The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1891-09-19


edge they caught his eye. Now, whether
he thought they were good to eat or
whether he was bird of cultivated taste
know not, but straightway he swooped
aud seized one
Rhodopis, reused from her reverie by
the rush of wings, caught sight of the
great bird as it flew off, and. frightened,
set to screaming and then Cucked. by
the time she had recovered herself and
taken in what had happened the eagle and
her sandal were in the next parish.
OF course, directly it was AN over, her
girls, who had been busy telling one
another secrets, began in their alarm to
hide everything away in place of safety,
as If they expected a whole phalanx of
eagles were coming to carry off their mis-
tress' clothes. And no doubt they had
some reason for their concern, for ancient
ladies had n variety of amiable little ways
OF producing sympathy in their slaves
when things went wrong; and Rhodopis,
sweet as she was to look at, was like the
rest. But after all it was not very
serious matter, for Rosy Cheeks had cup
boards full of sandals at home, ard be-
sides, her litter was only round the corner,
so, after her Iirst establishment and fright
were over, she thought little more about
it. Now, this event was, in reality, the
turning point of her life, for what did this
mysterious bird do but fly straight away
with his prey over the Delta, far up the
long river to Memphis, and there, as if
his mission ended, he dropped the sandal
before the judgment seat of King Psam-
metichus.
The king was sitting in the open air,
close to the city gate, dispensing justice
to his subjects. The sun was hot, and the
1maginations of plaintiff and defendant
equally inventive and inexhaustible, so
Psammetichus was bored, his thoughts
wandered far away and he fell to build
ing castles in the air Now, no Oriental
could ever buAd a castle in the air, or
otherwise, without giving it mistress;
so he pleased himself by imagining for his
ideal palace an ideal beauty. He pict-
ured her with the eyes of the gazelle, the
voice of the nightingale, the litheness of
the panther, the tread of goddess; and
as his thoughts dwelt still on the dainty
toes that hardly pressed the ground they
rested on, the sandal fell from heaven
plump at his royal feet. Astonished out
of all dignity, he jumped up, stared up
into the sky and down at the slipper, and
then stopped and picked it up, for no
one had dared to touch it. Was it
a goddess? No; it was a lovely lit
tie shoe, but certainly an earthly one,
with the print of five little toes distinctly
marked on 1.-THE very little toes he had
just been dreaming of. Then of q sudden
it became plain to him. 1t was an answer
from the gods to the wishes he had just
been indulging in-he had planned a
castle, here was a mistress for it. 'Let
search be made" cried he, ''for her who
owns this sandal, and by these signs shall
you know her: Whomsoever the shoe fits,
and who has the fellow shoe, and who can
explain the symbol on the sole, she is the
rightful owner; bring her to me, that /
may make her my queen" To hear was
/ to obey, and the messenger started on his
search. Many days he Travelled down the
Nile, making proclamation of the will of
Psammetichus as he went, bearing the
sandal on a cushion. And wherever he
came through the whole land of Egypt
there was a routing out of cupboards and
a hunting up of left off shoes, in case by
chance there might he found among them
match for the wonderful sandal but
none came to light, and the maidens were
left forlorn.
At last he came to Naucratis, and when
the proclamation reached the ears of
Rhodopis she remembered the rape of her
sandal, and knew herself the one sought
for by the king The ambassador was
admitted to her presence, and then at last
the shoe fitted "And here,'' cried Rhod-
odis, lis the fellow shoe; and this is why
l wear these symbols on the soles-as
Greece is captive to my beauty, SO shall
Egypt be, and Egypt's master" And
then she went with him to Memphis, and
when the king, whose heart was sick with
waiting, saw her, he succumbed at once
to the charm of her loveliness; he did as
he had promised and made her his queen.
And the rosy checked Greek slave sat be-
side Psammetichus on the throne of Pha-
raoh.-Harper's Bazaar.