"Do you not know," said the Duchess, "that you must honour the poor as the favourites of Jesus Christ? A beggar woman just like this one held you over the baptismal font with the good Duke of the Black Rocks, and similarly your little sister Bee had a beggar as a godfather."
The old woman, who had guessed the feelings of the little boy, leaned towards him, leering, and said:
"I wish you the conquest of as many kingdoms as I have lost, my prince. I have been Queen of the Island of Pearls and of the Mountains of Gold; every day I had fourteen different kinds of fish served at my table, and a little blackamoor to carry my train."
"And by what misfortune did you lose your islands and your mountains, my good woman?" asked the Duchess.
"I offended the dwarfs, who have carried me off from my States."
"Have the dwarfs so much power?" asked George.
"Living under the earth," the old woman said, "they know the virtue of stones, fashion metal, and discover springs."
The Duchess:
"And what did you do to vex them, good mother?"
The old woman: