unable to understand by what miracle the Queen was so befriended.
The Princess was incessantly looking for the means to escape. She acquainted the good Frog with her wish, who said, "Madam, permit me first of all to consult my little hood, and we will act according to its advice; she took it, and having placed it on a rush, she burned some slips of juniper wood, some capers, and two little green peas; she then croaked five times, after which ceremony, putting the hood of roses on, she began to speak like an oracle.
"Destiny, ruler of everything," said she, "forbids, you to quit these regions; you will give birth here to a princess more beautiful than the mother of the Loves; for the rest, do not trouble yourself. Time alone can relieve you."
The Queen cast down her eyes, and tears fell from them, but she resolved to trust her friend. "At all events," said she, "do not desert me; be at my confinement, since it is decreed that it must take place here." The good Frog promised to be her Lucina,[1] and consoled her as much as she could.
But it is time to return to the King. While his enemies were besieging him in his capital city, he could not regularly send couriers to the Queen; having however made several sallies, he compelled them to raise the siege, and felt less happy at this success on his own account than on that of his dear Queen, whom it enabled him to fetch home without fear. He was ignorant of her disaster; none of his officers ventured to inform him of it; they had found in the forest the remains of the chariot, the runaway horses, and all the Amazonian ornaments she had put on in the idea of rejoining him.
As they had no doubt of her death, and believed her body to have been devoured by wild beasts, they agreed among themselves to persuade the King that she had died suddenly. At this sad news he thought he should die of grief himself—hair torn, tears shed, mournful exclamations, sobs, sighs, and other small duties of widowhood,—nothing was wanting on this occasion.
After passing several days without seeing any one, or wishing to be seen, he returned to his capital city dressed in
- ↑ The goddess who presided over child-birth; said by some to be the daughter of Jupiter and Juno; by others, Juno herself, or Diana.
