d but Prince Moufy showed her
some fresh attention, in the hope of pleasing her, for he loved her
deeply; and having offered himself as a suitor, he made known to the
King and Queen, that his principality was of a beauty and extent that
deserved their special attention.

The King replied that Moufette was at liberty to choose a husband, and
that he only wished to please her and make her happy. The Prince was
delighted with this answer, and having already become aware that he was
not indifferent to the Princess, offered her his hand. She assured him
that if he was not her husband, no other man should be, and Moufy,
overcome with joy, threw himself at her feet, and in affectionate terms
begged her to remember the promise she had given him. The Prince and
Princess were betrothed, and Prince Moufy then returned to his
principality to make preparations for the marriage. Moufette shed many
tears at his departure, for she was troubled with a presentiment of evil
which she could not explain. The Queen, seeing that the Prince was also
overcome with sorrow, gave him the portrait of her daughter, and begged
him rather to lessen the magnificence of the preparations than to delay
his return. The Prince, only too ready to obey such a command, promised
to comply with what would be for his own happiness.

The Princess occupied herself during his absence with her music, for she
had, in a few months, learnt to play well. One day, when she was in the
Queen's room, the King rushed in, his face bathed in tears, and taking
his daughter in his arms: "Alas, my child," he cried. "Alas! wretched
father, unhappy King!" He could say no more, for his voice was stifled
with sobs. The Queen and Princess, in great alarm, asked him what was
the matter, and at last he was able to tell them that a giant of an
enormous height, who gave himself out to be an ambassador from the
Dragon of the lake, had just arrived; that in accordance with the
promise, made by the King in return for the help he had received in
fighting the monsters, the Dragon demanded him to give up the Princess,
as he wished to make her into a pie for his dinner; the King added that
he had bound himself by solemn oaths to give him what he asked, and in
those days no one ever broke his word.

When the Queen heard this dreadful news, she uttered piercing cries, and
clasped her child to her breast. "My life shall be taken," she said,
"before my daughter shall be delivered up to that monster