Page:Fairytales00auln.djvu/428

378 have terrified a more courageous queen. Great owls, screech-owls, ravens, and other birds of sinister omen, were to be heard there; and in the distance could be seen a mountain, from which trickled waters into an all but stagnant pool. These were all the tears that had ever been shed by unfortunate lovers, and collected in reservoirs by compassionating Cupids. The trees had neither leaves nor fruit; the ground was covered with briars and nettles. The food was suitable to the climate of so hateful a country. Dried roots, horse-chestnuts, and the berries of the wild briars, were all that could be found to relieve the hunger of the unfortunate beings who fell into the hands of the Fairy Lioness.

As soon as the Queen was able to work, the Fairy told her she might build herself a hut, as she would have to remain with her all her life. At these words the Queen could not refrain from crying. "Ah! what have I done to you," exclaimed she, "that you should keep me here? If my death, which I feel approaching, will afford you any pleasure, kill me at once, it is all I venture to hope for from your pity; but do not condemn me to a long and wretched existence apart from my husband." The Lioness ridiculed her distress, and told her she would advise her to dry up her tears, and try to please her; that if she did otherwise, she would be the most miserable person in the world. "What must I do then," said the Queen, "to soften your heart?" "I am very fond," said the Fairy, "of fly-pies. It is my desire that you find means of catching enough flies to make a large and excellent pie." "But," said the Queen, "I do not see any here; and if there were any, it is not light enough to catch them; and if I had caught them, I never made pastry: so that you give me an order that I cannot execute." "No matter," said the merciless Lioness, "I will have what I order."

The Queen made no reply. She thought that in spite of the cruel Fairy, she had but one life to lose, and in her wretched situation, what had she to fear? Instead then of seeking for flies, she sat herself down under a yew-tree, and thus began her sorrowful lamentations: "What will be your distress, my dear husband," said she, "when you seek and cannot find me! You will imagine I am dead, or unfaithful;