If
not, he was to become again a Blue Bird. So he found himself once more
King Charming, and as charming as ever; but he would rather have been
a bird and near his beloved, than a king in the society of Troutina.
The enchanter gave him the best reasons for what had been done, and
advised him to occupy himself with the affairs of his kingdom and
people; but he thought less of these things than how to escape from
the horror of marrying Troutina.
Meanwhile the Queen Florina, in a peasant's dress, with a straw hat on
her head, and a canvas sack on her shoulder, began her journey:
sometimes on horseback, sometimes on foot, sometimes by sea, sometimes
by land, wandering; evermore after her beloved King Charming. One
day, stopping beside a fountain, she let her hair fall loose, and
dipped her weary feet in the cool water, when an old woman, bent, and
leaning on a stick, came by.
"My pretty maiden, what are you doing here all alone?"
"Good mother," replied the queen, "I have too many troubles to be
pleasant company for anybody."
"Tell me your troubles, and I may be able to soften them."
Florina obeyed, and told her whole history, and how she was travelling
over the world in search of the Blue Bird. The little woman listened
attentively, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, became, instead of
an old woman, a beautiful fairy.
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