Page 168 [168]
OCR
LABOULAYE’S FAIRY BOOK Meanwhile the prince, mounted on a magnificent horse, was riding thither at full speed, followed by a long cavaleade. Poor Carlino was astonished to find a crow where he had left aswan. He almost lost his reason, his voice was choked with tears, and he gazed in all directions, hoping to see his bride among the foliage. But the negress, putting on a suffering air, said to him, casting down her eyes, "Look no farther, my prince; a wicked fairy has made me her victim, and a wretched fate has changed your lily to charcoal.” Though he cursed the fairies who had played on his eredulity, Carlino, like a true prince, would not break his word. He gallantly gave his hand to Lucy and helped her to descend Írom the tree, all the while heaving sighs that would have melted a heart of stone. When the negress was dressed like a princess, and covered with lace and diamonds that adorned her as the stars adorn the night, by rendering the darkness still more visible, Carlino seated her at his right hand, in a magnificent carriage lined with plate-glass and drawn by six white horses, and took his way to the palace, as happy as a criminal with the rope about his neck. The old king came to meet them a league from the castle. The wonderful stories of his son had turned his brain. In spite of etiquette and against the remonstrances of his courtiers, he hastened to admire the incomparable beauty of his daughter-in-law. "Upon my word,” he exclaimed, 130
