a powerful
enchanter Grumedan was, and how, if he were provoked, he might avenge
himself upon the Princess, since he was the most unjust and churlish of
all the enchanters, and had often before had to be punished by the Fairy
Queen for some of his ill-deeds. Once he had been imprisoned in a tree,
and was only released when it was blown down by a furious wind; another
time he was condemned to stay under a big stone at the bottom of a
river, until by some chance the stone should be turned over; but nothing
could ever really improve him. The Fairy finally made Narcissus promise
that he would remain invisible when he was with the Princess, since she
felt sure that this would make things easier for all of them. Then began
a struggle between Grumedan and the Prince, the latter under the name of
Melinette, as to which could best delight and divert the Princess and
win her approbation. Prince Narcissus first made friends with all the
birds in Potentilla's little domain, and taught them to sing her name
and her praises, with all their sweetest trills and most touching
melodies, and all day long to tell her how dearly he loved her.
Grumedan, thereupon, declared that there was nothing new about that,
since the birds had sung since the world began, and all lovers had
imagined that they sang for them alone. Therefore he said he would
himself write an opera that should be absolutely a novelty and something
worth hearing. When the time came for the performance (which lasted five
weary hours) the Princess found to her dismay that the 'opera' consisted
of this more than indifferent verse, chanted with all their might by ten
thousand frogs:

'Admirable Potentilla,
Do you think it kind or wise
In this sudden way to kill a
Poor Enchanter with your eyes?'

Really, if Narcissus had not been there to whisper in her ear and divert
her attention, I don't know what would have become of poor Potentilla,
for though the first repetition of this absurdity amused her faintly,
she nearly died of weariness before the time was over. Luckily Grumedan
did not perceive this, as he was too much occupied in whipping up the
frogs, many of whom perished miserably from fatigue, since he did not
allow them to rest for a moment. The Prince's next idea for Potentilla's
amusement was to cause a fleet of boats exactly like those of Cleopatra,
of which you have doubtless read in history, to come up the little
river, and upon the most gorgeously decorat