been talking of the wonderful ball
all the evening. "Did you see how it shone, grandmother? And did you
hear how the little bells rang?" he said; and it was just then that
the little prince knocked at the door.

The old woman made haste to answer the knock and when she saw the
prince she was too astonished to speak.

"Here is the ball," he cried, putting it into her hands. "Please give
me the rosemary for my mother."

And so it happened that when the queen sat down before her great table
of gifts the first thing she spied was a jar of sweet rosemary like
that which had bloomed in her mother's window when she was a little
girl.

"I should rather have it than all the other gifts in the world," she
said; and she took the little prince in her arms and kissed him.

THE PROMISE[2]

A Christmas Wonder Story for Older Children

There was once a harper who played such beautiful music and sang such
beautiful songs that his fame spread throughout the whole land; and at
last the king heard of him and sent messengers to bring him to the
palace.

[Footnote 2: This story was suggested by an old poem, told to me by
Miss Harriette Mills, which recounted the adventures of a father who
braved the snows of an Alpine pass to reach his home on Christmas
day.]

"I will neither eat nor sleep till I have seen your face and heard the
sound of your harp." This was the message the king sent to the harper.

The messengers said it over and over until they knew it by heart, and
when they reached the harper's house they called:

"Hail, harper! Come out and listen, for we have something to tell
you that will make you glad."

But when the harper heard the king's message he was sad, for he had a
wife and a child and a little brown dog; and he was sorry to leave
them and they were sorry to have him go.

"Stay with us," they begged; but the harper said:

"I _must_ go, for it would be discourtesy to disappoint the king; but
as sure as holly berries are red and pine is green, I will come back
by Christmas day to eat my share of the Christmas pudding, and sing
the Christmas songs by my own fireside."

And when he had promised this he hung his harp upon his back and went
away with the messengers to the king's palace.

When he got there the king welcomed him with joy, and many things were
done in his honor. He slept on a bed of softest down, and ate from a
plate of gold at the king's own table; and when he sang everybody and
everyt