Then he ordered that a wing of the palace should be shut up from the rest, where she should be served with everything belonging to her condition in life, but where she should live by herself apart, and never come near him. Here she lived, then, all alone. But though her father fancied she did not care for him, she pined so much at being kept away from him, that at last she was worn out, and could bear it no longer. The room that had been given her had no windows on the street, that she might not have the amusement of seeing what was going on in the town, but they looked upon an inner court-yard. Here she sometimes saw the cook come out and wash vegetables at the fountain. “Cook, cook!” she called one day, as she saw him pass thus under the window. The cook looked up with a good-natured face, which gave her encouragement. “Don’t you think, cook, I must be very lonely and miserable up here all alone?” “Yes, Signorina,” he replied; “I often think I should like to help you to get out; but I dare not think of it, the king would be so angry.” “No, I don’t want you to do anything to disobey the king,” answered the princess; “but would you really do me a favor, which would make me very grateful indeed?” “Oh, yes, Signorina, anything which I can do without disobeying the king,” replied the faithful servant. “Then this is it,” said the princess. “Will you just oblige me so far as to cook papa’s dinner to-day without any salt in anything? Not the least grain in anything at all. Let it be as good a dinner as you like, but no salt in anything. Will you do that?” “I see,” replied the cook, with a knowing nod. “Yes, depend on me, I will do it.” That day at dinner the king had no salt in the soup, no salt in the boiled meat, no salt in the roast, no salt in the fried. “What is the meaning of this?” said the king, as he pushed dish after dish away from him. “There is not a single thing I can eat to-day. I don’t know what they have done to everything, but there is not a single thing that has got the least taste. Let the cook be called.” So the cook came before him. “What have you done to the victuals to-day?” said the king sternly. “You have sent up a lot of dishes, and no one alive can tell one from another. They are all of them exactly alike, and there is not one of them can be eaten. Speak!” The cook answered:—