s if I were the daughter of some great king.'

'And would you be glad if you were?' said the Fairy.

'Indeed I should,' answered she.

'Ah, well,' said the Fairy, 'to-morrow I may have some pleasant news for
you.'

So she hurried back to her castle, where the Queen sat busy with her
embroidery, and cried:

'Well, madam! will you wager your thimble and your golden needle that I
am bringing you the best news you could possibly hear?'

'Alas!' sighed the Queen, 'since the death of the Jolly King and the
loss of my Delicia, all the news in the world is not worth a pin to me.

'There, there, don't be melancholy,' said the Fairy. 'I assure you the
Princess is quite well, and I have never seen her equal for beauty. She
might be a Queen to-morrow if she chose; 'and then she told all that
had happened, and the Queen first rejoiced over the thought of Delicia's
beauty, and then wept at the idea of her being a Turkey-maiden.

'I will not hear of her being made to marry the wicked King's son,' she
said. 'Let us go at once and bring her here.'

In the meantime the wicked Prince, who was very angry with Delicia, had
sat himself down under a tree, and cried and howled with rage and spite
until the King heard him, and cried out from the window:

'What is the matter with you, that you are making all this disturbance?'

The Prince replied:

'It is all because our Turkey-maiden will not love me!'

'Won't love you? eh!' said the King. 'We'll very soon see about that!'
So he called his guards and told them to go and fetch Delicia. 'See if I
don't make her change her mind pretty soon!' said the wicked King with a
chuckle.

Then the guards began to search the poultry-yard, and could find
nobody there but Delicia, who, with her splendid dress and her crown of
diamonds, looked such a lovely Princess that they hardly dared to speak
to her. But she said to them very politely:

'Pray tell me what you are looking for here?'

'Madam,' they answered, 'we are sent for an insignificant little person
called Delicia.'

'Alas!' said she, 'that is my name. What can you want with me?'

So the guards tied her hands and feet with thick ropes, for fear she
might run away, and brought her to the King, who was waiting with his
son.

When he saw her he was very much astonished at her beauty, which would
have made anyone less hard-hearted sorry for her. But the wicked King
only laughed and mocked at her, and cried: 'Well, little fright, litt