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Show THE LAND OF THE BLUE ! FLOWER. '": 1 By Fraancis Hodgsen Burnett. II. I So, as the King grew day by day J the world seemed to grow fuller of 1 wonders and beauties. There were I the sun and the moon, the storm 1 and the stars, the straight-falling I lances of rain, the springing of the growing things, the flight of the eagle, the songs and nests of birds, the changing seasons, and the work of the great brown earth giving its harvest and fruits. " All these wonders in one world and you a man upon it," said The Ancient One. "Hold high your head when you walk, young King, and often of-ten look upward. Never forget one marvel among them all." He forgot nothing. He lived looking look-ing out on all things from great clear, joyous eyes. Upon his mountain moun-tain crag he never heard a paltry or uubcautiful word, nor knew of the existence of unfriendliness or 'baseness 'base-ness in thought. As soon as he was old enough to go out alone he roamed roam-ed about the mountain and feared neither storm nor wild beasts. There had never passed through his mind the thought that the beasts were not his friends. He did not know that there were men who killed their wild brothers. In the courtyard of the castle he learned to ride- and to perform feats B ! ot strength. Because he had not lchmcd to be afraid he never feared . that he could not do a thing. He grew so strong and beautiful that when he was ten years old he was as tall as a youth of sixteen, and when he was sixteen he was already like a young giant. This was because be-cause he had been brother to the storm and had lived close to the strength and splendor of the stars. IOnly once, when h was a boy of twelve, a strange and painful thing happened to him. From his kingdom king-dom in the plains there ha'd been sent to him a beautiful young horse which had been bred for him. Never had so magnificant an animal been born in the royal stable. When he was 'brought into the courtyard the boy King's eyes shone with joy. lie spent the greater part of the morning morn-ing in exercising and leaping him over barriers'. The Ancient One in his tower chamber heard his shouts of exultation and encouragement. At last the King went out to try him on the winding mountain road. When he returned he went at once to The I Ancient One who when he raised his eyes from his book, looked at him gravely. "Let us climb to the battlements," the boy said. "We must talk together." togeth-er." So they went, and when they stood looking out on the world below the eyes of The Ancient One were still more grave. "Tell mc, young King." "Something strange has happened," King Amor answered. "I have felt something I have not felt before. 1 was riding my horse when he saw something which he refused to pass. ' It was a young leopard watching us from a tree. My horse reared and snorted. He would not listen to me, I but backed and wheeled around. 1 tried in vain to persuade him, and suddenly, when I saw I could not make him obey me, this strange, new feeling rushed through all my body. T grew hot and my blood seemed to boil in my veins. I shouted out harsh, ugly sounds I forgot that all things .- brothers I lifted my hand rind clenched it and struck my horse. I loved him no longer; I felt that he no longer loved me. I am hot and wearied from it still. I feel no more joy. Was it pain I felt? I have never felt pain and do not know." "Tt was n wiong thing," answered i ii ii i mm mm CThc Ancient One. "It was anger. When a man is overcome by anger he loses his strength, he loses his power over himself and over others, he throws away time in which he might have gained the end he most desires. There is no time for anger in the world." So King Amor learned the uscless-ncss uscless-ncss of auger. That night he lay under the sky looking at the stars and drawing calm from them. "If you think only of the stillness and the stars," The Ancient One had said to him, "you will forget your anger. If you put inlo your mind a beautiful thought it will take the place of the evil one. There is no room for darkness in the mind of him who thinks only of the stars." Upon the plcatcau at the foot of the crag on which the castle stood there were marvelous, walled gardens. gar-dens. The Queen of the first King iNfordrcth had planned them, but after af-ter her death they had been left to run wild. Since King A'mor had been brought to the mountain-top The Ancient One and his servitor had made them bloom again. As soon as he was old enough to hold a small spade Amor had worked in the beds. All things grew for him, and birds and bees hummed; butterflies butter-flies flocked around him as he labored. labor-ed. He knew what the bees hummed; hum-med; butcrflics taught him strange things; and birds told him of then travels and brought him seeds from far countries whicli he planted in his gardens and which bloomed into wond'rous flowers. A swallo, who loved him very much and who had seen many wonderful lands, once brought him a seed from an Emperor's Em-peror's secret gnrden, which none but four of his own slaves had ever seen. King Amor planted the seed in a plcasance of its own. It grew into the most beautiful blue flower the world had ever known. Its blossoms blos-soms hung from a tall stem, and in its first year it gave a thousand seers. Each year Amor planted more flowers, flow-ers, and each year they grew taller and more wonderful nd blossomed n longer time. When the summer wind blew it shook out clouds of delicate fragrance that sometimes floated down the mountain until the wretched dwellers in King Mord-rGth's Mord-rGth's Land forgot their quarrels and misery, and lifted their heads to in- .I. I, i tii ii 'i hale it and ask each other what was being done upon the mounttain. Each year King Amor gathered the seeds and stored them in an unused tower of the castle. Taller and stronger he grew, and wiser and more beautiful. His eyes were so marvelous in their straight-glanced straight-glanced splendor that when he looked look-ed at a man they seemed to read his soul and command its truth to answer hint He was so powerful that he could break an iron bar in two pieces with his hands. When he was twenty years old The Ancient One took him up on the battlements, and giving him a strong glass told him to look down upon the capital city on the plain and sec what was being done there. "I sec many people gathered in crowds," Amor said, when he had looked for a few moments. "I sec bright colors and waving pennants and triumphal arches. It is as if some great ceremony were being prepared pre-pared for." "The people arc making ready for your coronation," said The Ancient One. "Tomorrow you will be led in state down the mountain and acclaimed King. It was to fit you to reign over your kingdom that 1 taught you to know all the wonders of thought. That which you have i i m i .i . . ii i WWM Vt M learned from your brothers here your M go down the mountain to teach your H brothers there. You will sec things H which arc not beautiful and those H which arc unclean, but hold high H your head when you walk, young, H King, and never forget the sun, th H wind and the stars." H To himself as he looked on hirn H The Ancient One said: "When licM H .stands before them they will thinlc H he is a young god." . y H (To be Continued.) ' H |