the world, they found themselves at liberty to express their mutual sentiments. This pleasure was often heightened by the charms of music. The King, always gallant and amorous, sang verses and songs of his own composition to the Princess. The following is one she was much pleased with:—
"The proves, for thee, a richer green put on;
The flowery meads their brightest colours don;
Where'er thy footsteps fall fresh blossoms spring;
Sweeter within thy bowers, the sweet birds sing.
All nature smiles, around, below, above,
All hail the daughter of the God of Love!"
Joy was at its height in the palace. The King's rivals, enraged at his success, had quitted it and returned to their own dominions, overwhelmed with the deepest grief, unable to bear the pain of witnessing Toutebelle's marriage. They had taken their leave of her in so touching a manner that she could not help pitying them. "Ah, Madam," said the King of the Gold Mines to her on that occasion, "what an injustice you have done me to-day; you have blest with your pity, lovers who were more than repaid for their sufferings by one glance from your eyes."
"I should be sorry," replied Toutebelle, "if you witnessed with indifference the compassion I have evinced for those princes who have lost me for ever. It is a proof of your sensibility, for which I am indebted to you. But, my Lord, their position is so different from yours; you have so much reason to be satisfied with my conduct towards you, and they have so little cause to congratulate themselves, that you ought not to carry your jealousy further." The King of the Gold Mines, overcome by the kind manner in which the Princess had received a reproach which might have annoyed her, threw himself at her feet, and kissing her hand, asked her pardon a thousand times over. At length, the day so long waited and wished for arrived. Everything being ready for the marriage of Toutebelle, the trumpets and musical instruments announced throughout the city the commencement of this grand fête. The streets were carpeted and strewed with flowers. The people flocked in crowds to the great square in front of the palace. The Queen, in a state of rapture, had scarcely gone to bed before she got up again, long before daybreak, to give the requisite orders and to select the jewels which the Princess was to wear. She was all diamonds down
