that the same fairy who on my birthday gave me for gift the power of
making the person who should please me witty and judicious, has in like
manner given you for gift the power of making him whom you love and to
whom you would grant the favor, to be extremely handsome."

"If it be so," said the Princess, "I wish with all my heart that you may
be the most lovable prince in the world, and I bestow my gift on you as
much as I am able."

The Princess had no sooner pronounced these words than Riquet with the
Tuft appeared to her the finest prince upon earth, the handsomest and
most amiable man she ever saw. Some affirm that it was not the fairy's
charms, but love alone, which worked the change.

They say that the Princess, having made due reflection on the
perseverance of her lover, his discretion, and all the good qualities of
his mind, his wit and judgment, saw no longer the deformity of his body,
nor the ugliness of his face; that his hump seemed to her no more than
the grand air of one having a broad back, and that whereas till then
she saw him limp horribly, she now found it nothing more than a certain
sidling air, which charmed her.

They say further that his eyes, which were squinted very much, seemed to
her most bright and sparkling, that their irregularity passed in her
judgment for a mark of the warmth of his affection, and, in short, that
his great red nose was, in her opinion, somewhat martial and heroic in
character.

However it was, the Princess promised immediately to marry him, on
condition that he obtained the King's consent. The King, knowing that