The city of the peacocks was very beautiful. The two princes found that men and women dressed entirely in peacock feathers.
Even as they were walking into the kingdom they saw the King of Peacocks who was in a beautiful Golden carriage that glittered with diamonds. The carriage of the King of Peacocks was drawn by twelve beautiful peacocks.
What stuck them the two princes was that the King of Peacocks was a very handsome man.
On seeing the two strangers in his kingdom the King of Peacocks stopped his carriage and got out to talk with them.
As they were talking one thing led to another and the elder prince finally showed the portrait of his little sister to the King of Peacocks.
On seeing the portrait, the King of Peacocks had been unable to talk for a very long time.
“My little sister is prettier than she is drawn in the portrait. She is also very good and kind. She wishes to marry the King of Peacocks. So can you marry her?” The elder prince asked the King of Peacocks, hesitatingly.
The King of the peacock studied the portrait once more and finally nodded at the elder prince. “If your sister is as lovely as she is in the portrait I have no problems in marrying her.” However the King of Peacocks suddenly looked annoyed. “If your words turn out to be untrue, then I will have your heads cut off.”
The two princes had no worries because they knew that their little sister was much more pretty than she was seen in the portrait.
There was, however, a catch.
The King of Peacocks was unsure whether the princess was really as beautiful as she was seen in the portrait, so he had the two princes thrown in prison though they were not ill treated there. The King of Peacocks promised to let the two princes go as soon as Princess Rosette came to the kingdom and the King of Peacocks found her even more beautiful than the portrait.
The two princes had no problems with this and they agreed to stay in the prison.
From prison the two princes sent a message to their sister that they had found the King of Peacocks who was willing to marry her.
Knowing that Rosette would worry about them, the two princes did not mention in the message that they were in prison.
Adapted from Andrew Lang’s Fairy Tales
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