Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/168

142 moment without the sight of Violet, who was a pink of pinks. And seeing her standing at the door, he said, "Good day, good day, Violet!" and Violet answered, "Good day, king's son! I know more than you." Then the prince said, "O father, father, what a quantity of fleas!" but Violet replied, "O mother, mother, help me!"

When the prince heard this, he said to Violet, "You have won—you have outwitted me: I yield—you have conquered; and now that I see you really know more than I do, I will marry you without further ado." So he called the ogre, and asked her of him for his wife; but the ogre said it was not his affair, for he had learnt that very morning that Violet was the daughter of Cola Aniello. So the prince ordered her father to be called, and told him of the good fortune that was in store for his daughter; whereupon the marriage feast was celebrated with great joy, and the truth of the saying was seen, that

"A fair maiden soon gets married."

The delight is unspeakable which all felt at the good fortune which Violet had obtained by her cleverness, in spite of the malice of her sisters, who, the enemies of