se who despise
riches should possess them. Take this crown, from henceforth you are
the Princess of the Gnomes.'

During thirty days no work was done in those underground regions, for
a feast was held in honour of the new princess. At the end of that
period, the king appeared before Abeille, clad in his most splendid
garments, and solemnly asked her to be his wife.

'Little King Loc,' answered the girl, 'I love you as you are, for your
goodness and kindness to me; but never, never can I love you as
anything else.'

The king sighed. It was only what he had expected; still, his
disappointment was great, though he tried bravely to hide it, and even
to smile as he said: 'Then, Abeille, will you promise me one thing? If
there should come a day when you find that there is somebody whom you
_could_ love, will you tell me?'

And in her turn Abeille promised.

After this, in spite of the fact that everyone was just as kind to her
as before, Abeille was no longer the merry child who passed all her
days playing with the little gnomes. People who dwell under the earth
grow up much faster than those who live on its surface, and, at
thirteen, the girl was already a woman. Besides, King Loc's words had
set her thinking; she spent many hours by herself, and her face was no
longer round and rosy, but thin and pale. It was in vain that the
gnomes did their best to entice her into her old games, they had lost
their interest, and even her lute lay unnoticed on the ground.

But one morning a change seemed to come over her. Leaving the room
hung with beautiful silks, where she usually sat alone, she entered
the king's presence, and taking his hand she led him through long
corridors till they came to a place where a strip of blue sky was to
be seen.

'Little King Loc,' she said, turning her eyes upon him, 'let me behold
my mother again, or I shall surely die.' Her voice shook, and her
whole body trembled. Even an enemy might have pitied her; but the
king, who loved her, answered nothing. All day long Abeille stayed
there, watching the light fade, and the sky grow pale. By-and-by the
stars came out, but the girl never moved from her place. Suddenly a
hand touched her. She looked round with a start, and there was King
Loc, covered from head to foot in a dark mantle, holding another over
his arm. 'Put on this and follow me,' was all he said. But Abeille
somehow knew that she was going to see her mother.

On, and on, and on they went,