Chapter 72 - Page 2

for many moons; at his death bequeathing the girdle to his son.

In those days, the wildest superstitions concerning the interference
of the gods in things temporal, prevailed to a much greater extent
than at present. Hence Marjora himself, called sometimes in the
traditions of the island, The-Heart-of-Black-Coral, even unscrupulous
Marjora had quailed before the oracle. "He bowed his head," say the
legends. Nor was it then questioned, by his most devoted adherents,
that had he dared to act counter to that edict, he had dropped dead,
the very instant he went under the shadow of the defile. This
persuasion also guided the conduct of the son of Marjora, and that of
his grandson.

But there at last came to pass a change in the popular fancies
concerning this ancient anathema. The penalty denounced against the
posterity of the usurper should they issue from the glen, came
to be regarded as only applicable to an invested monarch, not to his
relatives, or heirs.

A most favorable construction of the ban; for all those related to
the king, freely passed in and out of Willamilla.

From the time of the usurpation, there had always been observed a
certain ceremony upon investing the heir to the sovereignty with the
girdle of Teei. Upon these occasions, the chief priests of the island
were present, acting an important part. For the space of as many
days, as there had reigned kings of Marjora's dynasty, the inner
mouth of the defile remained sealed; the new monarch placing the last
stone in the gap. This symbolized his relinquishment forever of all
purpose of passing out of the glen. And without this observance, was
no king girdled in Juam.

It was likewise an invariable custom, for the heir to receive the
regal investiture immediately upon the decease of his sire. No delay
was permitted. And instantly upon being girdled, he proceeded to take
part in the ceremony of closing the cave; his predecessor yet
remaining uninterred on the purple mat where he died.

In the history of the island, three instances were recorded; wherein,
upon the vacation of the sovereignty, the immediate heir had
voluntarily renounced all claim to the succession, rather than
surrender the privilege of roving, to which he had been entitled, as
a prince of the blood.

Said Rani, one of these young princes, in reply to the remonstrances
of his friends, "What! shall I be a king, only to be a slave? Teei's
girdle would clasp my waist less tightly, than my soul would be
banded by the mountains of Willamilla. A subject, I am free. No slave
in Juam but its king; for all the tassels round his loins."

To guard against a similar resolution in the mind of his only son,
the wise sire of