‘To order the dinner,’ said the nurse. ‘Then you’re——’
‘Yes,’ said Aura, ‘I’m the Princess.’
‘You’re the Princess,’ said the Magician. ‘Then I’ll marry you all the more. And if you say no I’ll uglify you as the word leaves your lips. Oh, yes—you think I’ve just been amusing myself over my cooking—but I’ve really been brewing the strongest spell in the world. Marry me—or drink——’
The Princess shuddered at these dreadful words.
‘Drink, or marry me,’ said the Magician. ‘If you marry me you shall be beautiful for ever.’
‘Ah,’ said the nurse, ‘he’s a match even for a Princess.’
‘I’ll tell papa,’ said the Princess, sobbing.
‘No, you won’t,’ said Taykin. ‘Your father will never know. If you won’t marry me you shall drink this and become my scullery maid—my hideous scullery maid—and wash up for ever in the lonely tower.’
[p276]
He caught her by the wrist.
‘Stop,’ cried the apprentice, who was a Prince.