set out for his own country.

Towards evening he dismounted, and entering a stable he placed
Cannetella in the same stall as his horse, and said to her: 'Now listen
to what I have to say. I am going to my home now, and that is a seven
years' journey from here; you must wait for me in this stable, and never
move from the spot, or let yourself be seen by a living soul. If you
disobey my commands, it will be the worse for you.'

[Illustration: SCIORAVANTE LEAVES CANNETELLA IN THE STABLE]

The princess answered meekly: 'Sir I am your servant, and will do
exactly as you bid me; but I should like to know what I am to live on
till you come back?'

'You can take what the horses leave,' was Scioravante's reply.

When the magician had left her Cannetella felt very miserable, and
bitterly cursed the day she was born. She spent all her time weeping and
bemoaning the cruel fate that had driven her from a palace into a
stable, from soft, down cushions to a bed of straw, and from the
dainties of her father's table to the food that the horses left.

She led this wretched life for a few months, and during that time she
never saw who fed and watered the horses, for it was all done by
invisible hands.

One day, when she was more than usually unhappy, she perceived a little
crack in the wall, through which she could see a beautiful garden, with
all manner of delicious fruits and flowers growing in it. The sight and
smell of such delicacies were too much for poor Cannetella, and she said
to herself, 'I will slip quietly out, and pick a few oranges and grapes,
and I don't care what happens. Who is there to tell my husband what I
do? and even if he should hear of my disobedience, he cannot make my
life more miserable than it is already.'

So she slipped out and refreshed her poor, starved body with the fruit
she plucked in the garden.

But a short time afterwards her husband returned unexpectedly, and one
of the horses instantly told him that Cannetella had gone into the
garden, in his absence, and had stolen some oranges and grapes.

Scioravante was furious when he heard this, and seizing a huge knife
from his pocket he threatened to kill his wife for her disobedience.
But Cannetella threw herself at his feet and implored him to spare her
life, saying that hunger drove even the wolf from the wood. At last she
succeeded in so far softening her husband's heart that he said, 'I will
forgive you this time, and spare your life; but if