"Where did she go to?" asked the merry Sunbeam.
"Ah! that is what I do not know. But come, and I will show you her picture;" and as she spoke the Princess let the Sunbeam into a room where hung the portrait of a lovely lady, whose rosy lips looked as though they would say, "My darling child," and whose white hands seemed as though they would lift the Princess up and fold her to her breast.
"See, this is my mamma," she cried. "She used to call me Princess Sunnylocks, but no one calls me that now; for since the other Queen came in her place I have been so lonely and so sad. Ah! if I only knew where my mamma was gone, I would go and find her out; for I am sure she wants her little Sunnylocks. Oh, I must go to her! Dear Sunbeam, tell me where you think she has gone."
The Sunbeam glided first upon the rich gilt frame, and then he kissed the small white hands, and then he kissed the lovely face all over, and as he came back to the Princess, said, "She is just like you; and she is so beautiful that she must have gone to Fairy-Land."
"Gone to Fairy-Land," cried the little Princess. "Why, if she has gone there, so will I; I too will go to Fairy-Land." And catching up her cloak and hood, she fled as fast as her feet could carry her, away from the gray old palace, and out into the forest that bounded her father's kingdom.
All day she travelled gayly on, as happy as the birds who brought her berries, or the squirrels who brought her nuts; and just as evening fell, she found a lovely spot where seven oaks grew, and underneath their shadow was a fairy ring, as soft as velvet and as fresh and green as could be. Here she determined to pass the night; so, commending herself to the care of the good God, she lay down in the centre of the ring and fell fast asleep.
The next morning when she opened her bright blue eyes she had to shut them quickly; for there was the runaway Sunbeam laughing right down into her pretty face from among the branches of the largest oak.
"Oh, I am so glad you have come, you dear, dear Sunbeam," she cried, "for I am sure you know the way to Fairy-Land."
"To be sure I do; but you must go to the great white Stork who lives in the ruins over there, and he will tell you where it is, and how to get there too. Come now with me, and I will find you some sweet ripe dew-berries."
The Princess tripped by the Sunbeam's side, and at last they came to the ruins. Then she knocked at the door, but the Sunbeam jumped through the window right down upon the Papa Stork's shoulder.