THE HISTORY OF A NUT-CRACKER. 7

the six cats walked about to discover if there were not some
open window by which they might escape upon the tiles.
At the sight of her
child the despair of
the poor mother was
something frightful
to behold; and she
was carried off in a
fainting fit into the
the royal chamber.
But it was chiefly
the unhappy father
whose sorrow was the
most desperate and painful to witness. The courtiers were
compelled to put padlocks upon the windows, for fear he
should throw himself out; and they were also forced to line
the walls with mattrasses, lest he should dash out his brains
against them. Hissword was of course taken away from him;
iil and neither knife nor fork, nor any sharp or
pointed instruments were left in his
way. This was the more easily
'\, effected; imasmuch as he ate
"i nothing for the two or
three following days,
iy, crying without
ty <a ceasing,