Evening star., 1927-10-22
WORLD FAMOUS STORIES
THE LOST WORDS OF LOVE.
BY CATULI.E MENDES

not help being aware OF the SHssfui
caress to which he had been initiated.
No sooner, then. had the fairy thus
won the poets love than she sought
some place where they might meet.
At her command blue and rose grot-
toes of bright diamonds opened up in
| the very depths of the earth, glowing
| as brightly as so many stars close 10
the eyes of man.
A chariot OF gold, drawn by winged
steeds. appeared magically. and in
| this the poet and the fairy were sped
| from the earth to the fairyland Of
| light and color.
| For long, long time the fairy
/ loved her poet and the poet, in his
/ turn. loved the fairy. They were tor-
| getful of everything save each others
| kisses and smiles. If they ceased to
| gaze into each others eyes il was but
| to talk amiably together of their love-
| and their joy in its whoiesomeness
| and beauty.
This fairyland of their love was a
| wondrous land indeed. There were
queer gnomes dressed in brightcol-
ored satins and elves attired in a blue
haze. These urChins of the unreal
world did many strange dances before
the lovers, all to the music of unseen
| fairy Orchestras.
The daintiest delicacies were served
| to them to eat, Fitting hands OF
snow-white softness. but with no arms
| or bodies anywhere to be seen, brought
them beautiful baskets decorated with
costly rubies and alled with fairy
| fruits that were transparent almost in
their ethereal unreaIity. These hands.
| indeed, were perfumed as daintily as.
the petals of white roses.
Sometimes. to please the fairy whom
he loved, the poet would indulge in
| recitations, striking the chords of a
! stringed instrument, and creating the
most beautiful verses his fancy could
| conceive.
Fairy that she was. she had never
known Joy comparable to this Of being
sung by a handsome young man who
invented new songs every day. And
| when he grew silent, and she felt him
near her, she seemed to melt away in
tenderness.
Their. happiness seemed without
end. Days passed by . many, many
days :. but nothing occurred to dis
turb their joy. Yet she had moments
of gloom, when she would sit musing,
with her cheek on her hand and her
hair falling in ringlets.
"My love-" he said, why is it that
YOU SlI0 Selu w IldL more can you ue.
sire, seeing that we are so happy. in
the midst of all these wonderful pleas
ures, you who are so powerful, you
who are so beautiful?"
AT first she made no answer, but
when he insisted, she sighed, and said:
ALAS! one always ends by suffering
the evil one has inflicted on others 1
am sad because you have never told
me the words I love you"
The poet uttered a cry of Joy at
having found again the end of his
poem. He did not repeat the words.
but leaped up to go. In vain the fairy
tried to keep him in the blue and rose
grottoes of diamonds, in the gardens
OF lilies as luminous as the stars.
The poet returned to earth, and
there completed and published his
poem. In this poem the men and
women of the poets country, so ter
ribly afflicted by the fairy's vengeance,
found again the words of love they
had forgotten.
Now there were meetings Of lovers
again in the moonlight, and once
more happily married couples con-
versed in endearments behind the
closed doors and drawn blinds of their
rooms, for all knew once more the
three magical words, II love you"
1t is because of poetry, therefore,
that kisses are sweet, and 1t is true
that lovers can say nothing that the
poets have not sung in their verses.