virtue lay in his crown; and every king at dying
gave it to his son with the same words of blessing.

So, now, the king's eldest son wore the crown; and his step-mother
knew that her own son could not wear it while he lived, therefore she
looked on and said nothing. Now he was known to all the people of his
country, because of his right to the throne, as the king's son; and
his brother, the child of the second wife, was called the queen's son.
But as yet they were both young, and cared little enough for crowns.

After the king's death the queen was made regent till the king's son
should be come to a full age; but already the little king wore the
royal crown his father had left him, and the queen looked on and said
nothing.

More than three years went by, and everybody said how good the queen
was to the little king who was not her own son; and the king's son,
for his part, was good to her and to his step-brother, loving them
both; and all by himself he kept thinking, having his thoughts guarded
and circled by his golden crown, 'How shall I learn to be a wise king,
and to be merciful when I have power, as God is?'

So to everything that came his way, to his playthings and his pets, to
his ministers and his servants, he played the king as though already
his word made life and death. People watching him said, 'Everything
that has touch with the king's son loves him.' They told strange tales
of him: only in fairy books could they be believed, because they were
so beautiful; and all the time the queen, getting a good name for
herself, looked on and said nothing.

One night the king's son was lying half-asleep upon his bed, with wise
dreams coming and going under the circle of his gold crown, when a
mouse ran out of the wainscot and came and jumped up upon the couch.
The poor mouse had turned quite white with fear and horror, and was
trembling in every limb as it cried its news into the king's ear. 'O
king's son,' it said, 'get up and run for your life! I was behind the
wainscot in the queen's closet, and this is what I heard: if you stay
here, when you wake up to-morrow you will be dead!'

The king's son got up, and all alone in the dark night stole out of
the palace, seeking safety for his dear life. He sighed to himself,
'There was a pain in my crown ever since I wore it. Alas, mother, I
thought you were too kind a step-mother to do this!'

Outside it was still winter: there was no warmth in the world, and not
a lea