Chicken noodle soup stranger things

https://www.deviantart.com/yoshiwithasword/art/Jane-Hopper-Eleven-vs-Jodie-Holmes-964974940

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The Enchanted Moccasins
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A long, long time ago, a little boy was living with his sister entirely alone in an uninhabited country, far out in the north-west.
He was called the Boy that carries the Ball on his Back, from an idea that he possessed supernatural powers.
This boy was in the habit of meditating alone, and asking within himself, whether there were other beings similar to themselves on the earth.
When he grew up to manhood, he inquired of his sister whether she knew of any human beings beside themselves.
She replied that she did; and that there was, at a great distance, a large village.
As soon as he heard this, he said to his sister, “I am now a young man and very much in want of a companion;” and he asked his sister to make him several pairs of moccasins.
She complied with his request; and as soon as he received the moccasins, he took up his war-club and set out in quest of the distant village.
He traveled on till he came to a small wigwam, and on looking into it he discovered a very old woman sitting alone by the fire.
As soon as she saw the stranger, she invited him in, and thus addressed him:
“My poor grandchild, I suppose you are one of those who seek for the distant village, from which no person has ever yet returned.
Unless your guardian is more powerful than the guardians of those who have gone before you, you will share a similar fate to theirs.
Be careful to provide yourself with the invisible bones they use in the medicine-dance, for without these you can not succeed.”
After she had thus spoken, she gave him the following directions for his journey:
“When you come near to the village which you seek, you will see in the center a large lodge, in which the chief of the village, who has two daughters, resides.
Before the door there is a great tree, which is smooth and without bark.
On this tree, about the height of a man from the ground, is hung a small lodge, in which these two false daughters dwell.
It is here that so many have been destroyed, and among them your two elder brothers.
Be wise, my grandchild, and abide strictly by my directions.”
The old woman then gave to the young man the bones which were to secure his success; and she informed him with great care how he was to proceed.
Placing them in his bosom, Onwee Bahmondang, or the Wearer of the Ball, continued his journey, and kept eagerly on until he arrived at the village of which he was in search; and as he was gazing around him, he saw both the tree and the lodge which the old woman had mentioned.
He at once bent his steps for the tree, and approaching, he endeavored to reach the suspended lodge.
But all his efforts were in vain; for as often as he attempted to reach it, the tree began to tremble, and it soon shot up so that the lodge could hardly be perceived.
He bethought him of his guardian, and invoking his aid, and changing himself into a squirrel, he mounted nimbly up again, in the hope that the lodge would not now escape him.
Away shot the lodge, climb as briskly as he might.
Panting, and out of breath, he remembered the instructions of the old woman, and drawing from his bosom one of the bones, he thrust it into the trunk of the tree, and rested himself to be ready to start again.
As often as he wearied of climbing, for even a squirrel can not climb forever, he repeated the little ceremony of the bones; but whenever he came near the lodge and put forth his hand to touch it, the tree would shoot up as before, and carry the lodge up far beyond his reach.
At length the bones being all gone, and the lodge well-nigh out of sight, he began to despair, for the earth, too, had long since vanished entirely from his view.
Summoning his whole heart, he resolved to try once more.
On and up he went, and, as soon as he put forth his hand to touch it, the tree again shook, and away went the lodge.
One more endeavor, brave Onwee, and in he goes; for having now reached the arch of heaven, the fly-away lodge could go no higher.
Onwee entered the lodge with a fearless step, and he beheld the two wicked sisters sitting opposite each other.
He asked their names.
The one on his left hand called herself Azhabee, and the one on the right, Negahnabee.
After talking with them a little while, he discovered that whenever he addressed the one on his left hand, the tree would tremble as before and settle down to its former place; but when he addressed the one on his right hand, it would again shoot upward.
When he thus perceived that by addressing the one on his left hand that the tree would descend, he continued to do so until it had again settled down to its place near the earth. Then seizing his war-club, he said to the sisters:
“You who have caused the death of so many of my brethren I will now put an end to, and thus have revenge for those you have destroyed.”
As he spoke this he raised the club, and with one blow laid the two wicked women dead at his feet.
Onwee then descended, and learning that these sisters had a brother living with their father, who had shared all together in the spoils of all such as the wicked sisters had betrayed, and who would now pursue him for having put an end to their wicked profits, Onwee set off at random, not knowing whither he went.
The father coming in the evening to visit the lodge of his daughters, discovered what had happened.
He immediately sent word to his son that his sisters had been slain, and that there were no more spoils to be had, which greatly inflamed the young man’s temper, especially the woeful announcement at the close.
“The person who has done this,” said the brother, as soon as he had reached the spot, chafing and half beside himself at the gloomy prospect of having no more travelers to strip, “must be that boy who carries the ball on his back.
