und her hand quite wet. She
turned round, and--was it her fancy? or did the fire burn more dimly
than before? Hurriedly she passed into the picture gallery, where
pools of water showed here and there on the floor, and a cold chill
ran through her whole body. At that instant her frightened ladies came
running down the stairs, crying:

'Madam! madam! what has happened? The palace is disappearing under our
eyes!'

'My husband will be home very soon,' answered the princess--who, though
nearly as much frightened as her ladies, felt that she must set them a
good example. 'Wait till then, and he will tell us what to do.'

So they waited, seated on the highest chairs they could find, wrapped
in their warmest garments, and with piles of cushions under their feet,
while the poor birds flew with numbed wings hither and thither, till
they were so lucky as to discover an open window in some forgotten
corner. Through this they vanished, and were seen no more.

At last, when the princess and her ladies had been forced to leave the
upper rooms, where the walls and floors had melted away, and to take
refuge in the hall, the young man came home. He had ridden back along a
winding road from which he did not see the palace till he was close
upon it, and stood horrified at the spectacle before him. He knew in
an instant that his wife must have betrayed his trust, but he would not
reproach her, as she must be suffering enough already. Hurrying on he
sprang over all that was left of the palace walls, and the princess gave
a cry of relief at the sight of him.

'Come quickly,' he said, 'or you will be frozen to death!' And a dreary
little procession set out for the king's palace, the greyhound and the
cat bringing up the rear.

At the gates he left them, though his wife besought him to allow her to
enter.

'You have betrayed me and ruined me,' he said sternly; 'I go to seek my
fortune alone.' And without another word he turned and left her.

With his falcon on his wrist, and his greyhound and cat behind him, the
young man walked a long way, inquiring of everyone he met whether they
had seen his enemy the ogre. But nobody had. Then he bade his falcon
fly up into the sky--up, up, and up--and try if his sharp eyes could
discover the old thief. The bird had to go so high that he did not
return for some hours; but he told his master that the ogre was lying
asleep in a splendid palace in a far country on the shores of the sea.
This was deli