For
the first two days she amused herself very well, but on the third she
missed her father and mother so much that, to pass the time till
they came back, she began exploring all the old lumber-rooms and
out-of-the-way attics in the palace, and laughing at the dusty
furniture and queer curiosities she found there.
At last she found herself at the top of a narrow winding stairway in
a tall turret that seemed even older than all the rest of the palace.
And when she lifted the latch of the door in front of her she saw
a little low chamber with curiously painted walls, and there sat a
little old, old woman in a high white cap, spinning at a wheel.
For some time she stood at the door, watching the old woman curiously;
she could not imagine what she was doing, for the Princess had never
seen a spinning-wheel in her life before, because, as I told you, the
King had ordered them all to be destroyed.
Now, it happened that the poor old woman who lived in this tower
had never heard the King's command, for she was so deaf that if
you shouted until you were hoarse she would never have been able to
understand you.
"What pretty work you are doing there, Goody? And why does that wheel
go whirr, whirr, whirr?" said the Princess.
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