In due time the Princess came back to her father's castle. The big bell
boomed from the high tower; the heavy iron gates were thrown open;
banners floated all along the battlemented walls, and in the grand hall,
servants and retainers hurried to and fro, bearing gold dishes, and
great bowls of flaming smoking punch, while oxen were roasted whole and
hogsheads of ale tapped on the common by the castle walls, and thither
hied them the villagers one and all to make merry at the coming of the
dear Princess again. "She will come back so wise and learned," they
said, "so far above us that she will not notice us as she did once," but
not so: the Princess with a red rose in her hair, and dressed so plain
and neat that she looked more like a farmer's daughter than a great
king's, came down among them from her father's side with nods of love
and welcome on her lips, and a smile upon her face, and took them by the
hands as in the old days, and none among them so lowly or so poor but
what received a kind word from the gracious Princess, and carried away
in their hearts glad feelings that she was still the same noble and
gracious lady she always was.
Pages:
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351