"Certainly not!" the Queen said.
There was blue flame, and a great pillar of sand shot up into the air. The wind carried it slowly away—the gentleman in black had disappeared.
"Come, that's something!" the Queen said, with a sigh of relief, when her eye fell suddenly on the crowd of people that were standing looking at her. They were mostly standing on one leg. "Why, whoever are you?" the said.
And a grey-haired man answered, "We are—that is, we were—the geese. I am the oldest of them, and, as such, let me remind you that a ripe man is by far the best one to marry. Oh, maiden, marry me!"
But a perfect storm of voices went up. "No; marry me! I'm——"
But the Queen held up her hand to command silence.
"Don't make such a fearful noise. I can't even hear myself think. I'm not going to marry any of you, though you were very nice, dear geese, and I was very fond of you."
"No; the lady is going to marry me!" a voice said, and the man in shepherd's clothes stept forth.
"No, marry me!" the man in armour said.
"I'm a prince. I will make you a princess," the man in shepherd's clothes said.