Princess's offers of assistance, and shortly afterwards brought out a
very small dish, saying:

'Now let us sup.'

Whereupon she handed Celandine a small piece of black bread and
uncovered the dish, which contained two dried plums.

'We will have one between us,' continued the old dame; 'and as you are
the visitor, you shall have the half which contains the stone; but be
very careful that you don't swallow it, for I keep them against the
winter, and you have no idea what a good fire they make. Now, you take
my advice--which won't cost you anything--and remember that it is always
more economical to buy fruit with stones on this account.'

Celandine, absorbed in her own sad thoughts, did not even hear this
prudent counsel, and quite forgot to eat her share of the plum, which
delighted the old woman, who put it by carefully for her breakfast,
saying:

'I am very much pleased with you, and if you go on as you have begun, we
shall do very well, and I can teach you many useful things which people
don't generally know. For instance, look at my house! It is built
entirely of the seeds of all the pears I have eaten in my life. Now,
most people throw them away, and that only shows what a number of things
are wasted for want of a little patience and ingenuity.'

But Celandine did not find it possible to be interested in this and
similar pieces of advice. And the old woman soon sent her to bed, for
fear the night air might give her an appetite. She passed a sleepless
night; but in the morning the old dame remarked:

'I heard how well you slept. After such a night you cannot want any
breakfast; so while I do my household tasks you had better stay in bed,
since the more one sleeps the less one need eat; and as it is market-day
I will go to town and buy a pennyworth of bread for the week's eating.'

And so she chattered on, but poor Celandine did not hear or heed her;
she wandered out into the desolate country to think over her sad fate.
However, the good Fairy of the Beech-Woods did not want her to be
starved, so she sent her an unlooked for relief in the shape of a
beautiful white cow, which followed her back to the tiny house. When the
old woman saw it her joy knew no bounds.

'Now we can have milk and cheese and butter!' cried she. 'Ah! how good
milk is! What a pity it is so ruinously expensive!' So they made a
little shelter of branches for the beautiful creature which was quite
gentle, and followed Celandine about lik