THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER: 63

_ Then, as the king had been followed into the room by
his ministers, his generals, the great officers of state, the

 

chief judges, the councillors, and the puisne judges, they all
began dancing round the room after the king, singing :—

‘Great monarch, we ne’er
In this. world did see
A child so fair
As the one that there
Has been given to thee!
Oh! ne’er, and Qh! ne’er,
-Was there child so fair!”

And, indeed—although I may surprise you:by-saying so
—there was not a word af ater in all ce fon, ie ke
creation of the world, a sweeter child than Princess Pirlipata
never had been seen. Her little:face appeared to be made
of the softest silken tissue, like the white and rosy tints of
the lily combined. Her eyes were of the purest and brightest
blue; and nothing was more charming than to behold the
golden thread of her hair, flowing in delicate curls over
shoulders as white as alabaster. Moreover, Pirlipata, when
born, was already provided with two complete rows of the
most pearly teeth, with which—two hours after her birth—