第50章 The Prince Who Would Seek Immortality(3)

The moment she looked at him, the queen also felt that he was no ordinary man, and she welcomed him graciously, and asked him what had brought him to the city.In answer the prince told all his story, and how he had travelled long and far in search of the Land of Immortality.

'You have found it,' said she, 'for I am queen over life and over death.Here you can dwell among the immortals.'

A thousand years had passed since the prince first entered the city, but they had flown so fast that the time seemed no more than six months.There had not been one instant of the thousand years that the prince was not happy till one night when he dreamed of his father and mother.Then the longing for his home came upon him with a rush, and in the morning he told the Queen of the Immortals that he must go and see his father and mother once more.The queen stared at him with amazement, and cried: 'Why, prince, are you out of your senses? It is more than eight hundred years since your father and mother died! There will not even be their dust remaining.'

'I must go all the same,' said he.

'Well, do not be in a hurry,' continued the queen, understanding that he would not be prevented.'Wait till I make some preparations for your journey.' So she unlocked her great treasure chest, and took out two beautiful flasks, one of gold and one of silver, which she hung round his neck.Then she showed him a little trap-door in one corner of the room, and said: 'Fill the silver flask with this water, which is below the trap-door.It is enchanted, and whoever you sprinkle with the water will become a dead man at once, even if he had lived a thousand years.The golden flask you must fill with the water here,' she added, pointing to a well in another corner.'It springs from the rock of eternity; you have only to sprinkle a few drops on a body and it will come to life again, if it had been a thousand years dead.'

The prince thanked the queen for her gifts, and, bidding her farewell, went on his journey.

He soon arrived in the town where the mist-veiled queen reigned in her palace, but the whole city had changed, and he could scarcely find his way through the streets.In the palace itself all was still, and he wandered through the rooms without meeting anyone to stop him.At last he entered the queen's own chamber, and there she lay, with her embroidery still in her hands, fast asleep.He pulled at her dress, but she did not waken.Then a dreadful idea came over him, and he ran to the chamber where the needles had been kept, but it was quite empty.The queen had broken the last over the work she held in her hand, and with it the spell was broken too, and she lay dead.

Quick as thought the prince pulled out the golden flask, and sprinkled some drops of the water over the queen.In a moment she moved gently, and raising her head, opened her eyes.

'Oh, my dear friend, I am so glad you wakened me; I must have slept a long while!'

'You would have slept till eternity,' answered the prince, 'if I had not been here to waken you.'

At these words the queen remembered about the needles.She knew now that she had been dead, and that the prince had restored her to life.She gave him thanks from her heart for what he had done, and vowed she would repay him if she ever got a chance.

The prince took his leave, and set out for the country of the bald-headed king.As he drew near the place he saw that the whole mountain had been dug away, and that the king was lying dead on the ground, his spade and bucket beside him.But as soon as the water from the golden flask touched him he yawned and stretched himself, and slowly rose to his feet.'Oh, my dear friend, I am so glad to see you,' cried he, 'I must have slept a long while!'