othed herself in her dress of sunshine, the king's son rode through
the gate, and asked if he might come and rest himself a little after
hunting. Some food and milk were set before him in the garden, and when
he felt rested he got up, and began to explore the house, which was
famous throughout the whole kingdom for its age and beauty. He opened
one door after the other, admiring the old rooms, when he came to a
handle that would not turn. He stooped and peeped through the keyhole to
see what was inside, and was greatly astonished at beholding a beautiful
girl, clad in a dress so dazzling that he could hardly look at it.

The dark gallery seemed darker than ever as he turned away, but he went
back to the kitchen and inquired who slept in the room at the end of the
passage. The scullery maid, they told him, whom everybody laughed
at, and called 'Donkey Skin;' and though he perceived there was some
strange mystery about this, he saw quite clearly there was nothing to be
gained by asking any more questions. So he rode back to the palace, his
head filled with the vision he had seen through the keyhole.

All night long he tossed about, and awoke the next morning in a high
fever. The queen, who had no other child, and lived in a state of
perpetual anxiety about this one, at once gave him up for lost, and
indeed his sudden illness puzzled the greatest doctors, who tried the
usual remedies in vain. At last they told the queen that some secret
sorrow must be at the bottom of all this, and she threw herself on her
knees beside her son's bed, and implored him to confide his trouble to
her. If it was ambition to be king, his father would gladly resign the
cares of the crown, and suffer him to reign in his stead; or, if it
was love, everything should be sacrificed to get for him the wife he
desired, even if she were daughter of a king with whom the country was
at war at present!

'Madam,' replied the prince, whose weakness would hardly allow him to
speak, 'do not think me so unnatural as to wish to deprive my father of
his crown. As long as he lives I shall remain the most faithful of his
subjects! And as to the princesses you speak of, I have seen none that
I should care for as a wife, though I would always obey your wishes,
whatever it might cost me.'

'Ah! my son,' cried she, 'we will do anything in the world to save your
life----and ours too, for if you die, we shall die also.'

'Well, then,' replied the prince, 'I will tell