I know his mode of going about his business, and since he would not allow himself to be killed by my sisters, he shall have the honor of dying by my hand.
I will pursue him and have revenge.”
“It is well, my son,” replied the father; “the spirit of your life grant you success.
I counsel you to be wary in the pursuit. Bahmondang is a cunning youth.
It is a strong spirit who has put him on to do this injury to us, and he will try to deceive you in every way.
Above all, avoid tasting food till you succeed; for if you break your fast before you see his blood, your power will be destroyed.”
The son took this fatherly advice all in good part, except that portion which enjoined upon him to abstain from staying his stomach; but over that he made a number of wry faces, for the brother of the two wicked sisters had, among numerous noble gifts, a very noble appetite.
Nevertheless, he took up his weapons and departed in pursuit of Onwee Bahmondang, at the top of his speed.
Onwee finding that he was closely followed, climbed up into one of the tallest trees, and shot forth the magic arrows with which he had provided himself.
Seeing that his pursuer was not turned back by his arrows, Onwee renewed his flight; and when he found himself hard pressed, and his enemy close behind him, he transformed himself into the skeleton of a moose that had been killed, whose flesh had come off from his bones.
He then remembered the moccasins which his sister had given him, and which were enchanted.
Taking a pair of them, he placed them near the skeleton.
“Go,” said he to them, “to the end of the earth.”
The moccasins then left him, and their tracks remained.
The angry brother at length came to the skeleton of the moose, when he perceived that the track he had been long pursuing did not stop there, so he continued to follow it up till he arrived at the end of the earth, where, for all his trouble, he found only a pair of moccasins.
Vexed that he had been outwitted by following a pair of moccasins instead of their owner, who was the object of his pursuit, he bitterly complained, resolving not to give up his revenge, and to be more wary in scrutinizing signs.
He then called to mind the skeleton he had met with on his way, and concluded that it must be the object of his search.
He retraced his steps toward the skeleton, but to his surprise it had disappeared, and the tracks of the wearer of the ball were in another direction.
He now became faint with hunger, and lost heart; but when he remembered the blood of his sisters, and that he should not be allowed to enjoy a meal, nor so much as a mouthful, until he had put an end to Onwee Bahmondang, he plucked up his spirits and determined again to pursue.
Onwee, finding that he was closely followed, and that the hungry brother was approaching very fast, changed himself into a very old man, with two daughters, and living in a large lodge in the center of a beautiful garden, which was filled with every thing that could delight the eye, or was pleasant to the taste.
He made himself appear so very old as to be unable to leave his lodge, and to require his daughters to bring him food and wait on him, as though he had been a mere child.
The garden also had the appearance of old age, with its ancient bushes and hanging branches and decrepit vines loitering lazily about in the sun.
The brother kept on until he was nearly starved and ready to sink to the earth.
He exclaimed, with a long-drawn and most mournful sigh, “Oh! I will forget the blood of my sisters, for I am starving.
Oh! oh!”
But again he thought of the blood of his sisters, and what a fine appetite he would have if he should ever be allowed to eat any thing again, and once more he resolved to pursue, and to be content with nothing short of the amplest revenge.
He pushed on till he came to the beautiful garden. He advanced toward the lodge.
As soon as the fairy daughters perceived him they ran and told their father that a stranger approached.
Their father replied, “Invite him in, my children, invite him in.”
They did so promptly, and, by the command of their father, they boiled some corn, and prepared several other palatable dishes.
The savor was most delicious to the nostrils of the hungry brother, who had not the least suspicion of the sport that was going on at his expense.
He was faint and weary with travel, and he felt that he could endure fasting no longer; for his appetite was terribly inflamed by the sight of the choice food that was steaming before him.
He fell to and partook heartily of the meal; and, by so doing, he was overcome, and lost his right of revenge.
All at once he forgot the blood of his sisters, and even the village of his nativity, and his father’s lodge, and his whole past life.
He ate so keenly, and came and went to the choice dishes so often, that drowsiness at length overpowered him, and he soon fell into a profound sleep.
Onwee Bahmondang watched his opportunity, and as soon as he saw that the false brother’s sleep was sound, he resumed his youthful form, and sent off the two fairy daughters and the old garden; and drawing the magic-ball from his back, which turned out to be a great war-club, he fetched the slumbering brother a mighty blow, which sent him away too; and thus did Onwee Bahmondang vindicate his title as the Wearer of the Ball.
When Onwee swung around, with the great force and weight of the club with which he had dispatched the brother of the two wicked women, he found himself in a large village, surrounded by a great crowd of people.
At the door of a beautiful lodge stood his sister, smiling, and ready to invite him in.
