n she walked home and slept.

Soon afterwards the dog carried the Princess back to the copper
palace, and noticed the great white cross on the door of the hotel
where his master lived.

And what do you think he did? Oh, he was a wise dog. He took a piece
of chalk, and he put a great white cross on every door in the town.

Early next morning the King and Queen and all the lords and ladies of
the court were astir. They had heard the old dame's story, and were
going to see the house with the great white cross.

They had scarcely started, when the King's eyes fell on a great white
cross! "Here it is," cried the King eagerly.

"What nonsense you talk, my dear! it is here," said the Queen, for
almost at the same moment she too had seen a door with a great white
cross.

Then all the lords and ladies cried: "It is here, it is here," as
one after another they saw doors marked with great white crosses. The
hubbub was terrible, and the poor old dame was quite bewildered. How
could she tell which door she had marked? It was quite useless. The
dog had perplexed everybody, and they went back to the copper palace
knowing no more than when they left it.

But the Queen was a clever woman. She could do more than just sit very
properly on a throne.

The same evening, she took her big gold scissors and cut up a large
piece of silk into small pieces. These she sewed together into a
pretty little bag. Then she filled the bag with the finest grains of
wheat. With her own hands she tied the bag round the Princess's waist,
after which she took her gold scissors again and cut a tiny little
hole in the bag, a hole just big enough to let the grains of wheat
drop out whenever the Princess moved.

That night the dog came again and carried the Princess off to the
soldier, and the soldier wished he were a Prince, for then he would
marry this beautiful Princess.

Now although the dog had very big eyes, eyes as large as saucers, he
did not notice the tiny grains of wheat as they dropped out all along
the road from the palace to the soldier's window. Under the window
the dog stopped and climbed up the wall with the Princess, into the
soldier's room.

The next morning the King and Queen followed the little grains of
wheat and very easily found out where the Princess had been.

Then the soldier was seized and put into prison.

Oh, how dark and tiresome it was! But it was worse than that one day,
when they told him he was to be hanged, "han