Lightly the fair creature flits across the glade, and as she nears the spot where he lies concealed, the Prince starts forth and confronts her. The Queen Swan would fly, but is held back. The Prince, already a willing victim to his captive’s beauty, would fain have the mystery of her appearance explained. Who is she? What does she here, and at this hour? Reluctant at first to confess her true nature, the Queen Swan yields to the passionate emotion which she, too, feels stirring within her, and relates a part, at least, of her strange history. She tells of the machinations of the evil genie by whose enchantment she and all her companions are bound, of their alternation between human guise and that of birds. The prince listens in horror, jumping too readily to the conclusion that his captive is a maiden doomed to periodic metamorphosis into the semblance of a swan, rather than a bird permitted now and again to assume a human shape. At mention of the ogre by whose spells this strange tyranny is maintained, he fingers his weapons menacingly, eager for an opportunity to attempt deliverance. Such a chance presents itself with startling suddenness. In the midst of her narration the Queen Swan clutches her captor’s arm, and points upward into the trees. Peering down upon them, from a branch overhead, is some strange object, only half visible amidst the foliage. The Prince seizes his cross-bow and makes as if to shoot. But ere he can be sure of his aim, the apparition moves stealthily, and is gone. The young man lowers his weapon and turns to expostulate with his captive. Again the colloquy is interrupted, this time by the invasion of a grim, gaunt monster, which silently regards them from a mound upon which it has suddenly emerged. Again the Prince seizes his bow and strives to launch a bolt at the intruder. But he is powerless to release the trigger. The genie’s magic paralyses him. The monster recedes unharmed into the woody depths, and the Prince, perturbed by this discovery of unseen influences encompassing him, impetuously urges his captive from the scene.