Onwee entered, and hanging up his war-club and the enchanted moccasins, which he had recovered, he rested from his labors, and smoked his evening pipe, with the admiration and approval of the whole world.
With one exception only, Onwee Bahmondang had the hearty praises of all the people.
Now it happened that there lived in this same village an envious and boastful fellow, who had been once a chief, but coming home always badly whipped, he was put out of office, and now spent his time about the place mainly, in proclaiming certain great things which he had in his eye, and which he meant to do—one of these days.
This man’s name was Ko-ko, the Owl; and hearing much of the wonderful achievements of the Wearer of the Ball, Ko-ko put on a big look, and announced that he was going to do something extraordinary himself.
Onwee Bahmondang, he said, had not half done his work, and he, Ko-ko, meant to go on the ground and finish it up as it should be.
He began by procuring an oak ball, which he thrust down his back, and, confident in its magical powers, he, too, called himself the Wearer of the Ball.
In fact it was the self-same ball that Onwee had employed, except that the magic had entirely gone out of it. Coming by night in the shadow of the lodge, he thrust his arm in at the door, and stealthily possessed himself of the enchanted moccasins.
He would have taken away Onwee’s war-club too, if he could have carried it; but although he was twice the size and girth of Onwee, he had not the strength to lift it; so he borrowed a club from an old chief, who was purblind, and mistook Ko-ko for his brother who was a brave man; and raising a terrible tumult with his voice, and a great dust with his heels, Ko-ko set out.
He had traveled all day, when he came to a small wigwam, and on looking into it, he discovered a very old woman sitting alone by the fire; just as Onwee had before.
This is the wigwam, said Ko-ko, and this is the old woman.
“What are you looking for?” asked the old woman.
“I want to find the lodge with the wicked young women in it, who slay travellers and steal their trappings,” answered Ko-ko.
“You mean the two young women who lived in the flying lodge?” said the old woman.
“The same,” answered Ko-ko. “I am going to kill them.”
With this he gave a great flourish with his borrowed club, and looked desperate and murderous as he could.
“They were slain yesterday by the Wearer of the Ball,” said the old woman.
Ko-ko looked around for the door in a very owlish way, and heaving a short hem from his chest, he acknowledged that he had heard something to that effect down in one of the villages.
“But there’s the brother. I’ll have a chance at him,” said Ko-ko.
“He is dead too,” said the old woman.
“Is there nobody then left for me to kill?” cried Ko-ko.
“Must I then go back without any blood upon my hands?”
He made as if he could shed tears over his sad mishap.
“The father is still living; and you will find him in the lodge, if you have a mind to call on him. He would like to see the Owl,” the old woman added.
“He shall,” replied Ko-ko.
“Have you any bones about the house; for I suppose I shall have to climb that tree.”
“Oh, yes; plenty,” answered the old woman.
“You can have as many as you want.”
And she gave him a handful of fish-bones, which Ko-ko, taking them to be the Invisible Tallies which had helped Onwee Bahmondang in climbing the magical tree, thrust into his bosom.
“Thank you,” said Ko-ko; taking up his club and striding toward the door.
“Will you not have a little advice,” said the old woman.
“This is a dangerous business you are going on.”
Ko-ko turned about and laughed to scorn the proposal, and putting forth his right foot from the lodge first, an observance in which he had great hopes, he started for the lodge of the wicked father.
Ko-ko ran very fast, as if he feared he should lose the chance of massacring any member of the wicked family, until he came in sight of the lodge hanging upon the tree.
He then slackened his pace, and crept forward with a wary eye lest somebody might chance to be looking out at the door.
All was, however, still up there; and Ko-ko clasped the tree and began to climb.
Away went the lodge, and up went Ko-ko, puffing and panting, after it.
And it was not a great while before the Owl had puffed and panted away all the wind he had to spare; and yet the lodge kept flying aloft, higher, higher.
What was to be done!
Ko-ko of course bethought him of the bones, for that was just what, as he knew, had occurred to Onwee Bahmondang under the like circumstances.
He had the bones in his bosom; and now it was necessary for him to be a squirrel.
He immediately called on several guardian spirits whom he knew of by name, and requested them to convert him into a squirrel.
But not one of all them seemed to pay the slightest attention to his request; for there he hung, the same heavy-limbed, big-headed, be-clubbed, and be-blanketed Ko-ko as ever.
He then desired that they would turn him into an opossum; an application which met with the same luck as the previous one.
After this he petitioned to be a wolf, a gophir, a dog, or a bear—if they would be so obliging.
The guardian spirits were either all deaf, or indifferent to his wishes, or absent on some other business.
