You know that I have in my palace the
cabinets of the years. In the first, great mirrors reflect the
past; in the second, we contemplate the present; in the third,
the future can be read. It was here that I fled after I had
gazed on the Princess Argentine, but instead of love I only saw
scorn and contempt. Think how great must be my devotion, when,
in spite of my fate, I still love on!'
Now the Prince of the Golden Isle was enchanted with this
conversation, for the Princess Argentine was his sister, and he
hoped, by means of her influence over the Prince of the Gnomes,
to obtain from his brother the release of Rosalie. So he
joyfully returned to his father's palace, where he found his
friend the Fairy, who at once presented him with a magic pebble
like his own. As may be imagined, he lost no time in setting out
to deliver Rosalie, and travelled so fast that he soon arrived at
the forest, in the midst of which she lay a captive. But though
he found the palace he did not find Rosalie. He hunted high and
low, but there was no sign of her, and his despair was so great
that he was ready, a thousand times over, to take his own life.
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