She entreated Percinet to
use his fairy power to send her home again, and meantime to tell her
what had become of her father.
"Come with me into the great tower there, and you shall see for
yourself."
Thereupon he took her to the top of a tower, prodigiously high, put
her little finger to his lips, and her foot upon his foot. Then he
bade her look, and she saw as hi a picture, or as in a play upon the
stage, the King and Grognon sitting together on their throne. The
latter was telling how Graciosa had hanged herself in a cave.
"She will not be much loss, sire; and as, when dead, she was far too
frightful for you to look at, I have given orders to bury her at
once."
She might well say that, for she had had a large faggot put into a
coffin, and sealed up; the king and all the nation mourned over it;
and now, that she was no more, they declared there never was such a
sweet creature as the lost princess.
The sight of her father's grief quite overcame Graciosa. "Oh,
Percinet!" she cried, "my father believes me dead. If you love me,
take me home."
The prince consented, though very sorrowfully, saying that she was as
cruel to him as Grognon was to her, and mounted with her in his
chariot, drawn by four white stags. As they quitted the courtyard,
they heard a great noise, and Graciosa saw the palace all falling to
pieces with a great crash.
Pages:
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201