Page:Little Ellie and Other Tales (1850).djvu/104

Rh now came the songs of the priests, and they saw the wild inhabitants dance to the sound of the drum and of the bone tuba. Egypt’s pyramids climbing to the clouds, overthrown columns, and sphynxes, half buried in sand, sailed by. The aurora borealis burned over the mountains of the north: that was a firework that no mortal could imitate. The Prince was so happy, and he saw a hundred times more than is related here!

“And may I always stay here?” asked he.

“That depends on yourself,” answered the Fairy. “If you do not allow yourself to be seduced, like Adam, to do that which is forbidden, you may stay here for ever.”

“I will not touch the apple of the Tree of Knowledge,” said the Prince. “Here are a thousand fruits as beautiful as that one. I should never do as Adam did!”

“Examine yourself, and if you are not strong enough, then go with the East Wind that brought you: he is about to fly back, and will not come again for a hundred years. To you the time here will pass