prince drown before his very eyes. With this information the Court had
to content itself; but not the duchess, for a king will give up his
throne sooner than a mother the hope of seeing her child again. She
possessed indeed one means by which she could know beyond doubt whether
her darling were alive or dead, namely the magic mirror which the fairy
had given to the first Wendelin, and in which, ever since, the Greylocks
had been able to see what they held most dear. In this glass she had
seen her husband fall from his horse and die. Once again she took it out
of the ivory casket in which it was kept; but so long as George sat
imprisoned in the cave of the evil spirit, nothing was to be seen on its
smooth surface. That was ominous, yet she ceased not to hope, and
thought: "If he were dead, I should see his corpse." She sat the whole
night staring in the mirror. In the morning a messenger from the army of
the Greylocks arrived, bringing word that the enemy was pressing upon
them and that a battle would have to be fought before the fresh troops,
which Moustache, the field-marshal, had asked for, could arrive.

The issue was doubtful, and the duchess would better have everything
ready for her flight and that of the princes, and, in case of the worst,
to carry with her the crown jewels, the royal seal and a store of gold.

The chancellor ordered all of these things to be packed in chests and
warned the servants not to forget to add his dressing-gown. Then he
begged the noble widow to look into the glass and to let him know as soon
as there was any reflection of the battle.

Presently she saw the two armies fall upon each other, but her longing to
see her son overcame her immediately, and behold, there in the glass he
appeared, seated by the side of an old ragged shepherd and eating bread
and cheese, his clothes were soaked and there was no possibility of his