The edge of the harbor was marked with a row of golden
lanterns; there were immense lanterns at every six paces along the
streets; a lantern hung from every house; and the church-towers, instead
of having bells in them, had great golden lamps which illumined
everything for some distance about. Moreover, every inhabitant of
Lantern Land carried a lantern with him wherever he went, the rich
carrying golden lanterns set with transparent precious stones, the poor
carrying lights of ordinary glass.

Soon the Prince saw a magnificent ship coming out to meet him. The prow
was carved in the shape of a dragon's head, and a beautiful lantern hung
from its jaws. Overcome by hunger and fatigue, the poor Prince fell
insensible to the floor of his little boat. When he came to his senses
again, he was lying between sheets of the whitest, most delicate linen
in a great four-poster bed, in a room in the royal palace.

Thanks to his kind hosts, the Prince soon recovered his strength. When
he was completely himself again, he was summoned to an audience with the
Queen of Lantern Land.

The Queen, a very beautiful young woman, wearing a wonderful lantern
crown, sat on an ebony throne. On each side of the throne stood a tall
soldier, clad in scarlet and holding a long ebony staff surmounted by a
round lantern lit by a golden flame.

The Prince dropped on his knee, and thanked the Queen for her kindness
and hospitality.

"You are the first stranger to come to Lantern Land for a thousand
years," said the young Queen. "If it is not asking too much from a
guest, pray how did you happen to find the river of the underworld?"

So the Prince told her that he was a king's son, and described his
adventures in the mountains. You may be sure the Queen was glad to hear
of his royal birth, for she had fallen in love with him at first sight.

A month passed. The Prince remained a guest in the palace. All kinds of
festivities were given in his honor; there were wonderful dances,
masquerades, picnics, and theatricals going on all the time. One day the
Prince and the Queen, accompanied by a little group of courtiers, rode
to the frontier of Lantern Land. The lovers galloped ahead of the party
and reached a little hill beyond which there were no more lanterns.
Ahead of them the rolling land, sweeping farther and farther away from
the light, grew darker and darker, till it finally plunged into the
eternal night of the underworld.

The Prince looked at