Ko-ko, in spite of all his begging and supplication and beseeching, was obliged to be still Ko-ko.
“The bones, however,” he said, to himself, “are good.
I shall get a nice rest, at any rate, if I am forced to climb as I am.”
With this he drew out one of the bones from his bosom, and shouting aloud, “Ho! ho! who is there?” he thrust it into the trunk of the tree, and would have indulged himself in a rest; but being no more than a common fish-bone, without the slightest savor of magic in it, it snapped with Ko-ko, who came tumbling down, with the door of the lodge which he had shaken loose, rattling after him.
“Ho! ho! who is there?” cried the wicked father, making his appearance at the opening and looking down.
“It is I, Onwee Bahmondang!” cried Ko-koor, thinking to frighten the wicked father.
“Ah! it is you, is it? I will be there presently,” called the old man. “Do not be in haste to go away!”
Ko-ko, observing that the old man was in earnest, scrambled up from the ground, and set off promptly at his highest rate of speed.
When he looked back and saw that the wicked father was gaining upon him, Ko-koor mounted a tree, as had Onwee Bahmondang before, and fired off a number of arrows, but as they were no more than common arrows, he got nothing by it, but was obliged to descend, and run again for life.
As he hurried on he encountered the skeleton of a moose, into which he would have transformed himself, but not having the slightest confidence in any one of all the guardians who should have helped him, he passed on.
The wicked father was hot in pursuit, and Ko-koor was suffering terribly for lack of wind, when luckily he remembered the enchanted moccasins.
He could not send them to the end of the earth, as had Onwee Bahmondang.
“I will improve on that dull fellow,” said Ko-ko.
“I will put them on myself.”
Accordingly, Ko-ko had just time to draw on the moccasins when the wicked father came in sight.
“Go now!” cried Ko-ko, giving orders to the enchanted moccasins; and go they did; but to the astonishment of the Owl, they turned immediately about in the way in which the wicked father, now, very furious, was approaching.
“The other way! the other way!” cried Ko-ko.
Cry as loud as he would, the enchanted moccasins would keep on in their own course; and before he could shake himself out of them, they had run him directly into the face of the wicked father.
“What do you mean, you Owl?” cried the wicked father, falling upon Ko-ko with a huge club, and counting his ribs at every stroke.
“I can not help it, good man,” answered Ko-ko.
“I tried my best—”
Ko-ko would have gone the other way, but the enchanted moccasins kept hurrying him forward. “Stand off, will you?” cried the old man.
By this time, allowing the wicked father chance to bestow no more than five-and-twenty more blows upon Ko-ko, the moccasins were taking him past.
“Stop!” cried the old man again. “You are running away.
Ho! ho! you are a coward!”
“I am not, good man,” answered Ko-ko, carried away by the magical shoes, “I assure you.” But ere he could finish his avowal, the moccasins had hurried him out of sight.
“At any rate, I shall soon be home at this speed,” said Ko-koor to himself.
The moccasins seemed to know his thoughts; for just then they gave a sudden leap, slipped away from his feet, and left the Owl flat upon his back! while they glided home by themselves, to the lodge of Onwee Bahmondang, where they belonged.
A party of hunters passing that way after several days, found Ko-ko sitting among the bushes, looking greatly bewildered; and when they inquired of him how he had succeeded with the wicked father at the lodge, he answered that he had demolished the whole establishment, but that his name was not Ko-ko, but Onwee Bahmondang; saying which, he ran away into the woods, and was never seen more.

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THE ENCHANTED HORSE
( MALECITE )
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There was once an old man that had a son named Louis who used to go hunting to support his parents, for they were very poor.
One day while he was hunting, a gentleman came to visit his parents.
This gentleman offered the old man a beaver hat full of gold for his son, and promised to take good care of the boy, whose only duties should be to tend the gentleman's horses.
"In about twenty years you will get your son back," said he.
The old man communicated the offer of the gentleman to his wife.
She, however, was not anxious to accept it.
Then the old man, goaded by the thoughts of their poverty, tried to persuade her, and he finally accepted the offer against his wife's inclinations.
The gentleman waited for Louis to arrive, and then he took him away.
When he arrived at his home, he showed the boy over his house, and gave him permission to eat and drink whatever he cared to.
He also showed him two pots,--one full of gold and the other full of silver,--which he told Louis not to touch.
Later he took him to the stable where he kept the horses, and showed him a black horse in the farthest stall, telling him to be very particular about caring for that horse.
Among other things, he gave him orders to wash him three times, and to take him to water three times every day.
Then he pointed out to him a gray horse, and ordered him to beat him three times a day, to give him very little to eat, and to water him only once in twenty-four hours.
Further, he told him never to take the bridle off that gray horse.
