“‘Has some new misfortune threatened you?’ she asked.

“‘No,’ replied the Prince, ’but I have to-day scarcely been able to endure my anxiety to learn your decision.  Never in all these terrible years has my suffering been greater, never have I so loathed the hideous disguise in which I am compelled to live.’

“Tears filled the Princess’s eyes.  Had anything been wanting to decide her, the deep pity which she now felt for the unfortunate Prince would have done so.

“‘I have decided!’ she exclaimed.  ’Three years will soon pass, and I shall be well able to amuse myself with all the charming things with which I am surrounded.  Besides, I shall see you every day, and the looking forward to that will help to cheer me.’

“It would be impossible to tell the Prince’s delight.  He became at once as gay and lively as the day before.  The Princess and he had supper together, and amused themselves afterwards with the enchanted balls, and the evening passed so quickly that the princess could hardly believe more than one hour instead of three had gone, when he started up, saying his time was over.  It was sad to see him go, forced, through no fault of his own, to return to his hated disguise; but still it was with a lightened heart that the poor brown bull went tramping about during the next one-and-twenty hours.

“And on her side the Princess’s lonely hours were cheered by the thought that she was to be the means of freeing him from the power of the terrible spell, for all that she saw of him only served to increase her sympathy and respect.

“So time went on.  The Princess got more and more accustomed to her strange life, and every day more attached to the Prince, who on his side could not do enough to prove to her his gratitude.  For many weeks he never failed to enter her presence the instant the sun had sunk below the horizon, and the three hours they spent together made amends to both for the loneliness of the rest of the day.  And whenever the Princess felt inclined to murmur, she renewed her patience and courage by the thought of how much harder to bear was the Prince’s share of the trial.  She was allowed to remain in peaceful security, and to employ her time in pleasant and interesting ways; while he was forced to rove the world as a hateful monster, shunned by any of the human race whom he happened to meet, constantly exposed to fatigue and privation.

“Sometimes they spent a part of the evening in the beautiful gardens surrounding the palace.  There, one day, as sunset was approaching, the Princess had betaken herself to wait the Prince’s arrival, when a sad shock met her.  It was past the usual hour of his coming.  Several times she had wandered up and down the path by which he generally approached the castle, tossing her balls as she went, for more than once he had seen their glitter from a distance, and known by it that she was waiting.  But this evening she waited and watched in vain, and at last, a strange anxiety seizing her, she turned towards the castle to see if possibly he had entered from the other side, and was hurrying back when a low moan reached her ears, causing her heart for an instant almost to leave off beating with terror.