y's little son. Now the Queen had been shut up in a great tower
by the King's orders, and when a great many days went by and still she
heard nothing from the Fairy she made her escape from the window by
means of a rope ladder, taking her little baby with her. After wandering
about until she was half dead with cold and fatigue she reached this
cottage. I was the laborer's wife, and was a good nurse, and the Queen
gave you into my charge, and told me all her misfortunes, and then died
before she had time to say what was to become of you.

"As I never in all my life could keep a secret, I could not help telling
this strange tale to my neighbors, and one day a beautiful lady came
here, and I told it to her also. When I had finished she touched me with
a wand she held in her hand, and instantly I became a hen, and there was
an end of my talking! I was very sad, and my husband, who was out
when it happened, never knew what had become of me. After seeking me
everywhere he believed that I must have been drowned, or eaten up by
wild beasts in the forest. That same lady came here once more, and
commanded that you should be called Felicia, and left the ring and
the pot of pinks to be given to you; and while she was in the house
twenty-five of the King's guards came to search for you, doubtless
meaning to kill you; but she muttered a few words, and immediately they
all turned into cabbages. It was one of them whom you threw out of your
window yesterday.

"I don't know how it was that he could speak--I have never heard either
of them say a word before, nor have I been able to do it myself until
now."

The Princess was greatly astonished at the hen's story, and said kindly:
"I am truly sorry for you, my poor nurse, and wish it was in my power to
restore you to your real form. But we must not despair; it seems to
me, after what you have told me, that something must be going to happen
soon. Just now, however, I must go and look for my pinks, which I love
better than anything in the world."

Bruno had gone out into the forest, never thinking that Felicia
would search in his room for the pinks, and she was delighted by
his unexpected absence, and thought to get them back without further
trouble. But as soon as she entered the room she saw a terrible army
of rats, who were guarding the straw bed; and when she attempted to
approach it they sprang at her, biting and scratching furiously. Quite
terrified, she drew back, crying out: "Oh!