Captive Death
A long time ago there lived a brave and invincible Knight.
One day he happened to capture Death herself.
He brought her to his strong castle, and put her in a cell.
Death sat there—and people ceased to die.
The Knight was overjoyed, and thought:
“Now it is well, but it is rather a worry to keep a watch on her. Perhaps it would be better to destroy her altogether.”
But the Knight was a very just man—he could not kill her without judgment.
He went to the cell, and, pausing before the small window, he said:
“Death, I want to cut your head off—you’ve done a lot of harm upon the earth.”
But Death was silent.
The Knight continued:
“I’ll give you a chance—defend yourself if you can. What have you to say for yourself?”
And Death answered:
“I’ll say nothing just yet; let Life put in a word for me.”
And the Knight suddenly saw Life standing beside him; she was a robust and red-checked but expressionless woman.
And she began to say such brazen and ungodly things that the brave, invincible Knight trembled, and made haste to open the cell.
Death went out—and men began to die once more. The Knight himself died when his time came—and he told no one upon the earth what that expressionless, brazen woman, Life, had said to him.