“Here's a palm-leaf fan for the Princess,”the South Wind said.“It was given to me by the old phoenix,who was the only one of his kind in the world.On it he scratched with his beak a history of the hundred years that he lived,so she can read it herself.I watched the phoenix bird set fire to her nest,and sat there while she burned to death,just like a Hindoo widow.What a crackling there was of dry twigs,what smoke,and what a smell of smoldering!Finally it all burst into flames,and the old phoenix was reduced to ashes,but her egg lay white-hot in the blaze.With a great bang it broke open,and the young phoenix flew out of it.Now he is the ruler over all the birds,and he is the only phoenix bird in all the world.As his greetings to the Princess,he thrust a hole in the palm leaf I am giving you.”
“Let's have a bite to eat,”said the mother of the winds.
As they sat down to eat the roast stag,the Prince took a place beside the East Wind,and they soon became fast friends.
“Tell me,”said the Prince,“who is this Princess you've been talking so much about,and just where is the Garden of Eden?”
“Ah,ha!”said the East Wind.“Would you like to go there?Then fly with me tomorrow.I must warn you,though,no man has been there since Adam and Eve.You have read about them in the Bible?”
“Surely,”the Prince said.
“After they were driven out,the Garden of Paradise sank deep into the earth,but it kept its warm sunlight,its refreshing air,and all of its glories.The queen of the fairies lives there on the Island of the Blessed,where death never comes and where there is everlasting happiness.Sit on my back tomorrow and I shall take you with me.I think it can be managed.But now let's stop talking,for I want to sleep.”
And then they all went to sleep.When the Prince awoke the next morning,it came as no small surprise to find himself high over the clouds.He was seated on the back of the East Wind,who carefully held him safe.They were so far up in the sky that all the woods,fields,rivers,and lakes looked as if they were printed on a map spread beneath them.
“Good morning,”said the East Wind.“You might just as well sleep a little longer.There's nothing very interesting in this flat land beneath us,unless you care to count churches.They stand out like chalk marks upon the green board.”
What he called “the green board”was all the fields and pastures.
“It was not very polite of me to leave without bidding your mother and brothers farewell,”the Prince said.
“That's excusable,when you leave in your sleep,”the East Wind told him,as they flew on faster than ever.
One could hear it in the tree tops.All the leaves and branches rustled as they swept over the forest,and when they crossed over lakes or over seas the waves rose high,and tall ships bent low to the water as if they were drifting swans.
As darkness gathered that evening,it was pleasant to see the great cities with their lights twinkling here and spreading there,just as when you burn a piece of paper and the sparks fly one after another.At this sight the Prince clapped his hands in delight,but the East Wind advised him to stop it and hold on tight,or he might fall and find himself stuck upon a church steeple.
The eagle in the dark forest flew lightly,but the East Wind flew more lightly still.The Cossack on his pony sped swiftly across the steppes,but the Prince sped still more swiftly.
“Now,”said the East Wind,“you can view the Himalayas,the highest mountains in Asia.And soon we shall reach the Garden of paradise.”
They turned southward,where the air was sweet with flowers and spice.Figs and pomegranates grew wild,and on untended vines grew red and blue clusters of grapes.They came down here,and both of them stretched out on the soft grass,where flowers nodded in the breeze as if to say:“Welcome back.”
“Are we now in the Garden of Paradise?”the Prince asked.
“Oh,no!”said the East Wind.“But we shall come to it soon.Do you see that rocky cliff,and the big cave,where the vines hang in a wide curtain of greenery?That's the way we go.Wrap your coat well about you.Here the sun is scorching hot,but a few steps and it is as cold as ice.The bird that flies at the mouth of the cave has one wing in summery and the other in wintry air.”
“So this is the way to the Garden of Paradise,”said the Prince,as they entered the cave.
Brer-r-r!How frosty it was there,but not for long.The East Wind spread his wings,and they shone like the brighest flames.But what a cave that was!Huge masses of rock,from which water was trickling,hung in fantastic shapes above them.Sometimes the cave was so narrow that they had to crawl on their hands and knees,sometimes so vast that it seemed that they were under the open sky.The cave resembled a series of funeral chapels,with mute organ pipes and banners turned to stone.
“We are going to the Garden of Paradise through the gates of death,are we not?”the Prince asked.
The East Wind answered not a word,but pointed to a lovely blue light that shone ahead of them.The masses of stone over their heads grew more and more misty,and at last they looked up at a clear white cloud in the moonlight.The air became delightfully clement,as fresh as it is in the hills,and as sweetly scented as it is among the roses that bloom in the valley.
The river which flowed there was clear as the air itself,and the fish in it were like silver and gold.Purple eels,that at every turn threw off blue sparks,frolicked about in the water,and the large leaves of the aquatic flowers gleamed in all of the rainbow's colors.The flowers themselves were like a bright orange flame,which fed on the water just as a lamplight is fed by oil.
A strong marble bridge,made so delicately and artistically that it looked as if it consisted of lace and glass pearls,led across the water to the Island of the Blessed,where the Garden of Paradise bloomed.