“And when she saw that he had fallen asleep she went into the other room, where in a corner lay the bull’s skin, which the Prince had dragged behind him from the spot where it had fallen off as the sun sank.

“The Princess looked at it with a fierce expression, very different to the usual gentle look in her pretty eyes.

“‘Hateful thing!’ she said, giving it a kick with her little foot; ’I wonder how I could get rid of you.  Even if the Prince did risk never seeing me again, I am not sure but that it would be better for him than to lead this dreadful life.’

“And as her fancy pictured her poor Prince forced in this monstrous disguise to wander about all night tired and shelterless, her indignation rose beyond her control.  She forgot where she was, she forgot the magic power that surrounded her, she forgot everything except her distress and anxiety.

“‘Hateful thing!’ she repeated, giving the skin another kick; ’I wish you were burnt to cinders.’

“Hardly had she said the words when a sudden noise like a clap of thunder shook the air; a flash of lightning seemed to glance past her and alight on the skin, which in an instant shrivelled up to a cinder like a burnt glove.  Too startled at first to know whether she should rejoice or not, the Princess gazed at her work in bewilderment, when a voice of anguish, but, alas! a well-known voice, made her turn round.  It was the Prince, hastening from the palace with an expression half of anger half of sorrowful reproach on his face.

“‘O Princess, Princess,’ he cried, ’what have you done?  But a little more patience and all might have been well.  And now I know not if I shall ever see you again.’

“‘O Prince, forgive me, I did not mean it,’ sobbed the poor Princess.  ’I will see you again, and all shall yet be well.’

“‘Seek for me across the hill of ice and the sea of glass,’ said the Prince; but almost before the words had passed his lips a second thunderclap, louder and more terrific than the first, was heard.  The Princess sank half fainting on the ground.  When she again opened her eyes, Prince, palace, everything had disappeared.  She was alone, quite alone, on a barren moorland, night coming on, and a cold cutting wind freezing the blood in her veins.  And she was clothed in the plain black dress with which she had made her strange journey riding on the brown bull.

“It must be a dream, she thought, a terrible dream, and she shut her eyes again.  But no, it was no dream, and soon her courage revived, and she began to ask herself what she should do.

“‘Seek me beyond the hill of ice and the sea of glass,’ the Prince had said; and she rose up to begin her weary journey.  As she rose her hand came in contact with something hard in the folds of her dress; it was her golden balls.  With the greatest delight she took them out of her pocket and looked at them.  They were as bright and beautiful as ever, and the fairy’s prophecy returned to the Princess’s mind.