Ila found it trying and toilsome, for she was not accustomed to swimming
upwards so long together, and she did not like to lose time by resting
on the way. But when at last she reached the surface, her surprise at
all she saw there took away her fatigue. It was a lovely summer day,
the sunshine was deliciously warm, and as the mermaid lay on some smooth
rocks a little way from the shore she could see the green fields, and
trees, and houses, and gardens bordering the coast, quite plainly. She
could even perceive some people walking along, and she thought their way
of moving most extremely awkward and ungraceful.
"Thank goodness I am a mermaid and not a woman," she thought. "I cannot
believe that anything to be found on land is as beautiful as our
sea-treasures. How splendid the great pearls in the centre of the
necklace would look in this brilliant light! When they are mine I must
carry them up here some day for the sake of seeing them glisten on my
neck in the sunshine."
And her thoughts were so full of the jewels that she almost forgot what
she had come for. Suddenly the sight of some red blossoms on a tree
growing close to the water's edge reminded her of what she was there to
do, and she looked about her wondering how best to set to work. The
wise men had described roses to her; they had even found a picture of
one in a book about the plants of the land, so she knew very fairly well
what it should be like and that it must have a delicious scent. But
that was all, and though she saw fields and gardens not far off, she
knew not how to get to them. Suddenly glancing in another direction she
caught sight of a barge, its white sails gleaming like the wings of a
great bird, at anchor some little way from the shore. To and from this
barge little boats were coming and going, laden with baskets and cases.
Ila swam quietly towards it, taking care to keep almost entirely under
water, so that she should not be seen.
When she got quite close to the barge she saw that one of the little
boats was approaching it, and this boat was filled with flowers and
rowed by but one boy. The little vessel was in fact preparing for a
pleasure trip, and the boats were employed in bringing all that could be
wanted of decorations and provisions. The boy rowed quite close to the
barge, and then throwing a rope on deck from his boat, he himself sprang
on board to call some one to help him to unload his flowers.
Now was the mermaid's chance--she swam up to the boat and stretching out
her hand drew from a basket, filled with roses of all shades, the most
beautiful red one she could see. She had no doubt of its being a rose,
for the perfume had reached her even some little way off. The boy
turned round at that moment and gave a cry of terror as he caught sight
of a shining white arm and hand taking a flower from the basket of
roses, and for long after, a story went about that the spirit of some
one shipwrecked off that coast haunted that part of the bay.
But Ila only laughed at the boy's fright, and swam off as fast as she
could, delighted to have succeeded. She hid the rose carefully in the
folds of the gauzy robe she wore, and after one breath of its fragrance
prepared to hasten home as fast as she could go.
"The pearls are mine," she thought with exultation, giving no thought to
the poor Queen. "I can fancy already that I feel their smooth touch
against my skin--so adorned I shall certainly be the most beautiful
mermaid that has ever been seen."
But alas for vain Ila's hopes!
No sooner had she reached the bottom of the sea than she hastened to the
palace, and sought at once for an audience of the King. Eager past
words for her return, he hurried out to the hall where she stood.
"I have got it," she exclaimed, and she slid her hand into the folds of
her dress and drew out--a little crumpled rag--a few miserable leaves,
sodden and colourless, with no scent or fragrance--the poor wretched
ghost of what had once been a magnificent rose!
The King's face fell. Ila gave a cry of despair.
"I brought it so carefully," she said.
"Your care was in vain," replied the King. "It is evident that some
condition has not been complied with. How did you get the rose?"
She told him all, and Orona, who had followed her, listened eagerly.
"It may be," said the King, "that you took it without paying for it. I
wish I had thought of that."
But his hopes revived when he remembered that the "first effort was not
to succeed." And too anxious to give much thought to Ila's
disappointment, he turned to Orona.
"Now," he said, "it is for you to try. But you must take with you
payment."
"Yes," said Orona calmly, "I have thought of that. I will select two or
three of our most valuable shells, for I have been told that rare shells
are greatly esteemed by the land-folk. I am not surprised that Ila has
been punished for taking what was not hers without paying for it."
She looked so calm and confident that the King felt as if she must
succeed. It was too late to set off that day; but the next morning
Orona started. She was far more business-like than Ila; when she
reached the surface, instead of wasting time in dreaming about the pearl
necklace, she swam round the bay as near the shore as she dared venture,
peering about in all directions. And at last she came to a little
creek, which worked its way into the land till it became a small stream,
whose banks were bordered by trees. This the mermaid followed for some
distance; till, tasting the water, she found it had almost lost its
briny flavour altogether. This startled her, for no sea-folk could live
many hours in fresh water, and she began to think she must turn back.
But just then she saw that a few yards farther on the stream turned
suddenly; and swimming still a little way, she discovered that here it
entered a beautiful park, through which it wound its way till lost to
view.
