The queen, watching this transformation, could hardly believe her eyes,
and would have taken it all for a dream, had it not been for the basket
which she held in her hand. Feeling a different being from the poor
sad woman who had wandered into the garden so short a time before, she
hastened to her room, and felt carefully in the basket for the egg.
There it was, a tiny thing of soft blue with little green spots, and she
took it out and kept it in her bosom, which was the warmest place she
could think of.

A fortnight after the old woman had paid her visit, the king came home,
having conquered his enemies. At this proof that the old woman had
spoken truth, the queen's heart bounded, for she now had fresh hopes
that the rest of the prophecy might be fulfilled.

She cherished the basket and the egg as her chiefest treasures, and had
a golden case made for the basket, so that when the time came to lay the
egg in it, it might not risk any harm.

Three months passed, and, as the old woman had bidden her, the queen
took the egg from her bosom, and laid it snugly amidst the warm woollen
folds. The next morning she went to look at it, and the first thing she
saw was the broken eggshell, and a little doll lying among the pieces.
Then she felt happy at last, and leaving the doll in peace to grow,
waited, as she had been told, for a baby of her own to lay beside it.

In course of time, this came also, and the queen took the little girl
out of the basket, and placed it with her son in a golden cradle which
glittered with precious stones. Next she sent for the king, who nearly
went mad with joy at the sight of the children.

Soon there came a day when the whole court was ordered to be present at
the christening of the royal babies, and when all was ready the queen
softly opened the window a little, and let the goose wing fly out.
The guests were coming thick and fast, when suddenly there drove up a
splendid coach drawn by six cream-coloured horses, and out of it stepped
a young lady dressed in garments that shone like the sun. Her face could
not be seen, for a veil covered her head, but as she came up to the
place where the queen was standing with the babies she drew the veil
aside, and everyone was dazzled with her beauty. She took the little
girl in her arms, and holding it up before the assembled company
announced that henceforward it would be known by the name of
Dotterine--a name which no one understood but the queen, who kn