"Your Majesty," said the traveller, "the Queen will never feel again the cruel pains that she has suffered, and her life is hereafter safe; but I am on the eve of terminating mine—a fate that I have not deserved. You are too just to punish an innocent person, and I am not the murderer of your son. That monster, Rustem, had contaminated the Prince's youth, and it was through his corrupt counsels that the young Prince was dragged into disgrace. You will know this villain better when I prove to you that he is the most ungrateful of human beings." Then the traveller related to the King the adventure in the pitfall and all that followed. Convinced that the traveller was telling the truth, the King ordered that the ingrate Rustem should suffer all the tortures that had been reserved for the man who was a prisoner. This perfidious creature, Rustem, was ignorant of all that had taken place at the palace, and was waiting with impatience for the success of his treasonable plots. He was aroused from his vain dreams of greatness, seized, and hurried off to his doom. XIV THE ENCHANTED PRINCESS Once upon a time there lived in a far country a young Prince, who desired nothing better than to take to himself a wife, but none of the women who had been presented to him suited his fancy or touched his heart. "How is it," he cried, "that in all my father's kingdom I am unable to find a wife that suits me?" The poor young Prince became disconsolate. He shed burning tears, refused to eat or drink, and dwindled away in the sight of the sun. The King saw his son's despair and took pity on him. So one day he called the young Prince to him and said: "My son, here is a gold key. Go to the top of the highest tower of my castle, and there you will find a door. Open it and enter, and you will then see before you the most beautiful and the most virtuous women in the world. You can have your choice. I hope you will find among them the wife you desire." Filled with joy, Prince Erian took the golden key, climbed the long stairs leading to the tower, and soon arrived at the door his father had described. But there was no lock in which he could place the key. He searched in vain. Disappointed, he returned to his father. "I found the door," he said, "but the key was useless. There was no lock." "All that is necessary," the King replied, "is to touch the door with your key, and immediately it will swing back on its ruby hinges, so that you may enter." The Prince made haste to return to the castle tower, and he had no sooner touched the door with the key than it swung on its ruby hinges.