raise her and describe her perfections, lest you should
afterward say that you had seen some one equally handsome. But there
was no one like her under the sun. Lovely as she was, no human being
had seen her, and she had no idea of empires and cities; she lived on
sisterly terms with the flowers, danced with the butterflies, was
lulled by the murmur of the brook, vied with the birds in singing.
Now, my dear readers, forgive me for first telling you I would say
nothing, and afterward adding a few words in praise of little
Wild-Rose. Who that has ever seen her can help talking about her?

So the days passed like hours and the hours like minutes, until one
day a great hunt took place in the beautiful woods.

The emperor's son went to the chase too.

Well, evidently this ought to have been. The prince, in a good or evil
hour--I don't know which I ought to say--saw a deer bound into the
thicket, and hurried after the animal faster and faster and faster,
till the young hero found himself where he had never been even in his
dreams--in the very depths of the dense forest, which was still
untrodden by any human foot.

When the prince discovered his situation, he stood still and listened,
to try to hear some sound in this solitude; the barking of a dog, the
blast of a horn, the report of a gun, any thing of the sort would have
pleased the youth. But he listened in vain, utter silence and solitude
surrounded him. After gazing around him for some time a dazzling light
gleamed through the foliage. He glanced that way again, and felt that
he must know what was there. One, two, three, and he reached the spot
to see what it was. And he found--found the tree with the dainty
little swinging chamber, and the young griffins staring at him.
Whatever he may have thought, he drew his bow and would have instantly
shot off the heads of the whole brood, when, like a thunderbolt, a
blaze of light flashed into his face, dazzling him so that he dropped
the bow and covered his eyes with his hands. When he looked that way
again, he saw for half a minute the face and figure of little
Wild-Rose, felt as if he were in the other world, and could not help
falling on the grass in a fainting-fit. When he recovered his senses
he called to the young girl to come down. But how was Wild-Rose to do
such a thing? She did not go to a young man, but staid quietly at home
with her mamma.

When the prince saw this he went away as he had come. Yet no, not
exactly