and Fanfarinet (according to report) might have dispensed with his dark-lantern. There was also in the head-dress a precious stone which could render the wearer invisible.
Fanfarinet asked the princess whither she wished to go. "Alas!" she replied, "I would go with you; I have no other desire in the world." "But, Madam," rejoined he, "I dare not conduct you to the dominions of King Merlin. Hanging would be too good for me there." "Well," said she, "let us go to the Island of Squirrels; it is sufficiently distant to prevent your being followed." She ordered the boatman to make for it, and although his boat was a very little one, he obeyed.
As day began to dawn, the king, the queen, and all the court, having shaken their ears and rubbed their eyes a little, thought of nothing but proceeding to the marriage of the princess. The queen, in a great bustle, asked for the rich head-dress she wanted to put on again. They looked for it in all the cupboards, and hunted for it even in the saucepans; but no head-dress was to be found. The queen, very uneasy about it, ran up stairs and down stairs, into the cellar and into the garret. It was not to be found.
The king, in his turn, wished to wear his brilliant dagger. With the same diligence they rummaged for it every corner, and broke open quantities of chests and caskets, the keys of which had been lost for upwards of a century. They found a thousand curiosities in them;—dolls that shook their heads and moved their eyes; golden sheep with their little lambs; candied lemon-peel and sugared almonds: but all this could not console the king. His despair was so great that he tore his beard, and the queen, out of sympathy, tore her hair, for, truth to say, the head-dress and the dagger were worth more than ten cities as big as Madrid.
When the king saw there was no hope of finding either again, he said to the queen, "My love, let us take courage and hasten to finish the ceremony which has already cost us so dear." He inquired for the princess. Her nurse advanced and said, "My liege, I assure you that I have been seeking her these two hours in vain." These words crowned the grief of the king and queen. The latter began to scream like an eagle that has lost its young, and fell down in a swoon. Never was anything seen so distressing. They flung more than two
