I know all the hen told you, but you cannot have
heard that the zephyrs, to whom was entrusted the task of carrying my
son to the tower where the Queen, your mother, so anxiously waited for
him, left him instead in a garden of flowers, while they flew off to
tell your mother. Whereupon a fairy with whom I had quarrelled changed
him into a pink, and I could do nothing to prevent it.

"You can imagine how angry I was, and how I tried to find some means of
undoing the mischief she had done; but there was no help for it. I could
only bring Prince Pink to the place where you were being brought up,
hoping that when you grew up he might love you, and by your care be
restored to his natural form. And you see everything has come right, as
I hoped it would. Your giving me the silver ring was the sign that the
power of the charm was nearly over, and my enemy's last chance was to
frighten you with her army of rats. That she did not succeed in doing;
so now, my dear Felicia, if you will be married to my son with this
silver ring your future happiness is certain. Do you think him handsome
and amiable enough to be willing to marry him?"

"Madam," replied Felicia, blushing, "you overwhelm me with your
kindness. I know that you are my mother's sister, and that by your art
you turned the soldiers who were sent to kill me into cabbages, and my
nurse into a hen, and that you do me only too much honor in proposing
that I shall marry your son. How can I explain to you the cause of my
hesitation? I feel, for the first time in my life, how happy it would
make me to be beloved. Can you indeed give me the Prince's heart?"

"It is yours already, lovely Princess!" he cried, taking her hand in
his; "but for the horrible enchantment which kept me silent I should
have told you long ago how dearly I love you."

This made the Princess very happy, and the Queen, who could not bear
to see her dressed like a poor shepherdess, touched her with her wand,
saying:

"I wish you to be attired as befits your rank and beauty." And
immediately the Princess's cotton dress became a magnificent robe of
silver brocade embroidered with carbuncles, and her soft dark hair was
encircled by a crown of diamonds, from which floated a clear white veil.
With her bright eyes, and the charming color in her cheeks, she was
altogether such a dazzling sight that the Prince could hardly bear it.

"How pretty you are, Felicia!" he cried. "Don't keep me in suspense, I
entreat yo