your goodness. Go! count the turnips in yonder meadow. My wedding feast
must not lack guests. They shall provide me with bride-maidens too. But
beware lest you deceive me, and do not miss a single one. That shall be
the test of your truth towards me.'

Unwilling as the gnome was to lose sight of his beautiful bride for a
moment, he obeyed her commands without delay, and hurried off to begin
his task. He skipped along among the turnips as nimble as a grasshopper,
and had soon counted them all; but, to be quite certain that he had made
no mistake, he thought he would just run over them again. This time, to
his great annoyance, the number was different; so he reckoned them for
the third time, but now the number was not the same as either of the
previous ones! And this was hardly to be wondered at, as his mind was
full of the princess's pretty looks and words.

As for the maiden, no sooner was her deluded lover fairly out of sight
than she began to prepare for flight. She had a fine fresh turnip hidden
close at hand, which she changed into a spirited horse, all saddled and
bridled, and, springing upon its back, she galloped away over hill and
dale till she reached the Thorny Valley, and flung herself into the arms
of her beloved Prince Ratibor.

Meanwhile the toiling gnome went through his task over and over again
till his back ached and his head swam, and he could no longer put two
and two together; but as he felt tolerably certain of the exact number
of turnips in the field, big and little together, he hurried back eager
to prove to his beloved one what a delightful and submissive husband
he would be. He felt very well satisfied with himself as he crossed the
mossy lawn to the place where he had left her; but, alas! she was no
longer there.

He searched every thicket and path, he looked behind every tree, and
gazed into every pond, but without success; then he hastened into the
palace and rushed from room to room, peering into every hole and
corner and calling her by name; but only echo answered in the marble
halls--there was neither voice nor footstep.

Then he began to perceive that something was amiss, and, throwing off
the mortal form that encumbered him, he flew out of the palace, and
soared high into the air, and saw the fugitive princess in the far
distance just as the swift horse carried her across the boundary of his
dominions.

Furiously did the enraged gnome fling two great clouds together, and
hurl a t