At
length they arrived at the king's city, and the Fair One with Golden
Locks became his spouse and queen. But she still loved Avenant in her
heart, and often said to the king her lord--"But for Avenant I should
not be here; he has done all sorts of impossible deeds for my sake; he
has fetched me the water of beauty, and I shall never grow old--in
short, I owe him everything."
And she praised him in this sort so much, that at length the king
became jealous; and though Avenant gave him not the slightest cause of
offence, he shut him up in the same high tower once more--but with
irons on his hands and feet, and a cruel jailer besides, who fed him
with bread and water only. His sole companion was his little dog
Cabriole.
When the Fair One with Golden Locks heard of this, she reproached her
husband for his ingratitude, and then, throwing herself at his knees,
implored that Avenant might be set free. But the king only said, "She
loves him!" and refused her prayer. The queen entreated no more, but
fell into a deep melancholy.
When the king saw it, he thought she did not care for him because he
was not handsome enough; and that if he could wash his face with her
water of beauty, it would make her love him more. He knew that she
kept it in a cabinet in her chamber, where she could find it always.
Now it happened that a waiting-maid, in cleaning out this cabinet,
had, the very day before knocked down the phial, which was broken in a
thousand pieces, and all the contents were lost.
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