Chapter IV.

Otago Witness, Issue 2181, 19 December 1895, Page 16

Chapter IV.

Meanwhile, how was Prince Rectus getting on in his search ? Well, he had had a pretty severe lesson about turning aside from what he had set out to do, when he had forgotten sweet Princess Rita, and had been fascinated by her sister Rosen. So he determined that, come what might, he would follow all the fairy's commands, and not turn aside for anything. And he had a good many temptations, too, for he was continually coming into contact with knights who challenged him to fight : and once he heard of a dragon which the people of the country wanted him to kill, and he had to run the risk of being called a coward, which was very galling to him.

But he went on and never heeded, following his golden ball, until he got to the shores of the lake where the Enchanted Island was. But Prince Rectus could not see the island, and he could not think why the ball insisted on trying to lead him across the water. He began to think that he must have done wrong, and that the ball was not leading him right. So he waited about, arid wondered what he should do, till at last the ball began pulling him quite in the other direction altogether. In fact, he was nearly going back, and then he would have lost the princess, and after a while she would have been turned into a green lizard, if it had not been for the fairy's other gifts : for suddenly he remembered the magic arrow.

He cut himself a bow from a fine yew tree, and strung it. Then he wrote on a leaf, " Tell me where you are, Princess Rita," and signed it •' Prince Rectus." and shot his arrow in the direction in which the golden ball had first tried to pull him. The arrow soon came back, bringing a reply.

" I am on the Enchanted Island, which you cannot see, in the middleof the lake. Comequicklyor itmaybe toolate." — "Rita.'

Then Rectus lost no time. He put his leaf on the water, and 10, it grew and grew, until it was large enough and strong enough to bear more than half-a-dozen people. Then he embarked on it. letting his golden ball float in front of him, and saying, " Spin, golden ball, and take me to your mistress."

After floating for a long, long while, until he must have been quite in the middle of the large lake, Prince Rectus suddenly saw a beautiful island quite close to him. He had not seen it the moment before, and yet there it was so near that his large leaf-boat was almost touching it. He could not believe his eyes, and rubbed them well, but yes, there it was still. And to his great delight, there was his beautiful Princess Rita standing on the shore and looking out anxiously for him. She was the same as the picture which he had seen of her and fallen in love with, only she was a thousand times more beautiful, and her lovely golden hair was cropped quite close to her pretty head. Prince Rectus was almost beside himself with excitement and delight. He jumped on shore and caught her hand and kissed her, before he even told her who he was, which was very wrong of him. Rita was so glad to see him, however, that she did not seem to mind. She blushed, but told him not to let his boat drift, or how were they going to get away. So Rectus took his wonderful leaf-boat and held it, and told Rita to get on it at once, and they could sail away before the old witch found them out. But Rita shook her head. She would not leave all the other princesses to perieh, and she told Rectus about the green lizard's story and how the Prince must kill the old witch and set the others free, before she would go away with him. " And, " she said sadly, "if you fail, dear Prince, we shall at least have done what is right." " And that is what 1 must do," said the Prince bravely, " for is not my name Prince Rectus, which means the Right Prince ? " Then Rita blushed indeed, for she remembered having been told that at her christening the fairy Meliora had said that when the Right Prince came she should marry him. Just then, however, the old witch came on the scene. She saw that her island and the princess had been discovered, and she ran up with a horrible yell that was enough to scare the strongest man that ever lived. " I have caught you," she screamed horribly to poor Rita. "You shall turn into a green lizard, and I will eat your prince.*' As she came hobbling towards them she turned into a frightful wolf, nearly making poor Rita faint with terror. She thought her prince was lost, but as the wolf came close to him, she saw him suddenly take a white handkerchief from his pocket, and throw it over the wolfs head. Then tl c creature gave another terrible yell, and she saw it turning from one thing into another. It was the old witch Cattan's punishment that before she died she should have to take upon herself all the changes which she had given herself during her lifetime. First of all she was a donkey, then a lion, a bear, a snake, a toad, a black cat, an adder, and lastly a huge black beetle. Then the prince did not wait for any thing more, but put his foot on the black beetle and crushed it. That was the end of Cattan. And just then six pretty sad-looking young ladies came up and thanked the prince heartily for saving them. They had all been stolen away in the same manner as Rita, and when tlieir princes came for them, Cattan had eaten the princes and turned them into lizards. They all went back home with Prince Rectus and Princess Rita on the leaf-boat, and soon after were taken to their own homes, where they had been given up as lost, some of them for many, many yeais. But they were all as young and beautiful as ever, and when Rita married Prince Rectus and went home with him, which she did soon after, she found that the Princess who had been the lizard which had spoken to her, lived next to her in the next country, and they became great friends. As for the King, Rita's father, he was very fond of his third daughter now, and could not make enough to do over her marriage or give her enough presents. Meliora was delighted with Prince Rectus and Princess Rita, as they were both her god-children, and she triumphed over the other fairies, who, she said, had none of them a young couple as good and as handsome as hers. And so everyone was happy, except Rita's teisters, but you can't expect everything, and Rita has great hopes that even they will be brought to love her some day. The End.