ould not fail to find it. His joy at
seeing the Princess again was extreme, and he set to work with all his
might to try to break her prison, but in spite of all his efforts he
failed utterly. In despair he thought at least that he would try to get
near enough to speak to the Dear Little Princess, who, on her part,
stretched out her hand that he might kiss it; but turn which way he
might, he never could raise it to his lips, for his long nose always
prevented it. For the first time he realized how long it really was,
and exclaimed:

"Well, it must be admitted that my nose _is_ too long!"

In an instant the crystal prison flew into a thousand splinters, and
the old Fairy, taking the Dear Little Princess by the hand, said to the
Prince:

"Now, say if you are not very much obliged to me. Much good it was for
me to talk to you about your nose! You would never have found out how
extraordinary it was if it hadn't hindered you from doing what you
wanted to. You see how self-love keeps us from knowing our own defects
of mind and body. Our reason tries in vain to show them to us; we
refuse to see them till we find them in our way."

Prince Hyacinth, whose nose was now just like anyone else's, did not
fail to profit by the lesson he had received. He married the Dear
Little Princess, and they lived happily ever after.

CINDERELLA

BY CHARLES PERRAULT

Once there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the
proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a
former husband, two daughters of her own humor, who were, indeed,
exactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by his first wife, a
young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper,
which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world.

No sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over but the step-mother
began to show herself in her true colors. She could not bear the good
qualities of this pretty girl, and the less because they made her own
daughters appear the more odious. She employed her in the meanest work
of the house: the young girl scoured the dishes, tables, etc., and
scrubbed madam's chamber, and those of misses, her daughters; she lay
up in a sorry garret, upon a wretched straw bed, while her sisters lay
in fine rooms, with floors all inlaid, upon beds of the very newest
fashion, and where they had looking glasses so large that they might
see themselves at their full length from head