From that hour, after the court had recovered from its surprise, White Wing was almost an emperor himself. A park was made for him and slaves were in attendance. The tenderest of tiny fish and juicy snails were given him to eat, and he was a familiar of that barbaric household whose slightest inclination was taken to be law, and whose smallest preferences were translated into royal commands. He was ceremoniously tethered with a golden chain and a clasp of blue jewels to his thin leg, but even such a regal restraint was abandoned and the jewels and the beaten gold and the turquoise were made into a neck chain which he wore with great dignity.
Never could the Emperor enter into his councils and audiences without the Prince of the Dawn, as he was called; and White Wing was a sage and judicial counselor. He would stand for hours on one leg, his jewels flashing upon his breast, his head turned at a knowing angle, as if in the profoundest thought, a very embodiment of wisdom beside the throne. In reality he was sound asleep, a condition wherein he set an immortal example for ministers of state.
For years he dwelt in splendor and acquired great wisdom. And for the little princes and princesses, who were many and lovely, he had great affection.
But of his love for one princess in particular and of the jealousies which grew up so that his life was plotted against and he was at last to be undone, there is another story which the wonderful Mrs. Leatherback is always slow to relate.
She has been known to depart and pursue her business in foreign lands, returning at her leisure, before she will be induced to relate the rest of the story of Prince Flamingo.
[XIV]
PRINCE FLAMINGO'S TRIUMPHANT RETURN
In the gorgeous court of the Emperor, where White Wing had come into such great good fortune, the one person whom everybody feared was the splendid ruler himself. For rulers have been notable in history for their fickle ways and shifting affections, and this emperor was no exception to the rule. First it was one favorite who fell into disfavor, and then another, and even the priests and the councilors, who were the closest to him, were as unsafe as the meanest slave. For while an underling could be made away with quickly and at a word, the Emperor was no less willing to let his anger smolder through a long and carefully plotted revenge in the case of some person who might be next to him in rank. So there were mysterious things happening in the great stone palace, and White Wing observed soon after he came there that nobody seemed really to enjoy the wonderful splendors of the court itself but, on the contrary, they seemed always anxious to be in the parks or the city, or even out on the lonely plains around it, rather than in the vast rooms of stone and silver.
Nevertheless, White Wing had nothing to fear from the stalwart and imperious ruler, for the bird was truly his most treasured possession; and if he were in an evil mood, the Emperor would often betake himself to White Wing's splendid garden, and there he would toy with the bird, asking him many questions, and seeming always content to find his answer in the flamingo's sagacious looks, or a chance nod of the creature's head.