he saw the child they had brought him, he was greatly delighted, and, shouting so loud that the mountains trembled, he exclaimed, "This is the best breakfast I ever had in all my life. I shall want neither pepper nor salt to eat this little boy." The shepherds and shepherdesses looked at the poor child, saying to themselves, "The eagle has spared it, but here is the wretch that will end its days." The oldest shepherd took it in his arms, and kissed it often. "Oh, my child, my dear child," said he, "I do not know thee, but yet I feel that I have seen too much of thee! Must I assist at thy funeral? Why did fortune defend thee from the talons of the eaglets and from the hooked-beak of the eagle, since she abandons thee to-day to the voracious appetite of this horrible monster?"
While the shepherd was moistening the rosy cheeks of the Prince with tears which flowed from his eyes, the sweet innocent passed his little hands through his grey hairs, smiling at him in a sweet infantile manner, and the more he inspired him with pity, the more he hesitated to advance with him. "Make haste," exclaimed the hungry Centaur; "if you make me come down,—if I have to come to you, I will eat more than a hundred." His patience, in fact, began to fail him; he rose and flourished his club, when there appeared in the air a large globe of fire, surrounded by an azure cloud. As every one was attentively looking at this extraordinary sight, the cloud and the globe descended by degrees, and then the latter opened, and out of it issued immediately a chariot of diamonds, drawn by swans, in which was seated the most beautiful lady in the world. On her head was a helmet of pure gold, surmounted with white feathers, the vizor was up, and her eyes were as brilliant as the sun. She wore a rich cuirass, and the fiery lance she wielded betokened she was an Amazon.
"What! shepherds, "cried she, "have you the inhumanity to sacrifice such a child to a cruel centaur? It is time to liberate you from your promise. Justice and reason are opposed to such barbarous custom. No longer fear the return of the ogres; I will guarantee your safety. I am the Fairy Amazon, and from this moment I take you under my protection." "Ah! Madam," said the shepherds and shepherdesses, lifting up their hands to her, "it is the greatest happiness that could happen to us." They could say no more, for the infuriated Centaur defied the Fairy to the combat. It
