The Mermaids and the Sea-gulls were collected in crowds upon the shore.
There was hardly a sound except the monotonous splash of little waves
breaking, and the rippling rattle of the shingle as it followed the
water returning. Thousands of eyes were fixed upon the piece of rocky
land that jutted out into the sea, where the Philosopher's magnificent
castle stood, or _had_ stood, for there was now very little of it left.
No wonder the Mermaids and the Mer-babies and the Sea-gulls were
astonished. Even the sea was speckled with fish who were putting their
heads out of the water to watch. For the Philosopher's castle was fading
away, melting like mist before the sun!
The Philosopher himself could be seen rushing about, tearing his
scanty white hair. That was another equally astonishing thing, for only
yesterday the Philosopher had been young and handsome, as well as the
richest and greatest man in all the land--so rich and great that he was
to have married the Princess very soon.
Now he was old and wild and gaunt. A tattered brown cloak with rents and
holes in it hung from his thin shoulders, flapping as he ran about, and
all his dingy dress was dirty and ragged. He looked like a wandering
peddler. What had become of his many servants? Where were his horses and
chariots, and the strange beasts from foreign lands which had wandered
in the beautiful gardens--the gardens with the pavilions, where all the
flowers had been in bloom for the Princess?
There was only one tower standing now, and the top of that was growing
more and more flimsy. Presently, through the walls, rooms could be seen.
In one of them there stood a golden cage, and in it was a Parrot.
Very soon the bars of the cage were like cobwebs, and the Parrot began
to tear them apart. Then he spread his wings with a joyful scream, and
flew on to the rocks, above the heads of the crowds upon the shore.
Immediately every one called a different question to the Parrot, who
smoothed his feathers and took no notice until, when the noise and
excitement were rather less, an old Sea-gull spoke for them all. Then
the new-comer consented to tell what he knew of the events of the day.
It was due, he said, to the Philosopher's having lost the Magic Stone.
Upon this stone his youthful appearance, and everything that he owned,
had depended.
Early that morning a great tumult had suddenly arisen. The Philosopher
went out walking. Soon an old man had rushed in, crying that he had lost
the Magic Stone. He commanded every slave in the castle instantly to
leave whatever work he was doing, and help to find it. At first no one
heeded him, for they could not any of them be persuaded that he was
their master. Then the confusion had grown rapidly worse, for each one
found he was fading away, growing every moment more pale and thin. As
the hours passed all the servants became white ghosts, and they floated
away in companies together.
[Illustration: "EVERYONE CALLED A DIFFERENT QUESTION TO THE PARROT"]
The furniture was melting now in the same manner. The tables were
sinking down, and all the vessels used for cooking, and what not, were
falling softly and noiselessly upon the floors--where there were any
floors to hold them. Everything was blowing gently about, so that the
air seemed filled with bits of cloud. Presently the remnants would be
swept into the sea by the passing breezes.
"And how have you escaped?" asked the Sea-gull.
The Parrot raised his crest and looked very much offended.
"Because _I_ am real," he said with dignity. "I was the only real thing
in the castle. The Philosopher stole me at the same time that he stole
the Magic Stone."
"Stole it?" cried the Mermaids and the Mer-babies and the Sea-gulls.
"Yes," said the Parrot; "he stole it in a far-off land, and he stole me.
I was to be a present to the Princess; for he thought of marrying the
Princess even at that time, and the Philosopher knew there was not in
all the world another parrot like me."
He opened his wings and puffed up every feather. He certainly was a
magnificent creature. The grown-up Sea-gulls felt quite ashamed of their
homely dresses of black and white; but the young ones only gaped, and
crowded open-mouthed to the front to look.
The Parrot's snowy coat shaded different colors like opals when he
moved, and each feather was edged with gold. The crest upon his head
sparkled as if there were diamonds in it, and under his wings he was
rose-red.
"But I am free!" he cried, as the diamonds glittered and flashed,--"free
to go home where the palm-trees grow, and the sun shines as it never
shines in this chilly land! Look well at me while you can, for you will
never see me again."
With that he poised a moment above them, then sailed away to the South,
like a gorgeous monster butterfly. And they never did see him again.
When they had watched him out of sight, and turned again, there was
nothing remaining of the castle, and the Philosopher, too, had
disappeared. The sun was setting, and the Mermaids and the Mer-babies
went to their homes in the sea, while the Sea-gulls put their little
gulls to bed in the nests among the rocks high above the restless
waves.
