'Son,' at length replied the king, 'after what I have just heard,
and what I see by the ring on your finger, I cannot doubt but that
you have seen this lady. Would I knew who she was, and I would make
you happy from this moment, and I should be the happiest father in
the world! But where shall I find her, and how seek for her? How
could she get in here without my consent? Why did she come? These
things, I must confess, are past my finding out.' So saying, and
taking the prince by the hand, 'Come then, my son,' he said, 'let
us go and be miserable together.'
The king then led his son out of the tower, and conveyed him to the
palace, where he no sooner arrived than in despair he fell ill, and
took to his bed; the king shut himself up with him, and spent many
a day in weeping, without attending to the affairs of his kingdom.
The prime minister, who was the only person that had admittance to
him, came one day and told him that the whole court, and even the
people, began to murmur at not seeing him, and that he did not
administer justice every day as he was wont to do. 'I humbly beg
your majesty, therefore,' proceeded he, 'to pay them some
attention; I am aware your majesty's company is a great comfort to
the prince, but then you must not run the risk of letting all be
lost.
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