request came as a great surprise to Ismenor, whose
suspicions were instantly excited; but, think as he would, he could
not see any means by which the king, so closely guarded, might have
held communication with the Swan fairy. Still, he would do nothing
hastily, and, hiding his dismay, he told Riquette that his only wish
was to make her happy, and that as she wished so much for the stone he
would fetch it for her. Then he went into the closet where all his
spells were worked, and in a short time he discovered that his enemy
the Swan fairy was at that moment inside his palace.

'So that is it!' he said, smiling grimly. 'Well, she shall have a
stone by all means, but a stone that will turn everyone who touches it
into marble.' And placing a small ruby in a box, he returned to his
daughter.

'Here is the talisman which will gain you the love of King Lino,' he
said; 'but be sure you give him the box unopened, or else the stone
will lose all its virtue.' With a cry of joy Riquette snatched the box
from his hands, and ran off to the prison, followed by her father,
who, holding tightly the enchanted handkerchief, was able, unseen, to
watch the working of the spell. As he expected, at the foot of the
tower stood the Swan fairy, who had had the imprudence to appear in
her natural shape, waiting for the stone which the prince was to throw
to her. Eagerly she caught the box as it fell from the prince's hands,
but no sooner had her fingers touched the ruby, than a curious
hardening came over her, her limbs stiffened, and her tongue could
hardly utter the words 'We are betrayed.'

'Yes, you _are_ betrayed,' cried Ismenor, in a terrible voice; 'and
_you_,' he continued, dragging the king to the window, 'you shall turn
into a parrot, and a parrot you will remain until you can persuade
Hermosa to crush in your head.'

He had hardly finished before a blue parrot flew out into the forest;
and the magician, mounting in his winged chariot, set off for the Isle
of Swans, where he changed everybody into statues, exactly in the
positions in which he found them, not even excepting Rabot himself.
Only Hermosa was spared, and her he ordered to get into his chariot
beside him. In a few minutes he reached the Forest of Wonders, when
the magician got down, and dragged the unhappy princess out after him.

'I have changed your mother into a stone, and your lover into a
parrot,' said he, 'and you are to become a tree, and a tree you will
remain