“Huh,” replied the girl, “don’t you know? That’s the Queen, Aurora Borealis.”
Maida realized she was in deadly danger, but it was too late to retreat, so she simply waited.
A herald came out on the steps of the palace and blew three blasts on a trumpet.
“Make way for Aurora Borealis, the Queen of Illusia, the most beautiful creature in the world,” he cried. A long procession of young ladies, in white cling-y dresses came out of the palace, and every one was more beautiful than the one who preceded her.
“My goodness, they’re pretty!” Maida said. “If the Queen is any prettier, she must be just grand.”
All the trumpets played, the beautiful girls sang, the crowd hurrahed and bowed.
Then an ugly old woman waddled out of the palace door and waddled down the steps into the Plaza. She must have been eighty at least. She had a red face and pop eyes, her nose was like a banana, and three of her teeth were missing. My! but she was a fright.
“Who’s that?” inquired Maida of her neighbor, “the cook?”
“The cook!” echoed the girl. “Why, that’s the Queen, Aurora Borealis.”
Sure enough, it was!