After this, he told Louis that he was going on a journey, and would not return for a few weeks.
Louis carried out the gentleman's instructions, and, when two weeks had passed, the gentleman returned.
The first thing he did was to go into the stable and examine his horses.
He was well pleased with the looks of his black horse, and was also pleased to note that the gray one was looking very poorly.
While they were returning to the house together, the gentleman began to play with Louis, who noted that he had a knife in his hand, and was not surprised when his finger was soon cut by it.
The gentleman, however, apologized, and, taking a bottle out of his pocket, rubbed a little of the liquid on Louis' finger.
Louis was greatly surprised to find that his finger was at once entirely healed.
Later in the day, he told Louis that he was going away again (for a week, this time), and told him to be careful to treat the horses as he had done before.
When he had gone, Louis' curiosity got the better of him.
He took the cover off the pots, and dipped his finger into the golden liquid.
When he pulled it out, lo, and behold! his finger was changed to gold.
At once he saw that his master would know what he had done, and, to hide his finger, he wrapped it up in a piece of rag.
In addition, Louis' pity overcame him, and he did not beat the gray horse.
At the end of the week, the gentleman returned and asked Louis how the horses were.
He was well satisfied after his inspection of the stable.
Again he began to play with Louis, his knife in his hand.
While he was playing with him, he noticed that Louis' finger was wrapped up, and he inquired of Louis what was the matter with his finger.
Louis replied that he had cut it.
The gentleman pulled the rag off, and seeing that Louis' finger had turned to gold, he knew that Louis had been meddling with the pots.
He became very angry, and grasped Louis' finger, twisted it, pulled it off, and threw it back into the pot, warning Louis not to touch the pots again.
He played with him as before, and again cut him on the hand.
A second time he applied the liquid, and again the boy's hand was healed immediately.
He again told Louis that he was going away, and would be gone for three weeks, and ordered him to beat the gray horse on this occasion five times each day.
That day Louis watered the horses, and, noticing that the gray horse could hardly drink any water with the bit in his mouth, he took pity on him, removed the bridle, and gave the horse a good drink.
When the horse lifted his head from the brook and looked at Louis, he had a man's face on him and he spoke to Louis as follows:"You have saved me.
If you do as I tell you, we both shall be saved.
The master is not a man, but the Devil.
He came to my parents as he did to yours, and bought me with a beaver hat full of money.
Every time he comes and cuts you, he is trying you to see if you are fat enough to be killed. When he returns this time, he will again try you, and, if he finds that you are not fat enough, he will turn you into a horse.
If you are fat enough, he will kill you.
If you do as I tell you, Louis, we both shall be saved.
Now feed me as well as you can for two weeks; put my bridle on the black horse, and beat him five times a day.
In short, give him the treatment which was destined for me."
Louis did as the Gray Horse requested, and the animal began to recover his lost weight.
The black horse lost weight rapidly.
After the two weeks were up, the gray horse was in good condition; the black horse was very poorly.
"Now," said the Gray Horse," the Devil suspects that things have not gone properly, and he is returning.
Now we must prepare speedily to leave.
Since his black horse is very swift, you must go and cut his legs off: cut the left foreleg off below the knee; cut the right fore-leg off away above the knee; cut the right hind-leg off below the knee; and the left hind-leg, away above the knee.
He will not then be able to travel so fast, for his legs will be short and of different lengths."
When Louis had completed his task, the Gray Horse told him to go to the house and get the pots of silver and gold; and, on Louis' return with them, the Horse told Louis to dip his tail in the silver pot, and to dip his mane and ears in the gold one.
"And you dip your hair into the gold pot," said the Horse, "and stick your little fingers into the metal.
Take the saddle and put it on me, but, before we start, go into the house and get three grains of black corn which he has upon his shelf, and take his flint, steel, and punk.
Take, also, an awl, that round pebble which comes from the seashore, and then take that wisp of hay which is pointed."
Louis did as the Horse bade him, and then mounted on his back and rode away.
The Devil returned two days after they had started, and, when he saw that the gray horse had gone and the black horse was mutilated, he knew what had taken place.
This enraged him very much, and he at once began to think how he could outwit the fugitives.
Finally he set out in pursuit.
After Louis and the Gray Horse had been gone several days, the Gray Horse spoke to the boy, and said, "The Devil and the black horse are pretty close.
You did not cut his legs short enough.
Give me one of those grains of black corn, and I'll go a little faster."
Louis gave him one of the grains of black corn, and the Gray Horse traveled much faster. After a few days had passed, the Horse again said,
"Louis, he is getting very close.
You will have to give me another grain."
So Louis gave him a second grain, and the Gray Horse increased his speed.
