Crinoline

“ Of the play, adapted from a story by Eugene Sue, I have a very hazy recollection, but I know that I had one very effective scene in it. Clementine, an ordinary fair-haired ingenue in white muslin, has a great horror of snakes, and, in order to cure her of her disgust, some one suggests that a dead snake should be put in her room, and she be taught how harmless the thing is for which she had such an aversion. An Indian servant, who, for some reason or other, has a deadly hatred for the whole family, substitutes a live reptile. ”

“ He turned to a trusted servant. “Take away this faithless keeper,” he commanded, “and place him and his companions under [104] strict guard, there to remain until my daughter, Princess White Flame, is restored to me.”
So the keeper was taken away, still beating his breast, and crying aloud in vain remorse.
All about the palace hall stood the Fire Fairies weeping and lamenting, for the Princess was dearly loved.
Then the King turned to the old nurse. “Come, my good Grey Smoke,” said he, “give me of your wise counsel. ”

“ Looking upon the monster’s huge form, his terrible claws, his fiercely lashing tail, Flying Soot knew that the Great Black Dragon had good cause to boast.
“I leave the matter entirely to you,” said he. “There is one thing more, however, that you must promise me. You must on no account harm, or even touch the fairy Veil of which I have told you. Least of all must you attempt to take it for yourself. I assure you that it is of no value to any but the Prince or the Earth Fairy. For others it will work no charm.” ”

“ Am I perchance like my brothers who never can find a hiding-place? The fairy Colina is love-sick. She says that her lover has betrayed her, and continually weeps, and is so reduced by her grief that she can live but little longer. And I deserve to be hanged, for I have seen her in this condition, and yet I have annoyed her so that I have driven her to despair. I amused myself by making a noise about her palace, and more than once I burst open windows and turned things upside down, even the bed she was resting on." "Oh, my dear Sirocco!" said Lionbruno; "my good Sirocco, you must aid me! ”

“ As Mrs. Culpeper knocked at the door of Corinna's shop, she noticed that the pine bough in the window had been replaced by bowls of growing narcissi. For a moment her stern expression relaxed, and her face, framed in a bonnet of black straw with velvet strings, became soft and anxious. Beneath the veil of white illusion which reached only to the tip of her small sharp nose, her eyes were suddenly touched with spring.
"How delicious the flowers smell," she remarked when Corinna opened the door ”

“ Flying Soot began forthwith to tell him about the Earth Fairy, who he said had sent him to ask the Giant’s aid against a young Prince who would soon be traveling that way. “He will be preceded by a flame, who is the enchanted Princess whom he loves,” said he. “She it is, who, under the Earth Fairy’s spell, leads him on to danger. We wish you [121] to destroy the Prince if you can. At any rate you must completely overpower him, in order that the Earth Fairy may take from him a Veil which he carries, and which she greatly covets.” ”

“ Kringen
I've walked the streets of this village for over 40 years, but tonight's the end. He knows that I've told he plays with bats. He knows that I saw him sneak into Martha's house just before midnight.
Doctor von Niemann
Perhaps he was taking her another flower, Kringen. The boy brought her one this evening while I was there.
Kringen
He killed her just like he did all the rest! And now he's going to kill me! Unless he's killed with a stake driven through his heart, I'm a doomed man! He'll kill me! He'll kill me! I'm doomed! He'll kill me! He'll kill me! I'm a doomed man! He'll kill me! ”

“ Cinderlad tried, but could not do it; so he had to take a draught from the pitcher, and then one more, and after that still another, and then he was able to wield the sword with perfect ease.
‘Good,’ said the Foal; ‘and now thou must take the sword away with thee, and with it shalt thou cut off the heads of all seven of us on thy wedding-day, and then we shall become princes again as we were before. For we are brothers of the Princess whom thou art to have when thou canst tell the King what we eat and drink, but there is a mighty Troll who has cast a spell over us. ”

