'They wanted you—to carry you off into the mountain with them, for a wife to their prince Harelip.'
'Oh, how dreadful' cried the princess, shuddering.
'But you needn't be afraid, you know. Your grandmother takes care of you.'
'Ah! you do believe in my grandmother, then? I'm so glad! She made me think you would some day.'
All at once Curdie remembered his dream, and was silent, thinking.
'But how did you come to be in my house, and me not know it?' asked the princess.
Then Curdie had to explain everything—how he had watched for her sake, how he had been wounded and shut up by the soldiers, how he heard the noises and could not rise, and how the beautiful old lady had come to him, and all that followed.
'Poor Curdie! to lie there hurt and ill, and me never to know it!' exclaimed the princess, stroking his rough hand. 'I would have come and nursed you, if they had told me.'
'I didn't see you were lame,' said his mother.
'Am I, mother? Oh—yes—I suppose I ought to be! I declare I've never thought of it since I got up to go down amongst the cobs!'