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Date
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30 March 1878
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Rights Holder
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Charles Eden
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University of Exeter
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Transcript
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The princess of Skyland.
Once upon a time there lived in Skyland a little old witch, who kept an academy for young ladies, and the young ladies that she taught were all princesses, daughters of the great King Helios and his wife Selene. The old witch did not, however, teach them any of the accomplishments such as the young ladies of England learn, the principal thing she taught them was to pluck geese, and this they did to perfection, and they put the feathers that they had plucked into great storehouses built for the purpose, and in the winter they distributed them among the poor, to make into warm clothing for them; and these storehouses got fuller and fuller, because there were such mild winters in Skyland that the people did not need warm clothing. Now the winter in Skyland does not come at the same time that our winter does; when we have cold, frosty, days it is quite warm in Skyland, and then it is that Helios remains in his own dominions, and attends to the affairs of his kingdom, but when we have beautiful warm summer days, we see that the very sky itself is all blue and pinched with cold, and King Helios appears, and looks down upon the earth, as if he wanted to come and enjoy the warmth there.
But there came a day, a beautiful, warm, summer day it was in Skyland, when Boreas, the mighty king of the winds, demanded the hand of the lovely princess Ceres, for his son, Zephyrus. But Ceres had been before promised to the handsome prince Hyems, as soon as she should be old enough, so Helios would not give her in marriage to Zephyrus. This made Boreas very angry and he said that if Helios would not let him have his daughter Ceres, he would come and make war upon Skyland and take her by force. So, as Helios remained firm, war was declared, and Boreas came over with a great army to take the princess. The old witch, and the other princesses of the academy, were very much terrified when they heard of the intentions of Boreas, for they had heard many rumours of his greatness and power. But Ceres was the most frightened of all the princesses, as she well might be, for she loved Hyems, and she did not want to be taken away and given to Zephyrus. So, when she heard that Boreas and his army were close at hand, she hid in one of the storehouses, among the feathers of the geese, and when he came up, she was nowhere to be found. This made the mighty king very angry, and he caused search to be made for the young princess; but the old witch contrived that in whatever storehouse he searched, Ceres should have just left it, and so, though he scattered the feathers far and wide over the land, till they fell down to the earth and formed a white covering over the ground, and the trees and houses, and the little boys built up great white statues, and pelted each other with lumps of feathers, calling them snowballs, yet the fair princess eluded him so carefully, that the angry king returned home again without her; and then he swept down with all his train to earth, to see if by chance the princess had fallen thither among the feathers, and he made the air so cold with his freezing breath, that the little boys had to leave off their snowballing and stay indoors until he had gone.
After the departure of Boreas from Skylands, peace again reigned in the country, and Ceres came forth from her hiding-place, and continued to pluck geese with the other princesses, under the old witches directions, but still every now and then Boreas comes with his army, and again the frightened princess has to hide herself in the storehouses, while the feathers are scattered down to the earth by the hand of the rude king, and she longs for the time when she shall be old enough to marry the young prince Hyems. But in the meantime we may often see the old King Helios, gazing down upon the bright days of summer, longing to be in the warmth of our earth; and, if we look up in the night, we may see Queen Selene and the princesses, smiling benignly upon us, for in Skyland it is not proper for the ladies to appear in the daytime. And we may also hear the sighs and the curses of the great King Boreas and feel his icy breath and know when we see the snow falling, that he is still trying to find the gentle Ceres in the storehouses of feathers, and take her to be the bride of his son Zephyrus.
30th March. Diana
Russia
My Cold Bath: A Letter to the Editor