. The pink fairy book. ine, who lived in a country that touched at one pointthe kingdom of King Souci, had under her care the lovelyPrincess Minon-Minette, and had made up her mind tomarry her to the young king, who, in spite of his awkwardmanners, which could be improved, was really very muchnicer than most of the young men she was likely to meet. So Aveline made her preparations accordingly, andbegan by arranging that the equerry should lose himselfin the forest, after which she took away the kings swordand his horse while he lay asleep under a tree. Herreason for this was that she felt pers
. The pink fairy book. ine, who lived in a country that touched at one pointthe kingdom of King Souci, had under her care the lovelyPrincess Minon-Minette, and had made up her mind tomarry her to the young king, who, in spite of his awkwardmanners, which could be improved, was really very muchnicer than most of the young men she was likely to meet. So Aveline made her preparations accordingly, andbegan by arranging that the equerry should lose himselfin the forest, after which she took away the kings swordand his horse while he lay asleep under a tree. Herreason for this was that she felt persuaded that, findinghimself suddenly alone and robbed of everything, theking would hide his real birth, and would have to fallback on his powers of pleasing, like other men, whichwould be much better for him. When the king awoke and found that the tree towhich he had tied his horse had its lowest branch broken,and that nothing living was in sight, he was much dis-mayed, and sought high and low for his lost treasure, but. 280 PRINCESS MINON-MINETTE all in vain. After a time he began to get hungry, so hedecided that he had better try to find his way out of theforest, and perhaps he might have a chance of gettingsomething to eat. He had only gone a few steps whenhe met Aveline, who had taken the shape of an oldwoman with a heavy bundle of faggots on her back. Shestaggered along the path and almost fell at his feet, andSouci, afraid that she might have hurt herself, picked herup and set her on her feet again before passing on hisway. But he was not to be let off so easy. * What about my bundle? cried the old is your politeness? Really, j^ou seem to havebeen very nicely brought up! What have they taughtyou? Taught me? Nothing, replied he. I can well believe it! she said. You dont know evenhow to pick up a bundle. Oh, you can come near; I amcleverer than you, and know how to pick up a bundlevery well. The king blushed at her words, which he felt had agreat deal of truth in
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecttales, bookyear1897
