FAIRY TALES 209

daughter, they found the stranger with his cart full of money waiting for them. The king eagerly took the money, and hastened away; and soon the beautiful princess had gone—no one knew where.

This time the king drank more wine than ever before, and his money disappeared faster and faster. In a little while it was all gone. There was nothing more with which to buy pleasure. And all the while the queen mother went about with a very sad heart. She never heard from her daughters; she did not know where they were—whether they were alive or dead.

But at last the queen had a baby boy, and then she was not so lonely. The days went quickly, and it was but a little while when the baby could walk; and soon he was going to school and playing with the other boys.

One day, when some of his playmates were angry at the little prince, they called out to him:

“Your father is a wicked king. He sold your sisters for gold, and he spent the gold for wine.”

The little prince ran home to his mother as fast as he could, and asked:

“Oh, mother, did I ever have three sisters? The boys at school said that my father sold my sisters for gold. Is this true?” The mother did not wish the boy to know how wicked his father was, and so she tried to deceive him.