Page:The Pentamerone, or The Story of Stories.djvu/317

Rh wonders of her feet; and applying the gold of her graces to the touchstone of judgement, he found that it was four-and-twenty carats fine. But he upbraided the Night for not leaving off her embroidery of the Stars, and chided the Sun for not arriving with the chariot of light, to enrich his house with the treasure he longed for,—a mine of gold which produced pearls, a pearl-shell from which sprang flowers.

But whilst he was thus at sea, thinking of her who was all the while in the sea, behold the pioneers of the Sun appeared, who smooth the road along which he has to pass with the army of his rays. Then the king dressed himself, and went with Ciommo to the seashore, where he found Marziella; and the king with his own hand cut the chain from the foot of the beloved object, with the file which they had brought, but all the while he forged a still stronger one for his heart; and setting her on the saddle behind him—she who was already fixed on the saddle of his heart—he set out for the royal palace, where by his command all the handsome ladies of the land were assembled, who received Marziella as their mistress with all due honour. Then the king married her, and there were great festivities; and among all the casks which were burnt for the illuminations, the king ordered that Troccola should be shut up in a tub, and made to suffer for the treachery she had