though they were carrying the stove up some stairs. The men rested
sometimes, and then moved on again, and their feet went so softly he
thought they must be walking on thick carpets. By and by the stove was
set down again, happily for Karl, for he felt as though he should
scream, or do something to make known that he was there. Then the
wrappings were taken off, and he heard a voice say, "What a beautiful,
beautiful stove!"

[Illustration: "Oh let me stay please let me stay"]

Next some one turned the round handle of the brass door, and poor
little Karl's heart stood still.

"What is this?" said the man. "A live child!"

Then Karl sprang out of the stove and fell at the feet of the man who
had spoken.

"Oh, let me stay, please let me stay!" he said. "I have come all the
way with my darling Hirschvogel!"

The man answered kindly, "Poor little child! tell me how you came to
hide in the stove. Do not be afraid. I am the king."

Karl was too much in earnest to be afraid; he was so glad, so glad it
was the king, for kings must be always kind, he thought.

"Oh, dear king!" he said with a trembling voice, "Hirschvogel was
ours, and we have loved it all our lives, and father sold it, and when
I saw that it really did go from us I said to myself that I would go