y would
color it quite black before they drank it, to show how they mourned;
and what more could they do?

"What a horrible princess!" said John; "she ought to be well
flogged. If I were the old king, I would have her punished in some
way."

Just then they heard the people outside shouting, "Hurrah!" and,
looking out, they saw the princess passing by; and she was really so
beautiful that everybody forgot her wickedness, and shouted
"Hurrah!" Twelve lovely maidens in white silk dresses, holding
golden tulips in their hands, rode by her side on coal-black horses.
The princess herself had a snow-white steed, decked with diamonds
and rubies. Her dress was of cloth of gold, and the whip she held in
her hand looked like a sunbeam. The golden crown on her head glittered
like the stars of heaven, and her mantle was formed of thousands of
butterflies' wings sewn together. Yet she herself was more beautiful
than all.

When John saw her, his face became as red as a drop of blood,
and he could scarcely utter a word. The princess looked exactly like
the beautiful lady with the golden crown, of whom he had dreamed on
the night his father died. She appeared to him so lovely that he could
not help loving her.

"It could not be true," he thought, "that she was really a
wicked witch, who ordered people to be hanged or beheaded, if they
could not guess her thoughts. Every one has permission to go and ask
her hand, even the poorest beggar. I shall pay a visit to the palace,"
he said; "I must go, for I cannot help myself."

Then they all advised him not to attempt it; for he would be
sure to share the same fate as the rest. His fellow-traveller also
tried to persuade him against it; but John seemed quite sure of
success. He brushed his shoes and his coat, washed his face and his
hands, combed his soft flaxen hair, and then went out alone into the
town, and walked to the palace.

"Come in," said the king, as John knocked at the door. John opened
it, and the old king, in a dressing gown and embroidered slippers,
came towards him. He had the crown on his head, carried his sceptre in
one hand, and the orb in the other. "Wait a bit," said he, and he
placed the orb under his arm, so that he could offer the other hand to
John; but when he found that John was another suitor, he began to weep
so violently, that both the sceptre and the orb fell to the floor, and
he was obliged to wipe his eyes with his dressing gown. Poor old king!
"Let he