king was minded to wed his
daughter Persis unto a neighboring prince, a high and mighty prince,
but one whom Persis loved not, neither could she love. So for the
first time Persis said, "Nay, I will not," unto her father's mandate,
whereat the king was passing wroth, and he put his daughter in a place
that was like a jail to her, for it was where none might see her, and
where she might see none,--none but those that attended upon her. This
much told Persis, the Pagan princess, unto Harold, and then,
furthermore, she said: "The place wherein I was put by the king, my
father, was hard by the sea, and oftentimes I went thereon in my little
boat, and once, looking down from that boat into the sea, I saw the
face of a fair young man within a magic mirror that was held up in the
waters of the sea by two ghostly hands, and the fair young man moved
his lips and smiled at me, and methought I heard him say: 'Come, be my
bride, O fair and gentle Persis!' But, vastly afeared, I cried out and
put back again to shore. Yet in my dreams I saw that face and heard
that voice, nor could I find any rest until I came upon the sea again
in hope to see the face and hear the voice once more. Then, that
second time, as I looked into the sea, another face came up from below
and lifted above the waters, and a woman's voice spake thus to me: 'I
am mother of him that loveth thee and whom thou lovest; his face hast
thou seen in the mirror, and of thee I have spoken to him; come, let me
bear thee as a bride to him!' And in that moment a faintness came upon
me and I fell into her arms, and so was I drowned (as men say), and so
was I a seal a little space until last dancing night, when, lo! some
one brought me to life again, and one that said her name was Membril
showed me the way unto thy door. And now I look upon thy face in
truth, and thou art he who shall have me to his wife, for thou art he
whose face I saw within the mirror which the ghostly hands bore up to
me that day upon the sea!"

Great then was Harold's joy, and he folded her in his arms, and he
spake sweet words to her, and she was content. So they were wed that
very day, and there came to do them honor all the folk upon these
islands: Dougal and Tam and Ib and Robbie and Nels and Gram and Rupert
and Rolf and many others and all their kin, and they made merry, and it
was well. And never spake the Pagan princess of that soft velvet skin
which Harold had hid away,--never spake she o