“There is danger in the air.
Lily Queen, beware, beware!
Danger dark to one you love;
Bid him not afar to rove;
Bid him keep a watchful care;
There is danger in the air!”
None but the queen understood the song. The ladies only said, “Truly a pretty bird, and a sweet singer!” and wondered why it was that their Lily Queen turned so deadly pale and left them so hastily.
She ran swiftly through the rooms of the palace, found the king in his private apartments, and eagerly told him of the beautiful bird and its warning song.
But when the king learned that the others had only heard sweet music, he treated the matter rather lightly, thinking it to be merely her fancy. What could a little woman fear, he said, who had a husband so big and strong! But, that she might be comforted, he promised to be watchful, and not to roam about the forest unattended. If he had only known what we know, he would have sent to the city for a strong army of soldiers, who could easily have taken possession of the cave and routed the whole band.
But, as he did not know, he only took his Lily Queen upon his knee, and there they sat, a long, long time, talking of their sweet little Rosebud, and of old times, and of the good king, her father, and how she was near dying in the rocky chasm. And then, as she felt his brown curls brushing her cheek, she confessed, for the first time, the trick she played him on their way from the mountains. But I don’t believe he was at all angry with her,—do you?