Soon after the old king died , and Don Giovanni became king . THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES I ONCE upon a time there lived in the village of Montignies-sur-Roc a little cow-boy , without either father or mother . His real name was Michael , but he was always called the Star Gazer , because when he drove his cows over the commons to seek for pasture , he went along with his head in the air , gaping at nothing . As he had a white skin , blue eyes , and hair that curled all over his head , the village girls used to cry after him , ` Well , Star Gazer , what are you doing ? ' and Michael would answer , ` Oh , nothing , ' and go on his way without even turning to look at them . The fact was he thought them very ugly , with their sun-burnt necks , their great red hands , their coarse petticoats and their wooden shoes . He had heard that somewhere in the world there were girls whose necks were white and whose hands were small , who were always dressed in the finest silks and laces , and were called princesses , and while his companions round the fire saw nothing in the flames but common everyday fancies , he dreamed that he had the happiness to marry a princess . II One morning about the middle of August , just at mid-day when the sun was hottest , Michael ate his dinner of a piece of dry bread , and went to sleep under an oak . And while he slept he dreamt that there appeared before him a beautiful lady , dressed in a robe of cloth of gold , who said to him : ` Go to the castle of Beloeil , and there you shall marry a princess . ' That evening the little cow-boy , who had been thinking a great deal about the advice of the lady in the golden dress , told his dream to the farm people . But , as was natural , they only laughed at the Star Gazer . The next day at the same hour he went to sleep again under the same tree . The lady appeared to him a second time , and said : ` Go to the castle of Beloeil , and you shall marry a princess . ' In the evening Michael told his friends that he had dreamed the same dream again , but they only laughed at him more than before . ` Never mind , ' he thought to himself ; ` if the lady appears to me a third time , I will do as she tells me . ' The following day , to the great astonishment of all the village , about two o'clock in the afternoon a voice was heard singing : ` Raleo , raleo , How the cattle go ! ' It was the little cow-boy driving his herd back to the byre . The farmer began to scold him furiously , but he answered quietly , ' I am going away , ' made his clothes into a bundle , said good-bye to all his friends , and boldly set out to seek his fortunes . There was great excitement through all the village , and on the top of the hill the people stood holding their sides with laughing , as they watched the Star Gazer trudging bravely along the valley with his bundle at the end of his stick . It was enough to make anyone laugh , certainly .
III It was well known for full twenty miles round that there lived in the castle of Beloeil twelve princesses of wonderful beauty , and as proud as they were beautiful , and who were besides so very sensitive and of such truly royal blood , XXXXX they would have felt at once the presence of a pea in their beds , even if the mattresses had been laid over it .
after as before if in into of that to upon