"I will eat it in perfection yet, for I swear by my princely honour,
that by to-morrow I will either have the pie set before you, such as
you desire it, or the head of this fellow shall be spiked on the gate
of my palace. Go, you hound, I give you once more twenty-four hours!"
cried the duke.
The dwarf again went to his chamber and mourned over his fate with the
goose that he must die, as he had never heard of this herb. "If it is
nothing more," said she, "I can help you out of the difficulty, as my
father has taught me to know all herbs. At any other time your death,
no doubt would have been certain, and it is fortunate for you that we
have a new moon, as the herb is only then in flower. Now tell me, are
there any old chesnut trees in the neighbourhood of the palace?"
"Oh yes," replied Nose, with a lighter heart, "near the lake, about two
hundred yards from the palace, there is a clump of them; but what of
them?"
"Why," said Mimi, "the herb only flowers at the foot of them. Now let
us lose no time but go to fetch what you want; take me on your arm, and
put me down when we get out, that I may search for you."
He did as she requested, and went towards the gate of the palace, but
here the porter levelled his gun and said: "My good Nose, it is all
over with you, you must not pass; I have strict orders respecting you."
"But I suppose I may go into the garden," replied the dwarf. "Be so
good as to send one of your fellow servants to the master of the
palace, and ask whether I may not go into the garden to fetch herbs."
The porter did so and permission was given, since, the garden having
high walls, escape was impossible. But when Nose and Mimi had got out
he put her carefully down, and she ran quickly before him towards the
lake, where the chesnuts were. He followed with a heavy heart, since
this was his last and only hope. If she did not find the herb he was
resolved rather to plunge into the lake than to have his head cut off.
The goose searched in vain under all the chesnut trees; she turned
every herb with her beak, but no trace of the one wanted was to be
found, and she now began to cry out of compassion and fear for the
dwarf, as the evening was already growing dusk, and the objects around
were difficult to distinguish.
At this moment the dwarf cast a glance across the lake, and cried
suddenly: "Look, look, yonder across the lake there stands a large old
tree; let us go there and search; perhap
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