The Queen was so astonished that she said the first thing that came into her head, which, of course, was a thing she never did as a rule.
"Then we need not have gone into mourning at all," she exclaimed. She remembered herself the next moment, however, and held out her arms affectionately. "Come and kiss me, my sweet child, and then go and change your clothes _at once_!"
"I have brought back a lover too," she said.
There was a great sensation among the courtiers.
"This must be looked into," said the Queen, ceasing to be affectionate; and she trod on the King's toe.
"Of course, of course, at once," added the King, hastily.
"To have our daughter in rags is bad enough," continued the Queen, "but a ragged son-in-law is really too much."
"In fact, he must be beheaded at once. Let us go in to lunch," said the King, with great presence of mind.
"So, after all, there _will_ be an execution," said the little page to all the other pages; but none of them were in the least bit excited, because they had all seen as many executions in their day as any page could possibly wish.
Then a very wonderful thing happened. A white mist began to rise slowly out of the ground, and it rolled all round the two ragged lovers, and grew thicker and thicker, until no one could see them at all.
"It is the White Witch of the Waterfall," whispered the little page.
"I shall catch a bad cold," said the Queen, sneezing. "What a lot of uncomfortable things seem to be happening this morning!"
"And so near lunch-time too," added the King. "Do you suppose it would be any good to turn on the garden hose or fire a few cannons?"
Then the mist began to roll away again, and the two ragged lovers were no longer there, but in their place stood the Princess Gyldea in her court robes, looking ten times more beautiful than she had ever looked before, and by her side--King Marigold himself.
"Now I know why I fell in love with you when I saw you digging potatoes," said the Princess. "But why did you disguise yourself in that horrible way?"
"I did it for both of us. We both had to be taught. Don't you understand?" said the young King with the serious face.
And the Princess thought she did at last.
"But you can dance well now?" she said, anxiously.