The Seven Enchanted Princes

"

"I've never tried it, but I'll do it just to convince you that I am clever too," said this new queen.

She took up a sword and cut off her right hand. Then she fainted away. The arm grew full of poison and the queen soon died, but not until she had told the king what the servant had said to her.

The king was very angry at the servant and called her to him.

"What do you mean," he thundered, "by telling such a story about Queen Honoria's magic powers?"

"I wanted you to remember where you had found Queen Honoria," replied the servant.

Then the king suddenly remembered how he had first seen Queen Honoria when she was in the house in the forest. He thought of how pretty she had been in the dress which looked like soft green moss. Then he thought of how she had said that she must ask permission of her seven brothers before she consented to become his queen.

"By permission of the seven enchanted princes!" he cried. "I forgot to say these words before I kissed my dear Queen Honoria!"

He quickly ran to the dark cell underneath the palace where she was confined. He said the magic words and kissed his fair queen who was just as beautiful as before she had been shut up in the cell, though a trifle paler.

In the house in the forest the seven dwarfs who were in truth seven enchanted princes suddenly were disenchanted.

"Our dear sister Honoria did not forget us after all," they cried in joy.