mebody I have never
seen and do not know?'

'Ah! madam,' replied he, 'what pleasure it would give me to be able to
fulfil your wish! But the wicked Magotine, who played you such a cruel
trick, has done the same to me, for I am condemned to remain thus for
seven years; five have already gone by and there remain another two
years. You could, if you would, lessen the time and make it pass quickly
for me if you would marry me; you will think that what I ask is
impossible; but, madam, if you only knew how deep my love is for you,
you would never refuse me the favour I ask of you.'

Laideronnette, as I have already said, thought that this invisible King
was very sweet, and the love he offered was without a doubt genuine.
And, in a moment of pity, she replied that she would like a few days to
think over his proposal. So the days passed, and all the time the music
went on and the pagodas danced and new presents arrived for her, better
than those she had received before. And in the end the Princess made up
her mind to marry the invisible King, and she promised to wait to see
him until his time of punishment was over and he could take visible
shape again.

Then the voice said: 'The consequences will be terrible for you and for
me if your curiosity should overcome you, and I shall have to commence
my punishment all over again; but, should you, on the other hand, stay
your desire to see me, you will receive that beauty that the wicked
Magotine took away from you.'

The Princess, full of this new hope, promised to keep her word to him.
But after a while she had a deep desire to see her father and mother
again; also her sister and her husband. The pagodas, who knew the road
well, conducted the royal family to the castle of Laideronnette's father
and mother; and when she saw them she nearly died of joy.

Her mother and her sister questioned Laideronnette about her husband,
and Laideronnette remembered what her husband had told her; she did not
like to tell her people the truth, so she told them that he was at the
war fighting, and that he did not like seeing people. But her mother and
sister chaffed her about him, and at last Laideronnette said that the
wicked Magotine had punished him for seven years, that two remained to
be finished, and that she had married him without ever having seen him;
but that he was a charming person and his conversation proved the fact,
and that if she held her curiosity until the two years were up, sh