esired to speak with him.

The king, ever open to compassion, imagining it to be some poor widow
oppressed by an unfeeling and dishonest tyrant, who sought redress for
her wrongs, ordered her to be admitted into his presence. The guards
accordingly made way for her, and a wild, ragged, squalid, and
malignant-looking beldame prostrated herself at the monarch's feet.

"O king," she pleaded, "thou who art great and mighty, have mercy on the
poor and houseless, and cease to persecute those that do thee no harm.
Know that I am queen of the witches, a race much patronised by thy late
father of blessed memory, and who were accounted worthy to dine at his
table and be his constant companions."

To which the good king replied, "My father's reign is over. Another and
more virtuous king now rules the land. My father encouraged the evil, I
the good. Ye have heard our order; our word is irrevocable."

Then the hag prostrated herself before the queen, and begged with much
fervour that she should intercede with the king for her, that he might
milden her sentence.

But the queen replied, "I have no other will than that of my husband,
whose sole desire it is to benefit his country by exterminating the
wicked. If I granted your request I should be an enemy to my country."

Then the witch queen, rising to her feet and standing erect, spake to
the queen and said, "For this inclemency I curse both thee and thy
husband; and thy firstborn daughter whom thou shall shortly bring into
the world shall be a dwarf, and shall know much tribulation."

At these words the queen was seized with great grief, and the king's ire
being roused, he commanded his guards to conduct the hag from his
presence. Hardly had she departed when a bright light filled the palace
and the queen of the fairies appeared in a chariot drawn by butterflies,
and assured the king and queen that the blessings they should enjoy as a
reward for not granting the witch's request should counterbalance the
curses of the witch.

"Alas!" cried her majesty, "then the witch's curse cannot be annulled?"

"Not entirely," quoth the fairy queen, "but it can be so modified that
you shall feel it but little. The witch has declared that your daughter
shall be a dwarf, and dwarf she shall be; and that, too, of so
diminutive a stature, as not to exceed a span in height. Nevertheless, I
will bequeath to her extraordinary beauty and talents, and she shall
reign long over a contented people. G