|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 19
I ate because I was ravenously hungry, but also because, while eating,
I was better at my ease.
Suddenly out of the stillness, like an arrow, Safte was gone; and far
away beneath the motionless leaves a faint voice rang dwindling into
silence. I shuddered at my probable fate.
Prince Ennui glanced lightly. "When the magic horn at last resounds,"
he said, "how strange a flight it will be! These thorny briers
encroach ever nearer on my palace walls. I am a captive ever less at
ease. Summer by summer the sun rises shorn yet closer of his beams,
and now the lingering transit of the moon is but from one wood by a
narrow crystal arch to another. They will have me yet, sir. How weary
will the sleepy ones be of my uneasy footfall!"
And even as Safte slipped softly back to his watching mate, the patter
and shrill menace of voices behind him hinted not all was concord
between these hidden multitudes and their unseemly prince.
The master-stars shone earlier here; already sparkling above the tower
was a canopy of clearest darkness spread, while the leafy fringes of
the sky glowed yet with changing fires.
We returned to the lawns before the palace porch, and, with his
lantern in his hand, the Prince signed to me to go in. I was not a
little curious to view that enchanted household of which I had read so
often and with so much delight as a child.
In the banqueting-hall only the matted windows were visible in the
lofty walls. Prince Ennui held his lantern on high, and by its flame,
and the faint light that flowed in from above, I could presently see,
distinct in gloom, as many sleepers as even Night could desire.
Here they reclined just as sorcerous sleep had overtaken them. But how
dimmed, how fallen! For Time that could not change the sleeper had
changed with quiet skill all else. Tarnished, dusty, withered,
overtaken, yellowed, and confounded lay banquet and cloth-of-gold,
flagon, cup, fine linen, table, and stool. But in all the ruin, like
buds of springtime in a bare wood, or jewels in ashes, slumbered youth
and beauty and bravery and delight.
I lifted my eyes to the King. The gold of his divinity was fallen, his
splendour quenched; but life's dark scrutiny from his face was gone.
He made no stir at our light, slumbered untreasoned on. The lids of
his Queen were lightlier sealed, only withheld beauty as a cloud the
sky it hides. His courtiers flattered more elusively, being sincerely
mute, and only a little red dust was all the wine left.
I seemed to hear their laughter clearer now that the jest was
forgotten, and to admire better the pomp, and the mirth, and the
grace, and the vanity, now that time had so far travelled from this
little tumult once their triumph.
In a kind of furtive bravado, I paced the length of the long, thronged
tables. Here sat a little prince that captivated me, dipping his
fingers into his cup with a sidelong glance at his mother. There a
high officer, I know not how magnificent and urgent when awake,
slumbered with eyes wide open above his discouraged moustaches.
Simply for vanity of being awake in such a sleepy company, I strutted
conceitedly to and fro. I bent deftly and pilfered a little cockled
cherry from between the very fingertips of her whose heart was
doubtless like its--quite hard. And the bright lips never said a word.
I sat down, rather clownishly I felt, beside an aged and simpering
chancellor that once had seemed wise, but now seemed innocent,
nibbling a biscuit crisp as scandal. For after all the horn _would_
sound. Childhood had been quite sure of that--needed not even the
author's testimony. They were alert to rise, scattering all dust,
victors over Time and outrageous Fortune.
Almost with a cry of apprehension I perceived again the solitary
Prince. But he merely smiled faintly. "You see, sir," he said, "how
weary must a guardianship be of them who never tire. The snow falls,
and the bright light falls on all these faces; yet not even my Lady
Melancholy stirs a dark lid. And all these dog-days--" He glanced at
his motionless hounds. They raised languidly their narrow heads,
whimpering softly, as if beseeching of their master that long-delayed
supper--haplessly me. "No, no, sirs," said the Prince, as if he had
read their desire as easily as he whom it so much concerned. "Guard,
guard, and hearken. This gentleman is not the Prince we await, Sallow;
not the Prince, Safte! And now, sir,"--he turned again to me--"there
is yet one other sleeper--she who hath brought so much quietude on a
festive house."
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|