RIQUET WITH THE TUFT. 259

stupid, which made the poor princess ready to die of grief.
One day, having walked to a wood not far off, where she might
sit down and cry at her ease for her hard fate, without being
seen, she saw a young man of small size, and very ugly, coming
near to her; he was at the same time beautifully dressed.

 

This was the young prince Riquet, who had fallen deeply in
love with the princess, from the portraits he had everywhere
seen of her; and had now left his father's kingdom to have the
pleasure of seeing and talking with her.

He was charmed at meeting her alone, and went up to her,
and spoke to her with great respect. Finding, after the first
compliments were over, that she seemed very mournful, he said:
“T cannot think, madam, how a lady with’ so much beauty as
you have, can be so unhappy; for, though I can boast of having
seen a great number of handsome ladies, none of them could
in the smallest degree compare with you.”—* You are pleased
to flatter me,” replied the princess, without saying a word more.
“Beauty,” answered Riquet with the Tuft, “is so great a
charm that it supplies the place of everything else; and she

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