Princess Rosetta

THERE was once upon a time, a king and queen, who had two fine boys. As they increased in size, they became beautiful as the day; so well were they nurtured. The queen never failed to invite the fairies at the birth of her children, and she always begged her visitors to tell her what would happen to them. After awhile she had a beautiful little girl who was so pretty that it was impossible to see her without loving her. The queen,  having regaled all the fairies who came to see her on the occasion, said to them, as they were about to leave : "Do not forget your usual custom, but tell me what will happen to  Rosetta," which was the little princess's name. The fairies told her that they had left their conjuring-book at home, and  that they would come to see her again, another time. "Ah!"  said the queen, " that forebodes no good, you do not wish to afflict me by an unhappy prediction ; I pray you however to conceal nothing from me, but tell me all." They tried hard to excuse themselves ; but this only made the queen more anxious to know her daughter's destiny. At last the chief fairy said to her : " We fear, Madam, that Rosetta will bring a severe misfortune upon her brothers ; that they will even be put to death on her account. This is all that we can foretell of this beautiful little girl, and we are very sorry that we have not better news to give you." They then left her ; and the queen remained so sorrowful, that the king noticed it. He asked her what was the matter. She replied, that she had gone too near the fire, and had burned all the flax off her distaff. " Is that all ?" said the king. He went to his stores, and brought her more flax than she could have spun in a hundred years. The queen was still sad, and the king asked her again what was the matter. She told him that as she was walking by the river, she had let one of her green satin slippers fall therein. "Is that all ?" said the king. He immediately summoned all the shoe-makers in his kingdom ; and took the queen ten thousand slippers made of the same material. Still the queen was not consoled, and the king asked her a third time what was the matter. She said that eating too fast she had swallowed her wedding-ring. The king knew that she was not telling him the truth ; for he had the ring about him ; so he said to her : " My dear, you are telling a falsehood, here is your ring, which I had in my purse." The lady as may be supposed was vexed to be caught telling an untruth, (for it is the most wicked thing in the world), and she saw that the king was angry ; so she told him what the fairies had predicted of the little Rosetta ; adding, that if he knew any means of preventing it, he must tell her. The king, much grieved at this, replied : " My dear, I know of no other means of saving our two sons' lives, than putting Rosetta to death, while she is yet, in her cradle." The queen, however, said that she would rather suffer death herself, than consent to so cruel an action, and begged her husband to think of some other remedy. While the king and queen were still thinking on this subject, the queen was told that there was, in a large wood near the town, an old hermit, who lived in a hollow tree ; and that he was consulted by people far and near. She said : "I must go then and consult him also, as the fairies have told me the evil, but they have forgotten to tell me the remedy." So the next morning she rose early ; mounted a pretty little white mule, whose shoes were of gold, and left the palace accompanied by two of her young ladies, who each rode on a nice horse also. When they were near the wood, the queen and her young ladies alighted, and sought the tree where the hermit lived. He did not like to see women ; but when he perceived that it was the queen, he said to her : "you are welcome; what do you want with me ?" She told him what the fairies had said of Rosette and asked his advice. He directed her to shut the princess in a tower, and never allow her to leave it. The queen thanked him, rewarded him liberally, and went back to tell the king. The king having heard this, caused a large tower to be erected and when it was finished, confined his daughter therein ; but that she might not be lonely, he, the queen and the two young princes visited her every day. The eldest was called the Prince Royal and the youngest Prince Orlando. They both loved their sister passionately ; for she was the fairest and the sweetest tempered girl that was ever seen: her slightest glance was worth more than a hundred crowns. When she was fifteen years old, the prince Royal said to the king : " Surely father, my sister is old enough to be married; shall we not soon celebrate her wedding?" Prince Orlando put the same question to the queen; but their majesties amused them, without replying directly on the subject of the marriage. At last the king and queen were taken very ill, and died, nearly about the same day. Every body was very sorrowful, and went into mourning ; the bells were also tolled throughout the kingdom. Rosetta was inconsolable at the death of her kind mamma. When the king and queejpi were buried, the noblemen of the kingdom placed the Prince Ify/al on a golden throne, set with diamonds ; put a handsome crown on his head ; dressed him in violet- coloured velvet clothes, spangled with suns and moons ; and then all the court cried three times : " Long live the