"Your spouse!" exclaimed the arch-priest. "I knew nothing of it. He is
not what he seems, then--he is of royal blood?"

"Royal blood or not, he is my lawful spouse, and he is to be crowned,"
said the princess, firmly.

"But, my dear princess," answered the priest, "if he is not of royal
blood, how can I?"

"Enough," said Bertha. "I have the warrant of the queen of the fairies
that he is to be my partner in life. Here is my certificate of
marriage."

And she produced a paper five or six times as big as herself, which she
handed to the priest.

The priest opened it, and glanced through it.

"What!" he exclaimed. "Then he really is of royal blood. I see. What is
this paper enclosed? Ha! a pedigree." And he began to read, "Prince Hans
Wurst, son of King Blut Wurst, lost in early youth and picked up by a
woodcutter, with whom----"

"You see," said the princess, "how the fairies befriend me. This second
paper must have been placed here by their hands, for this is the first
time I have set eyes upon it. Are you content with the information
therein contained?" asked the Princess Bertha.

"Perfectly, your Royal Highness," said the arch-priest, bowing.

"To-morrow, then, it must take place, father," said the princess.

"Without delay," replied the priest. "But, tell me, what on earth brings
His Royal Highness Prince Hans here in this pitiable plight?"

Bertha then began to recount the misadventures of her knight and the
spite of her envious sisters, the detailing of which filled the poor old
priest with horror.

"But, at any rate," said he, at the conclusion of the narrative, "let
the prince's wounds be healed. Send for a surgeon."

"A surgeon! Bah!" cried the princess. "Behold, sir priest, what one
favoured by the fairies can do," and thus saying, she touched her
husband's back with her wand, and it instantly healed so that none could
see even the slightest scratch.

"Gramercy!" quoth the arch-priest; "I never before beheld such a
miracle. Thou art indeed favoured of the higher powers."

"Does that surprise thee, holy father? Behold another wonder," said
Bertha, and she touched the back of Hans a second time with her wand,
and instantly her semi-nude champion was covered from head to foot in
an elegant royal dress, composed of a crimson velvet tunic, half-way to
the knee, and trimmed with ermine, and silken hose of a buff colour.

A gold-hilted sword, in the form of a cross, hung by his side, within a
bejewel