ing can injure me,
but in my own form I am in no way magically preserved. All day long I
have been chased by hunters, who saw in me, I suppose, a valuable prize.
I was terrified of the hour of sunset arriving and finding me far from
home. I used my utmost endeavour to reach this in time, but, alas! I was
overcome with fatigue, from which no spell protects me. At the entrance
to these gardens I saw the sun disappear, and I fell exhausted, just as
an arrow struck my right arm at the moment of my transformation. All I
could do was to crawl in among these bushes, and here I have lain,
thankful to escape from my persecutors, and most thankful to the happy
thought, Princess, which brought you this way.'

"The Princess, her eyes still full of tears, helped him to the palace,
where she bound up his arm and tended him carefully, for, young as she
was, she had learnt many useful acts of this kind in her father's
castle. The wound was not a very serious one; the Prince was suffering
more from exhaustion and fatigue.

"'If I could spend a day or two here in peace,' he said sadly, 'I should
quickly recover. But, alas! that is impossible. I must submit to my
cruel fate. But this night I must confine my wanderings to the forests
in this neighbourhood, where, perhaps, I may be able to hide from the
huntsmen, who, no doubt, will be watching for me.'

"He sighed heavily, and the Princess's heart grew very sad.

"'I have little more than an hour left,' he said.

"'Yes,' said the Princess, 'sleep if you can; I will not disturb you.'

"And when she saw that he had fallen asleep she went into the other
room, where in a corner lay the bull's skin, which the Prince had
dragged behind him from the spot where it had fallen off as the sun
sank.

"The Princess looked at it with a fierce expression, very different to
the usual gentle look in her pretty eyes.

"'Hateful thing!' she said, giving it a kick with her little foot; 'I
wonder how I could get rid of you. Even if the Prince did risk never
seeing me again, I am not sure but that it would be better for him than
to lead this dreadful life.'

"And as her fancy pictured her poor Prince forced in this monstrous
disguise to wander about all night tired and shelterless, her
indignation rose beyond her control. She forgot where she was, she
forgot the magic power that surrounded her, she forgot everything except
her distress and anxiety.

"'Hateful thing!' she repeated, giving the skin an