‘No, I don’t exactly; but perhaps something will turn up to help you. Won’t it, Abbonamento?’
Abbonamento nodded.
‘But what shall I do in the meanwhile?’ said the Princess; ‘for, you see, I don’t want to be fried in lard, as you say the townsmen are in the habit of doing.’
‘You’d better stop with us,’ said Abbonamento. ‘Eh, wife, what do you say?’
And his wife said:
‘Oh yes, certainly; it’s the only thing to do. Do stop.’
‘Well, I suppose I must,’ said the Princess. ‘Only, shan’t I be rather in the way?’
But the King answered:
‘Oh, not at all, quite the other way. You’ll be very useful. You can milk the cows, and pluck the fowls, and feed the pigs, and all sorts of things.’
‘But what will the people of the town say if they see me?’ asked the Princess.