“But most sublime of all the sights is still the mirage. Trembling and glowing in the sea, lie trees and mountain peaks, reflected clear and beautiful. Maybe it is only the reflection of the golden haze that lies in the canyons at sunset; but whatever it is, it is one of the desert’s splendors. And though the lilac mist and the purple shadows that creep between the valleys and climb the mountains seem more natural to its desolation and its silence, yet the glory of that mirage—glittering with its dazzling hue, and flashing its strange lights like the rays from a fire-opal—will cling the longest in one’s memory.” CHAPTER IX THE STORY OF PRINCESS SUNSET [Illustration: (unlabelled)] When the story of the great desert or the lost ocean had been told, the little company of Moon people thanked the guide for his tales, and again started on their journey. Soon they approached the borders of a beautiful wood. The guide told them that he would turn back when they had travelled through the forest, for on the other side of the forest the black dwarf awaited them. Princess Ethelda shuddered as she heard, but being a brave little Princess, she turned laughingly to the guide and said, “Well, Sir Guide, cannot you tell us another pretty story before you go?” “Willingly,” replied the guide, and he at once began the story of Princess Sunset. “Once upon a time there lived in the heart of a great forest, something like this we are passing through, a young Prince with his two elder brothers. They lived in a splendid palace, and were fond of hunting and shooting; but they were also frequently at war with their neighbors, so that fighting of some sort always seemed to be going on. This youngest was named Oswald; though he always accompanied his brothers to war, and was the very bravest of all the knights, he thought it was useless to fight about everything. Life would be much happier if people were kind and peace-loving; and unless there were a serious question to fight about, he did not believe in fighting at all. He much preferred to roam the forest, studying the sky and the trees, or the lovely waters of the clear blue lakes. He would spend hours thus, musing on the wonderful works of Nature, and wondering where she kept her marvellous paint-box. “Now, Prince Oswald was very good-looking. He was tall and slender as the young saplings about him, but he was powerful and strong of limb, too; and when his brothers told him to choose a wife among the pretty maidens of the land, almost any of the princesses would have been glad to be chosen. But Prince Oswald was in no hurry to choose; he did not fall in love very easily, and he thought he would just wait until the right princess came along.