When the Prince was crowned King for the second time he also put on again the little gold ring which he had thrown away so long before. He and Celia gave their whole hearts to the effort to govern the kingdom justly and kindly. You will know that they succeeded very well, when I tell you that the magic ring never again pricked Prince Darling's finger. [Illustration: "PRINCE DARLING FLEW RIGHT UP TO CELIA"] [Illustration: "ONCE UPON A TIME THERE LIVED"] RUMPELSTILTSKIN ADAPTED FROM THE GRIMM BROTHERS Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away from here, there lived a miller who was very proud, and a King who was exceedingly fond of money. The miller had a lovely daughter, and he could not say enough about her beauty and cleverness. He used to tell all the men who brought their wheat to his mill, to be ground into flour, of the wonderful things this daughter could do "to perfection." One day, in a fit of boasting, the miller told the servant who had brought flour from the King's household, that he had a daughter who could actually turn straw into pure gold by spinning it. The messenger was astonished, and could hardly wait to get back to the palace and see the King. He knew how mad the King was about money, and wanted to be the first to tell him of the miller's extraordinary daughter, who could make him vastly rich so easily. The King was tremendously excited by the story, just as his servant had hoped. He sent at once for the miller. "My man," the King said, "I hear you have a daughter who can spin straw into gold. That's a fine story, but you can hardly expect me to believe it without seeing it. Have your daughter come here this evening." So the miller went home and told his daughter that the King wanted to see her. He dared not tell her why. Naturally, the girl was pleased and flattered. She put on her best dress and braided her hair very carefully. Then she went to the palace. "So you're the miller's daughter," said the King. "Now we'll see whether you can really spin straw into gold." The girl thought the King must be crazy. She felt even surer of it when he took her into a great room full of straw with a spinning wheel in one corner. A spinning wheel, you know, is an old-fashioned machine for making flax and cotton into yarn and thread. "If you don't spin all this straw into gold before the night is over, you will die," the King said, and closed the door. The poor little miller's daughter sat down in front of the spinning wheel and cried and cried. She didn't know how to spin straw into gold any more than you or I do, and she didn't want to die a bit. "Well, well, what's all this crying for?" said a tiny voice at her ear. So many queer things had happened that night that it did not seem at all strange to have a man appear out of nowhere. He was not exactly a man, though. He was just a tiny little Dwarf. And the miller's daughter told him all her troubles.