Page:The Strand Magazine (Volume 4).djvu/317

 with a terrible-looking Dragon asleep at her feet. As soon as she perceived the Prince she called out in a pitiful voice:

"Oh! beautiful youth, Heaven has sent you to rescue me from my sad fate; I implore you to free me from the clutches of this horrible monster, who has carried me away from my father, the King of Merovalle, and has shut me up in this gloomy tower, where I am nearly dead with loneliness and terror."

"Woe is me," answered the Prince, "but what can I do to help you, lovely maiden, for what mortal could ever cross that lake? and who could face this terrible Dragon, who spreads terror and desolation wherever he goes? But wait a little, perhaps I may be able to summon other help to your aid." And with these words he threw the feather, the hair, and the scale, which his three brothers-in-law had given him, on the ground, calling out at the same time: "Help! help! help!"

In a moment the Eagle, the Stag, and the Dolphin appeared before him, and cried in one voice: "Here we are. What are your commands?"

Tittone, who was overjoyed at their appearance, exclaimed: "I desire that this poor Princess should be freed from the clutches of that Dragon, and that I should carry her home with me as my bride."

"Very well," answered the Eagle, "all shall be done as you desire"; and turning to the Stag he said, "let us lose no time, but let us strike while the iron is hot!"

With these words the Eagle gave a shrill cry, and in one moment the air was black with a flight of vultures, who flew into the window of the tower, and seizing the beautiful Princess, they bore her over to the spot where the Prince and his brothers-in-law stood. And if the maiden looked as fair as the moon in the distance, when you saw her near she was as beautiful and radiant as the sun.

But while Tittone was embracing her, and saying all manner of pretty things to his fair bride, the Dragon awoke, and flying out of the window he set upon Tittone, intending to kill him on the spot. But in a second the Stag caused a quantity of lions, tigers, panthers, bears, and wild cats to appear, who sprang upon the Dragon and tore him to pieces with their claws.

When Tittone and the Princess saw that their enemy was dead for ever, they determined to leave the place as soon as possible, but before they started the Dolphin said:

"I too would like to do something for you." And in order that no trace should remain of the grim castle where the Princess had spent such unhappy hours, he caused the waters of the lake to overflow, and to beat so violently against the tower that it fell, and the ruins disappeared in the waves.

Tittone thanked his brothers-in-law warmly for having thus rescued his beautiful bride, but the Beasts replied:

"Our thanks are rather due to the Princess, because it is through her that we are able once more to assume our human forms. At our births, a wicked fairy, who owed our mother a grudge, condemned us, when we grew up, to go about the world in the shape of three beasts, until we should have rescued a King's daughter from some great danger; the longed-for moment has come at last, and already we feel new life in our breasts and fresh blood flowing through our veins," and even as they were speaking, they turned into three beautiful young men, who, each in turn, embraced their brother-in-law, and made low bows to the Princess, who was nearly beside herself with joy and amazement.

Then Tittone spoke with a sigh: "Ah! why can my poor father and mother not