A silence fell on all the crowd, and even the grumblers held their peace and gazed like the rest. On and on came the fish, holding the crown tightly in her mouth, and the others moved back to let her pass. On she went right up to the queen, who bent and, taking the crown, placed it on her own head. Then a wonderful thing happened. Her tail dropped away or, rather, it divided and grew into two legs and a pair of the prettiest feet in the world, while her maidens, who were grouped around her, shed their scales and became girls again. They all turned and looked at each other first, and next at the little fish who had regained her own shape and was more beautiful than any of them. ‘It is you who have given us back our life; you, you!’ they cried; and fell to weeping from very joy. So they all went back to earth and the queen’s palace, and quite forgot the one that lay under the sea. But they had been so long away that they found many changes. The prince, the queen’s husband, had died some years since, and in his place was her son, who had grown up and was king! Even in his joy at seeing his mother again an air of sadness clung to him, and at last the queen could bear it no longer, and begged him to walk with her in the garden. Seated together in a bower of jessamine--where she had passed long hours as a bride--she took her son’s hand and entreated him to tell her the cause of his sorrow. ‘For,’ said she, ‘if I can give you happiness you shall have it.’ ‘It is no use,’ answered the prince; ‘nobody can help me. I must bear it alone.’ ‘But at least let me share your grief,’ urged the queen. ‘No one can do that,’ said he. ‘I have fallen in love with what I can never marry, and I must get on as best I can.’ ‘It may not be as impossible as you think,’ answered the queen. ‘At any rate, tell me.’ There was silence between them for a moment, then, turning away his head, the prince answered gently: ‘I have fallen in love with a beautiful deer!’ ‘Ah, if that is all,’ exclaimed the queen joyfully. And she told him in broken words that, as he had guessed, it was no deer but an enchanted maiden who had won back the crown and brought her home to her own people. ‘She is here, in my palace,’ added the queen. ‘I will take you to her.’ But when the prince stood before the girl, who was so much more beautiful than anything he had ever dreamed of, he lost all his courage, and stood with bent head before her. Then the maiden drew near, and her eyes, as she looked at him, were the eyes of the deer that day in the forest. She whispered softly: ‘By your favour let me go, and do not kill me.’ And the prince remembered her words, and his heart was filled with happiness. And the queen, his mother, watched them and smiled. [From Cuentos Populars Catalans, por lo Dr. D. Francisco de S. Maspons y Labros.] The Owl and the Eagle