ight it
again.

It was deep winter outside. The hill was white with snow, and the
fountains in the castle garden looked like tall ladies dressed in
white cloaks. From all the castle turrets there hung long icicles, and
inside the castle, where the walls and the floor were made all of
stone, it was so cold that every one was blowing on his fingers and
saying that something must be done at once about starting the fire in
the kitchen.

It had been the warmest and the most useful fire in the castle, always
bright and glowing and cheerful. It made the big kettle sing, and it
cooked the food, and painted pictures in the fireplace for the little
Prince, who always sat in front of it before he went to bed. Some said
that the fire needed a special kind of fuel to keep it burning, and
others said that it had gone out because it was such a hard, cold
winter. Still others said that the castle folk were quarreling so over
matters of state that they made the castle too cold for any fire to
burn. The King blew the bellows, and the Queen wrapped up the little
Prince in a fur coat, and the Cook piled on more logs, but still the
fire would not burn.

"Go down the hill road," the King at last commanded the Court
Messenger, "and wherever you see a bright fire burning in one of the
houses, go inside and ask for some coals to bring back to the castle.
It may be that we can light our fire in this way."

So the Messenger, with a great iron lantern for holding the coals,
started out in the bitter cold.

"A light for the castle fire!" he called as he went. "Who will give me
some coals with which to light the castle fire?"

As the Messenger went on his way, a great many people heard him and
they all wanted to have a share in lighting the fire at the castle.
Some thought that to do this would bring them riches.

"Here are glowing coals for you," said Gerald, whose father kept the
forest; "and tell the King that we want as many gold pieces as there
are lumps of coal in return, and some extra ones if he will add them."

So the Messenger put Gerald's red coals with the tongs inside his
lantern, and he started back to the castle. He had gone only a few
steps, though, when he saw that the coals had turned cold and gray, so
he had to throw them beside the road and search farther.

A bright light shone from the fire in Gilda's house. Gilda's father
was one of the King's guards and when she heard the Messenger's call,
"A light for the castle f