le spectator.

'She is thinking of that leap and that kiss,' said he to himself. 'When
she sees me as I am, then let her judge.' But love, though blind, has
eyes. The Princess rose from her seat and swept a glance over the
people. She saw the two handsome elder brothers and passed them by as so
much dirt. Then, by the light of love, she descried, sitting in a
corner, where the lights were low, the hero of the chestnut horse,--the
one who had leapt high and reached her lips in the first sweet kiss of
love.

She knew him at once, and, as all looked on in wonder, she made her way
to that dim corner, took him by the hand without a word, and led him up,
past the throne of honour, to an antechamber, where, with the joyous
cries of the people ringing in their ears, their lips met a second
time,--at the summit of a leap of joy.

At that moment the King entered, knowing all.

'What is this?' said he.

Then he smiled, for he understood his daughter, and knew that she had
not only chosen her lover, but had won her choice.

'My son,' he added, without waiting for an answer, 'you and yours will
reign after me. Look to it! Now let us go to supper.'

THE QUEEN OF THE MANY-COLOURED BEDCHAMBER

AN IRISH FAIRY TALE

One day in the long ago, the sun shone down upon a green wood whose
mightiest trees have since rotted at the bottom of the ocean, where the
best masts find a grave. While the sunlight slept on the bosom of the
foliage, a horseman galloped in the shade beneath. The great chief Fion,
son of Cumhail, was looking for his knights, whom he had outstripped in
the hunt.

He reined in his steed in a broad glade, and blew his bugle loud and
clear. Beside the echoes repeated among the hillsides, there was no
answering call. He rode on, pausing now and again to blow another and
another bugle-blast, but always with the same result.

At length the wood grew more scattered, and presently he came out upon a
stretch of plain where the grass was so green that it looked like
emerald; and beyond it in the distance, at the end of the sloping plain,
he could see the seashore, and the ocean rising like a wall of sapphire
up to the farthest horizon.

Down by the shore he could see figures moving, and, thinking that his
knights had found their way thither, he rode like the wind down the
long, gentle slope towards them. As he drew nearer and nearer, he saw
that there were twelve of them, and they were playing at ball. By the
mi