son or not.'

As he spoke the young man laid the jewels at the feet of the
king, and the nobles and the judges pressed round to examine
them. The king alone did not move from his seat, for he had
forgotten the hall of justice and all about him, and saw only the
apple-orchard, as it was twenty years ago, and the beautiful girl
playing at ball. A sudden silence round him made him look up, and
he found the eyes of the assembly fixed on him.

'It is true; it is he who is my son, and not the other,' he said
with an effort, 'and let every man present swear to acknowledge
him as king, after my death.'

Therefore one by one they all knelt before him and took the oath,
and a message was sent to the false prince, forbidding him ever
again to appear at court, though a handsome pension was granted
him.

At last the ceremony was over, and the king, signing to his newly
found son to follow him, rose and went into another room.

'Tell me how you knew all that,' he said, throwing himself into a
carved chair filled with crimson cushions, and the prince told of
his meeting with the old woman who had brought him the jewels
from his mother, and how he had sworn before a priest to marry
her, though he did not want to do it, on account of the
difference in their ages, and besides, he would rather receive a
bride chosen by the king himself. But the king frowned, and
answered sharply: