rnor used to gain his point, but only this, that when he failed, he
sent the girl in unto his wife, and there she was persuaded to go. There
must have been something very tempting, to one who was but a village
girl, in the prospect of being even one of the lesser queens, of living
in the palace, the centre of the world. So she consented at last, and
her brother consented, and the girl was sent down under fitting escort
to find favour in the eyes of her king. But the blacksmith refused to
go. It was no good the governor saying such a great man as he must come
to high honour in the Golden City, it was useless for the girl to beg
and pray him to come with her--he always refused. So she sailed away
down the great river, and the blacksmith returned to his forge.

As the governor had said, the girl was acceptable in the king's sight,
and she was made at last one of the principal queens, and of all she had
most power over the king. They say she was most beautiful, that her
presence was as soothing as shade after heat, that her form was as
graceful as a young tree, and the palms of her hands were like lotus
blossoms. She had enemies, of course. Most of the other queens were her
enemies, and tried to do her harm. But it was useless telling tales of
her to the king, for the king never believed; and she walked so wisely
and so well, that she never fell into any snare. But still the plots
never ceased.

There was one day when she was sitting alone in the garden pavilion,
with the trees making moving shadows all about her, that the king came
to her. They talked for a time, and the king began to speak to her of
her life before she came to the palace, a thing he had never done
before. But he seemed to know all about it, nevertheless, and he spoke
to her of her brother, and said that he, the king, had heard how no man
was so strong as this blacksmith, the brother of the queen. The queen
said it was true, and she talked on and on and praised her brother, and
babbled of the days of her childhood, when he carried her on his great
shoulder, and threw her into the air, catching her again. She was
delighted to talk of all these things, and in her pleasure she forgot
her discretion, and said that her brother was wise as well as strong,
and that all the people loved him. Never was there such a man as he. The
king did not seem very pleased with it all, but he said only that the
blacksmith was a great man, and that the queen must write to him to