the
reason why you cannot work the ship out of port? It is because the
Prince who is on board with you has broken his promise to his daughter,
remembering every one except his own child."

Then the captain awoke and told his dream to the Prince, who, in shame
and confusion at the breach of his promise, went to the Grotto of the
Fairies, and, commending his daughter to them, asked them to send her
something. And behold, there stepped forth from the grotto a beautiful
maiden, who told him that she thanked his daughter for her kind
remembrances, and bade him tell her to be merry and of good heart out
of love to her. And thereupon she gave him a date-tree, a hoe, and a
little bucket all of gold, and a silken napkin, adding that the one was
to hoe with and the other to water the plant.

The Prince, marvelling at this present, took leave of the fairy, and
returned to his own country. And when he had given his stepdaughters
all the things they had desired, he at last gave his own daughter the
gift which the fairy had sent her. Then Zezolla, out of her wits with
joy, took the date-tree and planted it in a pretty flower-pot, hoed the
earth round it, watered it, and wiped its leaves morning and evening
with the silken napkin. In a few days it had grown as tall as a woman,
and out of it came a fairy, who said to Zezolla, "What do you wish
for?" And Zezolla replied that she wished sometimes to leave the house
without her sisters' knowledge. The fairy answered, "Whenever you
desire this, come to the flower-pot and say:

My little Date-tree, my golden tree,
With a golden hoe I have hoed thee,
With a golden can I have watered thee,
With a silken cloth I have wiped thee dry,
Now strip thee and dress me speedily.

And when you wish to undress, change the last words and say, 'Strip me
and dress thee.'"

When the time for the feast was come, and the stepmother's daughters
appeared, dressed out so fine, all ribbons and flowers, and slippers
and shoes, sweet smells and bells, and roses and posies, Zezolla ran
quickly to the flower-pot, and no sooner had she repeated the words, as
the fairy had told her, than she saw herself arrayed like a queen,
seated upon a palfrey, and attended by twelve smart pages, all in their
best clothes. Then she went to the ball, and made the sisters envious
of this unknown beauty.

Even the young King himself was there, and as soon as he saw her he
stood magic-bound with amazemen