ORIGINAL TALE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume II, Issue 65, 8 May 1869, Page 5

ORIGINAL TALE.

o A PAIR! TALE, . TOR HEADERS OLD AND Y.OUKG, The South Wind bore the youthful adventurer over the great snow Avail and across rhe great fields of ice that guard the approaches of Hazolanci. It wrapped him in a warm cloak of fleecy cloud, and, nestling him in its bosom, murmured him to sleep with pleasant promises of suiiKniue and flo Aver after the frozen seas had been traversed. Northward! northward! it hurried on; and the sea-birds, when they saAv it come, flew up with Avild screamings, and joined in the rush — for the Frost King Was at hand, in Avbose realms no living being can survive. — Northward! northward ! the new-fledged nestlings heard the cry, and an eager longing lor some forgotten bliss — some faint echo of the memories of a former existence— drove them onward with the rest to seek warmth and life during the months the Frost King ruled. "Throughout all the Avild clamour and stir, Aristuine slept peacefully, until' the warm sun had so -weakened toe South Wind, had kissed and played with its breezes -until for very longing they waxed faint, that ihe weight proved too great a burthen ; so Aristuine fell to Earth — fell to Eiu-tn, so gently, that he slumbered on ; but while he slept, a vision iof horror oppressed his eyelids. He i thought he lay in the midst of a fair mead, besprent Avith bourgeoning fiowrtts, and sweet with the singing of birds and the murmur of- manywaters. And his soul whimpered, If this is sleep; I Avould fain sleep for ever. But dull clouds and flashes of flame and confused monsiers, half hidden, half obscured in smoke and dust, swept over the plcas;iut valley Avith thuuderhigs and bhsp'.iemi'.'S and the~ clashing of steel and i^roans and nia-Jness, till the whole laud turned of a blood-red hue, and the air was as a scarlet curtain ; and the car heard, t'le mouth tasted, and the hands felt, nothing but blood, blood, blood everywhere. The tumult and the struggle passed away— but the faint cry or the hollow groan showed some living Avere left to jruard the field of death. Then Aristuine awoke. All around the earth was scarred and seamed, and, piled in heaps or scattered widely, the bodies of the slain and wounded, marked the glorious deeds of the children of Cain. A great compassion filled his heart, when Aristuine saw* the followers of the Giant reaping the bitter fruits of their madness, and he Avent among them binding up their Avounds and comforting them. At last he came to a spot where* the fuain lay thick, md there ho beheld a youth fair to look upon, and on -whose cheeks the bloom of twenty summers struggled against the lea&wn huos of death. Aristuine saw him and loved him, but he was wounded too sorely to be needful of mortal help. " Tell me, prithee," said our Hazelander, "what sad* mischance brought theo hither : for by my good sword I vow he shall repent or perish." Then the dying eyes lit up. "None brought me," he said, '"'but love. J loved her truly, and ,sho Avas fal — ." Here the leaden shroud crept over the roses of his face, and he Avent forth to solve the great puzzle of the human race.

" Then," said Ainstuine, " this liove must be a mighty demon ; against him shall I first wage battle."

So he girded his loins and journeyed onward. And when he approached he lifted up his eyes and saw an exceeding great light in the sky, and when he came near to it he found it to be a' great city So ho entered in and found all the people dancing round a man whose garments were all stained with blood ; yet the rabble bowed down before him, and called him hero, and god-inspired general, and decked hi 3 brow with 'a laurel wreath, and called on their poets and sinners to celebrate his praises. Now, Aristutne being a str.ao.ger and unacquainted with the beauties of butcher-worship, sickened at the si'j;ht and turned away loathing. He wandered up and down the long streets, until at length he came upon a ATOiin? dressed in tawdry finery, lying helpless in the gutter. Ho raised her tenderly, but from het.iips, fairly shaped as the bow of Apollo, came such a stream of blasphemy and filth, that lie turned away and would fain have fled. But she,' catebing him by the robo, constrained him to remain, and when he asked in pitying terms, what brought her to this pass, she wept, and .answered, " Lovej ' nought but love. I loved him, and he was false ; " and she wept exceedingly. Then she rose, and, staggering away, cried out. "Drink, drink; let me drink and forget ! " and vanished in the darkness of the night. But the heart of' Aristuine . waxed faint when he beheld so much misery; and he tried t'ae edge of his good sword, and vowed to c-ome to death-grips with the tyrant, Love. It. came to pass as he journeyed that he came to the place where "fiose who ofFonde.l the law were put to death. There he saw a man in the prime of life and the full vigour of- manhood, yet having his face darkened with a gh isfcly Khadow, counselling the people. " The indulgence that springs from mistaken Love has brought me to this shameful end," said Tie; and there w«,«i a hollow sound and a quick snap, and a lump ot' lifeless clay hung list* lessly in the wind. Then said Arisi tuine, " Oh, Love," shall I never firm tAsao. io demand frmnth^teaji ac<^|^|

the G-od of Love, by chance, heard his words, and, laughing, said, " Shall we teach this poor Hazelander a lesson ? " But Dame Nature answered him, saying, " His hour has not yet come." Aristuine, meanwhile, wandered far and wide, and lifted up his voice in the market-place, and preached soothly to the people. But the wise men and those who had authority reviled him, and called him visionary, and dreamer of dreams ; and when he persisted, they shut him up 'in a prison, and tortured him, because he spoke unpleasant things to the people. Out of this peril he escaped, and wandered up and down, everywhere seeing the wreck and desolation wrought by carnal love. He found the wife betraying the husband in the hour of trouble— the children cursing their parents because the burden of life was past their endurance ; yet he -never by any chance encountered the enemy he sought. So his pride was humbled, and he cried aloud, " Oh, Nature, pardon my arrogance, that thought my strength greater than thine ; " and he wept himself to sleep. Then the South "Wind, that had wandered up and down, far and wide, to the uttermost ends of the earth, found him, and, raising him up, bore him back again to pleisaiit Hazeland. Now, it chanced that one of the fairest daughters of the land, wandering through the_ fields, and espying the strautrer, pitied his wayworn state, a.nd awakened him. He raised his head, and gazed into the blue depths of the maiden's eyes ; and while he gazed, a strange rapture thrilled his being. # * * # *

TvTien the time came for the sons and daughters of Hazoland to present themselves before their Queen, Aristuine and lus fair young bride went up together. And lie bent the knee before the all-feeding mother. " Love," said he, "was stronger than I. Aid me, then, Oh, Lady, lest I, by my own evil imaginings, like the dwellers of Earth, make Grod's greatest blebsing man's greatest curse."