as custom and reason prescribe. All the palace was filled with lamentation
and funerals. But the Emperor lamented not, nor turned his gaze from the
sleeper, nor did the sleeper awaken.

And his son came to him angry with exceeding wrath.

"Thou hast murdered my mother. Thou would'st rob me of the crown that is
rightfully mine. I, born to be an Emperor, shall die a subject! Nay, but I
will save thee from thyself. I will pierce thy leman with the sword, or
burn her with fire."

And the Emperor, fearing he would do as he threatened, commanded him to be
slain, as also his brothers and sisters. And he paid no heed to the affairs
of State, but gave all into the hand of the Second, now the Principal
Bonze. And the laws ceased to be observed, and rebellions broke out in the
provinces, and enemies invaded the country, and there was famine in the
land.

And now the Emperor was well-nigh ten years nearer to the gates of death
than when the Sleeping Beauty had been brought to his court. The love of
beauty was nearly quenched in him, but the longing for life grew more
intense. He became angry with the sleeper, that she awakened not, and with
his little remaining strength smote her fiercely on the cheeks, but she
gave no sign of reviving. Remembering that if he gained the potion of
immortality he would himself be plunged into a trance, he made all
preparations for the interregnum. He decreed that he was to be seated erect
on his throne, with all his imperial insignia, and it was to be death to
any one who should presume to remove any of them. His slumbering figure was
to preside at all councils, and to be consulted in every act of state, and
all ministers and officers were to do homage daily. The revived Sleeping