Page:Fairytales00auln.djvu/468

418 letter. The separation from so dear a son nearly killed him. While everybody was endeavouring to console him, the Prince and Becafigue were speeding away, and at the end of three days they found themselves in a vast forest, so dark from the thickness of the trees, so agreeable from the freshness of the grass, and from the rivulets which flowed in all directions, that the Prince, fatigued by the length of his journey, for he was still ill, dismounted, and threw himself dejectedly upon the ground with his hand under his head, hardly able to speak, he was so weak. "My lord," said Becafigue, "while you are reposing I will seek for fruits to refresh you, and reconnoitre the place a little which we have arrived at." The Prince did not answer, he only acknowledged by a sign that he could do so.

It is a long time since we left the Hind in the wood; I will now speak of the incomparable Princess. She wept like a disconsolate hind, when she saw herself in a fountain, which served as a mirror for her." "What! can this be me?" said she. "Now do I find myself subjected to the strangest fate that could happen in all Fairy-land to so innocent a princess as I am. How long will my transformation last?—Where shall I conceal myself from the lions, bears, and wolves, that they may not devour me? How can I eat grass?" In short, she asked herself a thousand questions, and was in the greatest possible grief. It is true, that if anything could console her, it was that she was as beautiful a hind as she had been a beautiful princess.

Becoming very hungry, Désirée nibbled the grass with a good appetite, and was surprised she could do so. Afterwards she laid down on the moss; night overtook her; she passed it in inconceivable alarm. She heard the wild beasts close to her, and often forgetting that she was a hind, she tried to climb some tree. The light of day somewhat reassured her; she admired its beauty, and the sun appeared something so wonderful to her, that she was never wearied with looking at it; all she had ever heard of it appeared to her much below what she now beheld; it was the only consolation she could find in that desert place; she remained there for several days quite by herself.

The fairy Tulip, who had always loved this Princess, deeply felt for her misfortune; but she was extremely vexed that