not go to the forest," said he, "for you would perish
with the cold."

But Barbara would not stay. She avoided the watchman's grasp and ran
as fast as ever she could through the city gate.

"Come back, come back!" cried the watchman; "you will perish in the
forest!"

But Barbara would not heed his cry. The falling snow did not stay her,
nor did the cutting blast. She thought only of the prince, and she ran
straightway to the forest.

II

"What do you see up there, O pine-tree?" asked a little vine in the
forest. "You lift your head among the clouds to-night, and you tremble
strangely as if you saw wondrous sights."

"I see only the distant hill-tops and the dark clouds," answered the
pine-tree. "And the wind sings of the snow-king to-night; to all my
questionings he says, 'Snow, snow, snow,' till I am wearied with his
refrain."

"But the prince will surely come to-morrow?" inquired the tiny
snowdrop that nestled close to the vine.

"Oh, yes," said the vine. "I heard the country folks talking about it
as they went through the forest to-day, and they said that the prince
would surely come on the morrow."

"What are you little folks down there talking about?" asked the
pine-tree.

"We are talking about the prince," said the vine.

"Yes, he is to come on the morrow," said the pine-tree, "but not until
the day dawns, and it is still all dark in the east."

"Yes," said the fir-tree, "the east is black, and only the wind and
the snow issue from it."

"Keep your head out of my way!" cried the pine-tree to the fir; "with
your constant bobbing around I can hardly see at all."

"Take _that_ for your bad manners," retorted the fir, slapping the
pine-tree savagely with one of her longest branches.

The pine-tree would put up with no such treatment, so he hurled his
largest cone at the fir; and for a moment or two it looked as if there
were going to be a serious commotion in the forest.

"Hush!" cried the vine in a startled tone; "there is some one coming
through the forest."

The pine-tree and the fir stopped quarrelling, and the snowdrop
nestled closer to the vine, while the vine hugged the pine-tree very
tightly. All were greatly alarmed.

"Nonsense!" said the pine-tree, in a tone of assumed bravery. "No one
would venture into the forest at such an hour."

"Indeed! and why not?" cried a child's voice. "Will you not let me
watch with you for the coming of the prince?"

"Will you not chop me down?" inqu