he cursed the fairies who had played on his credulity, Carlino,
like a true prince, would not break his word. He gallantly gave his
hand to Lucy and helped her to descend from the tree, all the while
heaving sighs that would have melted a heart of stone. When the
negress was dressed like a princess, and covered with lace and
diamonds that adorned her as the stars adorn the night, by rendering
the darkness still more visible, Carlino seated her at his right hand,
in a magnificent carriage lined with plate-glass and drawn by six
white horses, and took his way to the palace, as happy as a criminal
with the rope about his neck.

The old king came to meet them a league from the castle. The wonderful
stories of his son had turned his brain. In spite of etiquette and
against the remonstrances of his courtiers, he hastened to admire the
incomparable beauty of his daughter-in-law. "Upon my word," he
exclaimed, at the sight of a crow instead of the dove that had been
promised him--"upon my word, this is too much. I knew that my son was
mad, but I did not know that he was blind. Is this the spotless lily
that he has been to the end of the world to seek? Is this the rose
fresher than the morning dew, the miracle of beauty that has come from
the rind of a citron? Does he think that I will bear this new insult
to my gray hairs? Does he think that I will leave to mulatto children
the empire of the Vermilion Towers, the glorious inheritance of my
ancestors? This baboon shall never enter my palace."

The prince fell at his father's feet and tried to move him. The prime
minister, a man of great experience, remonstrated with his master
that, at court, black often becomes white and white black in the space
of twenty-four hours; and that there was no reason to be astonished at
such a very natural metamorphosis. What was the king of the Vermilion
Towers to do? He was a king and a father, and by this double title
always accustomed to do the will of others. He yielded and consented
with a bad grace to this strange union. The court gazette announced to
the whole kingdom the happy choice that the prince had made, and
ordered the people to rejoice. The wedding was postponed for a week;
it was impossible to make the preparations for the ceremony in less
time than this.

The negress was lodged in a magnificent suite of apartments;
countesses disputed with one another the honor of putting on her
slippers; and duchesses obtained, not without diff