“Then whisper it close to my ear.”She listened to what the maid had to whisper.“Oo,isn't he naughty!”said the Princess and walked right away from there.But she had not gone very far when she heard the pretty bells play again:
“Oh,dear Augustin,
All is lost,lost,lost.”
“I say,”the Princess ordered,“ask him if he will take his ten kisses from my maids-in-waiting.”
“No,I thank you,”said the swineherd.“Ten kisses from the Princess,or I keep my kettle.”
“Now isn't that disgusting!”said the Princess.“At least stand around me so that no one can see.”
So her maids stood around her,and spread their skirts wide,while the swineherd took his ten kisses.Then the kettle was hers.
And then the fun started.Never was a kettle kept so busy.They boiled it from morning till night.From the chamberlain's banquet to the cobbler's breakfast,they knew all that was cooked in town.The maids-in-waiting danced about and clapped their hands.
“We know who's having sweet soup and pancakes.We know who's having porridge and cutlets.Isn't it interesting?”
“Most interesting,”said the head lady of the bedchamber.
“Now,after all,I'm the Emperor's daughter,”the Princess reminded them.“Don't you tell how I got it.”
“Goodness gracious,no!”said they all.
But the swineherd-that's the Prince,for nobody knew he wasn't a real swineherd—was busy as he could be.This time he made a rattle.Swing it around,and it would play all the waltzes,jigs,and dance tunes that have been heard since the beginning of time.
“Why it's superbe!”said the Princess as she came by.“I never did hear better music.I say,go and ask him the price of that instrument.But mind you—no more kissing!”
“He wants a hundred kisses from the Princess,”said the maid-in-waiting who had been in to ask him.
“I believe he's out of his mind,”said the Princess,and she walked right away from there.But she had not gone very far when she said,“After all,I'm the Emperor's daughter,and it's my duty to encourage the arts.Tell him he can have ten kisses,as he did yesterday,but he must collect the rest from my maids-in-waiting.”
“Oh,but we wouldn't like that,”said the maids.
“Fiddlesticks,”said the Princess,“If he can kiss me he certainly can kiss you.Remember,I'm the one who gives you board and wages.”So the maid had to go back to the swineherd.
“A hundred kisses from the Princess,”the swineherd told her,“or let each keep his own.”
“Stand around me,”said the Princess,and all her maids-in-waiting stood in a circle to hide her while the swineherd began to collect.
“What can have drawn such a crowd near the pigsties?”the Emperor wondered,as he looked down from his balcony.He rubbed his eyes,and he put on his spectacles.“Bless my soul if those maids-in-waiting aren't up to mischief again.I'd better go see what they are up to now.”
He pulled his easy slippers up over his heels,though ordinarily he just shoved his feet in them and let them flap.Then,my!How much faster he went.As soon as he came near the pens he took very soft steps.The maids-in-waiting were so busy counting kisses,to see that everything went fair and that he didn't get too many or too few,that they didn't notice the Emperor behind them.He stood on his tiptoes.
“Such naughtiness!”he said when he saw them kissing,and he boxed their ears with his slipper just as the swineherd was taking his eighty-sixth kiss.
“Be off with you!”the Emperor said in a rage.And both the Princess and the swineherd were turned out of his empire.And there she stood crying.The swineherd scolded,and the rain came down in torrents.
“Poor little me,”said the Princess.“If only I had married the famous Prince!Oh,how unlucky I am!”
The swineherd slipped behind a tree,wiped the brown and black off his face,threw off his ragged clothes,and showed himself in such princely garments that the Princess could not keep from curtsying.
“I have only contempt for you,”he told her.“You turned down a Prince's honest offer,and you didn't appreciate the rose or the nightingale,but you were all too ready to kiss a swineherd for a tinkling toy to amuse you.You are properly punished.”
Then the Prince went home to his kingdom,and shut and barred the door.The Princess could stay outside and sing to her heart's content:
Oh,dear Augustin,
All is lost,lost,lost.
