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THE SOUTHERN WORLD, AUGUST 15, 1882.
*• The world, dear child, !■ as we take It, and
Life, he jure, li what we make It"
Crowned Pigeon*.
The largest of the Columbia are the crowned
and fan pigeons, and so unlike are they to
the other members of the order, that they
have been classed with another family, the
Qoueidrr, of which there are three varieties
inhabiting New Guinea and the neighbor*
ing islands. They are large, of heavy build,
and have long bills of almost uniform thick
ness, enlarged a trifle at the extreme point.
The Crowned Pigeon (Qoura Coronata) has
a length of about W'A inches, the wings are
nearly fifteen inches and the tail is a little
over ten inches long. The plumage is light
slate blue at the lower back, darker on the
wings and tail. The larger wing-colored
feathers are white in the center, making a
longitudinal band, black at the root and
reddish brown at the point. The eyes ure
scarlet, the bill is of a dusty horn color, the
feet are red and covered with a whitish
dust.
The color of the somewhat larger fan
pigeon (Qoura Victor hie) is also mostly slate
blue; the under side is chestnut brown, the
band on the wings bluish gray and that on
the tail whitish-gray. The feathers of the
crest arc thread-like, and have'a three-cor
nered fan at the point. The eyes are bright
red and the feet flesh-color.
Europe. This has given rise to the errone
ous statement that it is also a native of the
above islands. The fan pigeon seems to be
even rarer, and inhabits the more southern
localities of New Guinea.
A Fairy Komnnce.
Another favorite romance of the middle
ages, or the days of chivalry and tourna
ments, is that of “ Mungis O'Agremont and
Vivian, his Son.” Mangis was the son of
Cuke Bevis, of Agremont, and was stolen
by a faithless servant from his home. As
she was carrying the child off, she became
overcome with drowsiness, and went to
sleep under a white thorn. While she was
lying there, she was devoured by a lion and
a leopard, who killed one another in their
tight for the infant. While the babe was
lying under the white thorn, Orianda, a
famous fairy, came that way, and seeing the
little innocent, took it home with her, nam
ing it Mangis, or mal gut, from the wretched
bed it laid on. Finding, by a precious ring
in his ear, that he was of noble lineage, she
sent for her nephew, Espict, a dwarf three
feet high, whose hair was yellow, and shin
ing as tine gold, and who although over a
century old, did not look more than seven.
This Espict, like all dwarfs of romance, was
an awful wicked creature—indeed as wicked
as though he h d been a full grown man of
six feet, which Roger d'Estrange says is gen
erally the bight of very wicked men, a fact
which is very consoling to all who are of the
average altitude of Ave feet eight.
this remarkable work of the middle ages.
Sir Launfal was one of the knights of
Arthur, who loved him so well and trusted
him so much that he made him his steward.
But when king Arthur married the beauti
ful, but frail Guennere, daughter of Ryon,
King of Ireland, Lannfal and sundry other
virtuous knights of the Round Table, mani
fested their regretful displeasure when she
came to court
The queen, who exercises the utmost con
trol over her husband was aware of this, and
at the first entertainment given by the king,
she gave to all the Knights some token of
her regard, alone excepting Sir Launfal.
I.aunfal, under the sting of this slight, un
der the feigned pretext of the illness of his
father, takes leave of the king and returns
to Karlyoun, where he lives in great obscur
ity and poverty. Riding into a fair forest
one day, overcome by the heat, he lay down
under the shade of a spreading tree, and
meditated upon his forlorn condition. He
is aroused from this painful reverie by the
advance of two fair damsels, splendidly
arrayed. As an example ot the early En
glish metrical romance, we will give a short
extract:
“ Their faces were white as snow, or down,
'Complexion red, their eyes were brown,
I never saw more stiicbe.
One bore of gold a great basin,
Tbe other a towel, white and fine,
Of silk that was good and rich;
Their kerchiefs were both rich and dear,
And striped well with rich gold wire—
Launfal began to slche—
They came to him across the heath—
Dame Tryamour, returns to the court of
King Arthur, and charms and astonishes all
by his magnificence and generosity. Gne
day the queen, who had formerly slighted
him, sees him dancing with some ladies and
other knights, in the green mead before her
tower. She falls in love with him on the
spot, and sending for him into her bower,
makes such violent love to him, that, in
order to put an end to all such dreams of
her for the future, he tells her that his
heart and faith are given to a dame, the
foulest of whose maidens surpassed the
queen in beauty. The rage of the queen at
this impudent—and, stern moralists as we
are, we must add impolite assertion—is so
great that her love is transferred into the
fiercest hate; for as Shakespeare says:
“ Hell bus no fury like a woman’s scorn
and consequently, upon her husband, King
Arthur, returning from the chase which he
had been engaged in, while his frail queen
was making love to Launfal, she burst into
tears, and like Mrs. Fotiphar, accused our
immaculate knight, Launfal, with having
attempted her honor.
The queen’s words, backed by her tears, is
credited, and the unhappy knight is con
demned to be burned alive, unless he shall,
against a certain day, produce that peerless
lady whose beauty is so great that even her
foulest handmaids are lovelier than the far-
famed Queen of King Arthur. The fatal day
arrives; the queen is urgent for the execu
tion of the sentence, as nothing else will_sat-
isfy her wounded honor. ^ * s prepared j
CROWNED PIGEONS.
