A PRINCESS OF MARS
SOLA TELLS ME HER STORY
When returned, and, as I soon learned, I was but a moment, I to my for my sword, and there I it, to the in the green of Zad, who upon the of the sea bottom. As I my full I his my left breast, but only through the and which my ribs, entering near the center of my and out the shoulder. As I had I had so that his passed the muscles, a painful but not wound.
Removing the from my I also my own, and my upon his carcass, I moved, sick, sore, and disgusted, toward the which my and my belongings. A of Martian me, but I not for it.
Bleeding and weak I my women, who, to such happenings, my wounds, the and remedial which make only the most of death fatal. Give a Martian woman a and death must take a seat. They soon had me up so that, for from of blood and a little around the wound, I no great from this which, under treatment, would have put me on my for days.
As soon as they were through with me I to the of Dejah Thoris, where I my Sola with her in bandages, but little the for her with Sarkoja, it had the of one of Sola's metal and, thus deflected, had but a wound.
As I approached I Dejah Thoris upon her and furs, her with sobs. She did not notice my presence, did she me speaking with Sola, who was a from the vehicle.
"Is she injured?" I asked of Sola, Dejah Thoris by an of my head.
"No," she answered, "she thinks that you are dead."
"And that her grandmother's cat may now have no one to its teeth?" I queried, smiling.
"I think you her, John Carter," said Sola. "I do not either her or yours, but I am sure the of ten thousand would like this over any who but the upon her affections. They are a proud race, but they are just, as are all Barsoomians, and you must have or her that she will not admit your living, though she you dead.
"Tears are a upon Barsoom," she continued, "and so it is difficult for me to them. I have but two people in all my life, other than Dejah Thoris; one from sorrow, the other from rage. The was my mother, years ago they killed her; the other was Sarkoja, when they her from me today."
"Your mother!" I exclaimed, "but, Sola, you not have your mother, child."
"But I did. And my father also," she added. "If you would like to the and un-Barsoomian come to the tonight, John Carter, and I will tell you that of which I have spoken in all my life before. And now the has been to the march, you must go."
"I will come tonight, Sola," I promised. "Be sure to tell Dejah Thoris I am alive and well. I shall not myself upon her, and be sure that you do not let her know I saw her tears. If she would speak with me I but her command."
Sola the chariot, which was into its place in line, and I to my waiting and to my station Tars Tarkas at the of the column.
We a most and awe-inspiring as we out across the yellow landscape; the two hundred and fifty and chariots, by an of some two hundred and five and one hundred yards apart, and by a like number in the same formation, with a score or more of on either side; the fifty mastodons, or animals, as zitidars, and the five or six hundred of the the square by the warriors. The metal and of the of the men and women, in the of the and thoats, and with the colors of and and feathers, a to the which would have an East Indian green with envy.
The of the and the of the animals no from the moss-covered sea bottom; and so we moved in silence, like some phantasmagoria, when the was by the of a zitidar, or the of thoats. The green Martians but little, and then in monosyllables, low and like the of thunder.
We a waste of which, to the pressure of or foot, rose up again us, no that we had passed. We might have been the of the upon the sea of that for all the or we in passing. It was the of a large of men and animals I had which no and left no spoor; for there is no upon Mars in the the winter months, and then the of high it almost unnoticeable.
We that night at the of the we had been for two days and which marked the southern of this particular sea. Our animals had been two days without drink, had they had water for nearly two months, not since after Thark; but, as Tars Tarkas to me, they but little and can live almost upon the which Barsoom, and which, he told me, in its to meet the limited of the animals.
After of my of cheese-like food and vegetable milk I out Sola, I by the light of a upon some of Tars Tarkas' trappings. She looked up at my approach, her with and with welcome.
"I am you came," she said; "Dejah Thoris and I am lonely. Mine own people do not for me, John Carter; I am too them. It is a sad fate, since I must live my life them, and I often wish that I were a true green Martian woman, without love and without hope; but I have love and so I am lost.
"I promised to tell you my story, or the of my parents. From what I have learned of you and the of your people I am sure that the will not to you, but among green Martians it has no the memory of the Thark, do our many tales.
"My mother was small, in too small to be allowed the of maternity, as our for size. She was also less cold and than most green Martian women, and little for their society, she often the of Thark alone, or and sat among the wild flowers that the hills, and which I I alone among Tharkian today may understand, for am I not the child of my mother?
"And there among the she met a warrior, it was to the and and see that they not the hills. They spoke at only of such as a of Tharks, but gradually, as they came to meet more often, and, as was now to both, no longer by chance, they talked about themselves, their likes, their and their hopes. She him and told him of the repugnance she for the of their kind, for the hideous, they must lead, and then she waited for the of to from his cold, hard lips; but he took her in his arms and her.
