her, and that he did not doubt but that she would be enchanted at her good fortune in meeting with him. She gave him to understand, by her tears and her lamentations, the excess of her despair; and as in secret I was exerting all my power in her favour, I inspired the Giant with a feeling of compassion, which he had never known in his life before; so that in lieu of growing angry, he told the Princess he would give her a year, during which time he would use no violence; but that, if at the end of that period she did not consent to his proposal, he would marry her in spite of herself and kill her afterwards, so that she might consider which course would be the best for her to take.
"After this fatal declaration, he shut up with her some of the most beautiful girls in the world, that they might be her companions, and wile away the profound sorrow in which she was plunged. He posted giants all round the tower, to prevent any one whatever from approaching it; and in fact, should any one have the temerity to do so, they would speedily meet the reward of their rashness, for the giant sentinels are merciless as they are mighty.
"At length, the poor Princess, not seeing the least prospect of relief, and knowing that the year has expired all but one day, has resolved to throw herself from the battlements of the tower into the sea. Such, my Lord Pigeon, is the state to which she is reduced. The only remedy I can see for this evil is, that you should fly to her, carrying in your beak a little ring I have here. The moment she puts it on her finger, she will become a Dove, and you can then fly away together."
The little Pigeon was in the greatest hurry to be off: he did not know how to make her understand him; he pulled the ruffles, and the flounced apron[1] of the Fairy; he then moved to the window, and tapped the panes two or three times with his beak. All this meant, in pigeon tongue, "I beseech thee, Madam, to send me instantly with the enchanted ring to comfort our lovely Princess!" The Fairy
- ↑ Tablier en falbala. The aprons of that day were ornamented with flounces or furbelows (falbalas), with a profusion of which the gowns were also trimmed. Farquhar, in the Inconstant, makes young Mirabel say whimsically, "I had the oddest dream last night of the Duchess of Burgundy; methought the furbelows of her gown were pinned up so high behind, that I couldn't see her head for her tail."—Act iii. Scene 1.
