Oldal 156 [156]
LABOULAYE’S FAIRY BOOK
A bark lay by the strand. The prince sprang on board
and unfurled the sail. The wind, which blew off the shore,
hurried forward the frail craft, the land disappeared, and
Carlino found himself in the midst of the ocean. In vain
he gazed about him; there was nothing but the sea—the
sea everywhere; in vain the bark bounded over the foam¬
ing waves with the speed of lightning, like a steed with
mane floating on the wind; there was nothing but the sea—
the sea everywhere. Buillows followed billows, the hours
passed one after another, the day declined, and the solitude
and silence seemed to deepen around Carlino, when all at
once he uttered a cry; he saw a black speck in the distance.
At the same instant the bark, shooting ahead like an arrow,
struck upon the sand at the foot of huge rocks, which raised
their dark summits, notched and worn by time, to the skies.
Fate had thrown Carlino upon that strand from which none
had ever returned.
To climb this wall was not an easy matter; there was
neither road nor path; and when Carlino, after long efforts,
with torn hands and wearied limbs, at last succeeded in
reaching a level spot, what he found was not calculated to
reassure him. He saw nothing but glaciers piled upon
one another—black, damp rocks rising from the midst of the
snows—not a tree, not a blade of grass, not a bit of moss;
it was the picture of winter and death. The only sign of
life in this desert was a wretched hovel, the roof of which
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