The Pot of Gold | Page 7

for a King to say,
you know, "I never saw a gold-horned cow in my life!"
Then Drusilla told him about her loss, and the King gazed at her while
she was talking, and admired her more and more.
You must know that it had always been a great cross to the King and
his wife, the Queen, that they had never had any daughter. They had
often thought of adopting one, but had never seen any one who exactly
suited them. They wanted a full-grown Princess, because they had an
alliance with the Prince of Egypt in view.
The King looked at Drusilla now, and thought her the most beautiful
and stately maiden he had ever seen.
"What an appropriate Princess she would make!" thought he.
"Suppose I should find the gold-horned cow for you," said he to
Drusilla, when she had finished her pitiful story, "would you consent to
be adopted by the Queen and myself, and be a princess?"

Drusilla hesitated a moment. She thought of her dear old father and
how desolate he would be without her. But then she thought how
terribly distressed he would be at the loss of the gold-horned cow, and
that if he had her back, she would be company for him, even if his
daughter was away, and she finally gave her consent.
The King always had his Lord Chamberlain lead a white palfrey, with
rich housings, by the bridle, in case they came across a suitable
full-grown Princess in any of their journeys; and now he ordered him to
be brought forward, and commanded a page to assist Drusilla to the
saddle.
But she began to weep. "I want to go back to my father, until you have
found the cow, your Majesty," said she.
"You may go and bid your father good-by," replied the King,
peremptorily, "but then you must go immediately to the boarding
school, where all the young ladies of the Court are educated. If you are
going to be a Princess, it is high time you began to prepare. You will
have to learn feather stitching, and rick-rack and Kensington stitch, and
tatting, and point lace, and Japanese patchwork, and painting on china,
and how to play variations on the piano, and--everything a Princess
ought to know."
"But," said Drusilla timidly, "suppose--your Majesty shouldn't--find the
cow"--
"Oh! I shall find the cow fast enough," replied the King carelessly.
"Why, I shall have the whole Kingdom searched. I can't fail to find
her." So the page assisted the milkmaid to the saddle, kneeling
gracefully, and presenting his hand for her to place her foot in, and they
galloped off toward the farmer's cottage.
The old man was greatly astonished to see his daughter come riding
home in such splendid company, and when she explained matters to
him, his distress, at first, knew no bounds. To lose both his dear
daughter and his precious gold-horned cow, at one blow, seemed too
much to bear. But the King promised to provide liberally for him

during his daughter's absence, and spoke very confidently of his being
able to find the cow. He also promised that Drusilla should return to
him if the cow was not found in one year's time, and after a while the
old man was pacified.
Drusilla put her arms around her father's neck and kissed him tenderly;
then the page assisted her gracefully into the saddle, and she rode,
sobbing, away.
After they had ridden about an hour, they came to a large, white
building.
"O dear!" said the King, "the seminary is asleep! I was afraid of it!"
Then Drusilla saw that the building was like a great solid mass, with
not a door or window visible.
"It is asleep," explained the King. "It is not a common house; a great
professor designed it. It goes to sleep, and you can't see any doors or
windows, and such work as it is to wake it up! But we may as well
begin."
Then he gave a signal, and all the nobles shouted as loud as they
possibly could, but the seminary still remained asleep.
"It's asleep most of the time!" growled the King. "They don't want the
young ladies disturbed at their feather stitching and rick-rack, by
anything going on outside. I wish I could shake it."
Then he gave the signal again, and all the nobles shouted together, as
loud as they could possibly scream. Suddenly, doors and windows
appeared all over the seminary, like so many opening eyes.
"There," cried the King, "the seminary has woke up, and I am glad of
it!"
Then he ushered Drusilla in, and introduced her to the lady principal
and the young ladies, and she was at once set to making daisies in

Kensington stitch, for the King was