Page:The Enchanted Knights; or The Chronicle of the Three Sisters.djvu/42

30 of becoming the prey of a shaggy bear, dismissed her sorrow when she found herself in the arms of a gay young knight, conveying her to a splendid palace, where a brilliant bridal was awaiting them. She was received with song and music by pretty young girls crowned with myrtles, who took off her country dress and attired her in regal splendour. Though not vain by nature, she still could not suppress the secret pleasure she felt on admiring her beauty reflected by the crystal mirrors which met her gaze on every side. A splendid banquet followed the marriage ceremony, and a brilliant ball concluded the festivities of the day. The charming bride felt happy in her love, whose symptoms for the first time quickened the pulsations of her virgin heart, according to the custom of our chaste ancestry, and the repugnant image of a bear consort was completely banished from her imagination. At midnight her fond husband led her to the bridal bedroom, and when they entered the apartment the gods of love (painted on the ceiling) seemed to move their wings in token of their joy.

The young bride’s most pleasant morning dream had just vanished, when she awoke, and, with a kiss, intended breaking her husband’s slumber also—not finding him by her side, she raised the bed-curtains,