for the little Prince, that the King was delighted. "I should never have thought," said he, "my son was so good-natured; and if he continue so, I shall leave him a portion of my kingdom."
These promises were not sufficient for the humpback,—he would have all or none; so one night he presented the Queen with some sweetmeats that had opium in them. She went to sleep; immediately the Prince, who had hidden himself behind the tapestry, softly took the little Prince, and put in his place a large cat, enveloped in swaddling clothes, that the rockers might not perceive the theft. The cat squalled, the rockers rocked: at last it made such a racket, that they thought it was hungry. They awoke the Queen, who, still overpowered with sleep, and thinking she had hold of her dear baby, began to suckle it; but the savage cat bit her: she screamed out, and looking at it, what was her horror when she saw a cat's head instead of her son's! Her grief was so intense, that she thought she should die upon the spot. The Queen's ladies disturbed the whole palace by their screams. The King put on his dressing-gown, and ran to the Queen's apartments. The first thing he saw was the cat, in the swaddling clothes of cloth-of-gold, worn usually by his infant son. They had thrown it on the ground, where it was squalling wonderfully. The King was much alarmed, and inquired what it meant. They told him that they knew nothing at all about it, but that the little Prince was not to be seen,—that they sought for him in vain, and that the Queen was much hurt. The King entered the Queen's bedroom: he found her in sad affliction, and not wishing to increase it by his own, he did violence to his feelings to console this poor princess.
In the meanwhile the humpback had given his little brother to one of his own people. "Carry him to a distant forest," said he to him, "and leave him quite naked in the most exposed situation, that the wild beasts may devour him, and we may never hear any more of him. I would carry him there myself, so much do I fear you will not strictly execute my orders; but I must appear before the King: go, then, and be sure that if I should reign, I shall not be ungrateful." He put the poor child himself into the covered basket; and as he was accustomed to fondle him, the
