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The Pansy baby, Chapter 1 · The Golden Porch

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  Section fourteen of The Golden Porch. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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  recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
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  visit LibriVox dot org. Read by Claire, The Golden Porch by W.
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  M. L. Hutchinson, The Pansy Baby, Chapter one, King Ayptoes
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  of Arcadia was a lonely man when he grew old, for he had neither
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  son nor daughter, and his queen was dead. There were no cities in
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  his country, which was a land of wooded hills and green dales dotted with
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  countless sheep, and few strangers crossed the steep mountains that shut it in on
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  every side. All the king's wealth was in his flocks and herds. His
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  palace was built of oaken timbers, and no one ever wished to make war
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  upon him, because he had little silver and less gold than his dwelling to
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  tempt a spoiler. So there was nothing for him to do after he was
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  grown too old to go hunting, save to drive his sleek mules and well
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  burnished car about the uplands, visiting his sheep folds, or the solitary huts
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  of his woodcutters and goatherds. One day in the summertime, while he watched
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  the sheep shearing on a hillside, two serfs came out of the oak woods
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  where they heard it as swine driving a fat hog before them for the shearer's
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  supper, and the elder was carrying a little child on his shoulder. Is
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  that child, your swineherd, said King Ayptose. How come it then,
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  that she is arrayed so finely in it, as white of skin as any
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  princess. She is none of mine, Lord King, said the swineherd,
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  it was, but yesterday I found her in the woods, sleeping alone under
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  a pine tree. I have brought her hither to know if it may please
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  you to have her reared in your house, For it is well seen she
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  is no peasant brat, but one that will scarce thrive on my rough fare
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  of roots and acorn bread. The king looked upon the foundling, and his
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  heart was touched by her flower like face. I will wear her as my
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  own, he said, Surely the gods have sent her to bring joy into
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  my childless house. So the child was brought up in the palace, and
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  King Ayptose loved her as a daughter and gave her the name Evadne. She
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  could remember nothing before her finding by the swineherd, except that she had fallen
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  asleep under the pine tree, in the lap of a lovely lady with tresses
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  black as knight, who sang her a lullaby. Was that my mother?
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  She would ask the king, and what was her name? Then he would
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  answer, certainly, it was your mother. And her name is Piatine,
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  for Piotine means lady of the pine. And he guessed that Evadne's mother was
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  the wood fairy who haunted that pine tree. But he never guessed that his
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  fairy herself had sent him her child to take care of because she knew her
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  tree was going to fall, and as soon as that happened, she would
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  be no more. This is the fate of all the wood fairies, for
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  they are the souls of the trees they inhabit, and they always know when
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  their own tree is about to die. Therefore, Evadne's fairy mother had invisibly
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  led the swineherd where her babe lay sleeping, and she whispered take her to
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  the king so softly in his ear that he fancied the words were only a
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  thought which came to him while he heard the pine tree rustle in the breeze.
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  Now, Ivadne, when she grew a maiden, seemed beyond all doubt
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  the true daughter of that lovely lady of the pine her Slinn. Her body
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  had the grace of a tall sapling, and her hair the blackness of fir
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  woods when you see them against the sunset. That dusky hair is the chief
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  glory of the pine fairies, though some say it is less beautiful than the
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  auburn curls of their sisters, who are ladies of the beaches, or the
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  flaxen locks of those others who haunt is the silver birch. King Iyapduce thought
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  it not strange that the child of such a mother should love to wander in
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  the woodlands, gathering flowers and berries, rather than to weave at the loom
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  embroider robes like other maidens. Nor did he ever hinder Evadne from roaming early
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  and late to her heart's content. But as time went on, it was
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  told him once and again by his herdsmen and shepherds that she wandered not alone.
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  They had seen a golden haired stranger walking beside her through forest glades,
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  or sitting at her feet in some mountain meadow. The king was grieved that
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  his foster child should meet a lover in secret, as though she feared he
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  would forbid her the desire of her heart. And he said to her,
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  my child, you are of the age when maidens are wetted, and it
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  may well be that you have seen some youth whom you think were worthy of
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  your hand. If it be so, fear not to tell me, for
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  I would gladly see you made a bride before I die, though my house
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  will lack its one jewel when you leave it. Evadni answered, blushing rosy
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  red, more than a father have you been to me? And I will
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  never leave you. I have seen no mortal whom I would choose for my
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  lord. Yet after this she kept away from the King's presence and would often
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  pass whole days and nights in the summer woods. At last, he was
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  sure that the maiden had some secret which she would not tell him, and
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  he thought he would journey to the Holy Temple at Delphi and ask counsel of
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  the priestess, for his mind was sorely troubled by this thing. Many leagues
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  he journeyed in his mule chariot over the Arcadian mountain passes and over the lands
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  beyond, till he came to the rocky glen that is called Delphi, where
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  the god Apollo gives oracles to men from his golden shrine, speaking by the
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  mouth of his priestess. Now, the inner chamber of that temple is built
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  over a deep cleft in the rock, and a three legged stool of gold
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  is set over the cleft, whereon the priestess sits when she makes reply to
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  those who inquire of the god. For a cloudy vapor rises out of the
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  cleft at certain seasons, and while it floats round the priestess, she falls
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  into a trance and chants divine words of prophecy or counsel, according as Apollo
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  wills her to give his answer. King Ieptos offered sacrifice and burnt sweet incense
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  on the temporaled altar, and the priestess bade him speak his request to Apollo,
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  while she entered the inner shrine, where none else might set foot,
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  and took her seat on the golden stool. Then he prayed to know why
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  it was that Evadne passed all her days in the lonely woods, and kept
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  her doings there a secret, even from him to whom she had ever been
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  dutiful and loving, Lord of Truth. He said, show me what will
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  come of this, be it good or evil. No longer may I endure
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  to live in fear of some mischief, to befall dreading from day to day,
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  lest the maiden come home no more, and I lose the light of
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  my old eyes forever. As the King made an end of speaking, the
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  cloud filled the holy place and hid the form of the priestess from his sight.
