ly seen him or only heard him spoken of, directly she received
the queen's command, she flung off the dirty skin, washed herself from
head to foot, and put on a skirt and bodice of shining silver. Then,
locking herself into her room, she took the richest cream, the finest
flour, and the freshest eggs on the farm, and set about making her
cake.

As she was stirring the mixture in the saucepan a ring that she
sometimes wore in secret slipped from her finger and fell into the
dough. Perhaps 'Donkey Skin' saw it, or perhaps she did not; but, any
way, she went on stirring, and soon the cake was ready to be put in the
oven. When it was nice and brown she took off her dress and put on her
dirty skin, and gave the cake to the page, asking at the same time for
news of the prince. But the page turned his head aside, and would not
even condescend to answer.

The page rode like the wind, and as soon as he arrived at the palace he
snatched up a silver tray and hastened to present the cake to the
prince. The sick man began to eat it so fast that the doctors thought he
would choke; and, indeed, he very nearly did, for the ring was in one of
the bits which he broke off, though he managed to extract it from his
mouth without anyone seeing him.

The moment the prince was left alone he drew the ring from under his
pillow and kissed it a thousand times. Then he set his mind to find how
he was to see the owner--for even he did not dare to confess that he had
only beheld 'Donkey Skin' through a keyhole, lest they should laugh at
this sudden passion. All this worry brought back the fever, which the
arrival of the cake had diminished for the time; and the doctors, not
knowing what else to say, informed the queen that her son was simply
dying of love. The queen, stricken with horror, rushed into the king's
presence with the news, and together they hastened to their son's
bedside.

'My boy, my dear boy!' cried the king, 'who is it you want to marry? We
will give her to you for a bride, even if she is the humblest of our
slaves. What is there in the whole world that we would not do for you?'

The prince, moved to tears at these words, drew the ring, which was an
emerald of the purest water, from under his pillow.

'Ah, dear father and mother, let this be a proof that she whom I love is
no peasant girl. The finger which that ring fits has never been
thickened by hard work. But be her condition what it may, I will marry
no other.'

The kin