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Once upon a time there lived a great king who had a wife and one
son whom he loved very much. The boy was still young when, one
day, the king said to his wife: 'I feel that the hour of my death
draws near, and I want you to promise that you will never take
another husband but will give up your life to the care of our son.'
The queen burst into tears at these words, and sobbed out that she
would never, never marry again, and that her son's welfare should
be her first thought as long as she lived. Her promise comforted
the troubled heart of the king, and a few days after he died, at peace
with himself and with the world.
But no sooner was the breath out of his body, than the queen said
to herself, 'To promise is one thing, and to keep is quite another.'
And hardly was the last spadeful of earth flung over the coffin than
she married a noble from a neighbouring country, and got him made
king instead of the young prince. Her new husband was a cruel,
wicked man, who treated his stepson very badly, and gave him
scarcely anything to eat, and only rags to wear; and he would
certainly have killed the boy but for fear of the people.
Now by the palace grounds there ran a brook, but instead of being a
water-brook it was a milk-brook, and both rich and poor flocked to
it daily and drew as much milk as they chose. The first thing the
new king did when he was seated on the throne, was to forbid
anyone to go near the brook, on pain of being seized by the
watchmen. And this was purely spite, for there was plenty of milk
for everybody.
For some days no one dared venture near the banks of the stream,
but at length some of the watchmen noticed that early in the
mornings, just at dawn, a man with a gold beard came down to the
brook with a pail, which he filled up to the brim with milk, and then
vanished like smoke before they could get near enough to see who
he was. So they went and told the king what they had seen.
At first the king would not believe their story, but as they persisted
it was quite true, he said that he would go and watch the stream
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Fairytales 
