I doubt not you are the
same, come to make me the happiest of mankind."

"Prince," said the lady, frankly, "I must confess that such was not my
intention, and I fear I shall never be able to do as you desire."

"You surprise me, madam."

"I can well believe it; and if I had to do with a brute, instead of a
gentleman of sense and feeling, I should be very uneasy," returned
she; "but since I speak with the cleverest man in the world, I am sure
he will hear reason, and will not bind me, now a sensible woman, to a
promise I made when I was only a fool."

"If I were a fool myself, madam, I might well complain of your broken
promise; and being, as you say, a man of sense, should I not complain
of what takes away all the happiness of my life? Tell me candidly, is
there anything in me, except my ugliness, which displeases you? Do you
object to my birth, my temper, my manners?"

"No, truly," replied the princess; "I like everything in you,
except"--and she hesitated courteously--"except your appearance."

"Then, madam, I need not lose my happiness; for if I have the gift of
making clever whosoever I love best, you also are able to make the
person you prefer as handsome as ever you please. Could you love me
enough to do that?"

"I think I could," said the princess, and her heart being greatly
softened towards him, she wished that he might become the handsomest
prince in all the world. No sooner had she done so than Riquet with
the Tuft appeared in her eyes the most elegant young man she had ever
seen.

Ill-natured people have said that this was no fairy-gift, but that
love created the change. They declare that the princess, when she
thought over her lover's perseverance, patience, good-humour, and
discretion, and counted his numerous fine qualities of mind and
disposition, saw no longer the deformity of his body or the plainness
of his features; that his hump was merely an exaggerated stoop, and
his awkward movements became only an interesting eccentricity. Nay,
even his eyes, which squinted terribly, seemed always looking on all
sides for her, in token of his violent love, and his great red nose
gave him an air very martial and heroic.

However this may be, it is certain that the princess married him; that
either she retained her good sense, or he never felt the want of it;
and he never again became ugly--or, at least, not in his wife's eyes;
so they both lived very happy until they died.

HOUSE ISLAND.