.

When he recognized the silent figures of his gay train, he was sad as
death, and the Princess wept with him. But suddenly they saw an old, old
woman picking her way among the fallen stones.

"Oh," said the Little Princess, "that is the old woman whom I met in the
forest, spinning!"

At that the fairy laughed so hard that her hair tumbled down about her
feet, and it turned from gray to silver, and silver to gold. The years
fell from her like a cloak, until she was more beautiful than the
thought of man could conceive!

"Ah! I know you now!" cried the Little Princess. "You are my first fairy
godmother!"

And that was the way of it, so she kissed them both for pure joy. But
when they asked her as to which of the stone figures should have the
third magic kiss, she shook her head,

"None of them at all!" she said. "But give me back that bit of gold
thread, for you will have no further use for it."

Then she stretched the thread between her two hands until it was so fine
that you could not see it at all, and laid it on the ground around the
Wizard and his Dragons, and tied a magic knot, just behind the crystal
globe.

"Now give the third kiss to the crystal globe," she said, "and see what
will happen!"

So the Little Princess kissed the globe, and from the place where her
lips touched it, a stream of water trickled down. As it touched the feet
of each statue, the marble softened to flesh and blood, and the breath
came back to it until all of the Prince's train were alive again; but as
for the Wizard, the water could not pass the gold thread, so there he
sits until this day--unless some busybody has untied the magic knot.
Then the fairy flew away, singing a low, happy song.

When the Prince and the Princess came to the Garden, there was a wedding
which lasted a month, and then they rode off toward the west.

After they had gone, the Queen whispered to the Lady-in-waiting,

"You see what careful parents can do! The first fairy godmother was
quite wrong about the Prince of the Black Heart!"

But at that very moment, the Prince had bared his arm to pluck a
water-flower, as they rested beside the way.

"What is that black mark on your arm?" asked the Princess.

"Oh," said the Prince, laughing, "that is just a scar I have borne from
birth. It is in the shape of a heart, and so, for a jest, my people call
me the Prince of the Black Heart."

"Black Heart, indeed!" cried the Little Princess, angrily.

And that