e had been propelled by a powerful spring.

He was so overjoyed at seeing her move that he pressed his face against
the glass and wept with great strength, and, in a few moments, the
princess came timidly to the window and looked out. She looked right
over his head at first, and then she looked down and saw him, and her
eyebrows went far up on her forehead, and her mouth opened; and so he
knew that she was delighted to see him. He nodded to give her courage,
and shouted three times, "Open Sesame, Open Sesame, Open Sesame," and
then she opened the window and he climbed in.

The princess tried to push him out again, but she was not able, and he
bade her put all her jewels in the heel of her boot and fly with him.
But she was evidently the victim of a very powerful enchantment, for she
struggled violently, and said incomprehensible things to him, such as "Is
it a fire, or were you chased?" and "Where is the cook?" But after a
little time she listened to the voice of reason, and recognised that
these were legitimate and heroic embraces from which she could not
honourably disentangle herself.

When her first transports of joy were somewhat abated she assured him
that excessive haste had often undone great schemes, and that one should
always look before one leaped, and that one should never be rescued all
at once, but gradually, in order that one might become accustomed to the
severe air of freedom--and he was overjoyed to find that she was as wise
as she was beautiful.

He told her that he loved her dearly, and she admitted, after some
persuasion, that she was not insensible to the charms of his heart and
intellect, but she confessed that her love was given to another.

At these tidings his heart withered away within him, and when the
princess admitted she loved the giant his amazement became profound and
complicated. There was a rushing sound in his ears. The debris of his
well-known world was crashing about him, and he was staring upon a new
planet, the name of which was Incredulity. He looked round with a queer
feeling of insecurity. At any moment the floor might stand up on one of
its corners, or the walls might begin to flap and waggle. But none of
these things happened. Before him sat the princess in an attitude of
deep dejection, and her lily-white hands rested helplessly on her lap.
She told him in a voice that trembled that she would have married him if
he had asked her ten years earlier, and urged that she coul