"Did he laugh so hard that he cried?" "Oh, no; I wept because the bird bled." "And I thereupon told Merovee: 'You have no courage, if blood frightens you! And when we go to battle, will you weep there also at the sight of blood?'" "And while Corbe was saying so to Merovee, I took a knife and cut the dove's head off. Oh, I am not afraid of blood; not I; and when I am a big man I shall go to war, not so grandmother?" "Ah, children! You know not what you are wishing. It is easy to amuse yourselves cutting off the heads of doves, without feeling obliged some day to go to war. To make war means to ride day and night, suffer hunger, heat and cold, to sleep under tents, and what is worst of all, run the risk of being wounded and killed, all of which causes great pain. Is it not far better, dear children, to promenade quietly in a cart or a litter, to lie down in a soft bed, eat dainties, have fun all day long, and please your whims? The blood of royal families is too precious a thing to expose it recklessly, my pretty little kinglets. You have your leudes to go to war and fight the enemy in battle, your servants to kill the people who may displease or offend you; your priests to order the people to obey you. So, you see, all you have to do is to amuse yourselves, to enjoy the delights of life, happy children that you are, having nothing to say but 'I will.' Do you understand these words well, my dear little ones? Answer, Childebert, you being the eldest and therefore most intelligent." "Oh, yes, grandmother; I am no more anxious than other people to go to war in search of lance-thrusts; I prefer to amuse myself, and do what I please. But why, then, did our brother Sigebert go away on horseback, followed by armed men, and accompanied by Warnachaire?" "Your brother is ailing; the physicians have advised letting him undertake a long trip for the good of his health." "Will he be back soon?" "To-morrow, perhaps--perhaps even to-day." "Oh, so much the better, grandmother! So much the better! His place will not then be empty in our room--we miss him--" "Be not too glad on that score, my little kinglets. Henceforth, Sigebert will inhabit his own royal mansion, he will have his own servants and his separate room. Oh, he will be like a little man!" "But he is only one year older than I!" "Oh, oh! In a year you also will be a little man, my little Childebert," replied Brunhild exchanging a diabolical glance with Chrotechilde; "you will then also have your royal establishment and your separate room--your chamberlains, your equerries, your slaves, all of them submissive to your every whim, like dogs to the switch." "Oh, how I would like to be a year older, so as to have all those things that you promise me!" "And so would I like to see you older--and Corbe also--and also Merovee, I would like to see you all of the age of Sigebert."