Weary as he was, he set out for the old woman's cottage, where he
arrived just in time for her breakfast, which she shared with him.
He then went to bed, and slept for many hours. When he awoke
the sun was down, and he departed in great anxiety lest he should
lose a glimpse of the lovely vision. But, whether it was by the
machinations of the swamp-fairy, or merely that it is one thing
to go and another to return by the same road, he lost his way.
I shall not attempt to describe his misery when the moon rose,
and he saw nothing but trees, trees, trees.

She was high in the heavens before he reached the glade.
Then indeed his troubles vanished, for there was the princess
coming dancing towards him, in a dress that shone like gold,
and with shoes that glimmered through the grass like fireflies.
She was of course still more beautiful than before. Like an embodied
sunbeam she passed him, and danced away into the distance.

Before she returned in her circle, the clouds had begun to gather
about the moon. The wind rose, the trees moaned, and their lighter
branches leaned all one way before it. The prince feared that the
princess would go in, and he should see her no more that night.
But she came dancing on more jubilant than ever, her golden dress
and her sunny hair streaming out upon the blast, waving her arms
towards the moon, and in the exuberance of her delight ordering
the clouds away from off her face. The prince could hardly believe
she was not a creature of the elements, after all.

By the time she had completed another circle, the clouds had
gathered deep, and there were growlings of distant thunder.