Ah, no? Then I’ll dream as I read.
[Reads aloud.] “Then the Prince, all glittering in his silver suit, walked rapidly up the palace corridors, past the guards and soldiers, past the vassals and retainers, past the courtiers, the lords and the ladies, past the King and the Queen—all fast asleep—to where on a golden couch the beautiful Princess lay, wrapped in a death-like slumber. Marveling much at her wondrous beauty, the Prince bent over the closed lids, and, all trembling with eagerness, kissed the half-opened lips.
“With brazen clangor the palace clock struck the hour of noon. There was a start, a murmur, a sudden awakening. King, Queen, and court threw off their century sleep, and passed to their several duties. But the Princess, meeting the beaming eyes of the brave and handsome Prince, recognized at once the hero of her dream, and greeted him with an entrancing smile. Then, rising quickly from her couch, a charming blush suffusing her beautiful face, she took his hand, and leading him to the King, her father, said:
“‘Behold, my Lord, the husband whom the fairies have sent me!’
“And the King, looking upon the young Prince, loved him so exceedingly that he gave them both his blessing.
“So the gallant Prince and the beautiful Princess were married with great pomp and ceremony, and lived happily together ever after.”
Cicely. [Sits in reverie a moment, and then says, sadly:]
Heigh ho, so the world goes!
How dreary my years!
What bliss if the fables were true!