"Because you're a great deal too cruel and ugly," the Queen answered.
"What did you knock that poor man down for? I can't bear that sort of
wickedness. And as for ugliness, why, you're worse than the Regent
himself, and he's the ugliest man I ever saw."
The King immediately became so convulsed with rage that he could only
roar till the windows shook out of their frames and shattered on the
ground; and the Queen stopped her ears with her fingers, perfectly
aghast at the storm she had raised.
At last the King regained his powers of speech. "If you don't marry me
this very day," he said, "I'll have you beheaded, I'll have you hanged,
I'll have you thrown from the top of the highest tower in the town and
smash you to pieces."
"You couldn't do anything of the sort," the Queen said calmly.
Thereupon the King's rage became quite frightful to see, especially for
the courtiers who were nearest him, for he rushed among them and began
to kick them so that they flew into the air; indeed, it seemed as if the
air was full of them. But, in the middle of it, he suddenly made a dash
at the Queen, and, before she could avoid him, had seized her in his
fearful grasp.
"I'll show you if I can't dash you to pieces," he said, and in a minute
he had seized her and rushed out into the open air, carrying her like a
kitten.
Up to the little door at the foot of the palace tower he went and kicked
it open so violently that it banged against the wall and quivered again
with the shock, and then round and round and round, and up and up and
up, a little dark winding stair, until a sudden burst of light showed
that they were at the top.
"Now I'll show you," he muttered, and, shaking her violently he threw
her over the side.
But she only dropped softly a short way, and then hovered up again till
she played in the air around the tower.
The astonishment of the King was now even greater than his former rage.
"I told you how it would be," the Queen said. "And, if you'll take my
advice, you won't lose your temper so fearfully again. It might really
make you ill."
But the King said nothing at all, being a little out of breath at having
come so quickly up the tower steps. So the Queen flew gaily off again
without saying "Good-bye."
But down at the base of the tower the courtiers, discovering that the
King was nicely trapped, quietly shut the door and locked it. Then they
gave a sigh of relief, and left him till he died. They had been long
looking out for such an opportunity.
The Queen, however, knew nothing of that. She flew on for a time, being
far too excited to remember her hunger; but at last it came back to her
with redoubled force, and she determined to descend at the first house
she came to and try to get some food somehow. But, by that time, the
country had become sandy and dry, with only a few reeds bristling out
over it here and there, and no signs of cultivation or even of houses.
"_Now_, whatever shall I do?" she said to herself, as she flew along so
dose to the ground that the wind of her flight made the sand flit about
in little clouds. "I'm so awfully hungry and---- Why, there is some
sort of a building!--at least it looks like one."
And there, in a hollow among the sand-dunes, stood a funny little black
erection, such as you might see upon a beach.
So the Queen alighted and walked towards the house. In front of the
door a cat was sitting--a black cat. But not a magnificent creature
with a glossy coat that sits on the rug in front of the drawing-room
fire and only drinks cream, deeming mice too vulgar. This was a
long-limbed, little creature, that looked half-starved and seemed as if
its proper occupation would be stealing along, very lanky and grim in
the moonlight, over the dunes to catch rabbits.
So the Queen stopped and looked at the cat, and the cat sat and looked
at the Queen.
The black pupils of its yellow eyes dilated and diminished in a most
composed manner.
"Poor pussy!" the Queen said, and bent to scratch its neck.
But the cat took no kind of notice, so the Queen lifted the cat in her
arms, whereupon it gave vent to an awe-inspiring yell.
The door flew violently open, and the Queen, in alarm, let the cat go,
and it dashed into the house behind an old woman, but such an ugly old
woman that the Queen was quite startled.
"Well, what do _you_ want?" the old woman sod.
"Oh, I want something to eat," the Queen said.
The old woman gave a cunning leer. "Something to eat, my dear young
lady," she said, "Why, whatever made you expect to find anything to eat
fit for the likes of you in such a place?"
"Oh, I'm not particular," the Queen said; "only I'm very hungry."
"And what will you pay me?" the old woman said.
"I--I can't pay you anything," the Queen said. "You see, I haven't got
any money."
The old woman smiled again, in a nasty way. "Oh well," she said, "I'll
give you some food, if you'll do a day's work for it."
"What sort of work?" the Queen said. "I'm not very clever at work, you
know."
"Oh, quite easy work--just goose-herding."