king." Nothing was thought of but rejoicing. The king and the prince said to one another : " Now that we are the masters, we may surely liberate our sister from the tower where she has been so long, and so melancholy." To reach the tower they had only to cross the garden, in a corner of which it was built, very high indeed ; for the deceased king and queen had intended her to reside there all her life. Rosetta was embroidering a fine gown on a frame which stood before her ; but, when she saw her brothers, she rose, and, taking the king's hand, said : " Good morrow, Sire ; now that you are king, and I am your little servant, I entreat you to remove me from this tower, where I am very, very solitary." She then began to cry. The king embraced her, and told her to dry her tears : for he had come to take her to a fine castle. The prince, who had his pockets full of sweet-meats, gave them to Rosetta and said to her : " Come, let us quit this ugly tower ; the king will soon find a husband for you ; so do not afflict yourself." When Rosetta saw the nice garden, full of flowers, fruits and fountains, she was so surprised that she could not say a word ; for she had, till then, never seen anything of the kind. She looked all round, walked a little way, stopped, and then gathered fruit from the trees, and flowers from the parterre. Her little dog, Fretillon, who was green like a parrot, had only one ear, and who danced to admiration, ran before her, barking " boii', wow, wow," with a thousand leaps and capers. Fretillon very much amused the company ; but all at once he ran into a little wood. The princess followed him, and never was any one more surprised than she was, at seeing in this wood a large peacock, which, with its tail spread out, appeared to her so beautiful that she could not take her eyes off it. The king and the prince who soon came up with her, asked her at what she was so much amazed. She showed them the peacock, and asked them what it was. They told her that it was a bird, of a kind that was sometimes eaten. " What !" said she, " do they ever kill and eat so beautiful a bird ? I declare to you that I will marry no one but the King of the Peacocks ; I shall then be queen, and I will take care that no peacocks are eaten." It would be impossible to express the king's astonishment. "But, sister," said he to her, "where shall we find the King of the Peacocks?" "Wherever you please, Sire," said she ; "but I will marry no one but him." After she had taken this resolution, the two princes took her to their castle, where they were obliged to take the peacock also, and put it in her room, for she was very fond of it. All the ladies who had not seen Rosetta, hastened to seek an introduction, to pay their court to her ; some brought her sweet-meats, some sugar plums, others rich gowns, fine ribbons, dolls, embroidered shoes, pearls and diamonds; she was feasted every where ; and she was so well behaved and civil, kissing her hand and curtseying whenever anything was given her, that there was no one but was pleased with her. While she was discoursing with her company, the king and the prince were considering how they should find the King of the Peacocks, if there were one in the world. They came to the determination of having a portrait taken of the princess Rosetta ; and they had it done so beautifully that it only wanted speech. They then said to the princess : " Since you will only marry the King of the Peacocks, we are about to seek him for you, all over the earth. We shall be very glad to find him ; and you must take care of our kingdom during our absence. Rosetta thanked them for the pains they were taking ; told them that she would govern the kingdom well, and that while they were gone her only pleasures would be looking at the beau- tiful peacock, and seeing Fretillon dance. They could not help crying when they bade one another adieu. Behold the two young princes on their journey; asking every one they meet : " Pray, do you know the King of the Peacocks ? " They were always answered : " No, gentlemen, no ! " They still kept going forward, till at last they got so far, that no one had ever been so far before. They presently arrived at the kingdom of the May-flies, (there is no longer such a place to be seen) : the may-flies made siach a loud humming, that the king was afraid he should lose his hearing. He asked the one who appeared to him to be the most intelligent looking among them, whether he knew where the King of the Peacocks was to be found. " Sire," said the may-fly, " his kingdom is 90,000 miles from here ; you have taken the longest road to reach it." " How do you know that ? " said the king, " Because," said the may-fly, " we go every year to pass two or three months in their gardens." Then the king and his brother embraced the may-fly again and again ; they became very friendly, and dined together ; the princes examined with admiration all the curiosities of their country, where the smallest leaf was worth a dollar. They afterwards departed to finish their journey ; and as they now knew the road, were not long before they completed it. They observed that all the trees were loaded with peacocks ; the place was so full of them, that their voices might be heard six miles off. The king said to his brother : " If the King of the Peacocks is a peacock himself, how will our sister be able to marry him ? We should be foolish