d
not object, the boys obeyed, and amused themselves by working among the
flowers with old Adam, the gardener, who taught them many curious,
useful, and beautiful things about trees and plants. They also learned
to play and sing, and often sat in the summer evenings making music with
their little lutes sweeter than that of the nightingales in the
rose-bushes, or the court concerts, where the bad Queen and the proud
Princesses sat in all their splendor. The boys studied and grew wise
with the teachers, who loved them; but as time went by they began to
long for more freedom and pleasure, when the horns blew and all the
great people rode away to hunt the deer or fly their falcons. They
begged the Queen to let them see their father; but when she saw what
handsome, tall lads they were growing she was more anxious than ever to
get rid of them, and in the night she sent her soldiers to take them to
the tower, where they were shut up in a high room, with only bread and
water to live on,--no books, no friends, no freedom; for no one knew
where they were, because the Queen told the father that they had run
away, and when he had sent some people to look for them he troubled
himself no more about the matter.

So they lived for a year all alone in the tower; but they were not very
unhappy, for the sun smiled in at them, birds built nests in the ivy
that covered the gray walls, and the wind sang them to sleep as it
roared or whispered round their high room. They loved and cheered each
other, and kept up their courage till one day no bread and water was put
in at the little wicket of the door. For three days no food came, and
then they knew that the wicked Queen meant to starve them to death.
People thought them lost; and all but the few who were faithful forgot
the Princes and obeyed the Queen, who now ruled over them like a tyrant,
while her daughters grew more proud and selfish every day, and the old
King slept most of the time, careless of everything but his ease.

"Now, brother, we must escape, for it is plain that no one will help us;
so we will help ourselves," said Purple bravely, resolving not to starve
to death to please a cruel stepmother.

"We will," cried Plush; "but how can we get out of this high tower with
no ladder?"

"We will make one. I've often planned it all, but thought it our duty to
obey. Now it is right to take care of ourselves, and try to reach our
father if we can. Let us braid ropes of the straw of our