“She was never hungry, this beautiful princess, for such wonderful fruits grew in the wood. She was never cold, for the sun shone all day long. When night came, and the moon and the stars took the place of the sun, she lay down under the beech tree that had stood there for hundreds of years, and covered herself with bracken, and slept.
“She was perfectly happy, was the princess, until one night she had a dream. It was the very first dream that she had ever had, and she dreamed that she was alone. In the morning she sat up and rubbed her eyes just at the dawn, long before the birds came. She looked down through the long shadows of the trees. She was afraid, for ‘I am alone,’ she said. It seemed a dreadful thing to be a beautiful princess all alone in the heart of a deep, green wood.”
A glowing coal fell from the fire. Miss Lavinia paused for a moment, and for the first time the children stirred.
“When I’m growed up,” said Ruthie, “I shall get married.”
“You must wait until some one asks you, Ruthie,” Miss Lavinia gently reproved her.
“Didn’t no-one never ask you, Miss Lavinia?” said Tommy, pushing a hot, moist hand into hers. “’N so couldn’t you never be married?”
“What happened to the Princess in the wood?” asked Jimmy Prynne impatiently.
“Well, a butterfly that had also wakened very early flew round and round the Princess, and then away from her, towards the shadows of the trees. The Princess stood up and followed, one hand stretched out as if to touch the coloured wings. The butterfly led her quite to the edge of the wood. There, beyond the bracken that she gathered for her bed under the beech tree, stood the most wonderful Prince in the whole, wide world.
“And the Princess knew that she was no longer alone.
“‘Come!’ she said to the Prince.