to travel quietly and would take only a few personal attendants; with these he embarked and sailed away towards the west.  That was the last the princess heard of him for three years; but one day there came a rumor to the palace, that the prince had returned from his travels bringing a branch of the wonderful Udon flower which blooms but once in three thousand years. Before she had time to recover from her surprise at this news, her maids brought in a richly ornamented box containing, what seemed to be, a branch of some unknown tree covered with rare, sweet blossoms. On looking closer, however, she saw that this was no real tree, for the bark was of ruddy gold, the leaves of silver, and the flowers shining jewels of many tints; and fastened by a silken thread was a
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