And what was the prince doing ? Well , he had fallen very ill when he was on the furthest border of the kingdom , and he was nursed by some kind people who did not know who he was , so that the king and queen heard nothing about him . When he was better he made his way home again , and into his father 's palace , where he found a strange man standing behind the throne with the peacock 's feathers . This was his wife 's brother , whom the king had taken into high favour , though , of course , the prince was quite ignorant of what had happened . For a moment the king and queen stared at their son , as if he had been unknown to them ; he had grown so thin and weak during his illness that his shoulders were bowed like those of an old man . ` Have you forgotten me so soon ? ' he asked . At the sound of his voice they gave a cry and ran towards him , and poured out questions as to what had happened , and why he looked like that . But the prince did not answer any of them . ` How is my wife ? ' he said . There was a pause . Then the queen replied : ` She is dead . ' ` Dead ! ' he repeated , stepping a little backwards . ` And my child ? ' ` He is dead too . ' The young man stood silent . Then he said , ` Show me their graves . ' At these words the king , who had been feeling rather uncomfortable , took heart again , for had he not prepared two beautiful tombs for his son to see , so that he might never , never guess what had been done to his wife ?
All these months the king and queen had been telling each other how good and merciful they had been not XXXXX take her brother 's advice and to put her to death .
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