Angels and Women (1924)

102 ANGELS AND WOMEN
I asked her name and history, and how she
had become an inmate of the Palace of
Light.
THE STORY OF MINERVA THE SORCERESS
"My name," said the woman, "is Minerva;
I was born a thousand measures from Balonia,
on the shores of the great inland sea,
a land of perpetual spring, of beauty and delight.
My father was a powerful prince, who
governed a happy people by just and equitable
laws; for he was a worshiper of God.
He refused the fealty and tribute exacted by
Zaradis, a fierce Deva, who intruded himself
upon the earth after the descent of the Lord
Satanas, and established his kingdom on the
borders of the land in which for many years
the dynasty of Arratas had borne sway. The
monarchs of our line, who were powerful and
wise, remained undisturbed after the other
princes of the world had succumbed to the
Deva powers.