“ The Giant’s dull eyes began to glitter for he knew that none could resist his evil Cloak for very long. Safe hidden within the hollow between the Hills of Ash, Flying Soot peered out upon them, and near him hovered the cruel Earth [126] Fairy, ready to dart out and seize the treasure that she coveted as soon as the Giant’s victory was gained. Princess White Flame, stricken with grief and dismay at the sudden disappearance of the Prince, quivered alone and helpless where the Earth Fairy held her in thrall. ”

“ As soon as he was thus taken out of the room, the gentleman sat down, and, taking hold of his son’s hand, thus addressed him: ‘Charles, I had a much better opinion of you, than to suppose you were capable of so much cruelty. What right, I desire to know, have you to torment any living creature? If it is only be cause you are larger, and so have it in your power, I beg you will consider, how you would like, that either myself, or some great giant, as much larger than you as you are bigger than the mouse, should hurt and torment you? ”

“ Princess White Flame, so pale that she could scarcely be discerned, quivered and flickered where the Wind had rudely thrown her. Too weak to cry out, she only sighed faintly, and sank still lower upon the ashes.
She knew not that by her entrance into the Borderland the cruel spell had been broken by which the Earth Fairy had so long compelled her to flee from Prince Radiance. She only knew that she felt helpless, and almost without [214] life. And indeed the Princess was now in great danger, for away from the Fire, no Fire Fairy can live for long. ”

“ I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.
All night upon my heart I felt her warm heart beat,
Night-long within my arms in love and sleep she lay;
Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
When I awoke and found the dawn was grey:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.
I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng,
Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, all the time, because the dance was long: ”

“ Pringle—big, mushy, creature that he was, sickly and stagnant like a springless pool—insisted that he had even seen clouds of these spirits about drunkards, degenerates, and the like, in street-cars, on trains, and about vile corners at night. Once, he said, he had seen just one evil spirit—think of that!—following a certain man all the time, at his left elbow—a dark, evil, red-eyed thing, until finally the man had been killed in a quarrel. ”

“ Hark, Gascons, to the music!
[The Cadets sit with bowed heads; their eyes have a far-off look as if dreaming, and they surreptitiously wipe away their tears with their cuffs and the corner of their cloaks.]
Carbon
[to Cyrano in a whisper] .
But you make them weep!
Cyrano.
Ay, for home-sickness. A nobler pain than hunger,—'tis of the soul, not of the body! I am well pleased to see their pain change its viscera. Heart-ache is better than stomach-ache. ”

“ When you go into battle you shall not carry a gun nor arrows, for they are not mine, but you shall take this paint, and put it all over your body, then put this feather on your head, and take this club, which is part of my jawbone. All these things have my power and medicine. When you are carrying these things your enemy cannot hurt you, even if you run right on to [96] him; but with one stroke of this club you shall kill your enemy.”
The next morning the Bear took the boy out on the prairie and showed him the different roots and leaves of medicines, and told him how to use them ”

“ I am secretary of the 'Assyrian Rejuvenator Company,' who are also the proprietors of 'Pelosia'." And in evident concern he regarded Pringle fixedly.
It was not the first time he had known a diffident person to assume an interest in the senility of an absent friend, and he mentally decided that Pringle's waxed moustache, its blue-blackness speaking loudly of hair-dye, together with the unmistakable wig, were evidence of the decrepitude for which his new customer presumably sought the Company's assistance. ”

“ As Madame Laure herself admitted, she was no duchess. It was not in society that she had acquired her ideas of the prison van and the police-station. But can one not be honest in every station in life? Every one has his self respect; and one does not like to deal with a man who has just come out of prison. So the only notice she took of Crainquebille was to give him a look of disgust. ”

“ Cinderilla, who saw all this, and knew her slipper, said to them laughing, Let me see if it will not fit me? Her sisters burst out a laughing, and began to banter. The gentleman who was sent to try the slipper, looked earnestly to Cinderilla, and finding her very handsome, said, It was but just that she should try, and that he had orders to let every one make trial. ”

