The happiness of the re-united pair was not again disturbed, and they lived together perfectly satisfied with their destiny.
THE TWELVE LOST PRINCESSES AND THE WIZARD KING.
[African.]
nce upon a time there lived a king who had twelve daughters, whom he loved so tenderly that he could not bear that they should be out of his presence, except when he was sleeping in the afternoon, and then they always took a walk. On one occasion, it happened that whilst the king was enjoying his afternoon's nap, the princesses went out as usual, but they did not return home. This threw all the inhabitants of the country into the greatest trouble and affliction, but the king was still more grieved than any of his subjects. He sent messengers to every corner of his kingdom, and into all the foreign lands he had ever heard mentioned, causing search to be made for his daughters; but no tidings could he get of them.
So, after a time, it became quite clear to everybody that they had been carried off by some wizard. The report of this soon spread from city to city, and from country to country, till at last it reached the ears of another king, who lived far, far away, and this king happened to have twelve sons. When the twelve princes heard the marvellous tale about the twelve princesses, they begged their father to permit them to travel in search of the missing royal maidens. The old king, however, for a long time would not hear of any such thing, for he feared that he might never see his sons again; but they threw themselves at his feet, and besought him so long and earnestly that at last he yielded, and gave them leave to set out on their travels. He caused a vessel to be equipped for them, and gave the charge of it to one of his courtiers, called Commander Rod. Long, long did they sail, and whenever they touched on the coast of any country, they made every inquiry about the princesses, but could not discover the least trace of them.
They had nearly completed the seventh year since they first set sail, when a violent storm arose. It blew such a gale that they thought they never should reach the shore; but on the third day the tempest subsided, and suddenly it became quite calm. All on board were now so fatigued by the hard work they had done during the tempest that they all went to sleep at once, excepting only the youngest prince, who became very restless, and could not sleep at all. Now whilst he was pacing the deck, the vessel neared an island, and on the shore was a little dog running backwards and forwards, and howling and barking towards the ship as if it wanted to be taken on board. The king's son whistled to it, and tried to entice it to him, but it seemed afraid to leave the shore, and only barked and howled louder still. The prince thought it would be a sin to leave the poor dog to perish, for he supposed it had escaped there from some ship that had foundered during the storm. He therefore set to work to lower the boat, and after having rowed to the shore, he went towards the little dog, but whenever he was about to lay hold of it, it sprang from him, and so lured him onward, till at last he found himself unexpectedly in the court of a great and magnificent castle, when the little dog suddenly changed into a beautiful princess.
The prince then noticed, sitting on the beach, a man so gigantic and frightful that he was quite alarmed. "You have no cause for uneasiness," said the man; but when the prince heard his voice he was more frightened still.