arde will not forget you."

The noble beast looked at the disenchanted princess, and the next
instant was changed to his true form; and, in place of a tawny lion,
it was the brave Prince Reginald. Hilda blushed with joyful surprise,
and would have taken down the key to unlock the cage, but the prince
said,--

"Loveliest Hildegarde, will you be my bride? Speak before you unlock
the cage; for, if you say nay, Reginald must again become a dumb
beast, and, as he has been for a year, so will he be for the rest of
his days."

Hildegarde cast down her eyes, and answered, "If so be the lion and
the lamb could live side by side for a year, may not Reginald and
Hilda dwell together in peace?"

"Then," said the joyful Prince Reginald, "I pray thee unlock the
cage."

Now, as they walked together in the park, the prince told Hildegarde
that he had loved her for a twelvemonth and a day.

He described Zora's visit to the cruel goblin. He said that he himself
had overheard the two talking together, had ground his teeth, and
sighed. Then the gnomes, seeing his grief, had come asking him if he
would be changed for a year, and maybe for life, into a lion; and for
Hildegarde's sake he had gladly consented.

Hearing all these things, the grateful princess wept, and said,--

"Now I know that Prince Reginald is my own true friend."

The prince led Hilda to the palace, and presented her to the king and
queen. Great was the wonder, and loud the rejoicing throughout the
land.

The treacherous Zora was seen no more, but was changed into a slender
green snake; and the king said she deserved her fate; "for, mark
you," cried he, "there is no crime worse than to play false to those
whom we pretend to love."

But Prince Reginald and Hildegarde were married, and lived in peace
all the rest of their lives.

GOLDILOCKS.

"A king lived long ago,
In the morning of the world,"

who had two children, Despard and Goldilocks. They were twin brother
and sister, but no more alike than a queen-lily and a nightshade, a
raven and a dove.

Goldilocks was a bright young damsel, with hair like fine threads of
gold, and a face so radiant that people questioned if the blood in her
veins might not be liquid sunshine. Her eyes were as soft as violets;
and her laugh was like the music of a spring robin.

Despard, on the other hand, was as melancholy as an owl. His raven
hair cast gloomy shadows, and his mournful eyes pierced you with