Filled with joy, Prince Erian took the golden key, climbed the long stairs leading to the tower, and soon arrived at the door his father had described. But there was no lock in which he could place the key. He searched in vain. Disappointed, he returned to his father.
"I found the door," he said, "but the key was useless. There was no lock."
"All that is necessary," the King replied, "is to touch the door with your key, and immediately it will swing back on its ruby hinges, so that you may enter."
The Prince made haste to return to the castle tower, and he had no sooner touched the door with the key than it swung on its ruby hinges.
Never since the day when the sun first shone on this poor earth of ours, never since the golden stars sparkled in the firmament, has such a scene been presented to the human eye as that which Prince Erian saw before him. An immense hall, inlaid with thousands of glistening diamonds, sapphires as blue as the sky, and opals with their changing hues, lay spread out before the King's son, who stood dumb with astonishment and admiration. There were soft carpets everywhere, unmatchable pictures, and bright-colored flowers. Silver perfuming-pans swinging from their golden chains, and filling the air with rich incense, burned incessantly in this enchanted place.
There were twelve windows in this wonderful hall, and in each window a young girl stood, a living picture in a frame. All were so beautiful and so graceful that the young Prince was dazed. Never in his wildest dreams had he caught a glimpse of fairies quite so beautiful, and even the water-nymphs that he had seen disporting themselves on the water's edge were not so charming.
Dazed and delighted as he was, there was, nevertheless, a mystery that puzzled the young Prince. In the first of the twelve windows stood a young girl whose head was covered with a gauze veil. She alone had not turned when the King's son entered. Prince Erian stepped to her side and removed the veil.
"Why do you look at me?" she asked, sadly.
"Because," he replied, "you are the most charming of all the marvellous beauties that surround you; because you are like the moon among the stars—like the rose among the flowers of a garden."