with the weight of his wrath. His warnings were
utterly disregarded by the proud queen, who
was the last person in the world to fear a
possible prince sprung from a hypothetical king,
and she was answering his advice with no little
scorn, when the business of the council was
suddenly interrupted by the arrival of twelve
carriages, richly gilt, and drawn by magnificent
horses, from which twenty-four princesses, all
singularly beautiful, solemnly descended and
demanded an immediate interview with her
majesty. The demand was deemed impertinent,
and the queen having sent out a message to
declare that she was not in the habit of putting
herself out of the way to oblige any one, the
princesses returned to the carriages, which were
at once driven off; but soon Sabina herself
advanced with her army, and laid siege to the town.
Her movements were observed from a tower of
the royal palace by the English commander-in-
chief, who thought affairs looked most unpromising;
and the queen, who surveyed the army from
the same point of view, felt, though she preserved
a bold face, that she could not conscientiously
differ from him in opinion. She therefore sent to
request a parley with the leader of the besieging
force, and her request was answered by the
reappearance of the twelve carriages with Sabina's
twenty-four princesses, who now insisted that
the queen should come down and speak to them
outside the palace.

With this command the queen indignantly
complied, and, as might have been expected, the
interview was not pleasant.

"Give up the prisoner, or in twenty-four
hours London will be levelled with the ground!"
cried the princesses in full chorus.

"He has insulted the throne, and offended
my daughter," cried the queen.

"The throne has nothing to do with the
private affairs of the royal family, and if the prisoner
did offend your daughter, we have no doubt
he had excellent reasons for so doing," was the
retort of the combined princesses.

This was not the sort of answer calculated to
bring matters to a pacific termination; and the
queen, more deeply offended than ever, and vowing
that she would not yield, turned a deaf ear to
the advice of her council, who implored her not to
sacrifice her people to the vanity of her daughter.
Possibly the opinion of the councillors on
the subject of the insulted maiden's charms did
not greatly differ from that of the prisoner, and
it might be on this account that their advice was
prudent to an extent hardly compatible with the
reputed pluck of Englishmen.

However that might be, a bombardment began,
and in less than an hour half London was
in flames. With a demand so practical the
queen was forced to comply, and the prisoner,
freed from captivity, was sent to Sabina's camp
to negotiate for peace. There, he met with a
reception so warm, that it is questionable
whether he did not wish himself back in his prison,
with all his chains about him.

"I told you this fine journey of yours would
bring you into a pretty scrape. A trumpery
queen, of mere mortal clay, has dared to lock you
up, and I, who am powerful enough to destroy a
whole world, must condescend, forsooth, to bandy
words with her." Thus spoke Sabina to
Almerigo; but the citizens of London, by whom he
was accompanied, were accosted in milder terms.
"You Londoners," she proceeded, "have done
me no wrong, therefore I only require you to
burn down the royal palace. As for your queen,
she shall pay me thirty-five millions (sterling?) to
defray the costs of war, and shall then be forced
to admit that my least handsome maid of
honour is more beautiful than her daughter."

So revolting were these conditions to the
queen, that she desired to renew the combat;
but finding the whole of her subjects against her,
she put an end to her distress by plunging a
dagger into her own heart.

Though peace was concluded between
England and the Mistress of the Seven-Star
Mountain, a little difference remained between the
allies in the late war which was not so easily
smoothed down. Sabina was so deeply offended
with Almerigo for his breach of faith, that when
she had helped him out of his difficulty she would
have nothing more to do with him. Nor did
he feel himself safe in London, for, although the
queen was dead, she had left as her successor
the daughter, who had been even more deeply
offended than herself. So he betook himself to
the mountains (shall we say the Surrey hills?),
where he would probably have died of starvation
had he not encountered three men, who were
disputing about the appropriation of three
wonderful things: a cloak that rendered the wearer
invisible: a purse of gold that always remained
full: and a pair of shoes that would render him
who slipped them on, as swift as the wind. To
end the debate, the disputants referred their
case to Almerigo, who had no sooner got
the precious articles into his possession on
pretence of examining them, than, making use of
the shoes, he took himself off, leaving the three
dupes to regret that they had not used more
discrimination in the choice of a judge.

They, however, were not alone in their discomfiture.
Sabina, who though of a hasty temper
was by no means malicious, had already forgiven
Almerigo in her heart, and, to watch his fortunes,
was looking into her mirror:—which, to her
utter amazement, gave her no information
whatever. The possession of the gifts had, in fact,
rendered him a more potent magician than herself,
so he was beyond reach of the mirror; and
Sabina, who now heartily wished him back again,
began to think she had gone a little too far.

Fortunately her kindly feeling was reciprocated,
and nearly the first use which Almerigo
made of his shoes was to return to Sabina's
palace, where he found before the gate, three
horses—one of lead, another of bronze, the
third of iron. When he knocked, the leaden
horse asked, "Who's that?" The bronze one
replied, "Our mighty Almerigo;" and the iron
one conveyed the tidings to Sabina, who,
overpowered with joy, hurried out to meet the
returned wanderer. But it was now his turn to
assume a tone of severity, and he sternly
informed her that his power was thrice as great