{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_71735/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_71735","id":"gutenberg_71735","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71735","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Novels","Gems -- Folklore"],"text":"Transcriber\u2019s Notes:\n\n  Underscores \u201c_\u201d before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_\n    in the original text.\n  Small capitals have been converted to SOLID capitals.\n  Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs.\n\n\n\n\n                              WHITE LOTUS\n\n                      The Legend of the Cat\u2019s Eye\n\n                       ILLUSTRATIONS AND TEXT BY\n                           CARLO DE FORNARO\n\n                       PUBLISHED BY MARCUS & CO.\n                               JEWELERS\n                           544 FIFTH AVENUE\n                               NEW YORK\n\n                          Copyright, 1901, by\n                           CARLO DE FORNARO\n\n                                 _To_\n                         _Miss Eugenie White_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n    Indra, the lover of girls, the husband of wives.\n                                         --Rig Veda.\n\n\nThe great God Indra had once forgotten himself so far as to fall in\nlove with a Princess of Mortal Blood.\n\nIt must be said in extenuation that she was of the bluest blood, so\nblue indeed that in comparison to it the sapphire would fade and grow\npale; and so aristocratic and ancient was her royal lineage that the\nparchment on which the names of her ancestors were duly recorded would\neasily have stretched across the peninsula from Mount Davalaghiri to\nCape Comorin, and with a little tugging might easily have reached over\nto Ceylon as far as Adam\u2019s Peak.\n\nNow the Ruler of the gods knew well enough that the Princess was\nunapproachable by men, no matter how exalted their rank. As a God he\nwas invisible to mankind; therefore, to the great shock and indignation\nof the other gods and his wife Indrani, he took the incarnation of\na beautiful Angora cat, as fluffy and delicate as a cotton puff,\nimmaculately white, with a bushy tail, gray-green eyes, very bristling\nmustachios and a nose pink as a rose coral bead.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen he dropped into the lap of the Rajah, the father of the Princess,\nas he was driving in state through the town.\n\n\u201cSurely this is a message from the gods, O Protector!\u201d said humbly the\nPrime Minister. \u201cMany moons has the Princess of all virtues wished for\nsuch a perfect specimen, and if the Protector will deign to utter the\nwish it will be presented to the Princess.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cBe it so,\u201d wearily said the Rajah.\n\nThus it happened that the Angora was incorporated into the royal\nhousehold. The Princess took a violent fancy to White Lotus, as she\nnamed him; nothing was too exquisite or too rare for him, and he was\nmuch more important an individual than the Prime Minister or even her\nown mother.\n\nEvery morning three white-turbaned bearers would offer him a beautiful\ncrystal bowl teeming with the fattest and most picturesquely variegated\ngold-fishes; then followed three other bearers, who, humbly salaaming,\nwould present him a gorgeous silver bowl with milk from the fairest of\nCashmere goats.\n\nAnd while he was eating and drinking to his content, a numerous band of\ncourt musicians would softly play on stringed instruments.\n\nWhen he had finished his repast, and while he was busy licking his\npaws, the court poet would appear and, salaaming profoundly, address\nhim with befitting titles and denominations, which had no limit but the\npoet\u2019s fervid imagination, and certain of which were:\n\n    \u201cO Lord of the Milk!\n      Perfumed Almond Flower!\n        O Little Rajah of the Moon!\n          Whisper from the Milky Way!\n            Thou Pearl from the Green Sea!\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd the poet would further recite a neatly-turned sonnet in which\nhe extolled his charms and beauty with a bold and daring simile that\nhad to be invented every day anew. After all these ceremonies, court\netiquette permitted him to enter the pavilion of the Princess, there to\nbe petted and stroked by his fair admirer.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe would manifest his love to her the best way he could, by purring\nsoftly and gently and by rubbing his silken body under her bejeweled\nhand. When she grew tired of caressing and playing with him she would\norder her servants to bring one of her large jewel-chests. Out of it\nshe would choose a bracelet for the slender neck of White Lotus. One\nday it might be a bracelet inlaid with pearls, the next day perhaps one\nof rubies, the following emeralds, and then endless combinations and\ndesigns with the most astonishing variety of precious stones and gems,\nin rotation, for three hundred and sixty-five days in the year; and\nnever did White Lotus wear the same ornament more than once.\n\nThose were happy days for him, and he drank the cup of Delight, slowly,\nsipping it with the intensity and fervor of One Who Knew.\n\nTheir anger was great when the other gods saw how Indra had stooped\nso low as to fall in love with a common mortal and had furthermore\nimpersonated a low, fish-eating animal; but, to their intense disgust,\nhe seemed indifferent to their wounded feelings and his wife\u2019s\njealousy; he appeared supremely happy and quite unconscious that time\nwas flying and that he was still desecrating his high office by such\nbehavior.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo they all met in council and agreed upon a plan which would force him\nfrom his present condition and restore him to his state.\n\nNext morning the Princess fell suddenly and dangerously ill. The most\nfamous healers, quacks and doctors were summoned from the remotest\ncorners of the peninsula, but all this was of small avail; she grew\nfrom bad to worse, until they all felt that mute Death could not be far\naway.\n\nWhite Lotus in the meantime was in great anguish; helpless and lonely\nhe wandered round the palace like a lost Soul in search of Paradise.\n\nWith a lover\u2019s intuition he had divined who was to blame for this\ninsidious vengeance which was intended to wound him mortally.\n\nAfter fruitless deliberation, he quickly ascended the highest tower in\nthe palace, and from there demanded obedience from the mutinous gods;\nbut he was only derided; then he invoked their kindness and mercy.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter a long silence a clear voice rang out from the sky above him:\n\u201cSacrifice for sacrifice, weep seven times as the sun goes up and as\nthe sun goes to rest, and those tears will save the Princess....\u201d\n\nHe returned to the palace, and there, in great sadness and hope, wept\ntears for the redemption of a precious life. The crystal bowl filled\nwith his tepid tears was brought to the dying Princess, and she was\nsprinkled with them and ablution was performed.\n\nThis improved her condition, and the ablution was repeated in the\nmorning and in the evening for seven days and seven nights until the\nPrincess recovered and then called for her saviour.\n\nBut now poor White Lotus had wept his eyes out, and had to be carried\nlean and misshapen into the arms of the Princess, and there, with a\nlast quiver, he nestled against her heart and died happy.\n\nThey burned him with royal honors, and great festivities followed.\n\nWhen the Princess looked into the bowl she saw the eyes of White\nLotus staring at her from its depth; they were crystallized as if to\nperpetuate his love and sacrifice.\n\nShe had them set in a bracelet of gold and pearls, that she might look\ninto his eyes as long as she lived.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]","title":"White Lotus, the legend of the cat's eye","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":1189}