? I have never seen a
real fairy before, and I am so glad you have come!"

The King and Queen were horrified at the familiar way in which the
little Princess was speaking to such an important guest as the fairy
godmother. It was true that she was only eight years old, but it was
quite time she learnt some of the charming manners for which her
brother the Prince was so remarkable. If the Fairy Zigzag had turned
her into a toad, or a marble statue, or something chilly like that,
they would not have been in the least surprised. But the Fairy Zigzag
did nothing of the sort. She just took the two hands the Princess
Pansy held out to her, and looked her full in the face; and directly
she did that all the crossness faded out of her own, and instead of
being just a disagreeable old fairy she suddenly appeared quite
good-natured and pleasant. This, indeed, was no wonder; for it would
have been difficult to look at the little Princess without feeling
happier for it. The King and Queen, however, mistook her silence for
anger.

"Pray forgive her," they said, tremblingly. "She is so young, and she
doesn't know any better. We have tried in vain to teach her good
manners. Doubtless, when she is as old as the Prince Perfection she
will have learnt to be as polite as he is."

"It is to be hoped not," said the Fairy Zigzag, turning once more to
the royal parents. "And if I know anything about it, she will never be
as polite as the Prince Perfection. That child is a real child, and
none of us will ever make her anything else. Now, I don't mean to
waste any more time; so come here, godson, and tell me what you would
like for a birthday present."

The Prince Perfection did not know what to say. He longed to ask for a
steamboat that went by real steam, or a cannon that would fire real
gunpowder, or a balloon that would take him wherever he wished to go;
but he felt that only an ordinary boy would have asked for such things
as these, and Prince Perfection had always been told by his nurses that
he was not an ordinary boy.

"Please give me whatever you like, dear godmother," he said, and hoped
very much that it would be a steamboat with real steam.

"The dear boy does not like to appear greedy," said the Queen.

"Fiddlesticks!" said the Fairy Zigzag, and then she pointed again at
the little Princess Pansy. "If I were to give _you_ a present, do you
think you would know what to choose?" she asked her, smiling.

"Oh, how