Do you not see that he
is the younger brother of our husbands? I beheld him stretch out his
arms to them as they passed. Who can tell but that he may lead them away
from us? Let us tell our servants to lie in wait for him and deliver us
from such a danger."
So said the eldest sister, of the golden eyes. Alas, I fear that the
people of the under-waters are sometimes quite as shocking as those of
the world above.
Later that evening, just as the poor sailor was standing by one of the
great doors, a dozen or so stout rogues in the service of the eldest
sister fell upon him, bound him with cords, and dragged him through the
water to the royal stables.
Now the people of the under-waters, having no horses,--for sea horses
are but tiny creatures,--had tamed great dolphins to carry them about. A
hundred of these monsters, each with a bronze ring in his nose, were
ranged along the sides of the stables, and on the fiercest and angriest
of them all, the Princess's servants tied the sailor. How the great
fish, fastened to a bar by a chain and his nose-ring, pulled, rolled,
swerved aside, and thrashed his tail! But all his twistings were of no
avail, for the poor sailor lad was soon fastened to his back with a rope
of seaweed.
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