pany.

"'I will build your tower in one night,' said the old man.

"The old King laughed outright, but he accepted the offer then and
there. 'In the morning,' said he, 'if we find the tower finished, you
shall have any gift which may be in my power to give.'

"The old man bowed, and made his way slowly out of the palace. A great
shout of laughter went up from the company, and in this the King himself
joined heartily; but the joke was, as I must tell you, my friends, that
in the morning when the King rose, there stood the tower in fact, behind
the palace, so tall that its top could not be seen in the cloud that
hung upon the mountain; and there, my friends, the tower stands to this
day.

"That evening the old man returned for his reward. He stood before the
King, and on the King's right and left stood the prince and the prince's
wife and children. The King asked the old man what reward he desired.

"'I ask nothing,' replied the other, with a sly smile, 'except the ruby
ring upon the finger of the Princess.'

"The Princess turned pale, and hid her hand behind her. She would not
give up her wedding-ring; nothing the King could say could move her. He
offered the old man anything else he might demand; a dozen ruby rings; a
box of ruby rings; anything; but the old man would have nothing but the
ring upon the Princess's finger. The Princess grew paler still, as if
with fear; but she would not give up the ring. The old man smiled his
sly smile again, and went away.

"The next morning the Princess and her three children were gone. Search
was made everywhere, but they were not to be found. The King and the
Prince, mounting the winding stair of the tower, stopped at last when
they were all but exhausted, and at that moment heard a sound of weeping
from above. They climbed higher, and on the stair they found the
children sitting, huddled together and weeping bitterly. Their mother
was gone, they knew not where; and they did not know how they came to be
in the tower. The strongest climbers in the city mounted as far as they
could ascend, but the top of the tower was far beyond their reach; they
found no Princess. She has never been seen from that day.

"Soon after, the old King died, and his son came to the throne. As for
him, our present King, and his three children, time stopped for them
from the day on which the Princess disappeared. They are no older now
than when she left them. It is supposed that they are awaiting her