magic wand that the witch had given her. In a moment the
skin was changed into an exquisite ball dress woven out of moon-beams,
and the wheel-barrow was changed into a carriage drawn by two prancing
steeds. Stepping into the carriage the princess drove to the grand
entrance of the palace. When she entered the ball-room, in her wondrous
dress of moon-beams, she looked so lovely, so different from all the
other guests, that everyone wondered who she was, and no one could tell
where she had come from.

From the moment he saw her, the prince fell desperately in love with
her, and all the evening he would dance with no one else but the
beautiful stranger.

When the ball was over, the princess drove away in her carriage at full
speed, for she wished to get home in time to change her ball dress into
the bear's skin, and the carriage into the wheel-barrow, before anyone
discovered who she was.

The prince, putting spurs into his horse, rode after her, for he was
determined not to let her out of his sight. But suddenly a thick mist
arose and hid her from him. When he reached his home he could talk to
his mother of nothing else but the beautiful stranger with whom he had
danced so often, and with whom he was so much in love. And the bear
beneath the table smiled to itself, and muttered: 'I am the beautiful
stranger; oh, how I have taken you in!'

The next evening there was a second ball, and, as you may believe, the
prince was determined not to miss it, for he thought he would once more
see the lovely girl, and dance with her and talk to her, and make her
talk to him, for at the first ball she had never opened her lips.

And, sure enough, as the music struck up the first dance, the beautiful
stranger entered the room, looking even more radiant than the night
before, for this time her dress was woven out of the rays of the sun.
All evening the prince danced with her, but she never spoke a word.

When the ball was over he tried once more to follow her carriage, that
he might know whence she came, but suddenly a great waterspout fell from
the sky, and the blinding sheets of rain hid her from his sight.

When he reached his home he told his mother that he had again seen the
lovely girl, and that this time she had been even more beautiful than
the night before. And again the bear smiled beneath the table, and
muttered: 'I have taken him in a second time, and he has no idea that I
am the beautiful girl with whom he is so much in