re dreaming if you thought it was anything
but a jackal,' answered the queen.

'I say it was a tiger,' cried the king; 'don't contradict me.'

'Nonsense!' snapped the queen. 'It was a jackal.' And the dispute
waxed so warm that the king said at last:

'Very well, we'll call the guard and ask; and if it was a jackal I'll
leave this kingdom to you and go away; and if it was a tiger then you
shall go, and I will marry a new wife.'

'As you like,' answered the queen, 'there isn't any doubt which it
was.'

So the king called the two soldiers who were on guard outside and put
the question to them. But, whilst the dispute was going on, the king
and queen had got so excited and talked so loud that the guards had
heard nearly all they said, and one man observed to the other:

'Mind you declare that the king is right. It certainly was a jackal,
but, if we say so, the king will probably not keep his word about
going away, and we shall get into trouble, so we had better take his
side.'

To this the other agreed; therefore, when the king asked them what
animal they had seen, both the guards said it was certainly a tiger,
and that the king was right of course, as he always was. The king made
no remark, but sent for a palanquin, and ordered the queen to be
placed in it, bidding the four bearers of the palanquin to take her a
long way off into the forest and there leave her. In spite of her
tears, she was forced to obey, and away the bearers went for three
days and three nights until they came to a dense wood. There they set
down the palanquin with the queen in it, and started home again.

Now the queen thought to herself that the king could not mean to send
her away for good, and that as soon as he had got over his fit of
temper he would summon her back; so she stayed quite still for a long
time, listening with all her ears for approaching footsteps, but heard
none. After a while she grew nervous, for she was all alone, and put
her head out of the palanquin and looked about her. Day was just
breaking, and birds and insects were beginning to stir; the leaves
rustled in a warm breeze; but, although the queen's eyes wandered in
all directions, there was no sign of any human being. Then her spirit
gave way, and she began to cry.

It so happened that close to the spot where the queen's palanquin had
been set down, there dwelt a man who had a tiny farm in the midst of
the forest, where he and his wife lived alone far from any nei