roudly, "for having carried away my wife,
and you shall give her up to me or I will strangle you on the spot."
"Look towards the lake," she said, "and see if I have the power to do
so." The King turned in the direction towards which she pointed, and saw
the Queen and her daughter in the palace of crystal, which was floating
like a vessel, without oars or rudder, on the lake of quicksilver. He
was ready to die with mingled joy and sorrow; he called to them with all
his might, and they heard him, but how was he to reach them? While
thinking over the means by which he might accomplish this, the Fairy
Lioness disappeared. He ran round and round the lake, but whenever the
palace came close enough to him, on one side or the other, for him to
spring upon it, it suddenly floated away again with terrible swiftness,
and so his hopes were continually disappointed. The Queen, fearing he
would at length grow weary, called to him not to lose courage, that the
Fairy Lioness wanted to tire him out, but that true love knew how to
face all difficulties. She and Moufette then stretched out their hands
towards him with imploring gestures. Seeing this, the King was filled
with renewed courage, and raising his voice, he said that he would
rather pass the remainder of his life in this melancholy region than go
away without them. He needed great patience, for no king on earth ever
spent such a wretched time before. He had only the ground, covered with
briars and thorns, for his bed; his food consisted of wild fruits, more
bitter than gall, and he was incessantly engaged in defending himself
from the monsters of the lake.

Three years passed in this manner, and the King could not flatter
himself that he had gained the least advantage; he was almost in
despair, and over and over again was tempted to throw himself in the
lake, and he would certainly have done so if he could have thought that
by such a deed he might alleviate the sufferings of the Queen and the
Princess. He was running one day as usual, first to one side of the lake
then to the other, when one of the most hideous of the dragons called
him, and said to him: "If you will swear to me by your crown and
sceptre, by your royal mantle, by your wife and child, to give me,
whenever I shall ask for it, a certain delicate morsel to eat, for which
I have a taste, I will take you on my back, and I promise you that none
of the monsters of this lake, who guard the palace, shall prevent us
from c