sked Zella, looking down at her feet to
admire them. "One of them my father found by the palace wall, and the
other on an ash-heap. So he brought them to me and they fit me
perfectly."

By this time Inga was trembling with eager joy, which of course the girl
could not understand.

"What is your name, little maid?" he asked.

"I am called Zella, and my father is Nikobob, the charcoal-burner."

"Zella is a pretty name. I am Inga, Prince of Pingaree," said he, "and
the shoes you are now wearing, Zella, belong to me. They were not cast
away, as your father supposed, but were lost. Will you let me have them
again?"

Zella's eyes filled with tears.

"Must I give up my pretty shoes, then?" she asked. "They are the only
ones I have ever owned."

Inga was sorry for the poor child, but he knew how important it was that
he regain possession of the Magic Pearls. So he said, pleadingly:

"Please let me have them, Zella. See! I will exchange for them the shoes
I now have on, which are newer and prettier than the others."

The girl hesitated. She wanted to please the boy Prince, yet she hated
to exchange the shoes which her father had brought her as a present.

"If you will give me the shoes," continued the boy, anxiously, "I will
promise to make you and your father and mother rich and prosperous.
Indeed, I will promise to grant any favors you may ask of me," and he
sat down upon the floor and drew off the shoes he was wearing and held
them toward the girl.

[Illustration]

"I'll see if they will fit me," said Zella, taking off her left
shoe--the one that contained the Pink Pearl--and beginning to put on one
of Inga's.

Just then Queen Cor, angry at being made to wait for her whip with the
seven lashes, rushed into the room to find Inga. Seeing the boy sitting
upon the floor beside Zella, the woman sprang toward him to beat him
with her clenched fists; but Inga had now slipped on the shoe and the
Queen's blows could not reach his body.

Then Cor espied the whip lying beside Inga and snatching it up she tried
to lash him with it--all to no avail.

While Zella sat horrified by this scene, the Prince, who realized he had
no time to waste, reached out and pulled the right shoe from the girl's
foot, quickly placing it upon his own. Then he stood up and, facing the
furious but astonished Queen, said to her in a quiet voice:

"Madam, please give me that whip."

"I won't!" answered Cor. "I'm going to lash those Pingaree