Page:History of the sleeping beauty in the wood.pdf/17

17 sauce I had with her children. It was now that the poor cook despaired of being able to deceive her; and, to save his own life, he resolved to kill the princess. In order to execute his purpose, he put himself into a great passion, and rushed into her chamber with a dagger drawn; but, on seeing the princess, he respectfully told her the orders he had received from thothe [sic] wicked queen, —“Come, do it, do it!” said she, “and then I will go to my poor children whom I love so dearly.” “No, no, madam,” cried the poor cook, all in tears, “you shall not die; and you shall see your children again; only conceal yourself until the queen is gone, and I will take you to them.” The princess was overjoyed at this unexpected news, and promised to keep herself very close. The cook then went and dressed in her stead a young hind, which the queen had for her supper, and devoured it with the same appetite as if it had been the young princess. Delighted with her cruelty, she then invented a story to deceive her son; and, as she returned home, she caused it to be noised about that the wood in which the castle was situated was infested by a banditti, who murdered and destroyed every one that camocame [sic] in their way.

In the meantime, the cook, so soon as the queen was departed, carried the princess to her children. The transports of this amiable mother, and the caresses of her affectionate children, were without bounds; but, alas! their troubles were not yet at an end. The queen, soon after her arrival at home, found that a peace was nearly concluded, and expecting her son, found, in order to deceive him, she had no time to lose; she therefore took the soldiers and entered the castle to seosee [sic] that all was as she left it. On her approach she heard the sound of voices, and then bursts of laughter; she crept softly to an open window, and peeping in, saw the princess, her two children, the cook and his wife, playing at blind-man’s-buff, while the maid-servant was looking on and laughing. She uttered such a terrible yell that it struck horror to their hearts; they instantly stopped their merriment, and instinctively turned their eyes to thothe [sic] window, when they encountered the furious looks and imp-like gestures of the Ogress queen. She