agotine has put upon
your child, but we will wish for her something that will help to balance
that evil.' And then they told the Queen that one day her daughter would
be extremely happy. With this the fairies took their departure, but not
before the Queen had given them all some beautiful presents; for this
custom goes on amongst all the peoples of the earth, and will continue
when other customs are forgotten.

The Queen called her ugly daughter Laideronnette, and the beautiful
daughter Bellote; and these names suited them perfectly, because
Laideronnette was frightfully ugly, and her sister was equally charming
and beautiful.

When Laideronnette was twelve years old, she went and threw herself at
the feet of the King and Queen, and begged them to allow her to go and
shut herself up in a castle far away near the Light of Dawn, and to let
her take the necessary servants and food to live there. She reminded
them that they still had Bellote, and that she was enough to console
them.

After a long while they agreed, and Laideronnette went away to her
castle near the Light of Dawn. On one side of the castle the sea came
right up to the window, and on another there was a great canal; from
still another view was a vast forest as far as the eye could see, and
beyond again a great desert.

The little Princess played musical instruments beautifully, and also had
a sweet voice just like a bird, and sang divinely; and so, with these
delights, she lived for two whole years in perfect solitude. Then, at
the end of the two years, she began to feel homesick and wished to see
her father and mother, the King and Queen; so she started on the
journey home at once, and arrived just as her sister the Princess
Bellote was going to be married.

Now as soon as they saw Laideronnette, they did not offer to kiss her or
say they were pleased to see her; and they told her she was not to come
to the marriage feast, nor to the ball afterwards. Poor little
Laideronnette said she had not come to dance and be merry; neither had
she come to the marriage feast; she had come because she felt homesick
and wanted to see her father and mother. However, she would go away back
to her castle near the Light of Dawn, for there the desert, the trees,
and the fountains never reproached her with her ugliness when she came
near them.

The King and Queen were sorry that they had been so unkind, and asked
Laideronnette to remain two or three days; but Laideronnet