might have come of it.

As she grew up it was still the same, with this difference, that not
only must she have every thing, but she got tired of every thing
almost as soon as she had it. There was an accumulation of things in
her nursery and schoolroom and bedroom that was perfectly appalling.
Her mother's wardrobes were almost useless to her, so packed were
they with things of which she never took any notice. When she was
five years old, they gave her a splendid gold repeater, so close set
with diamonds and rubies, that the back was just one crust of gems.
In one of her little tempers, as they called her hideously ugly
rages, she dashed it against the back of the chimney, after which it
never gave a single tick; and some of the diamonds went to the
ash-pit. As she grew older still, she became fond of animals, not in
a way that brought them much pleasure, or herself much satisfaction.
When angry, she would beat them, and try to pull them to pieces, and
as soon as she became a little used to them, would neglect them
altogether. Then, if they could, they would run away, and she was
furious. Some white mice, which she had ceased feeding altogether,
did so; and soon the palace was swarming with white mice. Their red
eyes might be seen glowing, and their white skins gleaming, in every
dark corner; but when it came to the king's finding a nest of them
in his second-best crown, he was angry and ordered them to be
drowned. The princess heard of it, however, and raised such a
clamor, that there they were left until they should run away of
themselves; and the poor king had to wear his best crown every day
till then. Nothing that was the princess's property, whether she
cared for it or not, was to be meddled with.

Of course, as she grew, she grew worse; for she never tried to grow