The Aberdeen weekly. [volume] (Aberdeen, Miss.) 1878-1933, 1884-01-25
ORIGIN OF THE PHILOPENA.

monds, and would not marry. In order
to carry out these intentions she hit upon
the following plan: When a Prince pre-
scented himself as sutton for her hand
(and legions of Princes came) she
would offer him an almond with twin
kernels. The Prince had to eat one of
the kernels and she would eat the other.
"Now,h she would say, eff your high
ness can induce me to accept any thing
out of your hands without my saying 1
remember l shall marry you; but if l
can induce your highness to accept any
thing from my hands without your say
ing the saving words, then your Prince
ly head shall be clean shaven, and you
shall be dismissed forthwith from my
dominion"
There was trick in this proposal,
for court etiquette forbade any one
under penalty of death-to present any
object directly to the beautiful Princess.
The object had to be handed first to the
maid of honor, who would then hand it
herself to her royal mistress. But, on
the other hand, if the Princess chose to
take herself any object, or hand it to
any one, who could forbid it? Thus
the poor sll tors had miserable time
of it. Try as hard us they would to
tempt the Princess to accept any thing
from their hands, the maid of honor
was sure to step in and spoil their very
best laid plans. Should tho Princess,
on her side, wish to get rid of sutton,
she had only to be gracious to him and
bewtch him with her beauty and kind
ness She wo,ld offer him a seat by
her side, and picking up something
lying near her, u pomegranate or an
egg, she would present il, with sweet
smile, and whisper softly: keep this
in memory of, me-" As soon,
however, as the Prince, intoxicated
with delight, would take the object in
his hands, and whilst ready. perhaps,
to say the saving words, all at once
would the object burst open, and out of
it would jump frog, or hornet or bat,
and fly in his face, causing him so much
surprise and CONSERVATION that he
MeNld forget to say the words. His
he would bo isSmaiislad. At opGf; -ande!
This had 5vne on for several years,
o~.s All the palaces of the land were
filled with young Princes wearing wigs
(the fashion of wearing wigs at court
dates therefrom) when a foreign Prince,
travelling incognito, happened to see
this beautiful almond Princess. He
found her beauty equal to her fame, and
being determined to win her for HIM
self. he soon discovered the ruse which
she had employed hitherto. Now, this
Prince, more fortunate than the former
suitors, had a talisman of his own, in
the shape of, an apple given him by an
old wizard, friend of his family If
in case of great difficulty he would
smell the apple, a bright thought would
rush to his mind, and a way be found
out of the difficulty. The talisman
operated once year only. The occur
renee, however. of one idea in every
twelve months had properly ensured
to the Prince fame for superior
mind amongst all the Kings of his ac-
quaintance! The time for using the
tai sman having come round again, he
smelt the apple and this is the idea which
occurred to him: 'If you are to win
in this game of giving aad taking, you
must never, under any circumstances,
either present any thing to the Princess
Dr accept any thing from her." He,
therefore, had his hands firmly tied in
his belt and accompanied by his
marshal he proceeded to the palace of
the Princess where he bravcly an
nounced himself ready to lose his hair
and his life for the chance of winning
such priceless treasure. The Princess
was very much pleased with the
Princes appearance and with his
speech, and she ordered at once that
double almond be brought in. She ate
one of the kernels and presented the
other to the Prince. At once the
marshal stepped up, took the almond
from her hands and placed it in the
Princes mouth.
The Princess wondered and asked
what this meant; also, why he always
carried his hands in his belt. Tie
Prince answered, that. alas! at his
court the etiquette was even more So
re,o oiian at her own. he was not per-
,nltted to take or give any thing with
his hands, but only with his feet and
head, and that merely in cases of ex-
IRENE urgency. AT this the Princess
laughed and said: "ln this case we can
not even engage our forces in the COM
ing contest The Prince shrugged
his shoulders and replied "Not unless
you condescend to accept something
from my boots" THAT must never
be, exclaimed the whole court with
nigh Indignation. "But why did YOU
come herePn added the Princess. an
grily. 81 came because you are very
beautiful" replied the Prince, gently.
land if may not win you, shall still
have the happiness of feeding nv ewes
upon your beauty" 81 can have no
objection to that" reioined the Prin-
cess, Modified.
So the Prince remained at the Prin-
cess court and pleased her more and
more every day. But her desire to win
was so great that she would try every
means in her power to entce him TO
withdraw his hands from his belt and
take something from her. She re-
manned constantly with him, engaged
in sweetest talks, and made him pres
ents OF flowers, bonbons, scent bottles.
and, finally, she even gave him her
favorite bracelet Tine and again the
Prince would feel twitching in his
hands, but the resistance offered by the
belt would bring him back to his senses.
Then he would nod to his marshal. who
would come and gather up all the pretty
presents saying 1--WE remember