could penetrate them. The tops alone of the castle towers could be seen,
and these only from a distance. Thus did the fairy's magic contrive that
the princess, during all the time of her slumber, should have nought
whatever to fear from prying eyes.

At the end of a hundred years the throne had passed to another family
from that of the sleeping princess. One day the king's son chanced to go
a-hunting that way, and seeing in the distance some towers in the midst
of a large and dense forest, he asked what they were. His attendants
told him in reply the various stories which they had heard. Some said
there was an old castle haunted by ghosts, others that all the witches
of the neighbourhood held their revels there. The favourite tale was
that in the castle lived an ogre, who carried thither all the children
whom he could catch. There he devoured them at his leisure, and since he
was the only person who could force a passage through the wood nobody
had been able to pursue him.

[Illustration: '_The king's son chanced to go a-hunting_']

While the prince was wondering what to believe, an old peasant took up
the tale.

'Your Highness,' said he, 'more than fifty years ago I heard my father
say that in this castle lies a princess, the most beautiful that has
ever been seen. It is her doom to sleep there for a hundred years, and
then to be awakened by a king's son, for whose coming she waits.'

This story fired the young prince. He jumped immediately to the
conclusion that it was for him to see so gay an adventure through, and
impelled alike by the wish for love and glory, he resolved to set about
it on the spot.

Hardly had he taken a step towards the wood when the tall trees, the
brambles and the thorns, separated of themselves and made a path for
him. He turned in the direction of the castle, and espied it at the end
of a long avenue. This avenue he entered, and was surprised to notice
that the trees closed up again as soon as he had passed, so that none of
his retinue were able to follow him. A young and gallant prince is
always brave, however; so he continued on his way, and presently reached
a large fore-court.

The sight that now met his gaze was enough to fill him with an icy fear.
The silence of the place was dreadful, and death seemed all about him.
The recumbent figures of men and animals had all the appearance of being
lifeless, until he perceived by the pimply noses and ruddy faces of the
porters that they