et. Looking down, he beheld
an old man lying at the bottom of a deep pit, just outside the walls,
with a lantern by his side.

'Perhaps _he_ may be able to give me some counsel,' thought the king;
and, with some difficulty, he scrambled into the pit and laid his hand
on the shoulder of the sleeper.

'Are you a bird or a snake that you can enter here?' asked the old
man, awakening with a start. But the king answered that he was a mere
mortal, and that he sought Zoulvisia.

'Zoulvisia? The world's curse?' replied he, gnashing his teeth. 'Out
of all the thousands she has slain I am the only one who has escaped,
though why she spared me only to condemn me to this living death I
cannot guess.'

'Help me if you can,' said the king. And he told the old man his
story, to which he listened intently.

'Take heed then to my counsel,' answered the old man. 'Know that every
day at sunrise Zoulvisia dresses herself in her jacket of pearls, and
mounts the steps of her crystal watch-tower. From there she can see
all over her lands, and behold the entrance of either man or demon. If
so much as one is detected she utters such fearful cries that those
who hear her die of fright. But hide yourself in a cave that lies near
the foot of the tower, and plant a forked stick in front of it; then,
when she has uttered her third cry, go forth boldly, and look up at
the tower. And go without fear, for you will have broken her power.'

[Illustration: THE ASCENT OF THE CRYSTAL TOWER]

Word for word the king did as the old man had bidden him, and when
he stepped forth from the cave, their eyes met.

'You have conquered me,' said Zoulvisia, 'and are worthy to be my
husband, for you are the first man who has not died at the sound of my
voice!' And letting down her golden hair, she drew up the king to the
summit of the tower as with a rope. Then she led him into the hall of
audience, and presented him to her household.

'Ask of me what you will, and I will grant it to you,' whispered
Zoulvisia with a smile, as they sat together on a mossy bank by the
stream. And the king prayed her to set free the old man to whom he
owed his life, and to send him back to his own country.

* * * * *

'I have finished with hunting, and with riding about my lands,' said
Zoulvisia, the day that they were married. 'The care of providing for
us all belongs henceforth to you.' And turning to her attendants, she
bade them bring the