dressed Briscambille in royal robes, and put him into the coach. Perceforêt he made the coachman, the other monkeys were attending as pages.
Nothing more elegant was ever seen. He put the coach and the booted monkeys into the same sack, and the Princess was not in bed before she heard in the gallery the sound of little coach-wheels, and her nymphs came to announce to her the arrival of the King of the Dwarfs. At the same moment the little carriage was driven into the room with its monkey-train, and the wild ones played innumerable tricks, which, in their way, were quite equal to those of Briscambille and Perceforêt. Sooth to say, Leander conducted the whole affair. He took the little monkey out of the little gold coach, who had in his hand a box encrusted with diamonds, which he presented with considerable grace to the Princess. She opened it instantly, and found in it a note, in which were written the following lines:—
What beauties, what treasures surround me!
Fair palace, how lovely art thou!
Yet lovelier she who has bound me,
By charms never dreamed of till now!
Peace reigns in this thrice nappy Isle,
But none the poor captive can feel,
Who worships, yet trembles the while
His flame or his form to reveal.
It is easy to imagine her surprise! Briscambille made a sign to Perceforêt to come and dance with him. None of the most celebrated dancing monkeys ever equalled this wonderful pair: but the princess, uneasy at not being able to guess from whom the verses came, dismissed the performers sooner than she would otherwise have done, notwithstanding that they had amused her vastly, and that she had at first laughed at them to such a degree that she nearly fainted. She then gave herself up entirely to her reflections, but without being able to penetrate the mystery.
Leander, satisfied with the attention paid to his verses, and the pleasure the Princess had taken in seeing the monkeys, now thought it was time to take a little rest, of which he was in great need; but he was afraid he might select an apartment belonging to one of the nymphs-in-waiting on the Princess. He remained for some time in the grand gallery of the palace; then, descending, he found an open door. He entered softly one of the lower rooms, more beautiful and
