Stories of Enchantment 10

Stories of Enchantment 10

As Max stood in the open door and watched the enchanted prince go down

the steps, he fancied he saw, through the rain, the sheen of the silken

sails and the gleam of gold on the galley’s prow, and was sure he heard

the hymn of welcome. Returning to the room, he saw Nurse Candace sitting

with bowed head and sad eyes.

 

“The attendant does not go with the prince to Egypt,” said Max.

 

“The attendant awaits here the prince’s sad returning,” she answered.

 

“But the days will not seem long to the prince; he sleeps the time

away,” he said.

 

“What better can he do,” answered Candace, “than to make of this life a

sleep and a forgetting, or to wander in dreams in Egypt?”

 

Long did Max sit and ponder over this strange story. “Can it be true, I

wonder?” he thought. “It cannot be; it is too wonderful. And yet,

Candace is so strange. And Necho often reminds me of the sphinx. Well, I

will believe it if to-morrow morning I find a lotus blossom on my

pillow.”

 

And so, going to bed, he dreamed of following Necho over a sunlit sea to

Egypt.

 

Strange to tell, in the morning a blue lotus blossom lay on his pillow

when he awoke. And when Candace came to call him, she glanced at the

flower and started.

 

“Where did it come from, Candace?” asked Max, although he was quite sure

that he knew.

 

“From the market, of course,” answered Candace. “Uncle Moses” (the

colored man of all work) “was there early, and no doubt brought it home

with the marketing. He must have laid it on your pillow.”

 

But Max thought Necho could tell him about the flower, although he was

careful not to ask him, or by his actions to reveal the secret that he

knew that he was a prince.

 

A few nights later Max had retired early with a severe headache. He

awoke, after a deep sleep, to find his headache gone, the room filled

with moonlight; awoke to the pressure of a soft hand on his forehead,

and saw Candace bending over him. But how oddly she was dressed! He

gazed at her in wonder. And then it flashed through his mind that her

costume was an exact copy of a picture he had seen, taken from some

rock-tomb by the Nile. It was the ancient dress of an Egyptian lady.

 

“Waken, Max, rise and dress quickly; for permission has been granted us

to go this night with the prince to Egypt. Hasten, and I will wait for

thee outside the door.”

 

How soft and musical her voice sounded! Soft and exquisite as a haunting

melody heard in dreams. And how wonderfully her strange dress became

her! But almost before he had time to note this, she had vanished softly

from the room.

 

Wondering greatly, Max hastened to dress. But what was this? Instead of

his usual garments he found the very oddest dress that was ever worn by

an American boy. Strange to say, he found no difficulty in placing the

different articles, for each one seemed to take its required place

without effort on his part. It was all so familiar, and yet so strange.

Soon he was attired in the most approved costume of a young Egyptian

noble of some thousands of years ago.

 

When he had finished dressing he softly opened the door. Candace seized

his hand and hurriedly drew him through the upper hall and down the

stairs.

 

And there Max beheld a wondrous sight.

 

For the hall door was open. And down the hall and porch knelt two rows

of the prince’s subjects, richly and strangely dressed. But he had small

time to note them; for at the foot of the stairs stood the prince. When

Max saw him in all his glorious young majesty, something in his heart

compelled him to bow the knee; free born though he was, he knelt low

before the prince, for his face was homage-compelling.

 

The prince was dressed in dazzling garments, and jewels innumerable

glittered when he moved. From his shoulders hung the white fur robe.

 

Taking Max’s hand, the prince bade him rise, and turning to his

attendants, commanded them to hasten. Quickly they stepped on board.

Candace reverently drew the white robe from the prince’s shoulders;

then, settling back among his silken cushions, the prince bade Max sit

beside him. Candace knelt at his feet. And, strange to relate, Moses, in

most gorgeous array, held the insignia of royalty over the head of the

prince.

 

Then to the accompaniment of soft music, as they swiftly sailed, the

prince told how he had prevailed on the priests to allow him to take

with him Max and Candace.

 

“And they were the more willing,” said the prince, “since it was

predicted by the astrologers at my birth that I should be saved from

great evil by one of an unknown time and race. And the astrologers

assure the priests that the hour has come.”

