THE MAGIC PICTURE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 102, 2 May 1931, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE MAGIC PICTURE.

Once there was a king who lived in an ancient castle, around which were vast grounds, laid with winding paths and shaded by great trees. Here and there in the open places were bright flower beds set with murmuring fountains. Beyond the castle walls "'as a wild forest of great trees. Further still rose the snow-capped mountains, purple in the distance. The king was old; his hair and beard were as white as snow. He was a good king, but in the midst of all the splendour of his court he was lonely. He had no children. One day the king sent out heralds with silver trumpets to every little redroofed village nestling in the valleys and on the mountain sides of his vast domain. The royal message was this: "His Majesty the King will award the most precious jewel in his crown to that artist who shall present to him a picture so passing fair that the king may never tire of looking upon it." There were many, many artists in the little red-roofed villages, and their hearts leaped for joy when they heard the message of the heralds,' who looked so splendid in their gay attire with their silver trumpets. . Each one set to work to make a picture, and from then on many men on horseback crossed daily the vast_ plain and hills of that domain. In triumph they bore their works of art to offer unto the king. The royal chancellor accepted them all, and the royal scribe wrote down in a great book of yellow parchment the name of each artist and the village whence he came. Every artist went away happy and sure of his success.

But the king, among all those marvellous pictures, found none that he could look at a very long time without tiring of it. So the years went by. One day a young peasant boy with a crimson plume in his hat came skipping merrily up to the castle gate, leading by the bridle a good little pony that carried, fastened on its back, what looked like an immense picture, wrapped in rough leather. "I have come from afar," said the boy, as the guards let him enter the palace. Admitted to the king's presence, he knelt down, kissed the royal hand, and eaid: "Oh, king, grant me the grace of fastening my work of art in thy private chamber.'* The king smiled at the strange request, but replied: "Even so- shall it be, my lad. Do as it pleaseth thee." When the king, escorted by his pages, went to his chamber to see the new picture, he stopped in awe at the threshold. The golden curtains of the large window had been removed. The opaque, stained glass window panes had been replaced by one undivided pane of transparent crystal; and through it appeared' as a marvellous picture the royal park, the walls, the wild forest, t the far mountains, and the sky, across which, now and then, wonderful birds flew.

The peasant lad, who had followed the great ruler, now said: "Oh, king-, as thou seest now, the magic picture was ever there. I have made only the frame." And he pointed to the frame around the crystal pane, that was carved with matchless art,in wood and tinged in purest gold. Then the king embraced the lad, saying: "In truth, thou art the greatest artist of all, for thou hast used thy art only to show the work of the Divine Artist. And, behold, my crown shall pass from me to thee. Thou, shalfc live with me and be my eon." So it came to' pass that the king was no longer lonely or sad, for he had found an heir; and he had found a living joy in contemplating, through the crystal pane, the ever-changing wonders of night and day, of calm and storm, along with the beauteous coming and o-oin° of the seasons in the magic picture of Nature.