"Your Majesty, what do you wish to-day of your faithful subjects?"
To these questions the little gray man replied:
"Make the most beautiful palace to be found in all the world."
Mirza, the princess, was filled with astonishment. Never before had she seen so many brownies gathered together in one place, and she said to herself, "Surely these must be the children of the fairies;" and, full of happiness, she went here and there, speaking a kind word to all, and at every step she took hundreds of precious stones were scattered under her feet, and, at each smile a rose fell.
At last all the brownies were set to work under the direction of the little gray man. Some felled the great trees of the forest and trimmed them, some delved in the mines for marble and precious stones, and others forged the rare metals out of which the vast columns of the palace were to be made.
Rapidly the new palace was built, and when it was finished it shone in the land like a rare jewel in the bosom of a beautiful woman.
"Now, then," said the little gray man to the beautiful Mirza, "are you satisfied with my work, and do you repent having chosen me for your architect?"
"Powerful and most generous King of the Brownies," she said to the little gray man, "how can I be dissatisfied at the sight of this rare palace, which you have built for me?"
"This being so," said the little gray man, "what is to be my reward?"
At this the young girl smiled, and a beautiful rose dropped from her lips.