AN IDYLL OF THE OCEAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2371, 10 August 1899, Page 57

AN IDYLL OF THE OCEAN.

Out on the deep a great storm was raging, hut none of its fury was felt in the calm beneath, in the depths of the ocean, where the eea nymphs dwelt. In a large sea palace, built of the loveliest white coral- and pearls, and decorated with anenome3 and the statues and marble busts which had been collected from wrecks, a great many mermaids and mermen were collected. They were all gazing at a lovely babe which lay In the arms of a sad-eyed mermaid. The children of the ocean took the cold and lifeless little body, and laid it on a bed of white and purple anenomes, and there it lay rocked to rest by the ceaseless gentle movement of the ocean. "It is the corpse of a mortal, and it had a soul," said the queen of the nymphs, " and ; my children, did you see its beautiful feet?" and she looked rather regretfully at her own handsome tail. The queen' had a great many daughters, and -each maid, when she grew up, chose a jewel for her crown. Lurline, .the sad-eyed maid, chose the pearl, it being so white and pure. One dark night, when Luna could not be seen through the waters, a great storm came on, and the turmoil could be felt in the sea palace, where the mermaids and men crouched and gazed with white faces up through the grey-green water. " Our father is angry, see how he rages. I pity the mortals above, for the ocean, our home, is death to them," said one, as she pointed upwards. The next morning a great ship lay in the bed of the sea., and the mermaids sailed in and out. All the gilded mirrors were carried to the palace 'and put where the moonbeams would, shine on them. And Lurline found a jewel casket, and gave all its contents except a pure white pearl, which she put on -the grave of the child, to her sisters. And the coral formed a snowy-white crown round the tiny golden head. In the wreck was found a statue of marble, showing an angel weeping, with its wings outstretched. And it aiso found a last resting place at the head of the little babe whose young life was cut short so "Boon. ISOBEL M. D. "MAHONEY {aged 14*). Fairfax, Milton.