Part 4 (2/2)
Prince Katala departed likewise in a rage, and Prince Kenai bowed low before the throne.
”And now what treasure do you bring to win my hand, brave prince?”
asked Maiden Mata.n.u.ska.
To which the prince replied, ”I bring you none, and neither do I seek to win your hand. Your heart is what I do desire, O Maiden, for I do love you truly and would die to serve you.
”Now in your father's halls are treasures and all riches in great store.
Fair silken banners hang the walls to shut the cold drafts out; a thousand gleaming silver lamps light the way; great chests are filled full of ornaments of beaten gold, as well as many other things my eyes have not discovered. With all this wealth heaped high on every hand, if you still long for that which you have never seen, think you that in my barren land it will be found? In my land so poor that even crows forsake it?”
”Well said, brave prince,” the king replied, ”and if you have not treasures such as men hold dear, you have indeed a n.o.ble gift of speech.
But even so, some gift or token you must surely bring, or otherwise you had not come at all but stayed within your barren land. Come, tell us what it is.”
”I bring no treasure save the treasure of a wonder tale which you will hear,” said Prince Kenai, and then began to tell.
”Within my land, as well you know, there lies a burning mountain from which men flee in fear, but which I love. Now when my mountain has burst forth in flames, and tongues of fire that reach to heaven light the sky of all the world, I have seen wondrous things. I have seen other lands far distant, where ice and snow are not, but where the green gra.s.s clothes the hills and plains; where poppies shaped like golden chalices grow thick, and birds sing hour after hour. And in these pleasant lands of which I tell, there is a time of light as well as dark. This time of light lasts many hours long and is called day.”
”Then tell me this, Prince Kenai,” cried the king. ”How comes this light of day to other lands? It comes not to this dreary realm of ours, where it would be most welcome.”
”I'll tell you that,” replied the prince. ”There is a wondrous traveler called the Sun who high up in the clouds does journey ceaselessly about the world. He has great power over night and causes darkness to break forth in light wherever he does turn his face toward any land.
”And now farewell, good king and Maiden Mata.n.u.ska, whom I love. I go to seek the Sun and beg him to return with me and s.h.i.+ne upon the Northland Kingdom as he does on other lands upon the earth. Then will we have the light of day as well as night, and Maiden Mata.n.u.ska will have that which she has never seen, for which she longs with all her heart, and which she will love well. Farewell.”
Prince Kenai wrapped his flowing feather mantle around him and took leave of the king. The Maiden Mata.n.u.ska walked with him through her forest where the silver birches grew down to the borders of the sea, and there they parted.
”Oh, my brave prince,” wept Maiden Mata.n.u.ska, ”my heart cries out against your going, for since the day I met you I have loved you dearly; but I was always fearful lest my father bid me wed another because you had no fortune. Therefore I set the riddle which only you did guess. And now, may all good powers guard you on your quest and bring you safely back to me. While you are gone, the waking hours will often find me standing on this sh.o.r.e, awaiting the glad sight of your return.”
”My beloved maiden!” sighed the prince. ”With such sweet faith and love to bless me, I cannot fail.” He rent his flowing feather mantle in two parts and wrapped a portion of it around the maiden. ”I would I had a richer token for you, love,” said he. ”But even so; this feather mantle is no mean gift. Who wears it will be ever safe from icy blasts and snow and cold and will be ever young and fair as on the day they wore it first. Now kiss me in farewell and promise me that when I do return and bring the Sun, you'll marry me.”
The Maiden Mata.n.u.ska kissed him thrice and promised, and springing into his boat, Prince Kenai sailed away. She stood upon the sh.o.r.e and blew him kisses and caresses, but soon his form was lost in darkness and the mists, and Maiden Mata.n.u.ska was left forlorn.
II
Now in those olden days, when princes journeyed around the world on errands for the maidens whom they loved, the s.p.a.ce of time they usually were gone was a year and a day. So when a year and a day had pa.s.sed, the Maiden Mata.n.u.ska often wandered through the birch wood and stood upon the border of the sea. She strained her gaze far to the south to see the sight of any sail; but Prince Kenai came not.
She asked the birds of pa.s.sage if they had seen her prince, and sometimes they had news of him. ”Oh, tell me, ye wild Gulls, of the wild skies,” she asked, ”do you know aught of my brave Prince Kenai? He wears a feather robe like mine and seeks in lands afar to find the Sun for me.”
”Ah, yes,” replied the Gulls. ”We've seen a prince so dressed, and he was sailing westward on the sea and seemed to seek the Sun.”
”And found he what he sought?” cried Maiden Mata.n.u.ska eagerly.
”Alas!” the Gulls replied. ”The truth is, he did not. For many evenings when the day was done, we saw this prince sail westward. He hoped to meet the sun just where the sky bends down to meet the sea, but though he sailed for days and days, the place he sought seemed sailing too, and so he reached it not.”
”That is sad news,” the maiden sighed. ”But when again you see my prince, tell him that all my thoughts are his, and I am sure he cannot fail.”
Another time she asked a Kite-bird had he seen Prince Kenai.
”Oh, yes, dear maiden,” the Kite-bird made reply. ”And he was in the Southland, whither he had gone to seek the Sun. But he was worn and wearied with much wandering, and the road was long; and by the time he reached there, the Sun had long departed on his journey to the Eastland.”
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