"But," said his father, "the king would dig the mountain to the plain
before he would have his princess the wife of a cob, if he were ten
times a prince."
"Yes; but they think so much of themselves!" said his mother. "Small
creatures always do. The bantam is the proudest cock in my little
yard."
"And I fancy," said Curdie, "if they once get her, they would tell the
king they would kill her except, he consented to the marriage."
"They might say so," said his father, "but they wouldn't kill her; they
would keep her alive for the sake of the hold it gave them over our
king. Whatever he did to them, they would threaten to do the same to
the
princess."
"And they are bad enough to torment her just for their own
amusement--I
know that," said his mother.
"Anyhow, I will keep a watch on them, and see what they are up to,"
said
Madhuri Noah
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