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  He knew that it was her voice which came to him out of the
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  cloud. Yet now it rang so loud and silver clear, that it seemed
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  the voice of the God himself, King of Arcadia, saying, return in
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  peace to your home, for great joy waits you there. Behold. I
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  even I myself gave a gift to Fairyvodny in the green wood, and charged
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  her to watch it well, keeping it hidden from all eyes. But now
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  the time is at hand when my secret purpose shall be revealed, and you
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  shall know the blessing that I have wrought you to recompense your love for your
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  foster child. Say, therefore to the maiden. Apollo bids you show me
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  his gift, and in token that it is a true message, say also
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  the gift he gave you on that day, when laying aside your scarlet girdle,
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  you rested by the spring where you had filled your silvern pitcher joyfully.
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  Then the king sped him home again, but Avodny met him with never a
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  smile, and her face was pale as death. And when she heard the
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  message of the God, she broke into a long weeping. Alas my father,
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  she said, at last, these five days past, I have sought
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  in vain for a poul gift, till my heart was like to break awhile
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  I kept it safe in a green bower that I built with hazel twigs and
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  a lonely dell. But now it is gone. I know not how unless
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  some wild beast has carried it away. What can the gift be? Then,
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  said Ieptose, if wild beasts could make prey of it, tell me
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  at least what it is, since you cannot show it me, As the
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  God bade, I will tell you, She said, both what it is
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  and how it came to me. Many a time I had sight in the
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  woods of beautiful shapes that I knew were not human creatures. Some of them
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  were like my fairy mother, and there were others that rose out of the
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  mountain streams or skipped on the sheer crags. I longed to speak with them,
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  but always they vanished when I came near, till at last I saw
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  one more glorious than them all, whose countenance shone like the sun. Golden
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  haired he was, and had a bow and quiver slung on his white shoulder.
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  He did not fly me like the rest, but gave me gentle greeting,
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  and we had sweet speech together. Then and many another day. That
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  gracious friend told me not his name, but I learnt it ere long,
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  for I heard the wood fairies whispering Apollo as we walked together in the forest
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  glades. And I was afraid, for who was I to have companionship?
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  Was so great a god? But Apollo bade me have no fear. Only
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  a little while could he stay in Arcadia, and then he must leave me
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  for his heavenly dwelling. And I, he said, must content me with
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  a lot of a mortal maiden in the house of my foster father. And
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  he left me at last one noontide, beside a spring where I had given
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  him drink from my silver and pitcher, and loosed my scarlet girdle, and
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  leaned down to sleep. In my sleep methought that he laid a purple pansy
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  on my bosom, and said, I give you heartsease, givadni for a
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  farewell gift. Guard it well, and speak of it to none until the
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  hour that shall be told you. At that I woke, and behold he
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  was gone, But instead of the pansy, a dark eyed babe was lying
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  on my breast. This is a strange marvel, said Iyptos. Yet now
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  I see plainly the purpose of the God. Doubtless he has given this child
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  for a gladness and a blessing to my house. Take comfort, daughter,
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  for he will surely be found, and Apollo will not have suffered harm to
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  befall him. Then the king and all his men made great search in the
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  woods, and Evodny also went with them. At close of day, they
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  came upon a dingle filled breast high with fern, and heard a cooing sound
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  like baby laughter. In the midst of the covert. Evodny sprang through the
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  tangled bracken Ayptoes, following with the best speed of his old limbs. A
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  wondrous sight it was that met their eyes in the heart of the break.
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  There nestled in a bed of pansies, lay the lost child, his tender
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  body aglow with the golden and purple gleams from the flowers that burned like jewels,
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  and the broad rays of sunset. On either side of him was coiled
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  a bright eyed snake, holding in its mouth a piece of honeycomb. And
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  with that they fed the pansy baby, while he stroked their emerald necks,
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  laughing in delight. But Avodny trembled for the child, and at her cry
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  of dread, those two strange guardians glided away. Then she caught him in
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  her arms and gave him to the king, saying, father, Apollo's gift
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  is to you. Also, let this boy be a son to you in
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  your old age. So they returned to the palace glad at heart, and
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  Avodny called the child I Almos, which in the speech of Arcadia meant heart
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  sees section fourteen.