t mourning, and she cried and moaned so long
and so loud that she caused no little surprise.

She said to the King that she did not like the others coming to ask him
to stay his crying, for nothing was more just than that he should cry
over the loss of a good wife; and that as for her, who once had the very
best of husbands, and had lost him, she would cry for him as long as she
had eyes in her head to cry with; and immediately she let out and
redoubled her sobs, and the King, following her example, did the same.

Each one recounted to the other the good qualities of their dear dead
ones; so much so that at last there was nothing more could be found to
say about their losses and their great sorrow. In the end the widow
lifted her deep veil, and the poor afflicted King gazed at the afflicted
one, who kept turning and turning her great blue eyes with long black
lashes. The King watched her with deep attention; and little by little
he talked less of his lost Queen, until at last he forgot to talk of her
at all.

The widow then said that for ever she would cry and mourn for her
husband, but the King begged her not to go to that limit and immortalise
her sorrow. In the end he astonished her by saying that he would marry
her, and that the black would be changed into green and pink, the colour
of roses. It suffices to say that the King did as the stories tell: did
all that was possible and all that she wished.

Now the King had but one daughter of his first marriage, and she was
considered one of the eight wonders of the world; her name was Florine,
because she resembled a beautiful flower: she was fresh, young and
lovely. She was always dressed in the most beautiful transparent
clothes, and with garlands of flowers in her hair, which made a
beautiful effect. She was only fifteen years old when the King married
again.

The new Queen also had, by her first husband, a daughter, who had been
brought up by her godmother, the fairy Soussio; but she was neither
beautiful nor gracious. The girl's name was Truitonne, because her face
was so like the face of a trout, and her hair was so full of grease that
it was impossible to touch it; and her skin simply ran with oil. But the
Queen did not love her any the less. All she could do was to talk of the
charming Truitonne, and how Florine had all sorts of advantages over
her; and the Queen became desperate, and sought every possible way to
make the King see faults in Florine.

One d