rouge and patches, a mantle of silver brocade and
a crown of diamonds, and her dress was covered with jewels, and green
and pink ribbons.

'At last you have come to see me, Prince,' said she. 'Don't waste
another thought upon that little shepherdess, who is unworthy of your
notice. I am the Queen of the Comets, and can bring you to great honour
if you will marry me.'

'Marry you, Madam,' cried the Prince, in horror. 'No, I will never
consent to that.'

Thereupon the Fairy, in a rage, gave two strokes of her wand and filled
the gallery with horrible goblins, against whom the Prince had to fight
for his life. Though he had only his dagger, he defended himself so well
that he escaped without any harm, and presently the old Fairy stopped
the fray and asked the Prince if he was still of the same mind. When
he answered firmly that he was, she called up the appearance of the
Princess Sunbeam to the other end of the gallery, and said:

'You see your beloved there? Take care what you are about, for if you
again refuse to marry me she shall be torn in pieces by two tigers.'

The Prince was distracted, for he fancied he heard his dear shepherdess
weeping and begging him to save her. In despair he cried:

'Oh, Fairy Douceline, have you abandoned me after so many promises of
friendship? Help, help us now!'

Immediately a soft voice said in his ear:

'Be firm, happen what may, and seek the Golden Branch.'

Thus encouraged, the Prince persevered in his refusal, and at length the
old Fairy in a fury cried:

'Get out of my sight, obstinate Prince. Become a Cricket!'

And instantly the handsome Prince Peerless became a poor little black
Cricket, whose only idea would have been to find himself a cosy cranny
behind some blazing hearth, if he had not luckily remembered the Fairy
Douceline's injunction to seek the Golden Branch.

So he hastened to depart from the fatal castle, and sought shelter in
a hollow tree, where he found a forlorn looking little Grasshopper
crouching in a corner, too miserable to sing.

Without in the least expecting an answer, the Prince asked it:

'And where may you be going, Gammer Grasshopper?'

'Where are you going yourself, Gaffer Cricket?' replied the Grasshopper.

'What! can you speak?' said he.

'Why should I not speak as well as you? Isn't a Grasshopper as good as a
Cricket?' said she.

'I can talk because I was a Prince,' said the Cricket.

'And for that very same reason I ought to b