Page:Tales of old Lusitania.djvu/195

Rh his seven skins on again, which grieved the little wife very much, for it changed him back into an ugly toad; and though she entreated him to throw them off and never to put them on again, the only reply he gave was this: "It is needful that it should be so; say no more about it."

She went and related to the king and queen what had happened, and they told her to get him to take off his skins again next night, but to leave her door open, as they wished to see him as a perfect man. The girl did as they told her, and when the prince was asleep their majesties entered the chamber and gazed upon their handsome son, and rejoiced to find that he was truly a human being. In the morning, the prince again clothed himself with the skins; and the king complained to him for willingly transforming himself into an ugly toad, and asked him why he did so. The prince replied that he wished to remain a toad, because he knew that his father had a hard heart, and that if he saw his son presenting a handsome appearance, he would kill the poor girl and make him marry some beautiful princess; but no, he meant to be true to the kind-hearted girl who had taken pity on him while he was a toad.

The king protested that he had no such intentions, but only desired to see him look handsome and princely as he really was.

The prince was deaf to all entreaties, so the king