deep mourning, which he felt more at heart than his attire could testify. All the ambassadors of the neighbouring kings came to condole with him, and after the ceremonies which are inseparable from such occurrences, he applied himself to giving repose to his subjects, exempting them from war, and procuring for them an extensive commerce.
The Queen was ignorant of all these matters; the time for her confinement arrived; she was safely put to bed, and Heaven blessed her with a little princess, as beautiful as the Frog predicted. They named her Moufette, and the Queen with much difficulty obtained permission from the Fairy Lioness to nurse it; for the ferocious and barbarous Fairy had a great desire to eat it.
Moufette, the wonder of her age, was already six months old, and the Queen looking at her with affection mingled with pity, would incessantly say, "Ah! if the King, thy father, could see thee, my poor little baby, how delighted he would be! How dear thou wouldst be to him! But perhaps at this moment he is beginning to forget me: he thinks we are for ever buried in the horrors of death; perhaps at this moment another occupies that place in his heart which he once accorded to me."
These sad reflections cost her many tears. The Frog, who truly loved her, seeing her weep, said to her one day, "If you wish it, Madam, I will go and find the King, your husband; the journey is long, I travel slowly, but at last, a little sooner or later, I hope to accomplish it." This proposal could not have been more agreeably received than it was by the Queen, who clasped her hands, and even made Moufette join hers, to show Madam Frog how obliged she would be if she would undertake the journey. She assured her the King would not be ungrateful to her. "But," continued she, "of what utility will it be to him to know I am in this sad abode? it will be impossible for him to rescue me from it." "Madam," replied the Frog, "we must leave that care to the gods, and attend to what depends upon ourselves."
They took leave of each other immediately; the Queen wrote to the King with her own blood upon a small piece of linen, for she had neither ink nor paper. She begged him to trust the worthy Frog in all respects, who would give him news of her.
