My heart was full of sorrow.
All that day I had been thinking of home, of the dear old baron and the gentle baroness, my mother, and wondering whether they missed me at the castle.
Suddenly came a messenger from King Gâ-roo summoning me at once to go to the audience chamber.
With a bound I came to myself.
The little princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ had gone to her apartments.
I started to call her back.
Every instant I expected to hear that little bundle of bones and malevolence jump out at me like a venomous toad.
With fear and trembling I betook me to the King’s chamber.
To my unspeakable delight his majesty, the ruler of the Umi-Lobas, was in the rosiest of humors.
He met me with outstretched hands, poured out a beaker of wine for me, and bade me sit down at the very foot of the throne.