It was the first whole sentence he heard.
'I don't see why you should think it such a grand affair!' said his stepmother, tossing her head backward.
'You must remember, my spouse,' interposed His Majesty, as if making excuse for his son, 'he has got the same blood in him.

His mother--' 'Don't talk to me of his mother! You positively encourage his unnatural fancies.

Whatever belongs to that mother ought to be cut out of him.' 'You forget yourself, my dear!' said the king.
'I don't,' said the queen, 'nor you either.

If you expect me to approve of such coarse tastes, you will find yourself mistaken.

I don't wear shoes for nothing.' 'You must acknowledge, however,' the king said, with a little groan, 'that this at least is no whim of Harelip's, but a matter of State policy.