Page:Fairytales00auln.djvu/435

Rh the King held his court; she was surprised at seeing everywhere nothing but dancing and feasting. People laughed and sang, and the nearer she approached the city, the greater appeared the joy and the merrymaking. Her marshy equipage surprised everybody—every one followed her, and the crowd became so great when she entered the city, that she had much difficulty in reaching the palace. There everything was magnificent. The King, who had been nine years a widower, had at last yielded to the prayers of his subjects, and he was on the point of marrying a princess certainly less beautiful than his wife, but who was nevertheless very charming. The good Frog, having alighted from her car, entered the King's palace followed by her retinue. She had no occasion to demand an audience; the monarch, his betrothed, and all the princes were too anxious to learn the reason of her coming to interrupt her. "Sire," said she, "I know not whether the news I bring you will give you pain or pleasure; the wedding which is about to take place convinces me of your infidelity to the Queen." "Her memory is always dear to me," said the King, shedding tears from which he could not refrain; "but you must know, pretty Frog, that kings cannot always do as they wish. It is now nine years that my subjects have been urging me to marry again. They require from me an heir to the throne. I have therefore chosen this young princess, who appears to me most charming." "I advise you not to marry her," said the Frog, "for polygamy is a hanging matter. The Queen is not dead; here is a letter written in her own blood which she has entrusted to me; you have a little princess called Moufette, who is more beautiful than all the goddesses combined."

The King took the little piece of linen on which the Queen had scribbled a few words, kissed it, and bathed it with his tears; he showed it to all the assembly, saying he recollected perfectly her handwriting; he asked a thousand questions of the Frog, to all of which she answered with as much sense as vivacity. The affianced princess, and the ambassadors who were appointed to witness the celebration of her marriage, made very wry faces. "How, Sire," said the most eminent amongst them, "can you, upon the assertion of a little toad like this, break off so solemn a marriage? This scum of the marsh has the impertinence to come with a falsehood to