now who lives inside the house you should say so,"
answered the dragon, in an injured tone. "It is n't likely that a
well-bred dragon would live inside anything. You should be more
careful in the way you express yourself."

"Well, well," said the King, impatiently, "perhaps you can tell me to
whom the house belongs?"

"No, I can't," answered the dragon, with a smile; "because it does n't
belong to anybody, you see. It is here because it is wanted, and when
it is n't wanted any longer it will cease to be here."

"What a curious house!" exclaimed the King.

"Curious? Not at all!" said the dragon, looking injured again. "It
would be much more curious if it were to remain here when it was n't
wanted. You should n't make needless remarks."

If King Grumbelo had not been so anxious to find out who did live
inside the house he would certainly have ridden away, there and then;
but the more he looked at the beautiful garden and the charming little
dwelling of rose leaves, the more he longed for an answer to his
question. So he kept his temper with difficulty, and turned once more
to the aggravating dragon.

"Does anybody live inside the house?" he asked.

"Of course," answered the dragon. "Do they build houses in your
country to be looked at? I suppose you can't help it, but I have never
been asked so many senseless questions before."

"Answer me one more and I will go away," said King Grumbelo. "Does a
beautiful Princess, the most beautiful you have ever seen, live inside
the house over there?"

"There is no Princess in the place, be assured of that," answered the
dragon, emphatically. "I should not be here if there were; it is a
thankless task to keep guard over a Princess; it means nothing but
spells and fighting and unpleasantness, and in the end the Princess
complains that you have kept the right people away. Oh, no, nothing
would induce me to take another place with a Princess. We 've nothing
of _that_ kind here."

"Then I 'll bid you good-day," said King Grumbelo, for he did not mean
to waste any more time. Just as he was going to ride away, however,
the door of the little house opened, and out of it stepped the
sweetest-looking little lady the world has ever contained. She was so
beautiful that as she walked down the path the flowers stopped
breathing and the trees stopped gossiping; and she had such wonderful
eyes that to look at them was to know everything she was thinking
about. She glance