inside and spun them on their spinning-wheels. Then they wove them into
pretty cloth.

This, when laid out on the grass, under the sunshine, was bleached
white. The flax thread was made first into linen, and then into lace.

"Let us name the place Groen-e'-veld" (Green Field), the happy people
cried, when they saw how green the earth was where had been the dark
forest. So the place was ever after called the Green Field.

Now when the princess saw what pretty clothes the snow white linen made,
she invented a new style of dress. The upper garment, or "rok," that is,
the one above the waist, she called the "boven rok" and the lower one,
beneath the waist, her "beneden rok." In Dutch "boven" means above and
"beneden" means beneath. By and by, when, at the looms, more of the
beautiful white linen was woven, she had a new petticoat made and put it
on. She was so delighted with this one that she wanted more. One after
the other, she belted them around her waist, until she had on twenty
petticoats at a time. Proud she was of her skirts, even though they made
her look like a barrel. When her mother, and maids, and all the women of
Groen-e-veld, young and old, saw the princess set the fashion, they all
followed. It was not always easy for poor girls, who were to be married,
to buy as many as twenty petticoats. But, as it was the fashion, every
bride had to obey the rule. It grew to be the custom to have at least
twenty; for only this number was thought proper.

So, a new rule, even among the men, grew up. A betrothed young man, or
his female relatives assisting him, was accustomed to make a present of
one or more petticoats to his sweetheart to increase her wardrobe.