mentilla's spiteful words were almost forgotten.

"Poor old thing," the Queen would sometimes say, "she was so angry
at having been left out that she did not know what she was saying. Of
course, she did not really mean it."

Now, the King and Queen had to go away for a few days to a great
entertainment that one of their richest nobles was giving at his
country house; and, as the Princess did not wish to go, they left her
behind with her ladies-in-waiting in the beautiful old palace. For
the first two days she amused herself very well, but on the third she
missed her father and mother so much that, to pass the time till
they came back, she began exploring all the old lumber-rooms and
out-of-the-way attics in the palace, and laughing at the dusty
furniture and queer curiosities she found there.

At last she found herself at the top of a narrow winding stairway in
a tall turret that seemed even older than all the rest of the palace.
And when she lifted the latch of the door in front of her she saw
a little low chamber with curiously painted walls, and there sat a
little old, old woman in a high white cap, spinning at a wheel.

For some time she stood at the door, watching the old woman curiously;
she could not imagine what she was doing, for the Princess had never
seen a spinning-wheel in her life before, because, as I told you, the
King had ordered them all to be destroyed.

Now, it happened that the poor old woman who lived in this tower
had never heard the King's command, for she was so deaf that if
you shouted until you were hoarse she would never have been able to
understand you.

"What pretty work you are doing there, Goody? And why does that wheel
go whirr, whirr, whirr?" said the Princess. The old woman neither
answered nor looked up, for, of course, she did not hear.

So the Princess stepped into the room and laid her hand upon the old
woman's shoulder.

Goody started then, looked up, and rubbed her eyes.

"Deary, deary me!" cried she, in a high, cracked voice. "And who may
you be, my pretty darling?"

"I'm the Princess Miranda," screamed the maiden in her ear, but the
old woman only shook her head--she could hear nothing.

Then the Princess pointed to the spindle, and made the old woman
understand that she wanted to try if she could work it.

So Goody nodded, and laughed, and got up from her seat, and the
Princess sat down and took the spindle in her hand. But no sooner did
she touch it than she pr