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And she smiled the sweetest, loveliest smile in the prince's face.
And she gave him one little kiss in return for all his; and he
thought them overpaid, for he was beside himself with delight. I
fear she complained of her gravity more than once after this,
notwithstanding.
It was a long time before she got reconciled to walking. But the
pain of learning it was quite counterbalanced by two things, either
of which would have been sufficient consolation. The first was,
that the prince himself was her teacher; and the second, that she
could tumble into the lake as often as she pleased. Still, she
preferred to have the prince jump in with her; and the splash they
made before was nothing to the splash they made now.
The lake never sank again. In process of time, it wore the roof of
the cavern quite through, and was twice as deep as before.
The only revenge the princess took upon her aunt was to tread
pretty hard on her gouty toe the next time she saw her. But she was
sorry for it the very next day, when she heard that the water had
undermined her house, and that it had fallen in the night, burying
her in its ruins; whence no one ever ventured to dig up her body.
There she lies to this day.
So the prince and princess lived and were happy; and had crowns of
gold, and clothes of cloth, and shoes of leather, and children of
boys and girls, not one of whom was ever known, on the most
critical occasion, to lose the smallest atom of his or her due
proportion of gravity.
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