working for the
fisherman.

The king and the queen and all the court wept tears of joy when they
beheld the youngest prince alive and well. The queen wept again when
she noticed the poor rough clothing which the prince was wearing. She
had brought with her the prince's favourite suit of cloth of gold
which she had laid away carefully. When the prince put it on it was a
trifle tight and a little bit too short for him, as he had grown so
much in the year. Nevertheless he looked very handsome in it when he
stood before the beautiful princess and claimed her as his bride.

The fisherman was greatly astonished at all the proceedings, for he
had never dreamed that it was the king's son who had been working for
him all the year and sleeping on a mat at his side on the floor of his
rude hut.

"He may be a prince, but he is the most faithful lad who ever worked
for me," said the fisherman.

"He is indeed a prince," cried the courtiers, "and the bravest, most
faithful prince which any land in all the world ever boasted of."

"His princely deeds have proven to all the world that he is fit to
reign as king over our fair land when I no longer live," said the king
as he gave the prince and the beautiful princess his royal blessing.

III

THE BOY AND THE VIOLIN

Once upon a time there was a man who had an only son. When the man
died the son was left all alone in the world. There was not very much
property--just a cat and a dog, a small piece of land, and a few
orange trees. The boy gave the dog away to a neighbour and sold the
land and the orange trees. Every bit of money he obtained from the
sale he invested in a violin. He had longed for a violin all his life
and now he wanted one more than ever. While his father had lived he
could tell his thoughts to his father, but now there was none to tell
them to except the violin. What his violin said back to him made the
very sweetest music in the world.

The boy went to hire out as shepherd to care for the sheep of the
king, but he was told that the king already had plenty of shepherds
and had no need of another. The boy took his violin which he had
brought with him and hid himself in the deep forest. There he made
sweet music with the violin. The shepherds who were near by guarding
the king's sheep heard the sweet strains, but they could not find out
who was playing. The sheep, too, heard the music. Several of them left
the flock and followed the sound of the music into