Page 39 - Doralice
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been searched. To which the astrologer replied,'
Sire, search everywhere and respect no one, and
then you will surely find the murderer.' So the
king searched first his mother, and then the
queen, and when he took the dagger which
Doralice wore and drew it from the scabbard,
he found it covered with blood. Then the king,
convinced by this proof, turned to the queen
and said to her, 'O, wicked and inhuman
woman, enemy of your own flesh and blood,
traitress to your own children! what desperate
madness has led you to dye your hands in the
blood of these babes? I swear that you shall
suffer the full penalty fixed for such a crime.'
But though the king in his rage would fain have
sent her straightway to a shameful death, his
desire for vengeance prompted him to dispose
of her so that she might suffer longer and more
cruel torment. Where fore he commanded that
she should be stripped and thus naked buried
up to her chin in the earth, and that she should
be well fed in order that she might linger long
and the worms devour her flesh while she still
lived. The queen, seasoned to misfortune in the
past, and conscious of her innocence,
contemplated her terrible doom ___
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