"Does that surprise thee, holy father? Behold another wonder," said
Bertha, and she touched the back of Hans a second time with her wand,
and instantly her semi-nude champion was covered from head to foot in
an elegant royal dress, composed of a crimson velvet tunic, half-way to
the knee, and trimmed with ermine, and silken hose of a buff colour. A gold-hilted sword, in the form of a cross, hung by his side, within a
bejewelled scabbard, likewise a dagger. A chain of massive gold about
his neck, and a graceful barrette, with a white ostrich feather, which
was fastened by a huge diamond. The arch-priest started back several
paces, rubbed his eyes, and, looking first at the princess and then at
Hans, and then at the princess again, he took her in his hand, and
whispered in her ear that he hoped it was not witchcraft, and being
assured by Bertha that it was not, he smiled, and congratulated Prince
Hans on his improved appearance. Hans, suddenly discovering that he had undergone a change, called for a
mirror, and was shown into another chamber, where there stood one large
enough for him to look at himself at full length. Our prince began to
admire himself, and to cut all sorts of capers, at which the arch-priest
laughed heartily; but Bertha reproved her spouse for his levity, and
told him such antics did not become a king. The prince immediately ceased his tricks, and taking leave of the
arch-priest respectfully, left his palace with his little wife in the
breast of his tunic. As he opened the palace door, he saw standing at the gate his own
charger, gaily bedizened. The animal had been sent to await him at the
arch-priest's palace by the fairies. Hans mounted, and proceeded to show
himself to everyone through the streets of the city, while the crowd
shouted, "Long live King Hans and Queen Bertha!" Now, Bertha knew her twin sisters too well not to suspect them of
treachery up to the very last. "It is certain," said she to herself, "that they have sent spies after
us. They will not rest until Hans, at least, is killed." Looking round in the crowd, she spied a man whose face pleased her not,
and who glanced furtively at Hans. She observed, too, that he carried a
long rope with a slip-knot over his arm. Her natural penetration told
her that danger would proceed from that quarter, so, touching her
husband's neck with her wand, she said:

"Be as hard as iron and as immovable as a rock." They rode on together till they came to a large square, when suddenly
the man with the rope, watching his opportunity, threw the cord over the
heads of the people, so that the slip-knot fixed itself round the throat
of Hans, and the man pulled with all his might and main to throttle him
and to drag him from his seat; but instead of accomplishing his object,
the rope did no more harm to Han's neck than had it been the trunk of a
tree, while the horse and his rider proceeded as before, dragging the
man behind after them; nor could he leave go the rope, for the princess
had wrought a charm on him, and thus he was dragged through the city in
the sight of all men, hooted and pelted by the crowd as he was dragged
along. As for Hans, he felt the rope no more than had it been a spider's web. The report of the strength of Han's neck spread throughout all the land,
and all declared that that alone was sufficient to qualify him for the
crown, accordingly, on the following day great preparations were already
made for the coronation, which was to take place in the cathedral of the
town. The doors of the church were crammed with the equipages of all the lords
and ladies in the land, amongst which were the carriages of the
Princesses Clothilde and Carlotta, who had arrived, each with an escort
of armed men, to prevent the coronation of their sister, but the mob was
so violently in favour of the Princess Bertha, that the escorts were
beaten back. The little princess, however, gave orders that her sisters
were to be admitted, so the twin princesses took their seats to witness
the ceremony. Now, a man had been bribed by them to be close to the person of the
prince all the time, and the moment the crown was being placed upon his
head to stab him in the back; but Bertha, still suspicious of treachery,
looked around her and saw the man, who was just in the act of
assassinating her husband, when, waving her wand in time, she converted
his dagger into a venomous serpent, which twisted itself round his body,
and bit him that he died. Great was the uproar and surprise at this scene, and the crowd were
ready to tear the twin princesses to pieces; but the arch-priest
commanded them to forbear, and the ceremony proceeded without
opposition. Suddenly a soft music was heard throughout the cathedral, and a perfume
as of incense arose. Then a sunbeam from one of the upper windows in the
church revealed an innumerable multitude of little fairies, two of which
carried a little crown between them, just big enough for the head of the
pigmy queen. The multitude was struck with awe and the two sisters filled with fury
at the sight; but the ceremony passed off quietly. Nevertheless, the
twin princesses, dreading the mob, stepped hastily into their respective
carriages, and drove back to the palace. When King Hans and Queen Bertha drove off in their carriage, which, by
the way, was made by the fairies themselves for the occasion, the mob
was half-blinded by the brilliancy of the jewels with which it was
inlaid, and our new sovereigns were cheered by the crowd till they
arrived at the palace door. Now, the two princesses, instead of yielding up the palace to the
rightful owners, had ordered the door to be barricaded and entrance
refused to the royal pair, which, when Bertha discovered, she
immediately waved her wand in front of the palace, and changed it into a
prison filled with gloomy cells, and the gay clothes of the people
within into the squalid garments of prisoners, while the golden
bracelets of the princesses became manacles for their wrists, and their
garters fetters for their feet. Then, waving her wand in the direction of the prison in which her
husband had been confined, which stood not far off, it became a
magnificent palace, equal, if not superior, in grandeur to that which
she erected upon the ruins of the wizard's castle, so that all wondered,
and shouted, "Welcome to Queen Bertha, and down with the twin
princesses!" The man who had attempted the life of Prince Hans with his lasso on the
day before was publicly hanged with his own rope on the roof of the
prison where the two princesses now languished as an example to all
rebels. After the wicked princesses had been imprisoned for a week the tiny
queen released them on condition that they should flee the country and
not show their faces again.