to a lovely island. She thought that she had reached her destination,
so she stepped out of the boat not forgetting to take her box of
dresses with her. As soon as she was out of the boat it sailed away.
"Now what shall I ever do?" said Dionysia. "The ship has gone away and
left me and how shall I ever earn my living? I have never done
anything useful in all my life."
Dionysia surely had to do something to earn her living immediately, so
she at once set out to see what she could find to do. She went from
house to house asking for food and work. At last she came to the royal
palace. Here at the royal palace they told her that they had great
need of a maid to take care of the hens. Dionysia thought that this
was something which she could do, so she accepted the position at
once. It was, of course, very different work from being a princess in
a royal palace but it provided her with food and shelter, and when
Dionysia thought of having to marry the old king she was never sorry
that she had left home.
Time passed and at last there was a great feast day celebrated in the
city. Everybody in the palace went except the little maid who minded
the hens. After everybody had gone away Dionysia decided that she
would go to the _festa_ too. She combed her hair and put on her gown
which was the colour of the fields and all their flowers. In this
wonderful gown she was sure nobody would ever guess that she was the
little maid who had been left at home to mind the hens. She did want
to go to the _festa_! She hurried there as fast as she could and
arrived just in time for the dances.
Everybody at the _festa_ noticed the beautiful maiden in her gown the
colour of the fields and all their flowers. The prince fell madly in
love with her. Nobody had ever seen her before and nobody could find
out who the beautiful stranger was or where she came from. Before the
_festa_ was over Dionysia slipped away, and, when the rest of the
royal household returned home there was the little maid minding the
hens just as they had left her.
The second day of the _festa_ everybody went early except the little
maid who looked after the hens. When the others had gone she put on
her dress the colour of the sea and all its fishes and went to the
_festa_. She attracted even more attention than she had the day
before.
When the _festa_ was over and the royal household had returned to the
royal palace, the prince remarked to his mother, "Don't you think that
the beautiful stranger at the _festa_ looks like the little maid who
minds our hens?"
"What nonsense," replied his mother. "How could the little maid who
minds our hens ever get such wonderful gowns to wear?" Just to make
sure, however, the prince told the royal councillor to find out if
the little maid who minds the royal hens had been to the _festa_. All
the servants told about leaving her at home with the hens and coming
back and finding her just as they had left her.
"Whoever the beautiful stranger at the _festa_ may be," said the
prince, "she is the one above all others whom I want for my wife. I
shall find her some way."
The third day of the _festa_ Dionysia went attired in her gown the
colour of the sky and all its stars. The prince fell more madly in
love with her than ever. He could not get her to tell him who she was
or where she lived but he gave her a beautiful jewel.
When the prince returned home he would not eat any food. He grew thin
and pale. Every one around the palace tried his best to invent some
dish which would tempt the prince's appetite.
Finally the little maid who took care of the hens said that she
thought she could prepare a dish which the prince would eat.
Accordingly she made a dish of broth for the prince and in the bottom
of the dish she dropped the jewel which the prince had given her.
When the broth was set before the prince he was about to send it away
untouched, just as he did everything else, but the sparkling jewel
attracted his attention.
"Who made this dish of broth?" he asked as soon as he could speak.
"It was made by the little maid who minds the hens," replied his
mother.
"Send for the little maid to come to me at once," cried the prince. "I
knew that the beautiful stranger at the _festa_ looked like our little
maid who minds the hens."
The prince married Dionysia the very next day and Dionysia was the
very happiest girl in all the world, for from the first moment that
she had seen the prince, she had known that he was the one above all
others whom she wished to marry.
Alas! In Dionysia's excitement she forgot all about calling the name
of her old playmate, Labismena, at the hour of her marriage as she had
promised to do. She thought of nothing but the prince.
There was no escape for Labismena. She had to remain in the form of a
sea serpent because of Dionysia's neglect. She had lost her chance to
come out of the sea and become a lovely princess herself and find a
charming prince of her own. For this reason her sad moan is heard in
the sea until this very day. Perhaps you have noticed it.
You will often hear the call come from the sea as it breaks against
the shore, "Dionysia, Di-o-ny-si-a." No wonder that the sea moans. It
is enough to make a sea serpent sad to be forgotten by the very person
one has done most to help.
XVIII
How the Brazilian Beetles Got
Their Gorgeous Coats
In Brazil the beetles have such beautifully coloured, hard-shelled
coats upon their backs that they are often set in pins and necklaces
like precious stones. Once upon a time, years and years ago, they had
ordinary plain brown coats. This is how it happened that the Brazilian
beetle earned a new coat.
One day a little brown beetle was crawling along a wall when a big
grey rat ran out of a hole in the wall and looked down scornfully at
the little beetle. "O ho!" he said to the beetle, "how slowly you
crawl along. You'll never get anywhere in the world. Just look at me
and see how fast I can run."
