Pedro hurried away with the princess; and after they had been married and crowned, the princess, who was now queen, one day said to him—
“Pedro, the magician who held me captive from you was Rank, and therefore were the balconies so high. When you saw me on the beach fed by pigeons, it was that you should know my power; on the shore I was attended by winged messengers, and on the sea I sailed about at pleasure.”
“But what about the wounded pigeon?” asked Pedro.
“Recollect, Pedro, what you said to me in the garden,” answered the princess—“that you would rather slay me than do me a more grievous injury. That poor pigeon with its broken wing could no more hope to soar aloft than an injured woman to mix with her former associates.”
“And what about the seven wives who were waiting outside, and who so frightened the old magician, Rank?” continued Pedro.
“They are the seven deadly sins, who would each have a tongue for itself, and yet without tongues are enough to frighten Rank,” answered the princess.
“And who am I, then,” asked Pedro, “to be so exalted now?”
“You are the wise man who strove to do his best, yet tried not to exalt himself above his position,” sweetly answered the princess.
“So that the magician Rank has unwillingly raised the poor fisherman to be king,” whispered Pedro.
“Not Rank alone, but much more so thy own worth.”