which
led to the Enchanter's room, he found it guarded by two black panthers
which stared at him with insolent yellow eyes and switched their long
tails. The Prince went outdoors, to see if there was any hope of
climbing to the room along the outer wall, and found that the windows of
Dragondel's chamber overlooked a cliff falling thousands of feet sheer
to the dark sea. Far, far away, the Prince saw the glow of Lantern Land.
Only a short time remained to him in which to save his beloved lady of
the lanterns.

As he wandered about, very sick at heart, he saw a little black cat
running madly back and forth along the edge of a steep cliff from one of
whose crevices came a persistent, unhappy mewing. The poor cat was a
mother-cat, and was trying to rescue a kitten of hers that had fallen
down between the rocks. At great risk of being dashed to pieces himself,
the brave Prince climbed down the precipice, rescued the kitten, and
gave it back to its anxious mother.

"Thank you, brave youth," said the old cat.

"May it some day be within my power to help you as you have helped me."

"You can help me this very moment," said the Prince. And he told the cat
who he was, why he had come to the castle, and of his desire to get
possession of the talisman.

"I will help you get the talisman," said the cat. "The panthers will let
me pass, for they are cousins of mine. But you must make another little
golden hand to take the place of the one I shall steal; for if Dragondel
misses the golden hand, he will summon his demons to find it, and we
shall both lose our lives. Go now to the kitchen, carve a small hand
with the fingers close together and the thumb lying close to the
fingers, gild it over with the gold dust you have had given you for the
pastry icings, and bring it to me tomorrow night at this very hour."

So the Prince worked the rest of the night carving and gilding the
little golden hand, and on the next night he gave it to the cat. The cat
took it in her mouth as she would have a mouse, walked coolly by the
panthers, and entered Dragondel's room. She had just succeeded in
getting the true hand out from under the magician's pillow when
Dragondel woke up. The cat was clever enough to pretend to be engaged in
a mouse-hunt, so the Enchanter paid no attention to her and fell asleep
once more. When the cat, however, got under Dragondel's couch again, the
two hands lay side by side and she could not remember just which one was