Down, down, below the sparkling waves, the King of the World under the Waters—for it was he—made her his wife and queen, but never would he let her go back home.
There, among the great coral trees and groves of gold and silver and amid heaps of shining gems, with a score of maidens to wait on her, valets and footmen and servants of a strange sort, and with food rich and abundant, pleasing and tempting to both eye and palate, and with the most entrancing music ever at her command, she was enraptured. So delighted was she, that the years passed away as days.
Yet even when touched with homesickness, and longing for those she had left behind on earth, in her castle home, she found herself watched and guarded. The gates, though made of emerald and sapphire, shut of themselves, because moved, by some secret spring, against her return. Having once eaten of fairy food, and accepted her husband’s gifts, she could never again [[208]]leave either the palace or the World under the Waves. The crystal cavern was her prison. When she looked in the mirror, she found her teeth were wave green. She was now an Undine.
Yet in the village, where the story of the castle princess was told, it was declared that, on calm still nights, when the moon shone brightest, the most delightful music could be heard coming up from the lake. Some of the fishermen were sure that, far below on quiet summer days, also when no wind blew, and the sunbeams struck deep into the waters, they could peer down into the depths and see the walls and towers of this crystal palace. [[209]]
XX
THE ALPINE HUNTER AND HIS FAIRY GUARDIAN
There is one variety of the Swiss fairies who manage to get along with very few clothes, and those very thin. The prettiest ones among them seem to live up among the highest mountain peaks. There, it is colder than anywhere else, but these fairies do not mind it. Furs are not in fashion, but only very filmy garments. On their backs are gauzy wings, by which they can fly around from one peak to another. They hover over the meadows also, which in summer glisten with blossoms of every tint and hue. They love to plague Jack Frost, and the old mountain giants, that have beards of icicles, and hair of snow streamers, and who try so hard to freeze out the flowers.
These fairies know all the secrets of the mountains. They find out where the largest and prettiest rock crystals are, and where the priceless minerals are to be found. They can tell just where the caves of sparkling topaz are situated, but they do not let any mortal know, unless he [[210]]is their favorite. They can lead a hunter to the spot where the chamois are feeding on the moss. When they want to reward a brave man, they bring him bullets that are sure to hit the buck, and win for the marksman a fine pair of horns; or, at the village shooting matches, plug the bull’s eye of the target, and so secure the prize. To please his fairy guardian, the hunter must always promise to do what she bids him, or else her bad temper is roused. Then she scolds, and leaves him to his luck, which, after that time, is never good. It is not safe to quarrel with a fairy.
Now there was one of these lovely creatures, named Silver Wreath, because she looked as charming as the morning mists at sunrise, when shot through and through by the upspringing light. Then they float off in the air, like glistening wreaths made of golden braid, or like scarves of silver. Sometimes, when illuminated by the sun’s rays, they remind one of necklaces of pearls; or, when many are together, like white garments of burnished silver set with costly gems.