The Enchanted Canary

Desire had never seen anyone half so lovely, and he stood gazing at her in delight.

On her side she seemed quite bewildered, but she looked about her with happy eyes, and was not at all afraid of her deliverer.

He asked her name. She answered that she was called the Princess Zizi; she was about sixteen years old, and for ten years of that time the witch had kept her shut up in an orange, in the shape of a canary.

`Well, then, my charming Zizi,' said the young Prince, who was longing to marry her, `let us ride away quickly so as to escape from the wicked witch.'

But Zizi wished to know where he meant to take her.

`To my father's castle,' he said.

He mounted his horse and took her in front of him, and, holding her carefully in his arms, they began their journey.

VIII

Everything the Princess saw was new to her, and in passing through mountains, valleys, and towns, she asked a thousand questions. Desire was charmed to answer them. It is so delightful to teach those one loves!

Once she inquired what the girls in his country were like.

`They are pink and white,' he replied, `and their eyes are blue.'

`Do you like blue eyes?' said the Princess; but Desire thought it was a good opportunity to find out what was in her heart, so he did not answer.

`And no doubt,' went on the Princess, `one of them is your intended bride?'

Still he was silent, and Zizi drew herself up proudly.

`No,' he said at last. `None of the girls of my own country are beautiful in my eyes, and that is why I came to look for a wife in the land of the sun. Was I wrong, my lovely Zizi?'

This time it was Zizi's turn to be silent.

IX

Talking in this way they drew near to the castle. When they were about four stone-throws from the gates they dismounted in the forest, by the edge of a fountain.

`My dear Zizi,' said Tubby's son, `we cannot present ourselves before my father like two common people who have come back from a walk. We must enter the castle with more ceremony. Wait for me here, and in an hour I will return with carriages and horses fit for a princess.