told of his mission, and set forth the good qualities of the King in such glowing terms that the Princess listened.
A few days later, while riding along his way, he saw a raven pursued by an eagle.
His enemies at once went to the King and used the remark to influence him against Charming.
Charming lost no time in presenting it to the Princess and claiming his reward.
And the worst was, that I must decide quickly, or I should miss the afternoon coach, which would take me down in time for to-night.
I should certainly not have gone, but for the reference to my Uncle Provis.
As I was not able to cut my dinner, the old landlord with a shining bald head did it for me.
I thought, "Yet Joe, dear Joe, you never tell of it.
If I had taken a hackney-chariot and gone by the streets, I should have missed my aim; going as I did, I caught the coach just as it came out of the yard.
It is so difficult to become clearly possessed of the contents of almost any letter, in a violent hurry, that I had to read this mysterious epistle again twice, before its injunction to me to be secret got mechanically into my mind.
The falser he, the truer Joe; the meaner he, the nobler Joe.
We then separated for a few hours: I, to get at once such passports as were necessary; Herbert, to see Startop at his lodgings.
On a Monday morning, when Herbert and I were at breakfast, I received the following letter from Wemmick by the post.
These precautions well understood by both of us, I went home.
Having hardly any time for consideration,--my watch showing me that the coach started within half an hour,--I resolved to go.
I reasoned as I had reasoned already without knowing it,--if that be reasoning,--in case any harm should befall him through my not going, how could I ever forgive myself!
We both did what we had to do without any hindrance, and when we met again at one o'clock reported it done.
To-morrow night I could not think of going, for it would be too close upon the time of the flight.
Early in the week, or say Wednesday, you might do what you know of, if you felt disposed to try it.
It was the only good thing I had done, and the only completed thing I had done, since I was first apprised of my great expectations.
I, for my part, was prepared with passports; Herbert had seen Startop, and he was more than ready to join.
And now, indeed, I felt as if my last anchor were loosening its hold, and I should soon be driving with the winds and waves.
While it was preparing, I went to Satis House and inquired for Miss Havisham; she was still very ill, though considered something better.
The striking of the clock aroused me, but not from my dejection or remorse, and I got up and had my coat fastened round my neck, and went out.
I was the only inside passenger, jolting away knee-deep in straw, when I came to myself.
Those two should pull a pair of oars, we settled, and I would steer; our charge would be sitter, and keep quiet; as speed was not our object, we should make way enough.
It was dark before we got down, and the journey seemed long and dreary to me, who could see little of it inside, and who could not go outside in my disabled state.
But we noted down what other foreign steamers would leave London with the same tide, and we satisfied ourselves that we knew the build and color of each.
"Your appetite's been touched like by your accident," said the landlord, glancing at the bandaged arm under my coat.
Herbert assented to all this, and we went out immediately after breakfast to pursue our investigations.
And now I began to wonder at myself for being in the coach, and to doubt whether I had sufficient reason for being there, and to consider whether I should get out presently and go back, and to argue against ever heeding an anonymous communication, and, in short, to pass through all those phases of contradiction and indecision to which I suppose very few hurried people are strangers.
Any foreign steamer that fell in our way and would take us up would do. I had always proposed to myself to get him well down the river in the boat; certainly well beyond Gravesend, which was a critical place for search or inquiry if suspicion were afoot.
Let him suppose it a mere freak, but a secret one, until the morning comes: then let him know that there is urgent reason for your getting Provis aboard and away.
That, coming on Wemmick's letter and the morning's busy preparation, turned the scale.
The morning hurry and flutter had been great; for, long and anxiously as I had waited for Wemmick, his hint had come like a surprise at last.
A good fellow, a skilled hand, fond of us, and enthusiastic and honorable."
For, of course my being disabled could now be no longer kept out of view.
I had previously sought in my pockets for the letter, that I might refer to it again; but I could not find it, and was uneasy to think that it must have been dropped in the straw of the coach.