I was made a beast of,--a horse of, by an enchanter of
a certain land, and my sister a mare."
"Thou dost not say so!" quoth Dirk, who considered such an event quite
possible.
"I was a prince of the county of Alboronia, which lies between Cathay and
the Mountains of the Moon, as fair once as I am foul now, and only less
fair than my lost sister; and, by the enchantments of a cruel magician, we
became what we are."
"But thou art not a horse, at all events?"
"Am I not? Thou knowest, then, more of me than I do of myself,"--and it
ate more grass. "But hear the rest of my story. My hapless sister was sold
away, with me, to a merchant; but I, breaking loose from him, fled until I
bathed in a magic fountain. At once I recovered my man's shape, and was
rejoicing therein, when out of the fountain rose a fairy more beautiful
than an elf, and smiled upon me with love.
"She asked me my story, and I told it. And when it was told, 'Wretch!' she
cried, 'and coward, who hast deserted thy sister in her need. I would have
loved thee, and made thee immortal as myself; but now thou shalt wander,
ugly, and eating grass, clothed in the horse-hide which has just dropped
from thy limbs, till thou shalt find thy sister, and bring her to bathe,
like thee, in this magic well.'"
"All good spirits help us! And you are really a prince?"
"As surely," cried the thing, with a voice of sudden rapture, "as that
mare is my sister"; and he rushed at mare Swallow.
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