whereupon the prince handed his beloved princess at once to
the great hall. She did not wait to dress for dinner, being already
perfectly and magnificently attired, though in a fashion somewhat out
of date. However, her lover had the politeness not to notice this, nor
to remind her that she was dressed exactly like her royal grandmother,
whose portrait still hung on the palace walls.

During the banquet a concert took place by the attendant musicians,
and considering they had not touched their instruments for a century,
they played extremely well. They ended with a wedding march; for that
very evening the marriage of the prince and princess was celebrated,
and though the bride was nearly one hundred years older than the
bridegroom, it is remarkable that the fact would never had been
discovered by any one unacquainted therewith.

After a few days they went together out of the castle and enchanted
wood, both of which immediately vanished, and were never more beheld
by mortal eyes. The princess was restored to her ancestral kingdom,
but it was not generally declared who she was, as during a hundred
years people had grown so very much cleverer that nobody then living
would ever have believed the story. So nothing was explained, and
nobody presumed to ask any questions about her, for ought not a prince
be able to marry whomsoever he pleases?

Nor--whether or not the day of fairies was over--did the princess ever
see anything further of her seven godmothers. She lived a long and
happy life, like any other ordinary woman, and died at length,
beloved, regretted, but, the prince being already no more, perfectly
contented.

LITTLE RED-RIDING-HOOD

Once there was a little village maiden, the prettiest ever seen. Her
mother was foolishly fond of her, and her grandmother likewise. The
old woman made for her a little hood, which became the damsel so well
that ever after she went by the name of Little Red-Riding-Hood. One
day, when her mother was making cakes, she said, "My child, you shall
go and see your grandmother, for I hear she is not well; and you shall
take her some of these cakes and a pot of butter."

Little Red-Riding-Hood was delighted to go, though it was a long walk;
but she was a good child, and fond of her kind grandmother. Passing
through a wood, she met a great wolf, who was most eager to eat her
up, but dared not, because of a woodcutter who was busy hard by. So he
only came and asked her politely wh