“Then let the bird fly away,”said the Princess;and she would by no means allow the Prince to come.
But the Prince was not at all dismayed. He stained his face brown and black, drew his hat down over his brows, and knocked at the door.
“Good day, Emperor,”he said:“could I not be employed here in the castle?”
“Well,”replied the Emperor,“but there are so many who want places;but let me see, I want some one who can keep the pigs,for we have many of them.”
So the Prince was appointed the Emperor's swineherd. He received a miserable small room down by the pig-sty,and here ;but all day long he sat and worked,and when it was evening he had finished a neat little pot, with bells all round it, and when the pot boiled these bells rang out prettily and played the old melody----
Oh, my darling Augustine
Elevit,
All is lost, all is lost.
But the cleverest thing about the whole arrangement was,that by holding one's finger in the steam from the pot, one could at once smell what food was being cooked at every hearth in the town. That was quite a different thing from the rose.
Now the Princess came with all her maids of honour,and when she heard the melody she stood still and looked quite pleased;for she, too, could play“Oh, my darling Augustine.”It was the only thing she could play, but then she played it with one finger.
“Why, that is what I play!”she cried.“He must be an educated swineherd!Hark-ye:go down and ask the price of the instrument.”
So one of the maids of honour had to go down; but first she put on a pair of pattens
Elevit.
“What do you want for the pot?”inquired the lady.
“I want ten kisses from the Princess,”replied the swineherd.
“Heaven preserve us!”exclaimed the maid of honour.
“Well,I won't sell it for less,”said the swineherd.
“Well, what did he say?”asked the Princess.
“I really can't repeat it, it is so shocking,”replied the lady.
“Well, you can whisper it in my ear.”And the lady whispered it to her----
“He is very rude,”declared the Princess; and she went away. But when she had gone a little way, the bells sounded so prettily----
Oh my darling Augustine,
All is lost, all is lost.
“Hark-ye,”said the Princess:“ask him if he will take ten kisses from my maids of honour.”
“No,thanks,”replied the swineherd:“ten kisses from the Princess
YOOX HK, or I shall keep my pot.”
