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PHANTASMION.

CHAPTER I.

THE FAIRY POTENTILLA APPEARS TO THE YOUNG PRINCE PHANTASMION.

A YOUNG boy hid himself from his nurse in sport, and strayed all alone in the garden of his father, a rich and mighty prince; he followed the bees from flower to flower, and wandered further than he had ever gone before, till he came to the hollow tree where they hived, and watched them entering their storehouse laden with the treasures they had collected; he lay upon the turf, laughing and talking to himself, and, after a while, he plucked a long stiff blade of grass, and was about to thrust it in at the entrance of the hive, when a voice just audible above the murmur of the bees, cried "Phantasmion"! Now the child thought that his nurse was calling him in strange tones, and he started, saying, “Ah ! Leeliba!" and looked round; but casting up his eyes he saw that there stood before him an ancient woman, slenderer in figure than his nurse, yet more firm and upright, and with a countenance which made him afraid. "What dost thou here, Phantasmion?" said the stranger to

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the little boy, and he made no answer: then she looked sweetly upon the child, for he was most beautiful, and she said to him, "Whom dost thou take me for?" and he replied, "At first I took thee for my nurse, but now I see plainly that thou art not like her."

"And how am I different from thy nurse?" said the strange woman. The boy was about to answer, but he stopped short and blushed; then after a pause he said, “One thing that thou hast wings upon thy shoulders, and she has none." "Phantasmion!" she replied, "I am not like thy nurse: I can do that which is beyond her skill, great as thou thinkest it." At this the boy laughed, and said with a lively countenance, pointing to the hollow tree, "Could'st thou make the bees that have gone in there fly out of their hive all in one swarm ?" The fairy staid not to answer, but touched the decayed trunk with her wand, and the bees poured out of their receptacle by thousands and thousands, and hung in a huge cluster from the branch of a sycamore; and as the child looked upon the swarm, it seemed to be composed of living diamonds, and glanced so brilliantly in the sunshine that it dazzled the sight. And the beautiful boy laughed aloud, and leaped into the air, and clapped his hands for joy. Then the fairy placed her wand within his little palm, saying, "Strike the tree, and say, 'Go in' and they shall all enter the hive again." The cheeks of the young boy blushed brighter than ever, and his eyes sparkled, as he struck the hollow trunk with all his might, and cried, "Go in ! Go in!!" No sooner had he done this than the whole multitude quitted the branch of the sycamore, and disappeared within the body of the

tree.

Then the ancient woman said to the little prince, “Wilt thou give me that pomegranate ?" and she pointed to the only ripe one which grew on a tree hard by. One member of the trunk of this pomegranate tree leaned forward, and invited the adventurous child to mount; he quickly crept along it, and having plucked the fruit which the fairy had pointed out, he turned round and tried to descend: but finding that he should slip if he attempted to return by the way he came, having measured the height from the ground with his eye, he boldly sprang at once from the bough to the turf below, and presented his prize to the stranger. With that she took it from his hand, and, looking kindly upon him, she said, "My little Phantasmion, thou needest no fairy now to work wonders for thee, being yet so young that all thou beholdest is new and marvellous in thine eyes. But the day must come when this happiness will fade away; when the stream, less clear than at its outset, will no longer return such bright reflections; then, if thou wilt repair to this pomegranate tree, and call upon the name of Potentilla, I will appear before thee, and exert all my power to renew the delights and wonders of thy childhood."

After speaking these words, Potentilla vanished; the child opened his eyes wide, and, now feeling afraid to be alone, he ran homeward as fast as possible, and in a little time heard the voice of his mother calling to him in quick tones; for she had outrun his nurse, who was also hastening in search of him.

The child bounded up to

her, and with breathless eagerness strange things which he had seen.

sought to describe the "All the bees came out

in a cluster,” cried he, "and they were dressed in diamonds!

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thousands and millions of them hung together upon a branch and I my own self made every one of the bees go back again into their hive, with the shining stick which the old woman lent me." "What old woman ?" replied Queen Zalia to her little son; "was it one of the gardeners' wives?" "O no!" said he; an old woman with wings on her shoulders, and she flew up and vanished away, like the bubbles which I blow through my pipe." "Thou hast been dreaming, my sweet boy," said his mother; "thou hast fallen asleep in the sunshine, and hast dreamt all this." "No, no! my mother," the child replied; indeed, indeed it was quite unlike those dreams which I have at night. I wish the bees could speak that they might tell thee all about it, for they saw the winged woman as well as I."

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