the basket, and the scarf; but she replied that she would receive no presents, and bade him go and reflect on what she had said to him. When he returned to his lodgings, he went to bed without eating any supper, and his little dog, whose name was Cabriolle, would take none himself, and went and laid down beside his master. All night long Avenant never ceased sighing. "Where can I hope to find a ring that fell a month ago into a great river?" said he; "it would be folly to attempt looking for it. The princess only named this condition to me because she knew it was impossible for me to fulfil it." And then he sighed again and was very sorrowful. Cabriolle, who heard him, said, "My dear master, I entreat you not to despair of your good fortune: you are too amiable not to be happy. Let us go to the river side as soon as it is daylight." Avenant gave him two little pats, without saying a word, and, worn out with grieving, fell asleep.
Cabriolle, as soon as he saw daybreak, frisked about so that he waked Avenant, and said to him, "Dress yourself, master, and let us go out." Avenant was quite willing; he arose, dressed, and descended into the garden, and from the garden strayed mechanically towards the river, on the banks of which he strolled with his hat pulled over his eyes, and his arms folded, thinking only of taking his departure, when suddenly he heard himself called by his name—"Avenant! Avenant!" He looked all around him, and could see nobody: he thought he was dreaming. He resumed his walk, when again the voice called, "Avenant! Avenant!" "Who calls me?" he asked. Cabriolle, who was very little and was looking close down into the water, replied, "Never trust me if it be not a golden carp that I see here." Immediately the carp appeared on the surface, and said to Avenant, "You saved my life in the nettle-tree meadow,[1] where I must have perished but for your assistance. I promised to do as much for you. Here, dear Avenant, is the ring of the Fair with Golden Hair. Avenant stooped and took the ring out of my friend the carp's mouth, whom he thanked a thousand times. Instead of returning to his lodgings he went directly to the palace, followed by little Cabriolle, who was very glad he had induced his
- ↑ "Pré des Alisiers." "Alisier, the lote or nettle-tree." "Alisier gris, the grey lote. Alisier rouge, the red lote, both (and all the kinds thereof) strangers in England," writes Cotgrave in his Dictionary, Ed. 1650.
