Why , I can drink the moon ! '' Now , this is a way of knowing what anyone else is thinking of and intends to do , for the moon sees and knows everything . Whether it is quite fair is another matter ; but , at all events , it is not listening . And anyone may see that , if you are a magician , like the Princess Jaqueline , a great many difficult questions as to what is right and wrong at once occur which do not trouble other people . King Prigio 's secret , why he sent for the tailor and the other people , was his own secret . The princess decided that she would not find it out by turning herself into Rip or the cat -LRB- whose name was Semiramis -RRB- , and , so far , she was quite right . But she was very young , and it never occurred to her that it was just as wrong to find out what the king meant by drinking the moon as by listening in disguise . As she grew older she learned to know better ; but this is just the danger of teaching young girls magic , and for that very reason it has been given up in most countries . However , the princess did not think about right and wrong , unluckily . She went to the bookcase and took down her Cornelius Agrippa , in one great tall black volume , with silver clasps which nobody else could open ; for , as the princess said , there are books which it would never do to leave lying about where the servants or anybody could read them . Nobody could undo the clasps , however strong or clever he might be ; but the princess just breathed on them and made a sign , and the book flew open at the right place -- Book IV. , chapter vi. , about the middle of page 576 . The magic spell was in Latin , of course ; but the princess knew Latin very well , and soon she had the magic song by heart . Then she closed the book and put it back on the shelf . Then she threw open the window and drew back the curtains , and put out all the lights except two scented candles that burned with a white fire under a round mirror with a silver frame , opposite the window . And into that mirror the moon shone white and full , filling all the space of it , so that the room was steeped in a strange silver light . Now the whole room seemed to sway gently , waving and trembling ; and as it trembled it sounded and rang with a low silver music , as if it were filled with the waves of the sea . Then the princess took a great silver basin , covered with strange black signs and figures raised in the silver . She poured water into the basin , and as she poured it she sang the magic spell from the Latin book . It was something like this , in English : `` Oh Lady Moon , on the waters riding , On shining waters , in silver sheen , Show me the secret the heart is hiding , Show me the truth of the thought , oh Queen ! `` Oh waters white , where the moon is riding , That knows what shall be and what has been , Tell me the secret the heart is hiding , Wash me the truth of it , clear and clean ! ''
As she sang the water in the silver basin foamed and bubbled , and then fell still again ; and the princess knelt in the middle of the room , and the moon and the white light XXXXX the mirror of the moon fell in the water .
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