Foxholme Hall, and Other Tales
Page 25
of the foaming waves; his trackmarked by the shattered wrecks of the hapless barks over which hepassed, till at length he reached the Island of Gracia, his strengthexhausted and his fury assuaged. He gazed, delighted, on its smoothyellow sands, sparkling in the beams of the sun, its cool and wavinggroves giving forth their rich perfumes, and resounding with theharmonious notes of their feathered denizens; its smiling hills, itsgreen meadows, and the thousand beauties of the landscape before him.The light spray, tinted with the varied hues of the rainbow, playedround his mysterious form, as his steed, with a loud roar with echoedfrom rock to rock, receding towards the ocean, left him standing on theshore.
Wildly throwing his arms around, he shook the water from his robe,which, as it fell, appeared like the spray from some mighty cataract,and then, reclining beneath the shade of an overhanging rock, hestretched forth his huge limbs, and, calmed by the fragrant air and thetranquillity of the scene, he slept.
Tempted by the beauty of the evening, after the fierce storm which hadraged all day, the Princess Serena and a troop of youthful maidens tooktheir way to the sea-shore. For a time they sang and sported inexuberance of spirits; then they formed a circle and danced around theirmistress; then they bound her hair with bright flowers, and decked herneck with softly-tinted shells, and then, hand-in-hand, they ran towardsthe water; now they retired, and now advanced, uttering peals oflaughter, as the bright waves rippled over their feet. At last one,more daring, rushed into the sea; others followed, and as they threwabout the sparkling spray in mimic fight, the rocks and woods echoedwith their merriment.
The sounds reached the ears of the sleeping Borasco. He awoke, andrising, listened, when, advancing from among the rocks which hadhitherto concealed him, he suddenly appeared before the eyes of theastonished maidens. No sooner did they see the monster, than withshrieks of terror they fled into the woods, forgetting even thePrincess--or, rather, they thought she was flying with them.
Instead of flying, however, she stood entranced with horror, her feetrefusing to move, and her eyes fixed on the hideous being before her.Borasco gazed at the Princess with deep admiration. Neither on the seanor under the sea had he ever in all his wanderings beheld anything tobe compared to her in beauty. Feelings totally strange and new to himrushed like a torrent into his bosom.
The purest and most exalted love took possession of his soul; horror,disgust, and loathing, were the feelings most powerful in the breast ofthe Princess as she beheld him. At length, forgetting the hideousnessof his shape, and the natural repugnance she must have felt for him, headvanced towards her to address her. "Beautiful creature!" he exclaimedin a voice as loud as thunder--"What are you? Whence come you?" Nosooner did he speak than the spell was broken, and with a cry of fearshe fled away from him as fleetly as a startled fawn.
Her voice and action would have convinced an ordinary mortal that he hadno hope of gaining her affections. Not so the Spirit of the Storm.
"Stay, sweet being! oh, stay and listen to me!" he repeated, but thewords only hastened her flight. He gazed after her till shedisappeared, and when he found that it was useless to follow, and thatthere was not the remotest chance of her returning, he sat himself downon a rock which hung over the sea to consider what he should do. As hesat, the water became perfectly calm as a glass mirror; and looking intoit, after some minutes' deep meditation he beheld the reflection of hisown monstrous form. He had been so long accustomed to look at Tritons,and other sea spirits as hideous as himself, that he was not aware howugly he was. Now, with grief at his heart, he at once saw thedifference between the Princess Serena and himself. His late exposureto the sun had not added to his beauty, for his hands and arms and thetop of his head had become red, while the anguish he was sufferingincreased the wild expression of his countenance.
With good reason, he was at length very nearly giving way to despair.
"Alas! unhappy spirit that I am," he cried, "why did I look at thatmortal maiden? Why do I long for what is beyond my reach? Why am I notcontent with the enjoyment proper to my own fierce nature? Alas! thisnew feeling overpowers me, and a delicate maiden has enslaved the mightyBorasco." While he was speaking a sound reached his ears. He knew itwell, for it was the summons to Neptune's conclave. "Ah!" he exclaimed,"I will consult King Neptune, and ask his aid. If any one can help me,he can, to win the heart of that lovely damsel.
