The Washington herald., 1912-08-25

at last produced the young girl, who
looked very poor but cleanly dressed. Her
face was as soft as the dew and as red as
a rose. The prince recognized at the
first glance the beautiful girl he fell in
love with in church.
I'm not sorry for the trouble have
taken" said the prince, and he embraced
the beautiful girl Then he gave rich
presents to the old woman and took his
long-sought-for sweetheart with him. On
his way home the servant reminded his
master that it would not be the proper
thing to bring the princes bride home In
such sorry plight. The prince thought
that was very true. They had only to
walk three miles to reach the frontier of
hand where the princes father reigned.
They came to q round lake, where they
halted, and on its bank stood a large
weeping willow, 50 they made the girl
sit among the branches and told her not
to bulge until they returned with the
golden dresses and the royal carriage.
The poor girl had hidden the three wal
nuts in her bosom, and to surprise her
bridegroom now she put on her golden
dress and thus awaited his return. No
sooner had she finished her toilet than a
whole troop of gypsy women arrived
under the tree on which she sat in her
golden dress. The gypsy women immedi-
ately questioned her as to why she sat
there, whom she expected and where she
was going. She, in her innocence, was
not afraid of them, but told them of her
descent, narrated to them her past vicis-
STUDIES, her present good fortune, and
also confded to them that she was pre-
pairing a joke for her royal bridegroom,
and showed her walnuts and her glitter
ing dresses in them
The prettiest of the gypsy women
climbed on the tree and commenced to
hatter her. She asked her to be allowed
to see her walnuts, and in one moment,
when the girl was off her guard, pushed
her from the tree down into the lake.
Now, suddenly, to the great amazement of
the gypsies, the girl transformed herself
into a duck and few to the. centre of the
lake, and. alighting on the water, began to
swim. Upon that the gypsy women began
to throw stones at her, but by diving under
the water she evaded serious injury. The
women at last got tired throwing stones
and left the duck in the lake and the gypsy
woman among the branches of the weeping
willow.
At sunset the prince arrived at the tree
where he had left his fair bride. When
there sat that gypsy woman in the golden
dress He admired her golden raiment and
begged her to tell him where she had pro-
cured it, and he did not notice that he was
not speaking to the girl he loved.
The gypsy woman told him what the
girl had related to her and asked his for
giveness for not having mentioned 1t be-
fore, when she first saw him at the widows
hut, and made the prince believe that she
had kept silence about it solely because
she wished to find out whether he loved her
in her poor dress. The prince believed
every word the gypsy said and begged her
to come down and sit in his carriage and
drive home with him to his royal fathers
palace. As the prince assisted the gypsy
woman down from the willow her tanned
face looked to him as something most e1-
traordinary.
You were not so sunburned, my dear,
when 1 left you; what made your skin
so discolored?"
My tender skin got discolored from