e than before. And the king
understood the signal, and with a sigh proceeded to do her bidding.

* * * * *

The young men arrived--tall and short, dark and fair, rich and poor.
They stood in rows in the great courtyard in front of the palace, and
the princess, clad in robes of green, with a golden veil flowing
behind her, passed before them all, holding the apple. Once or twice
she stopped and hesitated, but in the end she always passed on, till
she came to a youth near the end of the last row. There was nothing
specially remarkable about him, the bystanders thought; nothing that
was likely to take a girl's fancy. A hundred others were handsomer,
and all wore finer clothes; but he met the princess's eyes frankly and
with a smile, and she smiled too, and held out the apple.

'There is some mistake,' cried the king, who had anxiously watched her
progress, and hoped that none of the candidates would please her. 'It
is impossible that she can wish to marry the son of a poor widow, who
has not a farthing in the world! Tell her that I will not hear of it,
and that she must go through the rows again and fix upon someone
else'; and the princess went through the rows a second and a third
time, and on each occasion she gave the apple to the widow's son.
'Well, marry him if you will,' exclaimed the angry king; 'but at least
you shall not stay here.' And the princess answered nothing, but threw
up her head, and taking the widow's son by the hand, they left the
castle.

That evening they were married, and after the ceremony went back to
the house of the bridegroom's mother, which, in the eyes of the
princess, did not look much bigger than a hen-coop.

The old woman was not at all pleased when her son entered bringing his
bride with him.

'As if we were not poor enough before,' grumbled she. 'I dare say this
is some fine lady who can do nothing to earn her living.' But the
princess stroked her arm, and said softly:

'Do not be vexed, dear mother; I am a famous spinner, and can sit at
my wheel all day without breaking a thread.'

[Illustration: THE PRINCESS CHOOSES]

And she kept her word; but in spite of the efforts of all three, they
became poorer and poorer; and at the end of six months it was agreed
that the husband should go to the neighbouring town to get work. Here
he met a merchant who was about to start on a long journey with a
train of camels laden with goods of all sorts, and need