Then the youngest Prince stepped into the great hall and
produced his walnut. He cracked it carefully, and found inside
a hazel-nut. This when cracked held a cherrystone, inside the
cherrystone was a grain of wheat, and in the wheat a millet-seed. The
Prince himself began to mistrust the White Cat, but he instantly
felt a cat's claw scratch him gently, so he persevered, opened the
millet-seed, and found inside a beautiful piece of soft white muslin
that was four hundred ells long at the very least. It passed with the
greatest ease through the eye of the smallest needle in the kingdom,
and the Prince felt that now the prize must be his.
But the old King was still very loth to give up ruling, so he told the
Princes that before any one of them could become King he must find
a Princess to marry him who would be lovely enough to grace her high
station; and whichever of the Princes brought home the most beautiful
bride should _really_ have the kingdom for his own.
Of course, the Prince went back to the White Cat, and told her how
very unfairly his father had behaved to him. She comforted him as best
she could, and told him not to be afraid, for she would introduce him
to the loveliest Princess the sun had ever shone upon.
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