Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-02-06
reasonable, beseech you. and put aside

that flute" II
But still Conan continued his music;l |
sometimes Sayly, a if he were disposed to |
be merry; then in such dolorous fashion |
that the very nigh5ingales in the wooded |
vale below replied to him. Il
Near and still nearer came the nightin- |
gale, and by the light of the moon the |
maiden saw the bird perch itself on Co
mans head and accompany him in its |
song.
Then the bird gradually withdrew itself; |
but Jalomitza, attracted by its warbling |
followed it all the night long without |
knowing in what direction she was going |
Conan also followed the bird through the |
valley to the edge Of "a stream.
When morning approached, the Devil |
dered maiden pressed her hand to her |
forehead and cried out, Where am II | !
must be far from my home and this coun- |
try seems quite strange to me- Conan,
where are we? ! I'm afraid-that bird
that bird was Bucore."
Conan underworld to reilssure her, but
in vain.
Soon after this beautiful saddle horse
came in sight. Prancing along II valley
and bounding toward .Ialonitza it rubbed
its nose against her shoulder.
oh" cried she, If wer,, but a bird. |
could escape from the caresses Of this mon
sterr'
Scarcely had she said this than her form
! took that of Il dove, which winged its flight
far away into the mist: but the horse. now
changed to falcon, from Il great height
| bounced down upon her and carried her
OIL in his talons to he mountain
| "Ah! were but a field flower. screamed
| she in terror, and in moment she grew
into a blue forgetmenot by the rivers side.
The falcon, now changed to Il butterfly,
lowered around her, alighted on her and
caressed her with its wings. ..
Were but II trout in Il stream now
thought Jalomitza, and Immediately she
was turned into 4 silvery fish: but the
| butterfly became . net, which caught the
trout and held it up in the air until it
! thought it would die. Half dead. the
! poor young thing cried, Were | but Ii
! lizardl"
| Immediately she was gliding swiftly
| along across herbs and flowers, and
thought to hide herself under every leaf
or every stone; but from IL neighboriug
! stone there sprang out a serpent, which
so fascinated her with its terrible eyes
that she remained motionless.
Then thought she, IF | could take the
form of nun, il convent at least. |
should be hidden
the cupola of a church in which the lights
were burning, and Il solemn chant was he
ing sung by some hundreds of nuns. Wear
ing the vestments of "a nun, Jalomitza
| knelt before the IN age of Il saint, her heart
beating with feaI, though she still had
hope that the sanctuary would be her pro-
lection.
With gratitude she raised her eyes to the
face of the image and met the face of Bu-
core peering down upon her. His eyes
fascinated her so that She was unable to
| move away, even enough the church WAS
now empty.
When night approached. the eyes of the
image grew luminous and burned her
like fire, while her tears flowed without
ceasing on the cold stones on which she
knelt
"Ahn cried she. Even in Il consecrated.
holy place | cannot DE ut peace Were
but cloud,'
Ther the cupola above her opened spread
out and became gradually the vault OF
heaven, in which, Is II cloud, she foated to
prodigious height. Bat her prosecutor
now became the wind, and pursued her to
the north, to the aouth, to the east to the
west, ali around the globe.
Better grain II sand than this cried
the weary, storm driven cloud, which
quickly fell to the earth as Il tiny grain of
golden sand. BuCOre was now, however, IL
peasant, walking barefooted in the bed of
the stream in search of gold dust
Next Jalomitza became Il drop of dew on
a gentienella flower, but there her perse-
cutor Il sunbeam, and overwhelmed
her with light and heat.
As young gaelic she now sprang up
leaping from rock to rock but she unhap-
PLY missed her footing, and she fell
straight into the cave of the Enchanter
who took the form of a sportsman. and fol-
lowed on her TRACK, crying out. AT length
| hold thee in my Dowerr'
In terror she flew farther and farther
into the grottO until she reached its ex-
tremity. There she found herself sur
rounded by tall, upright stones, which
were the forms of beautiful young women
from whose eyes fcll unquenchable tears.
oh, fly" cried a hundred voices at the
same time Fly from hence, unfortunate
maiden. If thou receivest kiss from him
who pursues thee thou wilt be turned into
stone like ourselves"
At this moment an arrow was shot and
came traversing the whole length of the
cave and grazed tie shoulder of the fugi-
tive gazelle. In the agony of death she ex-
claimed, IF had been stream | could
have escaped from him." and suddenly she
was precipitated from the grotto in the
shape of an impetuous, turbulent river.
The enChanter hurled a terrible maledic-
ton, and becoming himself n rock seized
and tried to hold fast in his embrace the
stream which always escaped him.
Conan shortly afterward reached the
grotto, and concentrating all his strength
flung the flute against the rock on whose
grimacing face he recognized that of Blu
core and the ench lntment was ut end.
In future neither Encore nor JalomitZa
could change their form, and to this day
the Jalomitza continues its turbulent
course, and the rock Bucore remains with
outstretched arms
Conan built chapel ut the entrance to
the grotto and became Il hermit, passing
his days in mOurniul contemplation of his
Jalomitza. Carmen SYLVIA Queen of Rou-
mania