had killed or banished the
Princes, who ought to be ruling, and would now do it better than she
did.

Primrose and Daffodil had sent for the magic flowers because they wanted
everything new and pretty that they heard of, no matter what it cost.
When the lovely things arrived in beautiful china urns, the young
Princesses were charmed with them and forbade any one else to have them.

"These are our colors, and these flowers shall be our royal badge, and
no one must wear them under pain of death," they said; and they put
their servants as well as themselves into new suits of purple velvet and
gold, very splendid to see, with pansies everywhere,--on carriages and
clothes, banners and furniture,--very proud of the graceful
coat-of-arms.

But they, like their mother, soon found that the name meant something
more than a pretty flower; for _pensee_ is the French for "a thought,"
and into their careless minds came thoughts of all the harm they had
done, as if the breath of the new-fashioned violet reproached them,
while the sweet little faces recalled the sad ones of the banished boys
whose places they had unjustly taken.

So all were ill at ease, and the spell of the flower began to work at
home as well as abroad, helping to make things ready for the wanderers
when they should return.

Meantime the Princes were travelling round the world, learning much and
growing wise and good as well as tall and brave, and handsomer than
ever. In the winter time they sang and played, and no Christmas feast
was merry without the lute-players, no peasant's wedding quite perfect
till they came, and often in palaces they made music for lords and
ladies to dance by, and were generously paid. But what they liked better
was to sing in prisons, hospitals, or poor places, where they not only
gave pleasure but money, and then stole away without stopping to be
thanked, so happy to be able to help the sad and sick and suffering.

In summer they rested in some pleasant spot, and planted the magic seed
which would grow in any soil and was admired everywhere. So they went on
their way busily and happily, leaving music and flowers behind them, and
making the world brighter and better by sweet sounds and happy thoughts,
till they were called "The Blessed Boys," and were waited for and
welcomed and loved east and west and north and south.

Summers and winters passed, and they were tall youths when they came
again to their father's kingdom in their jour