trust and obedience,' answered the lady.

'I dare not say anything, ma'am. If you think me fit, command me.'

'It will hurt you terribly, Curdie, but that will be all; no real hurt
but much good will come to you from it.'

Curdie made no answer but stood gazing with parted lips in the lady's
face.

'Go and thrust both your hands into that fire,' she said quickly,
almost hurriedly.

Curdie dared not stop to think. It was much too terrible to think
about. He rushed to the fire, and thrust both of his hands right into
the middle of the heap of flaming roses, and his arms halfway up to the
elbows. And it did hurt! But he did not draw them back. He held the
pain as if it were a thing that would kill him if he let it go--as
indeed it would have done. He was in terrible fear lest it should
conquer him.

But when it had risen to the pitch that he thought he could bear it no
longer, it began to fall again, and went on growing less and less until
by contrast with its former severity it had become rather pleasant. At
last it ceased altogether, and Curdie thought his hands must be burned
to cinders if not ashes, for he did not feel them at all. The princess
told him to take them out and look at them. He did so, and found that
all that was gone of them was the rough, hard skin; they were white and
smooth like the princess's.

'Come to me,' she said.

He obeyed and saw, to his surprise, that her face looked as if she had
been weeping.

'Oh, Princess! What is the matter?' he cried. 'Did I make a noise and
vex you?'

'No, Curdie, she answered; 'but it was very bad.'

'Did you feel it too then?'

'Of course I did. But now it is over, and all is well. Would you like
to know why I made You put your hands in the fire?' Curdie looked at
them again--then said:

'To take the marks of the work off them and make them fit for the
king's court, I suppose.'

'No, Curdie,' answered the princess, shaking her head, for she was not
pleased with the answer. 'It would be a poor way of making your hands
fit for the king's court to take off them signs of his service. There
is a far greater difference on them than that. Do you feel none?'

'No, ma'am.'

'You will, though, by and by, when the time comes. But perhaps even
then you might not know what had been given you, therefore I will tell
you. Have you ever heard what some philosophers say--that men were all
animals once?'

'No, ma'am.'

'It is of no consequence