weler has forgotten to send the ring he promised, and I must
go to my lady with empty hands."

"Empty hands are better than an empty heart," said the old woman; "but
then we are young only once; so you shall have a gift for your lady
though I may never have an apple dumpling." And she took the nosegay
from her basket and gave it to the young lord which pleased him so
much that the frown smoothed away from his forehead, and his mouth
spread itself in a smile, and he was as handsome a young man as ever
the sun shone on.

"Fair exchange is no robbery,"[3] said he, and he unfastened a golden
chain from round his neck and gave it to the old woman, and went away
holding his nosegay with great care.

[Footnote 3: An old saying.]

The old woman was delighted.

"With this golden chain I might buy all the apples in the king's
market, and then have something to spare," she said to herself, as she
hurried away toward town as fast as her feet could carry her.

But she had gone no farther than the turn of the road when she came
upon a mother and children, standing in a doorway, whose faces were as
sorrowful as her own was happy.

"What is the matter?" she asked as soon as she reached them.

"Matter enough," answered the mother, "when the last crust of bread
is eaten and not a farthing in the house to buy more."

"Well-a-day," cried the old woman when this was told her. "Never shall
it be said of me that I eat apple dumpling for supper while my
neighbors lack bread;" and she put the golden chain into the mother's
hands and hurried on without waiting for thanks.

She was not out of sight of the house, though, when the mother and
children, every one of them laughing and talking as if it were
Christmas or Candlemas day, overtook her.

"Little have we to give you," said the mother who was the happiest of
all, "for that you have done for us, but here is a little dog, whose
barking will keep loneliness from your house, and a blessing goes with
it."

The old woman did not have the heart to say them nay, so into the
basket went the little dog, and very snugly he lay there.

[Illustration: SHE SAW AN APPLE-TREE AS FULL OF APPLES AS HER
PLUM-TREE WAS FULL OF PLUMS.]

"A bag of feathers for a basket of plums; a nosegay of flowers for a
bag of feathers; a golden chain for a nosegay of flowers; a dog and a
blessing for a golden chain; all the world is give and take, and who
knows but that I may have my apple yet," said the old wo