not be in love with any shepherd, he did not believe him. He took ill, and Mirtain implored Constancia to come to the castle and heal him. She did not go, but Mirtain told the queen, who ordered her to come and threatened to drown her if the prince died. She came and confessed to the prince that her skills were not great, but the prince recovered. She was taken on as a gardener for the flowers, but the king dreamed that she would marry their son. His orders to send the girl back to the sheep annoyed the queen, and instead, she set out to find out how their son felt toward Constancia. She learned they were in love, and ordered him to go visit her brother; they had arranged to him to marry a princess there, and they should meet first. Constancio said he should not let his heart interfere, since it was a marriage of state. The queen ordered him to go, or she would kill Constancia. Constancio found Constancia and told her he would go and try to persuade his uncle and the bride that he was unsuitable. He left. His mother intercepted his letters and found him confiding in Mirtain, whom she immediately imprisoned on a false charge. One day, Constancia found the garden filled with poisonous creatures, from which she was protected only by the ring the prince had given her. When that failed, the queen sent her to get the girdle of affection from a fairy whose home was unreachable, because of the elephants she kept in the forest, but Constancia had heard from an old shepherd that the sight of a lamb made the elephants gentle, and that the girdle would burn up when she left, so she should tie it about trees. She set out with Ruson, and the elephants were gentle. The fairy gave her the girdle, and when she left, Constancia tied it around a tree, which it burned up rather than her. She brought it to the queen, who asked why she had not put it on; she said it was not suitable for her. The queen insisted, but it had already expended its fire. The queen sold her as a slave to a merchant about to sail. Constancio had been very rude to his intended bride. When he received word that Constancia was ill, he set out,