“‘O mighty King of the Sun,’ he was saying. ‘I have one request to make of you before beginning my experiment. If successful in what I undertake, I want your consent to take the Princess away with me from the Sun lands. What I shall try to accomplish to-day is but the beginning of a great problem I wish to work out. It may take thousands of years to complete, and I wish to live in a land of my own choosing, that I may be able to accomplish it.’
“The Sun King, astonished at these words, hesitated to grant such a remarkable request, but the Princess threw herself at her father’s feet, and added her pleadings to the Prince’s. Finally the Sun King reluctantly consented; but the other suitors smiled broadly among themselves, as they heard the words, for no matter what the Prince might do they believed he never could show more skill or wisdom than they had already displayed.
“Having bowed smilingly to the King and kissed Kuldah’s hand, Prince Minio turned to his competitors and said: ‘I have made a close study of the Sun’s fire, and I am convinced that, no matter where this fire is sent, it will continue to burn and hold its remarkable glint and its quickening power. It will never be extinguished, but glow brilliantly for ever. Therefore, my experiment in skill to-day shall be made from it alone; it will serve my purpose better than anything else.’ So saying, he picked up a huge bowlder from the Fire Mountain nearest him. The stone was so big that it seemed impossible for any one to lift it. But the Prince gathered it up in his arms with a terrific effort, and balancing it perfectly threw it far out into the heavens. It bounded away and rolled into space with tremendous force, making a whirring noise as it dashed along. Again and again he lifted out the big rocks and tossed them off in the distance. It seemed as if he would never tire of this remarkable exhibition of strength. Hundreds and thousands of the brilliantly burning stones went whizzing through space, before the eyes of the astonished spectators. Yet he continued, calmly throwing more and more stones, until the heavens fairly gleamed with millions of burning lights. Thus were the star fires first kindled, and they were truly a magnificent sight, even to the Sun people, accustomed as they were to splendid spectacles.
“As the Prince predicted, the stars have never lost their brilliancy, the Sun’s power to warm and enliven all creatures has proved very strong and lasting, and those splendid, flaming signals light the turquoise-blue skies every night, even to this day.
“Finally, Prince Minio selected with great care seven superb stones, even brighter than the rest, and threw them not quite so far from the Sun. In this way they felt the Sun’s influence more strongly; though they flew to a good distance they always revolved about their old home. Whizzing and whirling continually, yet never flying away from the Sun, they appeared to the spectators to be the prettiest of all the stars in the sky. Then the Prince, turning to the Princess, who was bewildered with the joy of his brilliant success, bade her choose from the seven stars the one that should be their home. She chose what she thought the loveliest of all the seven, and they named it the Earth!
“The old King unhesitatingly pronounced Prince Minio the victor. For he acknowledged that, beside the great strength the Prince had displayed in lifting the stones from Fire Mountain, the Sun people had never before witnessed such a glorious sight as the star-studded heavens; and even the suitors, though much disappointed, consented in a manly way that he should take Princess Kuldah as his bride, saying he had fairly won her.
“Shortly afterward a marriage of magnificence and splendor followed, and Prince Minio and his charming wife came to the Earth to spend many years. The Earth, owing allegiance to the Sun, never loses sight of him, and though she continues to rush through space at a terrible rate, yet the Sun King always sees her.
“Out of the white mist on the Earth came trooping a wonderful band of little creatures to greet the Sun people. They were very tiny; their skirts of silver glistened like the moonlight, and their jewelled wands sparkled like the dew. These little creatures were fairies, and ever after dwelt among the Earth children, helping to beautify the world. They wander about us in the moonshine and are sometimes caught in the mist, but they can never come out in the sunlight. One of the laws in Fairyland is to be in bed before the dawn. From dusk until dawn the fairies lead a gay life. They hold their revels, they dance, and they travel the world over, frolicking like mad sometimes, but only the Moon’s white light shines on their silver dresses.
“Many other charming people adopted the Earth as their home, for it was beautiful to live upon. The Sun Princess and her husband did not object to others coming to their home at all, only, as the strangers came in great numbers, they finally decided to set apart a great space for themselves alone. They reserved, therefore, a charming bit of country for the Prince’s workshop, otherwise there would have been so many interruptions Prince Minio could never hope to accomplish his scientific work. Charming as the Earth people were, they interfered with the Prince’s heart’s desire. Therefore, he and his friends from the Sun chose a wonderful valley which lay in the heart of a great range of mountains. The valley covered many miles of ground, and it had the most sublime scenery in the world. Rivers ran through it, and big mountains rose suddenly in its midst. Small silver lakes also shone like crystal mirrors. Wonderful springs abounded there; boiling water came out of one, while from the next shot up cool and deliciously sparkling drops. They called the bubbling, spouting springs geysers, and people come from all over the world to see and study them.
“After the Sun people had reserved the country, the Earth people never remained long on that spot; they recognized the law and accepted it, only making short visits to the marvellous place. Sometimes, if one mortal, more daring than the rest, determined to live there, and built him a house, he was promptly punished, for the fairies at once opened a geyser directly under the carefully chosen home and destroyed it entirely. So this beautiful valley of yellow stones and brilliant lights and rushing waters is left to the Sun Princess and her people. It is certainly a valley of enchantment, for it is never very cold and never very hot there, but is an ideal workshop for a Prince. The geysers and boiling pools are just the escaping gas and steam of his big furnaces; for the fires in his furnaces under the earth are kept burning day and night. It is all very mysterious. In one part he has a big hot lake, and in another an ice-cold one. The cold lake is shaped like a human hand, and near it is a big fountain that dashes up clouds of white spray, hundreds of feet high, flecking the green surface of the water with foam.