came at her call. The roses climbed up to her windows to peep at her,
and the birds of the air, and the butterflies, that looked like
enchanted sunbeams, would circle about her head.

Her father was king of a country; and though she was not so tall as the
tall white lily in the garden, or the weeds that grew outside, she had
servants to wait on her, and grant her every wish, as if she were a
queen.

She was dearer to her father and mother than all else that they
possessed; and there was no happier king or queen or little maiden in
any kingdom of the world, till one sad day when the king's enemies came
upon them like a whirlwind, and changed their joy to sorrow.

Their palace was seized, the servants were scattered, and the king and
queen were carried away to a dark prison-house, where they sat and wept
for their little daughter, for they knew not where she was.

No one knew but the old nurse, who had nursed the king himself. She had
carried the child away, unnoticed amid the noise and strife, and set her
in safety outside the palace walls.

"Fly, precious one!" she cried, as she left her there. "Fly! for the
enemy is upon us!" And the little maiden started out in the world alone.

She knew not where to go; so she wandered away through the fields and
waste places, where nobody lived and only the grasshoppers seemed glad.
But she was not afraid,--no! not even when she came to a great forest,
at evening;--for she carried her light with her.