ed buckets of gold and one hundred buckets of shining jewels, the
most beautiful that ever were seen. So that when the Prince reached the
Land of Windmills he was able to give fine presents to all who had done
services for him. And you may be sure that the Miller and his boys were
not among the last of this number.

The Miller was made Duke of Millwind, and he received one of the one
hundred buckets of jewels; while each of the Earls, his sons, had one of
the buckets of gold. And the Miller's wife received one of the
buckets of silver; though she had done nothing at all but stay at home
and worry.

After that there was no longer any need for the Miller and his family to
weaken themselves with work. They were rich and noble; and now it was
fair to give the other millers in the land a chance. But no other Miller
had so talented a family, you see. The best thing of all was that the
Prince and Princess, who, upon the old King's death, themselves became
King and Queen, lived to have ten daughters, each more beautiful than
the others. And when they were grown up, the King their father married
them to the ten young Earls, the sons of the Duke of Millwind, in token
of his gratitude to that fine fat gentleman who was once a Miller. And
Hans the eldest son, who married the eldest Princess,--he who had first
shown his talent as a Blower,--Hans himself became in time King of the
Land of Windmills; which was great fortune for the Miller's son, as I
think you must agree. So the Miller's saying proved true, that they
would "blow themselves into fortune."

Now it was in the reign of this illustrious pair that two wonderful
inventions were made,--squeaker-balloons and soap-bubbles. They were
invented at the command of King Hans in honor of his first infant, who
was born with a perfectly wonderful talent for blowing.

[Illustration]

The Riverside Press
_Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.
Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._

* * * * *

Transcriber's note:

Each chapter title was printed on a separate page and then repeated on
the page where the chapter began. In this e-book chapter titles are
used only once to avoid unnecessary repetition.

Page 26, "See" changed to "She" (She glanced at Joyeuse)

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FLOWER PRINCESS***

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