her with rejoicings, as it was before
imagined she would die of disappointment. All this time the queen said
nothing to my father of the promise she had made, to give her daughter
to the fairies; so that, when the time was come that she expected my
birth, she grew very melancholy; till at length, being pressed by the
king, she declared to him the truth. Nothing could exceed his
affliction, when he heard that his only child, when born, was to be
given to the fairies. He bore it, however, as well as he could, for fear
of adding to my mother's grief; and also believing he should find some
means of keeping me in a place of safety, which the fairies would not be
able to approach. As soon therefore as I was born, he had me conveyed to
a tower in the palace, to which there were twenty flights of stairs, and
a door to each, of which my father kept the key, so that none came near
me without his consent. When the fairies heard of what had been done,
they sent first to demand me; and on my father's refusal, they let loose
a monstrous dragon, who devoured men, women and children, and the breath
of whose nostrils destroyed every thing it came near, so that the trees
and plants began to die in great abundance. The grief of the king, at
seeing this, could scarcely be equalled; and finding that his whole
kingdom would in a short time be reduced to famine, he consented to give
me into their hands. I was accordingly laid in a cradle of
mother-of-pearl, ornamented with gold and jewels, and carried to their
palace, when the dragon immediately disappeared. The fairies placed me
in a tower of their palace, elegantly furnished, but to which there was
no door, so that whoever approached was obliged to come by the windows,
which were a great height from the ground: from these I had the liberty
of getting out into a delightful garden, in which were baths, and every
sort of cooling fruit. In this place was I educated by the fairies, who
behaved to me with the greatest kindness; my clothes were splendid, and
I was instructed in every kind of accomplishment. In short, prince, if I
had never seen any one but themselves, I should have remained very
happy. One of the windows of my tower overlooked a long avenue shaded
with trees, so that I had never seen in it a human creature. One day,
however, as I was talking at this window with my parrot, I perceived a
young gentleman who was listening to our conversation. As I had never
seen a man, but in pictures,