The Light Princess and Other Fairy StoriesMacDonald, George
General
The Light Princess and Other Fairy Stories
MacDonald, George
Children's stories, English; Fairy tales; Fairy tales -- Great Britain; Short stories
Suddenly she remembered that the beautiful lady had told them, if they
lost each other in a country of which she could not remember the name,
they were not to be afraid, but to go straight on.
"And besides," she said to herself, "Mossy has the golden key, and so
no harm will come to him, I do believe."
She rose from the ground, and went on.
Before long she arrived at a precipice, in the face of which a stair
was cut. When she had ascended half-way, the stair ceased, and the path
led straight into the mountain. She was afraid to enter, and turning
again towards the stair, grew giddy at sight of the depth beneath her,
and was forced to throw herself down in the mouth of the cave.
When she opened her eyes, she saw a beautiful little figure with wings
standing beside her, waiting.
"I know you," said Tangle. "You are my fish."
"Yes. But I am a fish no longer. I am an a�ranth now."
"What is that?" asked Tangle.
"What you see I am," answered the shape. "And I am come to lead you
through the mountain."
"Oh! thank you, dear fish--a�ranth, I mean," returned Tangle, rising.
Thereupon the a�ranth took to his wings, and flew on through the long,
narrow passage, reminding Tangle very much of the way he had swum on
before her when he was a fish. And the moment his white wings moved,
they began to throw off a continuous shower of sparks of all colours,
which lighted up the passage before them.--All at once he vanished, and
Tangle heard a low, sweet sound, quite different from the rush and
crackle of his wings. Before her was an open arch, and through it came
light, mixed with the sound of sea-waves.
She hurried out, and fell, tired and happy, upon the yellow sand of the
shore. There she lay, half asleep with weariness and rest, listening to
the low plash and retreat of the tiny waves, which seemed ever enticing
the land to leave off being land, and become sea. And as she lay, her
eyes were fixed upon the foot of a great rainbow standing far away
against the sky on the other side of the sea. At length she fell fast
asleep.
When she awoke, she saw an old man with long white hair down to his
shoulders, leaning upon a stick covered with green buds, and so bending
over her.
"What do you want here, beautiful woman?" he said.
"Am I beautiful? I am so glad!" said Tangle, rising. "My grandmother is
beautiful."
"Yes. But what do you want?" he repeated, kindly.
"I think I want you. Are not you the Old Man of the Sea?"
"I am."
"Then Grandmother says, have you any more fishes ready for her?"
"We will go and see, my dear," answered the old man, speaking yet more
kindly than before. "And I can do something for you, can I not?"
"Yes--show me the way up to the country from which the shadows fall,"
said Tangle.
For there she hoped to find Mossy again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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