his redoubtable sword, there was not one that he did not cut in half at a blow. He was in hopes he had surmounted the greatest obstacles, when a most embarrassing one presented itself. Twenty-four beautiful and graceful nymphs advanced to meet him with long garlands of flowers, which they stretched across his path to impede his progress. "Whither would you go, Sire?" said they, "we are entrusted with the guardianship of these regions. If we permit you to pass, innumerable misfortunes will befal both you and us. For mercy's sake do not persist in this resolution. Would you stain your victorious hand with the blood of twenty-four innocent maidens, who have never done anything to displease you?" The King at this sight stood amazed and irresolute. He did not know what course to take. He, who professed such extreme respect for the fair sex, and his eagerness to be their champion to the death on every occasion, was in the present case about to destroy some of the fairest! But whilst he was hesitating, he heard a voice which instantly determined him. "Strike! strike!" said this voice to him, "or thy Princess is lost to thee for ever!"
At these words, without uttering a syllable in reply to the nymphs, he rushed upon them, broke through their garlands, attacked them without mercy, and scattered them in a moment. This was the last obstacle he had to encounter. He entered the grove in which he had previously seen Toute-belle. She was seated beside the fountain, pale and suffering. He accosted her tremblingly. He would have thrown himself at her feet: but she fled from him as hastily and indignantly as if he had been the Yellow Dwarf. "Condemn me not unheard, Madam," said he, "I am neither faithless nor guilty of any intentional wrong towards you. I am an unhappy lover, who has been compelled, despite himself, to offend you." "Ah, cruel Prince," she exclaimed, "I saw you sail through the air with a lady of extraordinary beauty; was it despite yourself you made that voyage?" "Yes, Princess," replied he, "it was despite myself; the wicked Fairy of the Desert was not satisfied with chaining me to a rock, she wafted me in a car to one of the ends of the world, where I should still have languished in captivity, but for the unhoped-for assistance of a beneficent Syren who brought me hither. I come, my Princess, to snatch you from the power of him who
