in all her finery to go, she first stepped in front of her
mirror and asked:

"Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of us all?"

and it replied:

"The Queen was fairest yesterday;
The Prince's bride is now, they say."

At these words the Queen was in a fury, and was so terribly mortified
that she knew not what to do with herself. At first she resolved not
to go to the wedding, but she could not resist the wish to see the
Princess. So she went; but as soon as she saw the bride she recognized
Snow-White, and was so terrified with rage and astonishment that she
rushed out of the castle and was never heard of again.

[Illustration]

THE UGLY DUCKLING

[Illustration]

It was beautiful in the country. It was summertime. The wheat was
yellow, the oats were green, the hay was stacked up in the green
meadows, and the stork paraded about on his long red legs, talking
in Egyptian, which language he had learnt from his mother.

The fields and meadows were skirted by thick woods, and a deep lake lay
in the midst of the woods. Yes; it was indeed beautiful in the country!
The sunshine fell warmly on an old mansion, surrounded by deep canals,
and from the walls down to the water's edge there grew large burdock
leaves, so high that children could stand upright among them without
being seen.

This place was as wild as the thickest part of the wood, and on that
account a Duck had chosen to make her nest there. She was sitting on
her eggs; but the pleasure she had felt at first was now almost gone,
because she had been there so long, and had so few visitors, for the
other Ducks preferred swimming on the canals to sitting among the
burdock leaves gossiping with her.

At last the eggs cracked one after another, "Chick, chick!" All the eggs
were alive, and one little head after another peered forth. "Quack,
quack!" said the Duck, and all got up as well as they could. They peeped
about from under the green leaves; and as green is good for the eyes,
their mother let them look as long as they pleased.

"How large the world is!" said the little ones, for they found their new
abode very different from their former narrow one in the egg-shells.

"Do you imagine this to be the whole of the world?" said the mother.
"It extends far beyond the other side of the garden in the pastor's
field; but I have never been there. Are you all here?" And then she got
up. "No, not all, for the largest egg is sti