e received him
like a son. Fortunately, the old woman's house was exactly opposite that
side of the king's palace where there was a window to which the fair
Fiorita came every day at dawn. Now one morning at that hour she
appeared at the window, scarcely covered by a white veil. When the
prince saw that flower of beauty, he was so agitated that he would have
fallen had not the old woman supported him. The old woman attempted to
dissuade him from the idea of marrying the fair Fiorita, saying that the
king would give his daughter only to him who should discover a hidden
place, and that he killed him who could not find it, and that already
many princes had lost their lives for her. But, notwithstanding, he
answered that he should die if he could not obtain possession of the
fair Fiorita. Having learned afterward from the old woman that the king
bought for his daughter the rarest musical instruments, hear what he
devised! He went to a cymbal-maker and said: "I want a cymbal that will
play three tunes, and each tune to last a day, and to be made in such a
way that a man can be hidden inside of it; and I will pay you a thousand
ducats for it. When it is finished I will get in it; and you must go
and play it in front of the king's palace; and if the king wishes to
buy it you will sell it to him on condition that you shall take it every
three days to fix it." The cymbal-maker consented, and did all that the
prince commanded him. The king purchased the cymbal with the maker's
condition, had it carried to his daughter's bed-chamber, and said to
her: "See, my daughter, I do not wish you to lack any diversion, even
when you are in bed and cannot sleep."

Next to the fair Fiorita's chamber slept her maids of honor. In the
night when all were asleep, the prince, who was hidden in the cymbal,
came out and called: "Fair Fiorita! fair Fiorita!" She awoke in a fright
and cried: "Come, my maids of honor, I hear some one calling me." The
maids of honor came quickly, but found no one, for the prince hid
himself suddenly in the instrument. The same thing happened twice, and
the maids coming and finding no one, the fair Fiorita said: "Well, it
must be my fancy. If I call you again, do not come, I command you." The
prince, within the cymbal, heard this. Scarcely had the maids of honor
fallen asleep again, when the prince approached the fair one's bed and
said: "Fair Fiorita, give me, I beg you, a kiss from your lips; if you
do not, I shall die