"What children are these?" he asked in a voice which shook.
"I never saw them before," replied the head gardener. "I think they are some of the orphan children which the great mercy and clemency of your royal majesty have caused to be rescued from the plague."
"Who are your parents, my children?" asked one of the courtiers.
"We are the children of the good miller and his wife," they replied. "Our kind foster parents are now dead with the plague."
"Where did this miller and his wife find you?" asked the king eagerly.
Then the two children told the story of how the miller had found them in a basket in the river. They knew it well, for it was their favorite story of all the ones which the miller's wife had told them.
The courtiers looked at each other in amazement. Every one had noticed the bright stars shining on the children's brows.
"I believe you are the two dear babes lost from this palace!" cried the king as he took them in his arms.
"Who put them in that basket?" asked the king's counsellors.
"If I knew you may be sure that fitting punishment would be visited upon them!" cried the king.