Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/292

266 others in singing and embroidery, when the messengers of the Governor came for her. She hastened to go with them, and was soon led into the presence of Pericles. At first the sight of this wild-looking man, who lay stretched upon his face on a rude pallet, filled her with awe and dread; but very soon summoning courage, she commenced to sing a soothing melody.

He gave no sign that he heard. At length, growing more bold, she came near him and ventured to lay her hand upon his shoulder. She begged him to consider if he were not wrong in so giving way to grief, since there were others whose misfortunes had perhaps been as great as his, who did not so accuse Heaven in yielding to them. She told him that she, young as she was, had much cause to be sad, for by right she was a princess, whose father was a powerful king; that she had been born upon the sea, where her mother had died in giving her birth, and that her childhood had never known a father’s or a mother’s love. At her words, Pericles lifted up his face and beheld something in her features and the expression of her countenance which held his gaze entranced. He asked eagerly her name and the story of her birth. When she told him she was called Marina, and commenced relating her his