"Your Royal Highness's will is law. Is there no further obstacle to the coronation?"
"None; and if there were, I'd conquer it as I have done the rest. See that my spouse and I are crowned to-morrow in presence of all the people," said the princess.
"Your spouse!" exclaimed the arch-priest. "I knew nothing of it. He is not what he seems, then—he is of royal blood?"
"Royal blood or not, he is my lawful spouse, and he is to be crowned," said the princess, firmly.
"But, my dear princess," answered the priest, "if he is not of royal blood, how can I?"
"Enough," said Bertha. "I have the warrant of the queen of the fairies that he is to be my partner in life. Here is my certificate of marriage."
And she produced a paper five or six times as big as herself, which she handed to the priest.
The priest opened it, and glanced through it.
"What!" he exclaimed. "Then he really is of royal blood. I see. What is this paper enclosed? Ha! a pedigree." And he began to read, "Prince Hans Wurst, son of King Blut Wurst, lost in early youth and picked up by a woodcutter, with whom——"
"You see," said the princess, "how the fairies befriend me. This second paper must have been placed here by their hands, for this is the first time I have set eyes upon it. Are you content with the information therein contained?" asked the Princess Bertha.