Saying this the Fairy vanished, leaving the Prince very much astonished.
For some time Chéri behaved so well that the ring did not prick at all, but one day when he returned from the chase, having caught nothing, he felt so ill-humoured, that when his dog Bibi came fawning upon him, he kicked the poor, faithful creature from him. At that moment the ring pricked like a pin running into his finger.
"What is this?" he exclaimed: "the Fairy must be mocking me, surely I've done no great harm in kicking an animal that annoyed me. What's the use of being ruler of a great empire if I may not treat my dog as I will?"
"I am not mocking you," he heard in reply to his thoughts; "you have been bad tempered, and you have behaved unkindly to a poor animal who did not deserve such treatment. I know you are higher than a dog, but the advantage of being ruler of a great empire is not in doing all the harm one wishes, but in doing all the good one can."
Chéri promised to be better, but he did not keep his word, and so the ring often pricked him, sometimes until his finger bled, and at last, in anger, he threw it away.
Now he thought he would be truly happy, and he gave way to any foolish fancies and wrong wishes that came into his head, until he really became very wicked and was disliked by everyone.
One day when he was out walking he saw a girl named Zélie, who was so beautiful that he resolved to marry her.
But Zélie was as good as she was beautiful, and said to him:
"Sir, I am only a shepherdess and have no fortune, but, in spite of that, I will never marry you, for although I should be a Queen, and you are handsome and rich, your evil behaviour would make me hate you."