One day two great rivers were married, and all the sea-folk went to the wedding. A feast was given in the house of the Shepherd of the Seas, and while Cymoent and the other nymphs were there, Marinell wandered about outside. For because Marinell's father had been a knight and not one of the sea-folk, Marinell might not eat the food they ate.

While the feast went gaily on, Marinell heard piteous cries coming from under a black cliff. And when he listened, he knew that the voice was the voice of Florimell.

The wicked old Shepherd of the Seas had found her tossing on the waves in a little boat, and had taken her home to his deep-down caves to make her his wife. But Florimell did not love the old man. She loved only Marinell. So nothing that the shepherd could do would make Florimell say that she would marry him. At last, in a rage, he shut her up in a gloomy place under a dark rock, where no sunshine ever came.

'She will soon grow tired of the dark and the loneliness,' he thought, 'and then she will give in, and become my wife.'

But Florimell would not give in. She was crying and sobbing when Marinell came to the rock, and he heard her say, 'Marinell, Marinell, all this I suffer for love of thee.'

Marinell stood still and listened. Then he heard her say:--

'In spite of all this sorrow, yet will I never of my love repent, But joy that for his sake I suffered prisonment.'

Then she gave yet more pitiful sobs, for she was very sad and cold and hungry. Yet always she would say again, between her sobs, 'I will never love any man but Marinell.'

Now Marinell had never in all his life truly loved any one. But when he heard Florimell's piteous voice, and knew how she loved him, and how much she had suffered for his sake, his heart, that had been so hard, grew soft.

'Poor little maid,' he said to himself, 'poor, beautiful little Florimell.'

No sooner had he begun to love Florimell, than he began to think of a plan by which to save her from the bad old shepherd.

At first, he thought he would ask the shepherd to let her go. But he knew that that would be no good. Then he thought that he would fight with the shepherd, and win her in that way. But that plan he also gave up. 'I will break into her prison, and steal her away,' he thought next. But he had no boat, and the sea flowed all round the rock, so that it was not possible.

While he still thought and planned, the marriage-feast came to an end, and Marinell had to go home with his mother. He looked so miserable that no one would have taken him for a wedding-guest.

Each day that pa.s.sed after the wedding found him looking more and more sad. He could not eat nor sleep for thinking of Florimell, shut up in a dreary dungeon from which he could not free her. For want of sleep and food, and because he was so unhappy, Marinell grew ill. He was so weak that he could not rise, and his mother, Cymoent, was greatly distressed.

'The wound he got from Britomart cannot be rightly healed,' she said. So she sent for the wise doctor of the seas.

'The old wound is quite whole,' said the doctor. 'This is a new pain which I cannot understand.'

Then Cymoent sent for a doctor who was so wise and so great that he was chief of all the doctors on the land. When he had examined Marinell he said, 'The name of this illness is Love.'

Then Cymoent begged Marinell to tell her which of the sea-nymphs it was that he loved.

'Whoever she is that you love,' she said, 'I shall help you to gain her for your wife.'

So Marinell told his mother that it was no nymph of the sea that had given his heart a deeper wound than ever Britomart's spear had dealt.

'I love Florimell,' he said, 'and she lies, a dreary prisoner, in the darkest cave of the Herd of the Seas.'

At first Cymoent was sorry, for she did not wish her son to wed a maiden from the land. But when she knew how much Marinell loved Florimell, she went to Neptune, the King of all the Seas, as he sat on his throne, his three-p.r.o.nged mace in his hand, and his long hair dripping with brine.

To him she told all the tale of Marinell and Florimell and the wicked old shepherd.

And Neptune wrote a royal warrant, and sealed it with the seal of the Sea G.o.ds, commanding his shepherd to give up Florimell at once to Cymoent the sea-nymph.

Thankfully Cymoent took the warrant, and swiftly swam to the shepherd's sea-caves.

The shepherd was very angry, but all the sea-folk had to obey Neptune, so he sulkily opened the prison door and let Florimell go free.

When the black-browed Cymoent took hold of the little white hand of the maiden her son loved, and looked on her lovely face, she was no longer sorry that Marinell did not wish to marry a sea-nymph. For no maiden in the sea was as beautiful or as sweet as Florimell.

She led Florimell to her bower, where Marinell lay so pale and weak and sad. And when Marinell saw Florimell standing blushing beside him, her hand in his mother's, all his sadness went away and his strength came back, and the pain in his heart was cured.

And if you listen some night when the stars are out, and the moon has made a silver path on the sea, you will hear the little waves that swish on the sh.o.r.e softly murmuring a little song. And perhaps, if your ears are very quick, and the big waves' thunder does not drown the sound of their melody, you may hear them whispering the names of two happy lovers, Florimell and Marinell.

VIII

FLORIMELL AND THE WITCH

In Fairyland, where all the knights are brave, and all the ladies beautiful, the lady who was once the most beautiful of all was called Florimell.

Many knights loved Florimell and wished to marry her. But Florimell loved only one, and he was Marinell, the son of a sea-nymph and a fairy knight And Marinell loved no one, not even Florimell.

Marinell was a bold knight, who had no sooner fought one fight than he was ready for another.

One day there was brought to the court news of his latest fight.

Britomart, the maiden who feared no one, and who wore man's armour and carried a magic spear, had fought with Marinell, and Marinell was dead. So said they who brought the news.

'What will Florimell do?' whispered the court ladies, one to the other.

And all the knights were sad at heart for beautiful Florimell.

When Florimell was told what had befallen Marinell, she rose up from where she sat.

'I go to find him,' she said. 'Living or dead, I will find Marinell.'

Florimell had long, long golden hair. Florimell's eyes were blue as the sky, and her cheeks were pink, like the sweetest rose in the garden. A circlet of gold and jewels crowned her head. She mounted her snow-white palfrey with its trappings of gold, and rode away through the green woods to look for Marinell.

Four days she rode, but she did not find him. On the fourth day, as she pa.s.sed through a lonely forest, a wicked robber saw her. He rode after her with his heavy boar-spear, and drove his spurs into the sides of his tired horse till the blood ran down.

When Florimell saw him, she made her palfrey gallop. Off it flew, like the wind, with the thud of the other horse's hoofs and the crash of branches to urge it on.

Florimell's golden hair flew behind her, till it looked like the shining track of a shooting star. Her face was white, and her frightened eyes shone like crystal.

Some knights who saw her flash through the trees on her white palfrey, like a streak of light, thought that she must be a spirit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Florimell's golden hair flew behind her (page 102)]

But when they saw the ugly robber on his panting horse, they knew that he was real enough. They rode hard after him, and frightened him so much that he hid himself in the thickest part of the forest.

Florimell pa.s.sed the knights without seeing them. And even after the robber had ceased to follow her, she fancied that she heard his rough voice and the thud of his horse's hoofs, and made her white palfrey go faster and yet more fast.