Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/303

Rh gazed on. Since everything seemed to be enchanted in this place, he thought she must be the goddess of the isle. He spoke to her thus, but she told him that she was no goddess, only a simple maiden, and as mortal as himself. And as she had never seen any human shape before save that of her father and his two servants, the handsome young prince seemed to her something almost supernatural, and like a hero of romance. Thus it happened, that from the first moment they looked into each other’s eyes they loved each other.

Although it was a part of Prospero’s plans that these two should love, yet he did not desire that his daughter should be too easily won; so at this moment he advanced and claimed Ferdinand as his prisoner. The prince tried to resist, and was about to draw his sword at being so rudely attacked, when his arm was instantly made powerless by the force of magic, and he was obliged to yield. He followed Prospero into his cave, and in spite of Miranda’s tears and entreaties, was treated as a captive. Prospero, affecting the manner of a severe master, set him to the task of removing some heavy logs, and piling them up near the grotto.

During all this time King Alonzo, Antonio, Sebastian, and the rest, were in another part of the island. They, too, heard all sorts of strange