Then the Prince ran, raging and stamping, into the garden, and as he passed the arbour, the lady called him softly.
“Where have you been all this time, my lord?” she cried. “It is but dull work sitting alone thinking of you as the stars wane and you do not come. Alas! what a hard fate it is to have a cold-hearted lover!”
Then the Prince, who was so much relieved in his mind that he could almost have cried, rushed into the arbour and embraced the lady, vowing that he would never leave her again for so much as an hour. The Pelican looked on from his canna-flowers by the lake. Wise as he was, he did not understand what was happening, for the subtlety of woman was a thing too great even for him.
And the young man in yellow took the girl home and married her next day; and when he grew rich, which he soon did, he built a house by the Nile and raised a fine garden of oranges and pomegranates. In it the Pelican lived to a ripe old age, sustaining the household by his wisdom, and standing sponsor to the children.
THE CHERRY TREES
There were once two little boys who played in the great gardens of a palace; one was the son of the King to whom the palace belonged, and one was the son of the King’s head gardener. The palace lay at the mouth of a valley, and the garden had a stone balustrade surrounding it on which the two would sit when they were tired of their play. They were both of the same age, and, as the Prince had neither brothers nor sisters, the gardener’s son was allowed to come every day and keep him company. They learned the same lessons and amused themselves with the same games; and, at nightfall, the gardener’s boy would go back to his father’s cottage to return early next morning. The gardener was a wise man, and brought him up very well, but the King was foolish and spoilt the Prince most dreadfully, which was all the worse, as he was selfish and rude by nature, and sometimes very unkind to his friend. But his friend loved him dearly in spite of that.
