way. But this did not offend the
fairy. She stood at the door of her little house looking after him till
the trees hid him quite. Then she said "At last!" and went in.

The prince wandered and wandered, and got nowhere. The sun sank and sank
and went out of sight, and he seemed no nearer the end of the wood than
ever. He sat down on a fallen tree, ate a bit of bread the old woman had
given him, and waited for the moon; for, although he was not much of an
astronomer, he knew the moon would rise some time, because she had risen
the night before. Up she came, slow and slow, but of a good size, pretty
nearly round indeed; whereupon, greatly refreshed with his piece of
bread, he got up and went--he knew not whither.

After walking a considerable distance, he thought he was coming to the
outside of the forest; but when he reached what he thought the last of
it, he found himself only upon the edge of a great open space in it,
covered with grass. The moon shone very bright, and he thought he had
never seen a more lovely spot. Still it looked dreary because of its
loneliness, for he could not see the house at the other side. He sat
down, weary again, and gazed into the glade. He had not seen so much
room for several days.

All at once he spied something in the middle of the grass. What could it
be? It moved; it came nearer. Was it a human creature, gliding across--a
girl dressed in white, gleaming in the moonshine? She came nearer and
nearer. He crept behind a tree and watched, wondering. It must be some
strange being of the wood--a nymph whom the moonlight and the warm
dusky air had enticed from her tree. But when she came close to where
he stood, he no longer doubted she was human--for he had caught sight of
her sunny hair, and her clear blue eyes, and the loveliest face and form
that he had ever seen. All at once she began singing like a nightingale,
and dancing to her own music, with her eyes ever turned towards the
moon. She passed close to where he stood, dancing on by the edge of the
trees and away in a great circle towards the other side, until he could
see but a spot of white in the yellowish green of the moonlit grass. But
when he feared it would vanish quite, the spot grew, and became a figure
once more. She approached him again, singing and dancing, and waving her
arms over her head, until she had completed the circle. Just opposite
his tree she stood, ceased her song, dropped her arms, and broke out
into a long cl