too, to consent to the match. What a splendid alliance would she form for us : little peacocks for nephews and nieces ! " The prince was equally grieved. " It is an unfortunate fancy that occupies her mind," said he ; "I cannot think where she learned that there was a King of the Peacocks." When they arrived at the chief town, they observed that it was full of men and women, whose clothes were made of peacocks' feathers; and that peacocks' feathers were displayed every where as very fine things. They met the king, who was taking an airing in a beautiful little carriage made of gold and set with diamonds, drawn by twelve peacocks which were harnessed to it. The King of the Peacocks was so very handsome, that our king arid the prince were charmed with him ; he was fair complexioned ; had long light coloured curling hair, and a crown of large peacocks' feathers. When he came up he conjectured that the two prince?, as they were dressed differently from the people of the country, were foreigners ; and in order to ascertain, he stopped his carriage and called to them. The king and the prince went up to him ; and, having made an obeisance, said : " Sire, we have come from afar to show you a portrait." They then took from their portmanteau the large picture of Rosetta. When the King of the Peacocks had looked at it : "I cannot imagine " said he, that there is in the world so beautiful a girl." " The original is a hundred times more beautiful than the picture," said the king. " Ah ! you are joking," said the King of the Peacocks. " Sire," said the prince, " here is my brother who is a king like you : he is a king and I am a prince ; our sister, whose portrait this is, is the princess Rosetta : and we are come to ask you whether you are willing to marry her ; she is beautiful and very good, and we will give with her a bushel measure full of golden crowns." " Yes indeed," said the king, " I will marry her with all my heart ; she will want nothing with me, and I will be very fond of her ; but I assure you that I expect her to be as fair as her portrait, and if she be in the smallest degree less so, I will put you to death." " Well, we consent," answered Rosetta's two brothers. "You con- sent ? " said the king. " Go then to prison, and remain there until the princess arrives." The princes left him without a murmur, for they were quite certain that Rosetta was more handsome than her portrait. When they were in prison the king had them well attended to ; he often went to see them, and kept in his room Rosetta's portrait, with which he was so infatuated, that he slept neither day nor night. As the king and his brother were in prison, they wrote by post to the princess, desiring her to make herself ready and come with all speed to them, for at last the King of the Peacocks was found, and was awaiting her arrival. They did not inform her that they were prisoners, for fear of making her uneasy. When the princess received the letter, she was so transported with joy as to be quite overcome ; she told every body that the King of the Peacocks was found and wished to marry her. Bonfires were lighted, cannons were discharged, and sugarplums and sweetmeats were universally eaten; and all who came to see the princess during three days, were presented with a service of cake and wine. After this liberality, she left her fine dolls to her best friends ; and placed the government of her brother's kingdom in the hands of the wisest old men of the capital. She recommended them to take care of all, to spend nothing, and to collect money against the king's return ; she begged them to keep her peacock, and took with her only her nurse and her foster-sister, with her little green dog, Fretillon. They all embarked in a boat on the sea, taking with them the bushel of golden crowns, and a sufficient quantity of clothes to last them ten years, changing them twice a day : they did nothing but laugh and sing. The nurse at last asked the boatman : " Are we nearing, are we nearing the kingdom of the Peacocks ?" " Not yet," said he. Once more she asked him : " Are we nearing, are we nearing ?" He said. " Presently, presently." Yet again she asked him : " Are we nearing, are we nearing ?" This tune he answered : " Yes !" And when he had said so, the nurse came forward and seated herself by him, and said to him : "If you wish it, you shall be rich for ever." He answered : " I desire nothing better." She then continued : "If you wish it then, you shall gain lots of dollars." He answered : " I desire nothing better." " Very well," said she, "to-night, while the princess is asleep, you must assist me to throw her overboard. When she is drowned I will dress my daughter in her fine clothes, and we will take her to the King of the Peacocks, who will be very glad to marry her ; and for a reward, your neck shall be loaded with diamonds." The boatman was very much surprised at what the nurse proposed to him. He told her that it would be a pity to drown so beautiful a princess, and that he was very sorry for her. However, she took a bottle of wine, and made him drink so much, that he did not know how to refuse her. Night being come, the princess went to bed as usual ; her little Fretillon lay prettily at her feet, without moving a paw. Rosetta was sleeping very soundly, when the wicked nurse, who was watchful enough, left her to fetch the boatman. She brought him where the princess was