a short time, and neglected all her duties for
the sake of the mirror. Now it was not difficult for Saphir to guess
the reason of the change in her, nor why the new mirror was consulted
so often; but try as he would he could never see the face of the
person who was reflected in it, for the young girl's figure always
came between. All he knew was that the face was that of a man, and
this was quite enough to make him madly jealous. This was the doing of
the fairies, and we must suppose that they had their reasons for
acting as they did.

When these things happened Saphir was about eighteen years old, and
fifteen years had passed away since the death of his mother. King
Peridor had grown more and more unhappy as time went on, and at last
he fell so ill that it seemed as if his days were numbered. He was so
much beloved by his subjects that this sad news was heard with despair
by the nation, and more than all by the Prince.

During his whole illness the King never spoke of anything but the
Queen, his sorrow at having grieved her, and his hope of one day
seeing her again. All the doctors and all the water-cures in the
kingdom had been tried, and nothing would do him any good. At last he
persuaded them to let him lie quietly in his room, where no one came
to trouble him.

Perhaps the worst pain he had to bear was a sort of weight on his
chest, which made it very hard for him to breathe. So he commanded his
servants to leave the windows open in order that he might get more
air. One day, when he had been left alone for a few minutes, a bird
with brilliant plumage came and fluttered round the window, and
finally rested on the sill. His feathers were sky-blue and gold, his
feet and his beak of such glittering rubies that no one could bear to
look at them, his eyes made the brightest diamonds look dull, and on
his head he wore a crown. I cannot tell you what the crown was made
of, but I am quite certain that it was still more splendid than all
the rest. As to his voice I can say nothing about that, for the bird
never sang at all. In fact, he did nothing but gaze steadily at the
King, and as he gazed, the King felt his strength come back to him. In
a little while the bird flew into the room, still with his eyes fixed
on the King, and at every glance the strength of the sick man became
greater, till he was once more as well as he used to be before the
Queen died. Filled with joy at his cure, he tried to seize the bird to
whom h