Poor old woman! She has fainted from exhaustion. Let me
give her some---
QUEEN (shrieking). No, no, not bread! I will _not_ have any more
bread.
WOODCUTTER. Drink this, my poor woman.
QUEEN (opening her eyes). Did you say drink? (She seizes the flagon
and drinks)
PRINCESS. Oh, sir, you have saved my mother's life!
WOODCUTTER. Not at all.
KING. I thank you, my man, I thank you.
QUEEN. My deliverer! Tell me who you are!
PRINCESS. It is my mother, the Queen, who asks you.
WOODCUTTER (amazed, as well he may be). The Queen!
KING. Yes, yes. Certainly, the Queen.
WOODCUTTER (taking off his hat). Pardon, your Majesty. I am a
woodcutter, who lives alone here, far away from courts.
QUEEN. Well, you've got more sense in your head than any of the
Princes that _I've_ seen lately. You'd better come to court.
PRINCESS (shyly). You will be very welcome, sir.
QUEEN. And you'd better marry the Princess.
KING. Isn't that perhaps going a _little_ too far, dear?
QUEEN. Well, you wanted kindness of heart in your son-in-law, and
you've got it. And he's got common sense too. (To WOODCUTTER) Tell me,
what do you think of bread as--as a form of nourishment?
WOODCUTTER (cautiously). One can have too much of it.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47