she was able to laugh and to cry like any one else. "I have," said she, "so much affection for you, that I will rebuild your habitation, let all the monsters of the lake be ever so furious about it." She began cutting the wood on the spot, and the Queen's little rustic palace was built so quickly that she slept in it the same night.
The Frog, attentive to all that was necessary for the Queen, made her a bed of creeping-thyme and wild-thyme. When the wicked Fairy found that the Queen no longer slept upon the bare earth, she sent for her. "Who are the men or the gods that protect you?" said she. "This land, on which no showers fall, save of sulphur and fire, has never produced as much as a leaf of sage, and I learn, notwithstanding, that odoriferous herbs grow in your path." "I am ignorant of the cause of it, Madam," said the Queen; "if I may attribute it to anything, it is to my infant, yet unborn, who will perhaps be less unfortunate than myself." "I have a fancy," said the Fairy, "to have a bouquet of the rarest flowers; try if your little brat's good fortune will supply them for you; if it fail to do so, stripes will not fail you; for I often administer them, and administer them wonderfully well." The Queen began to weep; such threats were anything but agreeable to her; and the impossibility of finding any flowers threw her into despair.
She returned to her little dwelling: her friend the Frog came to her. "How melancholy you seem!" said she to the Queen. "Alas! my dear gossip, who could be otherwise? The Fairy wants a nosegay of the finest flowers; where shall I find them? You see those which grow here, and yet my life is in danger if I do not satisfy her." "Amiable Princess," said the Frog, graciously, "I must endeavour to get you out of this difficulty; there is a bat here, the only one I have had any dealings with; she is a good creature, she will go faster than I can, I will give her my hood of roses, and with this assistance she will find you some flowers." The Queen made her a low curtsy, for there was no way of embracing the little Frog.
The latter went immediately to speak to the bat, who in a few hours returned, hiding some beautiful flowers under her wings. The Queen quickly carried them to the wicked Fairy, who was more surprised than she had ever been, being
