"As soon as he returned to the palace he sent for the Queen, and received her with as much affection and distinction as he had exhibited haste and anger in her imprisonment. She was so wasted and depressed that he would scarcely have recognised her, had not his heart assured him she was the same person he had formerly loved so tenderly. He implored her, with tears in his eyes, to forget the misery he had caused her, assuring her it was the last she should ever experience on his account. She replied that she had brought it upon herself by her imprudence in promising her daughter to the Fairies, and if anything could plead in her favour it was only the condition to which she was reduced. The King then informed her that he had determined to place me in the hands of the Fairies. The Queen, in her turn, opposed this intention. It seemed as if some fatality attended the affair, and that I was doomed to be always a subject of dissension between my father and mother. After she had groaned and wept for a considerable time without obtaining her object, (for the King saw too clearly the fatal consequences of hesitating, and our subjects continued to perish as if they were answerable for the faults of our family,) she consented to all he desired, and every preparation was made for the ceremony.
"I was placed in a cradle of mother-of-pearl, ornamented with everything art could imagine that was most elegant. It was hung round with garlands and festoons of flowers, composed of jewels, the different colours of which reflected the rays of the sun with such dazzling splendour, that you could scarcely look at them. The magnificence of my clothing surpassed, if it could be possible, that of the cradle. All the bands of my swaddling clothes were formed of large pearls. Four-and-twenty princesses of the blood-royal carried me on a sort of very light litter. Their dresses were all different, but they were not allowed to wear any colour but white, in token of my innocence. All the Court accompanied me according to the order of precedence.
"While we were ascending the mountain a melodious symphony was heard more and more distinctly. At length the Fairies appeared to the number of thirty-six. They had invited their friends to accompany them. Each was seated in a pearly shell, larger than that in which Venus arose out of the ocean. Sea-horses, that seemed rather awkward in getting
