Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/294

264 while he was weeping thus, lo! the bird came, and said to him, "Take heart, Miuccio, and fear not while you have me by your side, for I am able to draw you out of the fire." Then she directed him to take pasteboard and glue and make three large castles; and calling up three large griffins, she tied a castle to each, and away they flew up into the air. Thereupon Miuccio called the king, who came running with all his court to see the sight; and when he saw the ingenuity of Miuccio, he had a still greater affection for him, and lavished on him caresses of the other world, which added snow to the envy of the queen and fire to her rage, seeing that all her plans failed; insomuch that, both sleeping and waking, she was for ever thinking of some way to remove this thorn from her eyes. So at last, after some days, she said to the king, "Husband, the time is now come for us to return to our former greatness and the pleasures of past times, since Miuccio has offered to blind the fairy, and by the disbursement of her eyes to make you recover your lost kingdom."

The king, who felt himself touched in the sore place, called for Miuccio that very instant, and said to him, "I am greatly surprised that, notwithstanding all my love for you, and that you have the power to restore me to the seat from which I have fallen, you remain thus careless, instead of endeavouring to relieve me from