` Alas ! If the King is killed , what will become of me and of my little daughter ? ' and she was so sorrowful that she could neither eat nor sleep . The King sent her a letter every day , but at last , one morning , as she looked out of the palace window , she saw a messenger approaching in hot haste . ` What news , courier ? What news ? ' cried the Queen , and he answered : ` The battle is lost and the King is dead , and in another moment the enemy will be here . ' The poor Queen fell back insensible , and all her ladies carried her to bed , and stood round her weeping and wailing . Then began a tremendous noise and confusion , and they knew that the enemy had arrived , and very soon they heard the King himself stamping about the palace seeking the Queen . Then her ladies put the little Princess into her arms , and covered her up , head and all , in the bedclothes , and ran for their lives , and the poor Queen lay there shaking , and hoping she would not be found . But very soon the wicked King clattered into the room , and in a fury because the Queen would not answer when he called to her , he tore back her silken coverings and tweaked off her lace cap , and when all her lovely hair came tumbling down over her shoulders , he wound it three times round his hand and threw her over his shoulder , where he carried her like a sack of flour . The poor Queen held her little daughter safe in her arms and shrieked for mercy , but the wicked King only mocked her , and begged her to go on shrieking , as it amused him , and so mounted his great black horse , and rode back to his own country . When he got there he declared that he would have the Queen and the little Princess hanged on the nearest tree ; but his courtiers said that seemed a pity , for when the baby grew up she would be a very nice wife for the King 's only son . The King was rather pleased with this idea , and shut the Queen up in the highest room of a tall tower , which was very tiny , and miserably furnished with a table and a very hard bed upon the floor . Then he sent for a fairy who lived near his kingdom , and after receiving her with more politeness than he generally showed , and entertaining her at a sumptuous feast , he took her up to see the Queen . The fairy was so touched by the sight of her misery that when she kissed her hand she whispered : ` Courage , madam ! I think I see a way to help you . ' The Queen , a little comforted by these words , received her graciously , and begged her to take pity upon the poor little Princess , who had met with such a sudden reverse of fortune . But the King got very cross when he saw them whispering together , and cried harshly : ` Make an end of these fine speeches , madam . I brought you here to tell me if the child will grow up pretty and fortunate . '
Then the Fairy answered that the Princess would be as pretty , and clever , and well brought up XXXXX it was possible to be , and the old King growled to the Queen that it was lucky for her that it was so , as they would certainly have been hanged if it were otherwise .
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