“Go, my son,” he said, tenderly. “Go, and all good fortune follow you. Bring back my beloved daughter to her home once more. So shall you gladden her father’s heart, and win happiness for yourself and her.”
Back across the dismal land through which she had led the Princess, flitted the Earth Fairy. Freed though she now was from her long imprisonment, she yet hoped for even greater liberty. When Flying Soot had told her that the Veil had power to disenchant the Princess, she felt sure that it would have a like magic influence over herself; that if she could but obtain it, and cast it about her that she should once more become a true Earth Fairy. Should this come to pass, she would flee forever from the Land of Fire which she so hated, to her own people and her own home.
Therefore she determined to go in search of the Prince, and by means of her wands wrest from him the coveted Veil. She knew that it would soon be discovered that Princess White Flame was no longer in her father’s kingdom, and she believed that Prince Radiance would then come to seek the Princess in the Land of the Evil Fairies. She herself would be in wait for him near the boundary and would endeavor to overpower him there.
So rapidly did she journey that she soon reached the borders of the Land of the Fire Fairies, and began to watch for the coming of the Prince.
Some time had passed before she beheld a scarlet cloaked figure approaching, looking eagerly on all sides, as if in search of someone. From what Flying Soot had told her she knew that it was Prince Radiance. She crept to meet him, concealing herself cleverly from sight as she went.
When she was but a short distance from him she stopped and opened her bundle of wands. She had taken out the Green Wand, and was about to use it, when she paused. Well did she know that she had none other so powerful, none other that could so fully work her will. By this she held the Princess completely under her sway. Upon the Prince she was unwilling to risk it unless all else failed. She laid it back among the rest and took up another that she had always trusted. Waving it toward the Prince she murmured the words of a spell so potent that she expected to see him fall instantly to the ground unable to speak or to move. But it was as though the spell had never been uttered. The Prince continued on his way as before, and the Earth Fairy knew by this that all power had departed from her wand. She cast it away, and selecting another without hesitation, she followed close after him, repeating the words of her spell. This time also, the spell was of no avail; the second wand became as useless as the first, and was discarded in its turn.