Page:Fairytales00auln.djvu/137



upon a time there was a king and a queen who had several children, but they all died; and the king and queen were so very, very much afflicted, that it was impossible to be more so, for they possessed considerable property, and only wanted children to inherit it. Five years had elapsed since the queen had given birth to her last infant. Everybody believed she could have no more, because she fretted so excessively, when she thought of all the pretty little princes she had lost.

At length, however, the queen found she was likely to have another. Day and night she passed in thinking how she could best preserve the little creature she was about to bring into the world,—what name it should bear,—what dresses, what dolls, what toys she should give to it.

It had been proclaimed by sound of trumpet, and bills had been posted up in all the highways, stating that all the best nurses should present themselves before the queen, that she might choose one for her child. Accordingly, behold them arrive from the four quarters of the world; nothing was to be seen but nurses with their babies. One day as the queen was taking the air in a great forest, she sat down, and said to the king, "Let us send for all the nurses hither, and choose one, for our cows have not milk enough to supply food for all these little children." "Most willingly, my dear," said the king: "come, let the nurses be summoned!" Lo! where they all appear, one after the other, making a fine curtsy to the king and the queen; after which they place themselves in a row, each standing under a tree. When they