sleeping; and then, without awakening her, they took her with her feather-bed, mattrass, sheets and counterpane ; while the foster-sister also helped them all she could. They then threw her, bed and all, into the sea ; and the princess was sleeping so soundly that she did not awaken. But most fortunately her couch was made of phoenix - feathers, which are very scarce, and have this property 7 , that they cannot sink; which caused her to float in her bed, as though she had been in a boat. The water however, gradually wetted her feather-bed, then the mattrass ; and Rosetta, feeling the water, could not tell what it meant. As she turned, she awakened Fretillon. He had an excellent nose and smelt the cod and soles so near, that he began barking at them, which awakened all the other fish. They began swimming about ; and the large fishes ran their heads against the princess's bed, which, being held by nothing, turned round and round like a whip-top. Oh ! was she not surprised ! " Is our boat dancing on the water ?" said she. " I am not generally so ill at ease as I have been to-night." As Fretillon still kept barking, for he was in despair, the wicked nurse and the boatman heard it from a distance, and said : " That is the princess's comical little dog, drinking with his mistress to our good health; let us make haste to arrive :" for they were now close to the kingdom of the Peacocks. The king had sent to the sea-shore a hundred carriages, drawn by all manner of scarce animals; there were lions, bears, stags, wolves, horses, oxen, asses, eagles and peacocks ; and the carriage intended for the princess Rosetta, was drawn by six blue apes, who could leap and dance on the tight rope, and play a thousand pretty tricks; their harness was very superb, and was made of crimson velvet, with plates of gold. There were also sixty young ladies whom the king had chosen to wait on her ; their clothes were of various colours, and gold and silver were the least valuable of their ornaments. The nurse had been at great trouble to decorate her daughter ; she had dressed her in Rosetta' s finest gown, with a diamond head-dress and lots of jewels. But in spite of her pains, her daughter was as ugly as a monkey : her hair was black and greasy ; she squinted shockingly ; her limbs were crooked; she had a large hump between her shoulders; was bad-tempered, slovenly, and always grumbling. When the King of the Peacocks' people saw her coming out of the boat, they were so surprised that they could not speak. " Hey-day, what is the matter?" said she. " Are you all asleep ? make haste and bring me something to eat ; you are low wretches, and I will have you all hanged." On hearing this, they said among themselves : " What an ugly creature ! and she appears to be as wicked as she is ugly. Truly our king will be well married ; but I am not surprised when one seeks a wife from the end of the world." She gave as much trouble as she could ; and for no offence, she struck and boxed the ears of evervbodv about her. As her equipage was very large, she went along very slowly, and carried her head as high as a queen, in her coach. But all the peacocks, who were perched on the trees to salute her as she passed along, and who had resolved to cry : " Long live beautiful queen Rosetta," when they saw her so ugly, cried : " Fie, fie, how ugly she is." She flew into a violent passion upon this, and said to her guards : " Kill these rascals of peacocks, who are abusing me." The peacocks, however, quickly flew away, and laughed at her. The roguish boatman, who saw all that passed, said to the nurse : " Gossip, we are not quite right ; your daughter ought to be prettier." She answered : " Silence, blockhead ; you will bring some ill-luck on us, with your prattle." They told the king that the princess was drawing near. " Very well," said he, " did her brothers tell the truth ? is she more beautiful than her portrait ?" " Sire," said a courtier, " it is enough if she is as good-looking." " Yes, indeed," said the king, " I "shall be satisfied ; let us go and see her ; " for he guessed by the noise in the court-yard, that she was now very near, though he could not make out exactly what was said, excepting that he thought he heard : " Fie, fie, how ugly she is." He thought, however, that these cries were applied to some dwarf or beast that she had brought with her ; for it never entered his mind that they were speaking of the princess herself. The portrait of Rosetta was carried at the end of a long pole, without any covering ; and the king walked slowly after it, with all his barons, his peacocks, and the ambassadors from the neighbouring kingdoms. The King of the Peacocks was very impatient to see his dear Rosetta, but in truth, when he did see her, the sight nearly killed him on the spot ; he tore his clothes, put himself into the most violent passion, and would not go near her : she quite frightened him. " What," said he, " have these two scoundrels that I have in prison, had the boldness to make sport of me, and to propose to marry me to such a baboon as that ! They shall die. Come ! away with this silly woman, her nurse and all who brought them ; let them be confined in the round- tower." Meanwhile, the king and his brother, who were prisoners, and knew that it was about the time for their sister to arrive, had put on their finest clothes to receive her. Instead, however, of