`` But if I take your ring , my pretty shepherdess , '' said the Queen , `` you will have nothing left ; and what will you do then ? '' `` Ah ! madam , '' she answered simply , `` if I have your friendship I shall do very well . '' So the Queen took the ring and put it on her finger , and mounted her chariot , which was made of coral studded with emeralds , and drawn by six milk-white horses . And Felicia looked after her until the winding of the forest path hid her from her sight , and then she went back to the cottage , thinking over all the wonderful things that had happened . The first thing she did when she reached her room was to throw the cabbage out of the window . But she was very much surprised to hear an odd little voice cry out : `` Oh ! I am half killed ! '' and could not tell where it came from , because cabbages do not generally speak . As soon as it was light , Felicia , who was very unhappy about her pot of pinks , went out to look for it , and the first thing she found was the unfortunate cabbage . She gave it a push with her foot , saying : `` What are you doing here , and how dared you put yourself in the place of my pot of pinks ? '' `` If I had n't been carried , '' replied the cabbage , `` you may be very sure that I should n't have thought of going there . '' It made her shiver with fright to hear the cabbage talk , but he went on : `` If you will be good enough to plant me by my comrades again , I can tell you where your pinks are at this moment -- hidden in Bruno 's bed ! '' Felicia was in despair when she heard this , not knowing how she was to get them back . But she replanted the cabbage very kindly in his old place , and , as she finished doing it , she saw Bruno 's hen , and said , catching hold of it : `` Come here , horrid little creature ! you shall suffer for all the unkind things my brother has done to me . '' `` Ah ! shepherdess , '' said the hen , `` do n't kill me ; I am rather a gossip , and I can tell you some surprising things that you will like to hear . Do n't imagine that you are the daughter of the poor laborer who brought you up ; your mother was a queen who had six girls already , and the King threatened that unless she had a son who could inherit his kingdom she should have her head cut off . `` So when the Queen had another little daughter she was quite frightened , and agreed with her sister -LRB- who was a fairy -RRB- to exchange her for the fairy 's little son .
Now the Queen had been shut up in a great tower by the King 's orders , and when a great many days went by and still she heard nothing XXXXX the Fairy she made her escape from the window by means of a rope ladder , taking her little baby with her .
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