mother.

"Because I have no time," she answered. "I must go back to my plough."

"Is that your plough leaning by the tree, and is it not too heavy?"

"It is heavy," answered the Princess, "but I love to turn the hard
earth into soft furrows and know that I am making good soil wherein my
seeds may grow. When I feel the weight too much, I try to think of the
harvest."

The golden chariot passed on, and the two talked no more together that
day; nevertheless the King's messengers were busy, for they whispered
one word into the ear of the Fairy Godmother and another into the ear
of the Princess, though so faintly that neither of them realized that
the King had spoken.

The next morning a strong man knocked at the cottage door, and doffing
his hat to the Princess said: "A golden chariot passed me yesterday,
and one within it flung me a purse of ducats, saying: 'Go out into the
King's Highway and search until you find a cottage and a heavy plough
leaning against a tree near by. Enter and say to the Princess whom you
will find there: "I will guide the plough and you must go and rest, or
walk in the cool green forest; for this is the command of your Fairy
Godmother."'"

And the same thing happened every day, and every day the tired Princess
walked in the green wood. Many times she caught the glitter of the
chariot and ran into the Highway to give thanks to the Fairy Godmother;
but she was never fleet enough to reach the spot. She could only stand
with eager eyes and longing heart as the chariot passed by. Yet she
never failed to catch a smile, and sometimes a word or two floated back
to her, words that sounded like: "I would not be thanked. We are all
children of the same King, and I am only his messenger."

Now as the Princess walked daily in the green forest, hearing the wind
singing in the branches and seeing the sunlight filter through the
lattice-work of green leaves, there came unto her thoughts that had
lain asleep in the stifling air of the cottage and the weariness of
guiding the plough. And by and by she took a needle from her girdle and
pricked the thoughts on the leaves of the trees and sent them into the
air to float hither and thither. And it came to pass that people began
to pick them up, and holding them against the sun, to read what was
written on them, and this was because the simple little words on the
leaves were only, after all, a part of one of the King's messages, such
as the Fairy Godmother droppe