The Bride of The Dragon King

The Dragon King rises from his sea palace
under the waves.

        The mighty Dragon King, Lung Wang, was chafing in his palace beneath the ocean. For some time he had been growing discontented with his lot, feeling that as a king he was denied many of the pleasures which the common people were enjoying. Young and handsome he wished to go out and see the world for himself ; but if he so much as ventured such a thing, his ministers would shake their heads, exclaiming, " Oh, great king, we beg of you remember that monarchs must not place themselves upon a level with their subjects."
       Many a time when on the point of doing something different which would have given him a day's amusement, he had been thus foiled by the cautious advice of his counselors. At last it seemed as if these men were his enemies, always standing between him and the joys of life. One day he called in his prime minister and said :  
       "Honored sir, tell me why my plan to go on a journey is so extraordinary. Why should I not turn over the kingdom into your hands for a time? You are more than a friend to me, and you are far wiser than I. At this transfer of power neither I nor my kingdom would have any cause of fear."
       " It is not that, Your Highness," answered the old man; " but remember that I am old and likely at any moment to pass away. As for you, as yet you are not married, and have no lawful successor to the crown. Suppose something should happen on this journey which you propose taking, what would be the fate of your kingdom here beneath the sea? I beg you, therefore, to give up your plan for the present. Yield to the arguments of your advisers and take unto yourself a bride. When a son and heir shall be born into your household, then I shall cease trying to keep you from following your own inclinations - your kingdom will be provided for."
       Lung Wang was moved by the old man's pleading, and promised to stay at home for the present.
       " However," he said laughingly, " you must provide a bride with whom I shall be thoroughly satisfied. I will not marry as kings are wont to wed, but must have a woman for whom I may feel the warmest love."
       The elder, much pleased with the success of his entreaties, promised to find a suitable princess for Lung Wang, one who would satisfy him in every particular. " Give me only a month," he said in parting, " and I can guarantee you perfect happiness."
       But Lung Wang was harder to please than his prime minister had expected. Many an ocean princess was ushered to his palace from some neighboring kingdom, only to meet with his disfavor. The maidens returned to their homes disgraced, and murmured long against the freakish Dragon King who was so difficult to satisfy. As for Lung Wang, he had really been honest in his desire to please his people, but he was loth to sacrifice his own ideas of loveliness for the sake alone of making them contented.
       " What I you would not have me, a king, in the most important matter of a lifetime make a mistake which I should regret forever?" he would say to those who grew too urgent.
       " But if you do not love the one you marry, you can set her aside at will and take another," they replied.
       " Would you counsel me to do an injustice? " was his scornful answer. " In my married life I desire to be a model for my people. It would be small justice, indeed, as you will all confess, for me to set aside an innocent woman merely because I fail to love her. No, far better that I should never take a bride."
       Lung Wang at last began to weary of the fruitless efforts being made in his behalf, and summoning his cabinet, he announced his decision to leave the country for a year of travel. "In going," he said, turning to the prime minister, " I know that I violate the wishes of you and your associates, and yet, you must admit that you have failed entirely to provide the wife whom you promised. No longer can I restrain my desire to travel and to see the world. In one year's time I shall return to you much wiser than I go away,"
       His advisers were forced to yield to his wishes, though with many misgivings, and it was with much sadness that courtiers and people beheld the beloved Dragon King setting forth from his palace. In spite of his strange ideas, they loved him with a devotion such as is shown few rulers by their subjects. The last words he heard them utter as he rose through the waters were prayers for his safe return.
       For almost a year Lung Wang traveled in various lands and empires. Having the power of converting himself into any shape, it was easy for him to gain access to every palace. Fast did he become acquainted with the ways of the great world, and many were the novel ideas that he stored within his mind, thinking with pleasure that he would be able to uplift his people by introducing these reforms in his own domain. But amid the many pleasures with which he was surrounded, there was one thought always in his mind : " I must find some maiden whom I would like to be my queen." With this in view, he inspected the beauties in every palace, but in no case could he say to himself, " I love her and will have her for my bride."
       One day he chanced to find himself beside the great Hoang Ho River. The sight of the yellow water flowing toward the sea made him think of his homeland and the palace beneath the mighty deep. Lung Wang grew homesick as he stood overlooking the river, and yielding to his desire to feel for a little while the waters flowing about him, he changed himself into a little fish, and swam hither and thither in the liquid depths.
       For the first time in many moons he was absolutely happy. Once more he was free to glide through that element with which his birth had made him most familiar. Just as he was beginning to think of returning to the shore, for that very night he was expected at a royal feast, he felt a sudden jerk and knew that he had been caught in the meshes of a fisherman's net. Before he had time to think of resuming his human form, he was drawn from the water and thrown, gasping for breath, into the corner of a small boat.
       " Well, let's put in, boy," he heard a rough voice exclaim.
       Immediately the sampan began moving swiftly toward the shore. Lung Wang struggled frantically to cast himself into the river, for so long as he was out of the water in which the fish belonged, he could not exert his magic powers.
       " Alas ! there is nothing," said he to himself in sorrow, " so weak as a fish out of water."
       As soon as the two men had reached the shore they made their boat fast and started for home, taking with them Lung Wang and two small catfish. A woman met them at the gate, opened it for them, at the same time asking,
       " What luck ? "
       "Not much," growled her husband; "there's too high a wind blowing. Fish are all at the bottom. We got a few to eat, but none for the market."
       In one corner of the small mud house, seated on the brick bed, was a young girl of sixteen engaged in sewing. As the mother entered carrying the fish, the maiden looked up from her work. Lung Wang, gasping for want of the air that was denied him, gazed at her in amazement, for, although dressed in the plainest of garments, she was more beautiful than any woman he had ever looked upon. For a moment he forgot his agony, so great was his admiration for the lovely creature. Alas I how cruel had the fates been to him. He had searched through all the kingdoms of the earth, and the sea, and had failed to find the woman whom he could love ; and behold I in a fisherman's cottage, when he was at the point of death and helpless, there appeared before him one whom he would willingly have taken for his queen !
       His whole being rebelled at the thought of dying when standing thus on the threshold of success. Oh, if only he might attract the girl's attention, perhaps she might have mercy upon him. With a last effort, he jerked away from the woman's grasp and threw himself at the feet of the girl.
       " My! what a beauty, mother! " exclaimed the maiden laying aside her work and stooping to pick up the helpless fish. " Poor thing ! it looks as if it were almost begging me to save it."
       Lung Wang trembled violently as he heard these words of compassion spoken in a voice so sweet and tender that it sounded like music to him.
       " You won't need so many for supper, shall you? " she continued. " I am going to put this one into the water jar and let him have another taste of life."
       So saying, she threw Lung Wang into a large earthen vessel that stood just outside the door, and stood for some time looking at him and admiring the bright red coloring with which the pretended fish was decorated, while he in turn gazed with a new delight at her graceful poise and the healthy flush on her fair cheeks.
       That night after the members of the fisherman's household were abed, Lung Wang heard the voice of the man talking to his wife.
       " Yes, it's a thousand pities that we haven't been able to make a better match for the girl," he was saying. " She is beautiful enough to be the wife of a prince, but we can't seem to do better, because we are poor. They are coming to-morrow to arrange for the wedding."
       " What worries me most," replied the mother, " is that the man is a drunkard, and I fear he will beat her. I can't bear to think of her having to suffer in that way."
       " Well, I don't see how we're going to help ourselves. There's no way of backing out of the business now so far as I can see. It's easier to get into a net than to get out, you know."
       " Quite true," thought Lung Wang, smiling.
       " They will be here to-morrow at noon to settle up affairs and sign the papers."
      " All I know," added the mother, " is that our girl is worthy of a king, and if we were not poor cottagers she could marry one and make him happy."
       At this moment Lung Wang, who, now that he was in the water, possessed all his former powers, suddenly arose from the vessel, and assuming the shape of a man, placed his lips at the window, saying:

