nd all the rest of the
people were much frightened, for they thought that he was dangerously
mad.

Pedro, noticing this, sorrowfully turned away from his native village
and took the high-road to the next town.

As he was going along, thinking of his present trouble, he observed a
wide gate made of gold, opening into a beautiful garden, into which he
hesitated not to enter; for he recollected what the wise woman of the
village had once told him--that "grand clothes beget respect."

"Open wide those gates, O worker midst the flowers," exclaimed Pedro to
an old gardener (for he had now recovered his speech). "I come in cloth
of gold to speak unto my love."

"Sir," replied the old man, "you may always enter here, for you are D.
Pedro of Aragon, I well can see."

"What very high balconies, a hundred feet in height!" exclaimed Pedro.
"Tell me, good old man, does the princess ever come there?"

"To those balconies so high, to feel the cooling breeze," replied the
gardener, "the princess comes there every evening alone."

"Should she ask you," continued Pedro, "who I am, tell her that I am
your son come from a distant land, and I will help you to water the
pinks."

At her usual time the princess came to her favourite balcony, and seeing
Pedro watering the flowers, she beckoned to him, saying--

"O waterer of the pinks, come a little nearer and speak to me."

"Is it true that you desire to speak to me?" inquired Pedro of the
princess.

"No mirror bright ever reflected the truth more correctly than the words
I uttered conveyed my desire," answered the princess.

"Here, then, you have me," said Pedro. "Order me as your slave; but give
me, for I am thirsty, a small ewer of water."

The princess poured some water into a silver goblet, and having handed
it to Pedro, he exclaimed--

"And in this mirror bright of crystal water pure, which does reflect
thy form, I quench my heart's deep thirst."

"You see yonder palace at the end of the garden," said the princess to
Pedro. "Well, in that palace you will be lodged for the night; but
should you ever tell any one what you see there, you will put yourself
in danger and cause me great trouble."

Pedro promised to keep secret whatever he might see that night, and
bidding "good night" to the princess, he hastened to the palace which
the princess had pointed out to him, and, having entered it, he walked
through the marble passage, which seemed to be interminable. On each
si