which shrivelled up the emperor where he stood, leaving only a little heap of ashes.
His strange death, which no one could explain, made a great sensation throughout the country, and the funeral his people gave him was the most splendid ever known. When it was over, Iliane summoned Fet-Fruners before her, and addressed him thus:
'Fet-Fruners! it is you who brought me and have saved my life, and obeyed my wishes. It is you who gave me back my stud; you who killed the genius, and the old witch his mother; you who brought me the holy water. And you, and none other, shall be my husband.'
'Yes, I will marry you,' said the young man, with a voice almost as soft as when he was a princess. 'But know that in our house, it will be the cock who sings and not the hen!'
[From Sept Contes Roumains Jules Brun and Leo Bachelin.]
