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322 valley, to draw the Water of Discretion in a pitcher with a hole in the bottom of it, and to bring her as much as would fill her large glass. The Queen told her it was out of her power to obey her: that the millstone was more than ten times her own weight; that the pitcher with a hole in it could never retain the water she wished to drink; and that she could not resolve to attempt anything so impossible. "If thou dost not," said Magotine, "rest assured thy Green-Serpent shall suffer for it." This threat so frightened the Queen, that without considering her weakness, she endeavoured to walk; but, alas! the effort would have been idle, if the Fairy Protectrice, whom she invoked, had not come to her assistance. "Behold," said the Fairy to her, "the just punishment of your fatal curiosity. Blame no one but yourself for the state to which Magotine has reduced you." So saying, she transported her to the top of the mountain, and filled her basket for her with four-leaved trefoils, despite the terrible monsters that guarded the spot, and made supernatural efforts to defend it; but were rendered more gentle than lambs by one tap of the wand of the Fairy Protectrice.

She waited not for the grateful Queen to thank her, before she completed her good offices as far as it laid in her power. She gave her a little car drawn by two white canary-birds, who spoke and whistled to admiration. She told her to descend the mountain, and to fling her iron shoes at two giants armed with clubs who guarded the fountain, who would thereupon fall senseless; that she must then give her pitcher to the little canaries, who would easily find means to fill it with the water of Discretion; that as soon as she was in possession of it, she should wash her face with it, and she would become the most beautiful person in the world. She also advised her not to remain at the fountain, nor to reascend the hill, but to stop in a very pleasant little grove she would find on her road; that she might remain there for three years, as Magotine would only imagine that she was endeavouring to fill her pitcher with water, or that she had fallen a victim to some of the other perils of the journey.

The Queen embraced the knees of the Fairy Protectrice, and thanked her a hundred times for the special favours she had conferred on her. "But," added the Queen, "neither the success I may achieve, nor the beauty, Madam, which you