an ass in the nearest
market-town, and brought it back loaded with sacks of turnip, carrot,
and radish seed. With this he sowed a great field, and sent a vast army
of his goblins to watch and tend it, and to bring up the fiery rivers
from the heart of the earth near enough to warm and encourage the
sprouting seeds. Thus fostered they grew and flourished marvellously,
and promised a goodly crop.

The princess wandered about the field day by day, no other plants or
fruits in all her wonderful garden pleased her as much as these roots;
but still her eyes were full of discontent. And, best of all, she loved
to while away the hours in a shady fir-wood, seated upon the bank of a
little stream, into which she would cast the flowers she had gathered
and watch them float away.

The gnome tried hard by every means in his power to please the princess
and win her love, but little did he guess the real reason of his lack
of success. He imagined that she was too young and inexperienced to care
for him; but that was a mistake, for the truth was that another image
already filled her heart. The young Prince Ratibor, whose lands joined
her father's, had won the heart of the princess; and the lovers had
been looking forward to the coming of their wedding-day when the
bride's mysterious disappearance took place. The sad news drove Ratibor
distracted, and as the days went on, and nothing could be heard of the
princess, he forsook his castle and the society of men, and spent his
days in the wild forests, roaming about and crying her name aloud to the
trees and rocks. Meanwhile, the maiden, in her gorgeous prison, sighed
in secret over her grief, not wishing to arouse the gnome's suspicions.
In her own mind she was wondering if by any means she might escape from
her captivity, and at last she hit upon a plan.

By this time spring once more reigned in the valley, and the gnome sent
the fires back to their places in the deeps of the earth, for the roots
which they had kept warm through all the cruel winter hand now come to
their full size. Day by day the princess pulled up some of them, and
made experiments with them, conjuring up now this longed-for person, and
now that, just for the pleasure of seeing them as they appeared; but she
really had another purpose in view.

One day she changed a tiny turnip into a bee, and sent him off to bring
her some news of her lover.

'Fly, dear little bee, towards the east,' said she, 'to my beloved
Ra