you disobey me again,
and I hear, on my return, that you have as much as moved out of the
stall, I will certainly kill you. So, beware; for I am going away once
more, and shall be absent for seven years.'

With these words he took his departure, and Cannetella burst into a
flood of tears, and, wringing her hands, she moaned: 'Why was I ever
born to such a hard fate? Oh! father, how miserable you have made your
poor daughter! But, why should I blame my father? for I have only myself
to thank for all my sufferings. I got the cursed head of gold, and it
has brought all this misery on me. I am indeed punished for not doing as
my father wished!'

When a year had gone by, it chanced, one day, that the king's cooper
passed the stables where Cannetella was kept prisoner. She recognised
the man, and called him to come in. At first he did not know the poor
princess, and could not make out who it was that called him by name. But
when he heard Cannetella's tale of woe, he hid her in a big empty barrel
he had with him, partly because he was sorry for the poor girl, and,
even more, because he wished to gain the king's favour. Then he slung
the barrel on the mule's back, and in this way the princess was carried
to her own home. They arrived at the palace about four o'clock in the
morning, and the cooper knocked loudly at the door. When the servants
came in haste and saw only the cooper standing at the gate, they were
very indignant, and scolded him soundly for coming at such an hour and
waking them all out of their sleep.

The king hearing the noise and the cause of it, sent for the cooper, for
he felt certain the man must have some important business, to have come
and disturbed the whole palace at such an early hour.

The cooper asked permission to unload his mule, and Cannetella crept out
of the barrel. At first the king refused to believe that it was really
his daughter, for she had changed so terribly in a few years, and had
grown so thin and pale, that it was pitiful to see her. At last the
princess showed her father a mole she had on her right arm, and then he
saw that the poor girl was indeed his long-lost Cannetella. He kissed
her a thousand times, and instantly had the choicest food and drink set
before her.

[Illustration: CANNETELLA COMES OUT OF THE CASK]

After she had satisfied her hunger, the king said to her: 'Who would
have thought, my dear daughter, to have found you in such a state? What,
may I ask, has broug