ngs, and showed them many of the marvels of
her beautiful kingdom, and at last one day she said to them, 'You know
that I have always been kind to you; now I think it is time you did
something for me in your turn. You both remember the fountain I call my
favourite? Promise me that every morning before the sun rises you will
go to it and clear away every stone that impedes its course, and every
dead leaf or broken twig that sullies its clear waters. I shall take it
as a proof of your gratitude to me if you neither forget nor delay this
duty, and I promise that so long as the sun's earliest rays find my
favourite spring the clearest and sweetest in all my meadows, you two
shall not be parted from one another.'

Sylvain and Jocosa willingly undertook this service, and indeed felt
that it was but a very small thing in return for all that the fairy had
given and promised to them. So for a long time the fountain was tended
with the most scrupulous care, and was the clearest and prettiest in all
the country round. But one morning in the spring, long before the sun
rose, they were hastening towards it from opposite directions, when,
tempted by the beauty of the myriads of gay flowers which grew thickly
on all sides, they paused each to gather some for the other.

'I will make Sylvain a garland,' said Jocosa, and 'How pretty Jocosa
will look in this crown!' thought Sylvain.

Hither and thither they strayed, led ever farther and farther, for the
brightest flowers seemed always just beyond them, until at last they
were startled by the first bright rays of the rising sun. With one
accord they turned and ran towards the fountain, reaching it at the same
moment, though from opposite sides. But what was their horror to see its
usually tranquil waters seething and bubbling, and even as they looked
down rushed a mighty stream, which entirely engulfed it, and Sylvain and
Jocosa found themselves parted by a wide and swiftly-rushing river. All
this had happened with such rapidity that they had only time to utter a
cry, and each to hold up to the other the flowers they had gathered; but
this was explanation enough. Twenty times did Sylvain throw himself into
the turbulent waters, hoping to be able to swim to the other side, but
each time an irresistible force drove him back upon the bank he had just
quitted, while, as for Jocosa, she even essayed to cross the flood upon
a tree which came floating down torn up by the roots, but her efforts