Page 157 - Princess Belle-Etoile and Prince Cherie

which are unequalled. I congratulate you, and
I entreat you to relate to us how you acquired
them." "Sire," replied she, "I shall obey you
with pleasure; they told me the dancing water
would make me beautiful, that the singing
apple would give me wit. I wished to possess
them, for these two reasons. With respect to
the little green bird that tells everything, I had

a different one; we know nothing of our fatal
birth—we are children who have been
abandoned by our relatives—we know of
none that exist. I hoped that this wonderful
bird would enlighten us upon a matter which
we think of night and day." "Judging of your
birth by yourself," said the King, "it ought to

be most illustrious; but in truth, who are
you?" "Sire," she said, "my brothers and
myself deferred asking the bird that question
till our return; when we arrived we received
your commands to come to your wedding; all
that I could do was to bring you these three
curiosities to amuse you."
"I am very glad of that," said the King; "do
not let us defer anything that will be so

entertaining." "You amuse yourself with every
foolish thing that is proposed to you," __
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