"What pity 'tis," said she, "that this person should be so frightful,
for nothing can be more amiable or acceptable than his behaviour!"
"Who told you, madam," answered Abricotina, "that he is frightful? If
he is the youth who saved me, he is beautiful as Cupid himself."
"If Cupid and the unknown are the same," replied the princess,
blushing, "I could be content to love Cupid; but alas! how far am I
from such a happiness! I love a mere shadow; and this fatal picture,
joined to what thou hast told me, have inspired me with inclinations
so contrary to the precepts which I received from my mother, that I am
daily afraid of being punished for them."
"Oh! madam," said Abricotina, interrupting her, "have you not troubles
enough already? Why should you anticipate afflictions which may never
come to pass?"
It is easy to imagine what pleasure Leander took in this conversation.
In the meantime, the little Furibon, still enamoured of the princess
whom he had never seen, expected with impatience the return of the
four servants whom he had sent to the Island of Calm Delights. One of
them at last came back, and after he had given the prince a particular
account of what had passed, told him that the island was defended by
Amazons, and that unless he sent a very powerful army, it would be
impossible to get into it. The king his father was dead, and Furibon
was now lord of all: disdaining, therefore, any repulse, he raised an
army of four hundred thousand men, and put himself at the head of
them, appearing like another Tom Thumb upon a war-horse.
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