The king returned soon after to the chamber of his august spouse, who the moment she saw him became a perfect wasp. “How, sire?” she exclaimed. “So you are the first to disobey my orders?” “How disobey?” “Yes, sire! Did I not tell you that I want you to go and see the emperor, and implore him to place himself in communication with the Pope in order to see whether between them they could so manage that I might be God?” “Yes, you told me so, but—” “There are no buts for me. How is it that you are not already on the road to comply with my orders? Now, none of your nice little jokes with me, if you please—you, who are no more than the husband of the queen—and, if you ruffle my feathers, I’ll send you off to be hanged as soon as look at you.” “Come, child, don’t be angry, you shall be obeyed instantly.” “Remember, none of your pranks, now! And listen: go and tell that health‐ killer whom you seem to have made one of your council, that if you don’t go to see the emperor, and perform in every point the commission which I charge you with, he shall serve you as partner in your dance in the air.” The king withdrew; and when he reported to the chief physician what his wife had just said to him, the physician insisted more than ever on the necessity of pleasing the august invalid in everything. So the king set out on his journey to the imperial court. The extravagant and impious nature of his mission disturbed him greatly; but the consideration gave him comfort that he was no longer a Juan nobody, as on other occasions when he had made the same journey, but a monarch about to consult with another monarch. The only thing that weighed at all on his mind was the question of etiquette. “I don’t know,” said he, “for the life of me what shoes to tread in when I address the emperor. I have heard it said that all we sovereigns call each other cousins, though not a bit of cousinship exists between us: but how do I know, if I call the emperor cousin, that he may not give me a blow that would send all the teeth down my throat?” Occupied with such thoughts, he arrived at the imperial court, and the emperor hastened to receive him when he had scarcely set foot in the palace. “How is her majesty, Queen Doña Ramona?” asked the emperor kindly. “Bad enough, under present circumstances.” “Man, that is the worst news yet! And what ails her?” “What the devil do I know? The evil one alone understands these women. If your majesty could only guess the commission she has given me—” “Hallo, hallo! Well, let us hear it.” “She says—but pshaw! One is ashamed to say it. She says to see if your majesty could consult with the Pope, and between you manage to make her God.” “Eh! That is a greater request. Make her God, eh!”