* * *
Now all the talk was of the Philosopher's Magic Stone, and who should
find it. And at court every one was discussing how this unexpected turn
of events would affect the Princess's marriage. It was to have taken
place in a very short time. The King was very angry. He considered that
a slight had been cast upon the Princess and upon himself by the
carelessness of the Philosopher. He was not well pleased, either,
to know that the great wealth of the man who was to have been his
son-in-law was all due to magic influences. Neither did he like what
he heard of the Philosopher's appearance when last he was seen. He
announced that the Princess's wedding would take place at the time
fixed, and that she should be married to the first Prince, or other
suitable candidate, who arrived on that day. And even the Philosopher
might take his chance of being the first, if he were then in a position
to support the Princess in the luxury to which she had been accustomed.
[Illustration: "DO YOU THINK THE PHILOSOPHER WILL FIND THE STONE?" SHE
ASKED OF THE ELDEST LADY-IN-WAITING.]
As for the Princess herself, what did she think of it all? No one knew,
for she did not say. She sat at her palace window, and looked out over
the distant mountains, and dreamed of her wedding day.
"Do you think the Philosopher will find the Stone?" she asked of the
Eldest Lady-in-Waiting, who was in attendance.
"We may well hope so, your Royal Highness," said the Eldest Lady. "He is
a great man and wise. I hear, too, that he had been walking only a short
distance from the castle when he lost the Stone. It can hardly fail to
be found very soon."
The Princess sat still and looked over toward the mountains.
"Do you think the Philosopher will find the Stone?" she asked presently
of the Youngest and Favorite Lady-in-Waiting.
"Alas! your Royal Highness, I fear it is not likely," said the Favorite
Lady. "All the Sea-people have been searching day and night, I hear, and
nothing has been heard of it yet."
The Princess smiled. She still sat and smiled when the Favorite Lady
wrapped a cloak about herself, and took a letter that lay by the
Princess's hand. Then, without permission or instruction, she set out
toward the mountains. The Princess rested her elbows on the
window-ledge, and watched her out of sight, and perhaps wondered who
would be the earliest to arrive, and so fill the place of bridegroom, on
her wedding-day.
And all this time, as the Lady-in-Waiting had said, the Sea-people had
been searching day and night.
The Mer-babies and the little Sea-gulls were quite neglected, and did
no lessons; for every one was too busy to attend to them. They played
about and romped on the shore when they grew tired of hunting for the
Philosopher's Stone. The Sea-gulls had told the land-birds, who were
searching the woods and the fields, while the fresh-water fish knew of
it from their relatives in the sea, and they were searching the lakes
and the rivers. Then the Sea-gulls determined to consult the Great
Albatross of the Southern Seas, the King among all sea-fowl. They
arrived one sunny morning, and found him expecting them, for he had
heard what had happened--in the first place from the Parrot, who had
passed that way. So he was prepared with his answer. It did not satisfy
the Sea-gulls at all. They went away very much disappointed, for the
Albatross was in a bad temper, and said only:
"Go home and attend to the children."
They waited about until late, but he would say nothing more. So they
were obliged to return and confess their want of success to the
Mermaids, who sympathized with them, and agreed that it was very
ill-natured of the Albatross. They proposed to go to the Sea-serpent and
ask his advice, which the Sea-gulls thought a good plan. They set off at
once for the deep seas, where he lived, inquiring of the fish they met
whether any news had been heard. But the fish had nothing to tell, and
the Mermaids came to the Sea-serpent's home.
He was curled on his great rock throne, with giant seaweeds of all
colors waving round him, and the stars of the anemones gleaming out from
dark corners.
[Illustration: CONSULTING THE WISE WHITE BEAR]
The Sea-serpent listened to the request of the Mermaids; but they met
with no better luck than the Sea-gulls, for he said exactly the same:
"Go home and attend to the children."
Then he retired into the great caves, and would not come out again.
So the Mermaids went home disconsolate. They began to think they might
have to give up the hope of finding the Magic Stone.
Of course the Mer-babies heard all that was going on. They discussed
the situation, as usual. They did not mean to be left behind in this
business, though they were not considered to be of any consequence. It
was evidently correct to consult somebody who lived at a distance, and
they thought of the Wise White Bear. He was farther off, too, than
either the Albatross or the Sea-serpent, for he lived at the north pole;
but when he was mentioned the very young Mer-babies for once suggested
that it was nearly bedtime, and they found that they were sleepy. Some
one whispered that the White Bear ate the poor seals, and the youngest
Mer-babies crept into holes in the rocks to rest, they said, while the
little Sea-gulls went walking home, one behind the other, right across
the sands, without having been called. But the older Mer-babies set off
for the north pole.
