s friend."

"With all my heart," answered the Fairy. "I can make your son the
handsomest prince in the world, or the richest, or the most powerful;
choose whichever you like for him."

"I do not ask either of these things for my son," replied the good
King; "but if you will make him the best of princes, I shall indeed be
grateful to you. What good would it do him to be rich, or handsome, or
to possess all the kingdoms of the world if he were wicked? You
know well he would still be unhappy. Only a good man can be really
contented."

"You are quite right," answered the Fairy; "but it is not in my power to
make Prince Darling a good man unless he will help me; he must himself
try hard to become good, I can only promise to give him good advice, to
scold him for his faults, and to punish him if he will not correct and
punish himself."

The good King was quite satisfied with this promise; and very soon
afterward he died.

Prince Darling was very sorry, for he loved his father with all his
heart, and he would willingly have given all his kingdoms and all his
treasures of gold and silver if they could have kept the good King with
him.

Two days afterward, when the Prince had gone to bed, the Fairy suddenly
appeared to him and said:

"I promised your father that I would be your friend, and to keep my word
I have come to bring you a present." At the same time she put a little
gold ring upon his finger.

"Take great care of this ring," she said: "it is more precious than
diamonds; every time you do a bad deed it will prick your finger, but
if, in spite of its pricking, you go on in your own evil way, you will
lose my friendship, and I shall become your enemy."

So saying, the Fairy disappeared, leaving Prince Darling very much
astonished.

For some time he behaved so well that the ring never pricked him, and
that made him so contented that his subjects called him Prince Darling
the Happy.

One day, however, he went out hunting, but could get no sport, which
put him in a very bad temper; it seemed to him as he rode along that his
ring was pressing into his finger, but as it did not prick him he did
not heed it. When he got home and went to his own room, his little dog
Bibi ran to meet him, jumping round him with pleasure. "Get away!" said
the Prince, quite gruffly. "I don't want you, you are in the way."

The poor little dog, who didn't understand this at all, pulled at his
coat to make him at least look at her, an