"A monster has entered the palace; it is a python ten thousand feet long. It has already devoured thirteen hundred persons; its head is like a mountain peak."
Every one got up; the frightened guard and the courtiers ran hither and thither, looking where they could hide themselves. The princess and her maids-in-waiting were crying for help.
Gleam-of-day at last said to the prince:
"I have only three miserable rooms in a cottage, but you will be safe in them. Will you fly there with your daughter?"
"Let us go as quickly as possible," replied the prince, seizing the princess by the wrist.
They all three ran across the deserted streets. When they arrived, Nelumbo threw herself on the bed, without being able to stop weeping.
Gleam-of-day was so moved that he suddenly awoke: everything was a dream.
Just then he heard a scream in the next room, where his father slept; there was a struggle, blows, and at last a sigh of satisfaction.
The door opened, and the old man was seen pushing an enormous serpent at the end of a stick. When Gleam-of-day turned back to his bed, he found it covered with bees; on the pillow the queen had alighted.