had dragged in
more and more, until the Queen had plenty to make her basket, and
she worked at it day and night, while the little mouse danced for her
amusement; and at dinner and supper time the Queen gave it the three
peas and the bit of black bread, and always found something good in the
dish in their place. She really could not imagine where all the nice
things came from. At last one day when the basket was finished, the
Queen was looking out of the window to see how long a cord she must make
to lower it to the bottom of the tower, when she noticed a little old
woman who was leaning upon her stick and looking up at her. Presently
she said:

'I know your trouble, madam. If you like I will help you.'

'Oh! my dear friend,' said the Queen. 'If you really wish to be of use
to me you will come at the time that I will appoint, and I will let down
my poor little baby in a basket. If you will take her, and bring her up
for me, when I am rich I will reward you splendidly.'

'I don't care about the reward,' said the old woman, 'but there is one
thing I should like. You must know that I am very particular about what
I eat, and if there is one thing that I fancy above all others, it is a
plump, tender little mouse. If there is such a thing in your garret
just throw it down to me, and in return I will promise that your little
daughter shall be well taken care of.'

The Queen when she heard this began to cry, but made no answer, and the
old woman after waiting a few minutes asked her what was the matter.

'Why,' said the Queen, 'there is only one mouse in this garret, and that
is such a dear, pretty little thing that I cannot bear to think of its
being killed.'

'What!' cried the old woman, in a rage. 'Do you care more for a
miserable mouse than for your own baby? Good-bye, madam! I leave you to
enjoy its company, and for my own part I thank my stars that I can get
plenty of mice without troubling you to give them to me.'

And she hobbled off grumbling and growling. As to the Queen, she was so
disappointed that, in spite of finding a better dinner than usual,
and seeing the little mouse dancing in its merriest mood, she could do
nothing but cry. That night when her baby was fast asleep she packed it
into the basket, and wrote on a slip of paper, 'This unhappy little girl
is called Delicia!' This she pinned to its robe, and then very sadly she
was shutting the basket, when in sprang the little mouse and sat on the
baby's p