Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/179

Rh Years passed, and still the king was anxiously expecting to see the gentleman that had green blinds make his appearance. One day, whilst standing at the palace window, he saw a splendid carriage pass, with green painted windows, blinds of the same colour, and two lackeys also in green livery. The king instantly ordered the carriage to be stopped, and what was his joy to find that inside it there sat the identical noble man with the golden hair and beard, and silver teeth! He called his daughter, and asked her if the gentleman in the carriage was the nobleman she was waiting for. She replied, full of joy, that it was; but she was immediately after filled with such deep melancholy that she herself could not account for, and which surprised everyone in the palace who had expected to see her so happy.

The gentleman of the green blinds was asked into the palace, and said that he had come because he knew the princess wished to marry him; and that he wished the marriage to take place as soon as possible.

The marriage was accordingly solemnized next day, and the moment the festivities were over he started with the princess for his own country.

The carriage in which they travelled seemed all at once to be flying high above the ground—now over fields and forests—now over seas, rivers and their bridges; skimming over the houses and trees on their way, as if by magic. At last they found themselves