Page:Fairytales00auln.djvu/486

436 directly that he approached it, he entered a saloon of mother-of-pearl, and afterwards passed through several apartments variously ornamented, and so rich with paintings and jewels, that he was perfectly enchanted with them. Thousands and thousands of lights, from the vaulted roof of the saloon down to the floor, illuminated a portion of the other apartments, which were also filled with chandeliers, girandoles, and stages covered with wax-candles; in fact, the magnificence was so great that it was not easy to imagine the possibility of it.

After having passed through sixty rooms, the hands that conducted him stopped him. He saw a large easy-chair moving by itself towards the fireplace. At the same moment the fire was lighted, and the hands, which appeared to him very handsome, white, small, plump, and well-shaped, began to undress him; for he was wet through, as I have already told you, and they were afraid he would catch cold. They presented him, still without his seeing any one, with a shirt as fine as if it was for a wedding-day, and a morning gown of some rich stuff shot with gold, and embroidered with little emeralds in cyphers. The bodiless hands moved a table close to him on which his toilette was set out. Nothing could be more magnificent. They combed him with a lightness and a skill which was very agreeable to him. Finally, they dressed him again, but not in his own clothes; they brought him others much richer. He observed with silent wonder all that took place, and occasionally felt some slight alarm, which he could not altogether conquer.

After they had powdered, curled, perfumed, adorned, attired, and made him look handsomer than Adonis, the hands led him into a hall superbly gilt and furnished; around it were represented the stories of all the most famous cats, Rodillardus hung by the heels in the Council of Rats, Puss in Boots, Marquis of Carabas, The Writing Cat, The Cat that became a Woman, Witches in the shape of Cats, their Sabbat, and all its ceremonies. In short, nothing was ever more curious than these paintings.