saw an old woman spinning with a distaff and spindle. The poor old creature had been allowed for years to inhabit this turret-room; and as she seldom left her chamber, except to go into the kitchen to fetch away the broken victuals that were allowed her, she had never heard of the King's edict, and did not dream, worthy soul! that she was doing wrong.

"What are you doing, goody?" asked the Princess.

"I am spinning, my pretty lady," was the reply. The old dame had no idea she was speaking to the Princess, or she would have said "your Royal Highness."

"Oh, how pretty it looks!" continued the Princess; "I wish I could spin too;-will you let me try?"

Of course the old woman consented, and the Princess took the distaff in her hand. But a moment after she pricked herself, uttered a little scream, and fell into a deep sleep.

The old woman was much alarmed, as well she might be. She called out lustily for help, and in a few moments there were all the attendants and inhabitants of the castle offering their assistance. One loosened the Princess's girdle; another sprinkled cold water on her face; another tried to revive her by rubbing her hands; and a fourth wetted her temples with eau-de-Cologne. But it was all in vain; and in the midst of the confusion the King and Queen came home.

On being informed of the misfortune that had befallen him, the King saw at once that there was no remedy but patience. He thereupon ordered that his daughter should be laid on a a couch covered with velvet. She lay there like

"A violet, by a mossy stone

Half hidden from the eye;
Fair as a star when only one
Is shining in the sky."

The King determined his daughter's rest should be on a

magnificent couch, in a costly apartment of the palace, and that guards should be stationed at the chamber door night and day. Very lovely the young girl looked as she lay on her splendid bed, in a deep sleep, with her cheeks as blooming, and her breathing as regular, and her lips as red as ever; and very sad the parents felt when all the arrangements had been completed, and they thought that they would be dead long before their beautiful daughter awoke; and that they should never see her smile nor hear her merry voice again in this world; and that when she awoke she would find herself quite alone and friendless among strangers.

Then they thought of the christening, and of the wicked fairy, and her fatal gift; and they wished they had thought of inviting her, and had not roused her malice and revenge; but it was too late to think of all that now; and then they thought what a long time a hundred years would be, and it seemed as if it would never pass by.

But for this also the good fairy had a remedy. On hearing the news of her godchild's misfortune, she travelled at once to the palace at the rate of nine hundred and fifty-seven miles in a minute; and her chariot, drawn by fiery dragons, arrived at the King's palace the very day after the accident happened.

Invisible to all, she passed through the palace, touching every living thing with her wand as she went by, and a deep sleep fell immediately on all she touched. With the exception of the King and Queen, who left the palace when the ceremony was over, all the inhabitants of the palace were served alike the ladies-in-waiting, maids of honour, ladies' maids, officers, gentlemen-in-waiting, cooks, scullions, guards, pages, porters-in fact, every one fell asleep; and the strangest circumstance was, that they went to sleep in a moment, without having time to finish what they were about. All the domestic animals were enchanted in the same manner; and the old King and Queen quitted their palace, accompanied by the fairy.

The King gave strict orders that no one should approach the building on any pretext whatever; but he need not have given himself so much trouble, for in a few days a thick hedge grew up all round the place, and the forest trees seemed to intertwine their branches and form a kind of wall. This grew thicker and thicker with surprising quickness; and at last the very existence of the castle was forgotten, except that now and then one peasant would tell another the tale of the christening of the beautiful Princess, that had taken place years and years ago, and to which all the great lords and ladies had been invited, and the fairies too, who had been the Princess's godmothers; and how the Princess herself had vanished away, no one knew whither; but was supposed to be lying asleep, on a bed of gold and silver, in the

wonderful enchanted castle, which was said to be situated somewhere in the wood.

One year after another went by, until at last a century had passed away. Great changes had taken place in this time. The old King and Queen had been dead more than eighty years, and another family sat on the throne of the country. One day the son of the King was hunting in the woods, and went deeper into the forest than usual. All at once he fancied he saw the turrets of a castle at a distance among the trees. He questioned his attendants on the subject, but they could give him no information. On passing through a neighbouring hamlet, he, naturally, determined to find out the mystery, if it was in any way to be done; and he ordered his servants to make inquiries, and they did so; but either the people knew nothing about it, or for some reason they were unwilling to tell. At last he did what he should have done at first: before giving the matter up, and riding away out of the

village, the Prince inquired of the peasants, when a very old man came forward and detailed to the Prince the history of the enchanted palace. "My old father," added the aged peasant, "told it to me when a boy, full fifty years ago: he said the people used often to talk of it when I was very little. He said that all the people in the castle had disappeared on a certain day, and the castle itself was lost to view, except the turrets that you see yonder; for the wood was too thick for anyone to get through; and it was said no one could enter it till the appointed time. My father