ot
please her at all, though he was extremely delighted with it himself.
Poor Potentilla only shuddered and cried:

'Oh! where is my Narcissus?'

To which he replied with a self-satisfied chuckle: 'You want a
narcissus, madam? Well, they are not rare; you shall have as many as you
like.'

Whereupon he waved his wand, and the Princess found herself surrounded
and half buried in the fragrant flowers. She would certainly have
betrayed that this was not the kind of narcissus she wanted, but for the
Fairy Melinette, who had been anxiously watching the interview, and now
thought it quite time to interfere. Assuming the Prince's voice, she
whispered in Potentilla's ear:

'We are menaced by a great danger, but my only fear is for you, my
Princess. Therefore I beg you to hide what you really feel, and we will
hope that some way out of the difficulty may present itself.'

The Princess was much agitated by this speech, and feared lest the
Enchanter should have overheard it; but he had been loudly calling her
attention to the flowers, and chuckling over his own smartness in
getting them for her; and it was rather a blow to him when she said very
coldly that they were not the sort she preferred, and she would be glad
if he would send them all away. This he did, but afterwards wished to
kiss the Princess's hand as a reward for having been so obliging; but
the Fairy Melinette was not going to allow anything of that kind. She
appeared suddenly, in all her splendour, and cried:

'Stay, Grumedan; this Princess is under my protection, and the smallest
impertinence will cost you a thousand years of captivity. If you can win
Potentilla's heart by the ordinary methods I cannot oppose you, but I
warn you that I will not put up with any of your usual tricks.'

This declaration was not at all to the Enchanter's taste; but he knew
that there was no help for it, and that he would have to behave well,
and pay the Princess all the delicate attentions he could think of,
though they were not at all the sort of thing he was used to. However,
he decided that to win such a beauty it was quite worth while; and
Melinette, feeling that she could now leave the Princess in safety,
hurried off to tell Prince Narcissus what was going forward. Of course,
at the very mention of the Enchanter as a rival he was furious, and I
don't know what foolish things he would not have done if Melinette had
not been there to calm him down. She represented to him what