and he was very quick about it. When he had come down into the courtyard
he walked quite softly, and the ladies were so busily engaged in counting
the kisses, that all should be fair, that they did not notice the emperor. He
raised himself on tiptoe.
“What does this mean?” he said, when he saw that his daughter was
kissing the swineherd, and then hit their heads with his shoe just as the
swineherd received the sixty-eighth kiss.
“Go out of my sight,” said the emperor, for he was very angry; and both
the princess and the swineherd were banished from the empire. There she
stood and cried, the swineherd scolded her, and the rain came down in
torrents.
“Alas, unfortunate creature that I am!” said the princess, “I wish I had
accepted the prince. Oh, how wretched I am!”
The swineherd went behind a tree, wiped his face, threw off his poor
attire and stepped forth in his princely garments; he looked so beautiful that
the princess could not help bowing to him.
“I have now learnt to despise you,” he said. “You refused an honest
prince; you did not appreciate the rose and the nightingale; but you did not
