Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/293

Rh with him, and took him into his service as a page and to his heart as a son, and had him taught all the exercises befitting a cavalier, so that Miuccio grew up the most accomplished one in the court, and the king loved him much better than his stepson. Now the queen on this account began to take a dislike to him, and to hold him in aversion; and her envy and malice gained ground just in proportion as the favours and kindness which the king bestowed on Miuccio cleared the way for them: so she resolved to soap the ladder of his fortune, in order that he should tumble down from top to bottom.

Accordingly one evening, when the king and queen had tuned their instruments together and were making music of their discourse, the queen told the king that Miuccio had boasted he would build three castles in the air. So the next morning, at the time when the Moon, the schoolmistress of the Shades, gives a holiday to her scholars for the festival of the Sun, the king, either from surprize or to gratify his wife, ordered Miuccio to be called, and commanded him forthwith to build the three castles in the air as he had promised, or else he would make him dance a jig in the air.

When Miuccio heard this, he went to his chamber, and began to lament bitterly, seeing what glass the favour of princes is, and how short a time it lasts. And