The sun climbed high; they sought her still; the noon, The hot and silent noon, heard Sella's name, Uttered with a despairing cry, to wastes 105 O'er which the eagle hovered. As the sun Stooped toward the amber west to bring the close Of that sad second day, and, with red eyes, The mother sat within her home alone, Sella was at her side. A shriek of joy IIC Broke the sad silence; glad, warm tears were shed, And words of gladness uttered. "Oh, forgive," The maiden said, "that I could ever forget Thy wishes for a moment. I just tried The slippers on, amazed to see them shaped 115 So fairly to my feet, when, all at once, I felt my steps upborne and hurried on Almost as if with wings. A strange delight, Blent with a thrill of fear, o'ermastered me, And, ere I knew, my plashing steps were set 120 Within the rivulet's pebbly bed, and I Was rushing down the current. By my side Tripped one as beautiful as ever looked From white clouds in a dream; and, as we ran, She talked with musical voice and sweetly laughed 125 Gayly we leaped the crag and swam the pool, And swept with dimpling eddies round the rock, And glided between shady meadow banks. The streamlet, broadening as we went, became A swelling river, and we shot along 130 By stately towns, and under leaning masts Of gallant barks, nor lingered by the shore Of blooming gardens; onward, onward still, The same strong impulse bore me till, at last, We entered the great deep, and passed below 135 His billows, into boundless spaces, lit With a green sunshine. Here were mighty groves Far down the ocean valleys, and between Lay what might seem fair meadows, softly tinged With orange and with crimson. Here arose 14c Tall stems, that, rooted in the depths below, Swung idly with the motions of the sea; And here were shrubberies in whose mazy screen friend My Named the strange growths, the pretty coralline, 145 The dulse with crimson leaves, and streaming far, Sea-thong and sea-lace. Here the tangle spread Its broad, thick fronds, with pleasant bowers beneath, And oft we trod a waste of pearly sands, Spotted with rosy shells, and thence looked in 150 At caverns of the sea whose rock-roofed halls Lay in blue twilight. As we moved along, The dwellers of the deep, in mighty herds, Passed by us, reverently they passed us by, Long trains of dolphins rolling through the brine, 155 Huge whales, that drew the waters after them, A torrent stream, and hideous hammer-sharks, Chasing their prey; I shuddered as they came; Gently they turned aside and gave us room." Hereat broke in the mother, "Sella, dear, 160 This is a dream, the idlest, vainest dream." "Nay, mother, nay; behold this sea-green scarf, Woven of such threads as never human hand Twined from the distaff. She who led my way. Through the great waters, bade me wear it home. 165 A token that my tale is true. 'And keep,' She said, the slippers thou hast found, for thou, With power to walk at will the ocean floor, Among its monstrous creatures unafraid, 170 And feel no longing for the air of heaven To fill thy lungs, and send the warm, red blood 175 Where never plummet reached. And thou shalt sleep Thy weariness away on downy banks 190 And gathered on the waves. Kindly they prayec And then we wandered off amid the groves 95 Of coral loftier than the growths of earth; The mightiest cedar lifts no trunk like theirs, So huge, so high, toward heaven, nor overhangs Alleys and bowers so dim. We moved between Pinnacles of black rock, which, from beneath, 200 Molten by inner fires, so said my guide, Gushed long ago into the hissing brine, That quenched and hardened them, and now they stand Motionless in the currents of the sea That part and flow around them. As we went, 205 We looked into the hollows of the abyss, To which the never-resting waters sweep The skeletons of sharks, the long white spines Of narwhale and of dolphin, bones of men Shipwrecked, and mighty ribs of foundered barks. 210 Down the blue pits we looked, and hastened on. 66 But beautiful the fountains of the sea Sprang upward from. its bed; the silvery jets Shot branching far into the azure brine, And where they mingled with it, the great deep 215 Quivered and shook, as shakes the glimmering air Above a furnace. So we wandered through The mighty world of waters, till at length I wearied of its wonders, and my heart Began to yearn for my dear mountain home. 220 I prayed my gentle guide to lead me back To the upper air. 'A glorious realm,' I said, Is this thou openest to me; but I stray Bewildered in its vastness; these strange sights And this strange light oppress me. I must see 225 The faces that I love, or I shall die.' "She took my hand, and, darting through the waves, Brought me to where the stream, by which we came, Rushed into the main ocean. Then began 224. How very often in fairy tales the human being has but to exercise the will to attain or to renounce the fairy power! It is only when one is under a spe.l, ir. the classic fairy tales, that he will is not recognized as the supreme authority. A lower journey upward Weary 230 We breasted the strong current, climbing through The rapids tossing high their fram. The Came down, and, in the clear depth of a poci 24: Their branches. As I woke I saw them all 255 So spoke the maiden Sella, with large tears 260 The grape with red, yet while it hung unplucked, 245. The humanizing of the character of Sella is effected by such touches as this. |