Page 49 - The Daughters of the Wild Cabbages' Gatherer

are silent.»
«Ah! Your majesty, I am sick, but next Sunday,
I will shall be well and be able to talk. Indeed,
I shall come and dine at your palace with this
young lady and these gentleman, if it pleases
to you.»
«Yes, bird,» the king replied.
The following Sunday the bird called his
mistress and her brothers and told them to
put on their finest clothes. When they were
fully dressed, they looked like royalty. Then
they departed with the bird. The king showed
them around his palace and treated them with
great courtesy, while the aunts felt they were
about to die. When they had all seated
themselves at the tabel, the king said, «Come,
bird, you promised me you would talk. Have
you nothing to say?»
Then the bird began and related all that
happened from the time that the king had
listened at the door until his poor wife had
been sent to the treadmill. At the very end the
bird added: «These are your children, and
your wife was sent to the mill and is dying.»
As soon as the king heard all this, he rushed to
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