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George at once crept into the cavern, slipped down the length of the wall, and as soon as he had reached the bottom he said to his deliverer: "You are a good little man; I shall love you for ever; but do you know where Honey-Bee of Clarides is?" "I know a great many things," retorted the dwarf, "and especially that I don't like people who ask questions."
All these gems were of the purest and most luminous water. And in the midst of these coloured fires great diamonds flashed their rays of dazzling white. "Choose, Honey-Bee," said King Loc. But Honey-Bee shook her head. "Little King Loc," she said, "I would rather have a single beam of sunlight that falls on the roof of Clarides than all these gems."
For more than three hundred years all the duchesses of Clarides have spun the cloth for the poor, have visited the sick, and have held the new-born at the baptismal font. That is the reason they greet you, my children." George was lost in deep thought: "We must protect those who toil on the land," and Honcy-Bee said: "One should spin for the poor."
She governed Clarides with the help of an old monk who, having escaped from Constantinople and seen much violence and treachery, had but little faith in human goodness. He lived in a tower in the company of birds and books, and from this place he filled his position as counsellor by the aid of a number of little maxims.
But before permitting you to go I wish, not having been able to wed you myself, to betroth you to the one you have chosen. I do so with joy for I love you more than I love myself, and my pain, if such remains, is like a little cloud which your happiness will dispel. Honey-Bee of Clarides, Princess of the Dwarfs, give me your hand, and you, George of Blanchelande, give me yours."
Contrary to the common destiny which is to have more goodness than beauty, or more beauty than goodness, the Duchess of Clarides was as good as she was beautiful, and she was so beautiful that many princes, though they had only seen her portrait, demanded her hand in marriage. But to all their pleading she replied: "I shall have but one husband as I have but one soul."
"Little King Loc," said Honey-Bee, "I want the pretty shoes you promised at once, because as soon as I have them I must return to Clarides to my mother." "You shall have the shoes," King Loc replied; "you shall have them to walk about the mountain, but not to return to Clarides, for never again shall you leave this kingdom, where we will teach you wonderful secrets still unknown on earth.
But Honey-Bee stopped: "I have lost my shoe, my satin shoe," she cried. And so it was. The little shoe, whose silken laces had become loose in walking, lay in the road covered-with dust. Then as she looked back and saw the towers of the castle of Clarides fade into the distant twilight her heart sank and the tears came to her eyes.
He looked up at the sound of a little tremulous voice, and he saw at one of the windows a little old man with a long beard, who asked: "Who are you!" "George of Blanchelande." "And who do you want?" "I have come to deliver Honey-Bee of Clarides whom you unjustly hold captive in your mole-hill, hideous little moles that you are!"
"I recognise everything," said Honey-Bee, who recognised nothing, "but what are those little square stones scattered over the hillside?" "Houses," George replied. "Those are houses. Don't you recognise the capital of the Duchy of Clarides, little sister? After all, it is a great city; it has three streets, and one can drive through one of them.
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