When the Princess opened her eyes and looked about her she did not know where she was. She had no remembrance of the storm that had brought her hither. She remembered only that she had stood beside Prince Dobrotek in the church, and that a great noise had arisen outside. After that she had known nothing until she awoke in this chamber.
She arose from the couch where she was lying and began to examine the room. All the light came from a dome overhead. She could find neither doors nor windows, and she wondered much how she had been brought into a room like this.
While she was looking about her she heard a noise behind her that made her turn quickly. At one side the mirrors had swung apart like doors, and through this opening came a procession of enormous black slaves bearing a golden throne in their midst. Upon this throne sat the Dwarf with the Golden Beard. The slaves set the throne down in the middle of the room and at once withdrew, closing the mirrored doors behind them.
When the Princess saw the dwarf she was very much alarmed. She at once suspected that it was he who had brought her here, and that he meant to keep her a prisoner until she would consent to marry him.
The dwarf stepped down from the throne and approached her with a smiling air, but she shrank away from him into the farthest corner of the room.
The dwarf was magnificently dressed. His beard had been brushed till it shone like glass, and he had thrown it over one arm as though it were a mantle. But in his left hand he carried a cap of some coarse grey stuff that was in strange contrast with the rest of his dress.
“Most beautiful Princess,” said he, “you are welcome indeed in my castle. None could be more so, and I hope to make you so happy that you will be more than content to spend your life here with me.”
“Miserable dwarf!” cried the Princess, “do you really think you will be able to make me stay here with you? Do you not know that Prince Dobrotek will come in search of me soon? He will certainly find me! Then he will punish you as you deserve for your insolence.”
The Princess was trembling now, but with rage rather than fear. The dwarf seemed not at all disturbed by her anger, however.
“Beautiful one,” he said, still smiling, “you are even more beautiful when you are angry than when you are pleased. Let Prince Dobrotek come. I fear him not at all. But do not let us waste our time in talking of him. Instead let us talk of ourselves, and of how pleasantly we will pass our days together.”