ock on which she was
standing, into the deep water, where she instantly sank to the bottom.
Then she fastened the mask on her daughter, flung over her shoulders a
velvet cloak, which the princess had let fall, and finally arranged a
lace veil over her head.

'Rest your cheek on your hand, as if you were in pain, when the prince
returns,' said the mother; 'and be careful not to speak, whatever you
do. I will go back to the witch and see if she cannot take off the
spell laid on you by those horrible birds. Ah! why did I not think of it
before!'

No sooner had the prince entered the palace than he hastened to the
princess's apartments, where he found her lying on the sofa apparently
in great pain.

'My dearest wife, what is the matter with you?' he cried, kneeling down
beside her, and trying to take her hand; but she snatched it away, and
pointing to her cheek murmured something he could not catch.

'What is it? tell me! Is the pain bad? When did it begin? Shall I send
for your ladies to bath the place?' asked the prince, pouring out these
and a dozen other questions, to which the girl only shook her head.

'But I can't leave you like this,' he continued, starting up, 'I must
summon all the court physicians to apply soothing balsams to the sore
place! And as he spoke he sprang to his feet to go in search of them
once came near her the trick would at once be discovered, that she
forgot her mother's counsel not to speak, and forgot even the spell that
had been laid upon her, and catching hold of the prince's tunic, she
cried in tones of entreaty: 'Dirty creatures!'

The young man stopped, not able to believe his ears, but supposed that
pain had made the princess cross, as it sometimes does. However, he
guessed somehow that she wised to be left alone, so he only said:

'Well, I dare say a little sleep will do you good, if you can manage to
get it, and that you will wake up better to-morrow.'

Now, that night happened to be very hot and airless, and the prince,
after vainly trying to rest, at length got up and went to the window.
Suddenly he beheld in the moonlight a form with a wreath of roses on her
head rise out of the sea below him and step on to the sands, holding out
her arms as she did so towards the palace.

'That maiden is strangely like my wife,' thought he; 'I must see her
closer! And he hastened down to the water. But when he got there, the
princess, for she indeed it was, had disappeared completely, and