The Topeka state journal., 1897-12-17
NARCISSUS.

cattle in the fields, game in the forests,
vegetables in the garden or fruit in the
orchards? We're there no more cooks in
the kitchen2 What catastrophe had hap
pened? How had it come to pass that such
a noble and rich person did not have that
which was rarely wanting to the peasant
in his cottage, 20 the beggar in his hut-a
bit of bread? Well, if there was not as
much bread as she wished she could have
the sweetest cake in the world It needed
only a sign and there would be placed up-
on the table before her the most savory
meat, the most delicate venison, peas,
Strawberries like drops OF dew, peaches Of
violet velvet and oranges of gold.
But this little princess could not eat
food that sustained other men and women.
The fairies that leaned over her cradle at
birth had decided that she should only be
nourished by newly opened flowers or the
butterflies poised thereon Now, for two
weeks a hurricane had ragged in the king
dom, had rayaged the gardens, broken and
destroyed the bushes, it was actually
impossible to find petal Of eglantine or
q chalice of cactus
So the princess was in the most pitiabls
state ina ginable. She was paler than the
palest flowers, one alone of which would
have been enough to save her. She would
certainly die If her fast were prolonged for
a few hours and as she had rather a diff
enough to eat, you can imagine the rage
into which she few when the ladies of
honor entered the royal cham Der without
brin ging her the least little fioweret from
the fields or the forest.
said-and 1 had reason to say-that
the whole kingdom was in despair on ac-
count of the approaching death Of the
princess You would not have recognized
the king, he had grown so gray in a fey
days, and the ministers, the cham berlains,
the major donos were pitiful to see be
cause it would have been truly unbecom-
ing for the major domos and the cham
berlains and the ministers to be in a good
huInor when the head of the government
was so sad
But the sincerest, the greatest, desolation
was in the heart OF a little page For
long time he had hopeIessly adored the
princess The thought that she must die
plunged him into such despair that the
tigers in the forest and the rocks in the
mountains would have sympathized with
his misery if the tigers and the rocks had
been there 20 see it. 1t was not that he
had any cIenlency from the princess to be
grateful for Quite the contrary. No
words could give any idea Of the cruelty
she had shown this little page who was in
her service. When he sighed she smiled;
when he approached her in the evening to
be Of assistance 70 her she did not turn
away, as would have been charitable, but
she looked him in the eyes and said to
him:
well, weul Come, it is time to go to
sleep. Draw of my stockings, pray
you"
Then she went away mocking at him
with her ladies, who were cruel also But
they were excusable, not being beloved by
the poor boy.
such barbarity did not hinder him from
being the tendezest lover in the world If
you had said to him the princess was not
as sweet as the lambs in the meadows, he
would have been furious and you would
have had an affair with him.
When he learned that the kings daugh-
ter was perishing because of the hurricane
which had carried of all the flowers with
their butterflies, he did not hesitate a mo
Inent- He began to run through the king
dom seeking roses, lilies, daisies no mat
ter what, for the repast of her he loved
But he did not find them He continued
to seek When some one said to the prin-
cess, Does your highness know that the
little page has gone out hoping to gather
you breakfast she smiled disiainfully-
1t seemed she would breakfast with regret
on the flowers the poor boy brought her,
and she said:
''Ah, how hungry ami
Nevertheless he secured the whole coun-
try in search of blossoms. He descended
into the valleys, he climbed the steepest
hills, hoping that perhaps he would find
between two rocks near the glaciers the
little blue, mysterious flowers of the Alps
which would have kept from death the one
he loved so much But no; even on the
highest mountains, even in the deepest
valleys, was not one flower, so fierce and de
structive had been the tempest He re-
turned from each attempt in the anguish
of failure
Il foresaw it, " said the princess 'It
is really ridiculous to cOnfde to such chill
dren the care of royal persons -
When the little page learned that she
had uttered these cruel words, he felt his
heart clutched and torn as if a vulture had
cast itself with opened claws upon this lit
tie red bird Since she had the double
misfortune of being i'll and not being
grateful for the care of those who wished
to cure her, he resolved to live no longer,
as she was dying. He ran to a neighbor-
ing stream, very clear and very deep, de-
terInined to cast himself into it. He soon
came to the border of the stream. After
looking carefully to see if not single To-
tus remained, for lotus would have been
enough for a luncheon for the princess, he
leaned over, wishing to fall Then he hesi-
tated, for it is sad to die when one is SO
young and there are so many beautiful
things in the world.
A thought came TO him.
He had read in an old book that young
man adIniring himself in the waves had
7
fate be permitted to hims AS flower he
would be eaten by the princess, and the
princess would be saved.
He leaned over the brock and gazed long
at his image. He looked and looked, and
at last he fell in
He had hardly fallen into the water
when one Of the princess maidens, who
was wandering about and watching,
picked a narcissus upon the bank, a mar
eissus made Of the page-a pale narcissus
just bursting into bloom
The nareissus sustained the princess
/ until a marguerite-the storm having