seeing their prison door opened and themselves set at liberty, as they expected, the jailor came with soldiers, and made them descend into a dark dungeon, full of noxious reptiles, where they were up to their necks in water. No one could be more surprised or sorrowful than they were. "Alas!" said they to each other, " this is a sorrowful wedding for us ! what can have been the cause of such a sad misfortune ?" They did not know what to think, excepting that they were doomed to death. They passed three days in this miserable plight. At the end of that time, the King of the Peacocks came to an opening that was in the wall, to abuse them. " You have called yourselves king and prince” said he, " to entrap me into a marriage with your sister ; but you are wretches who are not worth the water you drink. I am about to give you judges who will soon decide your fate ; and the rope is twisting with which I will have you hanged." " King of the Peacocks," said our king, filled with indignation, " do not proceed so rashly in this affair, for you may yet repent it. I am, like you, a king, and have a fine kingdom, robes and crowns, and plenty of money ; you seem to think very lightly of hanging us ; have we stolen any thing ?" When the king heard him speak so resolutely, he knew not what to make of it, and had some thoughts of sparing their lives, and of letting them go with their sister ; but his trusty friend, who was a real parasite, encouraged him ; saying that if he did not revenge himself, all the world would laugh at him, and think him a weak prince indeed. So he swore that he would not forgive them, and ordered their trial to proceed. It did not last long, as to condemn them it was merely necessary to com- pare the portrait of the real princess Rosetta, with the person assuming the name. They were therefore sentenced to be beheaded, for having told the king a lie, in promising to him in marriage a beautiful princess, and only giving him an ugly country girl. This decree was read very formally to them in prison, when they protested that they had not told a lie, for that their sister was a princess, more beautiful than the day ; but that there was something passing which they could not comprehend. They demanded a respite of seven days, stating that in that time something might occur by which their innocence would be established. The King of the Peacocks, who was very angry, would hardly grant them this favour ; but at last he did so. While all this was passing at the court, we must relate what happened to the poor princess Rosetta. We have stated that when it was daylight, she was very much surprised, as was Fretillon also, to find herself out at sea without a boat or any assistance. She cried so pitifully that all the fishes were sorry for her: she knew not what to do or what would become of her. " Certainly," said she " the King of the Peacocks has ordered me to be thrown into the sea ; he has repented his design of marrying me, and to get rid of me decently, he would have me drowned. What a silly man !" continued she, "I should have loved him so well ! we should have managed so nicely." Then she cried still more, for she could not help loving him. She remained two days floating in this manner, from one part of the sea to another, drenched to her skin, ready to die with cold, and nearly frozen ; indeed, had it not been for little Fretillon, who kept up a little warmth near her heart, she would have died a hundred times. She was dreadfully hungry. She saw oysters in their shells, and took as many as she liked and ate them : Fretillon was not fond of oysters; however he was obliged to eat some, in order to keep himself alive. When night came on, Rosetta was very much alarmed, and she said to her dog : " Fretillon ! pray keep barking, for fear the soles should eat us up." He barked all night long, and towards the morning the princess's bed was not very far from the shore. There happened to be thereabouts a good old man, who lived by himself in a little cottage, into which no one but himself ever entered : he was very poor, but very careless of the things of this world. When he heard Fretillon bark, he was quite surprised, for there were no dogs about there ; it struck him therefore that some travellers had lost their way, and he went out kindly to direct them aright. Suddenly he perceived the princess and Fretillon, who were floating on the sea; the princess seeing him, stretched her arms towards him, and cried : " Good old man, save me, or I shall perish here, where I have been two days languishing." When he heard her speak so sadly, his heart filled with pity for her misfortunes. He immediately fetched from his house a long boat-hook, with which he walked into the water till it wa* up to his neck, and was once or twice nearly drowned : at last he succeeded in dragging the bed to the land. Rosetta and Fretillon were, as may be supposed, very glad to be once more on dry ground ; the princess was very thankful to the good old man, and graciously accepted a blanket, which she wrapped around her : then, barefooted, she entered his cottage where he lighted a little fire of dry straw, and took out of his chest a woman's gown, with shoes and stockings, in which Rosetta dressed herself; and clad even thus, as a poor peasant girl, she was as beautiful as the day. Fretillon, enraptured, danced round her for her amusement. The old man saw very