Old-Time Stories
that they were strangers; but to make sure he caused his carriage to stop and summoned them to him.
The king and the prince advanced to meet him, and bowed low. 'We have come from far away, Sire,' they said, 'in order to show you a portrait.' With these words they drew from the pack which they carried the magnificent portrait of Rosette.
'I do not believe,' said the King of the Peacocks, when he had looked long and well at it, 'that the world holds so beautiful a maiden.'
'She is a hundred times more beautiful than that,' said the king.
'You are joking,' said the King of the Peacocks.
'Sire,' said the prince, 'this is my brother, who is a monarch like yourself: men call him King. For myself, I am known as Prince. This portrait shows our sister, the Princess Rosette. We are here to ask if you are willing to marry her. She has good sense as well as good looks, and we will give her for dowry a bushel of golden crowns.'
'Why, certainly,' said the King of the Peacocks, 'I will marry her with all my heart. I promise she shall want for nothing, and I will love her truly. But I would have you know that she must be as beautiful as her picture, and that if she falls short of it by the least little bit, I will put you to death.'
'We accept the conditions,' said Rosette's two brothers.
'You accept?' said the King of the Peacocks. 'Then you must bide in prison until the princess has arrived.'
The royal brothers raised no objection to this, for they knew well that Rosette was more beautiful than her portrait. The King of the Peacocks saw to it that his captives were
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