If the glacier1 had occasioned a great deal of fatigue2 to his brothers, it was twenty times worse for him, who was neither so strong nor so practised on the mountains. He had several very bad falls, lost his basket and bread, and was very much frightened at the strange noises under the ice. He lay a long time to rest on the grass, after he had got over, and began to climb the hill just in the hottest part of the day. When he had climbed for an hour, he got dreadfully thirsty, and was going to drink like his brothers, when he saw an old man coming down the path above him, looking very feeble, and leaning on a staff. "My son," said the old man, "I am faint with thirst; give me some of that water." Then Gluck looked at him, and when he saw that he was pale and weary, he gave him the water; "Only pray don't drink it all," said Gluck. But the old man drank a great deal, and gave him back the bottle two thirds empty. Then he bade him good speed, and Gluck went on again merrily. And the path became easier to his feet, and two or three blades of grass appeared upon it, and some grasshoppers3 began singing on the bank beside it; and Gluck thought he had never heard such merry singing.
Then he went on for another hour, and the thirst increased on him so that he thought he should be forced to drink. But, as he raised the flask4, he saw a little child lying panting by the roadside, and it cried out piteously for water. Then Gluck struggled with himself and determined5 to bear the thirst a little longer; and he put the bottle to the child's lips, and it drank it all but a few drops. Then it smiled on him, and got up, and ran down the hill; and Gluck looked after it, till it became as small as a little star, and then turned, and began climbing again. And then there were all kinds of sweet flowers growing on the rocks, bright green moss6, with pale pink starry7 flowers, and soft-belled gentians, more blue than the sky at its deepest, and pure white transparent8 lilies. And crimson9 and purple butterflies darted10 hither and thither11, and the sky sent down such pure light that Gluck had never felt so happy in his life.
Yet, when he had climbed for another hour, his thirst became intolerable again; and, when he looked at his bottle, he saw that there were only five or six drops left in it, and he could not venture to drink. And as he was hanging the flask to his belt again, he saw a little dog lying on the rocks, gasping12 for breath,—just as Hans had seen it on the day of his ascent13. And Gluck stopped and looked at it, and then at the Golden River, not five hundred yards above him; and he thought of the dwarf14's words, "that no one could succeed, except in his first attempt"; and he tried to pass the dog, but it whined15 piteously, and Gluck stopped again. "Poor beastie," said Gluck, "it'll be dead when I come down again, if I don't help it." Then he looked closer and closer at it, and its eye turned on him so mournfully that he could not stand it. "Confound the King and his gold too," said Gluck; and he opened the flask, and poured all the water into the dog's mouth.
The dog sprang up and stood on its hind16 legs. Its tail disappeared, its ears became long, longer, silky, golden; its nose became very red, its eyes became very twinkling; in three seconds the dog was gone, and before Gluck stood his old acquaintance, the King of the Golden River.
"Thank you," said the monarch17; "but don't be frightened, it's all right"; for Gluck showed manifest symptoms of consternation18 at this unlooked-for reply to his last observation. "Why didn't you come before," continued the dwarf, "instead of sending me those rascally19 brothers of yours, for me to have the trouble of turning into stones? Very hard stones they make, too."
"O dear me!" said Gluck, "have you really been so cruel?"
"Cruel," said the dwarf, "they poured unholy water into my stream; do you suppose I'm going to allow that?"
"Why," said Gluck, "I am sure, sir,—your Majesty20, I mean,—they got the water out of the church font."
"Very probably," replied the dwarf; "but," and his countenance21 grew stern as he spoke22, "the water which has been refused to the cry of the weary and dying is unholy, though it had been blessed by every saint in heaven; and the water which is found in the vessel23 of mercy is holy, though it had been defiled24 with corpses25."
So saying, the dwarf stooped and plucked a lily that grew at his feet. On its white leaves hung three drops of clear dew. And the dwarf shook them into the flask which Gluck held in his hand. "Cast these into the river," he said, "and descend26 on the other side of the mountains into the Treasure Valley. And so good speed."
As he spoke, the figure of the dwarf became indistinct. The playing colors of his robe formed themselves into a prismatic mist of dewy light; he stood for an instant veiled with them as with the belt of a broad rainbow. The colors grew faint, the mist rose into the air; the monarch had evaporated.
And Gluck climbed to the brink27 of the Golden River, and its waves were as clear as crystal and as brilliant as the sun. And when he cast the three drops of dew into the stream, there opened where they fell, a small circular whirlpool, into which the waters descended28 with a musical noise.
Gluck stood watching it for some time, very much disappointed, because not only the river was not turned into gold, but its waters seemed much diminished in quantity. Yet he obeyed his friend the dwarf, and descended the other side of the mountains, toward the Treasure Valley; and, as he went, he thought he heard the noise of water working its way under the ground. And when he came in sight of the Treasure Valley, behold29, a river, like the Golden River, was springing from a new cleft30 of the rocks above it, and was flowing in innumerable streams among the dry heaps of red sand.
And as Gluck gazed, fresh grass sprang beside the new streams, and creeping plants grew, and climbed among the moistening soil. Young flowers opened suddenly along the river sides, as stars leap out when twilight31 is deepening, and thickets32 of myrtle, and tendrils of vine, cast lengthening33 shadows over the valley as they grew. And thus the Treasure Valley became a garden again, and the inheritance, which had been lost by cruelty, was regained34 by love.
And Gluck went and dwelt in the valley, and the poor were never driven from his door; so that his barns became full of corn, and his house of treasure. And, for him, the river had, according to the dwarf's promise, become a River of Gold.
And to this day the inhabitants of the valley point out the place where the three drops of holy dew were cast into the stream, and trace the course of the Golden River under the ground, until it emerges in the Treasure Valley. And, at the top of the cataract35 of the Golden River, are still to be seen two BLACK STONES, round which the waters howl mournfully every day at sunset; and these stones are still called, by the people of the valley,
THE BLACK BROTHERS.
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1
glacier
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| n.冰川，冰河 | |
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2
fatigue
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| n.疲劳，劳累 | |
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3
grasshoppers
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| n.蚱蜢( grasshopper的名词复数 )；蝗虫；蚂蚱；（孩子）矮小的 | |
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4
flask
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| n.瓶，火药筒，砂箱 | |
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5
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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6
moss
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| n.苔，藓，地衣 | |
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starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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8
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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9
crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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10
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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11
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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12
gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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13
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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14
dwarf
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| n.矮子，侏儒，矮小的动植物；vt.使…矮小 | |
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15
whined
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| v.哀号( whine的过去式和过去分词 )；哀诉，诉怨 | |
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16
hind
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| adj.后面的，后部的 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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18
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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19
rascally
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| adj. 无赖的，恶棍的 adv. 无赖地，卑鄙地 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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23
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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24
defiled
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| v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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26
descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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brink
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| n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿 | |
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descended
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| a.为...后裔的，出身于...的 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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cleft
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| n.裂缝；adj.裂开的 | |
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31
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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32
thickets
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| n.灌木丛( thicket的名词复数 )；丛状物 | |
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33
lengthening
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| （时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的现在分词 )； 加长 | |
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34
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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35
cataract
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| n.大瀑布，奔流，洪水，白内障 | |
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