GIRL'S COURAGE.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16788, 4 May 1926, Page 8

GIRL'S COURAGE.

DANCES TO SAVE LOVER. INDIGNANT GREEKS. A hullabaloo was raised in Greece recently when ils proud citizens learned that a famous Paris beauty, Mona Paiva, who recently appeared in an English revue, had danced in Ihe Parthenon under conditions which they considered an outrageous profanation of the ruined temple they hold in deep reverence (says "Tit-Bits"). The newspapers of Athens denounced Ihe dance as a desecration of an almost holy place. "The classic precincts of the Parthenon have been profaned," they said. Crowds thronged the streets lo listen to speakers voicing fiery demands that France he compelled to offer suitable reparation for this "insulL" to Grecian honour. When the news of what Mona Paiva was charged with doing reached Paris it caused almost as great amazement. It seemed almost, incredible to her Parisian admirers that, shy, modest little Mona could have danced in the Parthenon one autumn afternoon as shamelessly as the Greeks saidBut they had to believe it when the ballerina returned home and calmly confessed that she was guilty. And then Paris got a bigger shock of amazement from the story Mona Paiva told in explanation of the dance which so scandalised Greece.

Mona Paiva had gone to Greece for a holiday. She set out for Athens, accompanied by her friend, Mile. Dellys. The latter is an enthusiastic amateur photographer, and she was eager to make pictures of Paiva dressed in the flowing draperies of the classical dancer and posed in the Parlhcnon and other historical ruins.

They met the curator of the Parthenon and gained his permission lo visit the place every day between 12 and 2, when they could better admire the immortal monuments of ancient Greece, and Mona could have an opportunity to pose in her dancing coslumc before Mile Dellys' camera. In those hours the general public is not admitted to the Acropolis. The gates arc closed. Mona Paiva, according to the story she tells, had the misfortune lo attract the attention of an Athenian, who proposed to her and wanted lo marry her on the spot. This needed reflection, since Mona was in love with a Frenchman, who intended leading her to the altar immediately on her return to Paris.

The Lovers' Duel

In some manner her Parisian fiance, Max Delangc, got wind of his Grecian rival.

Without a moment's hesitation, he went forth to find and chastise the obdurate gentleman of Athens. The affair was quickly settled. Max Delangc and Demetrios Papakakopoulos agreed lo fight upon "Ihe field of honour." They chose modern pointed swords for weapons, and Ihe duel was to lake place in the Parthenon when the general public was excluded and the gales were closed. Shortly before the noonday closing hour the two rivals secluded themselves in the ruins and remained bidden until the last of the tourists had disappeared. Then they emerged and prepared to cross swor-ds. Now il so happened, according to Mona Paiva, lhat she and her friend emerged from another retreat about Ihe same time. Mona slipped off her mantle and revealed herself clad in soft veilings. She looked more like a butterfly than a human being, to judge from photographs Mile Dellys took of her in similar garb. She began lo dance, slowly and rhythmically, as if urged by Ihe soft cadence of cymbals and lulcs. Suddenly the eves of the dancer caught the Hash of steel. There, beyond the last column, not twenty paces away from her, two men were crossing swords. The one facing her was the Athenian who had fallen madly in love Willi her! The other, wilb bis back to her, was Ihe man she loved and was going lo marry.

Frozen hi Terror

The Greek had seen her. She knew il from the sinister smile Mini played around his moulh. Her lover was unaware of her presence. For a moment, Mona Paiva says, she stood as if turned to a statue. Her brain was working madly. •\ sound from her would make her lover turn round and expose himself to Hie deadly thrust of his opponent. What could she do to save the man she loved? Every pulse in her body beat frantically as she looked on, frozen in terror. And then, suddenly, a daring thought flashed into her mind. She began lo dance, and as she danced she unwound and dropped some of the veils that covered her. Slowly she swayed to the rhythm of the dance, her eyes never leaving Hie man whose sinister smile had terrified her. ■She ilinccd lor him, lo hold his attention, and the charm of her dance was his ruin. When at last she was floating over the marble slabs like a nymph newly emerged from the sea. he loUc"-' 1 - His sword made a misplay, and in II e next instant thai or his adversai> pierced his shoulder.

A Hasty Departure

Mona Paiva nearly fain ed. Ilcr friend rushed her back to their .itllo retreat and helped her into her slree Clothes. Then the two women went, to the aid of the wounded man. ihcy round that the. Greek had been painfullv bill nol seriously hurl. Some of the dancer's discarded veiling were used lo bandage him. That would have been (lie end of Ihe affair, Mona Paiva says, if some Droeks , Kl( l „of chanced lo be prowling about the ruins. From Iheir angle of vision Ihcy saw the dance, but could not see the duelling swordsmen, and they spread the news through Ihe city.