infant already knew him, and smiled at him, but the merciless humpback was less moved by it than a rock. He went instantly into the Queen's chamber half-dressed, from being in so much haste, he said. He rubbed his eyes, as if scarcely awake, and when he learned the sad news of his stepmother's injury, of the loss of the Prince, and saw the cat in the swaddling clothes, he uttered such sad cries, that they were as much occupied in consoling him, as if he really had been greatly afflicted. He took the cat and wrung its neck with a ferocity that was quite natural to him, but which he made them believe was excited by the mischief the animal had done to the Queen. Although he was notoriously wicked enough to perpetrate such a deed, no one suspected him of being the culprit,—his guilt was so artfully concealed by his feigned affliction. The King and Queen felt quite grateful to this wretch, and commissioned him to send to all the fairies, and find out what had become of their child.
Impatient to put an end to their researches, he brought them several different and very enigmatical answers, that all tended to the same point:—that the Prince was not dead,—that he had been taken away for a time for some inscrutable reason,—that he would be restored to them, perfect in every respect,—and that they should seek him no longer, as it would be only labour in vain. He imagined that by such answers he should keep them quiet; and he was right in his conjecture.
The King and Queen flattered themselves they would one day see their son again; in the meanwhile the bite that the cat had given the Queen proved so venomous, that she died of it, and the King, overwhelmed with grief, shut himself up for a whole year in his palace. He expected still to have news of his son, and expected in vain.
The man who took the child away walked all night without stopping; when morning began to dawn, he opened the basket, and the sweet infant smiled at him, as he used to do at the Queen when she took him in her arms. "Oh, poor little Prince," said he; "how unfortunate is thy destiny! Alas, thou art to be food, like some gentle lamb, to a famishing lion! Why did the humpback choose me to help him to destroy thee?" He shut the basket, that he might no longer behold so pitiable an object; but the child, who had passed
