er uncontrollable
rage, and the fact that she had nothing to fear from wounds, she felt
cowed by him.

'What do you seek to do to me?' she asked; 'what do you want of me?'

'I intend to punish you,' replied the king with dignity, 'for having
carried away my wife. Deliver her up to me, or I will strangle you on
the spot.'

'Turn your eyes to the lake,' she answered, 'and see if it lies in my
power to do so.'

The king followed the direction she indicated, and saw the queen and her
daughter in the palace of crystal, where it floated like a boat without
oars or rudder on the lake of quicksilver. He was like to die of mingled
joy and sorrow. He shouted to them at the top of his voice, and they
heard him. But how was he to reach them?

While he pondered a plan for the accomplishment of this, the Lion-Witch
vanished. He ran round and round the lake, but no sooner did the palace
draw near enough, at one point or another, to let him make a spring for
it, than it suddenly receded with menacing speed. As often as his hopes
were raised they were dashed to the ground.

Fearing that he would presently tire, the queen cried to him that he
must not lose courage, for the Lion-Witch sought to wear him down, but
that true love could brave all obstacles. She stretched out imploring
hands, and so did Moufette. At sight of this the king felt his courage
renewed within him. Lifting his voice, he declared that he would rather
live the rest of his life in this dismal region than go away without
them.

Patience he certainly needed, for no monarch in the world ever spent
such a miserable time. There was only the ground, cumbered with briars
and thorns, for bed, and for food he had only wild fruit more bitter
than gall. In addition, he was under the perpetual necessity of
defending himself from the monsters of the lake.

Three years went by in this fashion, and the king could not pretend that
he had gained the least advantage. He was almost in despair, and many a
time was tempted to cast himself into the lake. He would have done so
without hesitation had there been any hope that thereby the sufferings
of the queen and the princess could be alleviated.

One day as he was running, after his custom, from one side of the lake
to the other, he was hailed by one of the ugliest of the dragons. 'Swear
by your crown and sceptre, by your kingly robe, by your wife and child,'
said the monster, 'to give me a certain tit-bit to eat for which I have