‘That’s not true, at any rate,’ said the baker’s boy, whose name was Erinaceus, ‘you’ve got me. If you’ll let me be your squire, I’ll follow you round the world and help you to fight your enemies.’
‘You won’t be let,’ said the Princess sadly, ‘but I thank you very much all the same.’
She dried her eyes and stood up.
‘I must go,’ she said, ‘and I’ve nowhere to go to.’
Now as soon as the Princess had been turned out of the palace, the Queen said, ‘You’d much better have beheaded her for treason.’ And the King said, ‘I’ll tell the archers to pick her off as she leaves the grounds.’
So when she stood up, out there among the oleanders, some one on the terrace cried, ‘There she is!’ and instantly a flight of winged arrows crossed the garden. At the cry Erinaceus flung himself in front of her, clasping her in his arms and turning his back to the arrows. The Royal Archers were a thousand strong and all excellent shots. Erinaceus felt a thousand arrows sticking into his back.
‘And now my last friend is dead,’ cried the Princess. But being a very strong princess, [p110 she dragged him into the shrubbery out of sight of the palace, and then dragged him into the wood and called aloud on Benevola, Queen of the Fairies, and Benevola came.
‘They’ve killed my only friend,’ said the Princess, ‘at least…. Shall I pull out the arrows?’
‘If you do,’ said the Fairy, ‘he’ll certainly bleed to death.’
‘And he’ll die if they stay in,’ said the Princess.