PATCHWORK PIECES

Otago Witness, Issue 3854, 24 January 1928, Page 9

PATCHWORK PIECES

By Eileen Service.

(Special for the Otago Witness.)

XXXIV.—THE PRINCE AND THE SEA.

Where the beach sloped into a hollow behind the rocks, the sand was as fine as dust. And there Coron found her, lying asleep, with her long hair tossed -about her.

He had come to the beach to bathe. It was his misfortune to belong to a city where nakedness was looked upon as evil, and where nobody, not even little children, showed more of their flesh than hands and face. But Coron had been bom with a strange longing for water, to satisfy which he had to pretend to his attendants that at times it was necessary for him to be quite alone, presumably that he might go away and commune with the fates, but really to swim in the sea before the world was astir. To-day was one of such times.

She lay very pale and still. Coron almost thought she was dead. But when a sunbeam tip-toed near to touch her, she opened her eyes and raised herself. “ Who are you, tall youth? ” she demanded. “ And why do you stare at me? ”

“ I'am Coron —a prince,” be answered, “ and I stare at you for the same reason as I stare at a shell —because you are both beautiful.”

She fingered the tiny fins upon her wrists.

“ A prince? ” she murmured. “Strange! I, too, ,am of royal blood. I am a princess of the waves, and my father is a sea king.” “ But you are on shore,” Coron said. She nodded.

“ Yes, and I must go back. I was caught last night by the lure of the sky and forgot that I must return. I came up to look at the stars.” “Do not go back,” Coron pleaded. “ Stay here, and when the night comes again, watch the stars with me.”

“ No, no,” she said, “ I cannot. I am a daughter of the ocean.” Then, at her request, Coron took her in his arms and waded into the water. When it grew deep enough, he swam with her, while she lay like a reed beside him. He stopped at the Island of Rocks, 100 yards from the shore. “ Is it here I must leave you? ” he asked.

“ Yes.” she replied. But before he loosed her she lifted her hand and touched him on the brow.

“ Farewell, earth prince,” she said, and sank from sight. That day a ship was wrecked on the Island of Rocks, the only survivor being a boy with sea-green eyes. Prince Coron’s comrade had lately been killed at hunting ; so, to fill the lost one’s place, he kept the shipwrecked boy, calling him “ Surge,” because he had come from the waves.

Surge was peculiar. There was an air of elusiveness about him, and an indescribable charm. He -seemed different from all other people. What he had been before, he could not say. His memory had gone on the day of the wreck. But from his bearing he was no common boy. He became very dear to the prince, who found his moods so fascinating that he was delighted.

“ It is well that I called you ‘ Surge/ ” he said to him one day, “ for not only did you come from the sea, but you are like the sea. The name is most suitable.”

■I love the sea,” Surge answered. “If only I might bathe in it! But here th people are opposed to the doffing of garniv. ts, so I have to remain on land with a great longing in my heart.” Coron looked at him eagerly. Next time he went away secretlj at early morning, Surge accompanied him. And from then onwards, unknown to anybody, they swam together. There came a feast-day in the city. Rich and poor, old and young attended, and a mighty procession moved through the palace grounds to present itself before the king and queen. “The Parade of Prudery ” it was called, its purpose being to express the motto of the people and to re-establish the ideals of the realm in the hearts of any laggards who might have been tempted to forget them. Coron went first. Although he rebelled against such hypocrisy, because of his rank he could take no other position; Behind him walked Surge. The day was the anniversary of that on which Coron had found the princess, she whom lie had never seen again, but whom he was always seeking when he went down to the beach.

Suddenly, as they passed the royal throne, a bright light shone and a wave seemed to rise from the earth and break in spray upon the two leading .figures. When it passed, there in the place of Surge was a maiden, very pale and still, with only her long hair as a covering. The people screamed. Eyes were turned away from the sight, and groans and cries were heard everywhere. Bub Coron stood marvelling. “Princess!” he said. “It was you all the time. You were Surge!” “ I found that I could not forget you after that morning,” she said, “ so I took a boy’s body to be near you. But to-day the year for which I made my exchange is over. Thus I am left here, a shame to you all.” Suddenly she looked behind her in affright. “The people!” whispered.

Her terror was justifiable. The crowd, recovered from its shock,.was now filled with anger, and a menacing roar from a host of throats rose into the air. There

was an instant’s .pause. Then, before the frozen gaze of the king and queen, Coron, heir to the throne, last of his race, seized the maiden in-liis arms and lushed with her towards the shore, while behind him, shouting their fury, but content to leave the destruction of the vile 0.33 to their prince, ran the Parade of Respectability. But at the beach, instead of hurling his burden into the sea, Coron plunged forth with her in his arms, and the waves received them both. He swam out to the Island of Rocks.

There was a movement on the water. Then the Parade of Prudery beheld an army of beings rise from the sea, with Coron and the maiden in their midst. White arms, green hair, laughter; movement, colour, ecstasy; a moment like a rainbow. They gazed, horror-stricken. When the-company sank from sight, there were only swift footprints in the sand leading down to the water’s edge to show the watchers where their prince had gone.