_THE MAKING OF THE OPAL_
The opal was the last of the precious stones to be made. And this washow it happened.
Long, long ago--so long ago that no one had ever seen a ruby or asapphire or an emerald--there was a Princess who had a great manyfriends among the fairies. Because they loved her they called her theDear Princess, and the country in which she lived was known as theCrystal Mountain. It was the delight of the fairies to do her bidding,to fly and fly over hill and dale to fetch her anything she wished tohave. Sometimes she wished to have very curious things, because all theordinary things that Princesses like to have had been brought to herlong ago by the fairies. If she wanted things that no one had ever heardof before, the fairies would set to work to make them for her. One dayshe said--
"Oh, Fairies dear, I am going to be married. I am going to marry thePrince of the Far Land over the Hill, and the wedding is to be thegrandest ever seen. My dress is lovely: it was cut out of a rainbow onpurpose for me, and trimmed with the edge of a sunset cloud. But what_am_ I to wear in my hair?"
Now, the Princess's hair hung over her in dark waves, like a long cloak.
"Flowers!" cried the fairies. "Quick--quick--let us fly for flowers totwist in the Dear Princess's hair!"
So they all flew away, some in one direction and some in another, whilethe Dear Princess of the Crystal Mountain sat and waited, with hercloud of hair hanging round her.
Very soon she saw them flying back, some from gardens and some fromorchards, and some from the hills where the heather grew, and some fromcountry lanes where the flowers were very sweet, and some from hothouseswhere the flowers were very rare. Wherever they came from they were allladen with flowers. Some brought roses, red and white and yellow; somebrought heavy white lilies; some brought long trails of honeysuckle.Some were carrying great bundles of forget-me-nots; others had strangeflowers from distant countries; others had bunches of golden daffodils.They crowded round the Dear Princess, and laid the flowers in greatheaps beside her.
"Wear my roses!" cried one. "See how the crimson of them glows in yourdark hair!"
"Wear my daffodils!" cried another. "See how they shine like gold!"
"Wear my lilies!" cried a third, "for they match your lily-face!"
Then they all held up the flowers against the Princess's dark hair, tosee which looked the best; red, or yellow, or white. The Princessherself found it very hard to make up her mind, because they were all sobeautiful that she would have liked to wear them all. First she choseone, and then another, and then she thought that, after all, a thirdwould look the best.
This went on for so long that at last the flowers died.
"Ah, look," said the Princess, "the flowers are dead!"
"Oh dear, oh dear!" cried all the fairies together. "The flowers aredead! What shall we do now?"
The Princess sat down among the dead flowers, and thought.
"I must have something that will not die," she said at last, "somethingstronger than flowers. In my dark hair I must have something that willgleam and sparkle. I must have colour that will not fade, a dewdrop thatwill not melt, a spark of fire that will not go out."
"Dear me!" said the fairies; and they said no more for some time, forthey were thinking that the Dear Princess wanted a good deal.
After a time three of them began talking together all at once, as if avery good idea had suddenly come into their heads.
Then these three spread their wings and flew away. They flew far awayfrom the Princess and her palace, far from the other fairies, up and upto the heights of the Crystal Mountain. Then each of them chipped off alittle piece of the rock at the top of the mountain, and each, as he didit, laughed aloud gleefully. Then each little fairy tucked his chip ofrock under his arm; and they all nodded to each other, still laughing,and spread their wings again, and flew off in different directions.
The first of the three, with his chip of rock under his arm, flewstraight to the sea-shore. On the shore, close to the shining blue sea,there lived a very nice mermaid who was a great friend of the fairy's.So he flew to her with the bit of crystal rock and said--
"Mermaid, mermaid, here is a chip from the Crystal Mountain. Take itfor me, and dip it into the darkest and deepest deep of the blue sea."
So the mermaid took the crystal chip and dived down with it into thedarkest and deepest deep of the blue sea.
Now, it is well known that whatever is touched by the deepest deep ofthe sea is changed by it for ever, and becomes itself a part of the sea.And so, when the mermaid brought the chip of crystal back to the fairyit had become like a chip of the sea--shining and gleaming and deep,deep blue.
And that was the first sapphire.
And when the second fairy left the Crystal Mountain with his little bitof rock under his arm, he flew to the great forest where the wood-pixieslived.
"Pixies, pixies," he called to them, "here is a chip from the CrystalMountain. Take it for me into the darkest and deepest deep of the greenforest, and do not bring it back to me till the green of the forest hassunk into its very heart."
