by the fairies themselves for the occasion, the mob
was half-blinded by the brilliancy of the jewels with which it was
inlaid, and our new sovereigns were cheered by the crowd till they
arrived at the palace door.

Now, the two princesses, instead of yielding up the palace to the
rightful owners, had ordered the door to be barricaded and entrance
refused to the royal pair, which, when Bertha discovered, she
immediately waved her wand in front of the palace, and changed it into a
prison filled with gloomy cells, and the gay clothes of the people
within into the squalid garments of prisoners, while the golden
bracelets of the princesses became manacles for their wrists, and their
garters fetters for their feet.

Then, waving her wand in the direction of the prison in which her
husband had been confined, which stood not far off, it became a
magnificent palace, equal, if not superior, in grandeur to that which
she erected upon the ruins of the wizard's castle, so that all wondered,
and shouted, "Welcome to Queen Bertha, and down with the twin
princesses!"

The man who had attempted the life of Prince Hans with his lasso on the
day before was publicly hanged with his own rope on the roof of the
prison where the two princesses now languished as an example to all
rebels.

After the wicked princesses had been imprisoned for a week the tiny
queen released them on condition that they should flee the country and
not show their faces again. The sisters heard their sentence in sullen
silence, and quitted the country shortly afterwards, amid the curses of
the crowd, and established themselves in a foreign land, where, out of
spite, they gave themselves over to witchcraft, and leagued with the
queen of the witches, who was also exiled there, to work all sorts of
spells upon their sister from afar; but they all failed, as the pigmy
queen was too powerfully protected by the fairies.

King Hans grew in wisdom every day under the sage counsel of his spouse,
till at length his subjects bestowed on him the name of "The wisest and
the bravest king living."

In proportion as Hans' intelligence and good manners improved, grew the
love of Bertha for her husband. They soon knew how to appreciate and
respect each other, till at length there was not a more loving couple in
the whole world.

About a year after King Hans and Queen Bertha had ascended the throne a
war broke out between his and a neighbouring country. The latter was the
same