after the hens. When the others had gone she put on
her dress the colour of the sea and all its fishes and went to the
_festa_. She attracted even more attention than she had the day
before.

When the _festa_ was over and the royal household had returned to the
royal palace, the prince remarked to his mother, "Don't you think that
the beautiful stranger at the _festa_ looks like the little maid who
minds our hens?"

"What nonsense," replied his mother. "How could the little maid who
minds our hens ever get such wonderful gowns to wear?" Just to make
sure, however, the prince told the royal councillor to find out if
the little maid who minds the royal hens had been to the _festa_. All
the servants told about leaving her at home with the hens and coming
back and finding her just as they had left her.

"Whoever the beautiful stranger at the _festa_ may be," said the
prince, "she is the one above all others whom I want for my wife. I
shall find her some way."

The third day of the _festa_ Dionysia went attired in her gown the
colour of the sky and all its stars. The prince fell more madly in
love with her than ever. He could not get her to tell him who she was
or where she lived but he gave her a beautiful jewel.

When the prince returned home he would not eat any food. He grew thin
and pale. Every one around the palace tried his best to invent some
dish which would tempt the prince's appetite.

Finally the little maid who took care of the hens said that she
thought she could prepare a dish which the prince would eat.

Accordingly she made a dish of broth for the prince and in the bottom
of the dish she dropped the jewel which the prince had given her.

When the broth was set before the prince he was about to send it away
untouched, just as he did everything else, but the sparkling jewel
attracted his attention.

"Who made this dish of broth?" he asked as soon as he could speak.

"It was made by the little maid who minds the hens," replied his
mother.

"Send for the little maid to come to me at once," cried the prince. "I
knew that the beautiful stranger at the _festa_ looked like our little
maid who minds the hens."

The prince married Dionysia the very next day and Dionysia was the
very happiest girl in all the world, for from the first moment that
she had seen the prince, she had known that he was the one above all
others whom she wished to marry.

Alas! In Dionysia's excitement she forgot all about cal