"What!" cried the king; "arrived here in full daylight?" But the
prince, burning with impatience, asked no questions, except about the
lady herself--"Is she not a miracle of beauty--according to her
portrait?" There was no reply. "You are afraid to speak, gentlemen,
lest you should praise her too much."
But the courtiers were still silent. "Sir," at last said one of the
boldest of them, "you had better go and see the princess yourself."
The prince, much surprised, would have thrown himself out of his
litter; but he was too feeble, and his father went instead. When the
king beheld the false princess, he involuntarily drew back; but the
lady-of-honour advancing boldly, said:
"Sire, this is the Princess Desiree;--I bear letters from the king and
queen her parents, and also a casket of priceless jewels, which they
charged me to place in your hands."
The king kept a mournful silence, and regarded his son, who now
approached, leaning on one of the courtiers. When he looked at the
girl, he recoiled with disgust; for she was so gaunt and tall that the
clothes of Desiree scarcely covered her knees, and her extreme
thinness, her red, hooked nose, her black and ill-shaped teeth, made
her as ugly as Desiree was beautiful. Prince Warrior, who for months
had thought of nothing but his lovely bride, stood petrified. "King,"
said he to his father, "I am betrayed! this is not the lady whose
portrait was sent me, and to whom I have plighted my faith; I have
been deceived, and the deception will cost me my life.
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