garments and the splendid walls with their gay embroideries. She
called aloud. She ran to the old man's bed to see if he were still
asleep,--there in his place lay a stranger, young and handsome.

"Oh, where is the little old hut in the forest and where is the poor
old man? Oh, where is the little cock and the little hen and the
pretty brindled cow and where, oh, where am I?" she cried. At this the
stranger wakened and, sitting up in bed, he called softly: "Do not run
away. Alween! Alween! Come back! Come back! Do not be frightened.
We are all here. I was the old man with the long white beard and my
servants yonder were the cock, the hen and the brindled cow. You have
saved our lives. You have set us free. You have delivered us from
worse than death. I am a king's son, but I was bewitched by a wicked
old fairy and forced, in the form of an old, old man, to live here in a
hut in the forest all alone, except for my three servants, who were
made to take the form of a cock, of a hen, and of a brindled cow. Here
we were obliged to stay until some one came to us who showed love and
kindness toward my animals as well as toward myself. You have saved
us. You have set us free and this great palace and all within it is
yours."

And Alween married the king's son and they were very happy together for
many, many years; but her sisters were forced to live lives of hardship
and poverty until their hearts had grown more kindly toward all living
creatures.




THE SLEEPING PRINCESS.