rather wearisome,
the princess, your daughter, shall go with me, feed me with her own
hands, and look at me now and then to comfort me; for you must confess
it IS rather hard. As soon as the water is up to my eyes, she may go
and be happy, and forget her poor shoeblack."

Here the prince's voice faltered, and he very nearly grew sentimental,
in spite of his resolution.

"Why didn't you tell me before what your condition was? Such a fuss
about nothing!" exclaimed the king.

"Do you grant it?" persisted the prince. "Of course I do," replied the
king.

"Very well. I am ready."

"Go and have some dinner, then, while I set my people to find the
place."

The king ordered out his guards, and gave directions to the officers to
find the hole in the lake at once. So the bed of the lake was marked
out in divisions and thoroughly examined, and in an hour or so the hole
was discovered. It was in the middle of a stone, near the centre of
the lake, in the very pool where the golden plate had been found. It
was a three-cornered hole of no great size. There was water all round
the stone, but very little was flowing through the hole.

14. This Is Very Kind of You.

The prince went to dress for the occasion, for he was resolved to die
like a prince.

When the princess heard that a man had offered to die for her, she was
so transported that she jumped off the bed, feeble as she was, and
danced about the room for joy. She did not care who the man was; that
was nothing to her. The hole wanted stopping; and if only a man would
do, why, take one. In an hour or two more everything was ready. Her
maid dressed her in haste, and they carried her to the side of the
lake. When she saw it she shrieked, and covered her face with her
hands. They bore her across to the stone where they had already placed
a little boat for her.

The water was not deep enough to float it, but they hoped it would be,
before long. They laid her on cushions, placed in the boat wines and
fruits and other nice things, and stretched a canopy over all.

In a few minutes the prince appeared. The princess recognized him at
once, but did not think it worth while to acknowledge him.

"Here I am," said the prince. "Put me in."

"They told me it was a shoeblack," said the princess.

"So I am," said the prince. "I blacked your little boots three times a
day, because they were all I could get of you. Put me in."

The courtiers did not resent h