The
whole of the outside world seemed to have forgotten him.

As he felt his way back to his couch, he knocked over one of the
golden jars which had held the liquid perfume, but the perfume was all
gone now and only an empty jar rolled over the floor. He laid himself
down on the couch, but its soft pillows had been removed and a hard
iron framework received him. He was dismayed, and lay for a long time
thinking of what he had best do with himself. All before him was blank
darkness, as black as the darkest night you ever saw. He reached out
his hand to get some fruit to eat, but only one or two withered apples
remained on the table. Was he to starve to death? Suddenly he noticed
that the tinkling music of the fountain had ceased. He hastily groped
his way to it, and he found in the place of the dancing, running
stream a silent pool of water. A hush had fallen upon everything about
him; a dead silence was in the room. He threw himself down upon the
floor and wished that he were dead also. He lay there for a long, long
time.

At last he heard, or thought he heard, a faint sound. He listened
eagerly. It seemed to be some tiny creature not far away, trying to
move about. For the first time for nearly a month, he remembered the
bird in the gilded cage. "Poor little thing," he cried as he sprang
up, "you too are shut within this terrible prison. This thick darkness
must be as hard for you to bear as it is for me." He went toward the
cage, and, as he drew near, the bird gave a glad little chirp.

"That's better than nothing," said the boy. "You must need some water
to drink. Poor thing," continued he, as he filled the drinking-cup,
"this is all I have to give you."

Just then he heard a harsh, grating sound as of rusty bolts sliding
with difficulty out of their sockets, and then faint rays of light,
not wider than a hair, began to shine between the heavy plate mirrors.
Prince Harweda was filled with joy. "Perhaps, perhaps," said he
softly, "I may yet see the light again. Ah, how beautiful the outside
world would look to me now!"

The next day he was so hungry that he began to bite one of the old
withered apples, and as he bit it, he thought of the bird, his
fellow-prisoner. "You must be hungry too, poor little thing," said he,
as he put part of the apple into the bird's cage. Again came the
harsh, grating sound, and the boy noticed that the cracks of light
were growing larger. Still they were only cracks, as nothing of th