Three days later, the Gray Horse said to Louis, "Give me the last grain.
He is getting very close."
After three more days, the Gray Horse again spoke, and said, "Louis, he is very close.
Throw the awl behind you."
Louis did as he was told, and the Horse said, "Now, that awl has made a great field of thorn-bushes grow, many miles in extent."
When the Devil rode up, he was going so fast that he rode right in among the thorns, and got his horse out only after a great deal of trouble.
By the time he had extricated his.
horse and had ridden around the field, Louis had gained a great distance over him.
"Louis, he is getting very close," said the Horse some days later.
"Throw back the flint."
Louis obeyed him, with the result that, when the Devil came up, he was confronted by a high wall of bare rock, which extended for miles.
He was forced to go around this, and, when he once more took up the trail, Louis had gained many more miles on him.
After a couple of days, the Gray Horse said, "Louis, we have only two things left, and I am afraid that we are going to have a hard time."
"I think," said Louis, "we had better throw the punk behind."
With that he threw the punk behind him.
When it struck the ground, it immediately burst into flame, starting a forest fire which extended many miles.
When the Devil arrived, he was going too fast to avoid riding into the fire, and this caused him great trouble.
He had to go many miles out of his way to avoid the fire, and this delay enabled the fugitives to make a material gain in distance.
In two or three days the Devil had regained the distance that he had lost.
The Gray Horse now said to Louis, "I am afraid that he is going to overtake us before we can reach the sea.
He is gaining rapidly upon us, and is now very close.
You had better throw the pebble behind you; it is the only chance left us."
Louis threw the pebble behind them; and the result was that a great lake appeared, which extended over many square miles.
The Devil rode up to the lake, and, knowing whither they had gone, he travelled around it. This manœuvre cost the Devil the loss of many valuable miles, for Louis and the Gray Horse were by this time quite close to the sea.
"He is still gaining on us." said the Gray Horse. "I'm getting very tired."
Looking ahead, Louis could see the ocean, and turning around, he could see the Devil coming, gaining on them all the time.
"Louis, I am afraid he is going to overtake us," said the Horse.
Now, Louis did not understand what advantage it would be for them to arrive at the sea; but this was soon apparent.
They did manage to reach the seashore ahead of the Devil, however, when the Gray Horse said, "Louis, throw out that wisp of hay."
Louis pushed it out, and, behold! as he thrust it, the wisp of hay was converted into a bridge.
They immediately rode out upon this, and as they passed over it, the bridge folded up behind them!
The Devil did not reach the sea until they were a safe distance from the shore.
"It was very lucky," the Devil said, "that you took my bridge with you, or I would have eaten you two for my dinner! "
Now, Louis and his horse continued to cross the bridge until they came to the land on the other side.
While travelling along through this new country, they discovered a cave.
"Now," the Gray Horse said to Louis, "you stable me in here, and go up to the king's house and see if you cannot get work.
Wrap up your head in order that your hair may not be seen, and do the same to your little fingers.
When you arrive there, go and lie with your face down behind the kitchen, and wait until they throw out the dish-water.
They will ask you what you want.
Tell them that you desire work, and that you are a good gardener.
Do not forget to comb your hair once a day in the garden, where they cannot see you."
The young man did all the Gray Horse suggested, and, when one of the maids threw out some dish-water behind the kitchen, she noticed him, and straightway notified the king.
His Majesty ordered the youth to be brought before him, and, when Louis had come, the king inquired into his identity and his desires.
Louis told the king that he wanted work, and the king employed him as a gardener, because Louis claimed greater ability than the other gardeners.
Every noon he would seclude himself to comb his hair, and then he would tie up his head again in the cloth.
Although he was quite handsome, he did not look well with his head tied up in this manner. His work, moreover, was so excellent that the king soon noticed an improvement in the garden.
One day, while he was combing his hair, the princess looked out of her window, and saw Louis' hair.
She noticed that the hair was all of gold; and the light from it shone into her room as it would if reflected from a mirror.
Louis did not notice her, and, when he had completed his toilet, he wrapped up his head again and went away, leaving the princess enchanted by his looks.
During the same afternoon, while he was working near the palace, the princess dropped a note down to him.
Louis did not see it, and therefore did not pay any attention to it.
She then dropped several more, one after another; but he paid no attention to them.
The next day, he thought he would go down and see his horse.
When he arrived at the cave, the Gray Horse inquired what had happened.
Louis related the few events to him; but the Gray Horse told him that that was not all, for he had not noticed the princess looking at him when he was combing his hair.
"To-morrow," said the Horse, "the king will ask you if you are descended of royal blood.
You tell him that you are the child of poor parents.
There is a prince who wants to marry the princess; but she does not love him.
