“‘There is one more, and you must see him,’ she cried; ‘there is one more.’
“The courtiers would have thrust her aside, but the king said, ‘Let all those appear, that have suffered.’
“Then it seemed to me that I was looking over a vast sight of country, a wide view, such as there is from the Windmill Hill at home. And there in the air I saw lying, and yet not falling, a naked child.
“I knew it was Christ I was seeing—I knew it was Christ. And while I was just standing looking, all the stars fell from heaven in a shower of golden rain.”
There was silence, and the children watched a bevy of sparks race up the wide chimney, the laggards among them creeping glowingly, among the black soot at the chimney back.
Then the old woman said:—
“That was a good dream; but I have had others that were not so good.”
“Tell us!” said the children, “tell us!”
And the old woman began the “Story of the Five Queens.”
“There was once a king who had five queens, and he took to himself yet another queen, and this woman was proud and cruel. She would not brook rivals, wishing to reign alone. So she sought out the ancient laws of that country, among which she knew she would find something to fit her mind. For in these laws it had been written, that where the king ceased to love his queens, those queens must die.