"Since my first gift was not satisfactory to every one," she said, angrily, "I will give the Little Princess another. And that is, that when the time comes she shall marry the Prince of the Black Heart!" Then the clock struck four, while the Queen wept on the bosom of the Lady-in-waiting. And that was the end of the christening. Then the King called the wise-men together, and for forty days and nights they read the books and studied the stars. In the end, they laid out a Garden, with a wall so high that the sun could not shine over it until noon, and so broad that it was a day's journey for a swift horse to cross it. One tiny door there was: but the first gate was of iron, and five-and-twenty men-at-arms stood before it, day and night, with drawn swords; the second gate was of beaten copper, and before that were fifty archers, with arrows on the string; the third gate was of triple brass, and before it a hundred knights, in full armor, rode without ceasing. Into the Garden went the Little Princess, and the Queen, and all her ladies; but no man might pass the gates, save the King himself. And there the Princess dwelt until her seventeenth birthday, without seeing any more of the world than the inside of the wall. Now it happened that, some time before, a young Prince had ridden out of the west and set about his travels. For the wise-man on the hill had come to him and said: "In the kingdom which lies next to fairyland dwells a Little Princess who has a Fearless Heart. There is a wall which will not be easy to climb, but the Princess is more beautiful than anything else in the world!" And that was enough for the Prince, so he girded on his sword, and set out, singing as he went for pure lightness of heart. But it is not so easy to find fairyland as it is to eat a ripe apple, and the Prince could have told you that, before he was through. For in some places it is so broad that it takes in the whole world, and in others so narrow that a flea could cross it in two jumps. So that some people never leave it all their lives long, but others cross at a single step, and never see it at all. Finally, the Prince came to the place where all roads meet, and they were as much alike as the hairs on a dog's back. But it was all one to him, so he rode straight ahead and lost himself in fairyland. When the first fairy godmother saw him, she laughed to herself and flew away, straight over his head, to the wall around the Garden. But you may be sure that she did not trouble the guards at the triple gates: for, if one has wings, what is the use of stairs? So over the wall she flew to the room where the Little Princess lay sleeping. You may readily believe that the Princess was astonished when she awoke to find the fairy beside her bed, but she was not in the least alarmed, for, you see, she did not know that there was anything in the world to be afraid of. "My dear," said the old lady, "I am your first fairy godmother."