Page 23 - The She-Bear

and observed him, popped the piece of wood
into her mouth, and was instantly changed into
a bear again.
When the Prince came down and looked about
in vain for Preziosa, whom he had seen from
the window above, he was so amazed at the
trick that a deep melancholy came over him,
and in four days he fell sick, crying continually,
"My bear, my bear!" His mother, hearing him
wailing thus, imagined that the bear had done
him some hurt, and gave orders that she should
be killed. But the servants, enamoured of the
tameness of the bear, who made herself beloved
by the very stones in the road, took pity on her,
and, instead of killing her, they led her to the
wood, and told the queen that they had put an
end to her.
When this came to the ears of the Prince, he
acted in a way to pass belief. Ill or well he
jumped out of bed, and was going at once to
make mincemeat of the servants. But when
they told him the truth of the affair, he jumped
on horseback, half-dead as he was, and went
rambling about and seeking everywhere, until
at length he found the bear. Then he took her
home again, and putting her into a chamber,
said to her, "O lovely morsel for a King, who
art shut up in this skin! O candle of love, who
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