n't you?"

"Dear me, no," said the sad little man, in a tone of deep gloom. "I am
always unhappy, but I never cry. The whole country is unhappy, but
nobody is allowed to cry. If you cry, you must go away."

"What a funny country!" cried Sunny, and she at once began to laugh at
the absurdity of it.

"Don't do that," said the little man, in a tone of still greater alarm.
"If you go on making any fresh noises, you will get beheaded. Why
can't you be quiet? You can do anything you like, as long as you do it
quietly."

"May n't I laugh?" exclaimed Sunny. "What is the use of feeling happy
if you may n't laugh?"

"It is n't any use," said the sad little man. "Nobody ever is happy in
this country. Nobody ever has been happy since the King was bewitched
and the sun went away in a temper, and that was sixteen years ago.
Nobody ever will be happy again, unless the spell is broken; and the
spell cannot be broken until a Princess of the royal blood comes this
way, without knowing that she is a Princess."

"How absurd!" said Sunny. "As if a Princess could be a Princess
without knowing she is a Princess!"

"Why not?" asked the sad little man, crossly. He had lived alone in
the dark, silent wood for such a long time that he began to find the
conversation tiring.

"Oh, because there are bands and flags and balls and banquets and
cheers and Princes and lots of fun, wherever there is a Princess,"
replied Sunny.

The sad little man looked more sad than before.

"Then the spell will never be broken," he said, miserably; "because all
that noise would be stopped at once. If you have done talking you had
better go, or else we shall both be banished; and I advise you to take
off those wooden shoes of yours, unless you want to be clapped into
prison. But, first of all, tell me if you can look straight at the sun
without blinking."

He always asked that of every little girl who came his way, in case she
should happen to be a Princess; for he was really a very wise little
man in spite of his sadness, and he knew that only eagles, and
Princesses who did not know they were Princesses, could look straight
at the sun without blinking. And he was so tired of feeling sad
without being allowed to cry, that he longed to have the spell removed
from the country, so that he need not keep back his tears any longer.

"Why, of course I can, if there is a sun," laughed Sunny. And to her
astonishment the sad little man dropped strai