Atondido Stories
Now, as the son of seven Queens could not read, he took the fa-
tal message cheerfully, and set off to find the white Queen's
mother.
Whilst he was journeying be passed through a town, where
every one of the inhabitants looked so sad, that he could not
help asking what was the matter. They told him it was because
the King's only daughter refused to marry; so when her father
died there would be no heir to the throne. They greatly feared
she must be out of her mind, for though every good-looking
young man in the kingdom had been shown to her, she declared
she would only marry one who was the son of seven mothers,
and who ever heard of such a thing? The King, in despair, had
ordered every man who entered the city gates to be led before
the Princess; so, much to the lad's impatience, for he was in an
immense hurry to find his mothers' eyes, he was dragged into
the presence-chamber.
No sooner did the Princess catch sight of him than she
blushed, and, turning to the King, said, "Dear father, this is my
choice!"
Never were such rejoicings as these few words produced.
The inhabitants nearly went wild with joy, but the son of sev-
en Queens said he would not marry the Princess unless they first
let him recover his mothers' eyes. When the beautiful bride
heard his story, she asked to see the potsherd, for she was very
learned and clever. Seeing the treacherous words, she said noth-
ing, but taking another similar-shaped bit of potsherd, she wrote
on it these words—"Take care of this lad, giving him all he de-
sires," and returned it to the son of seven Queens, who, none the
wiser, set off on his quest.
Ere long he arrived at the hovel in the ravine where the white
witch's mother, a hideous old creature, grumbled dreadfully on
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