When you go back to work in the garden, the princess will drop notes to you again, but don't touch them.
Louis, in time you shall marry her, but don't forget me."
Louis returned, and the princess again dropped him notes; but he ignored them.
In the meantime the prince had come to see the princess, and he made arrangements with the king to marry his daughter.
The princess, however, would not look at the prince.
The king demanded of his daughter why she did not want to see the prince, and she told him that she desired to marry the gardener.
The king became very angry; he declared that she could not marry the poor beggar.
"Did you not always say that you would give me anything I wanted?" she asked of the king.
"Yes," answered he; "but you must marry a prince."
She again refused to marry the prince.
At this, the king became very angry, and went out to tell his wife what the princess had said.
"I think the gardener is a prince in disguise," the queen said to the king.
The king summoned Louis into his presence; and the young man, obeying, came into the midst of the royalty and nobility of the palace, with his head still covered.
The king asked him if he was of royal blood.
"No," he replied. "I am the son of poor parents."
The king then dismissed him.
The princess, however, contrived a means to marry Louis, and, when the ceremony was over, they went back to the king.
She told her father what she had done, and asked for her dowry.
He told her that her dowry should be the pig-pen in which he fattened his hogs; and he drove them from the palace with nothing more.
The queen was in tears at the way the king treated their daughter; but he was obdurate.
The princess and Louis had to subsist on what little the queen could send them.
Soon the princess said to Louis, "We had better go to the place where your parents live."
"No," said Louis, "we must go where the king sends us, for his will is my pleasure."
So they went to the pig-pen and fixed up a place to sleep.
Every day the princess went to the palace, and the servants there would give her what was left from the table.
This continued for several weeks, until, one day, Louis thought of his Horse. He went over to the cave to find out how he was doing.
"Well, Louis, I see that you are married, and that your father-in-law is treating you pretty badly," the Horse said to him.
"Now you look in my left ear, and you will see a cloth folded up."
Louis did as directed; and the Gray Horse continued, "Take the cloth.
At meal-time unfold it, and you will find inside all sorts of food of the finest kind.
Come back and see me tomorrow."
Louis returned to his hog-pen, where his wife had the leavings from the palace table arranged for supper.
"Take this cloth and unfold it," said he.
And when she unfolded it, she was amazed to see delicious food and fine wines all ready to eat and drink.
This was the first decent meal that they had eaten since they were married.
The next day he again went back to see the Horse, who asked Louis if he had heard any news.
Louis said that he had not.
"Well," said the Gray Horse, "I did. Your father-in-law is going to war to-morrow, because his daughter did not marry the prince to whom she was betrothed. Louis, you had better go too.
Send your wife up to borrow a horse and arms, and you go with him."
On returning to his hog-pen, Louis told his wife what he had heard and what he wished her to do.
So she went up to the castle to borrow a horse and armor.
The king at first refused to give it; but the queen finally persuaded him to loan his son-in-law a horse.
Thus Louis was equipped with a gray mare and an old sword.
Louis accepted this; and the next morning, when the king started with his followers, Louis went forth mounted on the gray mare.
He found, however, that she was too old to carry him: so he rode her down to the cave. There the Gray Horse told him to look in his right ear for a little box.
Louis did so, and found the article.
On opening this box, he found a ring inside it.
The Horse told him that he could now get anything he wished for, and directed him to wish for arms and armor better than the king's own.
Louis did so, and the armor immediately appeared.
When Louis had donned it, the Gray Horse told him to comb his mane and tail; and after this was done, they started, quite resplendent.
While they were passing the pig-pen, Louis' wife, mistaking him for a foreign king, begged him not to kill her father, and Louis promised not to hurt the old gentleman.
The fight was already raging when Louis arrived, and the enemy was pressing the king hard; but he came at just the right time, and turned the tide of the battle.
Not recognizing him, the king thanked him (a strange prince, as he thought) for his assistance; and the two rode back together.
On the way they began to race; for the king was proud of his steed, and was fond of showing him off.
Louis, however, far out-distanced him, and rode on to the cave, where he unsaddled his horse, resumed his old clothes, and tied up his head.
Before he departed, the Gray Horse told him that the king would go to war again on the morrow, and that he, Louis, should once more borrow the horse and sword.
He took the old gray mare and the sword back to the pig-pen.
His wife inquired eagerly how her father had fared.
Louis answered that the king had been successful, and told her to take the horse and the sword back to the palace.
When she arrived, she told her father that her husband wished her to thank him for the horse and the sword.
Whereupon the king inquired if Louis had been present at the battle, for, he said, he had not seen him.
The princess replied that he had indeed been there; and truly, if it had not been for Louis, the king would not have won the battle.
