And she gave him a written promise to marry him if anything ever happened to the Prince her husband.
"But," said the Count, "can you reconcile yourself to the fact that my proportions are insignificant?"
"Compared with me, as I now am, you are gigantic," said Bertha. "I am cured of my pride in my own splendid stature."
"Good," said the Count. "You have noticed the carbuncle that your husband (husband! ha! ha! but no matter) wears on his middle finger?"
"I have."
"In that rests his charm. Remove it while he sleeps; he will vanish, and you will be a free woman."
******
That night as the clock struck twelve, the Princess removed the ring from the right-hand middle finger of Prince Pooh. He gave a fearful shriek; the room was filled with smoke; and on its clearing off, the body of the gnome in its original form lay dead upon the bed, charred to ashes!
******
The castle of Poohberg, however, remained, and all that was in it. The ashes of the monster were buried in the back garden, and a horrible leafless shrub, encrusted with a black, shiny, horny bark, that suggested black beetles, grew out the grave with astounding rapidity. It grew, and grew, and grew, but never put forth a leaf; and as often as it was cut down it grew again. So when Bertha (who never recovered her original proportions) married Count Krappentrapp, it became necessary to shut up the back garden alto-
