the one that guarded the gold appeared. Now,
the Soldier went down again to his beautiful rooms, and appeared once
more in splendid clothes. All his friends immediately recognised him
again, and paid him great court.

One day he thought to himself: 'It is very strange that no one can get
to see the Princess. They all say she is very pretty, but what's the
use of that if she has to sit for ever in the great copper castle with
all the towers? Can I not manage to see her somehow? Where is my
tinder-box?' and so he struck a spark, and, presto! there came the dog
with eyes as large as saucers.

[Illustration: The Dog Brings in The Princess]

'It is the middle of the night, I know,' said the Soldier; 'but I
should very much like to see the Princess for a moment.'

The dog was already outside the door, and before the Soldier could
look round, in he came with the Princess. She was lying asleep on the
dog's back, and was so beautiful that anyone could see she was a real
Princess. The Soldier really could not refrain from kissing her--he
was such a thorough Soldier. Then the dog ran back with the Princess.
But when it was morning, and the King and Queen were drinking tea, the
Princess said that the night before she had had such a strange dream
about a dog and a Soldier: she had ridden on the dog's back, and the
Soldier had kissed her.

'That is certainly a fine story,' said the Queen. But the next night
one of the ladies-in-waiting was to watch at the Princess's bed, to
see if it was only a dream, or if it had actually happened.

The Soldier had an overpowering longing to see the Princess again, and
so the dog came in the middle of the night and fetched her, running as
fast as he could. But the lady-in-waiting slipped on indiarubber shoes
and followed them. When she saw them disappear into a large house, she
thought to herself: 'Now I know where it is;' and made a great cross
on the door with a piece of chalk. Then she went home and lay down,
and the dog came back also, with the Princess. But when he saw that a
cross had been made on the door of the house where the Soldier lived,
he took a piece of chalk also, and made crosses on all the doors in
the town; and that was very clever, for now the lady-in-waiting could
not find the right house, as there were crosses on all the doors.

Early next morning the King, Queen, ladies-in-waiting, and officers
came out to see where the Princess had been.

'There it is!' said the Kin