“Dear son of mine, a sailor were you born and a sailor you shall be. Go you forth to the ships, have your fill of a sailor’s life, and may honor and fortune come to you upon the sea.”
So now the youth Altair bade his dear parents farewell and followed the northern highway to a certain great city by the sea. Day after day, as he walked, the soft blue skies and golden clouds of the inland country vanished behind, a brightness and a faint glow of green appeared in the arching heavens, and a cold northern wind shook each sombre northern pine. Suddenly one morn the youth heard from afar the endless thundering of breakers and, arriving on a sandy height, beheld great seas tumbling in foam and white confusion on the shore. And thus discovering the sea, something in the heart of Altair shouted and leaped for joy.
To one side and below stood the towers and masts of the city; there were sailors in her streets with brown faces, rich merchants in velvet caps and gowns, brave pilots, and adventurers, and captains coming and going to their ships.
After purchasing a stout jacket, a knitted cap, a blue sailor blouse, and a pair of trousers belling out below, Altair set down his name in the book of a great ship and sailed away upon the sea. Seven years he sailed, now through nights of whispering seas and skies of silent stars, now through storms and howling winds and waves blown white with foam. Little by little the youth’s blue eyes took on the look of one who sees afar, his body grew strong, and he walked as a sailor walks, with feet apart and a roll from side to side. Seven years he sailed, and then became a captain and master of a vessel of his own.
Now it came to pass that, as the blue-eyed captain returned from a long and lonely passage to the Isles of Gold, he beheld a great multitude of ships sailing together down the sea. Across his bow they sailed, great ships stately as castles of oak, little ships that bobbed and courtesied to every wave, ships with pennons, ships with banners, ships of all rigs and colors in the world. And so great was the multitude of ships that some had already crossed the rim of the sea ahead, whilst the swaying spars of others rose faint and far behind.
In great wonderment as to what the gathering might portend, the young captain hailed a passing ship and questioned a master mariner.
“These be the ships of all the world, Sir Captain,” answered the master mariner, “and we sail to the land of the King of the South, for he hath summoned us one and all. There is great news, they say, awaiting us at journey’s end, but of what it may be none can tell. But come: up with your helm, Sir Captain, and follow through the sea.”
Week after week, through weather fair and weather foul, Altair sailed with the ships of the world to the Kingdom of the South. All at once, one fine night between midnight and the morn, the men upon the masts of the first three ships sent back a cry of land, and presently the great blue light of the Kingdom of the South shone forth, far away and low upon the sea. At sunrise the ships of the world, following one another in line, sailed through rocky gates into the wide haven of the King.
The palace of the King was built upon a hilltop between blue mountains and the sea, it was of golden marble made, and a winding marble stair led from it to a pavilion and a landing on the bay. Rising in solitary splendor above the ancient trees of the King’s garden, a great belfry-tower soared to the rosy dawn which overhung the hilltop and the town.
And now, in the hall of columns, stood gathered the captains of the ships of all the world, great captains with plumes in their velvet caps and jeweled swords at their sides, merchant captains in capes of sober blue, and humble fisher-captains with knitted caps and blouses gaily striped. Then came forth to them the King of the South, clad in a scarlet robe and a crown of yellow gold, and said to them:—