restore to the King, my master, what I have asked for him." "I will do it," said the Emperor, "if you succeed in your undertaking." The Chevalier asked the Emperor if he would be present; he replied, it would be so extraordinary a thing, that it deserved his attention, and getting into a magnificent chariot, he drove to the Fountain of Lions: there were seven marble lions, which threw from their mouths torrents of water, which formed a river, upon which the inhabitants traversed the city in gondolas. Tippler approached the great bason, and without taking breath, he drained it as dry as though there had never been any water in it. The fish in the river cried vengeance against him, for they knew not what had happened; in like manner he did by all the other fountains, aqueducts, and reservoirs; in fact, he could have drunk the sea, he was so thirsty. After such an example the Emperor did not doubt but that he could drink the wine as easily as the water, and everybody was too much provoked to be willing to give him their own. But Tippler complained of the great injustice they were doing him; he said he should have the stomach-ache, and that he not only expected the wine, but that the spirits were also his due; so that Matapa, fearing he might appear covetous, consented to Tippler's request. Fortuné took his opportunity of begging the Emperor to recollect his promise. At these words he looked very stern, and told him he would think of it. In fact he called his council together, and expressed his extreme vexation at having promised this young ambassador to return all he had won from his master; that he had considered the conditions he had attached thereunto were impossible to be accomplished, and quite sufficient to prevent his compliance. The Princess, his daughter, who was one of the most lovely creatures in the world, having heard him speak thus, said, "You are aware, Sire, that up to the present moment I have beaten all those who have dared to dispute the prize in a race with me. You must tell the ambassador that if he can reach before me a certain spot that shall be marked out, you will no longer hesitate to keep your word with him." The Emperor embraced his child, thought her advice admirable, and the next morning received Fortuné very graciously.
"I have one more condition to make," said he, "which is, that you, or one of your people, should run a race with the
