Page:Select Popular Tales from the German of Musaeus.djvu/151

Rh court of Astorga, and strutted about with unbounded pride. Although after their separation fate had again brought them so closely together, that they ate from the same dish—drank from the same goblet, and shared the favour of the lovely Urraca; they yet, according to their agreement, behaved to each other like perfect strangers, and allowed none of their previous acquaintanceship to be observed. Meanwhile neither of them could discover whither the wise Sarron had vanished. The latter had, by means of his thumbstall, preserved the strictest incognito, and enjoyed the privilege of it in a manner which was not, indeed, apparent; but, notwithstanding, assured to him the accomplishment of all his wishes. The sight of the lovely Urraca had made the same impression on him as on his companions; his wishes and intentions were the same, and as no ceremony was required for the fulfilment of them, he had, already, won a great advantage before his rivals suspected it in the least. Since their separation, the wise Sarron had hovered invisibly around his two companions, and now, as before, remained table and pocket companion of Amarin and Andiol—filled his stomach with the remains from the table of the one, and his purse from the superfluous money of the other.

His first care was to dress himself in a romantic manner, in order to carry out his plan, and to surprise the Princess in the retirement of her own chamber. He clad himself in cerulean blue satin, with a rose-coloured under-dress, like an Arcadian shepherd, who tends his flocks, in a masked ball; perfumed himself strongly, and entered, by the aid of his miraculous gift, into the room at her hour of the afternoon siesta. The sight of the reposing beauty struck him so much, that he could not refrain from an exclamation of delight and surprise, at the sound of which her slumbering attendant awoke, whose office it was to waft cool air to her lady, with a fly-fan of peacock’s feathers, and to drive away the winged insects. The Princess likewise roused herself, and asked what stranger could have been in the chamber. The lady of the bedchamber again set her fan in motion, as if she had not ceased her activity, declared that no third person was in the chamber; and added the assurance that it must be a pleasant dream which had deceived her highness. The Princess was not to be put off, and she commanded the attendant lady’s-maid to make inquiries without in the antechamber of the guards. While she left her seat to obey the command, the fan began to agitate itself, and to waft to the Princess cool zephyrs, which breathed out fragrance of flowers and ambergris. At this sight horror and fright seized the fair Urraca; she sprang from her sofa, and would have fled, but felt herself restrained by an invisible power, and heard a voice which whispered to her these words:—“Lovely mortal, fear nothing, you are under the protection of the powerful king of the fairies, named Damogorgon. Your charms have attracted me