The Enchanted Island
: The Sea FairiesAll at once it grew dark around them. Neither Cap'n Bill nor Trot
liked this gloom, for it made them nervous not to be able to see
their enemies.
"We must be near a sea cavern, if not within one," whispered
Princess Clia, and even as she spoke the network of scarlet arms
parted before them, leaving an avenue for them to swim out of the
cage. There was brighter water ahead, too, so the queen said without
hesitation:
"Come along, dear friends; but let us clasp hands and keep close
together."
They obeyed her commands and swam swiftly out of their prison and
into the clear water before them, glad to put a distance between
themselves and the loathesome sea devils. The monsters made no
attempt to follow them, but they burst into a chorus of harsh
laughter which warned our friends that they had not yet accomplished
their escape.
The four now found themselves in a broad, rocky passage, which was
dimly lighted from some unknown source. The walls overhead, below
them and at the sides all glistened as if made of silver, and in
places were set small statues of birds, beasts and fishes, occupying
niches in the walls and seemingly made from the same glistening
material.
The queen swam more slowly now that the sea devils had been left
behind, and she looked exceedingly grave and thoughtful.
"Have you ever been here before?" asked Trot.
"No, dear," said the Queen with a sigh.
"And do you know where we are?" continued the girl.
"I can guess," replied Aquareine. "There is only one place in all
the sea where such a passage as that we are in could exist without
my knowledge, and that is in the hidden dominions of Zog. If we are
indeed in the power of that fearful magician, we must summon all our
courage to resist him, or we are lost!"
"Is Zog more powerful than the mermaids?" asked Trot anxiously.
"I do not know, for we have never before met to measure our
strength," answered Aquareine. "But if King Anko could defeat the
magician, as he surely did, then I think I shall be able to do so."
"I wish I was sure of it," muttered Cap'n Bill.
Absolute silence reigned in the silver passage. No fish were there;
not even a sea flower grew to relieve the stern grandeur of this
vast corridor. Trot began to be impressed with the fact that she was
a good way from her home and mother, and she wondered if she would
ever get back again to the white cottage on the cliff. Here she was,
at the bottom of the great ocean, swimming through a big tunnel that
had an enchanted castle at the end, and a group of horrible sea
devils at the other! In spite of this thought, she was not very much
afraid. Although two fairy mermaids were her companions, she relied,
strange to say, more upon her tried and true friend, Cap'n Bill,
than upon her newer acquaintances to see her safely out of her
present trouble.
Cap'n Bill himself did not feel very confident.
"I don't care two cents what becomes o' me," he told Princess Clia
in a low voice, "but I'm drea'ful worried over our Trot. She's too
sweet an' young to be made an end of in this 'ere fashion."
Clia smiled at this speech. "I'm sure you will find the little
girl's end a good way off," she replied. "Trust to our powerful
queen, and be sure she will find some means for us all to escape
uninjured."
The light grew brighter as they advanced, until finally they
perceived a magnificent archway just ahead of them. Aquareine
hesitated a moment whether to go on or turn back, but there was no
escaping the sea devils behind them, and she decided the best way
out of their difficulties was to bravely face the unknown Zog and
rely upon her fairy powers to prevent his doing any mischief to
herself or her friends. So she led the way, and together they
approached the archway and passed through it.
They now found themselves in a vast cavern, so great in extent that
the dome overhead looked like the sky when seen from earth. In the
center of this immense sea cavern rose the towers of a splendid
castle, all built of coral inlaid with silver and having windows of
clear glass.
Surrounding the castle were beds of beautiful sea flowers, many
being in full bloom, and these were laid out with great care in
artistic designs. Goldfish and silverfish darted here and there
among the foliage, and the whole scene was so pretty and peaceful
that Trot began to doubt there was any danger lurking in such a
lovely place.
As they approached to look around them, a brilliantly colored
gregfish approached and gazed at them curiously with his big,
saucer-like eyes. "So Zog has got you at last!" he said in a pitying
tone. "How foolish you were to swim into that part of the sea where
he is powerful."
"The sea devils made us," explained Clia.
"Well, I'm sorry for you, I'm sure," remarked the Greg, and with a
flash of his tail, he disappeared among the sea foliage.
