is done,
they closed behind him, allowing none of his suite to follow: but,
ardent and young, he went boldly on alone. The first thing he saw was
enough to smite him with fear. Bodies of men and horses lay extended
on the ground; but the men had faces, not death-white, but red as
peonies, and beside them were glasses half filled with wine, showing
that they had gone to sleep drinking. Next he entered a large court,
paved with marble, where stood rows of guards presenting arms, but
motionless as if cut out of stone; then he passed through many
chambers where gentlemen and ladies, all in the costume of the past
century, slept at their ease, some standing, some sitting. The pages
were lurking in corners, the ladies of honour were stooping over their
embroidery frames, or listening apparently with polite attention to
the gentlemen of the court, but all were as silent as statues and as
immoveable. Their clothes, strange to say, were fresh and new as ever:
and not a particle of dust or spider-web had gathered over the
furniture, though it had not known a broom for a hundred years.
Finally the astonished prince came to an inner chamber, where was the
fairest sight his eyes had ever beheld.

A young girl of wonderful beauty lay asleep on an embroidered bed, and
she looked as if she had only just closed her eyes. Trembling, the
prince approached and knelt beside her. Some say he kissed her, but as
nobody saw it, and she never told, we cannot be quite sure of the
fact. However, as the end of the enchantment had come, the princess
awakened at once, and looking at him with eyes of the tenderest
regard, said drowsily, "Is it you, my prince? I have waited for you
very long."

Charmed with these words, and still more with the tone in which they
were uttered, the prince assured her that he loved her more than his
life. Nevertheless, he was the most embarrassed of the two; for,
thanks to the kind fairy, the princess had plenty of time to dream of
him during her century of slumber, while he had never even heard of
her till an hour before. For a long time did they sit conversing, and
yet had not said half enough. Their only interruption was the little
dog Puffy, who had awakened with his mistress, and now began to be
exceedingly jealous that the princess did not notice him as much as
she was wont to do.

Meantime all the attendants, whose enchantment was also broken, not
being in love, were ready to die of hunger after their fast of a