Never since the night when the princess left him so abruptly had the
prince had a single interview with her. He had seen her once or twice
in the lake; but as far as he could discover, she had not been in it
any more at night. He had sat and sung, and looked in vain for his
Nereid; while she, like a true Nereid, was wasting away with her lake,
sinking as it sank, withering as it dried. When at length he discovered
the change that was taking place in the level of the water, he was in
great alarm and perplexity. He could not tell whether the lake was
dying because the lady had forsaken it; or whether the lady would not
come because the lake had begun to sink. But he resolved to know so
much at least.
He disguised himself, and, going to the palace, requested to see the
lord chamberlain. His appearance at once gained his request; and the
lord chamberlain, being a man of some insight, perceived that there was
more in the prince's solicitation than met the ear. He felt likewise
that no one could tell whence a solution of the present difficulties
might arise. So he granted the prince's prayer to be made shoe-black to
the princess. It was rather cunning in the prince to request such an
easy post, for the princess could not possibly soil as many shoes as
other princesses. He soon learned all that could be learned about the
princess. He went nearly distracted; but after roaming about the lake
for days, and diving in every depth that remained, all that he could do
was to put an extra polish on the dainty pair of boots that was never
called for.
For the princess kept her room, with the curtains drawn to shut out the
dying lake. But she could not shut it out of her mind for a moment. It
haunted her imagination so that she felt as if the lake were her soul,
drying up within her, first to mud, then to madness and death. She thus
brooded over the change, with all its dreadful accompaniments, till she
was nearly distracted. As for the prince, she had forgotten him.
However much she had enjoyed his company in the water, she did not care
for him without it. But she seemed to have forgotten her father and
mother too. The lake went on sinking. Small slimy spots began to
appear, which glittered steadily amidst the changeful shine of the
water. These grew to broad patches of mud, which widened and spread,
with rocks here and there, and floundering fishes and crawling eels
swarming. The people went everywhere catching these, and looking for
anything that might have dropped from the royal boats.
At length the lake was all but gone, only a few of the deepest pools
remaining unexhausted.
It happened one day that a party of youngsters found themselves on the
brink of one of these pools in the very centre of the lake. It was a
rocky basin of considerable depth. Looking in, they saw at the bottom
something that shone yellow in the sun. A little boy jumped in and
dived for it. It was a plate of gold covered with writing. They carried
it to the king.