Show what thou'st gathered with thy lazy begging."
The Prince said--
"Offend me not with thy sordid matters. I tell thee again I am the
King's son."
A sounding blow upon the Prince's shoulder from Canty's broad palm sent
him staggering into goodwife Canty's arms, who clasped him to her breast,
and sheltered him from a pelting rain of cuffs and slaps by interposing
her own person. The frightened girls retreated to their corner; but the
grandmother stepped eagerly forward to assist her son. The Prince sprang
away from Mrs. Canty, exclaiming--
"Thou shalt not suffer for me, madam. Let these swine do their will upon
me alone."
This speech infuriated the swine to such a degree that they set about
their work without waste of time. Between them they belaboured the boy
right soundly, and then gave the girls and their mother a beating for
showing sympathy for the victim.
"Now," said Canty, "to bed, all of ye. The entertainment has tired me."
The light was put out, and the family retired. As soon as the snorings
of the head of the house and his mother showed that they were asleep, the
young girls crept to where the Prince lay, and covered him tenderly from
the cold with straw and rags; and their mother crept to him also, and
stroked his hair, and cried over him, whispering broken words of comfort
and compassion in his ear the while. She had saved a morsel for him to
eat, also; but the boy's pains had swept away all appetite--at least for
black and tasteless crusts.
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