` Perhaps , ' said she , ` your Majesty may now be convinced that I am a fairy and speak the truth . Therefore lose no time in setting in order the affairs of your kingdom and go in search of your wife . Here is a ring that will admit you into the presence of the queen , and will likewise allow you to address unharmed the Lion Fairy , though she is the most terrible creature that ever existed . ' By this time the king had forgotten all about the princess , whom he had only chosen to please his people , and was as eager to depart on his journey as the frog was for him to go . He made one of his ministers regent of the kingdom , and gave the frog everything her heart could desire ; and with her ring on his finger he rode away to the outskirts of the forest . Here he dismounted , and bidding his horse go home , he pushed forward on foot . Having nothing to guide him as to where he was likely to find the entrance of the under-world , the king wandered hither and thither for a long while , till , one day , while he was resting under a tree , a voice spoke to him . ` Why do you give yourself so much trouble for nought , when you might know what you want to know for the asking ? Alone you will never discover the path that leads to your wife . ' Much startled , the king looked about him . He could see nothing , and somehow , when he thought about it , the voice seemed as if it were part of himself . Suddenly his eyes fell on the ring , and he understood . ` Fool that I was ! ' cried he ; ` and how much precious time have I wasted ? Dear ring , I beseech you , grant me a vision of my wife and my daughter ! ' And even as he spoke there flashed past him a huge lioness , followed by a lady and a beautiful young maid mounted on fairy horses . Almost fainting with joy he gazed after them , and then sank back trembling on the ground . ` Oh , lead me to them , lead me to them ! ' he exclaimed . And the ring , bidding him take courage , conducted him safely to the dismal place where his wife had lived for ten years .
Now the Lion Fairy knew beforehand XXXXX his expected presence in her dominions , and she ordered a palace of crystal to be built in the middle of the lake of quicksilver ; and in order to make it more difficult of approach she let it float whither it would .
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