ke come
wriggling along the ground with some mud from the river in its mouth;
and when it came near the bed, it reared up its head and dropped its
muddy head on the bedclothes. She was very frightened, but tried to
control her fear, and called out:

'Who are you, and what do you here?'

And the snake answered:

'I am the prince, your husband, and I am come to visit you.'

Then the princess began to weep; and the snake continued:

'Alas! did I not say that if I told you my secret you would repent it?
and have you not repented?'

'Oh, indeed!' cried the poor princess, 'I have repented it, and shall
repent it all my life! Is there nothing I can do?'

And the snake answered:

'Yes, there is one thing, if you dared to do it.'

'Only tell me,' said the princess, 'and I will do _anything_!'

'Then,' replied the snake, 'on a certain night you must put a large
bowl of milk and sugar in each of the four corners of this room. All
the snakes in the river will come out to drink the milk, and the one
that leads the way will be the queen of the snakes. You must stand in
her way at the door, and say: "Oh, Queen of Snakes, Queen of Snakes,
give me back my husband!" and perhaps she will do it. But if you are
frightened, and do not stop her, you will never see me again.' And he
glided away.

On the night of which the snake had told her, the princess got four
large bowls of milk and sugar, and put one in each corner of the room,
and stood in the doorway waiting. At midnight there was a great
hissing and rustling from the direction of the river, and presently
the ground appeared to be alive with horrible writhing forms of
snakes, whose eyes glittered and forked tongues quivered as they moved
on in the direction of the princess's house. Foremost among them was a
huge, repulsive scaly creature that led the dreadful procession. The
guards were so terrified that they all ran away; but the princess
stood in the doorway, as white as death, and with her hands clasped
tight together for fear she should scream or faint, and fail to do her
part. As they came closer and saw her in the way, all the snakes
raised their horrid heads and swayed them to and fro, and looked at
her with wicked beady eyes, while their breath seemed to poison the
very air. Still the princess stood firm, and, when the leading snake
was within a few feet of her, she cried: 'Oh, Queen of Snakes, Queen
of Snakes, give me back my husband!' Then all the rustling, writh