the Desert; without the Yellow Dwarf and his orange
tree my great lions would soon have eaten you up, I can tell you, and in
Fairyland we do not suffer ourselves to be insulted like this. Make up
your minds at once what you will do, for I vow that you shall marry the
Yellow Dwarf. If you don't, may I burn my crutch!"

"Ah! Princess," said the Queen, weeping, "what is this that I hear? What
have you promised?"

"Ah! my mother," replied Bellissima sadly, "what did _you_ promise,
yourself?"

The King of the Gold Mines, indignant at being kept from his happiness
by this wicked old woman, went up to her, and threatening her with his
sword, said:

"Get away out of my country at once, and for ever, miserable creature,
lest I take your life, and so rid myself of your malice."

He had hardly spoken these words when the lid of the box fell back on
the floor with a terrible noise, and to their horror out sprang the
Yellow Dwarf, mounted upon a great Spanish cat. "Rash youth!" he cried,
rushing between the Fairy of the Desert and the King. "Dare to lay a
finger upon this illustrious Fairy! Your quarrel is with me only. I
am your enemy and your rival. That faithless Princess who would have
married you is promised to me. See if she has not upon her finger a ring
made of one of my hairs. Just try to take it off, and you will soon find
out that I am more powerful than you are!"

"Wretched little monster!" said the King; "do you dare to call yourself
the Princess's lover, and to lay claim to such a treasure? Do you know
that you are a dwarf--that you are so ugly that one cannot bear to look
at you--and that I should have killed you myself long before this if you
had been worthy of such a glorious death?"

The Yellow Dwarf, deeply enraged at these words, set spurs to his
cat, which yelled horribly, and leaped hither and thither--terrifying
everybody except the brave King, who pursued the Dwarf closely, till he,
drawing a great knife with which he was armed, challenged the King to
meet him in single combat, and rushed down into the courtyard of the
palace with a terrible clatter. The King, quite provoked, followed him
hastily, but they had hardly taken their places facing one another, and
the whole Court had only just had time to rush out upon the balconies to
watch what was going on, when suddenly the sun became as red as blood,
and it was so dark that they could scarcely see at all. The thunder
crashed, and the lightning seemed