and misfortune.'

The queen rewarded the old woman richly, and next morning, before
the sun rose, she was down in the garden, found at once the
little bush with the three buds, plucked the middle one and ate
it. It was sweet to taste, but afterwards was as bitter as gall.
Six months after this, she brought into the world a little girl.
There was a nurse in readiness, whom the wise woman had provided,
and preparations were made for her living with the child, quite
alone, in a secluded wing of the castle, looking out on the
pleasure-park. The queen did as the wise woman had told her; she
gave up the child immediately, and the nurse took it and lived
with it there.

When the king came home and heard that a daughter had been born
to him, he was of course very pleased and happy, and wanted to
see her at once.

The queen had then to tell him this much of the story, that it
had been foretold that it would cause great sorrow and misfortune
if either he or she got a sight of the child until it had
completed its fourteenth year.

This was a long time to wait. The king longed so much to get a
sight of his daughter, and the queen no less than he, but she
knew that it was not like other children, for it could speak
immediately after it was born, and was as wise as older folk.
This the nurse had told her, for with her the queen had a talk
now and again, but there was no one who had ever seen the
princess. The queen had also seen what the wise woman could do,