erchandise. The rest you shall know by-and-by.'

On hearing this advice, the princess went at once into the emperor's
presence.

'May a long life be yours, O Sovereign all mighty!' said she. 'I have
come to tell you that I can do as you command if you will give me twenty
ships, and load them with the most precious wares in your kingdom.'

'You shall have all that I possess if you will bring me the
golden-haired Iliane,' said the emperor.

The ships were soon ready, and the princess entered the largest and
finest, with Sunlight at her side. Then the sails were spread and the
voyage began.

For seven weeks the wind blew them straight towards the west, and early
one morning they caught sight of the island swamps of the sea.

They cast anchor in a little bay, and the princess made haste to
disembark with Sunlight, but, before leaving the ship, she tied to her
belt a pair of tiny gold slippers, adorned with precious stones. Then
mounting Sunlight, she rode about till she came to several palaces,
built on hinges, so that they could always turn towards the sun.

The most splendid of these was guarded by three slaves, whose greedy
eyes were caught by the glistening gold of the slippers. They hastened
up to the owner of these treasures, and inquired who he was. 'A
merchant,' replied the princess, 'who had somehow missed his road, and
lost himself among the island swamps of the sea.'

Not knowing if it was proper to receive him or not, the slaves returned
to their mistress and told her all they had seen, but not before she had
caught sight of the merchant from the roof of her palace. Luckily her
gaoler was away, always trying to catch the stud of mares, so for the
moment she was free and alone.

The slaves told their tale so well that their mistress insisted on going
down to the shore and seeing the beautiful slippers for herself. They
were even lovelier than she expected, and when the merchant besought her
to come on board, and inspect some that he thought were finer still, her
curiosity was too great to refuse, and she went.

Once on board ship, she was so busy turning over all the precious things
stored there, that she never knew that the sails were spread, and that
they were flying along with the wind behind them; and when she did know,
she rejoiced in her heart, though she pretended to weep and lament at
being carried captive a second time. Thus they arrived at the court of
the emperor.

They were just about to