cottage with outstretched arms, trying to find the wise woman. But
being in a bad temper always makes people stupid, and presently she
struck her forehead such a blow against something--she thought herself
it felt like the old woman's cloak--that she fell back--not on the
floor, though, but on the patch of heather, which felt as soft and
pleasant as any bed in the palace. There, worn out with weeping and
rage, she soon fell fast asleep.

She dreamed that she was the old cold woman up in the sky, with no home
and no friends, and no nothing at all, not even a pocket; wandering,
wandering forever, over a desert of blue sand, never to get to
anywhere, and never to lie down or die. It was no use stopping to look
about her, for what had she to do but forever look about her as she
went on and on and on--never seeing any thing, and never expecting to
see any thing! The only shadow of a hope she had was, that she might by
slow degrees grow thinner and thinner, until at last she wore away to
nothing at all; only alas! she could not detect the least sign that she
had yet begun to grow thinner. The hopelessness grew at length so
unendurable that she woke with a start. Seeing the face of the wise
woman bending over her, she threw her arms around her neck and held up
her mouth to be kissed. And the kiss of the wise woman was like the
rose-gardens of Damascus.

IV.

The wise woman lifted her tenderly, and washed and dressed her far more
carefully than even her nurse. Then she set her down by the fire, and
prepared her breakfast. The princess was very hungry, and the bread and
milk as good as it could be, so that she thought she had never in her
life eaten any thing nicer. Nevertheless, as soon as she began to have
enough, she said to herself,--

"Ha! I see how it is! The old woman wants to fatten me! That is why she
gives me such nice creamy milk. She doesn't kill me now because she's
going to kill me then! She IS an ogress, after all!"

Thereupon she laid down her spoon, and would not eat another
mouthful--only followed the basin with longing looks, as the wise woman
carried it away.

When she stopped eating, her hostess knew exactly what she was
thinking; but it was one thing to understand the princess, and quite
another to make the princess understand her: that would require time.
For the present she took no notice, but went about the affairs of the
house, sweeping the floor, brushing down the cobwebs, cleaning the