Page 11 - The Green Beaubird

Lionella and Chiaretta, 'If I had for my
husband the king's majordomo, I flatter myself
that I would quench the thirst of all the court
with one glass of wine.' 'And I,' said Lionella,
'flatter myself that, if the king's private
chamberlain were my husband, I would pledge
my self to make enough linen from a spindle
of my yarn to provide shifts of the strongest

and finest make for all the court.' Then said
Chiaretta, 'And I, if I had the king himself for
my husband, I flatter myself that I would give
him three children at one birth, two sons and
a daughter. And each of these should have long
hair braided below the shoulders, and
intermingled with threads of the finest gold,

and a golden necklace round the throat, and a
star on the fore head of each.'
Now it chanced that these sayings were
overheard by one of the courtiers, who
hastened to the king and told him of the young
girls' discourse, and the king, when he heard
the tenour thereof, at once commanded that
they should be brought before him, and this
done, he examined them one by one as to

what they had said in the garden. Where upon
each one, with the most respectful words,
___
11