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.As soon as they disappeared, he landed in search of histunic and sword, and, after some trouble, found them again.Then he made thebest of his way round the lake to the other side.There the wood was wilder, andthe shore steeper-rising more immediately towards the mountains which surroundedthe lake on all sides, and kept sending it messages of silvery streams frommorning to night, and all night long.He soon found a spot whence he could seethe green light in the princess's room, and where, even in the broad daylight,he would be in no danger of being discovered from the opposite shore.It was asort of cave in the rock, where he provided himself a bed of withered leaves,and lay down too tired for hunger to keep him awake.All night long he dreamedthat he was swimming with the princess.""All that is very improper-to my mind," said Mrs.Cathcart.And she glancedtowards the place where Percy had deposited himself, as if she were afraid ofher boy's morals.But if she was anxious on that score, her fears must have been dispersed thesame moment by an indubitable snore from the youth, who was in his favouriteposition-lying at full length on a couch."You must remember all this is in Fairyland, aunt," said Adela, with a smile."Nobody does what papa and mamma would not like here.We must not judge thepeople in fairy tales by precisely the same conventionalities we have.They mustbe good after their own fashion.""Conventionalities! Humph!" said Mrs.Cathcart."Besides, I don't think the princess was quite accountable," said I."You should have made her so, then," rejoined my critic."Oh! wait a little, madam," I replied."I think," said the clergyman, "that Miss Cathcart's defence is very tolerablysufficient; and, in my character of Master of the Ceremonies, I order Mr.Smithto proceed."I made haste to do so, before Mrs.Cathcart should open a new battery."Chapter X.-Look at the moon."Early the next morning, the prince set out to look for something to eat, whichhe soon found at a forester's hut, where for many following days he was suppliedwith all that a brave prince could consider necessary.And having plenty to keephim alive for the present, he would not think of wants not yet in existence.Whenever Care intruded, this prince always bowed him out in the most princelymanner."When he returned from his breakfast to his watch-cave, he saw the princessalready floating about in the lake, attended by the king and queen-whom he knewby their crowns-and a great company in lovely little boats, with canopies of allthe colours of the rainbow, and flags and streamers of a great many more.It wasa very bright day, and soon the prince, burned up with the heat, began to longfor the water and the cool princess.But he had to endure till the twilight; forthe boats had provisions on board, and it was not till the sun went down, thatthe gay party began to vanish.Boat after boat drew away to the shore, followingthat of the king and queen, till only one, apparently the princess's own boat,remained.But she did not want to go home even yet, and the prince thought hesaw her order the boat to the shore without her.At all events, it rowed away;and now, of all the radiant company, only one white speck remained.Then theprince began to sing."And this was what he sang:"'Lady fair,Swan-white,Lift thine eyes,Banish nightBy the mightOf thine eyes.Snowy arms,Oars of snow,Oar her hither,Plashing lowSoft and slow,Oar her hither.Stream behind herO'er the lake,Radiant whiteness!In her wakeFollowing, following for her sake,Radiant whiteness!Cling about her,Waters blue;Part not from her,But renewCold and trueKisses round her.Lap me round,Waters sadThat have left her;Make me glad,For ye hadKissed her ere ye left her.'"Before he had finished his song, the princess was just under the place where hesat, and looking up to find him.Her ears had led her truly."'Would you like a fall, princess?' said the prince, looking down."'Ah! there you are! Yes, if you please, prince,' said the princess, looking up."'How do you know I am a prince, princess?' said the prince."'Because you are a very nice young man, prince,' said the princess."'Come up then, princess.'"'Fetch me, prince.'"The prince took off his scarf, then his sword-belt, then his tunic, and tiedthem all together, and let them down.But the line was far too short.He unwoundhis turban, and added it to the rest, when it was all but long enough; and hispurse completed it.The princess just managed to lay hold of the knot of money,and was beside him in a moment.This rock was much higher than the other, andthe splash and the dive were tremendous.The princess was in ecstasies ofdelight, and their swim was delicious."Night after night they met, and swam about in the dark clear lake; where suchwas the prince's delight, that (whether the princess's way of looking at thingsinfected him, or he was actually getting light-headed,) he often fancied that hewas swimming in the sky instead of the lake.But when he talked about being inheaven, the princess laughed at him dreadfully."When the moon came, she brought them fresh pleasure.Everything looked strangeand new in her light, with an old, withered, yet unfading newness.When the moonwas nearly full, one of their great delights was, to dive deep in the water, andthen, turning round, look up through it at the great blot of light close abovethem, shimmering and trembling and wavering, spreading and contracting, seemingto melt away, and again grow solid.Then they would shoot up through it; and lo!there was the moon, far off, clear and steady and cold, and very lovely, at thebottom of a deeper and bluer lake than theirs, as the princess said."The prince soon found out that while in the water the princess was very likeother people.And besides this, she was not so forward in her questions, or pertin her replies at sea as on shore.Neither did she laugh so much; and when shedid laugh, it was more gently.She seemed altogether more modest and maidenly inthe water than out of it.But when the prince, who had really fallen in lovewhen he fell in the lake, began to talk to her about love, she always turned herhead towards him and laughed.After a while she began to look puzzled, as if shewere trying to understand what he meant, but could not-revealing a notion thathe meant something.But as soon as ever she left the lake, she was so altered,that the prince said to himself: 'If I marry her, I see no help for it; we mustturn merman and mermaid, and go out to sea at once.'"Chapter XI.-Hiss !"The princess's pleasure in the lake had grown to a passion, and she couldscarcely bear to be out of it for an hour
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