Perhaps my kiss will break the charm."
Files did not wholly approve of this, but he was
too generous to interfere. So the Rose Princess
felt her way through the darkness to Shaggy's
brother and kissed him.
Ruggedo struck another match, while they all
turned away.
"No," announced the former King; "that didn't
break the charm, either. It must be the kiss of a
Fairy that is required--or else my memory has
failed me altogether."
"Polly," said Betsy, pleadingly, "won't you
try?"
"Of course I will!" answered Polychrome, with a
merry laugh. "I've never kissed a mortal man in
all the thousands of years I have existed, but
I'll do it to please our faithful Shaggy Man,
whose unselfish affection for his ugly brother
deserves to be rewarded."
Even as Polychrome was speaking she tripped
lightly to the side of the Ugly One and quickly
touched his cheek with her lips.
"Oh, thank you--thank you!" he fervently cried.
"I've changed, this time, I know. I can feel it!
I'm different. Shaggy--dear Shaggy--I am myself
again!"
Files, who was near the opening, touched the
spring that released the big rock and it suddenly
swung backward and let in a flood of daylight.
Everyone stood motionless, staring hard at
Shaggy's brother, who, no longer masked by the
polka-dot handkerchief, met their gaze with a
glad smile.
"Well," said Shaggy Man, breaking the silence at
last and drawing a long, deep breath of
satisfaction, "you are no longer the Ugly One, my
dear brother; but, to be entirely frank with you,
the face that belongs to you is no more handsome
than it ought to be.
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