How Ethelda loved to watch him as he drove the fiery steeds with a master’s hands, guiding them surely and steadily to her palace gates! He was the finest of the Sun God’s sons, and Ethelda’s heart beat proudly as she looked upon her chosen one. The Moon Mother was happy too, in her daughter’s choice, and all would have been well in the wedding festivities save for Ethelda’s unheard-of request. How the Moon hated to grant it! But she had reasoned with Ethelda long and patiently without effect. For the wilful little Princess was bent upon this mad whim. “Alas! no good can come of it,” sighed the Moon heavily, and she gazed down sadly upon the Earth as she spoke. “No good can come of it,” she repeated. “What could have possessed the child to want it?” For Ethelda had asked no less than this: to visit the Earth and spend her honeymoon there! The young Sun Prince, though at first reluctant to take his beautiful bride upon such a wild trip, had finally yielded to her persuasions, and now, being won by her tender pleadings, was as anxious to go as she. But the Moon Mother had no such faith in the foolish journey. Her mind misgave her, and as she swung around the great circle in celestial glory, her heart grew tremulous with fear for her daughter’s safety. The request must be granted: that she knew; but she was devoutly thankful for a wise law requiring a Moon maiden to revisit her own home yearly. At most, then, they could stay but a twelvemonth upon the Earth. Reason as she would, however, the Queen Mother’s heart was heavy, for with the daughter upon the Earth the mother’s happiness would be gone. But the maiden’s joy at the consent consoled her somewhat, and with an unselfish mother’s love the Queen determined to hide her own grief and make the wedding trip a brilliant and a joyous one. Prince Dorion came with a great retinue of knights, all dressed in shining gold wrought in the Sun’s fiery furnace, and bringing wonderful jewels to his bride. The Moon Queen, not to be outdone in magnificence, showered silver in plenty upon them both, and bade one hundred of her loveliest maidens accompany the bridal pair upon their journey. The wedding was so brilliant that the skies grew bright as day, and the splendor was reflected for many miles across the heavens. When the ceremony was over, the bride, in shining white and silver garments, came forth from the circle of her bridesmaids to bid her mother farewell. Long-limbed and graceful was this daughter of the skies. Her finely cut features showed her high-bred race. Her blond hair hung in yellow masses to her knees, while her tender blue eyes, looking smilingly upon her mother’s face, were radiant with happiness. Gliding swiftly forward she reached the throne, and there, sinking on her knees, she begged her mother’s blessing. Very tenderly the Queen watched her graceful child approach and kneel, and then leaning forward she raised her to her breast and showered caresses upon her.