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Craik, Dinah Maria Mulock, 1826-1887

"The Fairy Book The Best Popular Stories Selected and Rendered Anew"

Leander, being
conducted into the chambers, took his rose and shook it, till every
room was filled with all sorts of coin. Furibon was in an ecstasy, and
the more gold he saw the greater was his desire to get hold of the
Amazon; so that when all the rooms were full, he commanded his guards
to seize her, alleging she had brought him counterfeit money.
Immediately Leander put on his little red cap and disappeared. The
guards, believing that the lady had escaped, ran out and left Furibon
alone; when Leander, availing himself of the opportunity, took the
tyrant by the hair, and twisted his head off with the same ease he
would a pullet's; nor did the little wretch of a king see the hand
that killed him.
Leander having got his enemy's head, wished himself in the Palace of
Calm Delights, where he found the princess walking, and with grief
considering the message which her mother had sent her, and on the
means to repel Furibon. Suddenly she beheld a head hanging in the air,
with nobody to hold it. This prodigy astonished her so, that she could
not tell what to think of it; but her amazement was increased when she
saw the head laid at her feet, and heard a voice utter these words:
"Charming princess, cease your fear
Of Furibon; whose head see here."
Abricotina, knowing Leander's voice, cried: "I protest, madam, the
invisible person who speaks is the very stranger that rescued me.


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