had
suddenly come out of the water.

The Enchanted Prince

"Would you like to land on the island?" asked the old sailor who seemed
in no wise surprised that an island should suddenly come up out of the
sea.

"Yes," gasped little Mary Louise, "it may be a wonderful place. I
certainly saw strange things beneath the water."

"To be sure you did," replied the old sailor, taking it as a matter of
course that a little girl should make a trip to Wonder Land under the
Sea, and return safe and sound.

But then, you know, Mary Louise may have still retained some of the
charm of the little mermaid's magic comb.

Well, anyway, the old sailor steered his boat over to the green island,
where Mary Louise jumped out and after saying good-by to her sailor
friend, set off to look for new adventures.

After a while, she came to a great wood, where the trees were as big
around as smoke stacks on an ocean liner.

All of a sudden, she heard the sound of a woodman's ax, and the
crackling of the branches as they fell to the ground.

"It must be some giant cutting down a tree," she thought, and she
started off in the direction of the sound, and by and by, she saw a
giant beaver. He was a most wonderful sort of an animal, for he could
swing an ax as well as a man. Near at hand flowed a great river, where
a white water horse snorted as he dashed the spray high in the air with
his forefeet.

"Are you one of Neptune's horses?" asked little Mary Louise. "I once
read a story of a little boy named Hero who rode with King Neptune in
his wonderful chariot."

"No, little girl," answered the beautiful sea horse kindly. "But I can
show you some wonderful things. Jump on my back and I will take you to
a strange place."

Then away went the great Water Horse over the water and through the
spray and Mary Louise wasn't the least bit afraid although she had no
water wings and might have slipped of into the water.

"Where are we going?" she asked, after a while, for by this time they
were far away from the shore and going up a dark river.

"I'm going to show you the beautiful Green Waterfall Cave," answered
the big Sea Horse, shaking his mane until it seemed almost as if it
were raining.

Well, pretty soon he stopped, telling Mary Louise to bend over his
back, before he swam into a big opening in a gray rock.

"Now lift up your head," he said, and when Mary Louise looked around
she saw they were in a beautiful cave. All about