The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-04-21
Written for the New York Post by Mar
gherita Arlina HaInm.
THE PRINCESS SEVERITY.

Silver, and before the punditas had
brought the teachings d of Mohammed
(whom may all the saints confound y
from Java into our islands. The king
was brave and crafty. He had many
war prahus, and evGfyoyea when the
southwest monsoon 5vas blowing they
went forth into the sea,sand seldom came
home without rich booty. and many cap
tives. ee
The young maidsy Were distributed
among the warriors CanCb. the men were
given or sold as slaNes.e Thus Paluan
prospered, and all thepeople were happy.
But every man has some foolish spot and
even the king of Patlan had his. His
weakness was his daughter, who was
beautiful and clever, but also lazy, ar
rogant and cruel. She was the only
child of the kings faVorite wife, who
had died many years before, and as the
king had no children by his other wives,
all his love went out to his daughter
OF course she could not become king
hen ne DIED. The kingship would go
/ } the braVest warrior as determined
;.pon by the voice of the old men of the
people. But yet she ruled the same as
if She had been king, because her father
was rs wet clay in her hands, and what
ever she asked she received and what
F.. ever she did was praised by her foolish
aren't.
The warriors said nothing but among
them grew up a strong dislike for the
beautiful princess. She may have no.
ticed it or not, but even If she Gid it
made no difference in her conduct. unless
perhaps it was to make her more cruel
at times, and mora vindictive when any
one did ought which interfered with her
wishes or pleasure.
Now the Princess had two slaves. sis
tiers, who had been captured when little
children in piratical foray at Pitogo. in
Tayabas. They were very handsome and
very wise. If they had not been wise
they probably would have been beheaded
by their mistress. They were taller and
stronger than the maids of Mindoro. and
were drawer than most women. Once
when great python came out of the
river near Paluan and attacked a group
Of people, all fed but the two little sis
ters. One seized a bolo, the other a
spear and shield, and together they
slew the horrible reptile.
They were loved by the warriors. many
of whom would have married them.
This fact gave pleasure to the princess,
who took delight in encouraging the suit
ors Of her maids, and then suddenly
sending them away in disgrace
The name Of the princess was Buya
and the names of the two maids Nipa
and Sepa. Sepa was the larger and strong
er, but Nfpa was the craftier and wiser
A jug can go to the we'll many days,
but the time comes at, last when it is
cracked or broken. For moons and years
Ntpa had averted the wrath and cruelty
Of the princess, but at, last she, like many
others, fell under Buyafs. ldispleasure 1t
was for a mere trifes which no sensible
man or woman would ever have<noticed,
but to the selfish princess there was
no such thing as a trife; the smallest Of
Tense was to her mortal injury. One
morning when Nipa came, as was her
wont, quickly into the princess chamber
she trod upon the latters dog, which
howled, but the next moment licked the
maids feet as If to say, 81 know you
did not do it on purpose"
The dog might forgive the maid, but
not the dogs mistress. She upbraided
the poor girl, and after debating what
awful fate she could inf1ict upon her,
burst out into one of her merciIess
laughs. She called. the guard and had
Nipa. taken to the hut that was used as
a JAIL She then sent some Of the SOL
diers out to seize the first peddler who
came toward the palace from the shore.
A messenger was. at once. dispatched
to the king, who was told Of her actions.
She had intended to behead the girl,
but changed her mind when she thought
of the greater pain that would have
come from marrying her to the first
peddler that came to the palace.
The king laughed heartily, gladly ap-
proved the wicked Judgment, and sent
for the princess, They waited at the
palace gate for, the guard to- return
This occurred very soonr for only a few
hundred yards from the royal domain
they had found a shell-worker from
Batangas, who had landed upon the
beach, and was approaching the kings
residence to sell some Of his goods.
Tindig. for such was the name Of the
Batangas man, was somewhat startled
when he was seized by the soldiers. He
was a strong and robust youth having
just entered manhood and was as brave
as lion. But he had no weapons with
him, and he knew that resistance simply
meant death, so he bowed and went with
his captors
They entered the doorway in the wall
which surrounded the palace and pro-
ceeded to the audiehce chamber. Here
sat the king, the princess, and a crowd
of retainers servant and slaves. Nfpa
was brought from the hut and married
to Tindig
When the ceremony was over the king
banished both from Paltian under pen
atty of death. At this. moment, Sepa,
who loved her sister dearly. sprang UP
and inplored mercy for Nipa- The
princess frowned and then laughingiy
whispered to the king. He laughed in
turn and then married Sepa also tc
Tindig. The people of tho court took
the matter as huge joke, not because
they thought it was funny, but because
they always laughed at anything which
amused the king
Nipa did not laugh, and when the ner-
riment died away. she bowed and said
modestly but clearly:
81 thank my lord and mistress for hav.
ing given me and my sister a husband
and as I desire to go would ask that
the wedding presents be given to us
now, so THAT we may comply with the
kings order to depart"
In Mlndoro 1t was a custom as old as
the hills that whenever the king gave
anybody in marriage, he had to make
presents to the husband and to the
wife. or to each Of the wives. If there
were more than one. The king frowned
a moment and then said:
Truly, N1pa art thouzcalled the art
full maid. and I will make thee presents
as the law commands"
The. princess becameaver angry, and
cried to have them sent away without
any presents, but the sold men muir
INJURED, and the king remarked to the
princess:
''You have had your way in everything,
but not even you can influence me to
break the law Of our fathers"
He was as good as his word. To Tin
dig he gave a complete set of warriors
weapons made of the fine metal of the
Moro country. and to Nipa and Sepa he
gave sarongs and rolls of grass-cloth and
bracelts, armlets andf janklets of silver
and gold 1osfsIl