means of repairing my fault, I entreat you to give me but time: one of the Princes is already gone to seek the dancing water; he will no doubt perish in the attempt, and I shall find similar means to do away with all of them." "We shall see," said the Queen, "whether the success will answer your expectations; but rely upon it, by that alone will you escape my just rage." Feintise returned more alarmed than ever, racking her brain to think how she could destroy them.
The plan she had adopted with regard to Prince Cheri, was one of the most certain—for the dancing water was not easily to be obtained; it was so notorious from the misfortunes which occurred to all who sought it, that every one knew the road to it. His white horse went astonishingly fast, and he did not spare it, as he was so anxious to return quickly to Belle-Etoile, and gratify her by the successful result of his journey. He was eight days and nights without taking any repose but in the woods, under the first tree he came to, without eating anything but the wild fruit he found in his road, scarcely allowing his horse time to graze. At the end of this period, he arrived in a country where he began to suffer very much from the heat; but it was not that the sun was more powerful, and he did not know to what cause to attribute it, when from the top of a mountain he perceived the luminous forest; all the trees were burning without being consumed, and casting out flames to such a distance, that the country around was a dry desert. In this forest was to be heard the hissing of serpents, and the roaring of lions, which astonished the Prince excessively, for it appeared to him impossible that any animal but a salamander could live in this sort of furnace.
After contemplating for some time this terrible scene, he descended, ruminating on what was to be done, and more than once gave himself up for lost. As he approached this great fire he was ready to die with thirst; he perceived a spring issuing from a mountain, and falling into a marble basin; he alighted from his horse, approached it, and stooped to take up some water in a little golden vase which he had brought with him, intending to fill it with some of that which the Princess wished for, when he perceived a turtle-dove drowning in the fountain: its feathers were quite wet, it had lost all power, and was sinking to the bottom of the basin. Cheri took pity on it, and saved it. At first, he held it by
