enough to drive you crazy; and on a long table were twelve large mice, fastened to it by their tails, each of which had in front of them a piece of bacon which they couldn't reach; so that the cats saw the mice without being able to eat them, and the mice trembled at the cats, while they were famishing with a tempting piece of bacon before them.
The Princess was contemplating the torture of these animals, when she saw the Enchanter enter in a long black robe. He had on his head a crocodile by way of a cap, and never was there seen so horrible a head-dress. The old man wore spectacles, and carried a whip made of twenty long live serpents. Oh, how frightened the Princess was!—how she regretted at that moment her shepherd, her sheep, and her dog! She thought only of flight; and, without saying a word to this terrible man, she ran to the door: but it was covered with spiders' webs. As soon as she had lifted one, she found another under it; and on lifting that, a third appeared; she lifted that, and saw a new one, under which was another; in short, these filthy portières of spiders' webs were innumerable.
The poor Princess was worn out with fatigue; her arms were not strong enough to hold up these webs; she would have sat down on the floor to rest herself, but was quickly compelled to rise again by long sharp thorns that issued from it. She attempted again to escape, but still found one web under another. The wicked old man, who observed her, laughed till he was ready to choke himself. At length he called to her, and said, "Thou mayest pass the rest of thy life without succeeding in thy object. Thou seemest to me younger and more beautiful than the fairest I ever saw. If thou wilt marry me, I will give thee these twelve cats that thou seest hung up to the ceiling to do what thou wilt with, and these twelve mice that are on the table here shall be thine also. The cats are so many princes, and the mice as many princesses. The little rogues, at one time or another, had the honour to please me (for I have been always gay and gallant), but none would love me. These princes were my rivals, and more favoured than I was. Jealousy took possession of me; I found means to entice them hither; and as fast as I caught them, I transformed them into cats and mice. The most amusing part of the business is, that they hate, as much as they formerly loved, each other, and it
