Part 23 (1/2)
”We knoho is to have fruit-soup and pancakes, and we knoho is going to have porridge, and cutlets How very interesting it is!”
”Most interesting, indeed,” said the first Lady-of-Honor
”Yes, but hold your tongues, for I ahter”
”Of course ill,” they cried in one breath
The Swineherd, or the Prince, nobody knew that he was not a real Swineherd, did not let the day pass without doing so, and he made a rattle which could play all the waltzes, and the polkas and the hop-dances which had been know since the creation of the world
”But this is _superbe_!” said the Princess, as just passing: ”I have never heard more beautiful composition Go and as hiive no more kisses”
”He insists on a hundred kisses fro who had been down to ask
”I think he must be quite mad,” said the Princess, and she walked away But when she had taken a few steps, she stopped short, and said: ”One hter Tell him he may have ten kisses, as before, and the rest he can take fro”
”Yes, but we object to that,” said the ladies-in-waiting
”That is nonsense,” said the Princess ”If I can kiss hiive you board and wages?”
So the ladies-in-waiting were obliged to go down to the Swineherd again
”A hundred kisses from the Princess, or each keeps his own”
”Stand roundstood round her, and the Swineherd began to kiss her
”What can all the crowd be down by the pig-sty?” said the E out onto the balcony He rubbed his eyes and put on his spectacles ”It is the court ladies up to soo down and look after them” He pulled up his slippers, for they were shoes which he had trodden down at heel
Gracious goodness, how he hurried! As soon as he caarden, he walked very softly, and the ladies-in-waiting had socould be done fairly, and that the Swineherd should get neither too many nor too few, that they never noticed the Emperor at all He stood on tip-toe
”What is this all about?” he said, when he saw the kissing that was going on, and he hit theetting the eighty-sixth kiss ”Heraus!” said the Ery, and both the Princess and the Swineherd were turned out of his Kingdom
The Princess wept, the Swineherd scolded, and the rain streamed down
”Oh! wretched creature that I am,” said the Princess ”If I had only taken the handsome Prince! Oh, how unhappy I am!”
Then the Swineherd went behind a tree, washed the black and brown off his face, threw of his ragged clothes, and stood forth in his royal apparel, looking so handsoed to curtsey
”I have learned to despise you,” he said ”You would not have an honorable Prince You could not appreciate a rose or a nightingale, but for a musical toy, you kissed the Swineherd Now you have your reward”
So he went into his Kingdom, shut the door and bolted it, and she had to stand outside singing:
”Ach, du lieber Augustin, Alles is eg!”
THE NIGHTINGALE
In China, you must know, the Emperor is a Chinaman, and all those around him are Chinamen, too It is many years since all this happened, and for that very reason it is worth hearing, before it is forgotten