en, and especially of kings who
hate being contradicted, this king begged, the very next day, for the
hand of the Princess Mutinosa. It was granted him on two conditions.

The first was that the wedding should take place the very next day; and
the second, that he should not speak to the princess till she was his
wife; to all of which the king agreed, in spite of his equerry's
objections, so that the first word he heard his bride utter was the
'Yes' she spoke at their marriage.

Once married, however, she no longer placed any check on herself, and
her ladies-in-waiting came in for plenty of rude speeches--even the king
did not escape scolding; but as he was a good-tempered man, and very
much in love, he bore it patiently. A few days after the wedding the
newly married pair set out for their kingdom without leaving many
regrets behind.

The good equerry's fears proved only too true, as the king found out to
his cost. The young queen made herself most disagreeable to all her
court, her spite and bad temper knew no bounds, and before the end of a
month she was known far and wide as a regular vixen.

One day, when riding out, she met a poor old woman walking along the
road, who made a curtsy and was going on, when the queen had her
stopped, and cried: 'You are a very impertinent person; don't you know
that I am the queen? And how dare you not make me a deeper curtsy?'

'Madam,' said the old woman, 'I have never learnt how to measure
curtsies; but I had no wish to fail in proper respect.'

'What!' screamed the queen; 'she dares to answer! Tie her to my horse's
tail and I'll just carry her at once to the best dancing-master in the
town to learn how to curtsy.'

The old woman shrieked for mercy, but the queen would not listen, and
only mocked when she said she was protected by the fairies. At last the
poor old thing submitted to be tied up, but when the queen urged her
horse on he never stirred. In vain she spurred him, he seemed turned to
bronze. At the same moment the cord with which the old woman was tied
changed into wreaths of flowers, and she herself into a tall and stately
lady.

Looking disdainfully at the queen, she said, 'Bad woman, unworthy of
your crown; I wished to judge for myself whether all I heard of you was
true. I have now no doubt of it, and you shall see whether the fairies
are to be laughed at.'

So saying the fairy Placida (that was her name) blew a little gold
whistle, and a chariot appeared d