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and snoring with all their might. He continued his way through several other apartments, which were filled with ladies and gentlemen, some sitting, some standing, but all fast asleep.
At length he came to an apartment gilded all over with gold, in which was a magnificent bed, with the
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curtains drawn back, and a young lady about sixteen years of age, more beautiful than any one he had ever seen. After gazing upon her with the greatest delight for a few minutes, he could not help falling upon his knees to her as if she had been awake.
The enchantment of the fairy being thus ended, the princess opened her eyes, and casting them on the prince with a look of more tenderness than is common at first sight,—"Is it you, my prince?" said she; "How long you have made me wait for you!"
The prince, delighted at these words, and still more at the sweet tone of voice in which she pronounced them, was at a loss how to express his gratitude and joy. He assured her that he loved her better than he did himself; and this, with many other expressions of the same kind, he repeated a thousand and a thousand times.
The princess on her part was by no means backward; for, though history mentions no such thing, yet we may very well suppose that her good friend the fairy caused her during her long sleep to have the most agreeable dreams. In short, they talked for more than four hours together, without saying half of what they wished.
