Thus saying he recovered his composure, stepped to the throne, and began to ascend. Thereupon a murmur arose which made him pause for an instant; but the queen held out her arms; into them he flew and sought to kiss her, but she clung to him so tenderly and cautiously he could not do so at once. He was not to be outdone, however, and lavished caresses upon her until she was off her guard, when he kissed her full upon her red lips. There went a thrill through him he had never experienced and it made him dizzy for awhile, for she did not permit him to remove his lips from hers. Then came before his mind’s eye the poor princess and her torturing condition. His sense of duty to her overcame the blandishments of this fair, sweet one, and slowly but delicately he freed himself from her embrace, saying: “O, Queen, thou art the most beautiful of all flesh; there are no other lips like thine; no other woman was ever possessed of such an exquisite form; no other woman’s voice hath so many charms—thou art the queen of queens.” “Then abide thou here and be my king,” said she. “It may not be,” said he, “for I have a duty to perform to one of thy sex who is suffering from a terrible malady, and that duty is greater than thy charms, though none knows their grandeur.” Then the queen drew him gently to her and kissed him on the forehead most lovingly, and bade him sit beside her. After long and beautiful converse with her, in which she told him she was but tempting him to test his fitness for the mission, he left her with instructions to treat each of the ten maids above as he had treated her—which made him tremble slightly. When he had ascended to the garden the ten maids were waiting for him and one of them held out her arms to him. He responded with alacrity and she held him so lovingly that for a moment his resolution wavered. But he released himself only to be folded in the arms of another and another until the last one twined her arms about him. It had been a gallant struggle, but it had ended there had not the neighing of his horse recalled him to himself. Thereupon he tore himself away, ran up the ladder, down the other side, mounted his horse, and they flew down the steep incline with such speed that though the old serpent had returned with new eyes they cleared his body at a single bound and were off through the mountains in the twinkling of a star, speeding toward the palace of the princess. When he entered the hall but one suitor had been tested and he lay dead on the floor. There followed him in, however, a horde of would-be lovers, of all stations and degrees, but the strict order of arrival was observed, and he stood next in succession. As he advanced toward the bewitching being his eyes burned and his pulse throbbed with twice its usual power. He was drawn with such magnetism he could not resist. She was even more comely than any of the charmers he had met in the mountain.