ry face as she left the room, it
was not difficult to guess what had happened. But the mirror had more
to tell, for it appeared that in fury at her rejection by the king,
Riquette had ordered four strong men to scourge him till he fainted,
which was done in the sight of Hermosa, who in horror dropped the
mirror, and would have fallen, had she not been caught by her mother.

'Control yourself, my child,' said the fairy. 'We have need of all our
wits if we are to rescue the king from the power of those wicked
people. And first it is necessary to know who the man that has taken
his name and his face really is.'

Then, picking up the mirror, she wished that she might behold the
false lover; and the glass gave back a vision of a dirty, greasy
groom, lying, dressed as he was, on her bed of state.

'So this is the trick Ismenor hoped to play us! Well, we will have our
revenge, whatever it costs us to get it. Only we must be very careful
not to let him guess that he has not deceived us, for his skill in
magic is greater than mine, and I shall have to be very prudent. To
begin with, I must leave you, and if the false king asks why, then
answer that I have to settle some affairs on the borders of my
kingdom. Meanwhile, be sure you treat him most politely, and arrange
fetes to amuse him. If he shows any sign of being suspicious, you can
even give him to understand that, on your marriage, I intend to give
up the crown to your husband. And now farewell!' So saying, the Swan
fairy waved her hand, and a cloud came down and concealed her, and
nobody imagined that the beautiful white cloud that was blown so
rapidly across the sky was the chariot that was carrying the Swan
fairy to the tower of Ismenor.

* * * * *

Now the tower was situated in the midst of a forest, so the queen
thought that, under cover of the dark trees, it would be quite easy
for her to drop to earth unseen. But the tower was so thoroughly
enchanted that the more she tried to reach the ground the tighter
something tried to hold her back. At length, by putting forth all the
power she possessed, she managed to descend to the foot of the tower,
and there, weak and faint as she was with her exertions, she lost no
time in working her spells, and found that she could only overcome
Ismenor by means of a stone from the ring of Gyges. But how was she to
get this ring? for the magic book told her that Ismenor guarded it
night and day among