tell her how he came to discover the secret.

So he showed her the two laurels which had helped him, and
she, like a prudent girl, thinking they gave him too much advantage
over his wife, cut them off at the root and threw them in the fire.
And this is why the country girls go about singing:

Nous n'irons plus au bois,
Les lauriers sont coupes,'

and dancing in summer by the light of the moon.



THE PRINCESS MAYBLOSSOM

ONCE upon a time there lived a King and Queen whose children
had all died, first one and then another, until at last only one
little daughter remained, and the Queen was at her wits' end to
know where to find a really good nurse who would take care of her,
and bring her up. A herald was sent who blew a trumpet at every
street corner, and commanded all the best nurses to appear before
the Queen, that she might choose one for the little Princess. So on
the appointed day the whole palace was crowded with nurses, who
came from the four corners of the world to offer themselves, until the
Queen declared that if she was ever to see the half of them, they
must be brought out to her, one by one, as she sat in a shady wood
near the palace.

This was accordingly done, and the nurses, after they had made