his head. Half out of her wits, she set him in her lap,
took up his ear, kissed it, and clapped it again upon its place; but
the invisible Leander, seizing upon a handful of twigs, with which they
corrected the king's little dogs, gave the queen several lashes upon her
hands, and her son as many on the nose: upon which the queen cried out,
"Murder! murder!" and the king looked about, and the people came running
in; but nothing was to be seen. Some cried that the queen was mad, and
that her madness proceeded from her grief to see that her son had lost
one ear; and the king was as ready as any to believe it, so that when
she came near him he avoided her, which made a very ridiculous scene.
Leander, then leaving the chamber, went into the garden, and there,
assuming his own shape, he boldly began to pluck the queen's cherries,
apricots, strawberries, and flowers, though he knew she set such a high
value on them that it was as much as a man's life was worth to touch
one. The gardeners, all amazed, came and told their majesties that
Prince Leander was making havoc of all the fruits and flowers in the
queen's gardens.

"What insolence!" said the queen: then turning to Furibon, "my pretty
child, forget the pain of thy ear but for a moment, and fetch that vile
wretch hither; take our guards, both horse and foot, seize him, and
punish him as he deserves."

Furibon, encouraged by his mother, and attended by a great number of
armed soldiers, entered the garden and saw Leander; who, taking refuge
under a tree, pelted them all with oranges. But when they came running
toward him, thinking to have seized him, he was not to be seen; he had
slipped behind Furibon, who was in a bad condition already. But Leander
played him one trick more; for he pushed him down upon the gravel walk,
and frightened him so that the soldiers had to take him up, carry him
away, and put him to bed.

Satisfied with this revenge, he returned to his servants, who waited
for him, and giving them money, sent them back to his castle, that
none might know the secret of his red cap and roses. As yet he had
not determined whither to go; however, he mounted his fine horse
Gris-de-line, and, laying the reins upon his neck, let him take his
own road: at length he arrived in a forest, where he stopped to shelter
himself from the heat. He had not been above a minute there before he
heard a lamentable noise of sighing and sobbing; and looking about
him, beheld a man, who