_First Aunt_: We would rather than the greatest
beauty in the world get him a wife who would be
content to stop in her home.

_(Princess comes in very stately and with a_
_fine dress. She curtseys. Aunts curtsey
and sit down again. Prince bows uneasily
and sidles away.)_

_First Aunt_: Will you sit, now, between the
two of us?

_Princess_: It is more fitting for a young girl
to stay in her standing in the presence of a king's
kindred and his son, since he is come so far to look
for me.

_Second Aunt_: That is a very nice thought.

_Princess_: My far-off grandmother, the old
people were telling me, never sat at the table
to put a bit in her mouth till such time as her
lord had risen up satisfied. She was that obedient
to him that if he had bidden her, she would have
laid down her hand upon red coals.

_(Prince looks bored and fidgets.)_

_First Aunt_: Very good indeed.