Сказки / Fairy Tales. Оскар Уайльд

me a piece of money or I shall die of hunger.’

      The Star-Child said to him,

      ‘I have in my wallet but one piece of yellow gold. If I don’t bring it to my master he will beat me and keep me as his slave.’

      But the leper entreated him sore, so that the Star-Child had pity on him, and gave him the piece of yellow gold.

      When the Star-Child came to the Magician’s house, the Magician opened to him, and said to him,

      ‘Do you have the piece of yellow gold?’

      And the Star-Child said to him,

      ‘No, I don’t have it.’

      So the Magician beat him, and loaded him with chains, and cast him again into the dungeon.

      In the morning the Magician came to him, and said,

      ‘If today you bring me the piece of red gold I will set you free[17]. But if you don’t bring it I will slay you.’

      So the Star-Child went to the wood, and all day long he searched for the piece of red gold. But he could find it nowhere. At evening he sat down and wept. Again the little Hare came to him.

      The Hare said to him,

      ‘The piece of red gold that you seek is in the cavern that is behind you. Therefore weep no more but be glad.’

      ‘How shall I reward you?’ cried the Star-Child, ‘for lo! You succour me for the third time.’

      ‘But you had pity on me first,’ said the Hare, and ran away swiftly.

      The Star-Child entered the cavern, and in its farthest corner he found the piece of red gold. So he put it in his wallet, and hurried to the city. And the leper saw him again, stood in the centre of the road, and cried out, and said to him,