ep, the sorrowing king took the child in his arms, and
kneeling by the bier vowed never to marry again, but to make his wife's
only child the heir of his crown and kingdom. This promise he faithfully
fulfilled, and remaining a widower, he devoted his life to the
upbringing of his daughter.

It is true that the young princess had a fairy godmother--a distant
cousin of the deceased queen--but the king could not endure that any one
but himself should have a voice in the management of his child, and the
fairy godmother, who was accustomed to the utmost deference to her
opinions, very soon quitted the court in a huff, and left the king as
supreme in the nursery as he was in the council-chamber.

[Illustration]

When the precious baby was washed, this was done with no common care.
The bath itself was made of gold, and the two chief physicians of the
kingdom assisted the king by their counsels. When hot water of crystal
clearness had been poured into the bath, the more celebrated of the two
physicians dipped the tip of his little finger in, and looking
inquiringly at his colleague, said "_Hum_." On which the physician of
lesser degree dipped in his little finger and said "_Hem_." And after
this the water always proved to be of the right temperature, and did the
young princess no harm whatever. The king himself on these occasions
always dropped--with much state--a few drops of exquisite scent into the
bath, from a golden flask studded with diamonds. The chief
lady-in-waiting brought the baby, wrapped in gorgeous robes, and put it
into the bath. The court doctors laid their fingers on their noses, and
looked very important, whilst the king--who was short-sighted--put on
his spectacles to enjoy the sight of the little princess, who gambolled
in the water like a fish. The rest of her toilette was carried out with
no less formality, and as the same scrupulous care watched over every
incident of her daily life, the child grew every day more healthy and
beautiful.

Time passed on without lessening the king's devotion to his daughter.
Her beauty was the standing theme of conversation in every corner of the
palace where the king was likely to overhear it, and the courtiers
rivalled each other in trying to read the wishes of the little princess
in her blue eyes, and in endeavouring to forestall them.

No wonder the little lady grew up exceedingly self-willed, and with no
thought of any one's pleasure but her own.

The king hired