Quick as lightning the prince was on her track , but this time it was with no wish to kill or even wound the beautiful creature . ` Pretty doe ! pretty doe ! stop ! I wo n't hurt you , ' cried he , but his words were carried away by the wind . At length the doe could run no more , and when the prince reached her , she was lying stretched out on the grass , waiting for her death blow . But instead the prince knelt at her side , and stroked her , and bade her fear nothing , as he would take care of her . So he fetched a little water from the stream in his horn hunting cup , then , cutting some branches from the trees , he twisted them into a litter which he covered with moss , and laid the white doe gently on it . For a long time they remained thus , but when Desiree saw by the way that the light struck the trees , that he sun must be near its setting , she was filled with alarm lest the darkness should fall , and the prince should behold her in her human shape . ` No , he must not see me for the first time here , ' she thought , and instantly began to plan how to get rid of him . Then she opened her mouth and let her tongue hang out , as if she were dying of thirst , and the prince , as she expected , hastened to the stream to get her some more water . When he returned , the white doe was gone . That night Desiree confessed to Eglantine that her pursuer was no other than the prince , and that far from flattering him , the portrait had never done him justice . ` Is it not hard to meet him in this shape , ' wept she , ` when we both love each other so much ? ' But Eglantine comforted her , and reminded her that in a short time all would be well . The prince was very angry at the flight of the white doe , for whom he had taken so much trouble , and returning to the cottage he poured out his adventures and his wrath to Becasigue , who could not help smiling . ` She shall not escape me again , ' cried the prince . ` If I hunt her every day for a year , I will have her at last . ' And in this frame of mind he went to bed . When the white doe entered the forest next morning , she had not made up her mind whether she would go and meet the prince , or whether she would shun him , and hide in thickets of which he knew nothing .
She decided that the last plan was the best ; and so it would have been if the prince had not XXXXX the very same direction in search of her .
bade covered go hang laid love opened taken thought twisted