As he did this, her eyes opened and looked at the young man. She smiled, and said:--
“Have you come, my prince? I have waited long for you.”
The prince hardly knew how to answer. But he soon found his voice, and they talked for hours, and then had not said half that was in their heads to say.
The moment that the princess waked, her little lapdog waked also. The great mastiff in the court-yard awoke; the horses in the stable and the grooms awoke; the footmen, the pages, the porters, the guards, the boys, the cooks, the stewards, the officers, the gentlemen, and the maids of honor, all awoke. The fire began to burn again, the spits turned round, and the fowls began to roast.
So, while the prince and the princess forgot the hours in talk, these people began to be hungry. The maids of honor went to the princess to tell her that they all waited for her. Then the prince took the princess by the hand and led her into the hall.
She was dressed in great splendor. But the prince did not hint that she looked as the picture of his great-grandmother looked. He thought her all the more charming for that, but he did not tell her so. The musicians played excellent but old music at supper. After supper the prince and princess were married in the chapel of the castle.
The next day they left the castle. All the people followed them down the long path. The wood opened again to let them through. Outside they met the prince’s men, and glad they were to see the prince once more. He turned to show them the castle, but there was no castle to be seen, and no wood.
The prince and princess rode gayly away, and when the old king and queen died, they reigned in their stead.
|On a warm day in summer, an Ant was busy in the field gathering grains of wheat and corn, which he laid up for winter food. A Grasshopper saw him at work, and laughed at him for toiling so hard, when others were at ease.
The Ant said nothing. But afterwards, when winter came, and the ground was hard, the Grasshopper was nearly dead with hunger. He came to the Ant to beg something to eat. Then the Ant said to him:--
“If you had worked when I did, instead of laughing at me, you would not now be in need.”
|A Lion that had grown old, and had no more Strength to forage for food, saw that he must get it by cunning. He went into his den and crept into a corner, and made believe that he was very sick.