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The Hair Tree
149

ing, each one bringing with him some strange new plant, but nothing that could do the Queen any good; and thus the time passed till the shaving day came.

All the streets were hung with black, and the chair in which the ladies were to sit to be shaved was hung with black also.

Early in the morning a great crowd had assembled, and then the King and Queen came down and took seats, and the shaving was to begin.

The crier took out his list of the ladies’ names, and called out the first, which was that of a duchess who was quite young and very beautiful. She rose slowly from her seat, sobbing bitterly, and walked towards the black chair.

She was dressed in a long. black serge dress, without any ornament, but her beautiful white neck and arms were bare, and over her shoulders to her waist rippled her bright soft brown hair. She looked so young and so miserable that there was a general groan at the idea that all her lovely locks must fall.

With a last sob, the duchess took her seat in the dreadful chair, and, closing her eyes, resigned

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