So they went there together , and the Princess was charmed with the old woman and everything belonging to her . Supper was soon spread for her under a shady tree , and she invited the Prince to share the cream and brown bread which the old woman provided . This he was delighted to do , and having first fetched from his own garden all the strawberries , cherries , nuts and flowers he could find . they sat down together and were very merry . After this they met every day as they guarded their flocks , and were so happy that Prince Peerless begged the Princess to marry him , so that they might never be parted again . Now though the Princess Sunbeam appeared to be only a poor shepherdess , she never forgot that she was a real Princess , and she was not at all sure that she ought to marry a humble shepherd , though she knew she would like to do so very much . So she resolved to consult an Enchanter of whom she had heard a great deal since she had been a shepherdess , and without saying a word to anybody she set out to find the castle in which he lived with his sister , who was a powerful Fairy . The way was long , and lay through a thick wood , where the Princess heard strange voices calling to her from every side , but she was in such a hurry that she stopped for nothing , and at last she came to the courtyard of the Enchanter 's castle . The grass and briers were growing as high as if it were a hundred years since anyone had set foot there , but the Princess got through at last , though she gave herself a good many scratches by the way , and then she went into a dark , gloomy hall , where there was but one tiny hole in the wall through which the daylight could enter . The hangings were all of bats ' wings , and from the ceiling hung twelve cats , who filled the hall with their ear piercing yells . Upon the long table twelve mice were fastened by the tail , and just in front of each one 's nose , but quite beyond its reach , lay a tempting morsel of fat bacon . So the cats could always see the mice , but could not touch them , and the hungry mice were tormented by the sight and smell of the delicious morsels which they could never seize . The Princess was looking at the poor creatures in dismay , when the Enchanter suddenly entered , wearing a long black robe and with a crocodile upon his head . In his hand he carried a whip made of twenty long snakes , all alive and writhing , and the Princess was so terrified at the sight that she heartily wished she had never come . Without saying a word she ran to the door , but it was covered with a thick spider 's web , and when she broke it she found another , and another , and another . In fact , there was no end to them ; the Princess 's arms ached with tearing them down , and yet she was no nearer to getting out , and the wicked Enchanter behind her laughed maliciously . At last he said : ` You might spend the rest of your life over that without doing any good , but as you are young , and quite the prettiest creature I have seen for a long time , I will marry you if you like , and I will give you those cats and mice that you see there for your own . They are princes and princesses who have happened to offend me . They used to love one another as much as they now hate one another . Aha !
It 's a pretty little revenge to keep them XXXXX that . '
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