Page:Fairytales00auln.djvu/388

342 him up from childhood, and cherish him as my own son." "That is what I ask of you," said the old man; and thereupon he gave him to her. The two daughters ran to look at him; they were charmed with his incomparable beauty, and all the graces of his little person. From that moment they began to teach him their language, and never could there be found a prettier or more intelligent pupil; he learned the most difficult things with a facility which astonished the shepherd; so that he was very soon sufficiently advanced to receive lessons from him only. This wise old man was able to give him the best advice; for he had been a king of a fine and flourishing kingdom, but a usurper, a neighbour and an enemy, successfully conducted his secret intrigues, and gained over certain factious spirits, who rose in rebellion, and enabled him to surprise the king and all his family, whom he immediately ordered to be shut up in a fortress, where he intended them to perish miserably.

So strange an alteration had no effect upon the virtue of the king and queen; they resolutely suffered all the outrages that the tyrant ordered to be executed upon them; and the queen, who was with child when this disgrace occurred, was confined with a girl, whom she nursed herself; she had two other very amiable children, who shared her troubles as much as their age would permit of. At the end of three years the king gained over one of his guards, who agreed to bring a small boat for him to cross the lake, in the middle of which the fortress was built. He provided them with a file to cut the iron bars of their rooms, and with cords to descend by. They fixed upon a very dark night. Everything was favourable; and without any noise, the guard assisted them to slide down the walls, that were frightfully high: the king went down first, then followed the daughters, afterwards the queen, then the little princess in a large basket; but, alas! they had tied her in badly, and suddenly they heard her fall into the lake. If the queen had not fainted from grief, she would have awakened all the garrison by her shrieks and lamentations. The king, distressed at this accident, sought for the child as much as it was possible in so dark a night: he found the basket, and hoped the princess was in it; but she was not there, and he was obliged to row to save himself and the rest of the family. At the border of the lake they found horses ready