 

Then Candace, looking far across the sea, murmured her thanks to Pacht

that it was come; and Max told the prince how he longed that he might

have the great honor and joy of saving him.

 

Then Prince Necho set himself presently to the task of teaching Max the

forms and ceremonies to be observed when they should come into the

presence of the king and queen; and Max learned readily, as one

recalling some half-forgotten lesson.

 

When they had reached the mouth of the Nile, they were borne up the

river to the city of the great king. There the royal father and mother

and a great multitude welcomed them to Egypt. The queen kissed Max, and

her lips were cool and soft on his brow as the petals of the lotus

blossom. And afterwards she embraced Candace and thanked her for her

devotion to her son. Then, after many strange ceremonials and great

rejoicing, the multitude were dismissed, and the king and queen led the

way to their private apartments.

 

Now it seemed to Max that he remained many days in the palace and saw

wonderful sights; and his soul was surfeited with pleasures.

 

But the prince grew restless under this life of ease and luxury, and

longed to break away from it all. One day he said to his royal father,

“I would I might take Max for a day’s hunting; I would show him noble

sport.”

 

The queen looked up, pale and anxious; and the king answered slowly,

“Thou mayst go, since the spell is on thee; but beware the lions.”

 

And Necho answered: “Why should I fear them; am I not thy son? Then am I

mightier than they.”

 

But the queen was weeping.

 

Then the next day, early in the morning, they started for the wild

beasts’ haunts in the thick jungles by the river in the royal hunting

grounds. And on the way Necho said: “Max, part of the spell laid upon me

is my mad desire at times to hunt the wild beasts and kill them. When

that desire comes, I know no rest until I have killed.”

 

Just then the royal hunters came to them and announced a lion hidden in

the thick reeds. Then Necho, leaving Max in safety to view the sport,

sprang into his chariot and bade his charioteer drive on. Straight

toward the jungle they drove, when out from it sprang a great tawny

beast. At the sight of it Max’s heart stood still with fear. On it

bounded, past the horses, straight at the prince. Swift as thought he

threw his spear; it sank deep into the eye of the lion, and he rolled

over, roaring with agony. The nobles and hunters soon despatched the

beast; and when it was dead all joined in lauding the prince to the sky.

 

“Tell me, O prince,” said Max, as they were wending home, followed by

the carcass of the lion, borne on the spears of the hunters,—“tell me,

did you strike purposely at the lion’s eye?”

 

“Surely; I could strike at no better place, and I have been trained to a

steady and sure hand.”

 

And Max thought to himself that Necho was the bravest as well as the

handsomest prince that ever lived.

 

That evening, as the sun was travelling westward toward the desert,

these two were idling away the hour in one of the courts of the palace.

It was a beautiful spot, cool with the spray from the fountain and

musical with the sound of falling waters. They were idly tossing a ball

backward and forward to each other. The prince leaned against a gilded

trellis on which some rare vine was growing. He spoke suddenly: “Max, I

feel strangely restless. When I went early this morning to the temple of

Osiris, the priests told me that I should be in deadly peril this day,

but that Osiris would this night be pleased with me. I would have

hesitated to go hunt the lions this morning, but I thought if Osiris was

pleased with me, I had naught to fear, even if death came. And now the

hunt is over; and I was not in deadly peril.”

 

“Surely you were in danger this morning of losing your life, prince; be

assured that is what the priests foretold.”

 

“I think not,” answered the prince, and then was silent.

 

Suddenly, there came springing through one of the entrances to the court

an immense dog. Max recognized it as a huge mastiff, one of the largest

and fiercest. His voice was a hoarse roar of rage, and his great mouth,

wide open, showed his white teeth. With gleaming eyes he rushed at the

prince; and when Necho saw him, he gave a shriek (strangely like the cry

of a cat) and sprang up the trellis, which began to bend with his

weight.

 

“Oh, Max! save me; save me from the magician!” he screamed.

 

Max, very much startled and rather shocked at the prince’s fright,

seized his sword and rushed at the dog, who now turned his rage on Max.

The boy struck at him again and again with the sword, and finally with a

sharp thrust of its point he gave the dog his death wound. Max turned,

to see the prince trembling and cowering, with his hands over his face.