Part 1

FAIRY DREAMS.

FAIRY DREAMS; OR, WANDERINGS IN ELF-LAND.

BY JANE G. AUSTIN.

With illustrations, BY HAMMATT BILLINGS.

BOSTON: J. E. TILTON AND COMPANY.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by J. E. TILTON AND COMPANY, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

CAMBRIDGE: Allen and Farnham, Electrotypers.

PRINTED BY GEO. C. RAND & AVERY.

CONTENTS

PRINCE RUDOLF’S FLOWER 9

KÖNIG TOLV’S BRIDE 50

THE GRAY CAT AND THE CAVE OF THE WINDS 86

THE FROST-MAIDEN 134

UNDER THE SEA 156

THE CASTLE ON THE CLIFF 197

PRINCE RUDOLF’S FLOWER

The palace clock with twelve sonorous peals announced the hour of noon; and as the last vibrating echo died away, King Merowald entered the audience-chamber and seated himself upon the throne, looking around upon the nobles and courtiers who stood about him.

“Is there any among you who would ask a boon of the king?” inquired he, in a gracious voice.

A short pause ensued, and then from the lower end of the hall, a handsome, graceful youth approached quickly and knelt upon one knee before the throne.

The aged king bent forward with a movement of surprise; the glittering crowd of courtiers rustled their silken garments for a moment, and each moved a step forward, and then a breathless silence filled that vast chamber; for the graceful youth kneeling so humbly there, his arms crossed, his head bowed low upon his breast, was Rudolf, the only and well-beloved son of the monarch before whom he knelt.

The silence was broken by the tremulous voice of the old king.

“My son, what seek you?” asked he.

“A boon, my gracious lord and father.”

“And what?” inquired again the king.

“I ask permission, my father, to go out into the world to seek the flower of which I have dreamed, and which alone can make me happy.”

“What is the flower, my son?”

“Alas, dear father, I cannot tell; the dream has fled, and I can neither recall the form, the color, or the name of this exquisite blossom, although if I should find it, I should certainly recognize it, and without it I cannot live.”

“Go first, my son,” said the king, after a long pause, “to Althoso, and ask his advice. If he bid you go, I will not refuse my consent.”