The crab 's shell fell from her , she shrank into her usual size , and lost some of her fierce expression . ` Well , ' she said , ' I will not cause the princess 's death , as I had meant to do , but at the same time she will have to bear the punishment of her mother 's fault , as many other children have done before her . The sentence I pass upon her is , that if she is allowed to see one ray of daylight before her fifteenth birthday she will rue it bitterly , and it may perhaps cost her her life . ' And with these words she vanished by the window through which she came , while the fairies comforted the weeping queen and took counsel how best the princess might be kept safe during her childhood . At the end of half an hour they had made up their minds what to do , and at the command of the fairies , a beautiful palace sprang up , close to that of the king and queen , but different from every palace in the world in having no windows , and only a door right under the earth . However , once within , daylight was hardly missed , so brilliant were the multitudes of tapers that were burning on the walls . Now up to this time the princess 's history has been like the history of many a princess that you have read about ; but , when the period of her imprisonment was nearly over , her fortunes took another turn . For almost fifteen years the fairies had taken care of her , and amused her and taught her , so that when she came into the world she might be no whit behind the daughters of other kings in all that makes a princess charming and accomplished . They all loved her dearly , but the fairy Tulip loved her most of all ; and as the princess 's fifteenth birthday drew near , the fairy began to tremble lest something terrible should happen -- some accident which had not been foreseen . ` Do not let her out of your sight , ' said Tulip to the queen , ` and meanwhile , let her portrait be painted and carried to the neighbouring Courts , as is the custom in order that the kings may see how far her beauty exceeds that of every other princess , and that they may demand her in marriage for their sons . ' And so it was done ; and as the fairy had prophesied , all the young princes fell in love with the picture ; but the last one to whom it was shown could think of nothing else , and refused to let it be removed from his chamber , where he spent whole days gazing at it . The king his father was much surprised at the change which had come over his son , who generally passed all his time in hunting or hawking , and his anxiety was increased by a conversation he overheard between two of his courtiers that they feared the prince must be going out of his mind , so moody had he become . Without losing a moment the king went to visit his son , and no sooner had he entered the room than the young man flung himself at his father 's feet . ` You have betrothed me already to a bride I can never love ! ' cried he ; ` but if you will not consent to break off the match , and ask for the hand of the princess Desiree , I shall die of misery , thankful to be alive no longer . ' These words much displeased the king , who felt that , in breaking off the marriage already arranged he would almost certainly be bringing on his subjects a long and bloody war ; so , without answering , he turned away , hoping that a few days might bring his son to reason . But the prince 's condition grew rapidly so much worse that the king , in despair , promised to send an embassy at once to Desiree 's father . This news cured the young man in an instant of all his ills ; and he began to plan out every detail of dress and of horses and carriages which were necessary to make the train of the envoy , whose name was Becasigue , as splendid as possible . He longed to form part of the embassy himself , if only in the disguise of a page ; but this the king would not allow , and so the prince had to content himself with searching the kingdom for everything that was rare and beautiful to send to the princess . Indeed , he arrived , just as the embassy was starting , with his portrait , which had been painted in secret by the court painter .
The king and queen wished for nothing better than that their daughter marry into such a great and powerful family , and received the ambassador with every sign XXXXX welcome .
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