On the second afternoon the Prince, in his impatience, came early
to the shadowy garden. The Princess Liria was not to be found, so
Porphyrio wandered away into the dark alleys by the pools. Suddenly
he found himself looking at his own reflection in a huge round mirror
which two marble statues supported between them, one at each side.
Happening to move a little, the Prince discovered that his reflection
did not move! He lifted an arm, the image remained motionless; he shook
his head, the mirror gave no sign. Puzzled, Porphyrio left the spot,
and saw his reflection remaining behind the glass.
Presently he heard the welcome footsteps of Liria. And as the lovers
walked and talked and discussed plans of escape, the Prince chanced
to tell of the mirror he had found. Uttering a little gasp of alarm,
the Princess cried: “Now we are lost indeed! Yon mirror is a mirror of
memory, and reveals to the Magician the faces of those who walk these
paths. As soon as he sees your reflection therein,--and he gazes into
the glass every eve,--his demons will be sent in search of you. There
is one hope and one only.
“Go you once more to the sea; follow the cliff for a league to the
west of the promontory, and you will find at its base the opening of
an ocean cave. When you arrive there the tide will be at half-flood,
and the entrance will still be visible above the waves. Fight your way
within and climb to the cavern’s height. Little by little the rising
tide will seal the portal and hide you from the search. Make haste,
dear Porphyrio, for there is not an instant to lose! Oh, that I had
warned you!”
[Illustration: _The image in the mirror stood still_]
Ragingly angry with himself for being a meddlesome fool, Porphyrio
hurried down to the sea and sought out the cave. Twilight was at hand;
the tide was rising fast, already the entrance was almost closed by
the sea. Buffeted by the breakers and tossed against the cliff as he
strode, the Prince at length made his way into the cave and climbed to
a shelf of rock above the height of the tide. A few minutes later, the
water closed the entrance completely, thus imprisoning Porphyrio in a
hollow darkness through which the ebb and flow of the outer sea swept
with chuckles and whispering laughter. All night long waited Porphyrio
in the cold, watery dark.
Toward the end of the Prince’s vigil, the earth suddenly shook, the
waters hushed, and through the silence and the dark Porphyrio heard the
long thunder of a mighty overthrow.
“What can that be?” thought he.
When the first red rays of the sun streamed along the rocky floor of
the cave, Porphyrio descended from his refuge, and walked out of the
cave-mouth to the sea.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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