Knowing that the King would certainly have their heads cut off for allowing the Prince to escape , they then agreed to say that he was ill , and after making the smallest among them look as much like Prince Curlicue as possible , they put him into his bed and sent to inform the King . King Grumpy was quite delighted to hear that his son was ill , for he thought that he would all the sooner be brought to do as he wished , and marry the Princess . So he sent back to the guards to say that the Prince was to be treated as severely as before , which was just what they had hoped he would say . In the meantime the Princess Cabbage-Stalk had reached the palace , travelling in a litter . King Grumpy went out to meet her , but when he saw her , with a skin like a tortoise 's , her thick eyebrows meeting above her large nose , and her mouth from ear to ear , he could not help crying out : ` Well , I must say Curlicue is ugly enough , but I do n't think YOU need have thought twice before consenting to marry him . ' ` Sire , ' she replied , ' I know too well what I am like to be hurt by what you say , but I assure you that I have no wish to marry your son I had rather be called Princess Cabbage-Stalk than Queen Curlicue . ' This made King Grumpy very angry . ` Your father has sent you here to marry my son , ' he said , ` and you may be sure that I am not going to offend him by altering his arrangements . ' So the poor Princess was sent away in disgrace to her own apartments , and the ladies who attended upon her were charged to bring her to a better mind . At this juncture the guards , who were in great fear that they would be found out , sent to tell the King that his son was dead , which annoyed him very much . He at once made up his mind that it was entirely the Princess 's fault , and gave orders that she should be imprisoned in the tower in Prince Curlicue 's place . The Princess Cabbage-Stalk was immensely astonished at this unjust proceeding , and sent many messages of remonstrance to King Grumpy , but he was in such a temper that no one dared to deliver them , or to send the letters which the Princess wrote to her father . However , as she did not know this , she lived in hope of soon going back to her own country , and tried to amuse herself as well as she could until the time should come . Every day she walked up and down the long gallery , until she too was attracted and fascinated by the ever-changing pictures in the windows , and recognised herself in one of the figures . ` They seem to have taken a great delight in painting me since I came to this country , ' she said to herself . ` One would think that I and my crutch were put in on purpose to make that slim , charming young shepherdess in the next picture look prettier by contrast . Ah ! how nice it would be to be as pretty as that . ' And then she looked at herself in a mirror , and turned away quickly with tears in her eyes from the doleful sight . All at once she became aware that she was not alone , for behind her stood a tiny old woman in a cap , who was as ugly again as herself and quite as lame .
` Princess , ' she said , ` your regrets are so piteous XXXXX I have come to offer you the choice of goodness or beauty .
In So at by for of since that to until