Page:Fairytales00auln.djvu/212



was once upon a time a King and a Queen who wanted nothing to make them happy but children. The Queen was already aged; she had lost all hopes of having any—when she found herself likely to become a mother, and in due time brought into the world the most beautiful girl that was ever seen. Joy was extreme in the palace; each person was endeavouring to find a name for the Princess that would express their feeling towards her. At last they called her Aimée. The Queen had engraved upon a turquoise-heart the name of Aimée, daughter of the King of the Happy Island; she tied it round the Princess's neck, believing that the turquoise would bring her good fortune. But the rule failed in this case; for one day, when, to amuse the nurse, they took her out to sea in the finest summer weather, all at once there arose so tremendous a tempest that it was impossible to land, and as she was in a little boat, which was only used for pleasure trips close in-shore, it soon went to pieces. The nurse and all the sailors perished. The little Princess, who was sleeping in her cradle, remained floating upon the water, and was ultimately thrown by the waves on the coast of a very pretty country, but which was scarcely inhabited since the Ogre Ravagio and his wife Tourmentine had come to live there: they ate up everybody. The Ogres are terrible people: when once they have tasted fresh meat (it is thus they term human flesh), they will hardly ever eat anything else; and Tourmentine always found out some secret manner of attracting a victim, for she was half a fairy.