And close to where Orona now was, stood a pretty cottage, whose garden
at the back sloped down to the water, and here were growing in profusion
flowers of many kinds; among them roses, red, white, and all shades
between. For this was the cottage of the gardener of the great house,
and he liked to have choice specimens of the flowers he tended near his
own home.
It was easy for the mermaid to choose and gather a beautiful rose, for
no one was about, it being still what human beings call very early in
the morning. Orona did so, selecting carefully a rose not too fully
blown, and wrapping it in some large cool green leaves which she found
growing on the bank. And there, just where she had plucked the flower,
she laid down two magnificent shells, which she had brought, as payment.
In her calm way, quite as triumphant as her sister mermaid had been,
Orona swam back with all possible swiftness. She reached her own
country without misadventure, and, smiling confidently, entered the
great hall of the palace, where the King was awaiting her with intense
eagerness.
"Success!" she exclaimed, as she drew out her leafy parcel. The outside
looked green and fresh enough, but, alas! inside there was only the same
miserable little bundle of colourless rags as Ila had brought back the
day before--nay, of the two, to-day's withered flower looked even less
like a rose than the former one!
Orona clenched her hands in rage; the King's face sank into utter
despair, for the Queen's state was considered worse this morning.
"Alas, alas!" he cried, as he turned away, "it is hopeless."
But among those who overheard his words was one who was not satisfied
with feeling very sorry for the poor King.
This was a little mermaid named Chryssa. She was younger than Ila and
Orona, and she was of far less exalted position; in fact, she was
scarcely more than a little servant in the Queen's household. And
probably no one would have spoken of her as beautiful if asked to
describe her. But she _was_ beautiful, nevertheless, and wonderfully
sweet and loving; and the living being she loved the most in the world
was the Queen. Of course, like every one else, Chryssa had heard all
about the quest of the rose which was to cure the Queen; and now the
thought struck her, could _she_, unknown to any one, try in her turn to
bring the earth-flower fresh and fragrant which alone would have magic
power to save her royal mistress's life? There seemed something lucky
in being the _third_ to try, "and, at least," thought Chryssa, "it would
be, so far as I am concerned, `the gift of love,' as the poor Queen
keeps murmuring."
She determined to make the endeavour; and late that night, just for fear
of being seen--though she was so insignificant a person that there was
not much chance of her being missed--she set off. She was not by nature
so strong or courageous as Ila and Orona; she knew very little, indeed,
of anything but her own sea home, as she had been treated like a child,
and had never heard the stories and descriptions of the world above,
which were often related to entertain the Queen and her ladies. No
wonder her poor little heart almost failed her through the long dark
journey up to land. And at first when she reached the surface all was
still as dark there as below. But as she lay there panting, almost
doubting if she had done well to come, up above, over the land, there
shone out a marvellous light, which at once filled her with hope and
joy. It was the moon--slowly the silvery lamp glided out from behind
the clouds, and the little mermaid almost cried aloud for joy.
"Oh, beautiful light," she said, "thank you for coming. Show me what to
do; I will follow your guidance," and a gleaming streak across the water
shone out as if inviting her to follow it.
Swiftly the mermaid swam in the direction of the land, full in the glow
of the light; and a girl--an earth-maiden--standing at her window in the
summer night thought that she saw a vision, and scarce knew if she were
awake or dreaming.
"It is late," she thought. "I must get to sleep or I shall be growing
too fanciful."
But before she lay down on her little bed she carefully unfastened a
beautiful red rose which was pinned to her bodice and placed it in a
glass of water, kissing it as she did so, for it was the first gift of
her betrothed.
Poor Chryssa reached the shore; but though the moonlight still shone
pale and pure and clear, it gave her no help. For the radiance was now
spread all over the land; and before her there stretched a steep and
rocky coast, beyond which--far off it looked to the mermaid--she could
dimly see trees and bushes and some darker, harder form among them.
"It may be a house, such as the earth-folk live in," she thought. "And
there perhaps these flowers they call roses are growing. But how am I
to get there? and how should I find the flower if I were there?"
Still she must try. Slowly and painfully she drew herself some little
way up the shore, catching hold of the stones with her hands; then she
stopped to rest, and set off again. It was really not very distant, but
to poor Chryssa it seemed terrible: she could only go a few yards at a
time without resting. The night was far gone, the dawn at hand, when
the little mermaid, gasping and exhausted, her tender hands bruised and
bleeding, sank for the last time, unable to drag herself any farther, on
a grass plot just below the window whence the young girl had seen her in
the moonlight like a vision, floating towards the shore.
Hebe, for so the maiden was called, woke early, and after glancing at
her rose, threw open the window and leant out to watch the sunrise.
"How lovely it is," she thought, "and how happy I am!" for her betrothal
had only taken place the day before.
"Dear rose, I will keep you always--even when withered--always, till--"
But a low sob or wail, just below the window, startled her. What could
it be? Leaning farther out, she saw at first nothing but a long tangle
of shining hair covering some unseen object, for Chryssa's hair was like
a golden cloak.
"What is it? Who is lying there?"