'Two of my best friends among the griffins,' he said, 'live not far from here. A pigeon shall start at once with a message, and they can be with us by night.' And so they were; and the princess and Irla did not lose a moment in mounting a small car which was attached to them, and in setting out for the land of the Gangarids. 'I wish to speak to Amazan,' cried the phoenix, as soon as the griffins halted before his house. And it was as well that the bird was there, for between joy and hope and fatigue the princess's heart was fluttering to such a degree that she could have said nothing. 'Amazan!' replied the man whose crook betokened him to be a shepherd also; 'he went away three hours ago----.' 'Ah, that is what I feared!' exclaimed the phoenix, while the princess sank back upon her cushions nearly fainting with disappointment. 'Those three hours you passed in the rest-house, may have cost you the happiness of your life. But I will try if anything can be done to repair the mischief. We must see his mother at once,' he added, and Formosante, with hope springing anew within her, followed him into a large room where the air was filled with song, which proceeded from the throats not only of a thousand different birds, but of shepherds and shepherdesses. The voices seemed to chime in with the melancholy of the princess, who rose, trembling, as the mother of Amazan entered. 'Ah, give him back to me!' she cried; 'for his sake I have quitted the most brilliant court in the world, and have braved all kinds of dangers. I have escaped the snares of the King of Egypt--and now I find he has fled from me.' 'Princess,' answered the lady, 'did you not happen to notice while you were at supper with the King of Egypt a blackbird flying about the room?' 'Ah, now you say so, I _do_ recollect one!' rejoined the princess; 'and I remember that when the king bent forward to give me a kiss, the bird disappeared through the window with a cry of anguish.' 'You are right, alas!' replied the lady, 'and from that moment all our troubles can be dated. That blackbird had been sent by my son to bring him news of your health, as he meant as soon as the burial ceremonies for his father had been completed to return and throw himself at your feet. For when a Gangarid is in love, he _is_ in love. But as soon as he was told how gay you seemed, above all, as soon as he heard of you ready to accept the kiss of the monarch who had killed the phoenix, despair filled his soul, and that in the very moment in which he had learned that he was your cousin and that therefore the King of Babylon might be induced to listen to his suit.' 'My cousin! But how?' 'Never mind that now. He _is_ your cousin! But I feared he would never survive the news of the kiss which you had given to the King of Egypt.'