ver being
a kind man, and seeing such a very pretty girl trudging along the road
with bare feet, most good-naturedly gave her a seat. He said he lived on
the confines of the forest, where his old father was a woodman, and, if
she liked, he would take her so far on her road. All roads were the same
to little Betsinda, so she very thankfully took this one.

And the carter put a cloth round her bare feet, and gave her some bread
and cold bacon, and was very kind to her. For all that she was very cold
and melancholy. When after travelling on and on, evening came, and all
the black pines were bending with snow, and there, at last, was the
comfortable light beaming in the woodman's windows; and so they arrived,
and went into his cottage. He was an old man, and had a number of
children, who were just at supper, with nice hot bread-and-milk, when
their elder brother arrived with the cart. And they jumped and clapped
their hands; for they were good children; and he had brought them toys
from the town. And when they saw the pretty stranger, they ran to
her, and brought her to the fire, and rubbed her poor little feet, and
brought her bread and milk.

'Look, father!' they said to the old woodman, 'look at this poor girl,
and see what pretty cold feet she has. They are as white as our milk!
And look and see what an odd cloak she has, just like the bit of velvet
that hangs up in our cupboard, and which you found that day the little
cubs were killed by King Padella, in the forest! And look, why, bless
us all! she has got round her neck just such another little shoe as
that you brought home, and have shown us so often--a little blue velvet
shoe!'

'What,' said the old woodman, 'what is all this about a shoe and a
cloak?'

And Betsinda explained that she had been left, when quite a little
child, at the town with this cloak and this shoe. And the persons who
had taken care of her had--had been angry with her, for no fault, she
hoped, of her own. And they had sent her away with her old clothes--and
here, in fact, she was. She remembered having been in a forest--and
perhaps it was a dream--it was so very odd and strange--having lived in
a cave with lions there; and, before that, having lived in a very, very
fine house, as fine as the King's, in the town.

When the woodman heard this, he was so astonished, it was quite curious
to see how astonished he was. He went to his cupboard, and took out of
a stocking a five-shilling piece of K