Half-Hours with Great Story-Tellers

a princess he found some fault with her. Of course he could not marry a mere woman, however beautiful; and there was no princess to be found worthy of him. Whether the prince was so near perfe

could a prince do with a princess that had lost her gravity? Who could tell what she might not lose next? She might lose her visibility, or her tangibility; or, in short, the

s, like a sieve that keeps back the bran. Then the princes get away to follow their fortunes. In this, they have the advantage o

r the trees had got so thin that he could see the sunset through them; and he soon came upon a kind of heath. Next, he came

gathering darkness. Suddenly, he paused, and listened. Strange sounds came across the water. It was, in fact, the princess laughing. Now, there was something odd in her laugh, as I have already hinted; for the hatching of a real hearty laugh requires the incubation of gravity; and, perhaps, this was how the prince mistook the laughter for screaming. Look

her so as to embarass her; but certainly he brought her to shore in a fashion ignominious to a swimmer, and more ne

gave her a strong lift out of the water, to lay her on the bank. But, her gravitation cea

naughty, NAUGHT

e caught at another, and in fact, stopped herself by gathering cones, dropping them as the stalks gave way. The prince, meantime, stood in the water, forgetting to get out. But the princess disappearing, he scrambled on shore, and went in the direction of the tree. H

tell

won't!' rejoin

ou to pull me down out of the water, and throw me t

did not mean

ins; and that is a worse loss than

d her. Before he could think what to say next, the princess, giving a stamp with her foot

e up di

re, you beauty?'

e, which certainly was not far, she had not a single fault about her, except, of course, that she had no gravity. A prince, however, must be incapable

re, you beauty?'

' answered the princess. "'

not in a delightful dream, notwithstanding the torrent of musical abuse with which she overwhelmed him. The prince being in no hurry, they reached the la

I to pu

nswered, quite snappishly. 'You

ghtful shriek of laughter before the water closed over them. When they came to the surface, the princess, for a moment or two, could not even

ke falling in?'

forts, the prin

at you call

nce,'I should think it a

me like going u

nly one of elevation, t

to understand him, for she

ou like fa

; 'for I have fallen in with the

I am tired of it,

ed her father's a

falling in, then?

ed she. 'I never fell before. I wish I could learn. To I think

princess look

l in with you any time you lik

be proper. But I don't care. At all events, as

y heart,' sai

t last they heard cries along the shore, and saw lights glancing

e princess. 'I am very sor

am glad I haven't a home to go to,-at l

e lake for a single night! You see where that green light is burning? That is the window of my room. Now if you would just swim there with me very quietly, and when we are all but under the balco

re," said the prince, gallantly;

ke tomorrow night?' the

hink so. Perhaps,'-was the pri

the parting lift: 'Don't tell.' The only answer the princess returned was a roguish look. She was alre

chamber. As soon as they disappeared he landed in search of his tunic and sword, and after some trouble, found them again. Then he made the best of his way round the lake to the other side. There the wood was wilder, and the shore steeper,-rising more immediately towards the mountains which surrounded the lake on all sides, and kept sending it messages of silvery streams from morning to night, and all