PRINCE RICARDO. 203

 

He’s quite the dormouse. Turns on his bed
now and then, and things upstairs get upset,
more or less; but, as a rule, a child could play
with him. Come on!”

_ Then, taking Jaqueline up on one hand, on
which she sat as if on a chair, he crossed a few
ranges of mountains in as many strides. In
front was one tall blue hill, with a flattened
peak, and as they drew near the princess felt a
curious kind of wind coming round her and
round her. You have heard of whirlpools in
water; well, this was just like a whirlpool of
air. Even the Giant himself could hardly keep
his legs against it; then he tossed Jaqueline
up, and the airy whirlpool seized her and carried
her, as if on a tide of water, always round and
round in narrowing circles, till she was sucked
down into the hollow hill. Even as she went,
she seemed to remember the hill, as if she had
dreamed about it, and the shape and colour
of the country. But presently she sank softly
on to a couch, in a beautifully-lighted rocky
hall. All around her the floor was of white and
red marble, but on one side it seemed to end
in black nothing.

Jaqueline, after a few moments, recovered
her senses fully, and changing herself into an
eagle, tried to fy up and out. But as soon as
she was in the funnel, the whirlpool of air,
always sucking down and down, was too strong
for her wings. She was a prisoner in this great

14 *