             "She who deserves a kingly throne
       Shall have a king to call her own.
       The rarest jewels ever found
       Were gathered from the lowly ground."

       The fisherman and his wife were so astonished at these words that for a minute they were quite unable to speak. At length the man arose and peeped out the door cautiously, but could see nothing. Then growing bolder he went out and tried the gate, but found it locked securely.
       " What can it mean ? " he said, returning to bed. " There is no one in the yard, and no one has departed."
       " The fairies have spoken," said his wife.
       " Nonsense, " he answered, laughing. " We must have been dreaming. Fairies have nothing for such as we."
       " But we had not been asleep," she persisted.
       On the following morning the fisherman's daughter was overcome with excitement at the strange story her parents told her. What could the voice have been that spoke such wonderful words at the window ? Over and over she repeated to herself the lines:

       " The rarest jewels ever found
       Were gathered from the lowly ground."

       Could it be possible that she should indeed have a king for her husband ? But no, it was beyond reason, for this very day at noon her parents would give her to the miller's son, a man whom she felt that she could never love. Another surprise was in store for the mystified girl. When she stooped over the water jar to look at her fish, she found that it had escaped. Here was a second puzzle that none of the family could solve.
       " Next time, better eat them all when they're first caught," observed the practical mother; " one fried fish is worth a dozen swimming."
       At the hour of noon, while the fisherman and his wife were arranging with the miller the details of their daughter's wedding, all were startled at the sound of music and the clatter of horses' hoofs. They rushed to the gate to see what was happening. A company of cavalry had halted in the road, while just behind rode a handsome young man upon a splendid charger. Following, led by a servant, was a second animal of like beauty, decorated with trappings of silver and gold.
       The nobleman dismounted, and approached the humble gateway, smiling at the group assembled there.

       " She who deserves a kingly throne
       Shall have a king to call her own."

       He repeated the words politely, taking the blushing maiden by the hand. No sooner had he touched her, than the simple raiment in which she was clad changed as by magic into delicately-colored silk and wonderfully-woven laces. The peasant girl was now a very princess, and in a moment she was mounted upon the second charger, while Lung Wang sprang again into his saddle.
       With a farewell bow to the maiden's parents, he gave the command to advance, saying :

       " The rarest jewels ever found
       Were gathered from the lowly ground."
              At their feet a shower of pearls and rubies
       fell‚ enough to make the fisher rich for life.

       "Hold tightly," said Lung Wang to his bride, and in a moment, leaving behind the staring peasants, they arose into the air. Their steeds, now changed into winged dragons, were bearing them through space so rapidly that cities, villages, mountains, and valleys sped beneath them like the lightning's flash.
       Soon they were upon the shore of the great ocean, where rolled those mighty torrents that the prince had known and loved since infancy. Dismounting from their coursers, they gazed with joy upon the wind-tossed billows, and their hearts were filled with gladness, for the king had already told his bride of his vacant palace far beneath the waves, and both were longing to catch sight of the home where they were to rule in harmony and love.
       "Come," said Lung Wang, suddenly, "the western sun is setting in those glorious waters. Let us too sink beneath the sea."