They arrived home next morning, very tired and very cross. When the
sleepy ones who had stayed behind asked what the Wise Bear had said,
they would not tell, and for the first time the Mer-babies quarreled.
They declared in the end that they would none of them look for the
"Philosopher's ugly Stone ever any more."
So if the Princess really wanted to marry the Philosopher, that day she
lost some of her helpers. But no one knew what she wished, for she never
mentioned him. She sat at her window that looked out over the mountains,
and she gazed ever outward.
It was the night before her wedding. She had been there all day, and for
many days. It was very quiet, and the lamps were lighted. The Eldest
Lady-in-Waiting spread out the lovely robes, ready for the morrow, where
the Princess might see them; but she never moved nor spoke. As midnight
approached she leaned out and let the soft wind blow upon her face.
The hour of midnight was striking from all the belfries, when a great
clatter sounded down below in the courtyard. Horses neighed, and men ran
about. The Princess leaned more forward, and listened. Then a horseman,
whose jewels sparkled in the moonlight, looked up and kissed a hand to
her, and she kissed hers to him. It was one minute past midnight, and
the morning of her wedding-day! She dropped the curtains and turned to
greet the Favorite Lady-in-Waiting, who had come in. The Princess threw
her arms round her Lady's neck to welcome her back, she was so glad and
happy.
So it came about that the Prince of the City Over the Mountains was the
first to arrive on that eventful morning; for, though through all the
rest of the night, and up to the very hour of the wedding, noble Princes
and their retinues were received in state by the King, all of them had
to be told that they were too late, and most of them rode off again at
once. Some who had never seen the Princess, but who had been attracted
by reports of her beauty and her stateliness, waited to attend her
marriage feast, and to regret that they had not hurried themselves a
little more.
As for the Philosopher, who should have been one of the chief persons of
interest on that important occasion, no one even thought of him, unless
the Princess did. But she looked too well pleased for any one to suppose
she missed him--which was fortunate, for he was never heard of any more.
When the eventful day was past, the Mermaids and the Sea-gulls covered
the shore once again, talking it over, and the Mer-babies and the little
Sea-gulls stood around listening.
Presently the Mer-mothers said: "No more holidays. Lessons to-morrow!"
and the Mer-babies sighed, and the little Sea-gulls looked gloomy.
One of the Mer-babies stepped forward, holding something.
"Please take care of our pretty ball for us," she said, "until holidays
come again."
As she was speaking the Mermaids sprang up, and they and all the
grown-up Sea-gulls cried with one accord:
"The Philosopher's Stone!"
And, sure enough, it was. It lay in the Mermaid's hand, all glowing with
its magic blue, pale and dark by turns, its wonderful veins panting as
if it were a living thing, its threads of gold moving and twining
underneath, round the red heart burning deep in the midst of it.
"That!" cried every one of the Mer-babies and every one of the little
Sea-gulls. "Why, we have had _that_ all the time! We found it on the
sand, and we have played with it every day since!"
Then the Sea-gulls remembered what the Albatross had said, and the
Mermaids remembered what the Sea-serpent had said, and the Mer-babies
remembered what the Wise White Bear had said, and they all looked at one
another.
Now arose the question, What should be done with the Stone?
It needed no long discussion to settle. Every one agreed that it should
be given to the Youngest Lady-in-Waiting; for she had done for the
Princess what no one else had thought of doing, in carrying her letter
to her true love so that he might be in time to win her. The happy day
just past was entirely owing to her devotion.
The Stone was duly presented to her, and, accordingly, she became the
richest and most beautiful woman in the land, as she was already the
kindest, while the Sea-folks generally, and the Mer-babies in
particular, gained great fame and distinction; for had they not found
the Magic Stone when it was lost, and given it to the nation's favorite?
And they do say that the Favorite Lady-in-Waiting married a charming
Prince almost (but not quite!) as captivating as the husband of the
Princess.
[Illustration: "IT WAS ONE MINUTE PAST MIDNIGHT, AND THE MORNING OF HER
WEDDING DAY!"]
[Illustration: THE BAD TEMPER OF THE PRINCESS]