room. He soon perceived the father and mother of the bride; and coming
behind the mother's chair, whispered in her ear, "If you marry your
daughter to that old dotard, before eight days are over you shall
certainly die." The woman, frightened to hear such a terrible sentence
pronounced upon her, and yet not know from whence it came, gave a loud
shriek and dropped upon the floor. Her husband asked what ailed her:
she cried that she was a dead woman if the marriage of her daughter went
forward, and therefore she would not consent to it for all the world.
Her husband laughed at her and called her a fool. But the invisible
Leander accosting the man, threatened him in the same way, which
frightened him so terribly that he also insisted on the marriage being
broken off. When the lover complained, Leander trod hard upon his gouty
toes and rang such an alarm in his ears that, not being able any longer
to hear himself speak, away he limped, glad enough to go. The real
lover soon appeared, and he and his fair mistress fell joyfully into one
another's arms, the parents consenting to their union. Leander, assuming
his own shape, appeared at the hall door, as if he were a stranger drawn
thither by the report of this extraordinary wedding.

From hence he traveled on, and came to a great city, where, upon his
arrival, he understood there was a great and solemn procession, in order
to shut up a young woman against her will among the vestal-nuns. The
prince was touched with compassion; and thinking the best use he could
make of his cap was to redress public wrongs and relieve the oppressed,
he flew to the temple, where he saw the young woman, crowned with
flowers, clad in white, and with her disheveled hair flowing about her
shoulders. Two of her brothers led her by each hand, and her mother
followed her with a great crowd of men and women. Leander, being
invisible, cried out, "Stop, stop, wicked brethren: stop, rash and
inconsiderate mother; if you proceed any further, you shall be squeezed