The next morning Honey-Bee, George and Francoeur again arrayed
themselves in the splendid garments prepared for them by the dwarfs, and
proceeded to the banquet-hall where, as he had promised, King Loc,
in the robes of an Emperor, soon joined them. He was followed by his
officers fully armed, and covered with furs of barbarous magnificence,
and in their helmets the wings of swans. Crowds of hurrying dwarfs came
in through the windows, the air-holes and the chimneys, and rolled under
the benches.
King Loc mounted a stone table one end of which was laden with flagons,
candelabra, tankards, and cups of gold of marvellous workmanship. He
signed to Honey-Bee and to George to approach.
“Honey-Bee,” he said, “by a law of the nation of the dwarfs it is
decreed that a stranger received in our midst shall be free after seven
years. You have been with us seven years, Honey-Bee, and I should be a
disloyal citizen and a blameworthy king should I keep you longer. But
before permitting you to go I wish, not having been able to wed you
myself, to betroth you to the one you have chosen. I do so with joy for
I love you more than I love myself, and my pain, if such remains, is
like a little cloud which your happiness will dispel. Honey-Bee of
Clarides, Princess of the Dwarfs, give me your hand, and you, George of
Blanchelande, give me yours.”
Placing the hand of George in the hand of Honey-Bee he turned to his
people and said with a ringing voice:
“Little men, my children, you bear witness that these two pledge
themselves to marry one another on earth. They shall go back together
and together help courage, modesty, and fidelity to blossom, as roses,
pinks, and peonies bloom for good gardeners.”
At these words the dwarfs burst into a mighty shout, but not knowing
if they ought to grieve or to rejoice, they were torn by conflicting
emotions.
King Loc, again turning to the lovers, said as he pointed to the
flagons, the tankards, all the beautiful art of the goldsmith:
“Behold the gifts of the dwarfs. Take them, Honey-Bee, they will remind
you of your little friends. It is their gift to you, not mine. What I am
about to give you, you shall know before long.”
A lengthy silence ensued.
With an expression sublime in its tenderness, King Loc gazed at
Honey-Bee, whose beautiful and radiant head, crowned by roses, rested on
her lover’s shoulder.
Then he continued:
“My children, it is not enough to love passionately; you must also
love well. A passionate love is good doubtless, but a beautiful love
is better. May you have as much strength as gentleness; may it lack
nothing, not even forbearance, and let even a little compassion be
mingled with it. You are young, fair and good; but you are human,
and because of this capable of much suffering. If then something of
compassion does not enter into the feelings you have one for the other,
these feelings will not always befit all the circumstances of your life
together; they will be like festive robes that will not shield you from
wind and rain. We love truly only those we love even in their weakness
and their poverty. To forbear, to forgive, to console, that alone is the
science of love.”
King Loc paused, seized by a gentle but strong emotion.
“My children,” he then continued; “may you be happy; guard your
happiness well, guard it well.”
While he addressed them Pic, Tad, Dig, Bob, True, and Pau clung to
Honey-Bee’s white mantle and covered her hands and arms with kisses and
they implored her not to leave them. Thereupon King Loc took from his
girdle a ring set with a glittering gem. It was the magic ring which had
unclosed the dungeon of the nixies. He placed it on Honey-Bee’s finger.
“Honey-Bee,” he said, “receive from my hand this ring which will permit
you, you and your husband, to enter at any hour the kingdom of the
dwarfs. You will be welcomed with joy and succoured at need. In return
teach the children that will be yours not to despise the little men, so
innocent and industrious, who dwell under the earth.”