"Come!" said Polly, "let's walk around the garden, and when we come
to the terrace, we'll sit down, and listen to the story that Rose
promised to tell."

"No, the story that Sprite was to tell!" cried Rose.

"No, the story that Princess Polly found in the red book yesterday,"
Sprite said, laughing because the others did.

"We'll run a race!" cried Polly, "and the one that gets there last
will be the one to tell the story."

The others agreed, and Polly counted:

"One! Two! _Three_!"

They were off like the wind, past the fountain, the gates, the big
clump of rose bushes, and it happened that Rose and Sprite were the
first to reach the terrace.

"All right!" cried Princess Polly, "I'll tell the story of the 'Big,
Brave Knight.'"

"Does it begin with: 'Once upon a time'?" Sprite asked, eagerly.

"Oh, yes," Polly said. "Once upon a time there lived a knight who was
big, and brave, and he loved a princess who was so beautiful that it
was like looking at the sun to look at her face, because her beauty
was so dazzling.