Now it was not difficult for Saphir to guess the reason of the change in her , nor why the new mirror was consulted so often ; but try as he would he could never see the face of the person who was reflected in it , for the young girl 's figure always came between . All he knew was that the face was that of a man , and this was quite enough to make him madly jealous . This was the doing of the fairies , and we must suppose that they had their reasons for acting as they did . When these things happened Saphir was about eighteen years old , and fifteen years had passed away since the death of his mother . King Peridor had grown more and more unhappy as time went on , and at last he fell so ill that it seemed as if his days were numbered . He was so much beloved by his subjects that this sad news was heard with despair by the nation , and more than all by the Prince . During his whole illness the King never spoke of anything but the Queen , his sorrow at having grieved her , and his hope of one day seeing her again . All the doctors and all the water-cures in the kingdom had been tried , and nothing would do him any good . At last he persuaded them to let him lie quietly in his room , where no one came to trouble him . Perhaps the worst pain he had to bear was a sort of weight on his chest , which made it very hard for him to breathe . So he commanded his servants to leave the windows open in order that he might get more air . One day , when he had been left alone for a few minutes , a bird with brilliant plumage came and fluttered round the window , and finally rested on the sill . His feathers were sky-blue and gold , his feet and his beak of such glittering rubies that no one could bear to look at them , his eyes made the brightest diamonds look dull , and on his head he wore a crown . I can not tell you what the crown was made of , but I am quite certain that it was still more splendid than all the rest . As to his voice I can say nothing about that , for the bird never sang at all . In fact , he did nothing but gaze steadily at the King , and as he gazed , the King felt his strength come back to him . In a little while the bird flew into the room , still with his eyes fixed on the King , and at every glance the strength of the sick man became greater , till he was once more as well as he used to be before the Queen died . Filled with joy at his cure , he tried to seize the bird to whom he owed it all , but , swifter than a swallow , it managed to avoid him . In vain he described the bird to his attendants , who rushed at his first call ; in vain they sought the wonderful creature both on horse and foot , and summoned the fowlers to their aid : the bird could nowhere be found . The love the people bore King Peridor was so strong , and the reward he promised was so large , that in the twinkling of an eye every man , woman , and child had fled into the fields , and the towns were quite empty .
All this bustle , however , ended XXXXX nothing but confusion , and , what was worse , the King soon fell back into the same condition as he was in before .
At before by in into since than till while with