Page 93 - Princess Belle-Etoile and Prince Cherie

Each animal appeared gratified by this
compliment.
Cheri got off his horse at the entrance of the
subterranean passage they had made for him,
and stooping till he was nearly double, groped
his way after the kind Dove, which safely
conducted him to the fountain: it made so
much noise, that he would have been

deafened, had not the Dove given him two of
her white feathers, with which he stopped up
his ears.
He was wonderfully surprised to see this
water dance as correctly as though Favier and
Pecourt had taught it. It is true they were but
old dances, such as the Bocane, the Mariée,

and the Saraband. Several birds, flying about,
sang the airs the water wished to dance to. The
Prince filled his golden vase; he took two
draughts of it, which made him a hundred
times handsomer than he was previously, and
which refreshed him so much, that he scarcely
felt that the luminous forest was the hottest
place in the world.
He returned the same way he came. His horse

had strayed, but, knowing his voice, returned
at full gallop as soon as he called to him. The
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