"They their love a for six long years. She, my mother, was of the of the great Tal Hajus, while her lover was a warrior, only his own metal. Had their from the of the Tharks been would have paid the in the great Tal Hajus and the assembled hordes.
"The egg from which I came was a great upon the and most of the towers of Thark. Once each year my mother visited it for the five long years it there in the of incubation. She not come oftener, for in the of her she that her every move was watched. During this period my father great as a and had taken the metal from chieftains. His love for my mother had diminished, and his own in life was to a point where he might the metal from Tal Hajus himself, and thus, as ruler of the Tharks, be free to her as his own, as well as, by the might of his power, protect the child which otherwise would be should the truth known.
"It was a wild dream, that of the metal from Tal Hajus in five years, but his was rapid, and he soon high in the of Thark. But one day the was forever, in so as it come in time to save his loved ones, for he was ordered away upon a long to the ice-clad south, to make upon the there and them of their furs, for such is the manner of the green Barsoomian; he not labor for what he can in from others.
"He was gone for four years, and when he returned all had been over for three; for about a year after his departure, and the time for the return of an which had gone to the fruits of a incubator, the egg had hatched. Thereafter my mother to keep me in the old tower, visiting me and upon me the love the life would have us of. She hoped, upon the return of the from the incubator, to mix me with the other to the of Tal Hajus, and thus the which would surely of her against the of the green men.
"She me the language and of my kind, and one night she told me the I have told to you up to this point, upon me the for and the great I must after she had me with the other Tharks to permit no one to that I was in education than they, by any to in the presence of others my for her, or my knowledge of my parentage; and then me close to her she in my ear the name of my father.
"And then a light out upon the of the tower chamber, and there Sarkoja, her gleaming, in a of and upon my mother. The of and she out upon her my cold in terror. That she had the entire was apparent, and that she had something from my mother's long from her for her presence there on that night.
"One thing she had not heard, did she know, the name of my father. This was from her upon my mother to the name of her partner in sin, but no amount of or this from her, and to save me from needless she lied, for she told Sarkoja that she alone would she tell her child.
"With final imprecations, Sarkoja away to Tal Hajus to report her discovery, and while she was gone my mother, me in the and of her night coverings, so that I was noticeable, to the and ran away toward the of the city, in the direction which to the south, out toward the man protection she might not claim, but on she to look once more she died.
"As we the city's southern a came to us from across the flat, from the direction of the only pass through the which to the gates, the pass by which from either north or south or east or west would enter the city. The we were the of and the of zitidars, with the occasional of arms which the approach of a of warriors. The in her mind was that it was my father returned from his expedition, but the of the Thark her from and to him.
"Retreating into the of a she the of the which entered the avenue, its and the from to wall. As the of the passed us the moon clear of the and up the with all the of her light. My mother into the shadows, and from her place saw that the was not that of my father, but the returning the Tharks. Instantly her plan was formed, and as a great close to our place she in upon the tailboard, low in the of the high side, me to her in a of love.
"She knew, what I did not, that again after that night would she me to her breast, was it likely we would look upon each other's again. In the of the she mixed me with the other children, the were now free to their responsibility. We were together into a great room, by who had not the expedition, and the next day we were out among the retinues of the chieftains.
"I saw my mother after that night. She was by Tal Hajus, and every effort, the most and torture, was to upon her to from her the name of my father; but she and loyal, at last the of Tal Hajus and his some she was undergoing.
"I learned that she told them that she had killed me to save me from a like at their hands, and that she had my to the white apes. Sarkoja alone her, and I to this day that she my true origin, but not me, at the present, at all events, she also guesses, I am sure, the identity of my father.
"When he returned from his and learned the of my mother's I was present as Tal Hajus told him; but by the of a did he the emotion; only he did not laugh as Tal Hajus her death struggles. From that moment on he was the of the cruel, and I am the day when he shall win the of his ambition, and the of Tal Hajus his foot, for I am as sure that he but the opportunity to a terrible vengeance, and that his great love is as in his as when it him nearly years ago, as I am that we here upon the of a world-old while people sleep, John Carter."
"And your father, Sola, is he with us now?" I asked.
"Yes," she replied, "but he not know me for what I am, he know who my mother to Tal Hajus. I alone know my father's name, and only I and Tal Hajus and Sarkoja know that it was she who the that death and upon her he loved."
We sat for a moments, she in the of her terrible past, and I in for the the heartless, of their had to of and of hate. Presently she spoke.
"John Carter, if a man walked the cold, of Barsoom you are one. I know that I can trust you, and the knowledge may help you or him or Dejah Thoris or myself, I am going to tell you the name of my father, place any restrictions or upon your tongue. When the time comes, speak the truth if it best to you. I trust you I know that you are not with the terrible of and truthfulness, that you like one of your own Virginia if a would save others from or suffering. My father's name is Tars Tarkas."
