When next day he was brought before the King, to tell where the twelve dancing princesses held their night-frolic, the soldier took with him the twig with its silver leaves, the twig with its leaves of gold, and the twig whose leaves were of diamonds. He took, too, the goblet. "If you would live, young man," said the King, "answer me this: How comes it that my daughters' slippers, morning after morning are danced into holes? Tell me, where have the princesses spent the three last nights?" "With twelve princes in an underground castle," was the unexpected reply. And when the soldier told his story, and held up the three twigs and the goblet to prove the truth of what he said, the King sent for his daughters. In the twelve sisters tripped, with no pity in their hearts for "the old snorer," as they called the soldier; but when their eyes fell upon the twigs and the goblet they all turned white as lilies, for they knew that their secret night-frolics were now at an end for ever. "Tell your tale," said the King to the soldier. But before he could speak, the princesses wrung their hands, crying, "Alack! alack!" and their father knew that at last he had discovered their secret. Then turning to the soldier, the King said: "You have indeed won your prize. Which of my daughters do you choose as your wife?" "I am no longer young," replied the soldier. "Let me marry the eldest princess." So that very day the wedding bells pealed loud and far, and a few years later the old soldier and his bride were proclaimed King and Queen. EDWY AND THE ECHO It was in the time of good Queen Anne, when none of the trees in the great forest of Norwood, near London, had begun to be cut down, that a very rich gentleman and lady lived in that neighborhood. Their name was Lawley, and they had a fine old house and large garden with a wall all round it. The woods were so close to this garden that some of the high trees spread their branches over the top of the wall. Now this lady and gentleman were very proud and very grand. They despised all people poorer than themselves, and there were none whom they despised more than the gypsies, who lived in the forest round about them. There was no place in all England then so full of gypsies as the forest of Norwood. Mr. and Mrs. Lawley had been married many years without having children. At length they had a son, whom they called Edwy. They could not make enough of their only child or dress him too finely. When he was just old enough to run about without help, he used to wear his trousers inlaid with the finest lace, with golden studs and laced robings. He had a plume of feathers in his cap, which was of velvet, with a button of gold to fasten it up in front under the feathers. He looked so fine that whoever saw him with the servants who attended him used to say, "Whose child is that?" He was a pretty boy, too, and when his first sorrow came he was still too young to have learned any proud ways.