“Hearing her speak thus, Prince Corus grew very white, and turned away to hide his pain, whispering to himself: ‘They shall not see how I suffer. I have sworn an oath, and I will keep it.’
“But whatever the Princess continued to say to the Ocean Prince, it seemed not to please him. Finally she said to him, while she turned and beckoned to his friend: ‘Therefore, kind brother of the shimmering sea, you must forgive me; for, though I love you as a friend, my heart belongs to Corus, and him I choose to be my husband.’
“The Sun Prince could hardly believe he heard aright; but as the beautiful girl turned shyly toward him, he caught her hand, and kneeling, kissed it, thanking her for his great happiness.
“The Ocean Prince showed great surprise at Selene’s words, because he had always thought she preferred him to Corus; indeed, it was because of this he had made the compact so readily. Swiftly now his thoughts grew black with anger, but the two lovers were talking together and did not notice it. Soon he grew calmer; outwardly he seemed to be peaceful, and stooping, he too kissed Selene’s hand, and swore friendship to the two.
“Preparations began for the wedding, and each day, as the ceremony drew nearer, Fronto seemed happier. He really acted as though he had forgotten his wish to marry Selene. This, of course, made Corus and his bride more contented; they could not bear to be merry, and feel that Fronto was suffering. But the Ocean Prince was only pretending. Instantly, on leaving the lovers on the day of their betrothal, he had gathered together all the little demons and wicked imps he knew, and employed them to build big mountains on the shores of his sea. Soon precipitous mountains gathered in clusters about the water’s edge. They seemed only barren rock, as they loomed up from the flat sand, like watch-towers guarding a prison. Selene and Corus teased the Ocean Prince for building such ugly peaks, but he did not mind their jests. Finally he had his dominions hedged in with a dark-hued rocky range.
“Then, one day when the Sun Prince was absent, he deliberately carried out the plan he had so carefully concealed: he stole the Princess and hid her in the caverns of his great mountains. When Corus returned, broken-hearted and distressed over the loss of his bride and the treachery of his friend, and demanded her release, the Sea Prince absolutely refused to give her up—laughing to scorn his friend’s demand.
“War, of course, immediately followed. The Sun Prince was no slight enemy, for all his father’s powerful forces were at his command. The heavy bowlders piled up by the wretched little fiends the Ocean Prince had employed were not easily surmounted, however, for they were splendidly built. It would take years to pull them down. So Corus determined he would not even try. He would rescue his beloved bride in a simpler but more powerful manner, and in less time.
“A great river ran through the country, from the inland sea down to the blue waters of the ocean. Now, the Sun Prince closed up that river, shutting off all communication between the ocean and the inland sea. The Sea Prince laughed at first when he saw this. He had so much water in his own sea he never dreamed it could be exhausted.
“But now the Sun Prince tried new measures. As the tides could not bring the water to the foot of the big mountains to replenish them, he sent down burning rays upon the sea to dry it up. Evaporation began. Day by day the water decreased, and shrunk away slowly from the white face of the sand and the red sides of the mountains.
“A hundred feet of the water fell quickly, and then Fronto saw that the Sun Prince, in drying up the water, could doom him and his followers to death. Panic-stricken, he restored the Princess, and begged for mercy.