made away with." "Thy project pleases me vastly," exclaimed the Queen-Mother. "I have already given some orders to Feintise, the Queen's Lady-in-Waiting, on this subject, so that we have only to send for the little dogs." "Here they are," said the Admiral's wife, "I brought them with me;" so saying she opened a large purse which she always carried at her side, and pulled out of it three blind puppies, which the Queen-Mother and she swaddled in fine linen, embroidered with gold, and ornamented with lace, as the royal children should have been. They placed them in a covered basket, and then the wicked old Queen, followed by Roussette, proceeded to the young Queen's apartment. "I come to thank you," said the Queen-Mother, "for the beautiful heirs you have presented to my son. Here are heads well formed to wear a crown. I am not surprised that you promised your husband two sons and a daughter, with stars on their foreheads, flowing locks and chains of gold round their necks. Take them and nurse them yourself, for you will find no woman who will suckle puppies."
The poor Queen, who was well-nigh exhausted with the sufferings she had undergone, was ready to die with grief when she saw the three little beasts of dogs, and the sort of kennel they made of her bed, in which they lay yelping desperately. She began to weep bitterly, then clasping her hands, she said, "Alas! Madam, add not to my affliction by your reproaches; I could scarcely have had a greater one befall me. I should have thought myself too happy if the gods had permitted me to die before I had known the disgrace of being mother to these little monsters. The King will hate me as much as he loved me." Her voice was stifled with sighs and sobs. She had not strength to say more, and the Queen-Mother, continuing to load her with abuses, had the pleasure of passing three hours at the head of her bed as she lay in that wretched condition. At last she left her, and the Queen's sister, who pretended to sympathise with her sorrow, told her that she was not the first who had met with such a misfortune; that it was clearly a trick of the old Fairy who had promised to work such wonders for them; but that as it might be dangerous for her to see the King, she advised her to go to her poor mother with her three little brats of puppies. The Queen answered only with tears, The heart
