as they stood. But what a
wonderful thing now happened! In a short time they were all so
transformed that none retained her human shape, but some were changed
into snakes, wolves, bears, toads, swine, or cats, and others became
hawks or other birds of prey. But among all these bestial forms was a
beautiful rose-bush, covered with flowers, and with two doves nestling
on its branches. And this was the gardener's daughter whom the king had
chosen as his consort. Then said the king, "We have now seen the inmost
kernel of each, and I am not going to let myself be dazzled by the outer
shell." The queen-dowager could not contain herself for rage, but the
matter was so clear that she was unable to help herself. Then the
sorcerer fumigated all the maidens with magic herbs, which roused them
from their sleep and restored them to their human shapes. The king
received his beloved from the rose-bush, and asked for her half-ring,
and when the maiden drew it from her bosom, he took his own half-ring,
and laid them together on the palm of his hand, when the two halves
immediately united, and no eye could perceive a crack or any indication
of the spot where the sword-stroke had cleft the ring. "Now my honoured
father's wish has come to pass," said the young king, and celebrated his
union with the gardener's daughter on the same evening. He invited all
those present to a wedding-feast, but the noble ladies had learned what
wonders had taken place during their sleep, and they returned home full
of shame. But so much the greater was the joy of the king's subjects
that their queen was a perfect woman both in form and character.

When the wedding festivities were ended, the king assembled all the
leading judges of the kingdom and asked them what punishment was fitting
for a criminal who had secretly stolen away the king's son, and had him
brought up in a peasant's cot as a herd-boy, and had afterwards treated
the youth with insolent contempt after he had recovered his former
position. All the judges answered with one accord, "Such a criminal is
worthy to die on the gallows." Then said the king, "Good! let the
queen-dowager be brought to trial." The queen-dowager was summoned, and
the sentence was announced to her. When she heard it, she turned as
white as the wall, and fell on her knees before the young king pleading
for mercy. The king said, "I give you your life, and I should never have
brought you before the court if it had not happened t