"Let us go to the castle," said the Queen in a determined voice. "We
may as well boldly defy our fate as to wait until Zog seeks us out."
So they swam to the entrance of the castle. The doors stood wide
open, and the interior seemed as well lighted as the cavern itself,
although none of them could discover from whence the light came.
At each side of the entrance lay a fish such as they had never seen
before. It was flat as a doormat and seemed to cling fast to the
coral floor. Upon its back were quills like those of a porcupine,
all pointed and sharp. From the center of the fish arose a head
shaped like a round ball, with a circle of piercing, bead-like eyes
set in it. These strange guardians of the entrance might be able to
tell what their numerous eyes saw, yet they remained silent and
watchful. Even Aquareine gazed upon them curiously, and she gave a
little shudder as she did so.
Inside the entrance was a domed hall with a flight of stairs leading
to an upper balcony. Around the hall were several doorways hung with
curtains made of woven seaweeds. Chairs and benches stood against
the wall, and these astonished the visitors because neither stairs
nor chairs seemed useful in a kingdom where every living thing was
supposed to swim and have a fish's tail. In Queen Aquareine's
palaces benches for reclining were used, and stairs were wholly
unnecessary, but in the Palace of Zog the furniture and fittings
were much like those of a house upon earth, and except that every
space here was filled with water instead of air, Trot and Cap'n Bill
might have imagined themselves in a handsome earthly castle.
The little group paused half fearfully in the hall, yet so far there
was surely nothing to be afraid of. They were wondering what to do
next when the curtains of an archway were pushed aside and a boy
entered. To Trot's astonishment, he had legs and walked upon them
naturally and with perfect ease. He was a delicate, frail-looking
little fellow, dressed in a black velvet suit with knee breeches.
The bows at his throat and knees were of colored seaweeds, woven
into broad ribbons. His hair was yellow and banged across his
forehead. His eyes were large and dark, with a pleasant, merry
sparkle in them. Around his neck he wore a high ruff, but in spite
of this Trot could see that below his plump cheeks were several
scarlet-edged slits that looked like the gills of fishes, for they
gently opened and closed as the boy breathed in the water by which
he was surrounded. These gills did not greatly mar the lad's
delicate beauty, and he spread out his arms and bowed low and
gracefully in greeting.
"Hello," said Trot.
"Why, I'd like to," replied the boy with a laugh, "but being a mere
slave, it isn't proper for me to hello. But it's good to see earth
people again, and I'm glad you're here."
"We're not glad," observed the girl. "We're afraid."
"You'll get over that," declared the boy smilingly. "People lose a
lot of time being afraid. Once I was myself afraid, but I found it
was no fun, so I gave it up."
"Why were we brought here?" inquired Queen Aquareine gently.
"I can't say, madam, being a mere slave," replied the boy. "But you
have reminded me of my errand. I am sent to inform you all that Zog
the Forsaken, who hates all the world and is hated by all the world,
commands your presence in his den."
"Do you hate Zog, too?" asked Trot.
"Oh no," answered the boy. "People lose a lot of time in hating
others, and there's no fun in it at all. Zog may be hateful, but I'm
not going to waste time hating him. You may do so, if you like."
"You are a queer child," remarked the Mermaid Queen, looking at him
attentively. "Will you tell us who you are?"
"Once I was Prince Sacho of Sacharhineolaland, which is a sweet
country, but hard to pronounce," he answered. "But in this domain I
have but one title and one name, and that is 'Slave.'"
"How came you to be Zog's slave?" asked Clia.
"The funniest adventure you ever heard of," asserted the boy with
eager pride. "I sailed in a ship that went to pieces in a storm. All
on board were drowned but me, and I came mighty near it, to tell the
truth. I went down deep, deep into the sea, and at the bottom was
Zog, watching the people drown. I tumbled on his head, and he
grabbed and saved me, saying I would make a useful slave. By his
magic power he made me able to live under water as the fishes live,
and he brought me to this castle and taught me to wait upon him as
his other slaves do."
"Isn't it a dreadful, lonely life?" asked Trot.
