THE FAIR room, where he knew was the phial standing on

MAID
WITH
GOLDEN
LOCKS

a shelf.
It had fallen out, however, that one of the queen’s
maids had been chasing a spider in that boudoir,
and in trying to kill it had upset and broken it,
and spilled all the precious water.
Not knowing what else to do, as she was not an
honest girl who had the courage to speak the
truth and tell what she had done, she swept the
bits of broken glass together, and then remember-
ing that there was a phial very similar in the
king’s room, also filled with clear water, she went
there, and without saying a word to any one, took
this and put it on the shelf in the queen’s room,
precisely where had stood the flask that contained
the Water of Perpetual Beauty.
Now the water in this bottle was used by the king
for getting rid of those people in his realm whom
he desired to destroy without a fuss and a trial.
It was a most deadly poison, and if a face were
bathed in this water, he who was thus washed,
shrivelled up, and died on the spot.
The king went into the queen’s boudoir, and see-
ing the phial on the shelf, immediately took it,
poured out some of the water into the hollow of
his hand and bathed his face with it. He at once
fell down, withered up, and was dead.
There was, as may well be guessed, great con-
fusion in the palace when the tidings spread that
the king was dead. Dulcet ran to the queen,
plucked at her skirts, and bade her not forget
Charming. So she sent for the gaoler and bade
him immediately knock the chains off the hands
and feet of the prisoner. There was a grand
funeral for the king, and then, as there was no
heir to the kingdom, and the nobles and council
thought it would be well to keep the two kingdoms
united, they resolved that the Fair Queen with
Golden Locks should reign over both, and that she
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