Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-03-25
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orchards? We're there no more cooks In
the kitchen? What catastrophe had hap
penedS How had 1t come to pass hat such
a noble and rich person did not have that
which was rarely wanting to the peasant
in his cottage, to the bcggar in his hut--a
bit of breads Well, If there was not a.
much bread as she wished she could have
the sweetest cake in the world. 1t 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 q hurricane had ragged in the king
dom, had rayaged the gardens, broken and
destroyed the bushes, so 1t was actually
impossible to find a petal Of eglantine or
q chalice Of cactus.
So the princess was In the most pitiable
state imaginable. She was paler than the
palest flowers, II alone of which would
have been enough to save her. She would
certainly die If her fast were prolonged for
o few hours, and as she had rather q diff
cult disposition, ever when she had
enough to eat, you can imagine the rage
into which she flew when the ladies Of
honor entered the royal chamber without
bringing her the least little 1oweret from
the fields or the forest.
! said-and I had reason to say-that
the whole kingdom was in despair on &C.
count of the approaching death Of the
princess. You would not have recognized
the king, he had grown 80 gray in a few
days, and the ministers, the chamberlains,
the major domos were pitiful TO zee be-
cause 1t would have been truly unbecom-
thR tor the major domos and the cham
beflains and the ministers to be in q good
humor when the head of the government
was SO sad.
But the sincerest, the greatest, desolation
wal in the heart Of a little page. For q
long time he had hopelessly 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 sy%mpathized with
his misery II the tigers and the rocks had
been there to see it. 1t was not that he
had any ~oleinency 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 to her she did not turn
away, as would have been charitable, but
she looked him In the eyes and said to
him:
well, we'll! Come, 1t Is time to 20 to
sleep. Draw off my stockings, 1 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 tenderest lover in the world. II
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 off all the flowers with
their butterflies, he did not hesitate a mo
ment. 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 a breakfast" she smiled disdainfully.
It seemed she would breakfast with regret
on the flowers the poor boy brought her,
and she said:
"Ah, how hungry l ami
Nevertheless he secured the whole coun-
try In search Of blossoms. He descended
into the valleys, he climbed the steepest
bills, 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 go much. But no; even on the
highest mountains, even In the deepest
valleys, was not one flower, 30 fierce and de.
structive had been the tempest. He re-
turned from each attempt in the anguish
Of failure.
II foresaw It," said the princess. 1T
Is really ridiculous to conf1de 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 Ill 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-
termined to cast himself into 1t. He soon
to the border Of tho stream. After
looking carefully to see II not a single To-
tus remained, for a lotus would have been
enough for q luncheon for the princess, he
leaned over, wishing to fall. Then he hest
tated, for 1t is sad TO die when one IL 60
young and there are 70 many beautiful
things In the world.
A thought came to him.
He had read In an old book that a young
man admiring himself in the waves had
become a flower. Why should NOT such a
fate be permitted to himS Az q flower he
would be eaten by the princess, and the
princess would be saved.
He leaned over the brook and gazed long
at his image. He looked and looked, and
1t last he fell in. a
He had hardly fallen Into the water
when n Of the princess maidens, who
was wandering about and watching,
. narcissus upon tho bank, a mar
cissus made Of the page-a pale narcissus
Just bursting intO bloom.
The narcissus sustained the princess
until a margucrite-the storm having
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