While he stood gazing at the struggling beast, it turned to him with
such a beseeching look in its wild eyes, that he was moved to pity.

"Thou shalt have thy liberty," he cried, "even though thou shouldst rend
me in pieces the moment thou art free. Better dead than this craven life
to which my father hath doomed me!"

So he set to work with the little scissors to cut the great ropes of the
net in twain. At first each strand seemed as hard as steel, and the
blades of the scissors were so rusty and dull that he could scarcely
move them. Great beads of sweat stood out on his brow as he bent himself
to the task.

Presently, as he worked, the blades began to grow sharper and sharper,
and brighter and brighter, and longer and longer. By the time that the
last rope was cut the scissors were as sharp as a broadsword, and half
as long as his body.

At last he raised the net to let the beast go free. Then he sank on his
knees in astonishment. It had suddenly disappeared, and in its place
stood a beautiful Fairy with filmy wings, which shone like rainbows in
the moonlight.

"Prince Ethelried," she said in a voice that was like a crystal bell's
for sweetness, "dost thou not know that thou art in the domain of a
frightful Ogre? It was he who changed me into the form of a wild beast,
and set the snare to capture me. But for thy fearlessness and faithful
perseverance in the task which thou didst in pity undertake, I must have
perished at dawn."