Then one of them, but whether the gate-keeper or another she could not tell, stepped forward, and making a low bow, said. "I am the king of the mineral-workers and the workers in stone. These are my people; but because you are a mortal, we one and all bow before you."
At these words all the little people bowed and waved their hands. Then the king continued:
"Henceforth you are to be known as the Princess Bébè;" and he mounted a marble footstool that stood close by, standing on tiptoe, and placing on the head of the new-made princess a tiny coronet of pearls. Dumb with astonishment, the Princess Bébè listened quietly to all that was said to her, and allowed herself to be led away by one of the little men, who had been appointed her chamberlain.
It was now getting late, and she was glad enough to be shown to her own room, that she might think over the many wonderful things which she had seen.
But here were new wonder and new riches.
Instead of being covered with a carpet, the floor was laid in squares of jasper, the windows were of pure white crystal instead of glass, and the curtains were made of a fine net-work of gold, caught back with a double row of amethysts.
The furniture was of gold and silver, exquisitely carved, and the quilt, which lay in stiff folds over the bed, was a marvel of beautiful colors that seemed to be now one thing and now another.
The Princess Bébè held her breath. "It will be like going to sleep on a rainbow," she said to herself, for the opal bed was full of changing colors, now red, now green, and then purple and soft rose-pink, and then, perhaps, green again. "There was never anything so beautiful as this!" exclaimed the princess, throwing herself down; but the next moment she was ready to cry with vexation, for there was neither warmth nor softness in the opal bed, and she lay awake all night, alternately shivering and crying.
"I won't stay in this place another moment," she said, the next morning, when the chamberlain knocked at her door.
The chamberlain bowed, and held before her a silver cup filled with jewels. "These are a present from the king to the Princess Bébè," he said, holding it up for her inspection.