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 small ! My dear daughter Mayblossom is lost : whether she has been stolen away or has simply disappeared I can not 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 bear even that if I had any money , but I assure you that the expenses of the wedding have completely ruined me . Advise me , then , my dear subjects , what had I better do to recover my daughter , Fanfaronade , and the other things . ' This was the most eloquent speech the King had been known to make , and when everybody had done admiring it the Prime Minister made answer : ` Sire , we are all very sorry to see you so sorry . We would give everything we value in the world to take away the cause of your sorrow , but this seems to be another of the tricks of the Fairy Carabosse . The Princess 's twenty unlucky years were not quite over , and really , if the truth must be told , I noticed that Fanfaronade and the Princess appeared to admire one another greatly . Perhaps this may give some clue to the mystery of their disappearance . ' Here the Queen interrupted him , saying , ` Take care what you say , sir . Believe me , the Princess Mayblossom was far too well brought up to think of falling in love with an Ambassador . ' At this the nurse came forward , and , falling on her knees , confessed how they had made the little needle-hole in the tower , and how the Princess had declared when she saw the Ambassador that she would marry him and nobody else . Then the Queen was very angry , and gave the nurse , and the cradle-rocker , and the nursery-maid such a scolding that they shook in their shoes . But the Admiral Cocked-Hat interrupted her , crying : ` Let us be off after this good-for-nothing Fanfaronade , for with out a doubt he has run away with our Princess . ' Then there was a great clapping of hands , and everybody shouted , ` By all means let us be after him . ' So while some embarked upon the sea , the others ran from kingdom to kingdom beating drums and blowing trumpets , and wherever a crowd collected they cried : ` Whoever wants a beautiful doll , sweetmeats of all kinds , a little pair of scissors , a golden robe , and a satin cap has only to say where Fanfaronade has hidden the Princess Mayblossom . ' But the answer everywhere was , ` You must go farther , we have not seen them . ' However , those who went by sea were more fortunate , for after sailing about for some time they noticed a light before them which burned at night like a great fire .
At first they dared not go near it , not knowing what it might be , but by-and-by it remained stationary over Squirrel Island , XXXXX , as you have guessed already , the light was the glowing of the carbuncle .
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