the Court was in half mourning; for the Princess
Royal, who was the king's only child, and the most beautiful and
accomplished of her sex, had gone perfectly distraught with grief, of
which nothing could cure her. All day long she sat with her eyes shut,
and tears running down, and folded hands and quiet little feet. And
all this came, it was said, from a dream which she could not tell or
explain to anybody.

The king had promised that whoever could rouse her from her grief,
should have the princess for his wife, and become heir to the throne;
and when he heard that there was such a thing in the world as a
Wishing-Pot, he thought that something might be done with it.

From Tulip he learned, however, that no one knew the spell which
opened the resources of the Wishing-Pot save the old witch woman who
was shut up fast for ever in its inside. So it seemed to the king that
the Pot could be of no use for curing the princess.

But it was so beautiful, with its shooting stars and coloured fires,
that, when Tulip brought it, they carried it in to show to her.

After three hours the princess was prevailed upon to open her eyes;
and directly they fell upon the great opal bowl, all at once she
started to her feet and began laughing and dancing and singing.

These are the words that they heard her sing,--

'Lap for lap I must wind you;
Equal, before I can find you;
I am a lap behind you!'

Tulip, as soon as he heard the sweetness of that voice, and the words,
pushed his way past the king and all his court, to where the princess
was. And there over the heads of the crowd he saw his lady of the dear
green feet laughing and opening her white arms to him.

As she set eyes on his face the dream of the princess came true, and
all her unhappiness passed from her. So they loved and were married,
to the astonishment and edification of the whole court; and lived to
be greatly loved and admired by all their grandchildren.

THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS

[Illustration]

THE FEEDING OF THE EMIGRANTS

Over the sea went the birds, flying southward to their other home
where the sun was. The rustle of their wings, high over head, could be
heard down on the water; and their soft, shrill twitterings, and the
thirsty nibbling of their beaks; for the seas were hushed, and the
winds hung away in cloud-land.

Far away from any shore, and beginning to be weary, their eyes caught
sight of a white form resting between sky and s