nd made Ferdinand follow him to his cell. There
he set the Prince to work, making him remove thousands of heavy logs of
timber and pile them up; and Ferdinand patiently obeyed, and thought his
toil all too well repaid by the sympathy of the sweet Miranda.

She in very pity would have helped him in his hard work, but he would
not let her, yet he could not keep from her the secret of his love, and
she, hearing it, rejoiced and promised to be his wife.

Then Prospero released him from his servitude, and glad at heart, he
gave his consent to their marriage.

"Take her," he said, "she is thine own."

In the meantime, Antonio and Sebastian in another part of the island
were plotting the murder of Alonso, the King of Naples, for Ferdinand
being dead, as they thought, Sebastian would succeed to the throne on
Alonso's death. And they would have carried out their wicked purpose
while their victim was asleep, but that Ariel woke him in good time.

Many tricks did Ariel play them. Once he set a banquet before them, and
just as they were going to fall to, he appeared to them amid thunder
and lightning in the form of a harpy, and immediately the banquet
disappeared. Then Ariel upbraided them with their sins and vanished too.

Prospero by his enchantments drew them all to the grove without his
cell, where they waited, trembling and afraid, and now at last bitterly
repenting them of their sins.

Prospero determined to make one last use of his magic power, "And then,"
said he, "I'll break my staff and deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book."

So he made heavenly music to sound in the air, and appeared to them in
his proper shape as the Duke of Milan. Because they repented, he
forgave them and told them the story of his life since they had cruelly
committed him and his baby daughter to the mercy of wind and waves.
Alonso, who seemed sorriest of them all for his past crimes, lamented
the loss of his heir. But Prospero drew back a curtain and showed them
Ferdinand and Miranda playing at chess. Great was Alonso's joy to greet
his loved son again, and when he heard that the fair maid with whom
Ferdinand was playing was Prospero's daughter, and that the young folks
had plighted their troth, he said--

"Give me your hands, let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart that
doth not wish you joy."

So all ended happily. The ship was safe in the harbor, and next day they
all set sail for Naples, where Ferdinand and Miran