She had promised her aunts, with tears in her eyes, that she would not
pick any of the kind Prince's flowers, and she had meant to keep her
promise, so of course it made her feel silly to find that there were no
flowers to pick."
"Why weren't there any flowers?"
"Because the pigs had eaten them all," said the bachelor promptly. "The
gardeners had told the Prince that you couldn't have pigs and flowers, so
he decided to have pigs and no flowers."
There was a murmur of approval at the excellence of the Prince's
decision; so many people would have decided the other way.
"There were lots of other delightful things in the park. There were
ponds with gold and blue and green fish in them, and trees with beautiful
parrots that said clever things at a moment's notice, and humming birds
that hummed all the popular tunes of the day. Bertha walked up and down
and enjoyed herself immensely, and thought to herself: 'If I were not so
extraordinarily good I should not have been allowed to come into this
beautiful park and enjoy all that there is to be seen in it,' and her
three medals clinked against one another as she walked and helped to
remind her how very good she really was. Just then an enormous wolf came
prowling into the park to see if it could catch a fat little pig for its
supper."
"What colour was it?" asked the children, amid an immediate quickening of
interest.
"Mud-colour all over, with a black tongue and pale grey eyes that gleamed
with unspeakable ferocity.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186