And it had a
fragrance something like that of isthagaria.
The Monarch went to sleep as soon as he saw that Sara had begun to eat;
but just before she finished he was awakened by a court official who
came in to announce, with a bored expression, that two ladies of high
degree, members of families very prominent in the realm, desired an
audience with His Majesty.
The Monarch sighed and rubbed his eyes with his feelers.
"Show them in," he said.
The two ladies came zigzagging in, talking and arguing excitedly; they
were the first really animated persons Sara had seen in all this warm,
shimmering place.
"The Princess Interrogation: the Countess Leaf-Wing," announced the
courtier.
Then the two ladies, who had been talking to each other, both began
talking at once to the king. In spite of their aristocratic, high-bred
air, their long necks and waists and slender wrists and ankles, their
high heels and gorgeous clothes, they were as angry as cooks.
"She was laying eggs on my food-plant!" cried the Princess.
"I wasn't!" shrilled the Countess. "What do I want with her old
nettle? Don't I know Croton capita turn when I see it? I was just
resting, and she came and pushed me off--"
"She had already come and stuck her long tongue into a lily I had just
occupied," continued the Princess.
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