Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from Those of Perrault, and Other Popular Writers
General
Four and Twenty Fairy Tales: Selected from Those of Perrault, and Other Popular Writers
Fairy tales
The Prince continued daily to travel through the forest, and he had
been nearly a year on his journey, when one night he heard some
plaintive voices, but could not distinguish any words. Alarming as
these wailing sounds were at such an hour and in a place where the
Prince had never yet met with mortal soul, the desire to be no longer
alone, and to find at least some one as wretched as himself with whom
he could weep over the misfortunes that had befallen them, made him
wait with impatience for morning, when he might seek out the persons
whose voices he had heard. He walked towards that part of the forest
whence he fancied the sounds had proceeded, but hunted all day in vain;
at length, however, towards evening, he discovered, in a spot which
was clear of trees, the ruins of a castle which appeared to have been
of great size and magnificence. He entered a court-yard, the walls
of which were of green marble, and seemed still tolerably perfect.
He found in it nothing but trees of prodigious height, standing
irregularly in various parts of the enclosure. He advanced towards a
spot where he perceived something elevated upon a pedestal of black
marble. It proved to be a confused pile of armour and weapons, heaped
one upon the other: helmets, shields, and swords of an ancient form,
which composed a sort of ill-arranged trophy. He looked for some
inscription which might inform him to whom these arms had formerly
appertained. He found one engraved on the pedestal. Time had nearly
effaced the characters, and it was with much difficulty that he
deciphered these words:--
TO THE IMMORTAL RECOLLECTION OF THE GLORY OF THE FAIRY CEORA.
IT WAS HERE
THAT ON THE SAME DAY
SHE TRIUMPHED OVER CUPID
AND PUNISHED HER FAITHLESS LOVERS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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