Then she departed by night, and alone, to go over the world
in search of her Blue Bird.
The magician, who was King Charming's friend, went to the fairy
Soussio, whom he knew, for they had quarrelled and made it up again,
as fairies and magicians do, many times within the last five or six
hundred years. She received him civilly, and asked him what he wanted.
He tried to make a bargain with her but could effect nothing, unless
King Charming would consent to marry Troutina. The enchanter found
this bride so ugly that he could not advise. Still, the Blue Bird had
run so many risks in his cage: the nail it was hung upon had broken,
and the king suffered much in the fall; Minetta, the cat, had glowered
at him with her green eyes; the attendants had forgotten his hemp-seed
and his water-glass, so that he was half dying of hunger and thirst;
and a monkey had plucked at his feathers through the wires as
disrespectfully as if, instead of a king, he had been a linnet or a
jay. Worse than all, his next heir spread reports of his death, and
threatened to seize on his throne.
Under these circumstances the magician thought it best to agree with
Soussio that King Charming should be restored to his kingdom and his
natural shape for six months, on condition that Troutina should remain
in his palace, and that he should try to like her and marry her.
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