nother second!'

But the fairy answered:

'Look through the window at that lake and see if it is in my power to
give them to you.' And the king looked, and through the crystal walls he
beheld his wife and daughter floating on the quicksilver. At that sight
the Lion Fairy and all her wickedness was forgotten. Flinging off his
helmet, he shouted to them with all his might. The queen knew his voice,
and she and Muffette ran to the window and held out their hands. Then
the king swore a solemn oath that he would never leave the spot without
taking them if it should cost him his life; and he meant it, though at
the moment he did not know what he was undertaking.

Three years passed by, and the king was no nearer to obtaining
his heart's desire. He had suffered every hardship that could be
imagined--nettles had been his bed, wild fruits more bitter than gall
his food, while his days had been spent in fighting the hideous monsters
which kept him from the palace. He had not advanced one single step, nor
gained one solitary advantage. Now he was almost in despair, and ready
to defy everything and throw himself into the lake.

It was at this moment of his blackest misery that, one night, a dragon
who had long watched him from the roof crept to his side.

'You thought that love would conquer all obstacles,' said he; 'well,
you have found it hasn't! But if you will swear to me by your crown and
sceptre that you will give me a dinner of the food that I never grow
tired of, whenever I choose to ask for it, I will enable you to reach
your wife and daughter.'

Ah, how glad the king was to hear that! What oath would he not have
taken so as to clasp his wife and child in is arms? Joyfully he swore
whatever the dragon asked of him; then he jumped on his back, and in
another instant would have been carried by the strong wings into the
castle if the nearest monsters had not happened to awake and hear the
noise of talking and swum to the shore to give battle. The fight was
long and hard, and when the king at last beat back his foes another
struggle awaited him. At the entrance gigantic bats, owls, and crows set
upon him from all sides; but the dragon had teeth and claws, while the
queen broke off sharp bits of glass and stabbed and cut in her anxiety
to help her husband. At length the horrible creatures flew away; a sound
like thunder was heard, the palace and the monsters vanished, while, at
the same moment--no one knew how--the king f