“ My occasional appearance in literary circles will not be misconstrued, as I have the reputation of unusual erudition." He began to write: "Cornelia!" He paused. "Cornelia! It was a lofty spirit that gave her this proud name; is she a true child of this spirit? I almost believe it. That she glides into the cells of the lowest criminals does not spring from humility,--it is the defiance of compassion against the harshness of force, and the consciousness of the joy-giving power of her own individuality. Woe to him who ventured to wound her pride! He would have lost her." ”

“ Before the magic of the fairy ash it shriveled at the very root, and presently it trailed limp and useless along the ground.
The Earth Fairy, watching the battle, saw that the Dragon had also failed, and anger rose hot within her. Flying Soot was quick to perceive this, and hastened to conciliate her. He tapped her gently, upon the arm saying: “My good Earth Fairy, to my great surprise I find that the Great Black Dragon is no match for the Prince after all. But do not let that discourage you. I have yet another [147] friend to whom I will take you, who is much more powerful than he.” ”

“ The two others laughed at him, and mocked him. ‘What! when all went so ill with us, do you suppose that you are going to succeed? You look like succeeding—you who have never done anything else but lie and poke about among the ashes!’ said they.
‘Yes, I will go too,’ said Cinderlad, ‘for I have taken it into my head.’
The two brothers laughed at him, and his father and mother begged him not to go, but all to no purpose, and Cinderlad set out on his way. So when he had walked the whole day, he too came to the King’s palace as darkness began to fall. ”

“ You have made an enemy of the Giant. In another moment he will destroy us all. Come, let us go in quest of the Prince, for I have other friends who may serve you better than the Giant.”
The crafty Earth Fairy perceived that he was right, and yielded herself at once to his advice. Away she fled with Flying Soot across the Wide Grey Plain, taking with her the sorrowing Princess, and soon the Giant and his rage, and the Seven Hills of Ash lay far behind them. ”

“ Crillon is arguing with Brisbille on the matter of the recent renovation of an old hat, which they keep handing to each other and examine ardently. Crillon is sitting, but he keeps his eyes on it. Heart and soul he applies himself to the debate. His humble trade as a botcher does not allow a fixed tariff, and he is all alone as he vindicates the value of his work. With his fists he hammers the gray-striped mealy cloth on his knees, and the hair, which grows thickly round his big neck, gives him the nape of a wild boar. ”

“ Chiron (who indeed does not know of his tricks) is very fond of him, and is for ever saying what a clever fellow he is, and proposing him as an example to the rest of the boys; and I do believe many of them imitate his deceitful, cheating tricks, only for the sake of being thought like him.’
‘Aye! it is a sad thing,’ interrupted the gentleman, ‘that people who are blessed with sense and abilities to behave well, should so misuse them as to set a bad, instead of a good example to others, and by that means draw many into sin, who otherwise, perhaps, might never have acted wrong. ”

“ Giant raised his Cloak high in air, and set it spinning about his head like an enormous revolving cloud. Larger it grew, flying faster and faster the while, and at every turn its stifling folds settled closer about the captive Prince.
The hoarse laughter of the Giant roared in his ears like thunder. Half choked, the Prince beat back the Cloak from his face, and struggled violently to escape. But round and round spun the Cloak as the Giant whirled his powerful arm, and Prince Radiance only exhausted himself against its tightening clasp, in vain. ”

“ Why, Cornie was the most morbid, oversensitive and unhappy soul until you began treating her!—And even if I hadn’t seen these miracles, I’d still know from reading your books what you can do for people in the way of orientating them with their own highest potentialities. And all I am asking, Doctor Pryne, is that you should do that for my 78 Petra. You do believe, don’t you, that it isn’t natural to her—can’t be natural to any one—to be so secretive and indifferent as she seems? ”