"Suffer me, then, to go alone, and, with my spear, this tough acacia-thorn, put out the giant's eyes."
The fairy shook her head, and turned to a statesman, the greatest in all her kingdom:
"What say you?"
"Cut off his hands and feet, and make mince-meat of them, as he made of my cousin's family!"
Again the queen shook her head, and turned to a grave judge, the wisest man in Fairy-land:
"Let us go together, and, while he sleeps, roll this old sinner off from the mountain-top, that his bones may be well broken when he reaches the valley below!"
At this the little people all shouted for joy, and some ran towards Rodocanachi, impatiently, to begin; but the fairy, with her sparkling sceptre, called them back.
Puzzled and sorrowful, great queen as she was, she wrung her little hands and wept. "I cannot bear to do such cruel deeds," she sighed; "and yet how shall I banish this tyrant, and make my people happy? O, I wish any one, who thinks it a pleasant thing to be a queen, could stand in my place to-day!"