nothing to guide him as to where he was likely to find the
entrance of the under-world, the king wandered hither and thither for
a long while, till, one day, while he was resting under a tree, a voice
spoke to him.

'Why do you give yourself so much trouble for nought, when you might
know what you want to know for the asking? Alone you will never discover
the path that leads to your wife.'

Much startled, the king looked about him. He could see nothing, and
somehow, when he thought about it, the voice seemed as if it were part
of himself. Suddenly his eyes fell on the ring, and he understood.

'Fool that I was!' cried he; 'and how much precious time have I wasted?
Dear ring, I beseech you, grant me a vision of my wife and my daughter!'
And even as he spoke there flashed past him a huge lioness, followed by
a lady and a beautiful young maid mounted on fairy horses.

Almost fainting with joy he gazed after them, and then sank back
trembling on the ground.

'Oh, lead me to them, lead me to them!' he exclaimed. And the ring,
bidding him take courage, conducted him safely to the dismal place where
his wife had lived for ten years.

Now the Lion Fairy knew beforehand of his expected presence in her
dominions, and she ordered a palace of crystal to be built in the middle
of the lake of quicksilver; and in order to make it more difficult of
approach she let it float whither it would. Immediately after their
return from the chase, where the king had seen them, she conveyed the
queen and Muffette into the palace, and put them under the guard of
the monsters of the lake, who one and all had fallen in love with the
princess. They were horribly jealous, and ready to eat each other up for
her sake, so they readily accepted the charge. Some stationed themselves
round the floating palace, some sat by the door, while the smallest and
lightest perched themselves on the roof.

Of course the king was quite ignorant of these arrangements, and boldly
entered the palace of the Lion Fairy, who was waiting for him, with her
tail lashing furiously, for she still kept her lion's shape. With a
roar that shook the walls she flung herself upon him; but he was on the
watch, and a blow from his sword cut off the paw she had put forth to
strike him dead. She fell back, and with his helmet still on and his
shield up, he set his foot on her throat.

'Give me back the wife and the child you have stolen from me,' he said,
'or you shall not live a