`Sire, I have been seeking her these two hours, but she is
nowhere to be found.' This was more than the Queen could bear.
She gave a shriek of alarm and fainted away, and they had to pour
two barrels of eau-de-cologne over her before she recovered. When
she came to herself everybody was looking for the Princess in the
greatest terror and confusion, but as she did not appear, the King
said to his page:

`Go and find the Ambassador Fanfaronade, who is doubtless
asleep in some corner, and tell him the sad news.'

So the page hunted hither and thither, but Fanfaronade was
no more to be found than the Princess, the dagger, or the neck-
handkerchief!

Then the King summoned his counsellors and his guards, and,
accompanied by the Queen, went into his great hall. As he had not
had time to prepare his speech beforehand, the King ordered that
silence should be kept for three hours, and at the end of that time
he spoke as follows:

`Listen, great and ! My dear daughter Mayblossom is
lost: whether she has been stolen away or has simply disappeared
I cannot tell. The Queen's neck-handkerchief and my sword,
which are worth their weight in gold, are also missing, and, what
is worst of all, the Ambassador Fanfaronade is nowhere to be
found. I greatly fear that the King, his master, when he receives
no tidings from him, will come to seek him among us, and will
accuse us of having made mince-meat of him. Perhaps I could