stood near, covered with beautiful vines in blossom, abundance
of provisions, besides oranges, dates, and other fruit, sweet, ripe,
and tempting, as their own beautiful selves. These they spread out on
the flowery earth, and invited the four hunters to partake. Placed
each by the maiden of his choice, they fed upon the repast prepared by
the fair hands of the daughters of the sun, the while drinking in the
passion of love from their large and lustrous eyes. Nor was the soft
language of looks alone the medium of thought; words of the tongue
were interchanged as sweet as those of the eyes. Wrought up at length
to a phrenzy of passion, and emboldened by the melting glances of the
dove-eyed girls, the youthful hunters besought them to bless them with
their love--to become the wives of their heart. Faint was the shake of
the head, and scarcely heard the breathing of the "No," and cast
meekly down upon the blue flowers at their feet the soft and tender
eyes, which could not have looked up and kept their secret. At length,
one of the maidens, the eldest sister--for they were sisters--began
thus:

"Young and amiable strangers, it is proper that we tell you who we
are, that you may think whether you will dare the danger, that will
attend the union of one of our race with one of yours. We are born of
mothers, and are the children of fathers, who are governed by the
influences of the sun, even as tides obey the commands of their
mistress the moon, and stars perform their round of service in the
sky, at the command of the Master of all. Our disposition--the
disposition of our race--is as variable as that of the winds upon
which our great father acts. Ye behold him fiery at times--even so are
we--a change comes over him, his beams grow mild and soft, dispensing
genial warmth and gladness; ours, like his, also soften, and, though
they cannot possess his power, yet they are fashioned on his pattern,
and we in our kind moments bestow all the happiness we can upon those
we love. At those moments, were it possible to fill all the earth with
love, to make bush, tree, flower, man, beast, bird, utter the language
of the soft passion, and hill, dale, mountain, and valley, echo it, we
would do it. Again do we change; and he that hath noted the quick
obscuring of the sun in the Month of Buds, may estimate the
variableness of our temper. Then tears fall from our eyes in torrents,
as showers fall from a cloud, and as hastily as a mist is dissipa