d the king. "Royal
Majesty, it was a present from my mistress," answered Catherine. "No,
that is impossible," cried the king. "If you do not tell me the truth, I
will have your head cut off." Then Catherine related all that had
happened to her since she was a rich maiden.

Now there lived at the court a wise lady, who said: "Catherine, you have
suffered much, but you will now see happy days; and that it was not
until the golden crown was put in the scale that the balance was even,
is a sign that you will be a queen." "If she is to be a queen," cried
the king, "I will make her one, for Catherine and none other shall be my
wife." And so it was; the king informed his betrothed that he no longer
wished her, and married the fair Catherine. And after Catherine in her
youth had suffered so much, she enjoyed nothing but happiness in her old
age, and was happy and contented.[4]

* * * * *

In the class of stories of which "The Bucket" is an example, we have
seen the good sister rewarded, and the naughty one punished. Another
well-known moral story is the one in which a king's daughter is punished
for her pride, in refusing to marry a suitable lover, by being made to
marry the first one who asks her hand. This is the case in the Grimm
story "King Thrush-Beard," or rather the king gives his proud daughter
to the first beggar who comes to the palace gate. The same occurs in one
of the Italian versions of this story, but usually the haughty princess,
after refusing a noble suitor, either falls in love with the same
suitor, who has disguised himself as a person of ignoble rank, or she
sells herself to the disguised lover for some finery with which he
tempts her. At all events, her pride is thoroughly humbled. An example
of the more common version is found in Coronedi-Berti's Bolognese tales
(No. 15), and is as follows:

XXIX. THE CRUMB IN THE BEARD.

There was once a king who had a daughter whose name was Stella. She was
indescribably beautiful, but was so whimsical and hard to please that
she drove her father to despair. There had been princes and kings who
had sought her in marriage, but she had found defects in them all and
would have none of them. She kept advancing in years, and her father
began to despair of knowing to whom he should leave his crown. So he
summoned his council, and discussed the matter, and was advised to give
a great banquet, to which he should invite all the princes and k