King Candaules

King Candaules'' is a novella written by Théophile Gautier in 1844. It tells the story of King Candaules and his beautiful wife, Nyssia. Although she is amazingly beautiful, Nyssia is extremely modest and refuses to let anyone see her face except for the king and her maids. The King does not understand this modesty and is eager to show her beauty to the world. To fulfil this desire he hatches a pl...