they will all be yours."

"Master," sighed Fido, in a supplicating voice, "a little courage! We
are so comfortable here!"

Pensive said nothing, but her silence was consent. As to Graceful, who
remembered the buffaloes and the gold ring, he distrusted the fairy.
Crapaudine perceived it.

"Do not think, my dear Graceful, that I wish to deceive you," she
said. "In offering you all that I possess, I also demand of you a
service which I will reward as it deserves. When you have done what I
propose I shall become a young girl, as beautiful as Venus, except
that my hands and feet will remain like those of a frog, which is very
little when one is rich. Ten princes, twenty marquises, and thirty
counts have already begged me to marry them as I am; when I become a
woman, I will give you the preference, and we will enjoy my vast
fortune together. Do not blush for your poverty; you have about you a
treasure that is worth all mine, the vial which my sister gave you."
Saying this, she stretched out her slimy fingers to seize the
talisman.

"Never!" cried Graceful, shrinking back, "never! I wish neither repose
nor fortune; I wish to quit this place and to go to the Castle of
Life."

"You shall never go there!" exclaimed the fairy, in a rage. The castle
instantly disappeared, a circle of fire surrounded Graceful, and an
invisible clock began to strike midnight. At the first stroke the
child started; at the second, without hesitating, he plunged headlong
into the flames. To die for his grandmother seemed to him the only
means of showing his love and repentance.

VI

To Graceful's surprise, the flames parted without touching him, and he
suddenly found himself in a new country, with his two companions by
his side. This country was no longer Italy, but Russia, the end of the
earth. He was wandering on a mountain covered with snow. Around him he
saw nothing but great trees, coated with hoar-frost and dripping water
from all their branches; a damp and penetrating mist chilled him to
the bones; the moist earth sank under his feet; and, to crown his
wretchedness, it was necessary to descend a steep precipice, at the
bottom of which a torrent was breaking noisily over the rocks.
Graceful took his dagger and cut a branch from a tree to support his
faltering steps. Fido, with his tail between his legs, barked feebly;
and Pensive, her ruffled feathers covered with icicles, clung to her
master's shoulder. The poor bird was half dead, bu