Page:Researches respecting the Book of Sindibad and Portuguese Folk-Tales.djvu/89

do you weep, royal lady?" To which the princess replied: "Well, what else can I do? My father says that I must marry him." The little old woman then said to her: "Listen to me, royal lady, go and tell your father that you will only marry him on condition that he buys you a dress of the colour of the stars in the heavens." And after saying this she departed. The princess then went up to the king, who asked her: "Well, my daughter, are we to be married?" To which she replied: "Well, father, I shall marry you when you bring me a dress of the colour of the stars in the heavens." The father, on hearing this, went out and bought her the dress, and gave it to her ready made. The princess again went to her room to cry. The little old woman again appeared to her, and asked her, "What ails you, royal lady?" She replied: "What can ail me! my father has bought me the dress I asked him for, and he wishes to marry me." The old lady rejoined: "Never mind, you must now ask him to bring you a dress of the colour of the flowers that grow in the fields." The princess again went to her father and told him that she could only marry him on condition of his bringing her a robe of the colour of wild flowers. The king bought the dress and gave it to her made up, and quite ready to be put on. The princess, again in trouble, retired to her chamber to weep. The old lady again appeared and demanded: "What ails you, royal lady?" To which the princess replied: "What can ail me, indeed! my father has bought me the second robe, and is determined to marry me." The good old lady rejoined: "Ask your father now for a robe of various colours." The princess did so, and asked for a robe of various colours, and the king bought her the dress and brought it to her ready to be put on. The princess returned to her chamber to weep over her new trouble, but the little old woman came to her and asked her what troubled her. The princess replied that the king had bought her the third robe she required of him, and was now determined that the marriage