On, on he flew, terror before him, devastation in his rear; the footsteps of his steed, the dark furrows of the foaming waves; his track marked by the shattered wrecks of the hapless barks over which he passed, till at length he reached the Island of Gracia, his strength exhausted and his fury assuaged. He gazed, delighted, on its smooth yellow sands, sparkling in the beams of the sun, its cool and waving groves giving forth their rich perfumes, and resounding with the harmonious notes of their feathered denizens; its smiling hills, its green meadows, and the thousand beauties of the landscape before him. The light spray, tinted with the varied hues of the rainbow, played round his mysterious form, as his steed, with a loud roar with echoed from rock to rock, receding towards the ocean, left him standing on the shore. Wildly throwing his arms around, he shook the water from his robe, which, as it fell, appeared like the spray from some mighty cataract, and then, reclining beneath the shade of an overhanging rock, he stretched forth his huge limbs, and, calmed by the fragrant air and the tranquillity of the scene, he slept. Tempted by the beauty of the evening, after the fierce storm which had raged all day, the Princess Serena and a troop of youthful maidens took their way to the sea-shore. For a time they sang and sported in exuberance of spirits; then they formed a circle and danced around their mistress; then they bound her hair with bright flowers, and decked her neck with softly-tinted shells, and then, hand-in-hand, they ran towards the water; now they retired, and now advanced, uttering peals of laughter, as the bright waves rippled over their feet. At last one, more daring, rushed into the sea; others followed, and as they threw about the sparkling spray in mimic fight, the rocks and woods echoed with their merriment. The sounds reached the ears of the sleeping Borasco. He awoke, and rising, listened, when, advancing from among the rocks which had hitherto concealed him, he suddenly appeared before the eyes of the astonished maidens. No sooner did they see the monster, than with shrieks of terror they fled into the woods, forgetting even the Princess--or, rather, they thought she was flying with them. Instead of flying, however, she stood entranced with horror, her feet refusing to move, and her eyes fixed on the hideous being before her. Borasco gazed at the Princess with deep admiration. Neither on the sea nor under the sea had he ever in all his wanderings beheld anything to be compared to her in beauty. Feelings totally strange and new to him rushed like a torrent into his bosom.