"And now my bold steed, with the white-flowing crest, Come hither, come hither, arouse thee from rest. Oh! what courser like thee can so rapidly bound, When I mount thee to ride o'er the waters profound? Then haste, my brave steed, again hie to me, And together once more we will range o'er the sea."
While he was uttering these words, a mighty wave rolled in towards theshore. Leaping on it, away he went over the ocean at a rapid rate,leaving in his track a line of glittering foam, till he reached thecentre of the Atlantic, over the palace of Neptune--then down, down hedescended, till he entered the gateway of its rocky halls.
STORY SIX, CHAPTER THREE.
King Neptune, in great state, sat on his throne; the Tritons stoodbefore him, but the chief seats were empty. Waving his trident roundhis head, he spoke. The words were those which reached the ears ofBorasco, then thousands of miles away:--
"Haste hither, wild Spirits, Who wandering roam The wide-rolling ocean, When covered with foam. Abandon your fierce work Of death and dismay; Haste, fly o'er the billows, My mandate obey. From where the north gales So ragingly blow, On whiten'd wing flying From frost and from snow; Ye, in the storm striving, To swell the loud blast, The helpless bark driving, While shivers the mast, When a shriek is heard sounding Mid ocean's wild roar, And the doom'd bark is grounding Upon the dark shore, Haste hither, Sea Spirits, I bid ye appear; Haste, haste, at my call; I summon ye here!"
Even while Neptune was speaking, troops of sea-monsters of everywonderful form, and of every colour, came rushing into the hall, andhaving made their obeisance to him, took their seats on their respectivethrones. In they came, till the edifice, vast as it was, was almostfull of them. There were the King of the Whales, the King of theSharks, the King of the Porpoises, and the King of the Dolphins, theKing of the Cat-fish, and the King of the Big Sea Serpents; the Kings ofIce and Snow, of Tempests and Whirlpools, and there were the guardianspirits of every headland and bay, and of every island and river in theuniverse; so that it is not surprising that their number should havebeen so considerable. Neptune then inquired in a loud voice how eachhad been occupied since the last convocation.
"I," answered the King of the Whales, "have been engaged in protectingmy subjects by hurling together large masses of ice, and by crushing theships which come to attack them, even to the very heart of my kingdom.""And I," said the King of the Sharks, "have been engaged in sinking allthe ships I could meet, so that I might give to my subjects an abundanceof the food they like best." The King of the Porpoises replied, that hehad been teaching his subjects to keep in the deep sea out of harm'sway; and the King of the Cat-fish said, he had advised his to makethemselves as disagreeable as possible, so that no one would wish tocatch them; while the tall monarch of the Big Sea Serpents observed thathe had strictly enjoined his to keep out of sight altogether, whichfully accounts, for so few of them having ever been seen. Among theSpirits there was one who, in beauty of form, surpassed them all, for itwas almost that of a human being, but more grand and majestic. TheSpirit rose and spoke:--
"I have, mighty sovereign, been engaged in watching over the island ofwhich you have made me guardian. I found the women good and beautiful,and the men brave and hardy, true sons of the ocean, their barks rovingto every distant clime, and bringing back the produce of each to theirsea-girt shore."
"'Tis well, Britannia," said the sovereign of the ocean; "let themunderstand, that as long as they remain faithful to me--as long as theykeep their fleets well manned, their sea-barks ready to repel anyaggression--as long as they refuse to submit to the slightestinterference of any foreign prin
ce or potentate, Albion shall be myfavoured isle, the land of peace and liberty."
When Neptune had ceased speaking, all the Kings of the Sea and Tritonssignified their desire to support their sovereign's wishes. Neptunethen looked round, and seeing Borasco's throne vacant, inquired what hadbecome of him. Before any one could answer, the Spirit of the Stormentered the hall, and making a low obeisance, walked with a dejected airto his seat.
To the customary inquiry, Borasco informed his sovereign of all thestorms which had blown, and the shipwrecks which had occurred.
"Now tell me, Borasco," asked the monarch, "why have you the downcastlook I see you wear?"
Borasco replied, "Dread chief, I come to crave your aid for a cause inwhich all the power I possess I find of no avail. As I was latelywandering over