FIRESIDE STORIES. 481

 

means he subdued his enemies abroad, and secured peace among
his subjects at home. Nevertheless, in the midst of his glory,
his Queen died, leaving behind her an only daughter, about
fifteen years of age. This lady, from her courtly carriage,
beauty, and affability, was the wonder of all who knew her;
but, as covetousness is said to be the root of all evil, so it hap-
pened in this instance. The King hearing of a lady who had
likewise an only daughter, for the sake of her riches had a mind
to marry: though she was old, ugly, hook-nosed, and hump-
backed, yet all this could not deter him from marrying her. Her
daughter, also, was a yellow dowdy, full of envy and ill nature ;
and, in short, was much of the same mould as her mother. This
signified nothing, for in a few weeks the King, attended by the
nobility and gentry, brought his intended bride to his palace,
where the marriage rites were performed. They had not been
long in the Court before they set the King against his own beau.
tiful daughter, which was done by false reports and accusations.
The young Princess, having lost her father’s love, grew weary of
the Court, and one day meeting with her father in the garden,
she desired him, with tears in her eyes, to give her a small sub
sistence, and she would go and seck her fortune; to which the
King consented, and ordered her mother-in-law to make up a
small sum according to her discretion. She went to the Queen,
who gave her a canvas bag of brown bread and hard cheese,
with a bottle of beer; though this was but a very pitiful dowry
for a King’s auuehtce She took it, returned thanks, and pro-
ceeded on her journey, passing through groves, woods, and
valleys, till at length she saw an old man sitting on a stone at
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