s of beauty; here I find large ears
are deemed a deformity; therefore, I command thee to cut off mine."

"I cannot do it," replied the barber; "your royal highness has been
grossly deceived. I have the honour of shaving the first lords of the
court, and I know many of them whose ears are equally red and ten
times as long as those of your royal highness. These very lords are
amongst the most distinguished favourites of the king."

"I have summoned thee," replied the prince, "to operate and not to
prate; obey my orders, and inflame not my ears still further by thy
discourse."

"Alas!" said the barber, "since your royal highness means to sacrifice
them to an unreasonable caprice, what signifies it whether they are
inflamed or not?"

At these words the prince made a threatening gesture; and Queseca, no
longer daring to resist, took his razor, and with a trembling hand
separated two of the handsomest ears from one of the finest heads in
the world: for be it known, that the princess only made a pretext of
this assertion, because she had taken a fancy for somebody else.

The wound bled profusely: the prince applied healing balm; and when in
a condition to appear before her, enclosed his two ears in a little
box, rare and precious, and presented it to Papillette, his heart once
more filled with hope and love.

The princess eagerly opened the beautiful little casket, then dashed
it with horror to the ground. "Prince!" she cried, "what can have
induced you to mutilate yourself so cruelly? Could you imagine that I
would ever wed a man who submitted to lose his ears?"

"Madam," said the prince, in consternation, "it was by my own order
that--"

"What a fool you were then!" cried Papillette. "If you are not willing
to become the ridicule of the court, I advise you to quit it with the
greatest expedition imaginable."

The prince dared not call her cruel and ungrateful: he retired to the
thickest retreats of a forest, and soon after entirely lost his
reason.

The princess, once more free, confessed that amongst her numerous
suitors there was one whom she preferred; this was Prince Malabar,
whose martial mien announced the soul of a hero. The queen did not
deny that Malabar had sought her daughter's hand, even before
Favourite aspired to that honour, and King Merinous could now no
longer insist on a marriage with this unfortunate prince, since he was
quite insane, ran naked through the woods, sometimes believing himself
a