They didn't do it very well but they practised at it
conscientiously. Whenever people talked about Stefan, they always pushed
forward importantly and said:

"Ho! Ho! Ho! Do you mean Stefan, the Laughing Prince? Ha! Ha! Ha! Why,
do you know, he's our own brother!"

As for Militza, the Princess had her come to the castle and said to her:

"I owe all my happiness to you, my dear, for you it was who knew that of
course I would laugh at Stefan's nonsense! What sensible girl
wouldn't?"

BEAUTY AND THE HORNS

[Illustration]

_The Story of an Enchanted Maiden_

BEAUTY AND THE HORNS

There was once a rich man who when he was dying called his son to his
bedside and said:

"Danilo, my son, I am leaving you my riches. The only thing I ask of you
is this: close your ears to all reports of an enchanted maiden who is
known as Peerless Beauty and when the time comes that you wish to marry
choose for wife some quiet sensible girl of your native village."

Now if the father had not mentioned Peerless Beauty all might have been
well. Danilo might never have heard of her and after a time he would
probably have fallen in love with a girl of his native village and
married her. As it was, after his father's death he kept saying to
himself:

"Peerless Beauty, the enchanted maiden of whom my father warned me! I
wonder is she really as beautiful as all that! I wonder where she
lives!"

He thought about her until he could think of nothing else.

"Peerless Beauty! Peerless Beauty! Oh, I must see this enchanted maiden
even if it costs me my life!"

His father had a brother, a wise old man, who was supposed to know
everything in the world.

"I will go to my uncle," the young man said. "Perhaps he will tell me
where I can find Peerless Beauty."

So he went to his uncle and said:

"My dear uncle, my father as he lay dying told me about a wonderful
maiden called Peerless Beauty. Can you tell me where she lives because I
want to see her for myself and judge whether she is as beautiful as my
father said."

His uncle looked at him gravely and shook his head.

"My poor boy, how can I tell you where that enchanted maiden lives when
I know it would mean death to you if ever you saw her? Think no more
about her but go, find some suitable maid in the village, and marry her
like a sensible young man."

But his uncle's words, far from dissuading Danilo, only excited him the
more.

"If my uncle knows where Peerless Bea