y and was always
telling him that he would be a king one day, when he might do as he
liked in all things. He found out now that even a king cannot always do
that; it vexed him and made him angry. His ring began to prick him so
often that his little finger was continually bleeding. He disliked
this, as was natural, and soon began to consider whether it would not be
easier to throw the ring away altogether than to be constantly annoyed
by it. It was such a queer thing for a king to have a spot of blood on
his finger! At last, unable to put up with it any more, he took his ring
off and hid it where he would never see it; and believed himself the
happiest of men, for he could now do exactly what he liked. He did it,
and became every day more and more miserable.

One day he saw a young girl, so beautiful that, being always accustomed
to have his own way, he immediately determined to espouse her. He never
doubted that she would be only too glad to be made a queen, for she
was very poor. But Zelia--that was her name--answered, to his great
astonishment, that she would rather not marry him.

"Do I displease you?" asked the prince, into whose mind it had never
entered that he could displease anybody.

"Not at all, my prince," said the honest peasant maiden. "You are very
handsome, very charming; but you are not like your father the Good King.
I will not be your queen, for you would make me miserable."

At these words the prince's love seemed all to turn to hatred: he gave
orders to his guards to convey Zelia to a prison near the palace,
and then took counsel with his foster brother, the one of all his ill
companions who most incited him to do wrong.

"Sir," said this man, "if I were in your majesty's place, I would never
vex myself about a poor silly girl. Feed her on bread and water till
she comes to her senses; and if she still refuses you, let her die in
torment, as a warning to your other subjects should they venture to
dispute your will. You will be disgraced should you suffer yourself to
be conquered by a simple girl."

"But," said Prince Cherry, "shall I not be disgraced if I harm a
creature so perfectly innocent?"

"No one is innocent who disputes your majesty's authority," said the
courtier, bowing; "and it is better to commit an injustice than allow it
to be supposed you can ever be contradicted with impunity."

This touched Cherry on his weak point--his good impulses faded; he
resolved once more to ask Zelia