nce,
"even if you ask for my castle."

"I will take nothing from you," replied generous little Mary Louise,
"unless you wish to give me the ring you wear on your finger."

"It is yours," said the prince. "May you always wear it and remember
me."

The Magic Seeds

Little Mary Louise placed the ring upon her finger and then bidding the
Prince good-by turned her steps as she thought, towards home. But she
had gone but a short way when she came to a funny little dwarf tugging
at a great sunflower, and every once in a while he'd shake the stalk
until down would come a shower of black seeds, which he put in a small
basket.

"Hello," cried Mary Louise, "don't you want me to help you?"

When the little dwarf heard her voice, he started to run away, but Mary
Louise caught him by the tail of his coat.

"Don't be afraid of me, little dwarf, I won't harm you."

So the dwarf set down his basket of seeds, and after he had
straightened his coat, for it was half off his back, he said:

"I'll give you some of the seeds. They are very wonderful seeds."

Then little Mary Louise said good-by and by and by she came to a poor
woodcutter's hut. In answer to her knock an old woman opened the door.

"How do you do!" she said with a bow, and then she told Mary Louise
that her husband had just gone to the village for sunflower seeds.
Wasn't that strange? It made Mary Louise laugh and taking from her
pocket a handful she showed them to the old lady.

"My husband may not find any," she said. "Will you give me two that I
may plant them on each side of our front door?" Then digging a hole in
the ground on each side of the step she planted the seeds. And, would
you believe it? all of a sudden a yellow stalk sprung up, and pretty
soon it was as high as the door and then it was higher than the roof
and before long it reached way up into the sky, so far and so high that
you couldn't see the top.

"Goodness gracious me!" exclaimed the old woman. "What kind of seeds
are these?"

"I'll climb up and see," and up the stalk went little Mary Louise.
Bigger and bigger it grew until finally it spread out altogether into a
great big meadow covered with sunflowers.

Everywhere the birds were singing and little rabbits hopping about, and
nearby a flock of lambs nibbling the fresh green grass.

"Oh my!" exclaimed little Mary Louise, "this is strange, very strange!"

When, all of a sudden, one of the sunflowers began to sing: