me to sit on her throne, and she
trotted on towards the Silver Castle, which now began to rise out of a
wreath of clouds in the distance. Arrived at the place, she crept up to
the windows of the great dining-hall and peeped in, and there was the
good king sitting at his table in a mantle of cloth of silver, and a
glorious crown, wrought most exquisitely out of the good wishes of his
people, encircling his head. Opposite to him sat his beautiful queen,
and beside him a noble-looking lad who was his only son. Pet, seeing
this happy sight, immediately formed her wish, and in another moment
found herself the king of Silver-country sitting at the head of his
board.

"Oh, what a good, great, warm, happy heart it is," thought Pet, and she
felt more joy than she had ever known in her life before. "A month will
be quite too short a time to live in this noble being. But I must make
the best of my time and learn everything I can."

Pet now found her mind filled with the most wonderfully good, wise
thoughts, and she took great pains to learn them off by heart, so that
she might keep them in her memory forever. Besides all the education she
received in this way, she also enjoyed a great happiness, of which she
had as yet known nothing, the happiness of living in a loving family,
where there was no terrible sorrow or fear to embitter tender hearts.
She felt how fondly the king loved his only son, and how sweet it was to
the king to know that his boy loved him. When the young prince leaned
against his father's knees and told him all about his sports, Pet would
remember that she also had had a father, and that he would have loved
her like this if he had lived. She could have lived here in the Silver
Castle forever, but that could not be. One day the little gold clock ran
down and Pet was obliged to hasten away out of Silver-country.

She made great efforts to remember all the king's wise thoughts, and
kept repeating his good laws over and over again to herself as she went
along. She was now back again in her own country, and the first person
she met was a very miserable-looking old woman who lived in a little mud
hovel in a forest, and supported herself wretchedly by gathering a few
sticks for sale. She was so weak, and so often ill that she could not
earn much, and she was dreadfully lonely, as all her children were dead
but one; and that one, a brave son whom she loved dearly, had gone away
across the world in hope of making money