Then there suddenly came to her mind a story she had heard of the existence of an island-kingdom peopled by women who, like herself, held all men in disdain, and would never permit one of them to set foot where they were. And she was overtaken by a burning desire to reach that island, which she fancied must be hidden in the midst of the opalesque haze on which she was gazing.
So she hurried on and on, sustained wholly by the intensity of her desire, till she came upon the sea-sh.o.r.e--for the great water she had looked upon was the wide ocean.
Alongside his boat, and busy with his nets, she found a fisherman, and at once accosted him.
"Is yonder mist-enveloped island the kingdom of Diaphanosia?" she asked him.
"Yes," he answered.
"Then row me over to it in your boat," she said eagerly.
"Not I," he replied. "I recognise you: you are the Princess Who Despises All men, and _I_ am a man, you know. If you want a boat, make one for yourself, as I had to do. Over there, in the forest, you will find plenty of wood for your purpose, only you will have to cut it down."
To get out of the sun"s burning rays, and to give herself time for reflection, the Princess retired into the forest and sat down at the foot of a hollow tree, by the side of which a rusty axe was lying, as if it had been left there by some woodman and forgotten.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "THE DISTRESS OF HER POSITION BECAME EVERY MOMENT MORE ACUTE" (_p._ 268).]
Strange! A merry laugh came out of the thicket near to her; but though she searched with her eyes in every direction she could discover n.o.body who could have given it utterance.
Strange again! It flashed upon her mind that the mere expression of disdain for men was wanting in force if it were not emphasised by the demonstration of woman"s power to do absolutely without them.
Upon the strength of this reasoning, she at once seized the axe, and after many days of hard work, succeeded in felling the hollow tree and giving to it something of the shape of a boat, in which, by the aid of a roughly fashioned pair of oars, she rowed herself across to the island-kingdom, where she hoped to find the realisation of all her aspirations for a state of existence in which men were wholly ignored.
Not once or twice, but over and over again, she succeeded in reaching the border of the opalesque haze in which the kingdom of Diaphanosia was perpetually veiled; but she was as often beaten back by an irresistible current which set towards the sh.o.r.e from which she had started.
On one of these fruitless voyages her strength utterly left her, and she sank down in the bottom of her boat insensible, the oars dropping from her nerveless hands and drifting away; so that, even if she had immediately returned to consciousness, she would have found herself helplessly at the mercy of the sea.
When she _did_ recover from her state of insensibility, it was to discover herself lying upon a mossy bank on the skirt of the forest, a handsome and superbly dressed young man tending her with delicately eager solicitude.
She did not attempt to rise or to speak; she thought she was sleeping and dreaming--the only thing strange in her state of feeling being that the near presence of a man provoked no sense of repugnance or resentment.
"Thank Heaven!" said the young gentleman, in a tone of intense relief, as he saw her open her eyes. "For awhile I have been terribly afraid that my efforts to rescue you had been unavailing."
Still held by the idea that she was dreaming, the Princess only continued to look into his face without replying to his words.
"Rest here for a short time, and sleep if you can, while I watch over you," he continued. "When you have become strong enough to travel, my horse shall carry you to my father"s palace, which stands not very far from this spot: once there, my mother will be delighted to tend upon you as if you were her own daughter."
"Take me to your kind mother," she said, rising, the soft tones of her own voice sounding in her ears as if they came from the lips of some other person than herself.
The handsome young Prince--for he was no less--blew a golden whistle suspended to his neck by a jewelled chain, and in a few moments a splendidly caparisoned horse came to him from out the forest.
Upon the back of this n.o.ble steed the Prince gallantly lifted his beautiful charge, and taking the bridle on his hand, led him through the forest openings, walking by the Princess"s side and relating to her how, while hunting, it had been his blest fortune to see her helpless condition in her boat, and, by swimming out to her, rescue her at the moment when her rude vessel was on the point of sinking with her beneath the waves.
She listened silently to all he said to her, filled with an inexplicable sense of wonder at herself in finding that ever the voice of a man could fall sympathetically on her ears! "I _must_ be dreaming!" she said to herself again and again.
At last, on reaching an eminence, the Prince pointed to a n.o.ble pile of buildings on the outskirts of a great city, and said--something of sadness coming into the tone of his voice:
"Yonder is my father"s palace; we shall reach it in a very little time--and then the happy privilege of these delightful moments will cease to be mine, never to be renewed, perhaps."
All things about her seemed, at the sound of those words, to melt into a roseate mist, carrying with them all sense of herself. Apart from her will, unconsciously, she held out her hand to her preserver, who pressed it to his lips with tender grat.i.tude.
