And, when these are past and
gone, a Prince shall come and awaken her with a kiss."
So the King and Queen dried their tears and thanked the kind fairy
Heartsease for her goodness; and all the fairies went back to their
homes, and things went on much as usual in the palace. But you can
imagine how careful the Queen was of her little girl; and the King
made a law that every spindle in the country must be destroyed, and
that no more should be made, and that anyone who had a spindle should
be heavily punished if not executed at once.
Well, the years went by happily enough until the Princess Miranda was
almost eighteen years old, and all that the six fairies had promised
came true, for she was the best and the prettiest and the cleverest
Princess in all the world, and everybody loved her. And, indeed, by
this time Tormentilla's spiteful words were almost forgotten.
"Poor old thing," the Queen would sometimes say, "she was so angry
at having been left out that she did not know what she was saying. Of
course, she did not really mean it."
Now, the King and Queen had to go away for a few days to a great
entertainment that one of their richest nobles was giving at his
country house; and, as the Princess did not wish to go, they left her
behind with her ladies-in-waiting in the beautiful old palace.
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