KING had a daughter who was beauti¬
ful beyond measure, but so proud and
overbearing that none of her suitors
were good enough for her; she not
only refused one after the other, but
made a laughing-stock of them. Once
the king.appointed a great feast, and
bade all the marriageable men to it
| from far and near. And they were all
put in rows, according to their rank and station; first came
the kings, then the princes, the dukes, the earls, the barons,
and lastly the noblemen. ‘The princess was led in front of
the rows, but she had a mocking epithet for each. One was
too fat, " What a tub!” said she. Another too tall, “ Long
and lean is ill to be seen,” said she. A third too short, “ Fat
and short, not fit to court,” said she. A fourth was too pale,
“A regular death’s-head;” a fifth too red-faced, " A game¬
cock,” she called him. ‘The sixth was not well-made enough,
‘Green wood ill dried!” cried she. So every one had some¬
thing against him, and she made especially merry over a good
king who was very tall, and whose chin had grown a little
peaked.
“Only look,” cried she, laughing, "he has a chin like a
thrush’s beak.”
And from that time they called him King Thrushbeard.
But the old king, when he saw that his daughter mocked every
one, and scorned all the assembled suitors, swore in his anger