"Isn't it sad," the courtiers began whispering, "how the Princess has lost her looks! Do you suppose she ever was really beautiful or did we just imagine it?"
And the neighboring kings when they heard this remarked softly among themselves:
"It's just as well we didn't hurry one of our sons into a marriage with this young woman!"
The Princess Kissed Its Coral Beak
Now there was a poor widow who lived near the bath-house.She had a daughter, a pretty young girl, who used to sit at the window and watch the Princess as people came and told her their stories.
"Mother," the girl said one day, "every one in the world goes to the bath-house and I want to go, too!"
"Nonsense!" the mother said. "What story could you tell the Princess?"
"But everybody else goes and I don't see why I can't!"