In short, I made use of all my eloquence, prayed him to
imitate such a good example, and to grant me pardon; but it was
impossible for me to move his compassion.
All that I can do for thee, said he, is, that I will not take
away thy life; do not flatter thyself that I will send thee safe
and sound back. I must let you feel what I am able to do by my
enchantments. With that he laid violent hands on me, and carried
me across the vault of the subterraneous palace, which opened to
give him passage; he flew up with me so high, that the earth
seemed to be only a little white cloud; from thence he came down
again like lightning, and alighted upon the ridge of a mountain.
There he took up a handful of earth, and pronounced, or rather
muttered, some words which I did not understand, and threw it
upon me. Leave the shape of a man, says he to me, and take on
that of an ape. He vanished immediately, and left me alone,
transformed into an ape, overwhelmed with sorrow in a strange
country, not knowing if I was near unto or far from my father's
dominions.
I went down from the height of the mountain, and came into a
plain country, which took me a month's time to travel through,
and then I came to a coast of the sea. It happened then to be a
great calm, and I espied a vessel about half a league from the
shore; I would not lose this good opportunity, but broke off a
large branch from a tree, which I carried with me to the
sea-side, and set myself astride upon it, with a stick in each
hand to serve me for oars.
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