sword, and though these were but small consolation
for the absence of the princess, they were better than nothing, for he
felt that somehow they might be the means of leading him back to her.

After crossing several deserts the king arrived at length in a country
that seemed inhabited, but the instant he stepped over the border he
was seized and flung into chains, and dragged at once to the capital.
He asked his guards why he was treated like this, but the only answer he
got was that he was in the territory of the Iron King, for in those days
countries had no names of their own, but were called after their rulers.

The young man was led into the presence of the Iron King, who was seated
on a black throne in a hall also hung with black, as a token of mourning
for all the relations whom he had put to death.

'What are you doing in my country?' he cried fiercely.

'I came here by accident,' replied Souci, 'and if I ever escape
from your clutches I will take warning by you and treat my subjects
differently.'

'Do you dare to insult me in my own court?' cried the king. 'Away with
him to Little Ease!'

Now Little Ease was an iron cage hung by four thick chains in the middle
of a great vaulted hall, and the prisoner inside could neither sit,
nor stand, nor lie; and, besides that, he was made to suffer by turns
unbearable heat and cold, while a hundred heavy bolts kept everything
safe. Girouette, whose business it was to see after Souci, had forgotten
his existence in the excitement of some new idea, and he would not have
been alive long to trouble anybody if Aveline had not come to the rescue
and whispered in his ear, 'And the skein of thread?' He took it up
obediently, though he did not see how it would help him but he tied it
round one of the iron bars of his cage, which seemed the only thing he
could do, and gave a pull. To his surprise the bar gave way at once, and
he found he could break it into a thousand pieces. After this it did
not take him long to get out of his cage, or to treat the closely barred
windows of the hall in the same manner. But even after he had done all
this freedom appeared as far from him as ever, for between him and the
open country was a high wall, and so smooth that not even a monkey could
climb it. Then Souci's heart died within him. He saw nothing for it but
to submit to some horrible death, but he determined that the Iron King
should not profit more than he could help, and flung his precio