f many persons running to and fro, and
busily occupied. Having listened more attentively, she heard one say,
"Bring me that saucepan;" another, "Give me that kettle;" another, "Put
some wood on the fire." At the same moment the ground opened, and she
saw beneath her what appeared to be a large kitchen, full of cooks,
scullions, and all sorts of servants necessary for the preparation of a
magnificent banquet. There came forth a band of about twenty to thirty
cooks, who went and established themselves in an avenue of the wood, at
a very long table, and who, each with the larding-pin in his hand and
the tail of his fur cap over his ear, set to work, keeping time to a
harmonious song.

The Princess, astonished at this sight, asked the men for whom they were
working.

"Madam," replied the chief among them, "for Prince Riquet with the Tuft,
whose marriage will take place to-morrow." The Princess, still more
surprised than she was before, and suddenly recollecting that it was
just a twelvemonth from the day on which she had promised to marry
Prince Riquet with the Tuft, was overcome with trouble and amazement.
The reason of her not having remembered her promise was, that when she
made it she had been a very foolish person, and when she became gifted
with the new mind that the Prince had given her, she had forgotten all
her follies.

She had not taken another thirty steps, when Riquet with the Tuft
presented himself before her, gaily and splendidly attired, like a
Prince about to be married. "You see, madam," said he, "I keep my word
punctually, and I doubt not that you have come thither to keep yours,
and to make me, by the giving of your hand, the happiest of men."

"I confess to you, frankly," answered the Princess, "that I have not yet
made up my mind on that matter, and that I do not think I shall ever be
able to do so in the way you wish." "You astonish me, madam," said
Riquet with the Tuft. "I have no doubt I do," said the Princess; "and
assuredly, had I to deal with a stupid person, with a man without
intelligence, I should feel greatly perplexed. 'A Princess is bound by
her word,' he would say to me, 'and you must marry me, as you have
promised to do so.' But as the person to whom I speak is, of all men in
the world, the one of greatest sense and understanding, I am certain he
will listen to reason. You know that, when I was no better than a fool,
I nevertheless could not decide to marry you--how can you expect, no