The crowned pigeon is found in large
numbers on the coast of New Guinea, also
on the islands of Waigiu, Sulawati and Misul.
Here its mode of living is much like that
of the pheasant; in small packs it strolls
through the woods, and prefers to keep to
the ground. As early us 1690 Mr. Dumpier
observed the crowned pigeon at its home;
later many were brought to the East Iudies
and the Sunda Islands, and were there kept
in the poultry yards us common fowls.
Some were brought to England and Holland
and kept as curiosities. Tberearc now quite
a number of these pigeons in the zoological
gardens of Holland. They are easily kept
on common food, und winter without harm
in sheltered rooms. In the zoological gar
dens of Regent’s Park they propagate regu
larly. In the wild state Urn pigeon builds
its nest iq.u tree and lays two eggs. Its flesh
is spoken highly of by those who have eaten
it. “The cry of this bird," says Wood, “ is
loud and sonorous, and not very easy of de
scription. Some authors compare it to the
gobbling of a turkey-cock, but I can per
ceive no resemblance to that sound. It is
more of a loud, holllow boom than any
thing else, and every time that the bird ut
ters this note, it bows its head so low that
the crest sweeps the ground.”
Often crowned pigeons are brought alive
to Ambolna, Banda, Java, and from there to
Espict told Orianda, the fairy, whose son
he was, and the fuiry, instead of tukinghim
home to his disconsolate parents, as she
ought to have done, kept him in her castle
of Koscfleur, and lmd him carefully educated
in all that became a chivalrous knight.
When he became a man she clad him in the
most splendid armor, and inude him her
lover. It is said he returned her love with
equal ardor, for as faries never look old, he
did not perceive the disparity of years be
tween them, which must hure been some
what over a hundred years. The first adven
ture of Mangis was the capture of tbe en
chanted horse, Bagard, in the Island of
Boucant. On his return from this achieve
tucnl he overcomes and sluys the Saracen
Admiral Artherer, who bad come to win the
lauds aud castle of Orianda; he hud also
took from the Saracen a famous sword,
called Flamberge, which, with his enchained
horse, Bagard, made Mangis approaching
the invulnerable. But such was his nob’.e
generosity that he made them both, some
time afterwars, a present to his cousin Ren-
aud. There is a curious mixture of animal
passion and elevated sentiment in these ro
mances which has its sublimation in Don
Quixote.
But in no romance is the fairy machinery
more elaborately displayed than in Sir
Launfal. We will give’ a brief analysis of
llo was a courteous knlzlit ami rose
Greeting them mildly.’’
They invite him to visit their mistress,
Dame Tryuiuour, whose pavilion is close at
hand. He accepts the invitation, and is as
tonished at the magnificence of the pavilion
and the beauty of their mistress, the peer-
lees Dame Tryamour, whom the poet says:
” She was as white as a lllly In May,
Or snow that snoweth lu a winter’s day,
And the glance that your glance met,
Was like light from a living violet.
Her hair It shone aa golden braid,
llui mortal tougue it has never said.
One half her beauty's dower.’’
This beautiful dame bestowed her heart
to Sir Launfal, on condition of his fidelity.
As a token of her love, she gave him a never
fulling purse and other valuable presents.
After a lengthened interview of the utmost
tenderness, she allowed him to depart next
morning telling him that whenever he wish
ed to see her he bad only to retire into a se
cluded place, and wish for her, with his
eyes closed, with all his heart, and that swift
as thought she would be with him. A more
delicate and striking illustration of the
powers of imagination has seldom been
made by any poet. With an injunction of
the greatest secresy os to their mutual en
dearments, they part.
Tbe knight, thus replenished with his ex-
baustless purse, and radiant in the con-
-ciouanesa of the love of the beautiful fairy,
tlie scaffold is erected; the headsmen is all
ready, with his glittering axe. With a se
date step, and wearing a countenance full of
dignity, Sir Launfal is led forth. On the
dais, surrounded by her maids of honor, the
implacable wanton, Queen Guennere, who
seemsto inherit all the vindictiveness of
the Celtic race, sits waiting for the consum
mation of her vengcunce. At this minute a
flourish of trumpets of antonishing loud
ness and silvery sweetness is heard. The
music seems to take possession ot the air,
and enchains all. The next minute ten
damsels, arrayed in the most exquisite man
ner, and mounted on ten splendid palfreys
magnificently caparisoned, ride up and an
nounce to King Arthur that their sovereign
mistress, Tryamour is at hand. She comes
riding on a beautiful steed, surrounded by
great state, while by her side is a horse richly
dight, but with no rider. At sight of her
they all confess that Sir Launfal has justified
his assertion. The wanton queen drops her
head for shame, and has the agony of be
holding the Lady Tryamour invite Sir Laun
fal to mount the horse she had brought for
him; and so, side by side, Tryamoue and
Launfal, followed by their attendants, ride
away into the green foresia, and are never
seen again.
So ends one of the most charming allegori
cal romances in the English language.