Queen. Tell me.
Flossie Fixit. I hear he was burned up in the fire and all the little fairies who went with him.
Queen. Billy Bundy and Thomas Page, find out if this is true.
Billy Bundy and Thomas Page exit and reappear a few moments later.
Billy Bundy. I cannot find out where the Prince lives, but everybody says he and the fairies who went with him were all burned up in the fire.
Thomas Page. We have searched everywhere and all we hear is that he was burned up in the fire.
[Queen, in despair, weeps, wringing her hands. Peers out of the window, then leans her head sobbing on the window casement.]
Billy Bundy [aside to Flossie Fixit]. This is no joke. What have you done? The poor Queen may die or go mad. If that is a false report, the one who started the lie deserves himself to be burned up in the fire. Lying is never right.
Thomas Page. It is only a proof of our stupidity.
Music: “Lady Autumn.”