me a little tough, and what animal could he possibly find that
would correspond to her? He made up his mind that if he would save his
own life he must kill the queen, and went upstairs to her apartment
determined to do the deed once and for all. Goading himself into a rage
he drew his knife and entered the young queen's chamber, but a
reluctance to give her no moment of grace made him repeat respectfully
the command which he had received from the queen-mother.

'Do it! do it!' she cried, baring her neck to him; 'carry out the order
you have been given! Then once more I shall see my children, my poor
children that I loved so much!'

Nothing had been said to her when the children were stolen away, and she
believed them to be dead.

The poor steward was overcome by compassion. 'No, no, Madam,' he
declared; 'you shall not die, but you shall certainly see your children
again. That will be in my quarters, where I have hidden them. I shall
make the queen eat a young hind in place of you, and thus trick her
once more.'

Without more ado he led her to his quarters, and leaving her there to
embrace and weep over her children, proceeded to cook a hind with such
art that the queen-mother ate it for her supper with as much appetite as
if it had indeed been the young queen.

The queen-mother felt well satisfied with her cruel deeds, and planned
to tell the king, on his return, that savage wolves had devoured his
consort and his children. It was her habit, however, to prowl often
about the courts and alleys of the mansion, in the hope of scenting raw
meat, and one evening she heard the little boy Day crying in a basement
cellar. The child was weeping because his mother had threatened to whip
him for some naughtiness, and she heard at the same time the voice of
Dawn begging forgiveness for her brother.

The ogress recognised the voices of the queen and her children, and was
enraged to find she had been tricked. The next morning, in tones so
affrighting that all trembled, she ordered a huge vat to be brought into
the middle of the courtyard. This she filled with vipers and toads, with
snakes and serpents of every kind, intending to cast into it the queen
and her children, and the steward with his wife and serving-girl. By her
command these were brought forward, with their hands tied behind their
backs.

There they were, and her minions were making ready to cast them into the
vat, when into the courtyard rode the king! Nobody had