more money for it than even Lord Abe had sent.
The servant of his lordship, bearing the precious parcel, hastened home from China and landing at the nearest port he mounted a swift horse, sent by his master to meet him, and rode the whole distance to the capital, four hundred miles, in seven days.
His lordship was so delighted to get the fur robe that he did not give a second thought to the money expended, but turning his face towards China, fell on his knees and worshipped.
Then, picturing to himself how queenly Princess Splendor would look with this rich garment clinging to her graceful form, he replaced it in the exquisite box encrusted with jewels and hastened away to the palace with his treasure. |
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The princess expressed her admiration, when her women shook from its folds the rich golden-green fur which shimmered like silver in the sun-light, and though she admitted that it looked as if it were real, yet since her other lovers had tried to deceive her, she determined to put this one to the test, and knowing, that if the robe were genuine it could not be burnt, she requested Lord Abe to put it in the fire.
The old wood-cutter protested against this, as he was displeased with his daughter for rejecting the two princes, and was afraid that she might treat this suitor in the same way.
Her foster-mother, too, had long been anxious that her daughter should wed, and now that her husband had asked the nobleman into the house, rejoiced to think that the marriage |
