Page:Turkish fairy tales and folk tales (1901).djvu/257

 of the Emperor will marry a son of the Emperor of the East."

Then the second daughter went up to the book, and turning over the leaf, read these words: "The second daughter of the Emperor will marry a son of the Emperor of the West."

The girls laughed and made merry at these words, and giggled and joked among themselves. But the youngest daughter would not go up to the book.

But the elder ones would not leave her in peace, but dragged her up to the long table, and then, though very unwillingly, she turned over the leaf and read these words—

"The youngest daughter of the Emperor will have a pig for her spouse."

A thunderbolt falling from the sky could not have hurt her more than the reading of these words. She was like to have died of horror, and if her sisters had not held her she would have dashed her head to pieces against the ground.

When she had come to herself again, her sisters began to try to comfort her. "How canst thou believe all that nonsense?" said they. "When didst thou ever hear of the daughter of an Emperor marrying a pig?"

"What a baby thou art!" added the eldest, "as if papa hadn't armies enough to save thee, even if so