ing was prepared for this great sacrifice; nothing so mournful
had before been seen; nothing to be met anywhere but black garments, and
pale and horrified faces. Four hundred maidens of the highest rank,
dressed in long white robes, and crowned with cypress, accompanied the
Princess, who was carried in an open litter of black velvet, that all
might look on this masterpiece of beauty. Her hair, tied with crape,
hung over her shoulders, and she wore a crown of jasmine, mingled with a
few marigolds. The grief of the King and Queen, who followed, overcome
by their deep sorrow, appeared the only thing that moved her. The giant,
armed from head to foot, marched beside the litter, and looked with
hungry eye at the Princess, as if anticipating his share of her when she
came to be eaten; the air resounded with sighs and sobs, and the road
was flooded with the tears of the onlookers.

"Ah! Frog, Frog," cried the Queen, "you have indeed forsaken me! Alas!
why did you give me help in that unhappy region, and now withhold it
from me! Would that I had then died, I should not now be lamenting the
loss of all my hopes, I should not now have the anguish of seeing my
dear Moufette on the point of being devoured!" The procession meanwhile
was slowly advancing, and at last reached the summit of the fatal
mountain. Here the cries and lamentations were redoubled, nothing more
piteous had before been heard. The giant ordered everyone to say
farewell and to retire, and they all obeyed him, for in those days,
people were very simple and submissive, and never sought for a remedy in
their misfortunes.

The King and Queen, and all the Court, now ascended another mountain,
whence they could see all that happened to the Princess: and they had
not to wait long, before they saw a Dragon, half a league long, coming
through the air. His body was so heavy that, notwithstanding his six
large wings, he was hardly able to fly; he was covered with immense blue
scales, and poisonous tongues of flame; his tail was twisted into as
many as fifty and a half coils; each of his claws was the size of a
windmill, and three rows of teeth, as long as those of an elephant,
could be seen inside his wide-open jaw. As the Dragon slowly made his
way towards the mountain, the good, faithful Frog, mounted on the back
of a hawk, flew rapidly to Prince Moufy. She wore her cap of roses, and
although he was locked into his private room, she entered without a key,
and said, "What