The Portland daily press., 1895-06-03

| sucn toys as these at my home, and
| unclasping the necklace of emaralds
| sne offered one of the precious stones to
each of the Young girls. She would have
given the pearls away also had not the
queen prevented any further acts of gen.
erosity.
"Thy friends must be fabulously
wealthy, /" observed one of the maidens.
II do not know the meaning of
wealthy" said Alba "The gnomes
bring great sacks Of treasure from the
center of the earth, and when they do
not bring enough they are punished by
my mother. +"
The queens face darkened, and her
countenance was troubled, and calling
her son aside she said to him:
s'This fair creature can be none other
than the child of that horrible old sor-
ceress, Baba Coaja. Take her back at
once to the place where thou found her.
for she will bring only trouble and mis-
fortune to our house"
''Do not ask that of me, mother
mine, (" said the young prince, growing
pale with anxiety. II love Alba with
all my heart, with all my soul, and were
she the terrible Baba in person I feel
could not separate myself from her. -
The queen sighed, but perceiving that
opposition was useless she ordered a
room to be prepared for Alba near to
her own apartments, and the wedding
was fixed to take place on the following
day.
Then, on the queen wishing to array
her future daughter with her own royal
hands for the ceremony, she had most
painful dispute with her, for Alba OBJ
stinately refused to allow the beteela to
be fastened in her hair. She ran about
the castle like a frightened deer; she
threw herself on the divans and gave
vent to foods Of tears, begging and i'm
ploring that she might be spared this
misery. She said the queen might place
on her head any quantity Of her own
silken thread, spun by her maids, but
she would have none Of the fatal gold
affixed there.
While she sobbed and besought un-
ceasingly, the queen made a sign to her
attendants and two of them in obedi-
ence to the sign held the poor girl s tiny
hands, while third attached the golden
veil to her head. Every one now expect
ed an explosion of rage and despair, but
Alba became perfectly impassive, and,
pale as death, she bowed her lovely head
under its acoursed burden.
''Thou art more cruel than my own
mother, said she, ''for she would not
allow me to wed in order to avoid. my
being unhappy, but thou-thou hast
summoned this woe about to fall upon
me Of thy own free will. -
No one could understand the drift Of
these words, which Alba refused to ex-
plain, and this increased the general dis
trust against her.
She became SO sad that those around
her could not believe that she was the
same brilliant creature they had seen
but the evening previously. Even the
fond vows Of everlasting love, muir
INJURED in her shell-like ear by the young
prince, were powerless to dispel the
cloud storm from her brow.
When she appeared at court, the
fabulous and countless treasures of the
young princess were the chief topic Of
conversation. Prince Porfia was urged
to inspect them more minutely, but he
did not care for riches, he said, and
only thought how to make his young
bride smile again, but all his efforts
proved wholly Intellectual. At length he
set forth in search of her former sur
roundings, deeming that on seeing tbe
familiar objects Of her childhood her
gayety would return, for she regarded
with disdain the small stones considere5
duce herself to understand that such
neager baulles could possess value for
any one. When she heard that the
prince intended to return to her mott
er's citadel. she exhibited the greatest
CONSERVATION apd terror, imploring him
and supplicating him to give up his ill.,
tention.
''Thou goest to thy death" i" said she,
but he would not be dissuaded from his
purpose, and the more he hoard Of the
dangers which menaced him the moro
did no desire to encounter and surmount
them. So he set out secretly one night,
leaving his young wife in deep slumber,
and advanced to the Baba S castle, fol-
lowed by handful of his most trusty
mobiles.
When the wicked sorceress saw him
from afar, she cried out:
''Accursed be thoul Thou who has
stolen my child from me! Hast thou
come to satiate thy cupidity, unhappy
mortal? Why hast thou returned? did
not summon thee to thy DOOM" AS she
pronounced these words she flung down
on the heads Of the horsemen quantity
Of jewels, which were at once trans
formed into snowfakes, then into icicles,
which were carried swift and thick by
whirlwind into the air, binding the
unfortunate prince and his companions.
They were unable to see and lost
their way, some falling over precipices,
utterly stunned. Prince Porfia alone,
impelled by his desire for vengeance
and his intention Of strangling the wick
ed Baba, marched on to the castle. but
he was so speedily enveloped in the iov