"'I know,' answered the princess, sadly, 'but I must wear it because I
promised, and because if I did not and the poor old lady should see me
without it, she would be so very, very unhappy.'

"And, would you believe it, no sooner had the beautiful princess said
those words than the fairy disappeared--poof! just like that! And right
there, on the identical spot where she had been, was that old ragged
and crooked woman.

"'Oh!' cried the princess.

"And the old woman laughed her curious, creepy, crawly, crooked laugh.
'Don't be afraid, my dear,' she said, 'you shall have your jewel of
happiness. But look!' She pointed a long, skinny, crooked finger at the
shiny jewels on the table and there, right before the princess' eyes,
they were all at once nothing but lumps of worthless dirt.

"'Oh!' screamed the princess again. 'All my lovely jewels of
happiness!'

"'But look,' said the old woman again, and once more pointed with her
skinny finger. And would you believe it, the princess saw that ugly,
dirt-colored pebble turn into the most wonderfully splendid jewel that
ever was--the true jewel of happiness.

"And so," concluded the Interpreter, "the beautiful princess whose
heart was kind lived happy ever after."

Little Maggie clapped her thin hands with delight.