Page:Fairytales00auln.djvu/513

Rh ears are almost always open, thou enviest the repose of others.' 'But bet something, then,' insisted the good Toutou; 'I am sure he is there.' 'And I am sure he is not there,' replied Perroquet. 'Have I not forbidden him to come here in my mistress's name?' 'Oh! truly thou art amusing, with thy forbiddings,' exclaimed my dog, 'a man in love consults only his heart;' and therewith he began to pull Perroquet by the wings so roughly that he made him angry. The noise they both made woke me; they acquainted me with the cause of it. I ran, or rather flew, to my window. I saw the King, who extended his arms towards me, and said through his trumpet that he could no longer live without me; that he implored me to find means to escape from my tower, or to enable him to enter it. That he called all the gods and all the elements to witness that he would marry me immediately, and that I should be one of the greatest queens in the world.

"I ordered Perroquet to go and tell him that what he desired appeared to me an impossibility; but, nevertheless, relying on the word he had pledged to me, and the oath he had taken, I would endeavour to accomplish his wishes. That I conjured him not to come every day, as he might at length be observed, and that the Fairies would have no mercy upon him.

"He retired full of joy at the hope I had flattered him with, and I found myself in the greatest embarrassment when I began to reflect on the promise I had made to him. How was I to escape from that tower in which there were no doors? And to have no one to help me but Perroquet and Toutou! I, so young, so inexperienced, so timid! I resolved therefore not to make an attempt I could never succeed in, and I sent word to that effect by Perroquet to the King. He was at first about to kill himself before the bird's eyes; but at length he charged him to persuade me either to come and witness his death or to bring him some comfort. 'Sire,' exclaimed my feathered ambassador, 'my mistress is sufficiently willing: she only lacks the power.'

"When the bird repeated to me all that had passed, I felt more wretched than ever. The Fairy Violente came to see me. She found me with my eyes red and swollen; she observed that I had been crying, and said, that unless I told