and he fancied they must refer to some dwarf the Princess was bringing with her . It never occurred to him that they could apply to the bride herself . The Princess Rosette 's portrait was carried at the head of the procession , and after it walked the King surrounded by his courtiers . He was all impatience to see the lovely Princess , but when he caught sight of the nurse 's daughter he was furiously angry , and would not advance another step . For she was really ugly enough to have frightened anybody . ` What ! ' he cried , ` have the two rascals who are my prisoners dared to play me such a trick as this ? Do they propose that I shall marry this hideous creature ? Let her be shut up in my great tower , with her nurse and those who brought her here ; and as for them , I will have their heads cut off . ' Meanwhile the King and the Prince , who knew that their sister must have arrived , had made themselves smart , and sat expecting every minute to be summoned to greet her . So when the gaoler came with soldiers , and carried them down into a black dungeon which swarmed with toads and bats , and where they were up to their necks in water , nobody could have been more surprised and dismayed than they were . ` This is a dismal kind of wedding , ' they said ; ` what can have happened that we should be treated like this ? They must mean to kill us . ' And this idea annoyed them very much . Three days passed before they heard any news , and then the King of the Peacocks came and berated them through a hole in the wall . ` You have called yourselves King and Prince , ' he cried , ` to try and make me marry your sister , but you are nothing but beggars , not worth the water you drink . I mean to make short work with you , and the sword is being sharpened that will cut off your heads ! ' ` King of the Peacocks , ' answered the King angrily , ` you had better take care what you are about . I am as good a King as yourself , and have a splendid kingdom and robes and crowns , and plenty of good red gold to do what I like with . You are pleased to jest about having our heads cut off ; perhaps you think we have stolen something from you ? '
At first the King of the Peacocks was taken aback by this bold speech , and had half a mind XXXXX send them all away together ; but his Prime Minister declared that it would never do to let such a trick as that pass unpunished , everybody would laugh at him ; so the accusation was drawn up against them , that they were impostors , and that they had promised the King a beautiful Princess in marriage who , when she arrived , proved to be an ugly peasant girl .
For after as at before in than that through to