Meanwhile the day was breaking , and the King and Queen and all the courtiers began to wake up and rub their eyes , and think it was time to finish the preparations for the wedding . And the Queen asked for her neck-handkerchief , that she might look smart . Then there was a scurrying hither and thither , and a hunting everywhere : they looked into every place , from the wardrobes to the stoves , and the Queen herself ran about from the garret to the cellar , but the handkerchief was nowhere to be found . By this time the King had missed his dagger , and the search began all over again . They opened boxes and chests of which the keys had been lost for a hundred years , and found numbers of curious things , but not the dagger , and the King tore his beard , and the Queen tore her hair , for the handkerchief and the dagger were the most valuable things in the kingdom . When the King saw that the search was hopeless he said : ` Never mind , let us make haste and get the wedding over before anything else is lost . ' And then he asked where the Princess was . Upon this her nurse came forward and said : ` Sire , I have been seeking her these two hours , but she is nowhere to be found . ' This was more than the Queen could bear . She gave a shriek of alarm and fainted away , and they had to pour two barrels of eau-de-cologne over her before she recovered . When she came to herself everybody was looking for the Princess in the greatest terror and confusion , but as she did not appear , the King said to his page : ` Go and find the Ambassador Fanfaronade , who is doubtless asleep in some corner , and tell him the sad news . ' So the page hunted hither and thither , but Fanfaronade was no more to be found than the Princess , the dagger , or the neck-handkerchief ! 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 XXXXX the tricks of the Fairy Carabosse .
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