r advice was the
very best that could be had; and they soon forgot that she was only a
child, and they called her "Little Wisdom" instead of the ordinary name
by which she had been christened. She loved to sit by herself in the
cherry orchard, and she wondered how the other children could laugh and
play when there was so much thinking to be done. She never laughed nor
played herself, for the fairies had been so anxious to make her wise
and beautiful, that they had not thought of giving her anything so
ordinary as happiness. Every one envied her parents for having such a
wonderful daughter; but for all that the peasant and his wife were not
satisfied.

"It is a great pity," grumbled her father, "that all the gifts of
Fairyland should have been wasted on a girl. If the child had been a
boy, now, she would have made some stir in the world."

"For my part," sighed her mother, "I would gladly see her lose all the
gifts of Fairyland if she would only laugh and cry like other children."

In the meantime the little Prince Charming was growing up without the
help of a single gift from Fairyland. Never had the palace contained
such an idle, careless little Prince; he laughed at everything that
happened, morning, noon, and night; he played tricks on all his
Professors instead of learning his lessons, and he could not keep grave
long enough even to say the alphabet. He was so determined to look on
the bright side of everything, that when people were angry with him he
thought it was only their way of being amusing; and when they tried to
punish him, he found it such a good joke that they very soon gave up
the attempt. The people, one and all, loved the merry little Prince
who laughed at life from his royal nursery and refused to grow any
older; but the King viewed the matter in quite another light.

"What will become of the country," said his Majesty, "if the boy does
not learn to be serious?"

"He is so happy," said the Queen, apologetically. "Is not that enough?"

The King evidently thought it was not nearly enough, for he despatched
a page at once to fetch Prince Charming from the nursery. The Prince
came whistling into the room, with his hands in his pockets, which was
not a princely way of behaving, to begin with.

"You are eleven years old," began the King, solemnly.

"Everybody tells me that," said the Prince, smiling gaily. He supposed
grown-up people could not help saying the same thing so often; at all
e