` Do you dare to insult me in my own court ? ' cried the king . ` Away with him to Little Ease ! ' Now Little Ease was an iron cage hung by four thick chains in the middle of a great vaulted hall , and the prisoner inside could neither sit , nor stand , nor lie ; and , besides that , he was made to suffer by turns unbearable heat and cold , while a hundred heavy bolts kept everything safe . Girouette , whose business it was to see after Souci , had forgotten his existence in the excitement of some new idea , and he would not have been alive long to trouble anybody if Aveline had not come to the rescue and whispered in his ear , ` And the skein of thread ? ' He took it up obediently , though he did not see how it would help him but he tied it round one of the iron bars of his cage , which seemed the only thing he could do , and gave a pull . To his surprise the bar gave way at once , and he found he could break it into a thousand pieces . After this it did not take him long to get out of his cage , or to treat the closely barred windows of the hall in the same manner . But even after he had done all this freedom appeared as far from him as ever , for between him and the open country was a high wall , and so smooth that not even a monkey could climb it . Then Souci 's heart died within him . He saw nothing for it but to submit to some horrible death , but he determined that the Iron King should not profit more than he could help , and flung his precious thread into the air , saying , as he did so , ' O fairy , my misfortunes are greater than your power . I am grateful for your goodwill , but take back your gift ! ' The fairy had pity on his youth and want of faith , and took care that one end of the thread remained in his hand . He suddenly felt a jerk , and saw that the thread must have caught on something , and this thought filled him with the daring that is born of despair . ` Better , ' he said to himself , ` trust to a thread than to the mercies of a king ; ' and , gliding down , he found himself safe on the other side of the wall . Then he rolled up the thread and put it carefully into his pocket , breathing silent thanks to the fairy . Now Minon-Minette had been kept informed by Aveline of the prince 's adventures , and when she heard of the way in which he had been treated by the Iron King she became furious , and began to prepare for war . She made her plans with all the secrecy she could , but when great armies are collected people are apt to suspect a storm is brewing , and of course it is very difficult to keep anything hidden from fairy godmothers . Anyway , Grimace soon heard of it , and as she had never forgiven Minon-Minette for refusing Prince Fluet , she felt that here was her chance of revenge . Up to this time Aveline had been able to put a stop to many of Grimace 's spiteful tricks , and to keep guard over Minon-Minette , but she had no power over anything that happened at a distance ; and when the princess declared her intention of putting herself at the head of her army , and began to train herself to bear fatigue by hunting daily , the fairy entreated her to be careful never to cross the borders of her dominions without Aveline to protect her .
The princess XXXXX once gave her promise , and all went well for some days .
To at by from into of on though with within