PRINCESS BELLE-ETOILE AND PRINCE CHERI.
Once upon a time there was a Princess, of whose past grandeur nothing remained but her canopy and her cadenas.[1] The one was of velvet, embroidered with pearls, the other of gold, enriched with diamonds. She kept them as long as she could; but the extreme necessity to which she found herself reduced obliged her, every now and then, to take off a pearl, a diamond, or an emerald, and sell it privately for the support of her attendants. She was a widow, left with three daughters very young, and very amiable. She considered, that if she brought them up with the grandeur and magnificence befitting their birth, they would feel the inevitable alteration in their circumstances more keenly; she therefore took the resolution to sell what little property she had left, and to go and settle with her three daughters in some country house a long way off, where they might manage to live within their slender income. In passing through a forest infested with thieves, she was robbed, and left all but destitute. The poor Princess, more afflicted by this last misfortune than by all that she had before experienced, saw plainly that she must either work for her bread, or perish with hunger. She had formerly taken pleasure in keeping a good table, and knew how to make excellent sauces. She never went anywhere without her little golden spice-box,[2] which people came to see from a great distance. That which used to be her amusement now furnished her with the means of subsistence. She settled herself in a very pretty house near a large city, and made wonderful
- ↑ A case for knife, fork, spoon, &c.; see note, page 437.
- ↑ "Petite cuisine d'or." Cuisine in this sense signifies "a long box with several compartments, which contain everything requisite for making ragouts, and which can be carried about when travelling."—Landaîs. It has been previously translated, "A small kitchen, furnished with golden plate."
