Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-08-04
VOMA AND VERA.

NUMA AMI Lila
Long ago beautiful fairy named voma
built q palace In the moan. From the
earth, ON clear night, people could see
the gorgeous pillars of her palace shining
| In their lonely splendor. 1t is, however, Q
long time since the beautiful fairy de
parted from the scenes Of her labors. and
her palace has for ages been lying In ruin,
although In fine weather we may still see
the remains Of it.
From her palace Voms used to visit the
earth by sliding down q moonbeam. and
then people would wonder what marvel had
taken place. for night was made 80 lovely,
and earth seemed under such q spen Of
bliss During her visit to this world she
went into palaces and novels, and she
always, by some means known to herself,
rectifed errors and helped the miserable
and oppressed
Now, at this time, In the remote east,
there lived an ogre named Ugo. he had
great, gloomy castle surrounded by high
walls, and containing many dismal cells,
! into which he had thrust Thousands Of
poor creatures, In his cruelty, and they
never looked again upon the sun. Into
LQc56 O6IhSOut ocu6 shO A6As Va oAy
never penetrated, and sad indeed was he
whose lot it might be to be cast into
them. Voma had been In this castle; she
had been through it unknown to the
ogre, and she had observed the miseries
q power Of doing universal good, she, by
| spell, caused the desert round Ugo's
castle to blossom In one night into beau
1 xrhf~h fha xrtnd
| ing the sweet smells of the flowers, blew
into the castle and refreshed the poor,
weary prisoners in their misery.
In Ugo's castle fair young princess
named Vera was being kept In gentle cap
tivity. She was the giants niece, and
was the only person to whom he had ever
| been kindly. He wished her to marry
the Giant of the West, who was very
cruel and ate human beings. Naturally
Vera was opposed to this, but she paci
fed her uncle by not directly refusing. in
the hope that the fate he planned for her
might be averted; and day by day voma,
| the fairy, was watching her, and had
woven around her spell BY which neither
| bird nor beast nor flower nor any living
mortal could harm her.
Vera was not confined to the castle, but
WAS buOWtu W fOoA1 ~ IA tkC &2Ch.
The ogre, however, said to her: Promise
me not to go beyond the garden. for
! shall watch, and in the hour thou goest
thou shalt die" So Vera promised. Her
uncle also said: Promise me not to
| speak to any stranger. else the same
| doom shall fall upon ye both" And Vera
promised, but under her breath she
prayed to all good fairies for help.
oha xyol Htpo TN,
the garden singing low, mournfl song,
| while her uncle, the ogre. was asleep In
his chamber. She was near the road that
led by the limit of the garden, when she
| heard footsteps and voice singing mer-
rily She looked up and saw a youth Of
| prtncely appearance, who paused beside
the hedge and gazed upon her with eyes
| full of admiration. BE was about her
own age, tall and graceful, with dark
| eyes and high, sunburnt brow, crowned
! with a wealth Of brown hair, that fell in
| waves over his temples. His sandals
we're dust stained as IL he had come .
long journey. He had plain, broad belt
around his waist, from which hung q
short sword, whose hilt was one bright
jewel-the only ornament about his person.
Vera felt his eyes burning into her soul,
Il dliu tcit LAHCiACo W sCA2 AAAki hCk
woes, and ask his help; but remembering
the promise and the threat, she raised her
! face and said, ''Oh, gentle youth! feel
thou art a prince. Behold me. the
| Princess Vera, captive to Ogre Ugo.
There are his towers. and none Who enter
therein again behold the sun. Pass on
thy way and do not pause or death will be
thine"
He answered her, Il am the Prince
Jewelbrand come out of the FAR west.
| Tell me, oh, Princess Vera, what hast
thou done that Ogre Ugo should hold
thee herey"
Vera said to him. ''Oh, brave prince,
our speaking. Ugo Is my uncle and will
and would die rather. Day after day
linger here and pray to all good fairies for
| relief. Day after day seem to pray in
vain, and fear at every moment that my
fate may be fulfilled. Pass on then, noble
prince, imperil not thyself for me-"
But he replied firmly, NAY, but will
free thee. though death should follow
Fair princess, shall hasten to my own
| warriors who will break the ogre's halls
dSuuutr duu thhc tueo AOTbn
Vera blushed, and, after moments
fortune follow thy steps" Then the
on both cheeks.
Just at tina. moment they felt the
| ground under them tremble. and q great
shadow stood between them and the sun
Looking up they saw the ogre, who an
I "A ~ Al &k.x., sv,<<
the castle. He thrust Vera into very
small room, and then going away with
the prince he flung him into deep under
ground cell, having first taken his sword
away from him. "Lie there and rot, oh
toy princel" he said, and turning Q huge
lock he left him.
Stunned little at first. the prince be.
| gan to recover and to move around his
cell. It was very dark, but he could feel
great many objects lying on the damp
floor, and when his hand slipped on some
| thing round and cold, which he knew to
be scull, he at once felt he was cropping
among the remains Of the poor prisoners
who had perished there before him. He
wondered If he should be the Iext whose
bones should crumble there in darkness.
He also wondered what would be the fate
of poor Princess Vera, and in the dark
dungeon his love for her grew deeper.
LIE felt that he absolutely must escape,
not for his own sake, but for Vera's, and
then he cursed the place and the cruel
ogre who had cast him there to die. Then
he would lie half dazed, but would start
up and CRY for Vera till the walls re-
| echoed as though the dead bones around
had sprung up tc life and shouted her
name. Then he would cry: ''It Is q