Of course you must have noticed that the wood-pixies have the gift ofmaking things green; for every one knows that in the forest where theylive everything is green--the trees and the grass and the soft moss. Andthe shade under the trees is dark, dark green, and here and there wherethe sun peeps through, the green is very bright. So the pixies took thechip of crystal away with them into the darkest deep of the forest andlaid it in the green moss where the green shadows were darkest under thegreen trees. And after a time the magic of the pixies began to work, andthe greenness of the forest sank into the very heart of the crystal.Then they carried it back to the fairy, and he saw that the greenness ofthe deep shadows had sunk into the heart of the crystal, and because thesunshine had peeped through the trees there was a glint of light in it.
And that was the first emerald.
When the third fairy left the Crystal Mountain with his little bit ofrock under his arm, he flew away to that other mountain where thefire-gnomes worked underground. At the top of the fire-mountain therewas a great hole, and when the fairy stood at the edge and looked in hecould see the gnomes at work, keeping the fire alight that warms theworld. So he called out to them--
"Fire-gnomes, fire-gnomes, here is a chip from the Crystal Mountain.Take it for me into the hottest and deepest deep of the fire, and keepit there until its heart is glowing red."
So the fire-gnomes took the chip of crystal and carried it down, downinto the deepest deep of the fire that warms the world. And the firesparkled and glowed and wrapped it round. And before very long thecrystal began to glow too as it lay in the fire, for of course a firethat is hot enough to warm the world is hot enough to warm a chip ofrock. So the fire-gnomes picked it up again and carried it back to thefairy who was waiting at the edge of the great hole; and he saw that theheart of the crystal chip was crimson and glowing like a fire.
And that was the first ruby.
Then he flew away from the fire-mountain with the ruby safely tuckedunder his arm, and went back to the Dear Princess. At the same momentthe fairy with the emerald arrived from the forest, and the fairy withthe sapphire came back from the sea. They flew to the feet of the DearPrincess, and held out the beautiful stones to her.
The Princess clapped her hands and cried--
"Oh, how splendid, how splendid they are! The blue is like a bit of thedark sea, and the green is like the shade of the forest with the sunpeeping in, and the red is like the red heart of the fire!"
Then the first fairy laid the sapphire against her dark hair.
"You must wear it on your wedding-day," he said.
But the second fairy held up the emerald and said--
"No, no, this is what you must wear!"
And the third fairy laughed and cried--
"How silly they are! Any one can see that red is the colour to wear inyour dark hair!"
The Princess looked from one to the other and was puzzled. She thoughtall the stones w
ere so beautiful that she would have liked to wear themall; but she did not think they would look really nice all together.
"What am I to do?" she said, puckering up her forehead. "How can Ichoose when they are all so beautiful?"
Then there was a very long discussion about it. Each of the threefairies wished his own stone to be worn, and the Princess could not tellwhat to do.
"Each of them is quite beautiful," she said, "but, dear fairies, I amobliged to say that I do _not_ like the look of them all together!"
All this time a very small fairy had been sitting quietly in the corner,saying nothing, but thinking a great deal. He came forward now andspoke.
"Give the stones to me," he said, "and I will settle the question."
So he took the three stones and flew away, far up into the sky, abovethe Princess's dark head, above the houses and the trees, above theCrystal Mountain even, into the misty sunshine behind the clouds.
Then he called to the sun-fairies--
"Sun-fairies, sun-fairies, melt me these stones in your furnace. Meltthem, and mix them, and make them into one stone. And soften theircolours with mist of sunshine, so that my Dear Princess may wear themall together in her hair."
So the sun-fairies carried the three stones away, and melted them allinto one, and mixed them with mist of sunshine, and it lay over thecolours like a cloud. And then there was only one stone, but it was agreat big one, and as beautiful as all the others put together. For, yousee, that was just what it was.
The small fairy took it carefully into his tiny arms and flew down againthrough the clouds, past the Crystal Mountain and past the tops of thetrees, to the feet of the Dear Princess.
He held up the great gleaming stone to her, and she thought she hadnever seen anything so beautiful. For the blue of the sea was in it, andthe green shade of the forest, and the red heart of fire. And over thecolours the mist of sunshine lay like a veil.
And that was the first opal.
Of course the Dear Princess of the Crystal Mountain wore the great opalon the day that she was married to the Prince of the Far Land over theHill. And when she was an old, old Princess, with white hair instead ofdark, she often showed the opal to her grandchildren, and told them howit was made of blue sea, and green shadows, and fire, melted alltogether by the fairies and mixed with mist of sunshine.
OF COURSE THE DEAR PRINCESS ... WORE THE GREAT OPAL ONTHE DAY THAT SHE WAS MARRIED]