sally eaten. Then, leaving her prettiest dolls to her best friends, she placed the government in the hands of the wisest old men of the city; whom she recommended to take care of everything, spend nothing, and to collect plenty of money against the king's return. Lastly, she begged them to keep her peacock, and taking with her only her nurse and fostersister, departed with her little green dog, Fretillon. They embarked on board a boat, taking with them a bushel of golden crowns, and clothes enough to last them ten years, if they changed them twice a-day.

From time to time the nurse inquired of the captain, “Are we approaching the kingdom of the peacocks?" And when at length he answered "Yes," the nurse came forward, seated herself by him, and said to him, "If you wish to make your

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fortune, to-night while the princess is asleep you must help me to throw her overboard. When she is drowned I will dress my daughter in her fine clothes, and take her to the King of the Peacocks, who will be very glad to marry her; and for a reward we will load you with diamonds." The sailor was very much surprised at the nurse's proposal, and told her that it would be a thousand pities to drown so beautiful a princess; but she gave him a bottle of wine, and made him drink so much, that he did not know how to refuse her.

When night came the princess went to bed as usual, and little Fretillon lay prettily at her feet without moving a paw. As soon as Rosetta was sound asleep, the wicked nurse brought the captain where the princess was slumbering, and, without awakening her, they took and threw her with her

feather-bed, mattress, sheets, and counterpane, all into the sea; and the princess was sleeping so soundly that she never woke. Fortunately, her couch was made of phoenix-feathers, which have this property, that they cannot sink. This caused her to float in her bed as though she had been in the boat. By degrees, however, the sea wetted her bed, then the mattress, and at last Rosetta herself, who feeling the water, could not tell what it meant.

In the meanwhile the King of the Peacocks, whose country they were fast approaching, had sent to the sea-shore a hundred carriages, drawn by all manner of strange animals, such as lions, bears, stags, wolves, horses, oxen, asses, eagles, and peacocks; and the carriage intended for the Princess Rosetta was drawn by six blue monkeys, who could dance on

the tight rope, and play a thousand antics.

The nurse had been at great trouble to decorate her daughter in Rosetta's finest gown, with a diamond headdress and lots of jewels. But in spite of her pains, her daughter was as ugly as an ape; her hair was black and woolly, and she had a large hump between her shoulders. She was illtempered, slovenly, and what was worse, always grumbling.

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When they announced to the king that the princess was drawing nigh, he said, Did her brothers tell the truth? Is she more beautiful than her portrait?" Sire," said a courttier, "it is enough if she is as good looking." Yes, indeed," said the king, “I shall be satisfied; let us go and see her: for he guessed by the noise in the court yard that she was now very near, though he could not

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make out exactly what was said, excepting, "Dear me, how ugly she is!" He thought, however, that these observations applied to some dwarf or curious animal that she had brought with her; for it never once entered his head that they were spoken of the princess herself.

The portrait of Rosetta was carried upon a long pole, so that everybody might see it; and the king walked slowly after it, with all his barons, his peacocks, and the ambassadors from the neighbouring states. The King of the Peacocks was very impatient to see his dear Rosetta, but when he did see her, the sight nearly killed him; he tore his clothes, put himself into a most violent rage, and would not go near her; she quite frightened him.

"What," said he, "have these two scoundrels that I have in prison, had