He soon perceived the father and mother of the bride; and coming
behind the mother's chair, whispered in her ear, "If you marry your
daughter to that old dotard, before eight days are over you shall
certainly die." The woman, frightened to hear such a terrible sentence
pronounced upon her, and yet not know from whence it came, gave a loud
shriek, and dropped upon the floor. Her husband asked what ailed her:
she cried that she was a dead woman if the marriage of her daughter
went forward, and therefore she would not consent to it for all the
world. Her husband laughed at her, and called her a fool. But the
invisible Leander accosting the man, threatened him in the same way,
which frightened him so terribly, that he also insisted on the
marriage being broken off. When the lover complained, Leander trod
hard upon his gouty toes, and rang such an alarum in his ears, that,
not being able any longer to hear himself speak, away he limped, glad
enough to go. The real lover soon appeared, and he and his fair
mistress fell joyfully into one another's arms, the parents consenting
to their union. Leander, assuming his own shape, appeared at the
hall-door, as if he were a stranger drawn thither by the report of
this extraordinary wedding.
From hence he travelled on, and came to a great city, where, upon his
arrival, he understood there was a great and solemn procession, in
order to shut up a young woman, against her will, among the vestal
nuns.
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