Clearly and with wonderful sweetness of intonation, the gay laugh which had greeted her on so many eventful moments of her life once more rang in the Princess"s ears.
"Ah! I recognise it now!" she cried--"the sweet voice of my fairy G.o.d-mother! Oh, wise and kind Gaieia, still be my guardian, as you have ever been, and make me in the future all that I have failed to make myself in the past!"
The laugh that answered her entreaty was as gay and sweet as ever, but came from afar; for, in fact, the good fairy had sped away, having a great deal still to do for her froward G.o.dchild, and that without delay: amongst other things to make King Kloxoxskin immediately evacuate the palace and dominions of the Princess"s father, under the idea that he was escaping from a great peril which would certainly have overwhelmed him if he had persisted in forcing the Princess Disdainana to marry him.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "HER RUDE VESSEL WAS ON THE POINT OF SINKING" (_p._ 274).]
More than that--a task much more difficult to accomplish--the merry fairy had to overcome the prejudice of the Queen, whose obstinacy had returned in full force as soon as she was once again able to exercise it on the side of her anti-matrimonial fancies. But, as everybody knows, nothing can permanently withstand the power and strategy of a good fairy; so it came about--really as a matter of course--that, her daughter having accepted for her husband the charming Prince who had saved her life, the Queen consented to receive him as her son-in-law; and it is a well-attested matter of history, that n.o.body ever heard her utter a single word in dissent from her husband"s freely-expressed delight at the saving of his dynasty from what had, for awhile, seemed its inevitable extinction.
The Necklace of Tears.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
THE NECKLACE _of_ TEARS.
By Mrs. Egerton Eastwick.
ONCE, many years ago, there lived in Ombrelande a most beautiful Princess. Now, Ombrelande is a country which still exists, and in which many strange things still happen, although it is not to be found in any map of the world that I know of.
The Princess, at the time the story begins, was little more than a child, and while her growing beauty was everywhere spoken of, she was unfortunately still more noted for her selfish and disagreeable nature.
She cared for nothing but her own amus.e.m.e.nt and pleasure, and gave no thought to the pain she sometimes inflicted on others in order to gratify her whims. It must be mentioned, however, as an excuse for her heartlessness, that, being an only child, she had been spoilt from her babyhood, and always allowed to have her own way, while those who thwarted her were punished.
One day the Princess Olga, that was her name, escaped from her governess and attendants, and wandered into the wood which joined the gardens of the palace. It was her fancy to be alone; she would not even allow her faithful dachshund to bear her company.
The air was soft with the coming of spring; the sun was shining, the songs of the birds were full of grat.i.tude and joy; the most lovely flowers, in all imaginable hues, turned the earth into a jewelled nest of verdure.
Olga threw herself down on a bank, bright with green moss and soft as a downy pillow. The warmth and her wanderings had already wearied her. She had neglected her morning studies, and left her singing-master waiting for her in despair in the music-room of the palace, that she might wander into the wood, and already the pleasure was gone.
She threw herself down on the bank and wished she was at home. There was one thing, however, of which she never tired, and that was her own beauty; so now, having nothing to do, and finding the world and the morning exceedingly tiresome and tame and dull, she unbound her long golden hair, and spread it all around her like a carpet over the moss and the flowers, that she might admire its softness and luxuriance, by way of a change.
She held up the yellow meshes in her hands and drew them through her fingers, laughing to see the golden lights that played among the silky waves in the sunlight; then she fell to admiring the small white hands which held the treasure, holding them up against the light to see their almost transparent delicacy, and the pretty rose-pink lines where the fingers met. Certainly she made a charming picture, there in the sunshine among the flowers: the picture of a lovely innocent child, if she had been less vain and self-conscious.
Presently she heard a slight rustle of boughs behind her, and looking round she saw that she was no longer alone. Not many paces away, gazing at her with admiring wonder, stood a youth in the dress of a beggar, and over his shoulder looked the face of a young girl, which Olga was forced to acknowledge as lovely as her own. Now, the forest was the private property of the King, and the presence of these poor-looking people was certainly an intrusion.
"What are you doing here?" said Olga haughtily. "Don"t you know that you are trespa.s.sing? This wood belongs to the King, and is forbidden to tramps and beggars."
"We are no beggars, lady," said the youth. He spoke with great gentleness, but his voice was strong and sweet as a deep-toned bell. "To us no land is forbidden--and we own allegiance to no one."
"My father will have you put in prison," said Olga angrily. "What is your name?"