with astonishment, and awaited the pleasure of the serpent.

Slowly it came gliding towards her, and then, when it was almost near
enough for her to touch it, it reared up--the golden skin fell apart,
and a young and most handsome Prince stood bowing before her.

Now, of course, everything would have been happy and joyous if it had
not been for the silly old King, who, partly out of anxiety for his
daughter, but chiefly from curiosity, stole back and peeped into the
room just as the Prince emerged from the golden skin which had disguised
him as a serpent.

He did just what you should never do with disenchanted princes: rushed
forward and threw the discarded skin into the fire, where it flashed and
burned like a resinous torch.

At the sound of the crackling the Prince turned, and, when he saw what
had happened, he was furiously angry, more angry, in fact, than he had
been when, as a serpent, he had reflected on the unreliability of the
promises of kings. Then, with a sad look at the Princess, he turned to
the King and said:

_'This act of yours renews the spell,
May fortune never with you dwell.'_

And, turning himself into a dove, he circled three times round the
Princess and then flew through the window. At least, he would have flown
through the window, only it did not happen to be open. In consequence he
broke the pane and very nearly his own head; but he got out, and flew
straight away over the golden orchard, while the Princess, who had
rushed to the window, stood gazing after him until he could no longer be
seen. Then she turned and gave the unhappy King her views of his
meddlesome prying. Then she burst into tears and cried until the sun
went down, so that the tears formed a stream and ran down into the
fountain-court, and all the poor little goldfish died because of too
much salt in their fresh water.

But crying does not help any one, so, after all the palace servants had
gone to bed, she gathered up all her treasures and set out to find her
elusive husband, who had come to her as a serpent with a wriggly tail,
and flown away as a dove with a bit of a broken window-pane in his head.

When she got out of the palace grounds into the woods behind, she met a
fox who was also looking for a dove, or a fowl, or any other winged
thing.

The fox said, 'Good evening, pretty Princess. May I travel with you for
company?'

'Yes, do,' said the Princess. 'I am not used to the woods at night, and
I may