gracious royal lady, O my rightful Queen of Crim
Tartary,--I hail thee--I acknowledge thee--I do thee homage!" And in
token of his fealty, he rubbed his venerable nose three times on the
ground, and put the Princess's foot on his head.

"Why," said she, "my good woodman, you must be a nobleman of my royal
father's Court!" For in her lowly retreat, and under the name of
Betsinda, HER MAJESTY, ROSALBA, Queen of Crim Tartary, had read of the
customs of all foreign courts and nations.

"Marry, indeed, am I, my gracious liege--the poor Lord Spinachi
once--the humble woodman these fifteen years syne--ever since the tyrant
Padella (may ruin overtake the treacherous knave!) dismissed me from my
post of First Lord."

"First Lord of the Toothpick and Joint Keeper of the Snuffbox? I mind
me! Thou heldest these posts under our royal Sire. They are restored to
thee, Lord Spinachi! I make thee knight of the second class of our Order
of the Pumpkin (the first class being reserved for crowned heads alone).
Rise, Marquis of Spinachi!" And with indescribable majesty, the Queen,
who had no sword handy, waved the pewter spoon with which she had been
taking her bread-and-milk, over the bald head of the old nobleman, whose
tears absolutely made a puddle on the ground, and whose dear children
went to bed that night Lords and Ladies Bartolomeo, Ubaldo, Catarina,
and Ottavia degli Spinachi!

The acquaintance HER MAJESTY showed with the history, and NOBLE FAMILIES
of her empire, was wonderful. "The House of Broccoli should remain
faithful to us," she said; "they were ever welcome at our Court. Have
the Articiocchi, as was their wont, turned to the Rising Sun? The family
of Sauerkraut must sure be with us--they were ever welcome in the halls
of King Cavolfiore." And so she went on enumerating quite a list of
the nobility and gentry of Crim Tartary, so admirably had her Majesty
profited by her studies while in exile.

The old Marquis of Spinachi said he could answer for them all; that the
whole country groaned under Padella's tyranny, and longed to return to
its rightful sovereign; and late as it was, he sent his children, who
knew the forest well, to summon this nobleman and that; and when his
eldest son, who had been rubbing the horse down and giving him his
supper, came into the house for his own, the Marquis told him to put his
boots on, and a saddle on the mare, and ride hither and thither to such
and such people.

When the young man h