a.

Weeks passed. Months passed. A year went by.

Queen Halcyone wandered restlessly up and down the shore. With weary
eyes she watched the purple distance. But the king did not return.

She prayed to the gods that they would guard and protect the king whom
she loved so dearly. She went to the sacred altars of her country, and
burned incense there.

When the goddess Juno heard the prayers and saw the tears of the lovely
Queen Halcyone, she was sad for her. Juno called to her side the
beautiful rainbow messenger, Iris.

"Iris," said Juno, "this night I wish you to go down on your rainbow
bridge to the god of dreams.

"Ask him to send to Halcyone a dream which shall tell her of the fate
of her husband, the king. It is better that she should know what has
befallen him whom she loved than to wander thus in uncertainty."

So Iris, the beautiful messenger, swept down to the god of dreams--and
that night Halcyone dreamed that the king came to her and told her his
story. He told her how the boat and all therein had long since been
buried under the sea.

"Be brave, my Halcyone," said the shade of the dead king. "Be brave
and patient, and soon perchance, if the gods will, thou shalt come to
me in the land of shades."

When the dream left her, Halcyone sprang from her couch and ran again
to the seashore. She stretched out her arms and called aloud to
Aeolus, the father of the winds.

"O great father Aeolus," she prayed, "give me wings so large and strong
that they will carry me to the spot where the king now lies.

"Hear me, Aeolus! Hear Halcyone, thy child!"

And as she prayed, lo, she rose slowly into the air. The folds of her
blue robe enwrapped her.

Halcyone floated out across the sea. Again and again her breast
touched the white crest of the waves and left its foam on her throat
and on the bosom of her dress.

On and on she sped across the billowy waters. Her wings were firm,
strong, untiring.

At last, floating upon the water she spied the form of the king. With
a hoarse rattling in her throat she called to him.

With her strong wings outspread, Halcyone hung motionless above the
king. Those broken cries came again and again from her throat.

And Juno, looking down from her cloudland home, saw Halcyone kneeling
on the waves beside the dead king. She leaned down from her place in
the heavens and touched the king's forehead.

Lo! there rose from the water two strong-winged birds in dres