plainly that Rosetta was some grand lady ; for her bed clothes were embroidered with gold and silver, and her mattrass was covered with satin. He begged her to tell him her story, promising that he would not reveal a word of it, without her permission. She told him all from beginning to end, crying bitterly the while; for she still thought that the King of the Peacocks had ordered her to be drowned. " How shall we act, my child ?" said the old man to her. " You are a noble princess, used to good living, while I have only black bread and radishes ; you will fare but poorly with me, and if you will take my advice, will permit me to go and tell the King of the Peacocks that you are here ; for were he to see you, he would certainly be but too happy to marry you." " Ah ! he is a wicked man," said Rosetta, " and would put me to death ; but if you have a little basket, do but tie it round my dog's neck, and it will be very unfortunate, if he do not bring us back something to eat." The old man gave the princess a basket ; she tied it to Fretillon's neck, and said to him : " Go to the best saucepan in the city, and bring back whatever is therein." Fretillon ran to the city ; and as the king's kitchen was the best, he went into it, sought out the best saucepan, cleverly took out the contents, and returned to his mistress. Rosetta then said to him : " Return to the pantry and fetch me the best thing thence." Fretillon went to the king's pantry, and soon returned with some white bread, muscadine wine, fruits and sweetmeats : he was so laden that he could not carry more. When it was the King of the Peacocks' dinner-time, there was nothing in his saucepan, nor in his pantry ; the servants looked at one another and the king went into a violent passion. "What," said he, "so I am to have no dinner; let the spit be put to the fire, and let me have some nice roast meat this, evening." The evening being come, the princess said to Fretillon : " Go to the best kitchen in the city and fetch me a nice piece of roast meat." Fretillon did as he was told ; and thinking that the king's was the best kitchen, he very softly entered it, while the cooks' backs were turned, and managed slily to take away all that was on the spit ; it looked so delicious, that the very sight of it would have given an appetite to a sick man. He returned with his basket full to the princess, who then sent him back again to the pantry, whence he brought all the king's stewed fruit and sugar-plums. The king, having had no dinner, was very hungry in the evening and wanted his supper early ; but as there was nothing for him, he put himself into a terrible rage, and went to bed supperless. The next day at dinner and supper- time it was just the same ; so that the king was three whole days without eating or drinking any thing, because whenever he sat down to eat, his victuals had all been taken away. His confidant, who was afraid that the king would die, hid himself in a corner of the kitchen, keeping his eyes fixed on the saucepan, which was on the fire, boiling. He was soon extremely surprised to see enter the kitchen, a little green dog, having only one ear, who went to the pot, took the meat out of it, and put it into his basket. Desirous to know where he went to, he followed him out of the town, right up to the old man's door. He then returned and revealed all to the king, telling him that it was to a poor peasant that his dinner and supper had gone every day. The king was very much astonished, and ordered the dog to be sent for. The confidant, in order to make his court to the king, was very willing to show the archers the way. They went accordingly, and found the old man and the princess dining on the king's boiled meat. They were taken, and bound with large ropes, and Fretillon the same. When they had arrived, and the king was informed of it, he said : " To-morrow is the last day I granted to those insulting pretenders, and they shall die with the thieves who have stolen my dinner;" he then went into his justice-hall. The old man threw himself on his knees, and said that he would tell him the whole truth. While he was speaking, the king looked at the, beautiful princess, and was moved at seeing her tears. But, when the good old man declared that she was the princess Rosetta, and had been thrown into the sea, in spite of his weakness from having been so long without food, the king rushed to embrace her, and untying the ropes with which she was bound, told her that he loved her with all his heart. The princes, who were immediately sent for, thought that they were about to be put to death, and came very sorrowfully, hanging down their heads ; at the same time the nurse and her daughter were sent for. When they met, they all recognized each other ; Rosetta threw herself into her brothers' arms ; the nurse, her daughter and the boatman, knelt and asked for pardon. The joy was so great that they were forgiven by the king and the princess, and the good old man was handsomely rewarded : always afterwards residing in the palace. Finally, the King of the Peacocks made every satisfaction to our king and his brother, testifying his grief that they had been so long ill-treated. The nurse restored to Rosetta her fine clothes and the bushel of golden crowns, and the wedding feast lasted a fortnight. Every body rejoiced, even little Fretillon, who ate nothing on the occasion, but partridge-wings.