WHITE LOTUS 
 
 «• THE 
 
 Legend of the Cat’s Eye 
 
 Illustrations and Text by 
 
 CARLO DE FORNARO 
 
 Published by MARCUS & CO. 
 Jewelers 
 
 544 Fifth Avenue 
 New York 
 
WHITE LOTUS 
 
 THE 
 
 Legend of the Cat’s Eye 
 
 Illustrations and Text by 
 
 CARLO DE FORNARO 
 
 Published by MARCUS & CO. 
 Jewelers 
 
 544 Fifth Avenue 
 New York 
 
Copyright, 1901, by 
 Carlo de Fornaro 
 
To 
 
 Miss Eugenie White 
 
Indra, the lover of girls, the husband of wives. 
 
 — Rig Veda. 
 
 HE great God Indra had once 
 forgotten himself so far as to 
 fall in love with a Princess of 
 Mortal Blood. 
 
 It must be said in extenua- 
 tion that she was of the bluest 
 blood, so blue indeed that in 
 comparison to it the sapphire would fade and 
 grow pale ; and so aristocratic and ancient was 
 her royal lineage that the parchment on which 
 the names of her ancestors were duly recorded 
 would easily have stretched across the peninsula 
 from Mount Davalaghiri to Cape Comorin, and 
 
 5 
 
with a little tugging might easily have reached 
 over to Ceylon as far as Adam’s Peak. 
 
 Now the Ruler of the gods knew well enough 
 that the Princess was unapproachable by men, no 
 matter how exalted their rank. As a God he was 
 invisible to mankind ; therefore, to the great 
 shock and indignation of the other gods and his 
 wife Indrani, he took the incarnation of a beau- 
 tiful Angora cat, as fluffy and delicate as a cotton 
 puff, immaculately white, with a bushy tail, gray- 
 green eyes, very bristling mustachios and a nose 
 pink as a rose coral bead. 
 
 Then he dropped into the lap of the Rajah, 
 the father of the Princess, as he was driving in 
 state through the town. 
 
 “ Surely this is a message from the gods, O 
 Protector ! ” said humbly the Prime Minister. 
 <c Many moons has the Princess of all virtues 
 wished for such a perfect specimen, and if the 
 Protector will deign to utter the wish it will be 
 presented to the Princess.” 
 
 7 
 
W 
 
 
u Be it so,’’ wearily said the Rajah. 
 
 Thus it happened that the Angora was incor- 
 porated into the royal household. The Princess 
 took a violent fancy to White Lotus, as she named 
 him ; nothing was too exquisite or too rare for him, 
 and he was much more important an individual 
 than the Prime Minister or even her own mother. 
 
 Every morning three white-turbaned bearers 
 would offer him a beautiful crystal bowl teeming 
 with the fattest and most picturesquely varie- 
 gated gold-fishes ; then followed three other bear- 
 ers, who, humbly salaaming, would present him a 
 gorgeous silver bowl with milk from the fairest of 
 Cashmere goats. 
 
 And while he was eating and drinking to his 
 content, a numerous band of court musicians 
 would softly play on stringed instruments. 
 
 When he had finished his repast, and while he 
 was busy licking his paws, the court poet would 
 appear and, salaaming profoundly, address him 
 with befitting titles and denominations, which had 
 
 9 
 
* 
 
no limit but the poet’s fervid imagination, and 
 certain of which were : 
 
 “ O Lord of the Milk ! 
 
 Perfumed Almond Flower ! 
 
 O Little Rajah of the Moon ! 
 
 Whisper from the Milky Way ! 
 
 Thou Pearl from the Green Sea !” 
 
 And the poet would further recite a neatly- 
 turned sonnet in which he extolled his charms 
 and beauty with a bold and daring simile that had 
 to be invented every day anew. After all these 
 ceremonies, court etiquette permitted him to enter 
 the pavilion of the Princess, there to be petted 
 and stroked by his fair admirer. 
 
 He would manifest his love to her the best 
 way he could, by purring softly and gently and 
 by rubbing his silken body under her bejeweled 
 hand. When she grew tired of caressing and 
 playing with him she would order her servants to 
 bring one of her large jewel-chests. Out of it 
 she would choose a bracelet for the slender neck 
 
of White Lotus. One day it might be a brace- 
 let inlaid with pearls, the next day perhaps one 
 of rubies, the following emeralds, and then end- 
 less combinations and designs with the most as- 
 tonishing variety of precious stones and gems, in 
 rotation, for three hundred and sixty-five days in 
 the year ; and never did White Lotus wear the 
 same ornament more than once. 
 
 Those were happy days for him, and he drank 
 the cup of Delight, slowly, sipping it with the 
 intensity and fervor of One Who Knew. 
 
 Their anger was great when the other gods saw 
 how Indra had stooped so low as to fall in love 
 with a common mortal and had furthermore im- 
 personated a low, fish-eating animal ; but, to their 
 intense disgust, he seemed indifferent to their 
 wounded feelings and his wife’s jealousy ; he ap- 
 peared supremely happy and quite unconscious 
 that time was flying and that he was still dese- 
 crating his high office by such behavior. 
 
 So they all met in council and agreed upon a 
 
 13 
 

 y. 
 
 
 X 
 
 *s 
 
 
plan which would force him from his present con- 
 dition and restore him to his state. 
 
 Next morning the Princess fell suddenly and 
 dangerously ill. The most famous healers, quacks 
 and doctors were summoned from the remotest 
 corners of the peninsula, but all this was of small 
 avail ; she grew from bad to worse, until they all 
 felt that mute Death could not be far away. 
 
 White Lotus in the meantime was in great an- 
 guish ; helpless and lonely he wandered round 
 the palace like a lost Soul in search of Paradise. 
 
 With a lover’s intuition he had divined who 
 was to blame for this insidious vengeance which 
 was intended to wound him mortally. 
 
 After fruitless deliberation, he quickly ascended 
 the highest tower in the palace, and from there 
 demanded obedience from the mutinous gods ; 
 but he was only derided ; then he invoked their 
 kindness and mercy. 
 
 After a long silence a clear voice rang out from 
 the sky above him : ‘ c Sacrifice for sacrifice, weep 
 
 l s 
 
/ (¥/ 
 
seven times as the sun goes up and as the sun 
 goes to rest, and those tears will save the Prin- 
 cess. 
 
 He returned to the palace, and there, in great 
 sadness and hope, wept tears for the redemption 
 of a precious life. The crystal bowl filled with 
 his tepid tears was brought to the dying Princess, 
 and she was sprinkled with them and ablution 
 was performed. 
 
 This improved her condition, and the ablution 
 was repeated in the morning and in the evening 
 for seven days and seven nights until the Prin- 
 cess recovered and then called for her saviour. 
 
 But now poor White Lotus had wept his eyes 
 out, and had to be carried lean and misshapen 
 into the arms of the Princess, and there, with a 
 last quiver, he nestled against her heart and died 
 happy. 
 
 They burned him with royal honors, and great 
 festivities followed. 
 
 When the Princess looked into the bowl she 
 
 17 
 
saw the eyes of White Lotus staring at her 
 from its depth ; they were crystallized as if to 
 perpetuate his love and sacrifice. 
 
 She had them set in a bracelet of gold and 
 pearls, that she might look into his eyes as long 
 as she lived. 
 

 
 F6 "X ' " ^ I 
 
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