She told him that she did not come, like
the rest, to console him, but rather to encourage his grief. She
herself had lost the best of husbands, and here she began to weep so
profusely, that it was a wonder her eyes were not melted out of her
head. The king began to weep in company, and to talk to her of his
dear wife--she did the same of her dear husband: in fact they talked
so much, that they talked their sorrow quite away. Then, lifting up
her veil, she showed lovely blue eyes and dark eyelashes. The king
noticed her more and more--he spoke less and less of the departed
queen; by and by he ceased to speak of her at all. The end was, that
he courted the inconsolable lady in the black veil, and married her.
By his first marriage he had one daughter, called Florina, or the
little Flora, because she was so fresh and lovely; at the time of his
second marriage she was quite fifteen years old. The new queen also
had a daughter, who was being brought up by her godmother, the fairy
Soussio--her name was Troutina, because her complexion was all spotted
like a trout's back. Indeed, she was altogether ugly and disagreeable;
and when contrasted with Florina, the difference between the two made
the mother so envious, that she and Troutina spared no pains to make
the princess's life unhappy, and to speak ill of her to her father.
One day the king observed that both girls were now old enough to be
married, and that he intended to choose for one of them the first
prince who visited his court.
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