Contest of the Fairies

Instead the Queen would say, "Where is my Sweet?" or "my Beautiful," or "my Wise."

Of course, with all these charms, by the time the girls grew to young maidenhood they attracted admirers by the dozen. Not only in their own court, but princes from miles away were constantly arriving, attracted by the reports of their beauty which were spread abroad. But the lovely girls were as careful as they were beautiful, and favored no one.

Let us return for a moment to Fairy Flight, who as you may recall was the fairy who had determined to bring up the faithless prince. She had her sights fixed on a certain Prince Miliflor. As it turns out, Prince Miliflor's father was a friend of the king whose wife had discovered the twelve baby princesses. When Prince Miliflor was born, Flight had bestowed on him all the graces of mind and body that a prince could possibly wish. But now she doubled her efforts and spared no pains in adding every imaginable charm and fascination. So that whether he happened to be cross or cheerful, dressed in the most luxurious royal fineries or simplest robes, whether he was serious or light-hearted, he was always perfectly irresistible! In truth, he was an utterly charming young fellow, since Fairy Flight had given him the best heart in the world as well as the best head, and had left nothing to be desired except the ability to stay faithful to one love. For it cannot be denied that Prince Miliflor was a desperate flirt, and as fickle as the wind. So much so, that by the time he arrived at his eighteenth birthday he had conquered and left behind every heart in the kingdom. Things were in this state when he was invited to visit the court of his father's friend, the king and queen who had raised the twelve baby princesses.

Imagine the surprise of Prince Miliflor when he arrived and was presented to twelve of the loveliest creatures he had ever seen. It soon became clear that they all liked him as much as he liked each one of them, and before long he was never happy a single instant without them.