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PRINCE FICKLE AND FAIR HELENA. 219
Helena kissed him tenderly at parting on his left cheek, and begged him not to let any one else kiss him there while they were parted, and she promised to sit and wait for him under the lime-tree, for she never doubted that the prince would be faithful to her and would return as quickly as he could.
And so she sat for three days and three nights under the tree without moving. But. when her lover never returned, she grew very unhappy and determined to set out to look for him. She took as many of her jewels as she could carry, and three of her most beautiful dresses, one embroidered with stars, one with moons, and the third with suns, all of pure gold. Far and wide she wandered through the world, but nowhere did she find any trace of her bridegroom. At last she gave up the search in despair. She could not bear to return to her own castle where she had been so happy with her lover, but determined rather to endure her loneliness and desolation in a strange land. She took a place as herd-girl with a peasant, and buried her jewels and beautiful dresses in a safe and hidden spot.
Every day she drove the cattle to pasture, and all the time she thought of nothing but her faithless bridegroom. She was very devoted to a certain little calf in the herd, and made a great pet of it, feeding it out of her own hands. She taught it to kneel before her, and then she whispered in its ear:
" Kneel, little calf, kneel; Be faithful and leal— Not like Prince Fickle, Who once on a time Left bis fair Helena Under the lime."
After some years passed in this way, she heard that the daughter of the king of the country she was living in was going to marry a prince called Fickle. Everybody rejoiced at the news except poor Helena, to whom it was a fearful blow, for at the bottom of her heart she had always believed her lover to be true.
Now, it chanced that the way to the capital led right past the village where Helena was, and often when she was leading her cattle forth to the meadows Prince Fickle rode past her, without ever noticing the poor herd-girl, so engrossed was he in thoughts of his new bride. Then |
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