The king replied that he was sure that Louis was not there, or else he would have seen him; and he persisted in this view.
The princess, being unable to convince her father, returned to the pig-pen.
When the princess had left, the queen said that Louis must have been in the fight, for, if he had not been there, he would not have known about it.
"Was there no stranger there?" she asked.
"Yes," returned the king. "
There was a strange prince there, who helped me."
"Well," said the queen, "that must have been your son-in-law."
Back in the pig-pen, the princess told her husband that the king was saying that he had not been at the battle.
"If it had not been for me," Louis replied, "the king would not have won the battle."
And so the matter was dropped.
The next morning he sent his wife up to borrow the horse and equipment again.
The king gave his daughter the same outfit.
Again Louis went to the cave, where he again changed horses and armor.
Once more, when he passed his hovel, his wife did not recognize him.
When Louis arrived, the battle was going against the king, as on the former occasion; but the young man a second time turned the tide in favor of his father-in-law.
After the battle was over, Louis and the king rode back together.
The king wished to find out who this prince might be, and he determined to put a mark on him, so that he would recognize him again.
He took out his sword to show how he had overcome one of his adversaries in battle, and stabbed his son-in-law in the leg.
A piece of the king's sword had broken off, and was left in the wound.
The king pretended to be very sorry, and tied up the wound.
When they started off again, Louis put spurs to his horse, and when he reached the cave he again changed horses.
Then he returned to the pig-pen with the old gray mare.
He was cut so badly, that he could walk only with difficulty.
When his wife inquired if he had been wounded, be explained how her father had done it. Thereupon his wife took the handkerchief off, took out the piece of sword, and rebound the wound.
Then she took the horse and sword, together with the broken piece of the king's sword and his handkerchief, to her father.
She told her father that her husband sent back the handkerchief and the piece of sword, and also his thanks for stabbing him after he had won the battle.
The king was so much surprised that he almost fainted.
The queen began to scold the king, saying, "Did I not tell you that he was a prince?"
The king sent his daughter to the pig-pen to get her husband, so that he could ask his forgiveness.
Louis refused to go, saying that the king's word was law, and was not to be altered.
He was confined to his bed on account of the wound which he had received.
The princess returned, and told her father what her husband had said.
He then sent down his chief men to coax Louis, but they were refused every time.
Finally, the king and the queen themselves went down and asked Louis' forgiveness; but Louis repeated his refusal.
The king rushed up, but he was mired in the mud which surrounded the pig-pen.
The queen, however, was able to cross on top of the mud, leaving the king, who returned alone to his palace.
The same night, Louis took his ring and wished that he and his wife should wake in the morning in a beautiful castle and when the day came, lo, and behold! it was as he desired.
In surprise, the king saw the castle, and sent Louis a note, saying that he desired to wage war with him.
The young man sent a reply, that, by the time he fired his second shot, there would not be even a cat left in the king's city.
This note he sent by his wife, and requested her to bring her mother back with her.
The king's daughter obeyed, and brought her mother back.
That afternoon, the king fired on his son-in-law's castle, but did no damage.
Louis then warned the king that he was going to begin his cannonade, and straightway fired.
His first shot carried away half of the city,
and the second swept away all that was left of it.

So I played a long time ago. Like, forever ago. In the before times, when you still had to buy the game to play. I managed to play before the expacs came out. But I did put in alot of time when I played.
https://preview.redd.it/ttym89u5363b1.png?width=719&format=png&auto=webp&s=53f0076a69bf0c65ecfd0880bf11774232721d91
With that being said, Back when I played, healers werent really a thing. The best you could do was a Guardian with Scepter and Staff. So thats kinda what I did. But I left it in the dust for a more DPS centric build with my Ranger. After coming back from like an 8 year break, I grabbed the expacs, and decided to once again pick up the healers mantle.
Now I am at an impasse. I have alot better gear, and more time on my Ranger. Given, its all Power, Ferocity and Precision. But it has my only ascended gear currently. And 100% map completion, which is nice. My Guardian on the other hand has all Healing, Vitality and Precision/Power gear, mostly exotic grade, and only like 80% map complete.
I know that the Firebrand is the healer special on Guardians, and the Druid for Rangers, but I dont know which would be better. It feels like the druid is...lacking in the support skills dept, but the little bit of my firebrand I played seemed damn near invincible, and a healing support powerhouse. Just...slow to kill.
Should I suck it up, put all my chickens in the Firebrand dept? Or should I just keep finishing the stuff with my Druid and slowly gear him for healing?
Also, whcih of the other classes should I consider? I know Tempest has been mentioned, as well as Scrapper. But I wanted the most bang for my buck when it comes to support. Regens, heals, aegis, protection, fury, might, etc.