Lady in Waiting, but that a jealous Fairy had sent a thunderstorm
which had destroyed her carriage and scattered her other attendants.
When the Prince was told of this, he could not refrain from saying
to the messengers: "Now acknowledge, is she not truly a miracle of
beauty, a Princess beyond compare?"

No one replied at first, and then one of the boldest said,

"Sir, you will see; apparently the fatigue of the journey has somewhat
changed her." The Prince was surprised, but when he saw Longue Epine
words fail to express what he felt.

She was so tall that it was alarming, and the garments of the Princess
hardly came to her knees. She was frightfully thin, and her nose,
which was more hooked than a parrot's beak, shone like a danger
signal. Then her teeth were black and uneven, and, in fact, she was as
ugly as Desirée was beautiful.

At first the Prince could not speak a word, he simply gazed at her
in amazement. Then he said, turning to his father, "We have been
deceived, that portrait was painted to mislead us. It will be the
death of me."

"What do I hear, they have deceived you," fiercely exclaimed Longue
Epine.

"It is not to be wondered at," remarked the King, "that your father
kept such a treasure shut up for fifteen years."

Then he and the Prince turned towards the town, and the false Princess