awn such a
picture of you, and represented your good qualities in such a way,
that I am certain the Princess would have found you irresistible. But I
cannot see what there is in that to make you angry."

The King could not see any cause for anger either when the matter was
presented to him in this light, and he began to frown very fiercely at
the courtiers who had so misrepresented his favorite.

So he took Charming back to the palace with him, and after seeing that
he had a very good supper he said to him:

"You know that I love Pretty Goldilocks as much as ever, her refusal has
not made any difference to me; but I don't know how to make her change
her mind; I really should like to send you, to see if you can persuade
her to marry me."

Charming replied that he was perfectly willing to go, and would set out
the very next day.

"But you must wait till I can get a grand escort for you," said the
King. But Charming said that he only wanted a good horse to ride, and
the King, who was delighted at his being ready to start so promptly,
gave him letters to the Princess, and bade him good speed. It was on a
Monday morning that he set out all alone upon his errand, thinking of
nothing but how he could persuade the Princess Goldilocks to marry
the King. He had a writing-book in his pocket, and whenever any happy
thought struck him he dismounted from his horse and sat down under
the trees to put it into the harangue which he was preparing for the
Princess, before he forgot it.

One day when he had started at the very earliest dawn, and was riding
over a great meadow, he suddenly had a capital idea, and, springing from
his horse, he sat down under a willow tree which grew by a little river.
When he had written it down he was looking round him, pleased to find
himself in such a pretty place, when all at once he saw a great golden
carp lying gasping and exhausted upon the grass. In leaping after little
flies she had thrown herself high upon the bank, where she had lain till
she was nearly dead. Charming had pity upon her, and, though he couldn't
help thinking that she would have been very nice for dinner, he picked
her up gently and put her back into the water. As soon as Dame Carp
felt the refreshing coolness of the water she sank down joyfully to the
bottom of the river, then, swimming up to the bank quite boldly, she
said:

"I thank you, Charming, for the kindness you have done me. You have
saved my life; one day I will