of white
roses.

"I am the Fairy Candide," she said to the prince. "I promised your
father that I would be your best friend, and as long as you live I
shall watch over your happiness. I have brought you a gift; it is not
wonderful to look at, but it has a wonderful power for your welfare;
wear it, and let it help you."

As she spoke, she placed a small gold ring on the prince's little
finger. "This ring," she said, "will help you to be good; when you do
evil, it will prick you, to remind you. If you do not heed its
warnings a worse thing will happen to you, for I shall become your
enemy." Then she vanished.

Prince Cherry wore his ring, and said nothing to any one of the fairy's
gift. It did not prick him for a long time, because he was good and
merry and happy. But Prince Cherry had been rather spoiled by his
nurse when he was a child; she had always said to him that when he
should become king he could do exactly as he pleased. Now, after a
while, he began to find out that this was not true, and it made him
angry.

The first time that he noticed that even a king could not always have
his own way was on a day when he went hunting. It happened that he got
no game. This put him in such a bad temper that he grumbled and
scolded all the way home. The little gold ring began to feel tight and
uncomfortable. When he reached the palace his pet dog ran to meet him.

"Go away!" said the prince, crossly.

But the little dog was so used to being petted that he only jumped up
on his master, and tried to kiss his hand. The prince turned and
kicked the little creature. At the instant, he felt a sharp prick in
his little finger, like a pin prick.

"What nonsense!" said the prince to himself. "Am I not king of the
whole land? May I not kick my own dog, if I choose? What evil is
there in that?"

A silver voice spoke in his ear: "The king of the land has a right to
do good, but not evil; you have been guilty of bad temper and of
cruelty to-day; see that you do better to-morrow."

The prince turned sharply, but no one was to be seen; yet he recognized
the voice as that of Fairy Candide.

He followed her advice for a little, but presently he forgot, and the
ring pricked him so sharply that his finger had a drop of blood on it.
This happened again and again, for the prince grew more self-willed and
headstrong every day; he had some bad friends, too, who urged him on,
in the hope that he would ruin himself and g