Page:Fairy tales and stories (Andersen, Tegner).djvu/210

178 "If it were only a little pussy cat!" she exclaimed — but it was only the lovely rose.

" Oh, how beautit'ully it is made ! " said the maids of honor.

" It is more than beautiful ! " said the emperor; " it is pretty ! "

But when the princess put out her hand to feel it she very nearly burst out crying.

" Fie, papa ! " she said. " Why, it is not an artificial one, it is a real one ! "

" Fie," said all the court, " it is a real rose ! "

" Let us first see what there is in the other casket before we get angry ! " remarked the emperor, and so the nightingale was brought out. It sang so beautifully that no one could have anything to say against it at the time.

"Superbe! Charmant!" exclaimed the maids of honor ; they all spoke French, the one worse than the other. " How that bird reminds me of our kite bchned empress's musical box ! " said an old cavalier. " Ah, ves ! it is tpiite the same tone, the same execution."

"Yes! " said the emperor, and he began to cry like a little child.

" I should n't have thought it was a real bird! " said the princess.

"Yes, it is a real bird," said they who had brought it.

" Well, you may let that bird fly," said the princess, and she would on no account allow the prince to come and present himself.

Hut he did ncU let himself be disheartened ; he blackened his face, pulled his cap down over his eyes, and knocked at the gate.

"Good day. Emperor!" he said; "can you find something for me to do here in the palace?"

"Well, there are so many that come here to ask for a place! " said the emperor; "but wait a bit — I want some one o can look after pigs. We have got a good many of them."

And so the prince was engaged as imperial swineherd. He got a miserable little room near the pigsty, and there he had to remain. He sat working all day and toward evening he had made a pretty little caldron, with bells all round it, and as soon as the caldron boiled the bells rang out so prettily and playctl the old melodv :

" Oh, thou darling Augustin,

All 's lost and gone I '"

But the most remarkable thing about it was that, when one put one's fingers into the steam that came from the caldron, one could at once smell what kind of dinner was being prepared in every kitchen in the town. That was quite a different thing to the rose.

The princess soon came walking past with all her maids of honor, and when she heard the melody she stopped and looked quite pleased, for she