PROLOGUE.
THE STORY OF THE WINDS.
Once upon a time the Queen Consort of His Majesty the South Wind, a very lovely lady of variable moods but decided opinions, declared that she must have a domain of her own, wherein she might be absolute ruler. Of course the Queen Consorts of the other three brothers immediately followed her example, and to each of them was granted an island empire. Queen South Wind, being affectionate and loyal, as well as high-spirited and clever, chose the islands of the Southern Seas because they were in the vicinity of her husband’s dominions.
But Her Majesty was so hard to please in regard to a site for her residence that all her sisters-in-law were settled for ages before she had decided which of her islands suited her health and requirements. One was too small, another too big; one had no mountains, another no forests; one was too warm, another too cold.
She was growing very impatient, when one day, as she was sailing home from Fiji to her husband’s palace, she met his cousin, Prince Subterranean Wind.
Prince Subterranean was a very retiring man and a great student. He seldom left his own dominions, but he was always astonishing the world with some fresh phenomena, and the results of his scientific experiments were generally such as to strike awe into even the most learned savants. But in spite of his reclusive habits he was very susceptible to beauty, and the Queen was looking unusually well that day.
She told him how sadly disappointed she was in the group of islands belonging to her, for although very beautiful they were all far too equable in climate to please her, scarcely varying from one year’s end to the other, and far too constant to one description of scenery.
“What I should like,” she said dreamily, “would be a country of many climates. I should like to breakfast in the mild and beautifying atmosphere that gives to my sister of Erin so lovely a complexion; perform my matutinal duties in the brisk, invigorating chilliness of Siberia; prepare for the afternoon by a shower-bath of warm rain; and for the rest of the day enjoy the languorous temperature of the tropics, with its soft, balmy air, sweet scents, luscious fruits, gay flowers, and then be braced at night by the sharp air of Northern climes. If I wished to express myself angrily, a moment’s notice should provide a tempest; if I desired to forget my state for a time and be a tomboy once more,
