ess.

"I am spinning, my dear child," replied the old woman, who did not
recognize her.

"Ah, how pretty it looks," replied the Princess. "How do you do it? Give
it to me, that I may see if I can do it as well."

No sooner had she picked up the spindle, than she pricked her hand with
it, and fell swooning.{*} King Cloche, when he heard that the fairies'
decree had been accomplished, ordered that the sleeping Princess should
be placed in the Blue Chamber, on a bed of azure embroidered with
silver. Shocked, and full of consternation, the courtiers made ready to
weep, practised sighing, and assumed an expression of deep affliction.
Intrigues were formed in every direction; it was reported that the King
had discharged his Ministers. The blackest calumnies were hatched. It
was said that the Duc de La Rochecoupee had concocted a draught to
send the Princess to sleep, and that Monsieur de Boulingrin was his
accomplice.

* Contes de Perrault, edition Aadre Lefevre, p. 86-108

The Duchess of Cicogne climbed the secret staircase to the chambers of
her old friend, whom she found in his night-cap, smiling, for he was
reading _La Fiancee du roi de Garbe_.

Cicogne told him the news, and how the Princess was lying on a blue bed
in a state of lethargy.

The Secretary of State listened attentively.

"You do not believe, I hope, my dear friend, that the fairies have
anything to do with it?" he said.

For he did not believe in fairies, although three of them, ancient and
venerable, had overpowered him with their love and their staves, and had
drenched him to the skin in a disgusting liquid, in order to prove their
existence to him. The defect of the experimental method pursued by
these ladies is that the experiment was addressed to the senses, whose
testimony one can always challenge.

"The fairies have had everything to do with it!" cried the Duchess. "The
Princess's accident may have the most unfortunate results for you and
for me. People will not fail to attribute it to the incapacity of the
Ministers, and possibly to their malevolence. Can one tell how far
calumny may reach? You are already accused of niggardliness. According
to what is being said, you refused, on my advice, to pay for warders for
the young and unfortunate Princess. Worse than that, there are rumours
of black magic, of casting spells. The storm has got to be faced. Show
yourself, or you are lost!"

"Calumny," said Boulingrin, "is the curse of this