s
rope to spare; and he went on until, at the end of it, he was able to
grasp a bough thick enough to bear his weight; and by this means he
climbed along to the trunk, and so to the ground.

There was no one about. The guards were all away merrymaking in the
Prince's honour. Although he was still a prisoner within the garden
walls, he was enjoying his adventure and the sense of freedom to wander,
even in the gardens.

He took his way along pathways where the moonbeams strayed. He drank in
the cool night air, and paused ever and again to pluck a sweet-smelling
night-flower. Wandering on, he came at length to a bank at the end of
the garden, beyond which he knew was a steep cliff overlooking a valley.
Before his father had shut him up in the tower, he had always been
forbidden to approach that end of the garden, and he had never done so;
but now his curiosity led him on, and he advanced cautiously along an
avenue of overarching trees. But it soon grew so dense and dark, that he
was about to turn back, when suddenly he espied a misty light beginning
to grow brighter and brighter at the far end of the avenue.

Eager to find out where this light came from, and seeing his way more
clearly now, he hastened on, and soon arrived at the mouth of a large
cave, which, inside, was as bright as day. He ventured farther forward
and peered round a buttress of rock; and there, in the centre of the
cave, a strange sight met his eyes. A gigantic bird was standing there,
getting ready to fly through the farther opening overlooking the valley.
It was stretching its neck and flapping its wings; and, from every
feather of these, flashed rays and sparkles of light, illuminating the
whole place.

In the centre of the cavern floor was a crystal pool into which, from a
ledge high up on the wall, fell a broad cascade almost like a flowing
veil, and the strong light shed by the giant bird shone through this on
to the rock behind it. And there the Prince saw the most beautiful thing
he had ever set eyes on.

It was an oval picture, framed in crystal, and hanging behind the
transparent cascade--a picture of a beautiful Princess. And, as he
looked, her eyes met his.

Immediately the young Prince was filled with a great longing to find the
original of this portrait, but it seemed that his only way of doing so
was through the help of the great bird, which was now attracting his
attention by strange signs. First it looked at him with a kindly eye;