It settled at last on the hollow in the heath, and there was the princess, walking up and down, and trying in vain to wrap the vapour around her! Then first I was startled at what I saw: the old librarian walked up to her, and stood for a moment regarding her; she fell; her limbs forsook her and fled; her body vanished.
A wild shriek rang through the echoing place, and with the fall of her eidolon, the princess herself, till then standing like a statue in front of me, fell heavily, and lay still.

I turned at once and went out: not again would I seek to restore her! As I stood trembling beside the cage, I knew that in the black ellipsoid I had been in the brain of the princess!--I saw the tail of the leopardess quiver once.
While still endeavouring to compose myself, I heard the voice of the princess beside me.
"Come now," she said; "I will show you what I want you to do for me." She led the way into the court.

I followed in dazed compliance.
The moon was near the zenith, and her present silver seemed brighter than the gold of the absent sun.

She brought me through the trees to the tallest of them, the one in the centre.

It was not quite like the rest, for its branches, drawing their ends together at the top, made a clump that looked from beneath like a fir-cone.