1HE 1THREL LI ONS. 211
tender green grass and lovely coloured flowers, and, taking the knife out of its sheath, he cut the nrst lemon open. In a moment like a flash of lightning, a beauti- ful girl .stood betore him, as white as milk and as red as a strawbcerry, and she said to him, “ Give mc something to drink.”
The Prince, quite dazzled and bewildered by the beauty of the fairy, did not give her the water quickly enough, and to his orcat grief she vanished almost as soon as she had appeared.
‘The same thing happenced when he cut the sccond Temon open, and the Prince exclammed m despair; 1 am the unlucky creature in the world. Twice have I let my luck escape me—but courage ! I have sull a third chance, and there 1sluck i oda numbers @ this knife shall cither be the means of scecuring my happiness, or it shall put an end to my gricfs.”
With these words he cut
Mmaost
the third lemon
ypen, and out
stepped the third
fairy, and said, as 3 the ()Lhu had done, * Give me
something to drink.”
This time the Prince handed the farry - a glass of water as quick as lehtning, and i a moment a lovely virl stood betore him, as white as cream and as red as blood. Her harr was colden, her mouth like a rosc- bud, and her cyes shone hIike two stars. Inone word, she was as beauti- ful as the day, and she Tooked as good as she was beauti- ful, and as charm- mg as she was good. The Prince could not contain his admiration, and said @ Am T azleep or awake,orarce m\ eves bewitched 5 for how can such a lovely creature have lxul contained in the bitter rind of this yellow lemon ? ”
EIVED THE FACE O Farny.
S R
But when he had at last convinced him- sclf that the beautiful apparition before him was no dream, but sober reality, he kissed the fairy tenderly, and said many charming things to her. He begged her to be his wife. * But,” he said, “ will not take you back to my tathcl S 1\11]“(]()111 without the
splendour worthy of your beauty, or with- out the escort fitting for my quaw There- fore, let me beg 01 yvou to remain in the mcantmm n thp hollow of this leaty oalk, which looks as if it had been .nade for a hiding place, and there await my return, You may be sure I will come back to you as quickly as 1 can, and will then lead you to my kingdom with the retinue and following that
befits your posi- tion”; and so say- e he hade ki - O Lo a cll, and sc forth on his jour- ney. When he had
gone, the fairy climbed up mto onc of the forks of the tree, and lrom there watched all that was going on around her, Before many minutes had passcd w black slave ol arrived at the well with a pitcher for water. She was just going to dip the jug in the waves, when she perceived the tace of the fairy reflected in the water, and, think- mg 1t was her own reflec- tion she saw, she started back with a cry of sur- prise, exclaimimg at the same time, * What, un- happy Lucia, you are as beautiful as all that, and yct your mistress sends you to the well to ou water, and you submit to her conduct 7
With these words she broke the jug, and rcturned home. But when hu mistress asked her why she had not done her duty she replied, 1 went to
e the welly and broke the pitcher by mis-
take against a big stone.”
The woman restrained her anger as well as she could, and on the follox\m(r day gave the girl a beautiful china jug, dI](l told her to go to the well and fill 1t with water.