became intoxicated, and there was no one to make up the fire.

When the pages heard of this shocking state of things, they went to
their companion and implored her to come to the rescue.

The princess was fond of cooking, and was, besides, very good-natured;
so she put on an apron and went down to the kitchen without delay. When
the dinner was placed before the emperor he found it so nice that he ate
much more than was good for him. The next morning, as soon as he woke,
he sent for his head cook, and told him to send up the same dishes as
before. The cook, seized with fright at this command, which he knew he
could not fulfil, fell on his knees, and confessed the truth.

The emperor was so astonished that he forgot to scold, and while he was
thinking over the matter, some of his pages came in and said that their
new companion had been heard to boast that he knew where Iliane was to
be found--the celebrated Iliane of the song which begins:

'Golden Hair
The fields are green,'

and that to their certain knowledge he had a curl of her hair in his
possession.

When he heard that, the emperor desired the page to be brought before
him, and, as soon as the princess obeyed his summons, he said to her
abruptly:

'Fet-Fruners, you have hidden from me the fact that you knew the
golden-haired Iliane! Why did you do this? for I have treated you more
kindly than all my other pages.'

Then, after making the princess show him the golden curl which she wore
round her neck, he added: 'Listen to me; unless by some means or other
you bring me the owner of this lock, I will have your head cut off in
the place where you stand. Now go!'

In vain the poor girl tried to explain how the lock of hair came into
her possession; the emperor would listen to nothing, and, bowing low,
she left his presence and went to consult Sunlight what she was to do.

At his first words she brightened up. 'Do not be afraid, mistress;
only last night my brother appeared to me in a dream and told me that a
genius had carried off Iliane, whose hair you picked up on the road. But
Iliane declares that, before she marries her captor, he must bring her,
as a present, the whole stud of mares which belong to her. The genius,
half crazy with love, thinks of nothing night and day but how this can
be done, and meanwhile she is quite safe in the island swamps of the
sea. Go back to the emperor and ask him for twenty ships filled with
precious m