"No indeed," said Sacho. "We haven't any time to be lonely, and the
dreadful things Zog does are very exciting and amusing, I assure
you. He keeps us guessing every minute, and that makes the life here
interesting. Things were getting a bit slow an hour ago, but now
that you are here, I'm in hopes we will all be kept busy and amused
for some time."
"Are there many others in the castle besides you and Zog?" asked
Aquareine.
"Dozens of us. Perhaps hundreds. I've never counted them," said the
boy. "But Zog is the only master; all the rest of us are in the same
class, so there is no jealousy among the slaves."
"What is Zog like?" Cap'n Bill questioned.
At this the boy laughed, and the laugh was full of mischief. "If I
could tell you what Zog is like, it would take me a year," was the
reply. "But I can't tell you. Every one has a different idea of what
he's like, and soon you will see him yourselves."
"Are you fond of him?" asked Trot.
"If I said yes, I'd get a good whipping," declared Sacho. "I am
commanded to hate Zog, and being a good servant, I try to obey. If
anyone dared to like Zog, I am sure he'd be instantly fed to the
turtles; so I advise you not to like him."
"Oh, we won't," promised Trot.
"But we're keeping the master waiting, and that is also a dangerous
thing to do," continued the boy. "If we don't hurry up, Zog will
begin to smile, and when he smiles there is trouble brewing."
The queen sighed. "Lead the way, Sacho," she said. "We will follow."
The boy bowed again, and going to an archway, held aside the
curtains for them. They first swam into a small anteroom which led
into a long corridor, at the end of which was another curtained
arch. Through this Sacho also guided them, and now they found
themselves in a cleverly constructed maze. Every few feet were
twists and turns and sharp corners, and sometimes the passage would
be wide, and again so narrow that they could just squeeze through in
single file. "Seems like we're gettin' further into the trap,"
growled Cap'n Bill. "We couldn't find our way out o' here to save
our lives."
"Oh yes we could," replied Clia, who was just behind him. "Such a
maze may indeed puzzle you, but the queen or I could lead you safely
through it again, I assure you. Zog is not so clever as he thinks
himself."
The sailor, however, found the maze very bewildering, and so did
Trot. Passages ran in every direction, crossing and recrossing, and
it seemed wonderful that the boy Sacho knew just which way to go.
But he never hesitated an instant. Trot looked carefully to see if
there were any marks to guide him, but every wall was of plain,
polished marble, and every turning looked just like all the others.
Suddenly Sacho stopped short. They were now in a broader passage,
but as they gathered around their conductor they found further
advance blocked. Solid walls faced them, and here the corridor
seemed to end.
"Enter!" said a clear voice.
"But we can't!" protested Trot.
"Swim straight ahead," whispered the boy in soft tones. "There is no
real barrier before you. Your eyes are merely deceived by magic."
"Ah, I understand," said Aquareine, nodding her pretty head. And
then she took Mayre's hand and swam boldly forward, while Cap'n Bill
followed holding the hand of Clia. And behold! the marble wall
melted away before them, and they found themselves in a chamber more
splendid than even the fairy mermaids had ever seen before.
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Come, follow, follow me-- You, fairy elves that be, Which circle on the green-- Come, follow Mab, your queen! Hand in hand let's dance around, For this place is fairy ground. When mortals are at rest, ... The Fairy Thorn
An Ulster Ballad BY SAMUEL FERGUSON "Get up, our Anna dear, from the weary spinning wheel, For your father's on the hill, and your mother is asleep: Come up above the crags, and we'll dance a Highland reel Around the fair... The Fairy Tulips
ENGLISH FOLK-TALE Once upon a time there was a good old woman who lived in a little house. She had in her garden a bed of beautiful striped tulips. One night she was wakened by the sounds of sweet singing and of babies laughing. She looked out ... The Fairy's New Year Gift
BY EMILIE POULSSON (ADAPTED) Two little boys were at play one day when a Fairy suddenly appeared before them and said: "I have been sent to give you New Year presents." She handed to each child a package, and in an instant was gone. Carl and ... The Falcon And The Hen
"How ungrateful you must be!" said a Falcon to a Hen. "You are fed with the best of food, you have a snug bed provided for you at night, you are protected from foxes, and yet, when the men who do all this for you want to take hold of you, you run ...