a daughter who
was named Signy.

The king and queen were very anxious to bring their children up well,
and the young prince and princess were taught everything likely to
make them clever and accomplished. They lived at home in their father's
palace, and he spared no pains to make their lives happy.

Prince Asmund dearly loved all outdoor sports and an open-air life, and
from his earliest childhood he had longed to live entirely in the forest
close by. After many arguments and entreaties he succeeded in persuading
the king to give him two great oak trees for his very own.

'Now,' said he to his sister, 'I will have the trees hollowed out, and
then I will make rooms in them and furnish them so that I shall be able
to live out in the forest.'

'Oh, Asmund!' exclaimed Signy, 'what a delightful idea! Do let me come
too, and live in one of your trees. I will bring all my pretty things
and ornaments, and the trees are so near home we shall be quite safe in
them.'

Asmund, who was extremely fond of his sister, readily consented,
and they had a very happy time together, carrying over all their pet
treasures, and Signy's jewels and other ornaments, and arranging them in
the pretty little rooms inside the trees.

Unfortunately sadder days were to come. A war with another country broke
out, and the king had to lead his army against their enemy. During his
absence the queen fell ill, and after lingering for some time she died,
to the great grief of her children. They made up their minds to live
altogether for a time in their trees, and for this purpose they had
provisions enough stored up inside to last them a year.

Now, I must tell you, in another country a long way off, there reigned a
king who had an only son named Ring. Prince Ring had heard so much about
the beauty and goodness of Princess Signy that he determined to marry
her if possible. So he begged his father to let him have a ship for the
voyage, set sail with a favourable wind, and after a time landed in the
country where Signy lived.

The prince lost no time in setting out for the royal palace, and on his
way there he met such a wonderfully lovely woman that he felt he had
never seen such beauty in all his life. He stopped her and at once asked
who she was.

'I am Signy, the king's daughter,' was the reply.

Then the prince inquired why she was wandering about all by herself, and
she told him that since her mother's death she was so sad that whilst
her fat