The big grey rat ran to the end of the wall, wheeled around, and came
back to the place where the little beetle was slowly crawling along at
only a tiny distance from where the rat had left her.
"Don't you wish that you could run like that?" said the big grey rat
to the little brown beetle.
"You are surely a fast runner," replied the little brown beetle
politely. Her mother had taught her always to be polite and had often
said to her that a really polite beetle never boasts about her own
accomplishments. The little brown beetle never boasted a single boast
about the things she could do. She just went on slowly crawling along
the wall.
A bright green and gold parrot in the mango tree over the wall had
heard the conversation. "How would you like to race with the beetle?"
he asked the big grey rat. "I live next door to the tailor bird," he
added, "and just to make the race exciting I'll offer a bright
coloured coat as a prize to the one who wins the race. You may choose
for it any colour you like and I'll have it made to order."
"I'd like a yellow coat with stripes like the tiger's," said the big
grey rat, looking over his shoulder at his gaunt grey sides as if he
were already admiring his new coat.
"I'd like a beautiful, bright coloured new coat, too," said the little
brown beetle.
The big grey rat laughed long and loud until his gaunt grey sides were
shaking. "Why, you talk just as if you thought you had a chance to win
the race," he said, when he could speak.
The bright green and gold parrot set the royal palm tree at the top of
the cliff as the goal of the race. He gave the signal to start and
then he flew away to the royal palm tree to watch for the end of the
race.
The big grey rat ran as fast as he could. Then he thought how very
tired he was getting. "What's the use of hurrying?" he said to
himself. "The little brown beetle can not possibly win. If I were
racing with somebody who could really run it would be very different."
Then he started to run more slowly but every time his heart beat it
said, "Hurry up! Hurry up!" The big grey rat decided that it was best
to obey the little voice in his heart so he hurried just as fast as he
could.
When he reached the royal palm tree at the top of the cliff he could
hardly believe his eyes. He thought he must be having a bad dream.
There was the little brown beetle sitting quietly beside the bright
green and gold parrot. The big grey rat had never been so surprised in
all his life. "How did you ever manage to run fast enough to get here
so soon?" he asked the little brown beetle as soon as he could catch
his breath.
The little brown beetle drew out the tiny wings from her sides.
"Nobody said anything about having to run to win the race," she
replied, "so I flew instead."
"I did not know that you could fly," said the big grey rat in a
subdued little voice.
"After this," said the bright green and gold parrot, "never judge any
one by his looks alone. You never can tell how often or where you may
find concealed wings. You have lost the prize."
Until this day, even in Brazil where the flowers and birds and beasts
and insects have such gorgeous colouring, the rat wears a plain dull
grey coat.
Then the parrot turned to the little brown beetle who was waiting
quietly at his side. "What colour do you want your new coat to be?" he
asked.
The little brown beetle looked up at the bright green and gold parrot,
at the green and gold palm trees above their heads, at the green
mangoes with golden flushes on their cheeks lying on the ground under
the mango trees, at the golden sunshine upon the distant green hills.
"I choose a coat of green and gold," she said.
From that day to this the Brazilian beetle has worn a coat of green
with golden lights upon it.
For years and years the Brazilian beetles were all very proud to wear
green and gold coats like that of the beetle who raced with the rat.
Then, once upon a time, it happened that there was a little beetle who
grew discontented with her coat of green and gold. She looked up at
the blue sky and out at the blue sea and wished that she had a blue
coat instead. She talked about it so much that finally her mother took
her to the parrot who lived next to the tailor bird.
"You may change your coat for a blue one," said the parrot, "but if
you change you'll have to give up something."
"Oh, I'll gladly give up anything if only I may have a blue coat
instead of a green and gold one," said the discontented little beetle.
When she received her new coat she thought it was very beautiful. It
was a lovely shade of blue and it had silvery white lights upon it
like the light of the stars. When she put it on, however, she
discovered that it was not hard like the green and gold one. From that
day to this the blue beetles' coats have not been hard and firm. That
is the reason why the jewellers have difficulty in using them in pins
and necklaces like other beetles.
From the moment that the little beetle put on her new blue coat she
never grew again. From that day to this the blue beetles have been
much smaller than the green and gold ones.
When the Brazilians made their flag they took for it a square of green
the colour of the green beetle's coat. Within this square they placed
a diamond of gold like the golden lights which play upon the green
beetle's back. Then, within the diamond, they drew a circle to
represent the round earth and they coloured it blue like the coat of
the blue beetle. Upon the blue circle they placed stars of silvery
white like the silvery white lights on the back of the blue beetle.
About the blue circle of the earth which they thus pictured they drew
a band of white, and upon this band they wrote the motto of their
country, "_Ordem e Progresso_, order and progress."