Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1891-02-16

mehlau hero. the Hover of the amy.
Entreaties Of parents anc friends a.
last reNailed aud NaAan departed Ia
the war Before his coming the Per-
slams had been almost uniformly vic.
torious. but now the bravery and
! generalship Of the new leader aroused
The despairing Avmenians to renewed
/ courage. and the tide of victory was
turned.
Meanwhile spies had discovered in the
mountain cottage the cause of the
rince's long delay. Thenceforth it was
continually watched. One night man
was captured while stealthily departing
from the place. His speech and brave
attempt TO outrun the horsemen proved
him to be one Of the swift footed Persian
couriers. He carried q message from
the old Persian Fire Worshiper. con
tanning evidence of the most diabolical
treachery. the revelation of all of Va
hans military plans. which. in his con.
fidence and enthusiasm. he must have
revealed to the old man. Last of ell
there was plot for Turing the prince
| into ambush.
The courier was slain at once. aud
the old man and his daughter dragged
before the court of Armenia. Tie
father confessed everything, and with
erect form and flashing eyes even
boasted Of the partial success OF his
plans But he begged piteously for the
life of his daughter, and said that she
knew nothing of the plan for Vahan's
betrayal, aud that even he loved the
young man so well that he had planned
capture where death would have been
more easily accomplished. So great
was the peoples love for their prince
that their rage knew no bounds The
old man was condemned to death BY
fire. He stood in the midst OF the
flames more like a martyr than the ac-
cursed sorcerer that he was, and cried
as the fire ragged about him, AOh Spirit
of Firel l thank thee that my sin
against thee is purified in thine em-
brac, s!
Such was the force Of the fathers en-
treaties, and such was the sanity
beauty of her own pure face. that some
would have freed the maiden. But
many beauty among the court ladies
on whom Vahan had ever looked with
disdain could scarce restrain their
nails from ploughing that face whose
crime in their eyes was not that il had
caused Armenia the loss of many
victories, but that it had won the love
of Vahan. She was condemned to the
milder death by the sword. though
many thought her a viler magician than
her father, so wickedly fair was her ell
chantment of beauty, for our priests
tell us in the words of the holy book
that the devil often appears as an angel
of light
While she lay in prison. awaiting ex-
ecution, Vahan heard Of her cond ton.
Cursing her judges and betrayers he
took horse for the capital He rode like
the wind. night aud day, aud even his
| Koordish mare, that, under forayer,
had journeyed for three days without
| food or rest, whose limbs were like
marble in their frinness. dropped dead
ON tie second morning. -Four horses
died beneath the furious rider, and still
he came too late.
On the morning of his arrival the
maiden had been brought into the pub
lie square and taken upon the platform
constructed in IFS center. None Of the
spectators had ever seen SO beautiful
being. Down from her queenly head.
about the fairest of faces and loveliest
of forms, ripping even to her feet. fell
the richness of her hair, soft and silken
as the spiders thread, and golden as the
sunlight
This glorious witchery the executioner
severed first, to allow the free sweep of
his sword. The vindictive queen,
Vahan's mother, was by her side, and
! gathered up the locks as they fell
Then she scattered them to the winds,
and laid curse upon them, say ing:
"Oh cleaning locks of the Fire Witch,
that like marsh light would have
lured my son to destruction, be ye scat
tered to the four corners Of the world,
to be a witness TO Armenian and to
Persian, to Christian and 20 Unbeliever,
/ of the wickedness of this enchantressl
A curse be on you, that ye rest not for
ever, either upon the earth or sea or in
the heavens, that the memory of her
| treachery may ever remainl
As she ended, down the valley in the
distance came Vahan, urging wearied
/ SGcC0 anu 4nnDCcub& lHuO-
cent?" But the executioner was deaf
to all commands save the queens, and
blind to all beauty. even that of saint,
for saint the maiden surely seemed,
with the shora locks of gold surround
ing her sorrowful face as the halo
hovers over the weeping Mother Mary.
] The great two handed sword whistled
through the air. and the enchantress
was no more. The queen ard all that
were there fed like towards from the
frantic curses of Vahan All alone did
/ he mourn over her body, and then de-
/ parted to throw away his life In des-
| perate battle with the Persians. He
and Vartan. his father. perished on the
day when Armenia was freed.
Still, over the hills and valleys, forests
and streams, float the silken hairs on
1 which the curse was laid They rest
not. neither on the earth below nor in
| the heaven above, but float forever be-
| tween them. memorial to all the world
of tile saint like enchantress; and the
| little Armenian children say. as they see
the long e hlen threads stretching over
the meadows in motionless suspense,
There fl,ats the VUki. Vosdein, the
spirit spider thread that would have
caught Valaan in its mesllesl"
But in Persia they revere the old man
and his dauv1tter as nakffofs and narfvre