and capered and curvetted in a way that would amaze you. The
ladies who were standing at one of the windows, on seeing such a
wonderful sight, ran to call Vastolla, the daughter of the King,
who, going to the window and observing the caracoles of a faggot
and the bounds of a bundle of wood, burst out a-laughing--a thing
which, owing to a natural melancholy, she never remembered to
have done before. Peruonto raised his head, and, seeing that it was
at him that they were laughing, exclaimed, "Oh, Vastolla, I wish
that I could be your husband and I would soon cure you of
laughing at me!" And so saying, he struck his heels into the faggot,
and in a dashing gallop he was quickly at home, with such a train
of little boys at his heels that if his mother had not been quick to
shut the door they would soon have killed him with the stones and
sticks with which they pelted him.

Now came the question of marrying Vastolla to some great prince,
and her father invited all he knew to come and visit him and pay
their respects to the Princess. But she refused to have anything to
say to either of them, and only answered, "I will marry none but
the young man who rode on the faggot." So that the King got more
and more angry with every refusal, and at last he was quite unable
to contain himself any longer, and called his Council together and
said, "You know by this time how my honour has been shamed,
and that my daughter has acted in such a manner that all the
chronicles will tell the story against me, so now speak and advise
me. I say that she is unworthy to live, seeing that she has brought
me into such discredit, and I wish to put her altogether out of the
world before she does more mischief." The Councillors, who had
in their time learned much wisdom, said, "Of a truth she deserves
to be severely punished. But, after all, it is this audacious