MIRANDA But is it possible for us to find out some method
of persuading the king that you are dead ?’
‘What way can we discover,’ asked Miranda,
‘since he will not be satisfied unless he sees my
tongue and my heart >?’
At these words the little Moor, who was warmly
attached to her mistress, came and threw herself
at Miranda’s feet, and said: ‘Dear madam, let me
be the sacrifice, I shall be but too happy to die for
your preservation.’
‘No, said the princess, kissing her, ‘your life
ought now to be as dear to me as my own.’
The young ape, Grabugeon, next advanced, and
said: ‘Truly, princess, your slave, Patypata, is
likely to be more serviceable to you than I can
be; therefore I offer you my heart and tongue
willingly.’
‘O my dear Grabugeon!’ replied Miranda, ‘I
cannot bear the thought of taking your life away.’
Her faithful dog Tintin then cried out that he
could not bear the thought of any one but himself
dying for his beloved mistress. In short, after a
long dispute between Patypata, Grabugeon, and
Tintin, which of them should suffer death instead of
the princess, Grabugeon nimbly climbed to the top
of a tree, and throwing himself down, broke his neck.
The captain, with much persuasion, got leave of
the princess to cut out his tongue, but it proved
too small to serve to deceive the king with it.
‘Alas! my poor ape,’ exclaimed the princess, ‘thou
hast lost thy life without doing me any service.’
‘That honour,’ interposed the Moor, ‘is reserved
for me,’ and she instantly ran upon the knife
wherewith the captain had cut out Grabugeon’s
tongue.
But here, also, the intended service failed, as the
poor Moor’s tongue was too black to pass for
Miranda’s.
The princess bursting into tears and lamentations

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