The Mysterious Shin Shira | Page 6

Princess. 'Have you not slain him? How else
can you have entered? He lies at the door of the cave.'
"She caught me by the hand and led me to the entrance, and then,
clasping one hand over her eyes and shuddering with terror, she pointed
to where, a short distance beyond, under the shadow of some rocks, lay
a terrible Dragon, watching with cruel and expectant eyes for any prey
that might come his way.

"'I cannot get away from here except I pass him, and I have been
imprisoned here now for two days,' sobbed the Princess. 'The King, my
father, must indeed be distraught at my absence,' and she burst into
fresh weeping.
"I pressed her to tell me how she came there, and she explained to me
that one day, while walking on the sands with one of her maidens in
attendance, they had together discovered this cave, which was only
accessible at low tide; and they had secretly brought the rugs and
tapestries and other furniture with which the cave was filled and made a
bower of it, to which the Princess was wont to retire whenever she
wished to be alone.
"And, venturing here two days since without attendance, the Princess
had found, when she had wished to depart, the terrible monster lying in
her path.
"'And so,' she cried, 'I have been a prisoner all this time.'
"I cheered her as well as I was able, and turned to my little book to see
if by chance it gave me any directions how I might slay a Dragon by
means of my fairy powers; and I read there that though one might not
slay it (for a Dragon lives for a thousand years), one might rob it of its
power by casting at it a jewel of great brilliancy, at the same time
wishing that he might become dazed and impotent till one could escape,
and it would be so.
"I told this to the Princess, and she hastened to unfasten from her
bosom a jewel of great value set in gold of curious workmanship,
which she gave to me, imploring me at the same time to do
immediately as the book directed.
"'Nay,' said I, 'the jewel is yours; you must cast it at the Dragon, and I
will wish that the fairies may aid us.'
"And so we stood at the door of the cave, and the Dragon, seeing us,
came forward with wide-opened jaws.

"The Princess clung to my arm with one hand, but with the other she
cast the jewel, while with all my desire I wished that my fairy powers
might not fail me now.
"Whether, however, it was that the fairies willed it so, or perchance
because she was a girl, the Princess's aim was not straight, and she hit,
not the Dragon, but a great boulder in the shadow of which he was
lurking; and then a truly remarkable thing occurred, for the boulder,
immediately it was struck by the jewel, tumbled forward, and falling
upon one beside it, imprisoned the Dragon between the two, where he
has remained to this day."
And Shin Shira pointed dramatically to the rocks, from which an extra
large puff of spray belched forth, with a groan and a cry which almost
convinced me that what he told me must be true.
"And what became of the Princess after that?" I inquired, being anxious
to hear the end of the story.
"Why," resumed Shin Shira, "we picked up the jewel and hurried away
from the spot, and presently came at the top of the cliffs to the Castle,
the ruins of which may still be seen up yonder--to where the King
dwelt.
"I cannot tell you with what joy the Princess was received, nor with
what honour and favour I was rewarded by the King--and, indeed, by
all of the people--as the Princess's deliverer.
"It is enough to say that the King called a great assembly of people, and
before them all said that as a fitting reward he should give me the
fairest jewel in all his kingdom, and handed me the very stone which
had been cast at the Dragon, and which was valuable beyond price,
being one of the most perfect and flawless stones in the world.
"I was glad enough to have the gem, but I had fallen madly in love with
the Princess's beauty, so I made bold to remind the King that the fairest
jewel in his kingdom was not the gem he had given me, but the
Princess, his daughter.

"The answer pleased the King and the people, though I remember
sometimes sadly, even now, that the Princess's face fell as she heard the
King declare that his word should be kept, and the fairest jewel