s she
was herself!

This was indeed a crushing speech to make to such a devoted lover as
Prince Mannikin, but he concealed the pain it caused him with great
courage.

And now the Ambassador sent to say that on the very next day he would
come in state to receive his answer, and from the earliest dawn the
inhabitants were astir, to secure the best places for the grand sight;
but the good Fairy Genesta was providing them an amount of amusement
they were far from expecting, for she so enchanted the eyes of all the
spectators that when the Ambassador's gorgeous procession appeared, the
splendid uniforms seemed to them miserable rags that a beggar would have
been ashamed to wear, the prancing horses appeared as wretched skeletons
hardly able to drag one leg after the other, while their trappings,
which really sparkled with gold and jewels, looked like old sheepskins
that would not have been good enough for a plough horse. The pages
resembled the ugliest sweeps. The trumpets gave no more sound than
whistles made of onion-stalks, or combs wrapped in paper; while the
train of fifty carriages looked no better than fifty donkey carts. In
the last of these sat the Ambassador with the haughty and scornful air
which he considered becoming in the representative of so powerful a
monarch: for this was the crowning point of the absurdity of the whole
procession, that all who took part in it wore the expression of vanity
and self-satisfaction and pride in their own appearance and all their
surroundings which they believed their splendour amply justified.

The laughter and howls of derision from the whole crowd rose ever louder
and louder as the extraordinary cortege advanced, and at last reached
the ears of the King as he waited in the audience hall, and before the
procession reached the palace he had been informed of its nature, and,
supposing that it must be intended as an insult, he ordered the gates
to be closed. You may imagine the fury of the Ambassador when, after
all his pomp and pride, the King absolutely and unaccountably refused
to receive him. He raved wildly both against King and people, and the
cortege retired in great confusion, jeered at and pelted with stones and
mud by the enraged crowd. It is needless to say that he left the country
as fast as horses could carry him, but not before he had declared war,
with the most terrible menaces, threatening to devastate the country
with fire and sword.

Some days after this di