The Faery Tales of Weir | Page 8

not for me, but for thyself?"
"I feared that thou wouldst never love me."
Then she laughed joyfully and asked, "Why didst thou say 'I am not
like my brothers' when I asked thee to dance?"
"I wanted thee for thyself, not for thy dancing."
And now the stars moved all to nuptial music. "One question more,"
she cried. "Why didst thou say 'Clothes do not make a princess'?"
"Because I knew thou wast a princess the first hour I saw thee."
"Rise up, my Prince," she said. "We have a long journey before us."
"I hear the neighing of horses," he said, "and the moving of feet."
"My attendants," she replied. "My foster-mother rides with them. She
gave me the blue glove, and told me he should be my husband who
should see not his own face in the mirror, but mine."
"I see thy face everywhere," cried Prince Merlin.
So he kissed her, and they rode away with all her train through the
sighing night-wind and beneath the summer stars to the land of their
joy.

THE INVISIBLE WALL
On the edge of the Dark Wood dwelt for a time a Wizard, whose life
had been spent in the acquirement of many wonderful arts. As a young
man he had wandered over Europe from university to university, until
one day he became aware of the true secret of education and burnt his
books.
Then he dwelt for many years in the mountains, gazing into the dark
mirror of his heart, plumbing the blue ocean of the sky until the hour
for which he longed arrived, bringing Wisdom, who appeared to him as
a young, fair being in the twilight.
Leaving his hut he came forth to meet her. "I had thought to greet you
at noonday," said he.
"That is because you live in an age which thinks that to know is to be
wise; but only those see who shut their eyes. Not in the glare of noon,
but at twilight will you find me."
"You are a beautiful maid, Wisdom," said he who was on his way to be
a wizard. "But why do you wear coarse linen who should be clothed in
satins?"
"To travel light," she replied.
"And why do you smile who should look sad?"
"To be wise is to be happy."
"And what will you have me do?"
"Remove from here to the village that is near the Dark Wood. Go
through all the countryside proclaiming that King Theophile will
shortly make war upon the inhabitants, but bid them feel no terror; only
they are to build an invisible wall."

"By the books that I burned, that is a strange command!" cried the
Wizard. "Of what materials is this wonderful wall to be built?"
"Of their sacrifices, their renouncements, their good deeds," replied
Wisdom.
"But they will call me mad," cried the Wizard.
Wisdom smiled. "Did you expect to be really wise, and yet thought
sane?" she made answer. "Have the courage of all great follies and you
will yet save The Kingdom of the Dark Wood, which is the fairland of
the Princess Myrtle."
Upon which the Wizard took heart, for he knew that to be fearless is to
be in the class of masters, and to be fearful is to be in the class of slaves;
and the whole world is divided into these two classes, nor is there other
aristocracy, or dependency.
"Sweet Wisdom, I will play the fool for your sake," he answered.
Then she smiled and blessed him and vanished into the shadows of the
forest. The Wizard was not of those who say, "To-morrow I will do
thus and thus"; but being truly wise he put all his power into the present
moment. So he took his flask of water and his loaf of bread, for like
Wisdom, he would travel light, and he set forth for The Kingdom of the
Dark Wood.
There he rented a little cottage in the village near the wood, and set up
a shoemaker's bench, for he knew how to make shoes--and good ones,
too. Being a Wizard he knew that if he showed people he could do one
thing well, they would be the more ready to listen to his words. A fine,
comfortable shoe is a wonderful argument, so the Wizard set to work.
The dewy dawns found him at his bench, and when the air at evening
was full of heliotrope mists and homeward flying birds his little candle
burned yellow to light his labors.
Soon all the inhabitants had comfortable foot-wear, which put them all
in fine humor. Then the Wizard began to proclaim a great war and the

coming of King Theophile. He stood on the green, near the town-pump,
and at first only the geese listened to