ng mortals a Princess so charming that no one could see her
without falling in love with her. They were allowed to take their
own time, and meanwhile the four oldest fairies were to attend to the
affairs of the kingdom.

Now Paridamie had for a long time been very friendly with King
Bardondon, who was a most accomplished Prince, and whose court was the
model of what a court should be. His Queen, Balanice, was also charming;
indeed it is rare to find a husband and wife so perfectly of one mind
about everything. They had one little daughter, whom they had named
'Rosanella,' because she had a little pink rose printed upon her white
throat. From her earliest infancy she had shown the most astonishing
intelligence, and the courtiers knew her smart sayings by heart, and
repeated them on all occasions. In the middle of the night following the
assembly of fairies, Queen Balanice woke up with a shriek, and when her
maids of honour ran to see what was the matter, they found she had had a
frightful dream.

'I thought,' said she, 'that my little daughter had changed into a
bouquet of roses, and that as I held it in my hand a bird swooped down
suddenly and snatched it from me and carried it away.'

'Let some one run and see that all is well with the Princess,' she
added.

So they ran; but what was their dismay when they found that the cradle
was empty; and though they sought high and low, not a trace of Rosanella
could they discover. The Queen was inconsolable, and so, indeed, was the
King, only being a man he did not say quite so much about his feelings.
He presently proposed to Balanice that they should spend a few days at
one of their palaces in the country; and to this she willingly agreed,
since her grief made the gaiety of the capital distasteful to her. One
lovely summer evening, as they sat together on a shady lawn shaped like
a star, from which radiated twelve splendid avenues of trees, the Queen
looked round and saw a charming peasant-girl approaching by each path,
and what was still more singular was that everyone carried something in
a basket which appeared to occupy her whole attention. As each drew near
she laid her basket at Balanice's feet, saying:

'Charming Queen, may this be some slight consolation to you in your
unhappiness!'

The Queen hastily opened the baskets, and found in each a lovely
baby-girl, about the same age as the little Princess for whom she
sorrowed so deeply. At first the sight of them rene